Top 10 Running Backs + Preseason Fever, Xena Battles

He's, if you've listened to this podcast for any length of time, you know that this is a different stance than I have had on Melvin Gordon for his entire career. And I don't want to jump into the inefficiency argument. I'm just accepting that he puts up fantasy points. All right. I'm very excited to talk about the guy you moved ahead of him. Number seven. Sequin Barkley.

Sequin Barclay comes in at number seven, Mike at six. I haven't been seven. Jason has him at eight. We all love him. I'm going to make a terrible analogy once again on this show. Look, you don't get a look to last year. Seaconne Barclay has not been in the NFL yet. But this is the equivalent of...

flicking on the oven light and you can't quite see what's inside, but everything smells good and everything looks good. I think it's cookies. You just got to open the oven, and that's what fantasy owners get to do this year, and they're going to like it. They're going to like it a lot. They're going to like it so much that they're going to be in my position, which is I had the number one, I have the number one pick in one of our keeper leagues. I traded down. Two picks, because part of me wants Sequin more than Zeke. Part of me wants Sequin more than...

Camara. And it's the part of me that every fantasy owner has inside that wants to see the unknown. Because what if Saquan Barclay is Zeke plus 60 receptions? Right. 65 receptions. The draft capital, the giant spin on Saquan Barclay tells me everything I need to know. The combine tells me everything I need to know. His quad's, his quadricep muscles.

One quad from Saquan Barclay. It takes two looks to see them. You can't look just once. You got a pan. You got to have a pano. He's got pano quads, Mike. It's the size of my waist. And the man is strong. And I think it's just the body of work from these other running backs. That's the only reason why Saquan Barclay is down here at number seven. He was drafted as the second overall pick.

in the NFL draft where running backs don't tend to do that anymore. They're going to give them a huge workload. Zeke, I'm not going to comp Saquan to Zeke. What you're hoping for is another David Johnson. He reminds me more. That's probably a better talent comp. His running style and past catching ability reminds me more of DJ. The question will be the Giants.

Can the Giants do enough to get Saquan Barclay up in that nine rushing touchdown area? Yeah, and I think Saquan Barclay will do enough to get him up there. It's him versus 11 guys. I know he's superhuman, but the reality is, you know, he's not one of those guys where you go, he is a freak athlete. He's the freak athlete. You look at his overall spark score, he's 99th percentile. He's breaking.

things left right and center. I mean, he's moving the needle. And, you know, the fact that you add in, his best trait might be his receiving ability to today's NFL and fantasy football, which almost always in leagues now rewards half a full point for a reception. I think his baseline is enormously high. You're right, Mike. It all comes down to the touchdowns.

And I think they'll be there for Sequin. Look, you have to overcome an offensive line that was not great and it's projected to be the 25th in the league. You have to overcome a rushing attack that last year was 26th in the league in total yards. I want to go back two seconds because you reference the spark score. We have a lot of new listeners that might not understand what that means. But that's the acronym that is built around the combine. It stands for speed, power, agility, reaction, and quickness. They measure those five things.

been better than anybody's ever been. It's a score for an athlete. Yeah. What's your spark score, Mike? Ooh, what's the lowest number that exists? He's a one percentile athlete. And just to put that in frame of reference, a few years ago. I think we ran the 40 kind of like a like the lineman. Yeah, I would say a one of the, I think we put up lineman 40s. Yeah, I would say a sixth round.

lineman yeah seventh round uh a cf l lineman i ran the 40 like an undrafted offensive yeah there you go okay who was just practicing not invited um yeah i mean a couple years ago i can beat rich eisen i think david johnson was you know a freak at the combine he's a 95th percentile athlete so i mean according to that measurement sayquan is even a step above stay healthy sayquan fair stay healthy

That would ruin a lot of things. Eat your vegetables. I want, I want to see it. It's not fair if we don't get a seat. I also like, I like that his head is on his shoulders. I, you know, for a, I mean, he's got, he's, he's, he's, as in he is not decapitated. Yes, that's, yes. I mean, I don't like headless running backs.

They can't even get the helmet on. It's just falling off their shoulder pads. They look ridiculous. Yeah. But he's a smart guy. He's a bright young man. No concussions. And, you know, I, we figured it out. Oh, man. Yeah. I like that his heads on his shoulders too, Jay. Don't worry. What's the next number one? We're all on board. You need to push number eight. Leonard Fournette. Let's talk about him. Another player I think fits for me, the category of,

potential number one guys. He had 36 receptions last year. I can see that total increasing as long as he's on the field. I mean, he missed three games last year. He probably is going to land in that 45 reception total area. Oh, no. You don't expect to play a full season? Because if you project what he did last year in his healthy games, that's where he'd be. Sure. It comes down to T.J. Yeldin when he came in played.

decently well and he yelled him was not getting time early on which okay to be fair i get it you have you spent a really high pick and you said lennar four net you are everything and the the possible emergence of corey grants who do you take under on 40 receptions i would i would take the under on and cori grant running back who is predominantly special teams but every time he gets the ball in space he is electric it's just those two guys siphoning off a little bit of the password

Well, that's why you haven't at 10. So, Jason, you haven't at 7. You're the highest. And I wonder if it's high enough. I really do. I mean, the issue with him, I've said this before, worries of missing games due to injuries. That's kind of been a problem for him. He is going, you know, I've got him projected for 300 rushing attempts. I mean, that is a number that you want. In 39 receptions last season, Jacksonville faced the 31st best.

Please say in a way that I can really understand what you're saying. They face the second hardest strength of schedule against the run. So a lot of times people are bashing on, you know, Four Nett and his yards per carry at 3.9. But the reality was they did not open Blake Bortle's up through the first half of last season.

Everyone knew what was going on, and it was against really tough competition. This season, he projects for a middle of the road 13th easiest strength of schedule against the run. I think that they're going to have to pay a little bit more attention to some of the receiving options. And I expect if he's healthy, Leonard Fournett is, you know, he is an exceptional talent. He's a Zeke level talent. I would say Zeke is the comp for Leonard Fournett of 20.

20.6 carries per game when he played. And third highest in football. So you get volume with, he's a stud. And not only that. Saddle, Jason. Yes, he's 100% a saddleable. But you also have, you know, an upgraded offensive line. Yes. Like a majorly upgraded offensive line. At the guard position, one of the best run blocking guards in the league added, I mean, what would that do for Todd Gurley when they fix their left tackle problem? All of a sudden, the same player just got so much better because it's like, oh.

Let me run through this hole. Last year, the problem for Fournette was just season-long consistency with the missed games and some off weeks. He started very well. He finishes an RB1 or 2, 84% of the time. He finishes an RB1, 46% of the time. But he had a couple weeks where he was in that RB4 and beyond range that really burnt you. Mike, you have a 10. Obviously, that's still an RB1.

But you see the lack of receptions as the reason why? The lack of receptions and the injury history of Leonard Fournett does concern me. And it's those games that he played, but he just was, you could tell he was hurt, but he's just going to try and keep playing through despite him becoming very inefficient when his legs are beat up. Number nine. All right, Kareem Hunt.

He's our number nine consensus running back in half point per reception leagues. Mike, you've got him at eight. Jason, you have them at 10. Andy is me. That's me. Andy has him at 11. That's me. Look, last year, burst under the scene three weeks into the season. If you drafted Cream Hunt, which fortunately, Mike especially told you to do last year as part of our, what, the bold prediction show, you were very vehement.

about drafting Kareem Hunt, and it paid off for fantasy owners last year. He was one of the most commonly owned players on finals teams, despite his funky middle of the season. RB1 or 262% of the time, RB1, 43% of the time. He was the number one in the NFL in terms of broken tackles. We've talked a lot about Kreme Hunt in the off season, but let's summarize some of the good and the bad about Kareem Hunt and what we expect from him last year, because nobody thought he would get...

the type of work that he got because Spencer Ware was there to start the offseason. Spencer Ware was then hurt. Kareem Hunt was thrust into a heavier role and he excelled. 53 receptions. 272 carries led the league in rushing. So I will start with the good and that is he led the league in rushing. Like you said, forced the most missed tackles at the running back position.

He is one of six running backs ahead over 300 touches. The good about Cream Hunt is he is a fantastic running back, and if he gets the ball, he is fantastic for fantasy. The bad is, Andy Reid just does these things where he forgets who the best players on his team are. I don't know how that possibly happens ever.

When you're feeding Kareem Hunt the ball, when you're dumping it off to him, good things are happening. So that's the only negative I see for Kareem Hunt. Do you think Andy Reid goes like beautiful mind and just starts envisioning past plays in his head during the game? And that's how he doesn't see Kareem Hunt anymore. He draws him up. He's just looking around. He's a crazy person. He just sees route.

Route trees popping into his head and how Patrick Mahomes can heave the ball down field. Look, it's a historical guarantee. Right. You're going to have some games Randy Reid loses Kareem Hunt. He can't find him. Yes. He looks everywhere. Yes. After the game. He acknowledges it to the media after the game.

Oh, I should have got Jamal Charles of Palmba. I really wish we can find a way. Yeah, but here's what I think is the good about Cream Hunt. Mike, you talked about how great he was on the field, on film. I mean, he's hard to take down. I have Kareem Hunt losing about 25 carries from last year. I think the backup situation will help. You know, they are much more well prepared, even if Spencer Ware is not fully ready, is not healthier, has a setback. They have some other guys there that can.

take, you know, 25 carries over the course of the season away. I have him with, you know, about 150 fewer yards, one fewer touchdown, and he's still my running back 10. He's not going to just, you know, aside from an injury, you know, some people are saying, oh, Spencer where's there, they're going to split the reps. That's not going to happen. He's the clear-cut talent where he's going to be the main guy. I see him taking a step back, but I would even still consider Karim Hunt to be a stud that I would rather saddle him.

then, you know, grab a top wide receiver not named Antonio Brown. I think a lot of Chiefs fans would, and I've seen it, they come out and they say, do you understand how good Spencer Ware was? That's not the concern. The concern is that Spencer Ware had a very serious injury and going from, you know, that he's still recovering from. It's not going to be, you don't instantly get back to Spencerware you had before the injury last off season. It's been, what, just over a year, not even a year until.