The TRUTH About Fantasy RBs: Part 2 + Javonte Hype - Fantasy Football Podcast for 1/27

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When I say the name Damien Harris, do you think he's 13? Finished at 13. Oh, man, that's really young. I thought for sure he was in his 20s. I worried now for his health. Yeah, he's one of the youngest running backs in the history of the league. It is surprising that Damien Harris finishes the running back 13. I don't think most people would assume. He was the fifth most consistent running back in the second half.

He was really, really good. And I think that the big games from Ramandre Stevenson, the new rookie coming in, scare people away. You had both, right? You had the experience of having both on your roster and having to make the decision. You dealt with an injury right in the prime time of the year, right after the bye week, he missed the week. But as good as Remandre was when given the opportunity.

In the games when both played, you could tell who was better. And it was, I mean, Damien Harris was great. You know, if it wasn't for that hamstring injury in week 15, I think he would have won a lot of people championships because the end of the year, even, you know, around that missed game, he was really amazing. He would have been a thousand-yard rusher in that case. He ended up with...

202 carries on the year. 4.6 a carry was definitely part of the machine that was the Patriots offense. Bumped up the consistency in the second half of the year. Like I said, didn't catch passes. I mean, that's not what he does. 18 catches 132 yards. Remandre is a little bit more versatile. And it's going to be tough evaluating this situation too because I think the team likes Damien Harris a lot. They obviously invest the draft capital in Ramandre.

They make a nice one two punch, but you also have, it's going to shock you. James White plays football. That is a name that I forget about. And he's under contract, right? That is right. With the Patriots, great pass catching running back. He'll be back. He'll be involved. And right now you only think of it as the one two punch, the Damien Harris from Andre Stevenson. Damien Harris scares the, scares a tar out of me.

There's a little memory here that Kyle found. Apparently we bullied Mike into making Damian Harris a top 19 running back because we had moved him up inside the top 20. And we bullied Mike into doing that. Good for us. We were right. Yeah. You're so smart. And then Mike tried to respond to the bully by being facetious and made the outlandish comment to say that, well, fine, Damien Harris will finish higher than Christian McCaffrey.

And he did. And he did. That is true. Going forward, we just talked about it with Nick Chubb, it's hard to, it's hard to rely on someone who doesn't catch passes, and Damien Harris doesn't. He is a great runner. He was very consistent, but can he keep this level of consistency going forward if he's not catching the ball? No, it also speaks to your point about the Browns being a good team and will the Patriots be a good team? Because against bad running defenses, Damian Harris,

smashed them. He scored twice as many fantasy points against bottom 16Ds than the top defenses. Why? Because the top defenses slowed down the running game enough to where Brandon Bolden was taking tons of third downs or they were playing catch-up in the games. You didn't get weak winning performances from Harris very often, but you did get 60% good games, 13% great, 20% bus. Well, and part of the reality is teams with top defenses are...

more likely to be in the game, to be winning the game. Right. And when you are losing the game on the other side, that's when Damien Harris comes off the field. That's when Damien Harris is going to put up eight fantasy points because they need to throw the ball. So I worry about him because you could have Remandre Stevenson coming into year two get more involved, more work. James Robinson coming in. So it's funny. The truth of this season was that Damien Harris was great. He was consistent.

He was a value in your drafts. He helped people win a championship. Turns 25 next month. He's young. He's on an improving good offense on a good team. Do you sell him high in Dynasty? I don't know that you can. I would if I could cash in for a lot of value. I think I would be willing to do that because he does scare me long term. I could see this next year him being far more irrelevant than he was this year. And then that's already the beginning of the end.

I agree with that. They gave, they showed that once from Andre established, they would just give him drives. And so he'd be the first and second down runner on an entire drive. So the goal line's what's really going to matter because he had 15 touchdowns. Yeah, he had the sixth most goal line carries. So if the offense gets better. If he owns that role next year. And he should. He'll be, he'll actually end up a value. He will.

I think I'm skeptical that his consistency will stay if he's not a pass catcher next year. Where does he go in drafts? He was drafted as the running back 26 this past year. A lot of doubt about the offense having any value, I think. I think he's drafted as probably a late RB2. Yeah, I think that's right. And I guess at that value.

He'll probably outperform it. I'll bet he's a top 15 running back. Yeah, he could be one of those players that you're worried about James White's return. But really, that's what Bolden did. Yeah, James White doesn't really affect, James White could affect Ramandre Stevenson, but I don't think he affects Damien Harris that much because there's totally separate roles. Yeah, there's just more like Nick Chub, there's more pathways to failure if you're sharing a backfield with other talented running backs and you don't catch any passes.

Yeah, you need to catch passes to be truly consistent and have a great year like the next guy. Finally, finally did. Josh Jacobs running back 14. Great pass catcher. Finally got 64 targets, 54 receptions and was involved in all facets of the Raiders offense. Yeah, he was 14th by fantasy finish, but ninth by consistency.

So I don't know if this is probably the first time in his career where his consistency rank outperformed his fantasy finish. And first half of the year he was fourth most consistent running back. But didn't really have any prolific games. The second half of the year he was 17th. But I think that's because he had a full dud against Kansas City twice. But he had some top performances. I mean, ended the year. This is one of those games you probably ignored. But he's six against the Chargers to end the season.

He did look really good in the playoffs, too. I mean, he looked like he had figured some things out. Don't know if he's going to have the same head coach, but 54 receptions. Yeah, I mean, he was very involved. You had some injuries to the other running backs there, but he's only been good his whole career, and he's always disrespected. If he can be involved in the passing game, he is someone that I think will be a value next year. Do you worry about any of the other influences around him?

The success of the offense, the types of things that we were talking about the other day. I think this offense can only get better next year. I don't see this was an offense that lost pieces. They lost Henry Ruggs. They lost Aaron Waller for a large stretch of time. They lost Kenyon Drake to a broken ankle. Yeah. And as they go into next year, assuming that they don't trade Derek Carr and do some kind of complete blowup situation, which I don't think they would.

I think Josh Jacobs is in line. He's only 24 years old. He came into the NFL as a very young dude. And he's talented. If he's using all three facets, which he is right now, I think he's going to be a great draft pick. Lots of information we don't have. But let's just put you in a hypothetical draft in August. Right here right now, are you investing in Josh Jacobs?

Are you investing in the preceding two names, which is Damien Harris and Aaron Jones? I would definitely take Josh Jacobs ahead of Damian Harris. Assuming that Aaron Rogers is back, Aaron Jones, I would take Aaron Jones ahead of Josh Jacobs at the same draft spot, but I would imagine Aaron Jones will be drafted quite a bit ahead of Josh Jacobs because of the name. Kyle, you're on the mic, right?

Yes. Do they still have to pick up the fifth year option on John Jacobs? Yeah, we still have to find that out. Okay. All right. I can work on. Yeah, was he gargling or something? I think he was maybe Listerine. Did we have Listerine back there? Oh, he's got a mask on. Oh. Now I feel bad. He's just trying to protect people. Oh, that's kind. Oh. Don't. Do you have any Listerine while wearing, you don't need to do both at the same time. I would take the mask off.

swish, spit, then you can put the mask back on. I think that was the real problem. Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Kyle. 15th, Dalvin Cook, consistency rank of 10. What to make of this year for Dalvin Cook. I mean, it was littered with injuries, but not the kind that knocked you up for the whole year, just the kind that got you disappointed and then surprised he was back and then.

frustrated again and then he lost me a championship with the worst performance probably of his career with two points against Green Bay and he only needed nine and I would have been singing and I would have been pouring champagne on people that didn't want it poured on them but you didn't win no no no I'm sorry you know who would have won uh that would be owl the other thing is if damien hares didn't tweak the old hammie I think remandre went on to score about

30 points the rest of the way. See, you and I had different experiences in championship week because you had Damien Harris who put up 14 points in the first quarter and then went on to do nothing. Yeah. I played against Damien Harris. Yeah, yeah, yeah, who didn't do anything in the second half. And I won my champion. No, you got, well, sure, yeah. Yeah, sorry. Let's talk Dalvin Cook. Yeah, let's just shut the show down. I'm sorry for your loss. Look, Dalvin Cook is a lot better than this finish, period.

And he'll be drafted higher than this finish as well. 23% great game, 62% good, 15% bust, new head coach, new GM. That's coming to the table for the Vikings. And really the whole situation here. Dalvin Cook will be a top five pick. Dalvin Cook should be a top five pick. He is worthy of it. I don't think you can project injuries outside of the fact that his shoulder issue is a problem. Like the reaggravation rate of his specific shoulder injury is high.

We saw him injure it, wear the device, come back and dominate. So I'm not too worried about that. The real question with Dalvin Cook, and really I think the only thing we need to say about him is who's his quarterback? Because if it's, if, if Captain Kirk is quarterbacking the Vikings, then they're going to be the same. They're going to be a good offense. They're probably going to bring in a more offense of.

minded head coach, and Dalvin Cook is a great piece. So he should be a top five pick. If they trade Kirk, then it gets scary. Because you say you're presuming top five, but we know what the future is for Cincinnati. And so are you taking Dalvin Cook over Joe Mixon? Yes, for sure. Okay. So I think that's where you start to get into interesting territory because of the uncertainty at the offense. Like Mike Zimmer, if he was known for one thing, it was ending a game that he didn't win.

and knowing in his mind that the solution was to give Dalvin Cook the ball more. Maybe that new offensive mind that comes in there wants to let Kirk throw the football more. I think throwing the football more is better for an NFL offense. And if your offense is clicking, you will have just as many opportunities at the running back position. I don't see that being a negative for Dalvin Cook. And I don't know how many people you would take ahead of them. Obviously, you're going to take Jonathan Taylor. I'm taking Dalvin Cook ahead of Joe Mixon.

Yes. I'm with you. You're taking them ahead of Zeke, Aaron Jones. This year was muddied by some outlier touchdown numbers as well. He averaged a touchdown every 19 carries in 2019 and in 2020. He averaged the touchdown every 41 carries this year. He only had one multi-touchdown game the entire year. That is not Dalvinesque. No, no. And he was just as good against B.

Good and bad defenses. And it was just as good as previous years, too. You just watch, and he dominated. Oh, my gosh, that Pittsburgh game. He just didn't get into the end zone as much. He's also significantly better than Alexander Madison. Like, Madison is firmly in backup camp. Yeah. For anybody who thought that, you know, you could have had an AJ Dillon situation. Madison is a great backup running. Yes. Derek Henry ended at 16, despite missing every week from week.