REAL Preseason Takeaways + RB Rankings, Jason’s Mixon Love

From the time he came in after the Dalvin Cook injury in Minnesota to the end of the season where Latavius Murray was handling the majority of it, that would be the big benefit to Jerich McKinnon. Number 12 is Christian McCaffrey, Jason, you said you moved him up. I have him at 9. Jason, is this where you moved him to? You have him at 9 as well? Yes. And then Mike has him at 12 currently. He will more than likely move up for me to. Based on seeing the workload last night, the utilization in the red zone. Yes.

Last year, 117 carries for 435 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, but 80 reception. Woo! 651 yards and five touchdowns on 113 targets. Talk to me about Christian McCaffrey, Jason. Okay, so Christian McCaffrey last year was an RB1 in PPR. People were disappointed because of his...

ineffectiveness on the ground, but the value in fantasy football of those targets cannot be overstated. Now, the worry coming into this year is, okay, Greg Olson is there, DJ Moore is there, another year for Funches. Will he actually get those targets? And in that first drive, that second drive, you could see.

Look, all those players were out there on the field, but it was the exact same usage we saw the second half of last year with Christian McCaffrey really getting a lot of work, a lot of volume in the screen game. There were design screens for him. They used him in the red zone. He looked good last night. He really did. I expect him. I really expect him to have 100 targets this year. And then, you know, look, last year he only had 117 rushing attempts.

So even if he stays poor, he can go up from 117 rushing attempts. He doesn't even have to hit 200 rushing attempts to take a huge step forward. And he was already a running back one. This is, you know, you look at very similar comp to Jerich McKinnon. I agree with what you were saying. They are probably not going to be a 250 carryback. No. No.

But they're going to be a high volume involved in the passing game, which is obviously so important. If Norff Turner feels most comfortable with him on the field in most circumstances, it's just going to benefit McKinnon. You know, opportunity means everything. Yeah. And, you know, McCaffrey. McCaffrey, yes. They both start with them. I was like, where are we? What is happening? Would you, let me ask that question as though I meant to mispronance his name. McKinnon McCaffrey, you comfortable with them as your two running backs?

Yeah, I think I would be comfortable with them as my two running backs. Because if we're in a PPR, man, that's so. That means to me that I'm putting those two with an Odell Beckham or, you know, someone like that. What? How are you possibly putting those two with Beckham? Well, I guess, I guess Christian McCaffrey's, what, back of the first right now? Yeah, you are.

You could not possibly get all three of those guys. You probably can't get both of them. I'm just curious about your comfort level. You could. You could do it with Julio. You could get McKinnon to the back of the first, Julio in the second, and McKinnon has dropped to the beginning of the third. I mean, it is possible to do something like that. But I prefer, I mean, I'm going to take the better offense in Carolina over, you know, San Francisco's offense. And McKinnon doesn't have the pedigree coming from college.

that McCaffrey has. Sure. Number 13 is Devonta Freeman. Right now I have him at 15, Jason at 12, Mike at 13. The question with Devonta Freeman is can he get back to the 2015-2016 form that turned him into the number one and number six overall fantasy running back. Last season he missed a couple of games in week 11 and week 12. Started the season very well with four.

consecutive games inside the top 24, including two inside the top seven. It was a hit and miss season for Devante Freeman, some injuries banged up. You always have Tevin Coleman over his shoulder, but still a pretty good year from Devonta Freeman, and you expect the offense to be a little bit better this year, second season under Steve Sarkesian. Upside range of outcomes for Devonta Freeman. Can you get back to that top seven, top eight guys? Oh, yeah, I think he can.

Personally, I think he can get there. He scored eight times last year. Running back 13, and that was, he missed essentially three games. So it's hard to know exactly where he would have finished if he had played a full 16 game season. The target drop is the most perplexing.

part of Steve Sarkesian's offense where he went from 65 targets down to 47. Now, he would have been much closer to 65 if he had played the full season. But the way that we're just sounded like a broken record right now. But these guys in this range truly gain a bunch of their value from the past catching. But Freeman is also an excellent, he's excellent on the ground. Last year, almost 200 carries.

865 yards. So Freeman is in line for another 220, 230 on the ground. And if we can get that reception total back up to close to the high 40s, low 50s, then Freeman can certainly hit that top seven mark. Yeah, I agree. To me, he's one of the safest picks in his range. The best predictor of future success.

is past success. And you've got a guy who, for the last three years, has for all intents and purposes been a running back one. Like you said, he was the running back 13. Right. But that was in a 13 games. So if he plays a full season, I think that he's locked and loaded there. And yes, Sarkeesian comes in. The targets drop, but it's still, it's still the same quarterback. It's still the same rapport between Matt Ryan and Devont to Freeman. I'm not worried about Freeman. I actually love.

the Falcons this year from a fantasy football standpoint. People react so much. They're undervalued right now. I like Julio. I like Devonta Freeman. I like Tevin Coleman. All of them are going so much lower than they did last year. But I expect their offense to be better this year than they were last year. So, yeah, I'm, you know, I was off the Falcons in 2017. I'm back on. Oh. I'm flying like a Falcon. Like a Falcon.

Now, I got, I got to circle back here. Now, I got to give Warren Sharp credit because 43 minutes ago, he finally posted every single attempt from Josh. Oh, there we go. Lawrence is a great dude. Oh, he's awesome. No question. But we're back. 43 minutes ago, he did that. And last night, we got screencaps. So I'm just, just raining it in. Number 14, Joe Mixing. Good for you, Andy.

Joe Mixing. Yeah. Number 14. Number one in your heart, Jason. Careful, Jason. Look, he gets me a little hot bothered. I'm just saying, I get a little heated. Oh, okay. All right. You getting a little fired up about Joe Mixing. Had a touchdown yesterday. Oh, Joe. His touchdown was on incredible play as well, where he was lined up out wide. Oh, they put him all the way out wide. And the best part was if you watched.

Just watched Dalton. We knew he could catch the ball, though. Pre-snap. Yes. There was only one place this ball was going. I mean, Andy Dalton grabs the ball, turns to his right throws, and it's not a screen pass. This is a route. He runs like a six. This is the hot and bothered music. This is your love letter. Oh, my love letter. Joe, listen. I really expected big things last year from you, and I don't blame you. The Bengals.

were historically bad. The amount of plays they ran, historically low. The amount of rushing attempts? Truly historically unbelievably low. It can't be repeated even if they tried. And you're so good. Joe! You're so fast! Please write. Please write me back. Please write me back, Joe. I may...

I am a full believer in Joe Mixon. Are you moving him up from 14 overall in your individual rankings? I took a look at my rankings and I'm not moving him up from there. He has the ability, in my opinion, to finish as the number one running back. He's got that level of talent because he can be used around the goal line and in the passing. Here's a little known fact about Joe Mixing. I'm seeing this in our notes. Brooks put in there. Last year, 178 carries 626 yards, four touchdowns on the ground. But...

30 receptions. Oh. 30 receptions for 2,870 yards. Yeah, Joe. Man. Brooks had the look of such disappointment there where he forgot the slash in between the end of those receptions and his zero touchdown. I was going to say, we missed something. He's number one now.

But no, the offensive line has to hold up for Joe Mixen to be successful. But he has so much potential. And the thing about Joe Mixon is he is a three-down type of guy. They are, you know, like you said, even if Geo's around, the future is Joe Mixon. Geo is around. He's around. But efficiency-wise, Joe Mixon was even better than Geo last year. So if they like him and they want him on the field and he's the future, there's upsack. Number 15 overall, Jordan Howard.

I think we all love Jordan Howard. We respect Jordan Howard's game. He's a banger. He had 276 carries. He's going to get the ball. He's probably going to drop a few targets, but we think he can get to 30, right? 30, 35? 30 receptions? Yeah, receptions. He could probably get there. I think he will get there this year. I've got him projected for 27, but, I mean, with all the extra work they're putting in and with the new coordinator, I think he can get to 30.

He was a running back one or two and 50% of his games last season on an atrocious Bears team that did not run a lot of offensive plays either. Kind of the same story as Joe Mixon. That's the deal for Jordan Howard and why people are actually really excited for the potential of Jordan Howard this year. Running back 10, his rookie year, when he wasn't even the starter for the first quarter of the season, running back 12 this past season. And those were both.

Bad, bad teams. Nine touchdowns last year on a bad team is impressive to me. He could be, that tells me he can be a 12 to 15 touchdown guy if things went the right way. That's why people are excited. With Matt Nagy coming in, can this team turn it around? You have your franchise, your alleged franchise quarterback. There are weapons everywhere in the passing game. He didn't look good last night, though. He has not looked good ever to me. He looked good in North Carolina. Tribisky? Yeah, but it just.

I was really excited. And granted, they didn't play a lot of their starters. He kept having to target Kevin White, which has not, you know, worked out of doing to somebody. Right. But no, Trubisky looked bad, which sucks because I was so. I think the whole offense looked out of sync, that's for sure. You didn't see anything that made you go, yeah, man, Nagy, you've changed things. I'm so excited to see Jordan Howard.

And then he didn't play. And they rested their guys. I thought for sure that Jordan Howard and Cohen, they would be playing because this is their second preseason game. But no. LaShawn McCoy at number 16. Right now, his average draft position is the fourth pick of the third round. Last year, 287 carries and another 59 receptions on the stat book for LaShawn McCoy. The offensive line was not good last season. They don't project to be good.

this season. And he was stuffed the most times in the NFL of any running back. Now, you know, this is a product of win in doubt hand the ball to shady. I mean, they didn't have much else on offense. They probably don't this year either. Still had a very good season in RB1 or 262.5% of the time. And RB1-43% of the time he finished the year as the RB7. So I think...

that we are still doubting him too much. I am the highest of the three of us. I'm at 13, Mike, at 14, Jason, 16. I still have, and I moved him up. I had bumped him way down simply a risk mitigation with his off-the-field situation, which is, it's still not resolved, but at least now, where I would say a couple weeks ago, it felt impending that LaShawn McCoy may not play football.

this season. It's trending far more to him playing. So if we're, as we approach the season, LaShawn McCoy is going to be ranked higher than 14 for me. It's, it's just a matter of where would I draft shady right now? Where am I willing to go in on that risk? And I would rather have like Howard or I have Howard one spot behind McKinnon, but.