Early Top 10 RB Rankings + Kyle Juszczyk Joins the Show - Fantasy Football Podcast for 4/13

one game one other time. So you can say, oh, that's amazing. He is a, you know, an Ironman, and that should be a plus for him. But every running back, I don't care who you are. There's no running back in the history of the game that doesn't get injured and miss time. And on the flip side, if AJ Brown were to get injured, you know, you saw E.J. Brown miss the first three games last year. They had that weird week four by week. That first month of the season, Derek Henry was the running back 20.

So, you know, he can be game scripted out with not being involved in the passing game. I love him. I'm not trying to make an argument against him. But that's why when I look at, okay, Sequin Barclay or some of these other guys that I've got ahead of him, I think that, you know, I'd rather have the pass catching option. And when it, when push comes to shove and I'm on the clock, I'm going to take Seaquin. Really? I am. Man, I'd.

You're down on Sequin, right? Of the lowest of the three of us? Yeah, I am the lowest of the three. We're going to talk about Sequin next. So I am slightly lower, but, and again, it's not because I don't like Barclay, but I prefer these other guys. And Derek Henry, what he, the consistency that Derek Henry has put up the last couple of years, it's really outrageous. I'm with you. I want my running backs to be past catchers, but I am just.

I've learned to embrace the outlier that Derek Henry and Nick Chub are. I have accepted it. I have let it wash over me. It's not how I prefer it, but that's how it is because they get it done. Next on the list, number five, Sequin Barclay from the New York Giants, he will be returning an unfortunate situation where he tore his ACL. And right after he had a hand injury or something too, it was a...

if I'm remembering correctly, he got knocked out of the game. Right. And it was like, oh, crap, what happened to Sequin? And then he came back in a few plays. And then it was far worse. Towards ACL, he was out. He is elite. He does see 22 opportunities per game. So he gets the workload. But how, explain to me why you're so confident in Sequan Barclay over someone like Derek Henry. Look, Sequin Barkley's,

obviously elite as elite as elite gets when he's when he's on the field you can argue that well the injury issue you know you want a guy who's on the field like derrick henry versus a guy who's missed time but you know when you really do the math and you look historically like it's almost it's almost the opposite that's true in the sense that like if you've been healthy for a long stretch your injury is coming um like truly

Everybody misses games at the running back position. You're saying now we're now putting in, you're due for an injury? I'm not calling for an injury. And that's not the reason I'm doing this. But I remember several years ago, man, what was it? Like 2012 or something. I can't remember the exact year when Adrian Peterson went down early in the season and tore his ACL. And he tumbled in the draft the next year. Well, he tore his ACL like at the end of the year.

And he was about to get to me at like pick nine. I really wanted him. He went to pick eight. Then he was the running back two the next year and was just dominant. You want to know why? Because he is crazy elite. He is, you know, as peak an athlete at the position as you can have. And that's Sequin. I do, you know, we do need to be realistic with the specific injury because it was ACL, MCL, and meniscus. He was? His surgery was not until October.

So it will be a slightly later timeline, but the timeline should put him in by week one at full strength. But it's worth at least noting that because if I don't have I don't have any problem with someone that's like, I'm going Derek Henry over Sake 1 100 out of 100 times. That's a good piece of ammunition for that side of the argument. It's not just that. I'm not super concerned about the injury. It's the fact that the team is bad.

Now, they have added Kenny Gawaday, but Daniel Jones, as much as I've tried to support and believe in Daniel Jones, we do not have conclusive evidence that he can consistently lead an excellent offense. Now, he was up against it with no Sequin, so it's a chicken or the egg situation from last year. But their offensive line is terrible. You can look back, if you remember week one.

when the Giants played, I believe it was the Steelers, and we need to get, I'm going to try and pull that stat line up, but it was a primetime game, and Barclay could get absolutely nothing done in the running game. The offensive line was just devoured. He was, he was excellent in the receiving game. He was six for 60, but he was 15 carries.

Do you remember how bad it was, Jason? It was sub 10 yards, right? 15 carries for six yards. Yeah. But in fairness, that was also the Pittsburgh Steelers who bottled up a lot of great running back. Yes, it was. I know there was a, he was up against it in week one. My point is simply the offensive line is not going to be better. Saquan Barkley is a home run hitting running back where if the home run doesn't happen to come in that game, you get.

You get some performances like that. Now he pads it and he keeps you safe because of all the receiving work. Exactly. I'm just explaining me why I would prefer Derek Henry to Sakewan Barkley. I think the Giants offense is going to be much improved this year. I think getting Saquan back, getting Kenny Goladay, and allowing Sterling Shepard to be a two. That's what he is and not have to try to be the guy. I think the offense has at least the chance.

You know, you try to set these young quarterbacks up to not just have no opportunity but failure ahead of them. And I think they've done that with Daniel Jones. That's not to say he'll succeed, but he has an opportunity to have a good offense this season. Next on our list. Number six, Aaron Jones, I have him at number five. Jason and Andy have him. They both have him at number seven. Now this, this actually upsets me. Really? I can't believe you guys would take.

Like to seven? Aaron Jones has been dominant, has been dominant for fantasy football. The running back two in 2019, the running back five in 2020, and he did miss two games. Running backs all miss games. However, his consistency is an A on the Fantasy Footballers.com. You have one game, one game last year where he's outside of the top 24. Jamal Williams is gone.

And to me, that's an increase of passing down work for Aaron Jones. Yes, A.J. Dillon and his quads and how much I love A.J. Dylan, he is there. But Aaron Jones is the guy. They just secured him. They gave him the bag. He is the guy. There's no doubt to me that Aaron Jones will be the primary running back. Ninth most targets among running backs this past year. Fourth highest yards per touch at the running back position last year. Aaron Jones is a difference making running back.

Aaron Rogers still has it. The Jeopardy skills as the host, that's TBD. But as a Hall of Fame quarterback, I don't know if that's to be determined. I feel like I determine that real quick. I've watched enough previews. You're not giving him any leeway? No, yeah, sorry. Look, he's a great quarterback. That was, that's the end. I mean, look, he's got the charisma of, you're going to kill him with silence. Of Jay Gris over here.

Yeah, I don't... The man was nervous. He looked it. Yes. Would you not be nervous if you... Jason, you're going from this and you're going to go host Jeopardy. I don't think I'd be nervous because I don't care about Jeopardy. If you said I'd get to host Saturday Live, I'm sure I'd have some nerves. You would not be nervous to go host Jeopardy. I'd be nervous about... Do you know any big words on that show? Reading all the big words. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And Rogers had to read those big words. But he's also very, very smart.

Yes. So I think he knows the words, which is impressive. Fair enough. I don't even know what we're talking about. Oh, yeah, Aaron Jones. So defend yourself somehow that you're...

completely out on Aaron Jones. Yes. When we're talking our top 10 list, we have to really manufacture. Oh, we're out. He's my number seven running there. You're out. I think he's great. You made a lot of good points. The fact that Jamal Williams is gone and they paid up to keep him. I love it. He's going to be a great running back this season. There's a little bit of caution to me because we've seen.

really upsetting utilization in games before where this year it worked out because the consistency was there when the games where he wasn't utilized much the touchdowns came but you remember two years ago he's running back two and he was like not consistent at all had 31% bust games i think that that could rear its face again that's why he's seven but i would love to have aaron jones on my team no you would not number seven you'd prefer this guy yes i would ezekiel elliott of the dallas cowboys

Old busted Elliot. Yeah, you've got him a number eight. I got him a number eight. I'm out. You've got him an eight because of your hate with Zeke here. I look, I talked about this on the, um, I'm out. The things not to overreact. And I, one of the things I wanted to remind myself and the audience to not overreact to is Zeke's down year. Zeke is 25 years old. He was the running back three while Dak was there.

Dak went down, Andy Dalton went down, the offensive line went down, and Zeke wasn't that good. Now, when we say that Zeke... Was it a Danucci? Ben Danucci was going to save the team? That was a fun time. And he was still a running back one. So it's like he was, he had everything against him and had a terrible stretch of the season. He still finished as a running back one. I just think with Dak back, I love this offense. I don't really love this defense, which is great for fantasy.

I think you're going to see more of the same of what you've always seen from Ziki. He didn't look bad on film to me. He looked like a guy with a worse offensive line and worse offense around him. Number eight on the list is Nick Chubb. I have him at 7, Andy has him at 8. Jason has him down at 11. His past catching running back to buy is is rearing its face as Jason would say. Nick Chubb at 11? Yeah, it's where he belongs. He's a back end RB1.

believable. I love Nick Chubb last year in 12 games, 190 carries over 1,000 yards, 12 touchdowns, only 18 targets. That part sucks, but like I said, I've just learned I'm going to embrace that Nick Chubb and Derek Henry are outliers. Nick Chub is elite. Nick Chub is a home run hitting running back. He has that in his arsenal. He also has the number one rated offensive line following the 20,

2020 season as per PFF and as per people who have eyeballs and watch the Cleveland Browns and see that those guys are just bullies up front pushing everybody around I mean this is this is the ultimate mixture elite offensive line elite runner 11 is egregious and in a very good

very good defense that is going to keep them in games and allow him to continue to run, which is important for the non-pass catching running back. When I watch Nick Chub, I have a good time. Like, I just enjoy life watching Nick Chub run because he is amazing. And you're like, that looks, I give that, I don't know, 11. No, you know what I say? I say, ah.

I'd give him the ball more because you brought up the two outliers, but there's only one outliers, Derek Henry. Derek Henry averaged 26 opportunities a game. He was tied for second in the NFL, whereas Nick Chub averaged 17, tied for 18th in the NFL. And if you actually wait targets the way that you should, because targets are more valuable than rushing attempts. After coming back from his injury, he was 18 and a half.

So, okay, he was up a little bit more. But when you wait the targets, Derek Henry was still the fourth highest opportunity score. Whereas, let me find Chubb, he was 27th. So that's how good he is. Oh, absolutely. And if you, if he got the full workload, if he got a Derek Henry workload, he would be in the top five for sure. But when I look at these other options, I like guys that.

catch the ball. Obviously, we've talked about that. And he doesn't get the opportunity as much as I want him to. I like him. He's going to finish as a running back one. It'll be a back end RB1 because he doesn't have pass catching. Quick dynasty aside here. Nick Chubb is 25 years old. He is in a contract year with the Cleveland Browns. He seems like a player who's going to be resigned. Are you, do you have any concern of like trying to, in dynasty?