Top 10 Running Backs + Preseason Fever, Xena Battles

since that serious injury. And on top of how good Spencer Ware was two years ago, the chief saw that. And then in the third round, they traded up. And they traded a good bit to get Cream Hunt to replace Spencer Ware eventually. I agree, Cream Hunt is going to lose work. He's not going to get 90% of the running back touches for Kansas City like he did the past year.

And like Alvin Camara, he was, he's the guy, I think, has more risk compared to these other running backs. But 53 receptions last year, it wouldn't surprise me if that number goes up. And we're talking about Kareem Hunt catching 70 passes. Yeah. I think Kareem Hunt, they've talked up his past catching ability and talked up getting him more involved in that all off season. So.

Maybe his carries come down to that 225, 230 range. But then he pads his stats with some more pass catching. All right. Let's hit the last running back on today's show. Number 10. I think I'm excited and scared for this guy. Dalvin Cook running back for the Minnesota Vikings.

We don't have a huge sample size, but what we saw in the field last year was dynamic. It was a player that was given more opportunity than we expected to start the year in light of the faculty, Tavius Murray had been signed. You stole Jerich McKinnon in Minnesota. But then the injury happens, right? And so right now, Dalvin Cook, Mike, you haven't at 9, Jason at 11, I haven't at 12. Jason, you're in the middle there. Give me the reason not to draft Alvin Cook. Give me the reason you want to take him.

Yeah, I mean, the small sample size we had, he was unbelievably good. He was, you know, top 10 running back locked and loaded. He was used in all facets. It's great at catching the ball. Jerich McKinnon is gone. So even though Latavius Murray is there, I'm not worried about his workload going away.

And he was drafted to be that. He was drafted to be a star of the team. He was a second round draft pick. And, you know, he fell because of some character concerns going into that draft, he was supposed to be a first round. So they got a value on Dalvin Cook. You know, it was him, you know, he was at the top of some people's pre-draft board. So those are the reasons to take him. And the Minnesota Offensive Line improved last year. It's not great.

But it was better than expected. The reasons not to are he could lose goal line work, which is obviously very valuable for fantasy to Latavius Murray. He is coming off of an injury. And I will say this, this is a recent update to my rankings. I very slightly tweaked a lot of my Minnesota.

Vikings numbers. I looked at the team totals and kind of what happened last year. Kirk Cousins came down a spot or two. Kyle Rudolph came down a spot or two. Yeah, I know, right? Well, he came down a spot. Blasphemous. And Dalvin Cook did it as well. Everyone moved down. Weird. Rudolph moved up, though. You know, I think last year was a really great, perfect year for the Minnesota Vikings in the regular season. And, you know, those things are hard to repeat.

You've got a new offensive coordinator. You've got a new quarterback. Sure, maybe the quarterback's an upgrade. You can hope so, but maybe it's change is hard. I think the O.C. Yeah, the range of outcomes for Cook is wider than the other names in this top 10, including Kareem Hunt, in my opinion. There's a lot of optimism for those of you that have been following the injury that Cook sustained.

He's already shed his knee brace. He's expecting to get preseason opportunity. He's a player I'll be watching. Does he have burst? You know, a lot of the times you see that in the preseason film. Yes, you do. Even in a few plays, we've seen that go different directions with weird players like Terence West where all of a sudden in the preseason a couple years ago, you go, oh, what happened? Why is he a little bit faster? I'm glad you brought that up. For the casual fan to watch, especially at the running back position.

Because you're playing against a vanilla defense. They're not showing anything on the defensive side of the ball. What does the, what kind of burst does the running back have? Because you can go back to Doug Martin's second 1,400-yard season. When you were watching him playing the preseason, it was, wow, I don't remember Doug Martin looking like this the past couple years. And then he turned into an incredible value.

for those who were paying attention to him preseason. So that's a little tip for the casual fan to be watching for. Okay. All right. We'll be getting into more running back names on our future episodes. Look, I know we could shut the show down, but this is all about the footclan. So I want to jump into the mailbag for at least a couple of questions here. So let's do it right now. Mailbag. Mailbag.

It's just been too long. It's been too long. We had the divisional overviews. We didn't get in an email bag, so I'm going to bring a fourth a couple questions from the listeners. Bring a fourth. Bring a fourth. Go to the website, the fancy footballers.com. Click the submit a question button if you want to send us your fantasy conundrum. You can dial our voicemail hotline 302464 TFFB. We can feature those on the show. On future shows, let's start here. Ethan in Virginia.

Do we still need to be worried about Big Bin's home road splits? It seems that everyone is pretty high on Big Ben this year. I haven't heard a lot of talk about his road game issues of the past. Are there any concerns about him on the road this year, or are those woes a thing of the past? No, there's still a concern. I mean, the reality is if you look back over a career length of his home road splits, it's significant. But if you take a look at their schedule to open the year,

Their road games are not hard matchups. They're matchups that you would still play them on the road. Their difficult games are the home games where, you know, I think it'll even out a little bit. Because of his opening schedule, I'm not worried about that. And then by the time that, you know, those difficult road games come, I think you're going to be able to stream another option. You're going to know great, which defenses are great matchups to play against.

Find someone on the waiver wire. It was not as bad this past year because in 2016, Big Ben, I'm looking at RotoViz here, was averaging 31 points at home, 16 on the road. But this past year, it improved 28, or I apologize, 25 at home and 18 on the road. So they still, it still is a thing.

Big Ben is still pretty. And most quarterbacks are better at home, but Big Ben is just, he is a much better fantasy quarterback at home. All right. We have a Lashaw-McCoy question from Caleb in Kroll, which sounds like possibly another planet. I'm not sure. Isn't that, that's a movie with Hercules? Who's the fellow? That sounds about right. In a movie. Kevin Sorbo. Was he in Kroll? Kevin Sorbo reference. Hold on, hold on. Oh, my goodness.

Well, I'll ask the question while you research Kevin Sorbo. No, I'm thinking of something else. But Crowell was a movie from 1983. That's why I didn't get it. So I was very wrong. Where would you guys be willing to draft LaShawn McQuay right now if you are drafting? So like today, it's a simple question or is it? More on, and we'll talk more about Shady tomorrow because he'll be on the second running back show. But he's near the three, fourth turn to me. The back of the third is.

the highest that I would drive. Is the silence about the whole, the legal issues? Is that becoming more reassuring as the days go by? I suppose it is because when you ask that, I would take him at the back of the second or at the beginning of the third round. Also, Jason, Liam Neeson, star of Kroll. Oh, it's got to be so good. Shout out to the Spitballers podcast. All right. Here's a little pop quiz. Liam Nason's age. See if you can guess it. 65. Mike.

uh right around there 64 66 no i win i win all right david in texas with our final question how early would you draft the defense if top defenses score more than top wide receivers or running backs and nearly as much as the quarterback the you know maybe maybe you're you've got a wacky league where there are you know huge bonuses and you want to take them a round or two early but i still would not reach

for a defense because when you say a defense scores more than the running backs and wide receivers, maybe that's on year-end totals, but defenses are so dependent upon the matchup. I mean, it's very rare for a defense to go week in and week out against every opponent and be great. And then you've got teams where you can stream the Colts defense against the right matchup and outscore.

those running, I mean, if one outscores them, you know, it's kind of like all the defenses in the league are going to do well if your scoring system is good for defense. Yeah, as you say, if your scoring system emphasizes any position much more than another position, it doesn't change the value of that position very much because the water level rises for all of those players inside of that position or all of the defenses. It's an important thing to remember, right? You could double all the scoring for quarterbacks.

We're still going to tell you to draft one later. I got to run something by the judge. I'm going to need a ruling over here. All right. I hope he's standing by here. So Judge Giamatti, he's dusting off his gavel. My Kevin Sorboe reference, he was in a movie called Cole, the Conqueror. I thought it was Krull. Am I forgiven, Judge? You are forgiven. Oh, wow. Okay. All right. I didn't see that one. Out of curiosity, was that before or after 1983.

That was much after. It's Kevin Sorbo. That was 97. What? Zena warrior princess or Kevin Sorba? Who wins in a fight? Oh, Benzina. A warrior princess? A warrior princess. He's a god, though. That's, that's a tough. That's a tough. Zena was way more BA than Hercules. Let me get out of here.

Well, that was some good TV. It was some good TV. People can weigh in on Twitter at the FF Ballers with your Zena takes. Oh, you have a poll up? We're going to have a Zina Hercules. Zina Hercules take. All right. Hey, a final reminder as we close out today's show that Fandul is ready after the long offseason with more ways to play at fandul.com slash footballers. Remember.

Contests for casual fans, new ones like beat the score where everybody gets paid out if you beat a certain score. They have new options for playing with friends or enemies. And better yet, they've got preseason fantasy contests running up to week one of the NFL. So you can get started now. You can, you know, if you're like us, you're crazy for football. You're happy. You're happy the preseason's here. It's curing my fever.

I'll say this. And it's preseason football. If you're new to the daily fantasy, like using sites like Fandul,

The fantasy footballer's DFS podcast. We'll be back on the air soon. You should look for us in the Apple podcast. Click that subscribe button. Be ready because it's coming. And now explain that slightly more. It's a once a week podcast that you do with one of our experts. Yeah, Ben Cummins. Ben Cummins and Chris Meaney and myself, we break down things for daily fantasy like Fandul, and we make it accessible for everybody. We make it as easy as possible.

You know what else you break down? You break down a little draft. And you can play draft bestball at draft.com slash ballers as well if you like bestball. Guys, enjoy the game tonight. Call the Conqueror. The games. Rented. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.

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