Fantasy Football 2017 - RB Rankings Pt. 2 + Sleepers

He wasn't in camp all the time. He wasn't at these voluntary practices. They needed to part. This was ending in Seattle. This season in Oakland, it's been completely different. He's been at every single event. He's been at every single practice. He's been participating in everything that they're doing. And at least from what we're saying out of Oakland, he's been the model teammate. He's been the model guy in the locker room. Everybody loves this guy.

And he's been everything on the field. They said, you know, the burst, everything's there. But what does that really mean? You know, if he gets 205 carries, what can he really be? Because he used to be the perennial top five guy.

Yeah, Marshawn Lynch, his ceiling, if he plays 16 games, is to have, you know, 15 touchdowns. That's what he would be. You know, I don't see him being one of these volume backs that is getting 275 carries. You know, there's the reports that we're going to keep him under 200. I expect him to.

to top the 200 carry mark if he plays 16 games. But with that offensive line and with the offense as a whole, he will have enough goal line opportunities that he can convert to be a very valuable asset. The biggest worry is going to be his age. Two reasons. One is the question of will that cause injury? And two is will he be able to sustain through the season? He's going to be one of those candidates for me if he comes out in the first four or five weeks and he's looking great.

four weeks he's got you know four touchdowns or something like that i might be looking to move him out of it's a good thought out of fear for you know the breakdown for for older guys or guys that have been out of the league you know you think about jimmy graham came came back last year off of that year off through the injury and he was fine to start but as the season waned on you know it takes toll yeah that's it does it's a good point and it certainly has for him historically and my concern it is

Like Jason, it's just injury for Marshawn. And I know that he never, I believe, he never technically missed a game with his back, with his back injury. But this is like his back is a degenerative issue. This is just, this is not something that necessarily completely goes away. And I, because you're always quick to point out, Andy, that, well, he didn't miss him game because of his back. But he's often, he would have to stay on the field.

at half time because he couldn't he couldn't go back to the locker room because he know that his back would completely seize up and he wouldn't be able to move the way that he needs to so i just i have concerns about that of missing an entire year i mean you retired for a reason in the first place and i know that this situation was was uh unbelievable for marshon you get to go back to your hometown and i totally get that but just what 31 is that how old he is

Are you happy with him in the third round of a PPR draft? Third rounds? Oh, man. Probably because it's 31. Because of the ceiling. Just turned 31. Because his ceiling. I don't even think his ceiling's 15. I mean, you're talking his ceiling is, like Eric Blunt touchdowns from Lashire. That's his ceiling. It's very possible that that happens. Not very. It's possible that that happens. I just, there's so many red flags with Marshaun missing games.

Going in on that early in drafts is sketchy for me. All right. Leonard Fournet number 14 on the rankings. A rookie out of Jacksonville seems to have the starting job locked up. I mean, it'll be his. Or starting with the other two guys. What do you mean? Because he was listed as.

co-starter on the default. Yeah, but this should be his backfield, is my point. It should be Leonard Fournett's backfield in Jacksonville. Right now he's going as high, you know, his average draft position right now is 205. So you're having to pay up for Leonard Fournette. This is not, it's a middle of the road offensive line at best. And an offense that I think is transitioning to be run-centric. I think he's a volume play. I think he'll have some big plays in this offense. And I'm really comfortable with him at the back of the second round, early third round.

Yeah, he's a guy that I've been higher and higher on lately. I believe he is, I want to go with what I saw on film and what I believe about the player, which is a generational talent. That when I, you know, he was, he was touted that way in high school and he lived up to the hype. You know, he was touted that way in college and he lived up to the height. He was drafted with the fourth pick in the NFL.

And I think he's going to live up to the hype. I really believe he is talent-wise that good. My big worry with him is obviously the Jaguars. I mean, if I've got to worry with, you know, Crowell and the Cleveland Browns, there's room to worry about the Jags. Now, the Jags have a much better overall team, much better defense, a quarterback that...

can get it done. We have seen him at least get it done statistically before. I'm Ron Burgundy. You know, it's going to come down to me for whether he's worth his draft value. A lot of it's going to be on the offensive line. I've been listening to some beat reporters on air, and they were talking about this last week. They had several injuries to their offensive line.

But when I'm researching it, I can't find anything on that. So I want to stay tuned to that. We know that their left tackle that they traded for. We got to talk about Brandon Albert. Brandon Albert. He comes in and it's like, oh, good. They're going to shore up the offensive line. And then he's like, well, I want more money. And they're like, no. And so he's like, I'm going to retire. And they're like, okay, pay us the 3.4 million signing bonus. No, I'm on retiring. And they're like, we don't want you. Yeah. You're on the NFL. To be determined. But.

So I know that, Andy, you guys are, you're just, you're higher on Fournet than me. I know, I know what the ceiling is, but you have, you have a bad team and you have game script stuff, right, for Leonard Fournett, where can he be the passing down back? Can he be the third down back when you had Yeldon have pretty?

Pretty strong success. I mean, T.J. Eldon had the seventh most targets to a running back. He had the 11th most running back receptions at 50. That's tied with the Sean McCoy. I don't know if people realize that. T.J. Eldon caught as many passes as shady. I mean, that's high volume. So will they completely abandon that and go all to Leonard Fournette? Well, I think that they're going to change the style. I mean, you had Blake Bortle's throw for about.

10,000 passing attempts last year. So that gets the running back receptions a little bit higher. But I do see your point. Leonard Fournett will not be the complete show. But then again, Zeke wasn't really used in the passing game. I mean, he was, I think he had, you know, 30 plus receptions, but he wasn't. There were other backs used in that role. Do you see Fournett getting to that area about 30? Yeah, I do see him getting, you know, above 25 for sure. You want to hear something crazy? Jacksonville last year.

On third and short, they threw the ball 75% of the time. That's number one in the league. That's what's changing in Jacksonville. Yeah, that's going to. Mind you, that'll be 0%. That's the stat. Blake Bortles, passerating on third down, was 57. So you just, you chose to throw it on third down. Is that out of 60? That puts him, the only player. Or is that out of regular pass. The only player worse than him.

was Ryan Fitzpatrick on third down. And the next highest is Carson Wins. So Carson Wins was the third worst. It was 10 points higher. So this was not good. This was not a good strategic decision. Things changed with Doug Marone coming in. This team under new leadership with a very, look, the defense needs to be talked about. If you want to become a running team, you have to be able to sustain it. You couldn't be the Norland Saints and say, all we're going to do is run the ball.

But we're going to give up 38 a game on the defense. So if their defense can sustain it, the game scripts will change. They'll take the ball out of Bordle's hands. Marone wants to do that. It's not just Maroon. I mean, it's also Tom Coughlin. I've heard that, speaking of changes, Tom Coughlin has instituted a rule that everyone on the team has to wear original white briefs. Yeah, yeah. And because they're comfortable, affordable, supportive. Supportive.

And they instill responsibility. When you put them on, you automatically, you go pay your bills. Alex Smith wears briefs, that's for sure. No. Of course he does. Tom Coughlin. No Alex Smith jokes. All right. Mike Gillisley is number 15 on our rankings. Mike, you just snagged him in our little. We just started a Sleeper Bot League, a company league, six owners. Super teams. Super teams. Took a while for a...

Josh, our community manager guy, it took him a while to realize there were like three running backs and three wide receivers and two quarterbacks. Know your league system. Know your rules people. But I saw you grab Gillisley, right? I did. I ended up taking McCaffrey over Gillisley in this draft. And so, you know, I have him at 17. Jason, you have him at 18. Mike, you got him up at 11. Yeah. I don't blame you. It's not complicated to see the possible upside for Gillisley. I, you know, you're obviously taking a.

side of the Patriots choosing him. I guess all the reasons that you might pause a little bit about Marchand's back. I go, I pause because of Bill Belichick and the different game scripts. If Gilsey's great, even though like Blunt was great, right? But I don't know how often last year fantasy owners felt like they could roll Blunt out every single week. I know that there was some points where you felt that way.

But there's still those games that disappear for the running backs on the Patriots. So what do you think about Mike Gillisley? It was obviously incredible in Buffalo. He has to transition here. I am very aggressively ranked as a running back one. And I get all the fears of the Patriot running back. You don't know who it's going to be except.

Last year, we knew who it was going to be. It was Garrett Blunt. Two years ago, we knew who it was going to be. It was Dionne Lewis. A couple years before that, before he fumbled away his opportunity, we knew it was going to be Stephen Ridley. So I just, I believe they brought him in for a reason. They basically poison pill stole him away from the Buffalo Bills. They had to give up a pick and signed Gillisly to a contract that they thought the Buffalo Bills would not match. So they were highly aggressive.

when they went out and got him. Now, I know they also added Rex Burkhead, but that was a, that's just a contract. That's a free agent. So I, I just believe that the team sees Mike Gillisly as the LaGarrett Blunt's type of replacement, and he's more versatile. Versatile, whatever, than Ligarrett Blunt, where you can line up in the shotgun and know, and not assume they're going to run if Lerick Blunt is there.

He can catch the ball. He was one of the most efficient running backs in the league of qualified runners, basically had the highest yards per carry. He's a sensational running back, and there is very high risk here taking him, but I don't think it's an injury risk despite him. He has a hamstring right now, which is, I think, led to some fears of Mike Gilson, including me. It's a little bit of a red flag there. But...

The reward for Mike Gillisley can be so tremendous, but his ADP is out of control right now. Yeah. I was fine with him in the fifth. I was comfortable in the fourth. If he jumps up into the third, I don't know. I don't know if I can do that. Everything I hear about Marchons Hammy is it's just pristine. It's just in perfect shape. Hey, Jason, do you need to touch on Gilsey or can I move on here? The only point I was going to make is, you know, he's a better running back than LaGarrett Blunt, but LaGarrett Blunt had eight.

team touchdowns last year, and so people are wanting that. Legerick Blunt also had seven games where he was not a top 20 running back. There you go. That's why I didn't feel like you were confident week to week. Yeah, so best ball. Trying to catch some fire. 16 and 17 on the rankings. Danny Woodhead, Christian McCaffrey, I'm throwing them together. We can talk about them because they both fill a similar role in their offensive schemes, and they both are joining teams that seem to really need their particular set of skills.

So let's talk Woodhead and McCaffrey. Like I said last night, I took McCaffrey over Gillisley. I am a believer. If you read that article, I believe Cam Newton Yo-Yo's back to form this year. I believe in the offense. I believe in the fact that we're going to see another really, really big fantasy. What is a return to form for Cam Newton, though? Because a return to form is not the MVP season. I think he's going to return to.