The TRUTH: Top Tier Fantasy RBs in 2019 - Fantasy Football Podcast

take my shot that he is because I think that's an honest question. I think he pretty definitively showed that he could do that. I mean, when you play 14 weeks in the NFL and you hold up, I know the end of the year is going to distort it a little bit. His shoulders just, it felt like every game towards the end of the year. He exited the game late. Even after having good games, he'd have a great game and then break the shoulder again. So, but the issue is.

Every single running back out there that's going to get to work, you can ask the honest question of can he handle it? Because this is no human should be put through this. Are you drafting Dalvin Cook? I mean, this is fun to ask, I guess, January 20th, right? But right now are you higher on Dalvin Cook than Aaron Jones? Yes. I would much rather have Dalvin Cook than Aaron Jones. I will bring forth the devil of the advocate.

The devil advocate? Interesting. The singular. The devil's advocate position. Number one, Dalvin Cook is heading into a contract year. We are now multiple years in a row where superstar running backs in their contract year say, I'm not going to play until you pay me. Now, I spoke with a good friend of the show, Paul Chartian, fantasy legend. He's based in Minnesota. His gut.

take on it was that Dalvin Cook wouldn't hold out. So I, okay, I buy into that, but it's at least a concern. And when you talk about paying Dalvin Cook, Minnesota's got a problem. Yeah, it doesn't seem like something he wants to do. So the smallest amount of cap space currently heading into 2020 is actually the Pittsburgh Steelers. They have under a million dollars in cap space. That's because the Vikings are nearly $5 million negative.

Heading into 2020 with their cap, they have a massive problem. They also have a... It's called Thielen and Diggs, isn't it? They also have a... And cousins? A very, very good backup running back that the team likes a lot in Alexander Madison, who got more and more involved as the season went along. That would be my concerns with, like, Daven Cook should be a top five running back. Easy.

When you're watching him play, his talent levels are off the charts. He's making people look silly. He makes professional NFL defenders look like peons out there. But there are these, there are things, there are peripherals that are, should at least give you pause for concern right now. And maybe that'll be the things people are weighing all off season. I certainly, while I appreciate the fact that they may like Alexander Madison,

To me on film, there was a pretty wide gap between these two. I doubt that over the course of next year, part of winning that division is going to come down to Dalvin Cook, so I still cite on the top five finish for Cook. Well, and let's also be pragmatic and realize that the limited cap space that the Vikings have is...

You know, that's going to, the agent of Dalvin Cook knows, hey, what are you going to hold out for? If they can't do it right now, you could threaten say, oh, well, maybe, but he probably won't because they can't do anything. So, yeah, I'm in on Dalvin Cook. I'm a believer, and I'm going to take the gamble on his health. All right, Mike, it's your time to sing. It's your time to dance. Number six overall, Austin Echler, consistency rank of number four.

He had 132 carries. Oh, but he had 92 receptions for 993 yards and eight touchdowns. The old Danny Woodhead. I mean, that's pretty much, I mean, that's a threat to the Christian McCaffrey passing game line there. He just didn't do as much on the ground, but you're talking about a number six overall finish. An incredible first five weeks for fantasy owners that took the chance on him and the Melvin Gordon holdout. And a really...

interesting dilemma for fantasy owners on where to draft Austin Echler next year. Because not only are you maybe facing down a, you know, he's a restricted free agent, Melvin Gordon's likely to leave town, Philip Rivers likely to leave town. This is going to be very interesting where he's involved. Now, talent-wise, I don't think anybody can complain or argue about what we've seen on film. Everything to me is Philip Rivers. If Philip Rivers is gone, I'm out on wherever Echler is drafted. I'll probably be below that.

ADP. If Rivers is back, I'm in. Whether, and so this is, Melvin Gordon's there, Melvin Gordon's gone. I don't care either way. Basically, if Philip Rivers is the quarterback, I think he utilizes a running back like Austin Echler in the passing game so much that you can rely on him for fantasy purposes. And, and of course, Echler could be at a different place. So this, this, I don't think this is one of those situations where we can accurately predict anything about Austin Echler next year right now.

What we have to do is take a look at this year and say, okay, what's the truth? What was the truth about him? And the truth was when you get that level of passing volume, you are consistent. There were so many games. I remember when Melvin Gordon came back listening to, you know, other people say, you should have traded him. You lost your chance. He's, you know, now he's nothing. And I kept thinking like, wait.

No, he should be fine. He was fine last year when Melvin Gordon, you know, the previous year when Melvin Gordon was there. And he was, he certainly didn't have the upside. Right, those first four weeks, three of those first four weeks, he was a top five running back. So he lost that when Melvin Gordon came back. But he was still consistent. He didn't hurt your team but one time the whole season in any kind of drastic way. And that's all because pass catching backs are, you know,

unduly valuable in fantasy football. If you look at the last eight games played over the year, maybe that's a more realistic place to put him, RB13 over that span. But didn't really beat you up. His worst games were 25th, 29th. I mean, the timing of him was unfortunate. Yeah, it was. But I mean, all the guys up ahead of him over the last eight games in terms of rank. I mean.

Almost all of them had a bus game. You know, you talk about Aaron Jones had two busts in that span. Kenyon Drake, Alvin Camara, Todd Gurley, Mark Ingram. Those guys had bus games that Echler didn't have. And it's always been a challenge for me to look at that situation and say, wow, I need to count on the passing game work alone or the passing game touchdown alone. He had eight touchdowns through the air. So next year will be very interesting landing spot.

quarterback, all of that. The eight receiving touchdowns. That's not a number you can count on. And as far as receiving backs, I mean, most of the time you're playing them, this is a flex play. This is my third spot. James White. I know I'll get some points. Austin Echler, though, that was the type of passing work that he's actually a running back two, just locked into your lineup. We take a lot of.

opportunity to insult coaches that seem to do stupid things with their personnel. I feel like what happened in, you know, credit to Anthony Lynn or the offensive coaching staff, they started to just involve him in the passing game beyond out of the backfield, lining him up in the slot, calling, you know, pass plays, slant plays to him, getting him more involved because he was a weapon that needed to be involved. So I give him a lot of credit for that. If he's still there,

You know, they should do that again. So looking at number seven, Nick Chubb. Nicholas. Nick Chubb was number seven overall. Number seven inconsistency. 298 carries. I think that's a headline for Nick Chubb's season. 1,494 yards, eight touchdowns. Didn't quite nail the preseason prediction that he would lead the AFC in rushing thanks to, I believe, Derek Henry.

But Chubb was up there. And, you know, a really impressive season for a team that kind of didn't find its footing at all during the whole year. I mean, 75% good games. They didn't find their footing during all 16 games. I mean, I wanted to find when they did, but they really didn't. Disappointing very, very into the year for Chub, weeks 16 and 17. It really is not just 16 and 17. If you look at the split of when Kareem Hunt came back,

This is why, you know, when we project out the full season, I was a little lower on Chubb than I wanted to draft him. I wanted to draft him above where Adam ranked because I had the second half of the year worked in. He was the running back five through the first 10 games or the first 10 weeks when you didn't have Kareem Hunt there. From week 11 on, he was a running back 15. That is, those are, you know, the difference between a top.

you know, running back 5 and running make 15. That's pretty drastic. Yeah, but you would say that you, if you took the high investment on Nick Chubb, you won. I mean, you talk about the ADP situation for Nick Chubb. If you get 10 weeks at RB5, give me that all day every day. Sure, but I wouldn't have regretted it. The reason I'm bringing that up is more of a projection forward. If Kareem Hunt is there at the beginning of next year, people are still...

viewing Nick Chub as, you know, if not top five back, very, very close to that spot. He's a top 12 draft pick for me still. Even if Kareem is back? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. So, I mean, I don't think he's, I don't think R.B15 is where I would bank, you know, the Kareem Hunt experience that you said, I don't think Hunt's going to be back. I don't think he's back either. But if he did, I mean, I put him right, he's going to be in my top 12, Nick Chubb would be. Because he's great. He's a great running back. He is phenomenal.

So if you hope that Safansky and Baker's better and Odell's better, Chubb is, you know, he put up a number seven overall season and he did it with eight total touchdowns. To me, that's very impressive as a running back. When you have the Aaron Jones is finishing ahead of him or Henry, these guys with high double-digit touchdowns, Chubb played on an offense.

that consistently struggled and still finished at seven overall, and seven at consistency. So I have a hard time taking Chubb outside the top 10 after that year myself. I guess I'm more sympathetic to that season and more impressed with what I saw in film. Jay, do you have Nick Chubb, or I'm sorry, Kreme Hunt, do you have him leaving the team or staying? I don't understand the contract situation well enough to. He's restricted, so he will go out.

And he will try to find offers. You know, if that's the case. Well, we'll see what they tag him with. I mean, they could put a, they'll probably put a second round tag on it. I think the fact that John Dorsey, they'll probably stay. Yeah, if they put a second rounder on. If they did that, if they did that. Well, to speak to him leaving, John Dorsey, who drafted him with Kansas City, who then went to the Browns and signed him, that that's who brought him along. I don't think Kareem Hunt, Kareem.

his goal is to go out and get the biggest contract he can. And if there is a suitor, and I think there should be, then, yeah, he could be gone. But the interesting thing with Chubb, and we wondered going into last season about the past work of Chubb. He wasn't really a pass catching back in college. That's not his specialty. Was he going to get involved? Once Hunt came back, he was on pace for 24 receptions on the course.

of a 16-game season with Hunt there. So whoever it is, if it's Hunt or a Duke Johnson type, if they bring someone else in there, I think you have to look at Chubb as one of those Marlon Mack, Derek Henry types that, to me, push him lower if he's not an outlier. I think it's fair. I think that's Derek Henry Light. I mean, that's kind of what you would look at.

And offense they have less confidence in compared to Tennessee if things stayed the same. But a player that's very talented, a player that, you know, Nick Chubb has that 60-yard, 70-yard touchdown potential all the time. Every play. Yeah, I mean, week four, he was the number one overall, number two in week six, number five in week 12. So those weeks are in there. We'll see, there'll be a lot of talk about Kevin Stefansky and what he represents to Nick Chubb's continued high workload.

All right, we'll wrap it up with number eight. Mark Ingram. Mark Ingram at number eight, but his consistency rank was 15. Just 202 carries, right? That's a big piece of the puzzle. 60% of the time, good games, 33% of the time, great games. Did we catch lightning in a barrel with an older Mark Ingram here in Baltimore with a big whiskey barrel? Yeah, and it caught fire because the wood of the barrel when lightning is hard to catch it in a barrel.

And so the barrel caught fire. Not a bottle, a barrel. Yeah. Not a bottle. You don't want to use a bottle, guys. It's so small. You want to use a fire. Yeah. A barrel that's very, very flammable. Mm-hmm. It's always, that's what they say whenever you're trying to get that lightning, put out the wood. Lightning loves the wood. Got to catch, did we catch lightning in a barrel with Mark Ingram?