Early Top 10 RB Rankings + Ball Boys, Yeti Analysis - Fantasy Football Podcast for 4/12

six rushing touchdowns this year. So I think that he's a guy who is in line for double digits. They also got an offensive guy in there at head coach. So I think that this is an offense that's going to look to open things up. And Dalvin Cook is a special player. So I love both these guys. If I had to bet who has more touchdowns, despite what happened this last year, my bet would be more on the Cook side. Two years ago, Dalvin Cook had 31 carries inside the 10. That turned into 11 touchdowns.

In 2020, it was 35 carries that turned into 12. He had 26 carries, so not terribly off of the 31. Four rushing touchdowns inside the 10. So that's where you expect a positive regression for Dalvin Cook. My red flag for Dalvin Cook is just the change of the coaching staff. Yes, he's an offensive mind there. But what system? Like, are we going to see?

the Zimmer system of this offense runs through Dalvin Cook, or does Alexander Madison get more play? Madison was pretty successful last year in the couple games where he received the opportunity. So the timeshare numbers getting closer together, that's my biggest concern for Cook. He's never played a full season. He missed four different times last year due to ankle, twice, shoulder.

COVID, five seasons in the league, never played a full year. So you're going to miss games with Delvin Cook. That's just built into what happens as well. Giovante Williams comes in at number six on our consensus, top 10 running back rankings. Jason and Mike have them at seven. I've got him at six.

I am more than happy to change this take if the Broncos either bring back Melvin Gordon or draft a top-tier committee running back, which could absolutely happen if Gordon leaves. I would not be shocked if they – I think they liked what they had in a committee and being able to play players off each other. He would be the lead of that committee and would be very, very, very good. 22 years old. You know, last year you saw –

The talent more than you saw the results in fantasy football. So you only had three weeks inside the top 10 last year sharing time, but 1,200 yards from scrimmage, 50 plus targets. That's a great sign as a rookie. If you didn't pay attention to Javante Williams last year because he wasn't the starter for this team, he was out freaking standing. He was so good. He was dominant on every touch.

He moved piles, he broke tackles, and if he gets the workload, he will be a sensational fantasy star. So I know Andy you tweeted, if you knew that Melbourne Gold was gone, he could be as high as you're running back for. That is not outlandish. That is, if he has the job to himself, he's going to be a special player. You know, it's like Jonathan Taylor coming into last year. You knew that there was this young, hyper-talented guy. You just weren't sure.

Are they going to use them the right way? Give them the opportunities. His talent won out. That'll happen with Javante Williams. Funny, the concern for me is Nathaniel Hackett, who's now their head coach. He's coming down from Green Bay. He was the offensive coordinator up there for multiple years. And the biggest gripe throughout the fantasy football history of Aaron Jones is free Aaron Jones. Give him more touches. We want him to be a true bell cow.

dominant for fantasy football uh in the in the limited amount of or you know in the in the in the time show that erin jones was in but that's like if that's the system then hack it is bringing down and i have no reason to doubt that that's the system that he's going to bring down javanti will be

in a bit of a time share. But I have a reason. Why is that? Aaron Jones is a 205 pound back. He's like an Alvin Camar. These aren't guys that you're going to look at as a coaching staff and be like, we should give this guy the ball 300 times versus a 220 pound Javante who, you know, Aaron Jones came into the league kind of projected to be a timeshare type back. Javante, I think, is built for a three-down workload. So it could be the system. You're right. I mean, it's worth bringing up that red flag. But I think that that is.

When you have A.J. Dillon on the roster and you have a 205-pound Aaron Jones, I'm going to mix a bit. It was also Jamal Williams, too. It wasn't just A.J. Dylan. It was they committed to that two running back system. I mean, that's why I think they could draft somebody. That hasn't stopped me from putting Giovante at seven. I mean, I think he's an incredible player of, like, his ability to evade tackles and things like that is elite. So.

I think it'll still be great, but just, you know, trying to... Yeah, just say both sides. Yeah, and obviously Russell Wilson arriving in opportunities to score the football is going to be very good for him. Alvin Camara comes in at seven, Jason at six, I haven't seven, Mike at eight. Alvin Camara last year, 240 carries 898 yards, just four touchdowns on the ground, five through the air on 47 receptions, spent a lot of time.

off the field last year, missed weeks 10 through 13, did average 22 touches per game the most of his career. And it really, you know, it shows you that it's efficiency. That's his game. And when the offense was successful, he was very, very efficient. So it wasn't about touches per game. It never has been for Alvin Camara. It's been about touchdowns, red zone opportunities, and, you know, his whole career he averaged a touchdown every 11.7 carries.

Last year it was every 60 carries. So, yeah, maybe there's some positive regression there, but I think it has a lot to do with. Drew Brees. Yeah. Was that a Drew Brees? Yes. Oh, excuse me. It was a Drew Sneeze. I was just looking at the sun. A Drew Sneeze. Yeah, it was right there. But you have to have a better offense in New Orleans for Alvin Kamara to deliver on, deliver what he's given fantasy players in years past. So the Saints have.

made a trade this offseason to acquire another first round draft pick this year. And there's questions onto what their line of thinking is. It's one of two things. It's either they're getting more capital to move up in the draft, to draft the quarterback of their future. That's one option. And I don't think that that's what they're doing. We'll find out in less than a month.

I think that they are in it to win it now. They've got a great defense. They've got a division that outside of Tom Brady is like, we can win a lot of games here. We can get to the playoffs. But they know they need a couple more offensive pieces. So with the extra first round draft pick, if they draft a high-end wide receiver, they get Michael Thomas back. Winston is there. And they already signed Andy Dalton as like the backup. So that would be so much capital to put into the quarterback if they're.

really looking at quarterback. This could be an offense that is much improved from last year, not back to the Drew Breeze, Sean Payton, epic Saints offense. But I do think that this is a team that going into this season could have far more scoring opportunities than they did last year with, you know, the round robin at quarterback and no offense of weapons outside of Camara. What I liked to see was the five and a half targets.

per game. That's what he averaged with James and, you know, you would expect that James is the starting quarterback for this team. And that includes a game where in week four, somehow Alvin Camara had zero targets. But that was followed up with an overcorrection of eight and then 11. So I think the just learning process for James in New Orleans of you need to make sure that you are targeting Alvin Camara a good amount every single game.

So the receptions seem like they will be safe, which is, that's a massive part of Kamara's value. Najee Harris comes in at number eight. Last year, incredibly huge workload, 307 carries 1,200 yards, seven rushing touchdowns, 74 receptions for just 467 yards on those 74, three touchdowns. I have him, he's our consensus eight, Mike has him at six, Jason at nine, I have him at 10.

I am I'm just simply not confident in the offense and the opportunities in the most brutal division in football. He had the second lowest yards per carry ever among rookie running backs with 1,200 plus rushing yards. So it was, it was volume. It really was volume for Najee Harris. And so I just don't know.

With Big Ben's noodle arm being removed from the equation, whether or not he's going to receive the target totals. That's 100% what it is for me. You've got a bad offensive line without your Hall of Fame quarterback. If Trubisky is there, is he really going to...

Is he going to look to scramble a little bit or look to just check it down over and over and over. That's where Najee, 74 receptions, 90 plus targets. If that goes down to 60 targets and, you know, 45 receptions, well, yeah, he's still really involved. He's going to be good for fancy, but he's not going to be what it was last year. I think that the offense is going to take a step back. And so I love Najee. I mean, talent-wise, he was one of my favorite prospects to watch.

I'm scared about this offense. You know, when we get to wide receivers, I know I'm lower on Deontay. I'm just lower on the Steelers. It is a bad division. It's not AFC West. They take umbrage with what you said. But, um, uh, I do think that it is a tough division. And that scares me off, nodgy. He had the second most rushing attempts. He had the most targets in reception, or I believe tied in receptions at the running back position.

Jonathan Taylor and Joe Mixon wore the running backs closest in rushing attempts. Jonathan Taylor had 18 rushing touchdowns mixing at 13. Najee had seven. Now, maybe the offense is lateral or gets worse. I think that the Steelers have been without their Hall of Fame quarterback for multiple years. He's been on the field, but he has not been very good. And if Trubisky can be...

just keep a few more drives alive and up that scoring just slightly than Najee Harris is safe. And you know, what we do know. He's very safe regardless. Like he's the highest, he's a super high floor volume player. That's exactly what I was going to say. But I think he's good, not great. Is Mike Tomlin that like that's just, this is the system. Mike Tomlin is one of the few coaches who's who wants one running back doing everything.

And we've now seen that over the course of multiple running backs. So the volume will be there. It will be, it would, if he ends up at 3.9 yards per carry again, that's going to suck. Like, that will, it will suck to watch him struggle like that. But he will volume his way into being a very safe floor play with. Totally. And I still believe in the skill of Naji that if they, we can make fun of the Mason Cole edition, but, you know.

They're trying to address the offensive line. And if that unit plays just a little bit better, you could see, I think you could see more production from Noggi, where the volume is the same. I just don't have that level of confidence that Mitch Trubisky represents an upgrade on the offensive side of the football. Oh, I have confidence that it does not. I mean, I agree with you that Big Ben, they lost their Hall of Fame quarterback a while ago.

The Saints lost their Hall of Fame version of Drew Brees a while ago, too. The last couple of years was a dink-and-dunk, constantly injured, and then you still saw the drop off to this past season. The last two names that we'll mention this morning, Joe Mixin and James Connor, you can put them in whatever order you want for 9-10 because they came in tied for us in our consensus rankings. Jason has Joe Mixon 8. I have him at 11, Mike at 12.

And for James Connor, I have him at 9, Mike at 10, Jason has him at 12. Right now, I mean, Joe Mixen last year, availability was a big part of the equation for him. He had spike weeks, he had disappointing weeks, but he played all the weeks. And that was huge in his fantasy finish. Still just 25.7 years old. Defences have to account for T. Higgins, Jemar Chase.

And look, Joe Mixon is a talent. He really is. It's 13 rushing touchdowns last year, 1,200 rushing yards, 42 receptions. I think it was pretty clear last year he was not going to be on the field on third down all the time. Right. And they're not going to move to a new system of him doing that when they reached the Super Bowl with this system. So. Well, when you have the chance to give P. Ryan the ball, you've got to get P. Ryan the ball in space. Yeah.