Top 10 Running Backs + Preseason Fever, Xena Battles

including Melvin Gordon, including Kareem Hunt and Ezekiel Elliott, Leonard Fournette, Kenyon Drake, like I said. So those are top picks. What I'm saying is the most common players are running backs, are the high-performing running backs. So yes, if you can do it, if you can ride the rails, if you can go on that mountain pass in your hot rod, then that's great. You can get there. I'm not saying you can't. There's no wrong way to win. It works a lot better. You win anyway.

If you win, you're happy. It works a lot better when you're in a three wide receiver full PPR league. With a flex. If you're in a 2-2 and a flex, half point or else. And like I said beforehand, I just wanted to have it on record. I actually think it will work this season, whereas I've been usually against that. But I am a running back early. I mean, in our top 10 tips and tricks live show in Minneapolis, one of mine was saddle a stud. And that is a running back or Antonio Brown.

or potentially Michael Gallup. So who's the number one? These are half PPR Brooks, correct? These are our consensus half PPR top 10 running backs. Yes, sir. It's making sure I'm speaking the same language. Number one is Todd Gurley. Yes, sir. And, you know, the way that we are ranking these, Mike and I both have Todd Gurley.

as the number two in our individual rankings. Andy, you have him as the number one running back, and that is good enough for this top spot. He finished their last season. 93% of games as an RB1 or an RB2. Yeah, he was unbelievable. 80% of them is an RB1. That's as reliable as they get at the running back position. So it begs the question because, look, I don't have to tell people what Todd Gurley did. You either had him and he did it for you or your opponent had them and he did it to you. Yep.

And so you were happier, you were sad, but let me ask it this way. Give me a reason to pick somebody over Todd Gurley. What's the argument for, look, because all these players are good. I'm going to give you a spoiler alert. All top 10 are good players. All top 10 are great running backs. So give me a reason to pick somebody over Todd Gurley. I'm happy to. I think that Todd Gurley last season had 19 touchdowns, six of which were passing touchdowns. And the Los Angeles Rams scored.

You know, I mean, their point total was at a level where if you go back and look historically, they're not scoring the same or more. They are 100% they are going to score fewer points in 2018 than they did in 2017. So that's not to say Todd Gurley's not going to be great or that he can't even be the number one running back. But, you know.

There will not be six passing touchdowns, in my opinion, for Todd Gurley. He has been as good as his offensive line has been. His actual individual efficiency has been about the same as rookie year, his down sophomore year, and his fantastic number one running back year last season. But it was all based on the offensive line getting so much better last year, even better than, you know, we all thought, oh, they've improved their offensive line.

But their offense line was tremendous. They washed away Jeff Fisher, which really helps the shine. They washed him away down the river. Yeah, a power sprayer. And then they put some nice wax on too to make sure he couldn't come back. It's so slippery. It's trying to get in the front door, but they've just waxed the ground. I have the Rams scoring less points this season than last season. And I see that Todd Gurley, while great, has, you know,

He's had an up and down little bit to his career based on the offensive line and head coaching. Whereas Levy on Bell, we've never seen him on the field where he's not unbelievably good ever. I did ask you to give me the reason why you would pick somebody else and you've accomplished that goal. I guess I was supposed to push this button. Number one. Number one is Todd Gurley on our consensus. Thanks. Let's move on. Number two. Levy on Bell.

We've talked about this if you've listened to the show for more than the last couple weeks. I mentioned that I have Lev Bell actually at number four. So you're welcome. That's why he's not our consensus number one, because Jason and Mike both have him at number one overall. He's great. He's a great player, 93% of his weeks, the same as Todd Gurley as an RB1 and RB2. 80% of his weeks is an RB1, the exact same as Todd Gurley. You can flip the coin.

I find the risk to Leveon Bell slightly higher than the risk to Todd Gurley. That's fair. And that's it. I mean, he's missing camp. His future is not secured in Pittsburgh, but he's going to be a great player when he's on the field. I think there's a little risk to injury because of missing camp. And that's about it. That's the story with Leveon Bell. Yeah, he was the only running back last year to touch the ball over 400 times. Number two, running back in terms of touches.

was Shady McCoy under 350. Levion Bell is the ultimate workhorse in the NFL. He is one of the best pass catchers at the running back position. He's a better pass catcher than a lot of wide receivers. 106 target last year for Levi-on-Bel. Yeah, and this is not the first time he's had over 100 targets. His sophomore year, 105.

Two years ago, 94 targets. That was in 12 games. In 12 games, Leveon Bell was the running back three, right? There are not many running backs that can do that. I think even Todd Gurley, as great as he was this past year, you give him 12 games. I don't think he's the running back three. I don't think that's going to happen. I do agree with you, Andy, that there's a little bit more risk.

with levy on bell the contract situation does not bother me however this is last year as a pittsburgh stealer they have no reason in my opinion to not feed him the ball another 400 times this is going to be the first time we see a 600 touch season i mean why not just give him every

thing he can handle. He's going to be gone next year. You don't need to worry about keeping his career fresh and, you know, stable in that way. Yeah, I mean, the only difference between Levin Gurley production-wise was the touchdowns. Gurley had 13 on the ground. Lev had nine. Gurley had six through the air. As Jason mentioned, Lev had two through the air. Both prolific offenses, the offensive line rank for Pittsburgh. Going into 2018, according to Pro Football Focus's analysis, is the fourth overall.

It's not bad. It has the 10th overall. It's a little worse. It is, but look, it's razor thin, the difference between those players. Let's talk about some of the more interesting to discuss players are number three. Number three. David Johnson. This guy was a running back one or two, 100% of the time last year. Okay. All right. That is true. Because he played all of one game. One game. Most of one game. And then he busted his wrist.

Does he understand how disappointed we were? Do you think he knows? I think David Johnson was probably more disappointed than all of us. I don't know, man. I was pissed. Just throwing that out there. Very disappointed. Yeah, let's not forget about David Johnson. Let me read back the 2016 stat line. Let's refresh the memory. 16 games played 293 carries for over 1,200 yards, 16 touchdowns on the ground.

And let's throw in 80 receptions for 879 yards and four touchdowns on 120 passing targets. Look, they're making no mistake about it. Nobody has an illusion here that the Arizona Cardinals offense is going to be a powerhouse in 2018. What we know is that David Johnson is going to be the focal point. Much like Ezekio Elliott is, was for a Dallas offense that wasn't at the top of the league last year.

It's workload with David Johnson. It's a skill set that is so expansive that he could very well be the number two wide receiver on the team. His goal, he has said it many times, is 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards. He wants to join that very, very exclusive club. The touchdowns are a concern. There's not going to be 16 rushing touchdowns. The offensive line is a major concern.

And just recently, AQ Shipley, the starting center for the Arizona Cardinals, went down with an ACL injury. He will not be playing this season. Granted, he was also not good for the last couple of years. But he was the starter. Yes. It doesn't matter if a player is bad. If they have earned the starting role, that means they are not good starter over the not good backup. Means they are better.

Then the back. I would agree, except in this situation. You're just saying it like in some, well, I'm just saying he's not good. Have you thought about that? But their highest drafted offensive lineman, Mason Cole, who played some center. Some people believe that he is a better. Remains to be seen. But because he's a rookie, he didn't just come in and say, okay, you're the starter.

He could be. My point is just, I don't think there's going to be a huge hole left by A.Q. Shipley, but injuries on the offensive line, that's the big worry. DJ Humphrey's on the left tackle. He's good when he's healthy. Mike Ayupati, left guard. He's good when he's healthy. Justin Poo, there's so many guys here that are good in theory, hardly on the field. Yeah, he's entering the fourth, his fourth season in the NFL.

He reported to camp after a brief holdout, so he's kind of trusting the Cardinals to reward him, which I expect him to do. But he enters the final year of the rookie contract right now with something to prove. He's only going to make $1.9 million next year. Right. And this offense we've already talked about where there are some concerns. You ran through the offensive line. Good when healthy. You can say that exact same thing about Sam Bradford. Good.

when healthy. If Sam Bradford is playing, though, this team, this offense will be better than they are currently being given credit for. Yeah, there's a lot of unknown, right? There's a lot of, we haven't seen it, a lot of moving pieces. Christian Kirk was drafted. A whole new coaching regime in town as well. Right. Yeah. Mike McCoy, new offensive coordinator. It's going to be interesting. I will say this. I went on the RB Scouts podcast recently. He does some great work solely.

focused around running back, running back scouting and all that. And David Johnson is his far and away number one. If he had the one-on-one, he would be taking David Johnson. Interesting. I don't blame people if they want to do that. Right, because of his ability as a pass catcher, which he is the best pass-catching running back in the NFL. I feel like if he were to play wide receiver, he would be a really good wide receiver in the NFL. His skills.

particularly beyond, you know, 10 yards from the line of scrimmage, I think, are better than any running back in football. He has the ability to run the wheel. He has the ability to get outside and make plays that we're not used to seeing. I do think he's a better receiver than Todd Gurley is. I mean, Todd Gurley was a monster screen player last year, but it wasn't as diverse a route tree. So we're going to get to number four before we do. I'm going to pause. I'm going to remind everybody, it's been a long off season without football.

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