Early Top 10 RB Rankings + Conspiracy Theories - Fantasy Football Podcast

He was a dominant workhorse last year as well. Yeah, he finished number three at the position in 2018, number one last year. He's going to be in the top three. I have him at two. I mean, we're splitting hairs on the finish. Sure, right. But I don't think you're going to have a season with the total – he might still end up as the number one running back in fantasy, but I don't think your total point output is going to match what he did last year personally with all the transition changes. They've added some more to the wide receiver core, and then some of the things that you talked about.

You know, will he have an incredible year? I'm sure. Will he be consistent? I'm sure he will. He's amazing. So, yes. It's just a matter of whether Jarl Rule comes in and murders the snap percentage for CMC. Yeah, 44% of his total fantasy production was via the air. So that's really what it comes down to. Yeah, he would have been the eighth in targets among wide receivers.

So just take away his rushing work, and he was a great wide receiver, which is what made him so valuable and will make him so valuable. You get two players in one slot in a fantasy league. He's definitely worth whatever you're going to pay. Even if he finishes number two, because he's not going to finish number two or number three because he stinks. It's just going to be because other players had monstrous seasons that were even better. All right. Our number two consensus running back, it's Saquan Barkley. I have him ranked at number one overall.

Again, splitting hairs. Jason has them at two. Mike, you have them at three. From week seven on last year, you got more vintage Sequin the year before he was the number two at the position. Last year, we know limited by injury, but he was the RB5 from week seven on. There are only a handful of players. I think we all recognize this with the workload plus passing game work that can put you in the echelon or in the upper echelon of the position and give you the opportunity to finish it number one.

Mike, you have them at three, but you still consider Sequin to be a number one overall potential type of player. I don't have a problem with it at all. He's at number three for me. I mean, limited, very limited sample size of him playing with Daniel Jones, but that's all I can go off of right now. And the 16-game pace of targets when Sequin played with Daniel Jones was 88 targets, which is still great. But that's not 121 targets.

like he saw his rookie year, where Eli was essentially pulling the old, and he's playing the piano, where Eli Manning was doing his best old man quarterback routine and then checking it down to Sequin all the time, where Daniel Jones is more willing to drive the ball down the field. I apologize for playing the pretend piano in the middle of what you're saying. And yes, the evidence we have with Jones, I mean, we need Jones to.

He's got to take a step forward in the offense, obviously. You know, you only go so far based on your quarterback. What about Jason Garrett as the offensive coordinator now in New York? Jason, you have Barkley at two. You see him as the next best guy behind CMC. I think he'll get more passing work than Ezekiel Elliott will, and that's all it is. But these two guys are, you know, the...

Between Christian McCaffrey, Saquan, and Zeke, those are the top three backs, and it's an order of who's going to get the most receptions. That's my tiebreaker, and I believe it'll be CMC with the most, Saquan with the second most, Zeke with the third most. That's how I ordered them. They're all excellent on the ground. You know, any one of these guys could finish as the number one. And, you know, these guys have had bad stretches as well. You talk about quintet, quintessential Zeke, or I'm sorry, Sequin from week seven on, you know,

During that stretch, he was the running back five, which isn't bad, but, you know, you're hoping for him to be great, to be, you know, a true difference maker that you won't find anywhere else. And I, you know, the nice thing about Jason Garrett coming in is you know that when he's got a star back, he's going to let that back be the star. So it does, you know, Jason Garrett, while he might get mocked profusely in most media circles outside of Dallas.

for all sorts of things, including his clapping. He does provide a little bit of confidence that you don't have to be scared that he's going to bring in some time share. He's not going to do that with Sequin. All right. And then, yeah, and he left this guy. And that's our number three overall. Ezekiel Elliott. Zeke has been a pillar of consistency. Yep. Both in...

occasional off-season drama, but fantasy finishes. Number two, number 10, number 5, number 4. That number 10, by the way, and only 10 games. So when he plays, you're getting great performances. We've said it before. The one kind of, I guess, I don't know, disappointing factor to Zeke last year was you did not win weeks because of Zeke's, you know, monster performances. He never finished above number four on any given week.

which was strange because he never finished outside the top 24 at all on any given week, which even CMC did one time. So the pillar of consistency didn't have the passing game work that matched up to the year before. But still, I mean, what more can you say about Ezekiel Elliott? The one thing I want to bring up about Zeke is the somewhat unexpected retiring of Travis Frederick who played

center for the Dallas Cowboys and was an elite center in the NFL for his entire career except two years ago where he had to miss. So that's a question for me. I know I still have Zeke up here at number two, but that is a question. We've seen time and time again the impact that an All-Star Center has on a running game because they're up there checking.

blocking, blocking patterns, calling out the, you know, like, who's the mic? Where are the hot reads coming in from? And can they get someone who's competent enough that they won't miss a beat? That's, it is a fair question. Yeah, from an, you know, from a decision making on the field standpoint, I think they're going to miss him a ton. I do think we, we didn't have elite physical Frederick for a couple of years now. Well, two years ago, he didn't, he didn't play.

And you had Zeke finishes the top five back. Sure. So that's where, you know, it comes down to me of the, how involved in he, is he going to be in the passing game? And I've got him third of this group. He's, you know, as a pure runner, I think he's probably the best in the NFL. And, and, oh, Andy does not agree. I think Zeke is powerful, is fast. No, I think he's a great runner. I don't think he's the best in the NFL. Who's the best?

I think it's Sequin Barclay. I think Sequin Barclay is the best between the tackles runner. That's fair. I mean, splitting hairs between those guys. But the consistency that Zeke does provide, not just this last year, but over his career, pretty much nobody in modern-day football since, like, Ledany and Tomlinson finishes outside the top 24 less frequently than Zeke. He is not ever going to hurt your team. He's always out there.

unless he's suspended. So, you know, if you're wanting to be risk adverse, Zeke is the way to go. And let's get into some more interesting names here. Number four, we have Dalvin Cook coming in at number four. I'm at five, Jason and Mike. You both have them at four. Obviously a tremendous year last year, especially weeks one through 14. He finished fifth at the position overall. We've talked about...

Kubiak and his input into the system and now, you know, taking over. So, you know, Dalvin Cook, have you looked at Dalvin in light of Diggs departure? Is that a consideration? Dalvin Cook might be the biggest winner of the trade. That's what I'm wondering. And I'm not even necessarily saying his usage is going to go way up. I'm saying they can actually extend him now. Like that has been a problem is.

The Vikings have no money. They would clearly want to extend Dalvin Cook. I thought you meant height-wise. I thought like you'd stretch them out. Sure. Well, yeah. But they actually have money. Andy Shakes his head at his own joke. Yes. I couldn't save you. I couldn't think of anything witty enough. But Dalvin Cook can actually get paid now by the Minnesota Vikings. So we'll see if the contract talks start to heat up as he goes into the last year of his deal. But Dalman Cook,

53 receptions. Yeah, really steady. I mean, obviously didn't play the last couple games of the season and still had the third most goal line carries. Second and fantasy points per game. Fourth most evaded tackles. Devil Cook, very, very good. Receives huge opportunity on a solid team. So he's number four for me.

Yeah, if it wasn't for his, you know, his kind of injury history here, where he got injured at the end of last, he was injured in college, he's injured the year before, he's had a, you know, an ACL tear. You know, Dalvin Cook is as good. He's, you know, he would be in that tier if he's been playing 16 games. His 16 game pace before he got injured last year was 1364 yards and 16.

touchdowns. That's just on the ground, adding another 619 through the air on 62 receptions. So this is a true workhorse back on a per game basis. He's as good as anyone. He's the bottom of the top guys for me solely because of injury risk. But the Kubiak upgrade is no joke. I mean, obviously he was there last year. I think he was implementing a lot of what you saw and the running game was taking off with those numbers. But now as the offensive coordinator,

You know, there are certain coaches out there that just have a long enough track record. You know, when you've got the last name, Shanahan, and Kubiak was essentially part of that system way back in the day, they know how to open up lanes for their running backs. And so I'm a big Dalvin Cook believer coming into this year. If, you know, if it wasn't for him missing the playoffs last year, can I? Can I ask you a question?

you know, being in that top pick. Yeah. Let me ask you a difficult to answer question because you said he's at the end of the top tier. Is he, would you consider Dalvin Cook safe? No. Mike? I would. Yeah. Okay. And mine is based. You guys want to fight? You guys won't fight each other? Indry. Solely on injury risk. I started chuckling during Jason's monologue there, but nothing because of what Jason was saying. I just really looked at you guys again as you're sitting in my room.

Actually, I started looking at it too, Mike. I think Jason, now that I'm looking at it, I think Jason copied a lot of what you did with your office. I mean, I tried to my best. It looks so similar to me now that I'm looking at it. I tried my best to put things in the same spots. I try to get them in the same spots to where the perspective would be similar. And I think, I think I did a good job. Oh, man. All right. All right. Number five, Alvin Camara. You guys should go grab one of those guitars off the wall.

Yeah, just give me a minute, Mike. I've got to do this. Oh, there we go. Oh, what? You know, I have my questions about Alvin Camara heading into the year. Really? Yeah, because you do have, I mean, you have a situation, it's not exactly on par with Beckham and the injury. Because obviously, you know, but it kind of is. I mean, you came in with very, very high expectations. This is the number three running back from 2017, number four in 2018.

drops to 12 last year in 14 games, inconsistency, didn't look like the same guy on the field, which Jason would mention repeatedly through the year. Then it comes out after the fact that he says his leg was 75% healthy. That's not high enough for my leg. You know what I mean? I need my leg up at 90, 95%. I needed my leg at about 87. 87 and I'm good to go. What percentage are your legs, Jason?

My legs are usually at 100%. Right now they're atrophying because of the lock-in. So I would say they're at, you know, 89% right now. Can I ask you a real... Oh, go ahead, Mike. Did you know that just because you're locked in your house, like you could still like do squats and jumps and go up and down your stairs and stuff?

Well, I do go up and down my stairs. No, I do go up and down my stairs. The kitchen is downstairs, bed is upstairs. It's a requirement. Those are my two favorite things. You haven't made like a storage area up in your bedroom yet? Oh, what a brilliant idea. I thought he was going to put an inflate a bed in the kitchen. See, I went the other direction. Really the correct answer here for proper space utilization is one of those little lifts that takes me up the stairs. Oh, no. That is a full, like you have to.

To qualify for one of those, you have to fill out your will. I mean, that is, that's part of the qualifying procedure. Yeah, they would qualify me. I can get one. I've verified. They would qualify me. I was going to ask a similar question if you had, you know, gotten some exercise outdoors yet in this quarantine zone. So, on that note, we actually did just get a couple scooters, electric powered scooters. And so.