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

pretty much repeat what he did, especially what seems crazy. He can repeat in the area of touchdowns. He had 13 attempts inside the five. He was a trusted goal line running back. He turned those into eight touchdowns, which that's basically the same touchdown success rate as Dalvin Cook. It's a lower percentage than Zeke. It's lower than Derek Henry. So it wasn't like he went in there.

And every single time he touched the ball inside the five, it turned into a touchdown. But he also has the advantage of Aaron Rogers, where defenses have to be concerned inside the five that Aaron Rogers is going to throw the ball. And because that's what he's done his entire career is just pile up touchdowns inside the five. So I believe that Aaron Jones will continue to be the goal lineback and have great success there. So it's...

I don't have him inside where he finished last year or anywhere close to it, but I think that he can repeat as a very successful, still have some of those inconsistent games, which is why I have him down at seven, but I believe Aaron Jones is still going to be very, very good.

Yeah, my worry is you bring up the inconsistent games. He had games where he just flat disappeared. I mean, it is weird for the running back too. Very weird, yes. To have, you know, here's Aaron Jones. Week one, he was the 52nd best running back. Week 9, he was the 45th.

12 and 13, 44th and 45th, you know, at the position. But he finished number two. That's because he had a couple monstrous games, those three touchdown, four touchdown type of games that really inflate the numbers. I think Aaron Jones is extremely talented, but he's on a team that does not want to make him the guy. They want to make him an efficient back who has, you know, the larger part of the running back by committee. But I wouldn't be surprised if Matt LaFleur brings in another running back. He had said so.

Yeah, the combine? Yeah, he said, you know, he wants another back to come in and, and help split the load. He's not all about giving Aaron Jones the work. And so for a guy that is 15th in carries, while being 14th in yards per carry, so he's not like this crazy, you know, Uber efficient, you know, run the ball, 5.9 yards of carry type of guy, those are good numbers. They're not bad. I mean, top 15.

but not running back two, not running back five. So, you know, I think where I've got him at running back nine says he'll probably have a few more touchdown opportunities still than your average player who is down at like, you know, 15th in volume. But his volume is still too low for me to really trust him. And the touchdowns were just, you know, you talk about his opportunities inside the five could be repeatable. They could be.

But that means that the touchdowns that came outside the five, almost certainly not repeatable. Joe Mixen comes in at number nine. I have him up at number seven, Jason at eight, Mike at 12. You guys know how I feel about Joe Mixen. I was shocked to see him all the way down at seven for you. Yeah, I was shocked too and disappointed in myself. But I have him at seven, which is the highest among the three of us. Last year he was number one.

according to player profiler and evaded tackles, had the fifth most carries. This was a man on a team of Bill Murray's and he was the only Monstar. I mean, every play, he was doing his very best to overcome a very difficult situation. 278 carries over 1,100 yards, just five touchdowns. That's a number that can change with an offense that can move the ball a little bit more. And a number that's, you know, where Mixing ended up last year,

I really do think that you can have improvement, even though you're going into a rookie quarterback situation. I think you will see improvement. You've got a second year of a rookie head coach, and I'm a big Joe Mixing fan. I think there are only a handful of guys that can carry the ball 300 times. He only caught the ball 35 times last year, which was down from the year before. But those numbers, we know capable, he's capable of doing a lot more in the passing game. So with that offensive line last year,

I'm a big fan of Joe Mixon as the Dalvin Cook of this year. Sure. I'm on the side. I have him at 12. Like you said, I am the lowest because I just don't know what to believe about Joe Mixin where his season is two completely different seasons. You had before the by week, he was not just bad. He was he was dropable. He was the running. He was the running back 31.

averaging eight fantasy points a game. You could have dropped Joe Mixen in week five, and up through his bi-week thought, I made the right decision because that I dropped him, I don't have to keep playing him, he's just hurting my team, and then after the by week, he just absolutely exploded. His volume went through the roof. Before the buy, he was at 12.5 carries for 40 yards a game. That jumped up to 22 carries over 100 rushing yards per game. It's...

And that's what I'm saying. I don't know what to believe about Joe Mix. And I believe he's a very, very talented running back. Gio Bernard is still there. He got a two-year extension before the season started last year. I looked at, because we're all projecting Joe Burrow to be the quarterback of this team. We have no reason to believe otherwise. And Clyde Edwards O'Lear, he caught a lot of passes. But when you look at, he only had 13.5% of the receptions.

Because I couldn't find targets for Clyde Edward. But 13.5% of the receptions, which is, I don't know. And once again, that's just I'm trying to look at a quarterback in his tendencies, not saying what the Cincinnati offense is going to be. Because the Cincinnati offense was we don't really throw it to the running back. Only 45 targets on the season for Joe Mixon. And Mixon played all 16 games. And Andy Dalton played. It's wild to remember.

This team with the first overall pick, and it seemed like they had just completely moved away from Andy Dalton. Dalton played in 13 games. And they were just, I don't know what to believe about Joe Mixing. Yeah, how many games did he play the majority of the games? Because obviously he got pulled at one point and then put back at one point. The real issue I have here, which is narrative-driven, you know, not my preference, but it's echoing what you're talking about, Mike.

The first half of the season, you know, week one, this was not a team that was out there thinking they're going after the number one pick. You know, they went out to Seattle and gave them fits and thought they were going to be a decent team, hopefully maybe try for the playoffs. And then things started imploding. They got a bunch of injuries. AJ Green didn't get back on the field. Their offensive line was atrocious. Absolutely. And so, yeah, that first half of the year, when they were being what they wanted to be, he, Joe Mixing.

was not very involved and sucked. Now, the second half of the year, at that point, they knew they're going after the number one pick. They're playing for several of those games. Their backup quarterback who sucks, who couldn't throw the ball, and they still, they'll be down. I mean, at that point, you watch these games.

That was only three games. Andy Dalton in the games he played, played 100% of the offensive snaps. But you'll watch some of these, you'll watch some of those games where they're down multiple scores in the second half and they're just handing the ball off. Every play. Because they, I mean, and they got the number one pick. Yeah, I mean, I don't agree with the contention that like they were doing what they wanted to do for the first eight games of the year. I mean, part of that problem with Joe Mixon was.

He had six carries in week one. He had eight carries in week six. He had 10 carries in week seven. What you're saying is right from week 10 on, they just gave him the football. I mean, he just didn't have the football before that. So to me that we've seen this guy finishing the top 10 a year ago. We saw him finish at 13 last year on the worst team in football. So going from 13 to 7.

on the basis of the second half of the year is why I make that jump. And they've strengthened their offensive line as well. So if they liked what they got from Mixon over the back half of the year, I'd be really surprised to see some sort of regression from Mixon's second half.

if the team is taking a step forward, which is why I give him a little bit more credit. And Jason, you have him at eight as well. Yeah, I don't, I don't, you know, hate Joe Mixen at all. But you could also make the argument that the team figured out how to use him, utilize him better as the season went on and that that should continue. The good news is the Bengals have gone hard after their defense.

Oh, gosh. Finley? Yes, Ryan Finley. Oh, man. Those are that. He was bad. He was bad. But the Bengals have gone out in Free Agency, and they were one of the biggest winners on at least one side of the ball. Their defense got a ton better. And so that is probably good news for Joe Mixing him being able to continue to get the ball while they're not trying to get the number one pick. All right. And we've just talked about this guy rounding out our top 10. We talked about him on the Tuesday show quite a bit. Some of the reasons that...

We're big fans this year. Kenyon Drake comes in at number 10 overall. David Johnson is no longer a part of the Arizona Cardinals offense. Kenyon Drake was incredible to end the season. This is an offense with Cliff Kingsbury, Kyla Murray, that is growing up, certainly, and DeAndre Hopkins edition only helps that. They also secured the right tackle.

I would guess that their first round pick is going to be an offensive lineman. Yep. That would be where I'd put my money right now. So Drake ended up at number 10, versatile pass catcher. This is just where he ended up on our ranks. Do you guys have anything you want to add to kind of some of the discussions we talked about on Tuesday? No, just if you want to hear me talk about Drake, Tuesday show is still available. He was the RB4 from week nine on for context in the Arizona offense.

He was the running back four, but he also had his bi-week during that stretch. So he was the running back three on a points per game basis, only two better with Chris McCaffrey and Derek Henry. So he was unbelievable. So we're going to get into some more running back rankings coming up on our next episode. Probably some more interesting debates, too, about some of these guys that our opinions differ on quite a bit. Maybe some players that we're looking at taking that leap.

making that tier jump from being somebody that was an RB2 type of player to having RB1 potential. Very excited talk. Running Back 12, Frank Gore. Oh, no, he's not, he's not your 12, is he? He's everybody's 12 forever. That's what he is. They retire that finish. Yeah, there's no more, there's no more running back 12. It's just.

It just goes from 11 to 13. That's like a jersey retirement. You can't finish that running back 12 anymore? Yeah, you can't finish it tight in 12 anymore either. Jason Witten has claimed it. That's where. Well, he still can. He's still got a job right now. That's true. He does. We want to thank pristine auction, by the way, for supporting the show. Great company. Go check them out. A Dalvin Cook signed jersey yesterday, $85.99. That's pristine auction.com. Use the code ballers and you get a $10 credit.

So I think that'll do it for today's show. I'll be interested to hear some feedback from the Foot Clan on these top 10 consensus running backs and look forward to this next episode as well. Thank you for tuning in, everybody. Yeah, make sure you stay and our studios look good. See you next time. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on Jointhefoot.com.

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