Top 10 Running Backs + Preseason Fever, Xena Battles

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Number four. Let's talk about Alvin, Camara. Super. Camario last year took over the league, took over your fantasy league. Took over your hearts. Took over your heart. We have consistency charts in the ultimate draft kit. And they display a player's consistency in a variety of colors. Green is good.

Green is very good. Dark green is even better. That means he finished as an RB1 and Alvin Camara from the Green Bay game through Carolina. So what is that? That's seven consecutive weeks finished as an RB1, including finishes of one, four, three, one, one. That's ridiculous. In a five-week span, single-handedly winning fantasy leagues for people.

He was the most common player on championship final teams last year. And Mike is right. It's because he wasn't drafted in the first round. It's because you got a first round running back in either the late rounds or the waiver wire. Yes. Yeah. You know, I'll be honest. I was really surprised. I did not realize that Camara was our consensus for.

To me, he's much worse than the next player as far as... Much worse. Well, as... Just saying that's careful with the phrasing. Well, I'm saying that from a standpoint of volume. That is the worry. We talked about this on a recent show. 120 carries. He didn't really get involved in the first three weeks. Adrian Peterson was there. But how much can you expect that carry count to go up? Because I think if his efficiency comes back to, I don't know, superhuman levels instead of...

you know, superhero levels. Just being a superhuman, I feel like he's going to need to have 75 more carries this season. And that very well could happen. I mean, Mark Ingram missing the first. Sean Payton has pumped the brakes a little bit. Head coach of the New Orleans Saints has come out repeatedly and said Alvin Camara is not just going to get a huge dump truck of carries.

poured onto him they're going to use him they're going to be smart with how they use him well they used him the right way last year right nobody there or in fantasy is complaining he's at number four because i have him at number two and you guys both have him at number five and i've i've made that case last year he had an insane 7.7 yards per touch okay and so if you take 30% of that away

Let's say he's not going to be, he'll be 70% of last year's Alvin Camara inefficiency. You give him that 5.39 yards per touch. And you project last year's total touches. That ends up with 1100 total yards. He'd be well outside of that top five. Right. But I made this case. Look, last year he only had 201 total touches, right? If you take a second half, Alvin Camara's second half projection.

It puts them at 90 receptions, 160 total attempts on the ground. That touch totals 250, which is still well below Gurley 343, Bell 406, Hunt 325, Gordon 342, but you still end up with a season at about 1,400 total yards. So, yes, it's dependent on the touchdown totals. Yes, it's dependent on his volume increasing, but you're not asking him to increase from 200 to 400 like Bell. You're saying give him 50 more carries.

I think it balances out. I really like Alvin Camara because he's on arguably the top three offense in football. They know what they have in him and it's the pass catching. He can catch 90 passes. He can catch 100 passes. Yeah. If you look back year over year over year in the Drew Bray's era, the New Orleans Saints are fantastic for running backs. If you're in any kind of half point or full point league.

Here Thomas made a lot of money because of Sean Pace. Exactly. Darren Sproul's. I don't think. Reggie Bush. Camara is a bad pick. But I, you know, when I'm in that top four picks, I just want one of those workhorses. I want one of those guys that has the very rare right to have, you know, close to 300 touches. Let me ask you this question then, because you made up the moniker saddle a stud in your tips and tricks.

Thank you. You're welcome. Is the drafting of Alvin Kamara, does that qualify for saddling a stud? Because it seems like you've defined that as there is a big workload that that stud is pulling. Right. And, you know, honestly, Alvin Kamara's efficiency cannot be discounted the same way that, you know, Jamal Charles used to have.

you know, just low 200 carries, and he was fine, and he was obviously a stud fantasy football player. But I do struggle with that, right? Like, if I'm on the clock and Leonard Fournette and Alvin Camara are there, I mean, Alvin Camara projects to have more fantasy points, but I still worry because I am always going to be an opportunity over talent type of guy. And if I know that someone's going to touch the ball an extra hundred times,

you know, chances are it's going to be better for that player, usually. So I would say Alvin Camara is a stud because of his efficiency, but I'm not very excited right now in the first round to have him. Do you have anything you want to add, Mike? Do you want to weigh in at all? I agree with Jason that he, I have him projected. I've even recently pulled.

I went and I took another look at his projections of fresh eye. I took him down a little bit. And he still is my fifth ranked running back. But he, of these early guys in the first round, he brings me the largest questions. Out of curiosity, I just checked all of the draft rankings over at Fantasy Pros across over 100 experts. And I am the highest on Alvin Camara.

Nobody hasn't met one, and I haven't met two. So there's only one other that believes in that. And I get it. Look, push comes to shove in a mock draft. In any draft, it's harder for me to stare down Zeke and Camara and make the choice of Alvin Camara. But I do believe that. You wrote an article, the case for Camara early this offseason. So, I mean, it makes sense that you genuinely believe it. I think the big thing is that I think he wants to be great.

I think he wants to be one of the best running backs ever. And so translating that into another successful season, that means a lot to me. Number five. I am very thankful that we get to talk about Ezekiel Elliott now. I am thankful that this offseason is not like. In the context of football. In the context of football, not like last off season where we had to deal with the, not just the what's going on with Zique, wins the suspension coming. But, I mean, we had this carried on into the year. I mean, he missed a six-week span. Six games.

right in the important part of your season last year. So, Zeke ended up with those six games missing with 983-yard seven touchdowns, caught 26 passes, a couple of touchdowns through the air. This year, Pro Football Focus has their offensive line ranked at number two. We've known the Dallas Offensive Line to be a powerhouse for many years. He averaged 24.2 carries per game.

in the 10 games last year. That's enormous. That is what Jason's talking about. Your odds are just so great that something good is going to happen if you hand you're running back the ball 24 times and he's talented like Ezekiel. Last year, Zeke, he played 10 games because he had the six games suspension. Against Denver, he had his one dumper of a game where he carried the ball nine times for eight yards on the ground.

But what that means is in the nine other games, his entire season stateline was 233 carries, 975 yards, and seven rushing touchdowns. In nine games. It's not just those nine. That is out.

If you keep in mind his rookie year and you look at his entire career, that one game, that's the only game he has not been a weekly top 24 running back in his career. It's never, 96% of his games, 96% that's basically all of them, are really solid games. And, you know, what more do you want than that? 76% of his games, he's an RB1. Let me ask this question then, because it just popped into my head.

And I have a microphone, so I get to do that. Here's the question. I've heard you say that so many times, Mike. Projecting those numbers how astronauts and they're... No, no, that's not projecting. No, no. That's what he did. I get it. But then projecting those over a season, why isn't he your number one running back?

If it's a 90% I'm asking that question. Like why do we not find Zeke at number one? I can tell you right now. Pass catching. Yep, he's my number three running back. But those numbers would supersede any pass catching based on what you're saying. Well, no, because Lev Bell and Todd Gurley put up astronomical numbers as well and then they add in the past catch. Yeah, you add in an extra 800 yards receiving. And then on top of that, half a point every single time you catch the ball.

That's the reason why Zeke isn't my number one guy. But the same with David Johnson. You want to take Zeke number one? That's not a bad pick. You have not made a mistake despite what your draft room is going to laugh. It's like, ah, you should have taken Gurley. Ah, you should have taken Levy on Belt. Zeke has an equal chance to finish as the number one guy as those other running backs, in my opinion.

All right, let's move on. Number six. Let's find out if this guy has a chance to finish number one. Number six, Melvin Gordon. I have him at five. Jason and Mike. You have him at six. We all like him. Here's something interesting about Melvin Gordon. He was stuffed 68 times last year. Second most in the NFL. He broke 40 tackles. Second most in the NFL. That tells me his offensive line gave him lots of opportunities to be both stuffed and break tackles. Fair. And they head into 2018, the 23rd ranked.

offensive line in football. But last year, how could you complain about Melvin Gordon, 1,100 yards, eight touchdowns on the ground, and an impressive 58 receptions. He has that element to his game. They lean on him. He doesn't want to, you know, we had a chance to interview him a few weeks back. Jason did. And look, he doesn't want to leave the field. It bothers him to leave the field. That's what I want from my running back. This is also a team we project to be very good. In the last two years, he's finished the season as the number seven.

overall running back in 2016 in only 13 games played, and the number five overall running back last year. Talk to me about Melvin Gordon. I think you just mentioned it. I mean, there's a lot of, if you dive deep into the metrics, you can make a case against Melvin Gordon. He is not that efficient. And that's fair on one hand to say, okay, you know, we want to dive deep into this analytics. But the reality is this. You just said he's been what, a top?

a running back in his two seasons after coming out of college, supposed to be a stud. And his only competition on a good offense is Austin Echler and Justin Jackson. Like, he's going to score touchdowns. Yeah. He's the running back that's getting them all. He's going to rush for a thousand yards. I mean, you know, will he be the number one running back? No, because I don't think he is as talented as Levion Bell, as talented as Zeke, as talented as David Johnson. But he is very...

I mean, standing next to him, you go, oh, he's a different type of human. They actually, a 3D printer. That's what they did. And I will throw out, that's how he was made. I will throw out, when this doc was being made, I had him at 6. He's actually 7 because I moved the next running back up to 6, and I know that people go through the rankings with a fine-tooth comb. So you don't want your preemptive strike on Twitter?

Yes. So don't at me. Yeah, Melvin Gordon. He plummeted all the way to number seven for me. He had the third most attempts at the running back position. He had the fourth most touches. He one of only four running backs to touch the ball over 340 times. The volume is there. The offense is there. I feel very confident with Melvin Gordon as a three-down guy.