Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Early RB Rankings Part 2 & Mailbag

Are you going to... No, that's not what I'm saying. That's what... Who goes higher? Carlos Williams goes a lot higher than Tevin Coleman will go, right? Yes. Because Tevin Coleman, to me, is a pure handcuff? Where Carlos Williams, you're talking about Jeremy Hill, Giovanni Bernard. Would you consider either of those guys a handcuff? No. Because they both have stand a little value. So how is McCoy at Top 10? Because he just, there's enough there, I think. I think there's enough work to go around. He was on pace.

for 270 carries, about 1,200 yards, and 4 touchdowns, and 43 catches. So you must be the one that has them high, because I have them out of my top 12. Let me look. I have them at 13 and a half points. Yes, I do. I have him high. Let me see why he's. I have him at projected for number 6 and a half point. So I'm pulling up his numbers. I mean, I have him basically projected for around that pace. And I, because I think he still will be.

The primary guy. I know that Carlos Williams was great on a per touch basis, but it's just, it's one of those, I think that that's the way Rex Ryan will coach is they gave McCoy the cash. They traded for him. Rex Ryan wanted him to be his guy, so he will be used as the guy. What I want to be number 12 on our list. I'm not going to say the name yet.

Is number 12 on our list higher than LaShawn McCoy for you? Probably not. No, definitely not. So I want to discuss the difference between McCoy and him when we get there. Okay. But first, let's talk about... These are the worst teasers ever. Well, okay, so it's Thomas Rawls. Oh, right. So we'll talk about it now. Now it's a spoiler. Well, okay. You can't win. You're right. That's correct. So LaShawn McCoy, number 10 on our list, basically tied with Eddie Lacey.

Look, I've made my thoughts known on Eddie Lacey. He has let me down. He has let the whole team down, which reminds me a mighty ducks. Let the team down. You let me down? Let the whole team down too. He really did. He let himself down. So how can you just climb aboard Fat Eddie when you see a couple pictures of him getting skinny are going to be in better shape? Yes, it's the contract year. But you're on board.

I am 100% on board because I have two years of proof that Eddie Lacey is a stud. He's on a high-powered offense. Am I jumping off of the Green Bay offense? Am I jumping off of Aaron Rogers because of one sort of down year? No freaking way. I'm all in on Green Bay. I think they're great. I think Jordy Nelson returns and is a huge factor. And Eddie Lacey...

Look, we've seen time and time and time again the contract year. Who was in a contract year this year that just got paid? Doug Martin, coming off of two embarrassing seasons, buss off 1,400 yards. There is that extra, when you're an elite athlete, sometimes it takes that there's this extra little push to put you over the edge to be ready and play hard, and millions and millions of dollars.

can give you that extra incentive. There's a healthy debate on the merits of that argument for how you perceive a player, because if a player is performing for you and you're expecting this season, look, you want to ask me a question of how I can evaluate Eddie Lacey, let me see him have a good year last year, and then I can come in this year and say, you know what, Eddie Lacey is going to have another good year? I'd much prefer to do that than to say, boy,

It's a contract year, so I really hope he doesn't disappoint me again. Yes, he has the years and years past. And look, he's my number 12. Okay, he's right on that one-two cuss. I like the upside of a Thomas Rolls more than I do the possible disappointment of Lacey. Because let me tell you what, Lacey last year, it wasn't just a bust. It was this type of argument from you repeated for eight weeks to start the year by everybody.

This is the week. It's going to be this one. Oh, look at the matchup on this. This is the week, though. Week four, here he comes. Oh, no. Week five is going to be the week. You know, I feel like it wasn't being burnt slow. It was being burnt slowly over and over and over again because the investment was so high. You start investing in Eddie Lacey very high. I'm just worried about that happening again. Does he have upside? Yes. Does he have a track record of being good enough? Yes. Does the offense should be better with Jordy Nelson back?

Good enough. A tracker, here is his track record. You're saying it being top five. Here is his average in those first two years. 265 carries, 1160 yards, 10 touchdowns, 39 catches for 340 yards and two touchdowns. Wouldn't that have been the same argument that someone made in year three for Doug Martin? No, because he was coming off of two back to back. No, no, no. I'm saying in year three, he came off one bad year.

Right, and that's why he was still drafted very high. That's why I said he burned people twice. But my point is he burned people twice. Yeah? So I'm just saying there's a risk factor there. Eddie Lacey showed me he didn't come in healthy. I'm just saying you don't have a lot of options as a workhorse. Not a lot of guys could be that workhorse back. Lacey might be it. But to be fully on board with him, I'm not there. But to compare him to Doug Martin, there's just there's extra checkboxes for Eddie Lacey. Which is what?

High-powered offense. Extremely high-powered offense. You cannot check that box for Tampa Bay. You can check it as a number one potential in Green Bay. And last year you had what? One offense. For what? Green Bay. I imagine they were still top ten. I can look it up. So why will that help him this year versus last year if they were still top ten? No, what's saying? I'm talking about your argument of...

saying we should jump back in on Doug Barton. There's just, there's so many positives for Eddie Lacey compared to the upside that was Doug Martin. Would you agree that for Eddie Lacey to succeed this year, he has to play better? Is that the main variable? He has to play better? Sure.

But you expect him to do that, expect him to lose weight and play better. The main variable to me for Eddie Lacey is conditioning. I'd really love to, honestly, I'd love to hear the public opinion from our listeners, from the Foot Clan members, of kind of what their perception of Eddie Lacey is. Are you jumping back in? You know, he's a bounceback candidate just as much as an Andrew Locke or somebody else. And I'm not, you know, he's number 12, right, for all those factors you mentioned.

Big guy contract year. Dude, I'll back off of him. But that's what I mean, so we, I talk about a lot of there's a guy and you have to make your decision. You say, I am okay to be burnt by this guy. I am okay to miss on this guy. Eddie Lacey is in your, I will miss on Eddie Lacey. That doesn't make me feel bad. Is there a value point though where you say no to that? Yeah, everybody, everyone always has an extra value thing. But just for the most part,

Where I think Lacey will go in drafts is you won't get him. Where I will pay, I will pay market price to get Eddie Lacey. Where's Lacey on your list? Let me. Compared to where we have him as a consensus number 11 here? He is consensus number, yeah, he is number eights for me. So you have him ahead of Shady? No. Who do you have them ahead of on our list? Freeman? Yes, he's ahead of Freeman. And he is ahead of. Lamar Miller?

No, hold on, hold on. The guy's remaining on the list is just Rawls. So I have him ahead of Rawls. That's it? Yeah. Well, he's number eight, so. So Thomas Rawls, number 12, you and I were discussing this a little bit before when we were talking about David Johnson, and the fact that David Johnson has the past catching numbers that make you really, you know, he could have a bad game on the ground, he could have a low carry count game, but the past numbers kind of give him this baseline that's just, you know.

Yes. That's what makes Levy on Belgrade. That's what made Jamal Charles great. So Thomas Rawls, why can't Thomas Rawls? Let me ask you this. This is a good way to do it. Why can't Thomas Rawls be a top three back? A top three back? Yeah. Because if you look statistically at his time starting, he led the league in yards per carry, right? I think he was 5.6, a carry. Yeah, he was a monster.

obviously got hurt, but why can't Thomas Rawls? Is he fall into that, you know, if I drafted him as the 12th running back off the board, I've got nothing but upside? Or do you see him having a significant downside too? I see his variables very wide. And could he be a top three guy? I wouldn't say no. I mean, Doug Martin finished.

spectacularly with low touchdowns and low catches. And that's the concern for Rawls. There's just, to me, there's just so many right now at this moment of the low catches. He doesn't have a history of it in college. He doesn't have a history of it last year. Even in his starts, they weren't using him that way. He was a monster on the ground. And...

And having Russell Wilson, we've seen the effect that a mobile quarterback gives a running back gives them a huge edge. So that's kind of where you get this a slight uptick in the floor, where if he's not catching passes, he at least has that factor. Without the injury, though, do you think the shine came off with the injury? Sure. And so, and, you know. The shine was, or the injury was.

Pretty rough. You broke his ankle. Carol still says hopefully he'll be ready for training. Yeah, that's not what you want to hear for a guy who was an undrafted. Undrafted rookie is not locked in to his spot. And people will laugh and scoff. They did re-sign Kristen Michael, who we saw was decently productive in the time that Rawls was out. So if...

What do I see in training camp? Let's say Rawls comes in, he's healthy. Michael is they're healthy? I think Rawls will take the job, and Michael will be the backup. But we're talking early rankings, and I haven't, I guess I haven't taken a side yet. It's more of a weight. Am I projecting Rawls as the starter, the official guy for Seattle? I'm not doing that yet. He could move up a lot for me, is the potential. I will agree with that. If he's healthy,

and if he's got the job? Because there's really, I think a better argument to say Kristen Michael coming back is a great sign for Rawls versus them going out and signing somebody that could be a work for a first, you know, Michael's shown me from being cut by the, you know, traded by Seattle. You got traded. Traded by Seattle, cut by Washington's practice squad. That Rawls could just run away with it, literally. But you're right. Right now, the question marks for David Johnson aren't there that they are for Rawls.

Yeah, and that's what's weird is you... But you don't want to forget them either. You don't want to... That's what I mean. They're in the same boat of... Limited work. Well, the sample size is about five or six games for both. Right, right. That's the truth. And that's why I want to bring it up, because here you have David Johnson number two. You got Thomas Rolls number 12, and he could move up into that steel. He could be a steal for somebody. I'm sure plenty of listeners have that argument of why do you guys love David Johnson?

and not automatically love Rawls when the sample size is so small. To me, it's the catching and the offense. The past catching. I think Rawls will end up ahead of Lacey and McCoy for me, and maybe nobody else from my list. Maybe, you know, a little bit higher, but you're right. The receptions just keep him down unless I'm playing in, you know, a pure standard league or something. Because I do like the fact he's on Seattle and he's ferocious and he gets in the end zone if you gave him that goal line carry. So.

Um, that is it. So let me, let me run through our top 12 real quick. Lev Bell, David Johnson, Todd Gurley, Jamal Charles, Adrian Peterson, Mark Ingram, Lamar Miller, Devanta Freeman, Doug Martin, LaShaughan McCoy, Eddie Lacey and Thomas Rawls. And since we won't be doing another running back show immediately, uh, should we mention kind of the next few guys on that list? Yeah, if you want, why not? So if you didn't hear their name, obviously, then they're, uh, let's see where we're at.

Thomas Rawls was 12. Then we had DeMarco Murray, C.J. Anderson. We have Forte, Hyde, Jonathan Stewart, Langford, and Dionne Lewis. And that's about as far as I go for now. And I think Lewis's number might rise in our group, too. It might. I actually just... He's got the same type of hesitation that Rawls has for. I just dropped Dion a bit. And the only... Fair. The only guy I want to touch on real quick is Forte. Because I have this...

complete gut this is complete like i have i have nothing to stand on for this argument except for feeling is i feel that forte is going to burn people it's very possible like it's just the maybe people people had expectations for chris johnson there they had expectations for ladenian tomlinson there but when you go to that second home how often does that work out into a fantasy business older guy changing systems um