Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - RB's 21-40, Chris Harris Interview, News, Mailbag

No, those are fun. Those are fun guys to own. That's exactly what I did at first. I was all in on Tavin Coleman, mostly because I just didn't believe that Freeman could become a feature back. He just not built for it. And the more that I thought about the offensive line and the question marks there, I really think both of them are just going to eat into each other, and neither of them is going to be hugely relevant personally. Yeah, there's a real chance that's true.

I've kind of considered the way I have them ranked right now. In standard leagues, I have Coleman at 22 and Freeman at 36. I've sort of considered that a placeholder until we get some clarity on... I mean, they both have hamstring injuries while we're talking, so neither one's even out there. And Anton Smith can't even get on the field. I know, I saw that. That's pretty wild. Yeah, there's really nothing there right now. I probably have Coleman too high. I've kind of thought...

when Freeman got hurt, maybe Coleman would be, you know, be able to run away from it a little bit. I have to be honest, and I don't love T.J. Eldon, but I have to be honest. If I'm sitting in a draft room, knowing what I know exactly right this moment, and I have to choose between Yeldon Coleman, I'm just going to take the workload, even though, you know, Jacksonville's terrible. Yeah, completely agree on the workload. And moving to the Browns, which is an always interesting subject with their running backs. The guy I want to talk about was Isaiah Crowell, where you have him at...

35, so barely a running back three. And just wanted to get your take on him because he at times looked very good, at times looked very bad, and we just, the coaching staff continues to flip-flop on what we're hearing. What do you have to say about the crow? Yeah, I mean, I just want to stay away from what those guys say because it's just, boy, misinformation central. It's like the Belichick residue has somehow, you know, come.

Yeah, or come back in Cleveland from the many years ago. On tape, there's no question who's better between Corwell and West. It's Corwell. That's not, Terrence West is a below average NFL running back. It's not to say he can't score touchdowns because he's a big guy. And he's not, you know, he's not a, I'm sure he's a nice human being. He's just not a particularly good player. I think Crowell is a maybe above average player, but I don't think he's.

ever going to be great. I think I was guilty last year of probably being too enthusiastic about him when he had those couple of good games. Having gone back and watched every snap again this winter, the players that I compare him to now are something, you know, it's like Marion Barber, Rudy Johnson, you know, big guys who in the right situation, we saw those guys score a lot of touchdowns and have good seasons, but the minute something is not ideal, they're not going to help you at all. So it's an able-bodied guy who isn't

ever going to be i don't think a superstar and it's such a mess i mean when when that offensive line is good too that's what's sad i mean it's a good offensive line and they're just not going to take advantage of it defenses are not going to be scared of the pass i mean if possible that passing attack is like significantly worse this year they had to set out to accomplish that and they did it oh my goodness they worked hard

All right, Christopher Harris joining us today at Harris Football on Twitter. You can follow his podcast. We recommend it. He's not a guy who you're going to get the same old nonsense in the fantasy football world. Like us. We're two pieces of the pod. No, you need some complimentary fantasy football knowledge, and there's no one better than Chris Harris. So check out his podcast, the Harris Football Podcast. You can also visit his website, harrisfootball.com. Thank you very much for coming on the show, sir.

Oh, it's just so awesome, you guys. I would be on, you snap your fingers. I'm on anytime you want. Hey, we'll do it again for sure, especially when Joy goes in for his fifth touchdown in week two, and we'll have you right back on. Thanks, guys. All right, take care. All right, big thanks, big shout out to Christopher Harris for joining us. Thank you, sir. Yes. Thank you. Yes, that's good stuff.

Yeah. That is a different perspective. It is not the same old perspective. And yet our stats, we're looking at our rankings. Even though we come from different approaches, we really go film and stats and he goes film over stats. Our rankings are pretty similar. So it's good, it's good trust in both parties, I think. I agree. I like parties. All right, let's move on. Let's go to our 21 through 40. Last week we went one through 20. You can listen to that show on, well, I just did.

No. Okay, you're right, I didn't. Running bags. People want that stuff. Mostly me. Why won't you drop some guitar into the back half of that thing? You know what I need to do is just have a guitar right here. It's playing during the show. Oh, man. Live drops. We got to get that hooked into the board. And then we just slide you a piece of paper and let you know what to do. Except for your voice doesn't sound like that guy. Every show you've got a guitar on your lap. You can't put it to the side. You got to wear it the whole time. Deal. Dude, the YouTube channel will blow up.

All right, we're going running backs 21 through 40. At number 21 is a guy that we spoke of briefly in the news and note section because the running back situation there is. We're still alive. Some of the studios falling apart behind Jason. Everybody's alive, right? I don't know if that came through the microphones, but I almost had a heart attack. Yeah, you look scared. You got to put some more beard oil on.

We're going to have to freeze frame the video because it's going to be terrified. Andre Ellington is our number 21 consensus running back. He is in Enigma because he had a bad year on the ground last year, but that team...

Had a lot of problems that, you know, it's not all in the stats, okay? Because Andre Ellington was hurt and played through being hurt. The team had no Carson Palmer. They had a hodgep-no Drew Stanton after a while, a hodgepodge of quarterbacks coming in there, the worst maybe the NFL's ever seen. He still had fantasy value in many games. He catches passes. So Andre Ellington for this year, I like him. Really?

I actually do too. I'm moving him up more and more on my boards. David Johnson coming in and being drafted and being a stud in college was somebody that made me feel less confident in Andre Ellington. With him being out right now in camp and seeing the response of Bruce Ariens to go look at other guys and say he's not going to put him on the field if he doesn't get out here for practice, just gives me a little bit more confidence that Andre Ellington will be the guy. And the thing I like about Ellington now that...

was what burned everybody last year, is that last year you had to draft him with such high potential, right? From that year, two years ago, everyone was all aboard on Ellington. Do you think he burned people last year, though? Yeah, because of the value of where you drafted. He was like a third, fourth round. Because of the injury?

Because even outside of the injury, the stats didn't impound. I mean, his fantasy game was pretty good. Yeah, it was. But because of what you had to invest to get him, because of what you invested to get him last year, he let you down. You were expecting a top guy. What you have to invest in to get him this year, he's going to over, he's going to come in over that. You're investing in 18th, the 18th running back spot right now. He's still in the fourth. PPR. He's still a fourth run pick.

I like him. I like him because with Carson Palmer and that offense, being able to extend the field and the kind of jack-of-all-trades guy that he is, the fact that David Johnson's injured, the fact that they're bringing in backups, I think Ellington's going to get the majority of the touches. And Ariens has come out and said that. He expects 15 to 20 touches a game. And just a quick thing that concerns me is of 54 catchable passes, he dropped 8. 15% of... Did I mention the quarterbacks in Arizona?

I'm just saying. We're saying catchable pass. That's a lot of drops. Yeah, Ellington is a good pass catcher. I think it was the quarterback player. I don't think it was him. Because the year before, he was fine. Well, another pass catcher on our list, number 22. Let me give you these next three guys. 22, 23, and 24 is C.J. Spiller, LaGarrett Blunt, and Chris Ivory. I think that probably puts us fairly high on...

All three of those guys compared to some of the consensus reports out there, other experts. So let's talk first about Spiller briefly. We haven't heard a bunch about him in camp. They say he's dealing with an undisclosed injury of some sort. That's never good. And we know Sean Payton likes to stay close to the vest with his Swiss Army knife type players. But nine games last year, he didn't do much. So what is he going to be in New Orleans or is it wait and see? I think he's going to be great.

Because this puts him at, just for the record, it puts him in a RB2 spot in a standard league. Yeah, an RB2 spot is where I've got him in a standard. I've got him at 19 in a standard league. I had a mistake in my stats that was putting him up at number nine. I had him at a crazy yards per carry, and somebody pointed that out to me. But I actually really like him because I expect him to get around 70.

receptions. And even in a standard, we talked about this with Justin Fawcett. When you get 70 receptions, you get a lot of yards on the ground. You get touchdown opportunities. And I think that they're going to use him by moving him all over the field in that Darren Sproll's role. Reggie Bush role. Yeah, exactly. And if you go back and look, I mean, last year, I believe the Saints, the Saints as a group.

The most. Yeah, had the most. 175 targets to Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles in 2013. Yes. That's incredible. And it's a pattern. And last year they had the most targets to the running back as well. And I think that's completely where his value is I don't have him nearly as high as Jason and Andy in standard. I still like him very much in PPR.

And his upside is tremendous. Yeah, I've softened on him a little bit, but I still think he's going to be used well because that's what Peyton's strengths are. So Ligarrett Blunt, he's been reported as by far the best running back in camp. So he's suspended for game one. Remember that if you draft him, have a backup plan. You're probably drafting him as a three. So you're probably okay, week one, flexing somebody else. But he's been dominant.

with the Patriots. He'll have games of really low carries that will screw you over, but for the most part, he's dominant with the Patriots. And so Chris Ivory is the last guy from that three-pack. Chris Ivory is climbing up our boards a little bit, because when you have a volume position on a team with a good defense, I think you have to pay attention to it. He has been a little injury prone, and there are other guys involved. But right now, as it sits, Chris Ivory is our number 24, the last RB2 on our list. Yeah, Todd Bowles is...

talking up Chris Ivory a lot, not just in the ways that everybody says, oh, he's doing good, but in how he's going to use him. Whoops. That's good. Number 25 is Joyke Bell. So thanks for hitting that. Yeah. Just the fact that he's willing to give him third down rolls and he's going to have every first and second down roll. The backs behind him there are either not healthy or not involved right now in training camp. So I do agree that there's a health issue, a health risk right now with Chris Ivory.

But I believe he's going to get the lion's share of a high running team. So that to me says, you know, we compare that to, say, LaShawn McCoy. I don't think Chris Ivory is that great, but he's going to get so many carries. I like that. I've really liked Ivory, especially when he got freed to go to the Jets. I think he's a very talented guy. And the way he runs is amazing with the power and the ferocity. It leads to injuries. That's a knock on him.

But anytime a coach mentions a three-down back, a bell cow back going in the seventh round, I'm taking it. I'm taking that chance. All right, 25, 26, and 27. 25 is Joyke Bell, 26, Carlos Hyde, 27, Todd Gurley. We talked pretty exhaustively about Bell and Hyde earlier in the show with Chris Harris, so we won't linger on those guys. But let's talk about Todd Gurley for just a minute because reports have said he's likely to miss, and this is not...

surprise news. Maybe it is for some of you if you've drafted him already or you haven't been paying attention. But Todd Gurley's likely to miss at least one or two, three games to start the season. And so this is one of the reasons we've been telling people who draft Lev Bell, who draft Legerat Blunt, these type of players, go get Trey Mason because he's got a role, a strong role, probably through the season, or at least the first half. But Todd Gurley, 27, a lot of hype, a running team, a ton of talent.

And so what's going to shake out for Todd Gurley? The guy was taken as the 10th overall pick. They're going to slow the roll. If he's missing all the training camp, he's going to get worked in slowly. It's possible that the talent is so immense that he takes over and becomes a sensation for the second half of the year. I don't see it shaking out that way, so I'm avoiding him because he's going far too high for where I would like. I'll take him in the eighth, ninth round, but he's not going to be there.