Top 10 RB Rankings + Duke’s Out, Chubb’s Up

This is their team. This is their win-now team in a division that has win-nale possibilities. So I do believe that this team progresses as an offense. I believe Sam Darnold gives you some very elite games. And I understand that having a top-notch, top-five pass-catching running back, it helps a quarterback out too. So, you know, we've talked a lot about Love Bell. I understand that there are worries and concern. When you spend a top 10 pick on a running back,

You want variables like swelling knees and changing teams and body surfing running styles to be maybe not there. And you want top offenses as well in a strong offensive line. And it's hard to project those for the Jets. I don't mind believing in them as a team that really could break out beyond expectations.

As of right now, Pro Football Focus is projecting their offensive line to start the season at number 28. Something that Levi-on-Bell has never, ever dealt with is a bad offensive line. We'll see how his style can match with that. Remember how Gurley was with his bad offensive line? Right. They did add, they added, what, Matt Khalil, and then they also traded for Ravens O-Linman, Alex Lewis. So it is in full rebuild mode. Now, whether that's a result of being in camp and going, holy crap, I got to do something.

But also, it's still good. It's still good. They did something. Yeah. Pace of play is also a huge deal. Adam Gase, two out of three years as the head coach, the Miami Dolphins, was dead last. And not by just a normal fractional margin. In 2018, he was last by one and a half plays per game.

Which is impressive because the Cardinals still exist. Yes. Do you remember him coming out and talking about that? Yes. He wanted to run. Yes. Do you remember they basically said, look, you're kind of known as supposed to be this offensive guru that produces like a fast pace of play. Oh, and he came out. He was talking about how many plays he wanted to run a game, which was like a number that would lead the league. But he just didn't materialize. They had to do what they had to do to be seven and nine. And I feel like I have to be.

an intervening Meat Shield here for my compadre Jason, who we recently were on the Rich Eisen show. And Jason brought up the name, Ty Montgomery, to which Rich Eisen was not very pleased about. But head coach Adam Gays talks a lot about Ty Montgomery, whether or not that is just coach speak and fluff. That remains to be seen. But it is...

that hype from the head coach is happening. I forget. Did they sign Ty Montgomery before or after Love Bell? You don't really forget. No, I really forgot, but that's why I said it. I believe they signed him after, but to me that makes a little bit of a difference. Like if you go out and sign, you know, Mike Davis, and then you don't know if you can get David Montgomery and David Montgomery comes, okay, goodbye Mike Davis. But if you sign Love Bell and then you're like, ooh.

You know what this team could really use for what I want to do? I'm going to go also sign Ty Montgomery. Then that's saying I would expect him to be used at that point. Yeah, I mean, a lot of investment in Lev. We'll see what happens. You have red flags around the situation, but upside because of the fact that Love Bell's dropping further down in Draftston where he's been in previous years.

Really, he's starting to, with Melvin Gordon in the Zieg situation, he's starting to creep up to uncomfortable levels. Well, look, I've been, you know, when we were on the Eisen Show, he was one of the bus candidates I brought out, yet I am the highest of the three of us. I was going to say I have him at 10, Mike at 8, Jason 7. I've got him up at 7 because I do think the volume will be there. I think the talent is there, but some of the concerns you voiced, his running style behind a bad offensive line, the fact that there will be fewer plays, and I fully expect him to have a smaller.

percentage market share, even though he'll lead by a wide margin over the other running backs, smaller than what it was for Mike Tomlin out of a smaller piece of pie. So it's just you're losing a lot of touches and each one becomes a little bit less efficient. There's still so much going around. I think he'll be a top 10 back. But I'm not excited. Like Lev Bell is one of those where if he's my running back one, if that's who I grab in the first round, I'm kind of disappointed. It's his range of outcomes. Levy on Bell certainly could be in the top five.

But I also see a world where Levium Bell is the running back 14, running back 15. That's why it's uncomfortable to draft him where he's being taken. All right. How comfortable are you here, Mike? Number eight, Damien Williams. Current average draft position of RB12. We haven't ranked it, we have them ranked at RB8 by our consensus rankings.

In his three weeks as a starter for Kansas City, sorry, four weeks, he averaged 19.6 fantasy points per game and half PPR. Do you know what Kareem Hunt averaged while he was playing? No, Williams. I'm guessing it's in the 19 category. 19.7. Yeah, I mean, this is the best offense in football. So more. Got it. Yes. Kareem Hunt averaged way more. The Kenny Golliday split more. Point one. Well, my concern for Damien Williams is not.

And mind you, I have him at eight. Somehow I'm the highest on Damien Williams. And I love it. And it. I signed. Feels like I fueled my soul. Something bad. I mean, we're all eight or nine. So yes. I know. But Mike was really excited about the fact that I had him a spot higher. Mike, my only concern for Damian Williams is his lack of tenured status in the NFL. Which is very fair. It's just, uh, get out of here with that nonsense. Look, Jason can be right.

Mike, you should just say that he sucks, but that a sucky player will score 19.6 fantasy points a game. You could go with that route. The thing is, is his talent or not, if he's on the field as the one in the Kansas City offense, I like him at 8. He's great. If he's not, if he's banged up, now he just returned to practice. If he's off the field. If he's not, look, if he gets banged up, they're not forcing themselves to put him back at the top of the depth chart, is my point. That's fair. That being said,

Carlos Hyde grabbing a stranglehold at the top is not likely. Darrell Williams grabbing, and believe it or not, that's a real player this time, is not likely to grab a stranglehold because Williams does more things in a mediocre fashion than they do. They might be good at one or two things. Williams is secure as a top-tier guy in one of the best offenses in football as long as he's healthy. I hate the Bengals.

No, I just, I hate so much the Bengals for taking a fourth running back in Rodney Anderson. He would have dropped right in the lap. I love that you're committed to this take. I'm so committed because, oh, it would have been so good. Like, I've checked my, my sources on the Rodney Anderson to Chief's hype. All that comes up is Jason Moore. Ooh, that's just because there's so much. Look, Damien Williams, Andy, you laid it out great. When he's on the field, he's going to be fantastic. I besmirched his name.

regularly last season, but as soon as he became the starter, I was the highest ranked on him and said, look, he's got to be played. He's Andy Reid's one. So when he's there, he's great, but he carries risk because, you know, kind of like Tyrod Taylor last year in the sense that there's reason where if he, if he gets injured, he might not, he might not just get his job back. And that's Damien Williams. If Damien Williams gets injured and Darrell Williams gets the shot or anybody gets the shot, and all of a sudden, here's the thing. Whoever gets the shot, you want to know what they're going to do, succeed.

That's my belief. I think in this offense, you throw an NFL caliber player out there, and they're going to be pretty darn good. And so then it's like, okay, now he comes back. Do you just shift? Do you just throw him back in the mix? So that is the worry. But if he plays 16, if you knew he played 16, I mean, top five is. He's top five. Yeah. What's nice about him having at least some security at his job, he is, in my opinion.

by far the best pass catching running back on the team. Even if Carlos Hyde, if Damien Williams missed some time, Carlos Hyde is showing well on the ground. We've seen enough of Carlos Hyde as a professional football player to know that pass catching is not his strength. It's not going to become his strength. So Damien Williams, things go really wrong for him. He would still come back into that role. Yes, which is valuable. Yes. Am I allowed to break old news?

You certainly can, but I don't have any drops for you. All right. Well, I will. Danian Thomason leads league in fantasy scoring. Ty Montgomery was signed one month after they signed Levi-on Bell. Oh, there we go. Thanks, Brooks. Yeah. Now, was that per your post-gays? That was post-gays, right? Because Gays didn't want to sign Love Bell. Okay. By the way, the deal, the Duke Johnson trade, I don't know if you saw this.

It was between Dorsey in Cleveland and Bill O'Brien because they don't have the GM in Houston. So it was a phone call between those two guys. Ian Rappaport reported that. Sometimes you just got to pick up a phone. Yeah. I mean, Dorsey probably just didn't want to deal with Duke anymore. All right, Dalvin Cook at number nine, James Connor at number 10. I'm going to bring them up together because Dalvin...

Jason and I are very bullish on at 7 and 6. Mike at 14. Mike hates him. Connor is Mike's number 6 running back, and Jason and I have him at 11 and 12. So kind of a difference of opinion between these two players. Mike, talk to me about why, I don't know, who's more accountable for their take? The guys at 6 and 7 with Cook probably more than the 14th. That is fair. That's fair. That's fair. Like, even though we're together,

We probably have the hotter take than Mike having him done at running back 14, considering he's never finished a season. Higher than 29. Right, exactly. Not by, not because of talent. Yeah, and that's really, yeah. I think it's just, I think there's guaranteed, he's a guaranteed bell cow in the NFL. Interesting. Yes, he is. I mean, he's 100% guaranteed to be the, the guy in Minnesota. And, and that's what I like. I'm not going to factor in potential injury. You know, he had one catastrophic injury and he was banged up last year.

I'm not ready to declare him an injury-prone player for the duration of his career. A lot of players have started that way before. So there you go. I mean, he's going to catch the ball in the offense.

He's going to get goal line opportunities. That's what I believe. Jason, why do you like him? Well, I mean, because when he's been out there, he's been a great back for fantasy. He's well-rounded. He's going to be goal-line. He's going to be a pass-catching back. He's on a good offense. There's really nothing not to like here. If you look, when he got back from his injury, the last five weeks of the season, he was the running back six. I mean, it was insanely Derek Henry during that time. Yeah, well. And then Christian McCaffrey, Sequin, Damien Williams. And a lot of it was the Miami game.

No, that's not even, I mean, sure. A lot of it was the Miami game. A lot of it was the Miami game. But he never had a bad game. He was always an RB2 or better. Here's his ranks. 24, running back one. The next week, running back one. So those can't be both the Miami game. Then the running back 12, then the running back 21. I mean, he was just really good. And so the worry is, the worry is 100%. Can he hold up? Because he got injured in college, been injured in the NFL.

I mean, he should have the same worries to me that Leonard Fournett has. So, you know, I love Cook if he's on the field. I'm scared of where I have him ranked. So he missed four games last season and was on five injury reports for the hamstring strain. And that happened in week two. The year before was the week four injury, the ACL reconstruction. Mike, you said that's kind of where he landed.

Correct. So talk to me about why he didn't end up in a higher position. I mean, do you not believe in the fact that he can be a bell cow in this office? I don't, and I think it would be a mistake for Minnesota to try and force that. I have him with 225 carries and 58 receptions, so it was... That's a lot.

Oh, yeah, yeah. And it just, I just happen to have running backs that I like slightly more. This isn't a major gap in points at all. So look, remember how good Derek Henry was? Do you remember he was unbelievable? Yeah. Those finishes I just were spouting off. Those were Derek Henry. So he's really good.

And both of those weren't the Miami game. So I was right. Both of those were the Miami game. Delvin Cook didn't put up Derek Henry's numbers. He didn't put up Derek Henry's numbers. But look, listen, they're right next to each other in my page I was reading. And they are still good here. People trust us. Well, that's why I'm bringing this up. People trust us. I don't want, if I say the wrong info, I want to call myself out. Oh. Look.