The TRUTH About Fantasy RBs in 2018, Part 1

in a great way by Belichick, by Brady in the passing game. I don't think you can bank on this, because if you look at the truth of when his numbers came, you know, he was thrust into the role that was necessary because of certain...

pieces of time where it was like, okay, there was no Edelman, we need him. Oh, now, now Burkhead's gone. We need him. And then when everybody was kind of healthy and in there, those were when his Sony also went out for, right, missed some time. And so that was when his down games came. If they used him as they did when he was, you know, just looking, if you literally just look at the snap percentages, use him the way that they used him when they needed him, he'd be great, he'd be this good. They just plain don't need to do that. And the thing is, is when you look at him at number eight now,

Gurley, 0% of the time he busted. Saquan, 0. McCaffrey, 0. Camara, 7%. Zeke, 7%. Connor, 0. Gordon, 0. James White's up at 20%, 19%. And you had games where, yeah, you were surprised. You were excited. Week 4, 27 points. Week 14, 3 points. Week 15, 6.2 points. So, week 10, 5 points. So that, I mean, when you only have 94,

rushing attempts, you're going to see variants. You're going to see issues. And when you don't have a guy that's considered by many to be a frontline guy, I just don't know how people, how do people feel about James White this year? Were they excited? Or did they feel like he was a guy that every time he popped, you tried to throw him in, and then you weren't sure what you're going to get? There was a period of time when he was dominant.

where I was trying to trade for him because he looked as secure as it came, you know, all the way up until week nine, he was just an integral piece to that offense. But I think looking back, people aren't that excited because he really fell off once everybody got healthy. And I think that's where it's going to hurt. Well, Sony's going to go way higher than him, right? Yes. Yes. And he should. I think what the problem was for James White was, you became secure in using him, and then week 10 hit.

you saw the points fall off a cliff and it was okay it's just one game another mediocre game two more mediocre game so that's what people will remember but what i think you should remember is that james white's going to be a great value yes to me he will be a great value especially in any kind of ppr league where he's going to be

late he's going to be a late draft pick despite being the number eight running back and his situation with his contract he would be back he's like a theoretic theoretic was never drafted nobody wants to grab theo riddick over the last few years every year he's a value man's theoretic though but it's like when you're drafting your

A lot of times what happens is you get your first running back, you get your second running back, and then you start swinging for the fences. You take those third, fourth, fifth running backs in the draft, and what you're doing is you're trying to find the guy that, man, if he gets the role, if he gets the job, he's going to be unbelievable. Grab a guy like James White as your fourth running back because if you need to plug him in for injuries, for by weeks, for things like that, in a PPR league, he's going to be fine. That's how I feel about James White. Joe Mixing, number nine.

Consistency rank, number 10. This was a good year from a guy in a bad position on a bad team. 237 rushing attempts, 1,168 yards, 8 touchdowns on the ground, another 43 receptions, and a touchdown on 55 targets. He missed a couple games. He only busted 7% of the time, and he was good 71% of the time. This was a...

Really good year for Joe Mixon. You saw all the talent on display. You saw a team commit to him. They're making a transition from Marv. Oh, hey. Yeah. Tushay. Marvin Lewis. Tushay. And look, the sky's the limit for Joe Mixon. He is a, he's like Sequin Light when you apply the bad roster, bad offensive line, not winning a lot of games, so didn't get to run the clock out a lot of the time.

He's not Saquan by any means, but he's in a similar situation with the team. Yeah, while Andy Dalton was there up through week 12, Joe Mixen was the running back 12. So he was a running back one. And I think their offense gets better this year. I think they needed to get rid of Marv. And yeah, what we saw in college coming into last season, his rookie year, there was so much hype around Joe Mixon's talent. He just didn't see it last year. You really didn't. And, you know,

This year, he is who everybody thought he was, and I think he's going to be a really safe pick next year. Well, and he averaged the third most rushing yards per game of any running back. 83.4 yards per game. I think that this is kind of where, probably where he belongs next year, probably in that 8-9 range, right, and where you're drafting it? The interesting thing will be Giovanni Bernard. The team can move on from him for...

very minimal hit against their cap. Oh, that's pretty cool. Is that Mark Wallenberg? That's me. If Geo's gone, I can step up. It's very possible. But what I was also going to say is he's not super expensive about $4.5 million or $3.75, I should say. I think you want Geo to stay. If I were a fantasy owner of Joe Mixon, I want Geo Bernard to stay. 100%. Joe Bernard's rushing attempts.

very, very, very, very low this year. He had two games that were mixing missed and he was at 15 and 12, but in the games he played, two, two, one, five, three. What are his reception is looking like? Receptions in the first four games, two a game, but he had a six, he had a one, he had a four. That would be the area that you would say maybe Mixing would benefit from somebody that's, you know, Mark Walton. Yeah, hey, it's me. That's where I think. So I guess either way, Mixing's is a workhorse, right? With a new coaching staff in place there, that's where I'd,

rather Gio be gone. Because when they get into training camp and they go, hey, Gio's actually a really good player because he is, they might want to use him more. If it's just Mark Waltonberg and another rookie that they pick up, then that's going to be far more difficult. I don't know if I agree with that. All the guy did was be named Mark Walton. Like this poor guy. Poor guy.

What do you mean, poor guy? He wouldn't even be talked about on this show. But he's not. We call him a name that is not his name. I forgot that his name is Mark Walton. I think you were so casual. Mark Waltonberg is his name. This guy. He should be happy. Yeah. He might have a shirt, man. His name's on a shirt right now. Right? But it's not his name. This is true. That's the point. Yeah. It's barely a nickname. It's your name fused with another.

That sounds like something that Mike Reitenberg would say. Yeah, see, how dare you? How dare you? Yeah, yeah. David Johnson, number 10. I'm getting a soundboard. Brooks put it on. I need a soundboard. Did you want bad joke? Oh, I wanted a bad joke drop. You needed something. You needed a punt. Thank you. Oh, that's all right. David Johnson, he finished in the top 10. Does he deserve a little praise? A little melodic praise? No. No. All right. No.

Number 11 on consistency. Here was the kicker with David Johnson, only 6%, aka 1, of his games in the great category. Only one big time week. That was week 10, 33.8 points. He only busted 6% of the time. So he had one bust game, one great game, and everything else was summer between mediocre and good. We need to go all the way down to running back 19 on the season to find someone with only a 6% great game finish.

Yeah, and that's why people feel like he was a bust because they never. Because he was. Yeah, I mean, even though he finished as the number 10 running back, the way he was utilized was just trash. Yes. Never having any kind of great games, never winning you any weeks. And you drafted a guy to be, I mean, when you're drafting that high, you need a guy that's going to come in and throw 30 points down on your opponent over and over and over through the year. That wasn't what you got with David Johnson. But.

You also wanted a lot more than 50 receptions for a guy who in 2016 was the number one graded wide out by pro football focused. Yeah, and on top of that was his average depth of target under the spectacular Mike McCoy led offense. His ADOT was 0.8 yards. A dot being average depth of target. And then that magic year for him in 2016, he led all running backs with a 4.7 average depth of target.

Point eight is not going to get the job done. We hope that was all completely on the shoulders of Mike McCoy, maybe a little remnants of him seeping into. Is that the worst we're going to see from David Johnson over the next two years? 100%. Well, I don't know about three years. Three years we're getting into near 30, but he's been paid. Right.

And this team had as bad of an offensive line situation that you could have. They're the worst team in football. I think it's the worst. And I believe that David Johnson will finish higher than 10 next year. Here's something to realize with the coaching change. So pro football focused. They ranked him as the number one wide receiver two years ago because that's how good he was in the past catching game. And that kind of just all went away with Bruce Ariens gone.

Cliff Kingsbury, the new running backs, the new head coach brought in. Here's something that Pro Football Focus pointed out since 2014. Cliff Kingsbury's running backs have received 372 targets. That's the sixth most in the NCAA. They've got 293 passes, the sixth most, for 2,551 receiving yards, the fifth most, and 88 first downs gain.

Cliff Kingsbury uses the running backs in the passing game. That's what they brought him in for. That's going to be huge for David Johnson. You hope as a DJ fan, as a fantasy owner of David Johnson, you see Mike McCoy in the very Jeff Fisher light and Cliff Kingsbury and the very Shaw McVeigh light. Yes. And even if it's just a little bit of the same of the Sean McVeigh, it's got to get better for DJ. All right. On next episode, we'll handle more running backs, getting to the truth about players like Philip.

Lindsay, rookie sensation. Tariq Cohen, Derek Henry. Oh, the truth. Chris Carson, Nick Chubb. I got to stop while I'm ahead. Let's do this instead. I knew that was coming. Today's Pristine deal of the day, a James Connor signed Steelers throwback jersey sold yesterday on pristine auction. To me. For $92.14. I wish. Do we have a James Connor jersey? We don't. I should get us one, but Steelers.

Throwbacks jerseys are great. Not to be confused. Not to be confused. Just throw-up jerseys. Oh, yes. Which are very similar to what we talked about in the beginning of the show. So, pristine auction. Never forget. Making a bid on pristine is completely free. Making a count is completely free. Check them out. Get some deals. Get some steals. Footland. We'll see you in a couple days. Talk some more true about these running backs. I'm going to throw up. Goodbye.

you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join the foot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers. You're juggling a lot, but you can still squeeze in a financial plan. With the Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor as your partner, it's not only possible, it's personalized. So if you're tying the knot, closing on a house, or welcoming a little one,

You'll be ready for whatever life tosses your way. It's the right time to feel less stressed and more certain. That's a better way to money. Let's get started at nm.com, the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ball is here, and that means the pumpkin spice latte is back at Starbucks.

It's the one we've been waiting for. So whether you're a fan of the original pumpkin spice latte or ready to mix it up with an iced pumpkin cream chai, the new iced pumpkin cream matcha, or the new iced pumpkin cream shaken espresso. You can find your favorite taste to fall. Only at Starbucks.