RB Rankings Countdown: 20-11, Kamara Suspension - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/7

And so it's just, does Pete Carroll look at that? Was that part of the reason of like, well, I'm going to get Zach Charbonnet on this team because Walker is, he's not as big as Zach Charbonnet and he's not as smooth catching the ball. So there are huge concerns, but because of the home run ability of Kenneth Walker, you can have weeks where. his fantasy finish will outproduce the actual volume that he had, which will make him volatile. He could be at 14 carries. But one of those carries could be a 30-plus-yard rushing touchdown because that's the type of player that he is. So it's going to be up and down. It's pretty scary. But there's also the stuff of Seattle, like Andy was saying, Chris Carson was still the guy, despite the drafting of Rashad Penny in the first round. So Kenneth Walker could still be the guy.

That could end up that way. There's been commentary from the local beat reporters to that end. Right. The expectation is that Kenneth Walker is going to get the majority of the work. Like that just came out last week. So it is a really tough situation because, you know, we're not going to talk about Zach Charbonate today or tomorrow. Right. He's not part of the top 20. But he's a tough decision by extension of the Kenneth Walker thing. And he's going to be too expensive in drafts to comfortably handcuff. I mean, maybe you do it. No, I'm not. But that's not, I hate that. I hate that situation. Two high draft capital running backs on the same team is just not a fun situation to manage in managed leagues. I find at his ADP right now, I have been passing on Kenneth Walker. This is why I say I'm scared because. Because you don't have the exposure. Maybe you need. Exactly. I will regret having passed on him so much.

And in hindsight, I'll look back and go, I should have known better. Would he have been number two in Dynasty running back rankings, startup rankings, if the Charbonnet pick hadn't happened? Would it be Bijon Walker? Probably. That's what I think. I can say top five for sure off the top of my head. But, I mean, very possibly at number two, in the ADP zone where he is currently on Sleeper, you're talking about the Jamir Gibbs zone. Aaron Jones, Joe Mixon. So if you're taking a running back right there, it's between those four guys. And that's a really tough decision. I would be, I'm okay with that ADP and I'd be excited to have them as my RB2. But I would be also, I'd be with Jason and the fact that I would just be holding my breath every week. What was it? Chris Carson started the fumble.

The fumble situation in Seattle, and all of a sudden it was somebody else's turn. So number 18, Travis E.N of the Jacksonville Jaguars 24 years old. He's our RB 18, which is below ADP, is ADP is RB 13. I've got him at 15. Jason at 19, Mike at 21. So even though I am the highest and above our ranking as a group, I'm still below ADP. He is a great talent. There's a lot of weapons in this offense. My main concern is related to touchdown upside and potential for him. I think it's going to come through the air and through big plays. He wasn't great near the goal line last year, and Tank Bigsby is a tank. Yes. He is a monster. And I think he's going to get all that work. I really do. The early reports out of camp have been very positive on Tank Biggsby.

He had 14 carries. This is Travis E.TN. Inside the five, he only scored three times. The similarities between Kenneth Walker and Travis E.T.N. are just astounding. They are both exceptionally explosive athletes that on any touch can house it who last year, both guys had stretches where you thought, this is the future of the position for fantasy football. And then both of these players ended up having their team's draft a day two pick on a talented running back who's, seemingly going to take goal line carries away from them because neither one of them were great in the goal line situation. So very, very similar. If I have to choose between these guys, I like E.T.N a little bit better. The fact that he is coming back to year two off of his season-ending injury two years ago, I like that a lot. And, you know, the Jacksonville Jaguar's offense, I think, takes a...

Big step forward. So both of these guys are very, very similar. There was a run last year. Like this is the potential of Travis E.T.N. in this offense. And you're going to see it. It may not be consistent, but you're going to see it. He had a run week 5 through 8 last year. 7.1 a carry. 8.6 a carry. 8.1 a carry. 6.5. Jamal Charles was reborn for four weeks with Travis E.T.N. He was ripping off 50-yard runs every week. It's exactly what it looked like, though. Shot out of a cannon. started to get banged up a little bit, played 8% of snaps in week 12, didn't really produce from that point on. And it was, you know, no touchdowns. I mean, he only scored five on the year and four of them came in a three-week span. And so that is the concern is that without a big play and without the team transitioning to passing him the ball more, which I think he's completely capable of being, like if you made him Austin Echler, like in the offense, he would be fine.

Yeah, I mean, in college. But it's a matter of do they do that? In college, with Trevor Lawrence, he was an amazing pass catching running back. In the NFL, he's actually been a little bit inefficient in the past catching work, but I think that's silly. He has the tools and the ability to be a pass catching back. Okay. So, Mike, any other thoughts on Mr. ETN here? He starts with Indianapolis. In Kansas City, Houston, Atlanta. Okay. That's not a. bad four pack to start the season. I'm in agreement with Jason here of I think that him and Kenneth Walker are very similar archetypes. It seems like their journey in the NFL. They're just holding hands skipping down the meadows. I have Walker one spot ahead of Travis E.T.N. So I slightly like Kenneth Walker a little bit more, but not by a wide margin. James Connor comes in at 17. The one.

slightly sparkling jewel in the toilet of the Cardinals. You look in that toilet and you go, oh, no. There's a diamond in there. You put like a disco ball light attached in. Are you going in after the diamond? Yeah. If you look in that dirty toilet, this is a used toilet. Oh, come on. Look, it's the Cardinals. It's a used toilet. This is too much. If you look in that used toilet and you see it like an engagement, a diamond ring. Yeah. Are you going after it? Are you flushing? Of course you're going after it. Okay. You can wash your hands five times. Did you see the highlight play? Yes. That's going around? Of course you did. I saw it, was also tagged in it many, many times, but of the... The Cardinals took about 45 minutes to snap the ball. And then when he threw the ball, it hit the defender in the back of the head. Yeah. Looked real good. It was awesome. So, are you with me, though? Are you going... Are you diving in?

Jason is for sure I am you got him at 13 I'm at 16 Mike at 23 and he's being drafted at 23 so we are are we should we leave it in the toilet are we like Cardinal biased fans here with James Connor? I think it's fair to be accused of that simply because when you are high on a player that is from your home team, it can look like that. You don't get high in your own supply, man. Yeah. They're a local team. The nice thing, though, is his ADP is not outrageous. It's not someone that, you know, I'm not drafting him.

as a top 15 running back. I wouldn't do that. He carries a lot of risk. You worry about the offense as a whole without Kyler to start, and you worry about his inability to finish complete seasons. That being said, last year when Kyler went out in week 10, I mean, you had James Connor from week 9 through 17. That is most of the time that Kyler was gone. And it was a bad offense. He was the running back five in fantasy. Like he got it done. And the reason he got it done is because he's all that was there. And he's really good. So if you've got a guy that can get goal line who can catch the ball, who has no competition, it kind of doesn't matter that you're on a bad offense. 68 reception pace in that run. That's the situation you find with James Connor. Yeah. Is he going to have touchdown regression? Yeah, probably. He probably won't score as often as he did.

Well, he didn't even score last year. There's also the world, though, where Kyler misses the first two, three weeks, but then he's back. And the offense is okay, and they score more points. And all of a sudden, you've got a guy in, you know, the running back 20s who does have running back one upside. Look, we all have them ranked where we would, you know, we'd rather take him two rounds later than ETN and get the value there. But it also, I have fears because the first eight weeks last year were a complete bust. Like James Connor was talked about this exact way.

this exact way in the offseason. And he was a bus for fantasy purposes. By the time you were playing him in week nine, it was, you were probably in a different situation, and he was on a different fantasy roster. So that freaks me out a little bit. Camp reports have been great. I saw some highlight real catches from James Connor the other day. And he's going to be a good friend to Cole McCoy and Clayton-tune in these really rough, disgusting defeats. The rooting-tooting, shooting quarterbacks. of the Arizona Cardinals. That's right. That's right. 28 years old. Is that a warning sign? That's not the best. That is just, you know, that's the age cliff there for running backs. He has seen a good amount of work in his career. So I have him ranked, you know, where he is going at ADP, which that means that he's, it's a fine pick. I mean, the thing to look at is we just talked about Travis E.TN.

at 18. And we're a little bit, you know, behind there of his ranking. We have James Connor ranked in front of ETN and he's going two rounds later. So to me that says this is probably a value that I'm going to be interested in, especially if I'm starting heavy wide receiver or onesie positions. Jimmy here Gibbs comes in at 16, rookie running back for the Detroit Lions. There we go. A young stud running back with, I think, fewer question marks. I think he's going to be part of their plan from week one. Like this is, they're designing this offseason for both him and David Montgomery to be a huge part of this offense. I think they'll share snaps together a lot. The reception told us for Jemir Gibbs, like, they're going to be very, very good.

Yeah, he is a receiving back, and that matters so much in fantasy football. He's a weapon, Jason. Yeah, that's, that's, he's a weapon first. He's positionless. These are the quotes being given about, which Amir Gibbs. But if you look at what he did as a pass catcher at Alabama, the second most ever receptions for an Alabama running back, he is truly elite. Not only did he catch a lot of passes, but when he caught him, just. so effective. He had two drops on 103 catchable targets. He's very, very good. And a running back target is worth two and a half times more than a rush attempt. So if you want to put that in context of like, well, if you thought about he only gets 125 carries, right? Because he's a smaller back. He's not going to get a lot of work on the ground. But he gets 70 targets. That is the equivalent of 300 carries for a running back when it comes to fantasy points scored. So you don't need to be afraid.

Of the workload for Gibbs. Say it one more time. If he were to get 125 rush attempts and 70 targets, it would be about the same opportunity as getting 300 carries alone. From a fantasy point output perspective, that's very helpful. It's a non-traditional type, like it's really easy to take Bijon Robinson. First and second down, going to catch the ball, three down back, prototypical. Super handsome. Jason's in love. I mean, he's a handsome man. He is. Okay. It wasn't. I'm just saying facts. Okay. He's well-spoken. I love everything about Bijan Robinson. He's just a great. He has a mustard. He does. He's a great all-around fellow. I heard mustache. Oh. He's got a mustache. Join Arthur. No, I think, I think that Jemir Gibbs is going to be a monstrous part of this offense. So, uh,

we can be excited amazingly. We're not alone, though, because we're consensus-wise actually lower than ADP. So we might not have them because everybody else is in on Jemir Gibbs in that draft capital. Yeah, I'm right at ADP with him. I've got him at running back 14. The nice thing is with him, though, if you do go after the chance at Gibbs, there is an unknown upside of truly elite playmaking. If you look at. first-round draft capital running backs who played at their age 21 season, which is what Jemir Gibbs is. The list is pretty much non-stop superstars and Clyde Edwards Aller. Who's still finished as running back 22? Yes, he was okay, but it's Todd Gurley, Ezekiel Elliott, Christian McCaffrey, Sequin Barclay, Josh Jacobs, Clyde Edwards, Aller.

And now this year we've got two guys in Bijon and Gibbs. Fifth ranked offensive line. It's going to be a huge upgrade for both Gibbs and David Montgomery. Coming in at 15 is one, my last point here is, no, I'm not at 15. Um, So the quote from Brad Holmes, the GM said, I view him first as a weapon. If he's a weapon, forget the RB position. He's an elite explosive positionist player, which I'm sure Jamir Gibbs has documented that statement and printed it out everywhere. It would be how I would present it when my fifth year option is coming up. Yeah, whoops, Brad. Sometimes you just don't need to talk. If you're a GM today, what you should be saying is he is definitely just a running back.

Just a run of the mill. Can find him anywhere running back. Oh, no. The tune will change here in about two years. Right now he's on his rookie contract. Oh, he's not even a running back. He's build him up. Build the young man up. ETN had a lot of comments about, you know, what you can control as a running back right now. And his biggest one was be a weapon in the passing game. Like Christian McAfee got paid because he is, he's more versatile. All right. 15 is Bruce Hall. He is being drafted as the RB 10. The people are not afraid. Mike has him at 11, Jason, at 15. I'm at 19. We have a wide range of opinions on Breece Hall. We may have a wide range of rankings, but I don't think, I think we have the same view in the fact that, look, we know the variables. The variables here are, do they add another back, which this morning, there was a lot more talk about Ezekiel Elliott than there was Dalvin Cook, that the team remains very interested in Zeke.

which I didn't realize that. And then nothing's happened with the Dalvin Cook side. So do they add another back? And then how healthy are you? I mean, this is the, this is not something that we're going to be able to get on here and solve this problem for you. We can't come on here. We can tell you what we do, but I can't tell you whether or not he's going to show up week one and look like himself, whether he looks like himself in week five. I would feel a lot better about Zeke going there than Dalvin Cook. because I would feel like Breece Hall is going to win out quicker than maybe the Dalvin Cook situation. But, you know, ultimately we have a wide range of outcomes here because you don't know what you're getting in the beginning of this year. And we know that the beginning of the year, not only is he coming back from injury and there might be another back, but it's a brutal schedule. It's Buffalo. It's Dallas, New England, Kansas City to start the year with I think three more tough games like Denver right after that.

Yeah, it's not a fun opening schedule for them. You've got the injury that will take him a little while to get all the way up to full strength. So I think when you draft him, you are drafting a guy where your expectation to start the season has to be a little bit nerfed. But this is also what happened last year. Last year you go, well, he might get off to a slow start, might not be the number one running back, you know, week one, which he wasn't. It was week two where he started getting a little bit more involved. And from week two on until he got injured, he was the running back four in fantasy football. He was unbelievable every week ripping off great runs, still had a couple of runs that were like stopped at the one yard line. He could have had even better fantasy finishes. He finishes the running back 21 in the last week of his season where he played 20% of snaps. The upside is what we saw. It's a top five running back in an offense that should be better with Aaron Rogers.

But you're getting off to a slow start. And obviously over the last, you know, year and a half, I've been Mr. Breece Hall, love Breece Hall, love the talent, my favorite running back prospect that I've scouted in a long time. But I've been primarily more negative this off season because I think that slow start and the fact that they have really kicked the tires on other running backs, as said, I'm not really willing to draft him where his ADP is. But the upside, I want that case made clear. He's a top five running back. Mike, what does it say to you when teams like the Jets kick the tires on Cook and Zeke when you hear like Denver, right? We're excited about Javante's return and he's going to get to play in the preseason. And then you get the report this morning that they're interested in Josh Jacobs. Like, is there anything to read into the teams? Is this just depth? You know, insurance. You know, you spend all this money on Aaron Rogers. You have to have insurance in the backfield. Yes. I think that's the huge part of it is over the next two years.

The New York Jets are all in on a singular goal, and that is to get to the Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl. So they have to prepare their team. It's a nice new goal for them. Yeah, it is. And look at the depth chart. It's like Michael Carter is, he is a limited player. Like he can help you on a football team, but you need more than that. And they got a band of canda. And it's like, But he's a rookie. They've got to work him in. So I don't mind the fact that they're looking at these veteran players because they need to have a veteran presence. The drafting of Brees Hall is for the long term of the fantasy football season. Don't do not fall into the trap of, well, you know what? I'm not going to draft Brees Hall. And then I'm going to trade for him. I don't think that that's going to work out very well because the player holding Brees Hall.

knows what they are getting themselves into. And it's also a bet on yourself as a fantasy football player that I can find enough running backs later on in the draft or on the waiver wire that I'm going to fill my running back two spot for a month or whatever it takes because Brees Hall had bad matchups last year. And he was incredible. The offenses should be so much better. So I'm... I'm good currently where the depth chart is. I mean, if someone is at it, then we'll reevaluate. But the way it stands right now, it is a very high risk pick at the beginning of the third. But this is a pick that over the second half of the season is someone who can turn into a league winning type of player. And it's very difficult to find someone that you say, yep, that guy can actually win the league for me. Agreed. All right. Aaron Jones at 14.

Packers running back being drafted in the fourth round at RB 16. I got him at 11. So I'm the highest of the bunch. Mike at 15, Jason, and 18. We've been around the block with Aaron Jones. At times, it feels like the comment I made about Stefan Diggs, where it's like, we're just bored. We're just bored with the excellence that Aaron Jones provides. The touchdown situation was really, really good for a four-year run. He's, you know, past 28 years old. Aaron Rogers is not there, and the touchdowns have not flowed the past couple of years for Aaron Jones, but the talent on the field has been there. If you're right about, like, you know, is Jordan Love being underrated? Is this a division-winning team? If those things come true, I can't help but think he's going to outpace his RB-16 draft position. Jones didn't have a very nice catch. I mean, the catch was fine, but it was a really nice throw by Jordan Love instead.

the 11-on-11 practice that I was talking about. So it's, Aaron Jones is incredibly difficult because he's going to be turning 29 and there aren't that many running backs that hit that level of an age and they're still super productive for fantasy football, especially when you throw in the fact that, yeah, I can have some confidence that Jordan Love isn't, it's not going to be miserable, but I'm not going to project that Aaron, that Jordan Love. carries this offense the way that Rogers did so that that brings down the ceiling. Now, he's about the same age as Austin Echler, and he's a similar skill set in terms of being explosive in the passing game. Well, huge difference to me is the expectation of targets coming for this season. I mean, Austin Echler is someone that's usually up in the 100.

target level, whereas Aaron Jones last year was 72 targets. And I haven't projected for 60 targets this season. I think that number comes down without Aaron Rogers. I think the value of each one of those targets comes down a little bit. And so at age 29, what we expect to be a slightly worse offense, and I also expect him to be slightly less involved in the passing game. I mean, 60 targets are still very involved, but less involved than he was. I personally, I mean, I've got him behind ADP. I don't see him. I think this is the year where he's good, but not great. This was the RB 9 last year. He's been 2, 5, 12, and 9 the last four years. I didn't realize he had finished that high. I don't agree with the target thing just because I think he's the best friend of a young quarterback in that situation. So I would expect his targets to be at or above. Yeah, I mean, the way that Aaron Rogers has utilized Aaron Jones in the passing game in the last few years has just been so in sync.

that I would imagine a change is going to be bad. That's not a guarantee, but losing Aaron Rogers. I mean, he was running back nine. The yards per catch was pathetic. I mean, that was the problem is he's at 395 total yards on 59 catches. But even around the goal line, that's where there were just plays set up really well for him. He had five receiving touchdowns. which obviously is very high for a running back. Six the year before, two, three. Yeah, I think Aaron Jones is one of those players that, you know, if we believe in the Packers, then we can find the statistical backing to love Aaron Jones. And if we don't believe in Jordan Love or this offense to the same degree that we did with Aaron Rogers, then there's lots of reasons to downgrade all the offensive pieces. I mean, AJ Dillon, disappointed last year.

You can see reasons not to like him. Dobbs is young. Watson's young. It's going to go as far as Mr. Jordan Love can take it, ultimately, because, you know, so much hinges on that quarterback position. At 13 Miles Sanders, we have him well above ADP. His ADP is running back 19. Jason has him at 12. Mike and I at 14. He's off to Carolina after four years with the Eagles. His fantasy peak in his career is RB13. Tell us why you like him, Jason. Yeah, I like him because he projects to have the backfield mostly to himself. Chuba Hubbard will be there and will be worked in. He's not going to be, you know, a Josh Jacobs level target market share, carry share back. But he is being brought in to be a three-down workhorse back. He's being paid like that as well.

And I've brought up the fact that the head coach, the general manager, and Miles Sanders were talking about getting him 50 receptions this year, that they want him involved in the passing game. And he's a very talented back. I mean, last year he was inconsistent because, you know, the vulturing of the touchdowns and the uninvolvement in the passing game. So you didn't really have a great experience with Miles Sanders last year, but he was very good. That was when he was the running back 13, had double-digit touchdowns great on a yards per carry. Now you go to a team that has a good offensive line. He's going to get a ton of volume. He's still young. He's being paid to be the guy. And so I just kind of see a value for where he's going right now in fantasy. If he's going to be touching the ball 300 times, I mean, it's going to be very hard to be bad. I see a lot of...

polarization around Miles Sanders. And I don't know if it comes from people being burnt by the kind of inconsistency that we've had from him forever and all the expectations, so now they don't want a piece of that, or if they just don't believe in this rookie-led offense under Frank Reich. Yeah, the red flags for Miles Sanders would be that there's a rookie starting at quarterback in week one. Since 2014, teams that started a rookie QB in week one. They averaged four and a half wins. None of them surpassed their win totals. They're running backs. Only Doug Martin finished better than a running back 24. Rookie quarterbacks with nine. Hamster, shout out. Yeah, rookie quarterbacks with nine plus starts targeted running backs at just over 21%, which is slightly above the NFL average. And that's what we are betting on. Also the fact that this will be a very interesting input for all of these statistics because the Panthers are in a division of...