Fantasy Football Podcast for 2015 - Free Agent Running Backs and Draft News

DeMarco Murray this last year was a good example of a guy who's super talented but injury prone who plays 16 games, you know, plays the season, and all of a sudden he finishes number one. Ryan Matthews has that ability. I think he's back in San Diego. I think he could get franchise there. I mean, they could just stick him around, not pay him, give him one more year to see if he can do something. I think it's a possibility. Then they get to see what they have in Brandon Oliver, too, for another season. I don't know.

Yeah, not sexy. Did you have something? Mike? Ryan Matthews is, I think Ryan Matthews is actually underrated. I agree with Jason. I think he's a super talented guy. I mean, when you look back at his history, 2011, he missed two games, but he had 222 carries for almost 1,100 yards. It's a 4.9 average. And that was the year where he really built a hype going into 2012 when he became,

He was the number four. Guy, if you remember, there was the big three, I think Rice, Shady Foster. And then number four, for a lot of guys, was Ryan Matthews. Because he had shown on the field he could do it, his problem was getting hurt. That was the preseason. He broke his collarbone. Then he broke his other collarbone and had a really down year. Then you go to 2013. Played an entire season, 1,255 yards, six touchdowns.

That is really strong production, especially if you're a guy you drafted to be a two or maybe even a three, if you stole him. But he has the ability to do it, and the very, the mere thought of him in Baltimore is so amazing to me for a guy who I think will be overlooked in the draft. Maybe not by everyone, but I think a lot of

Johnny Hughes will overlook him, and I would snatch him up. Because I do believe, I am a Ryan Matthews believer. A lot of people got down on him because he wasn't carrying that three-down-back title like we thought he was going to. But for a guy who was a first-and-second-down guy, to me, was one of the best two-down backs in the league. That was the problem.

we didn't know where in the doghouse he was sticking his head out of was he out of it was he in it with the coaching staff there over and over again it was like is he going to get the carries is he not going to get the carries oh why isn't he on third down for an entire season that's why i'd like to see him go to a different team and i don't think his upside at least would exist to me exactly listen to this from uh kevin ac writing for the u t san diego san diego uh

Beat writer. This was during the season when Ryan Matthews was coming back, a couple of games left. He said Ryan Matthews could run for 400 yards and six touchdowns over the next three games, carrying the charges into the postseason the way he did in 2013. It doesn't matter. That's what he's saying as far as it doesn't matter. Don't bring him back. Is he the rock? Is that beat him right?

Doesn't matter. Matthews doesn't have an injury history as much as a never-ending injury present. That's true. They're not very, I mean, that's what he said. I actually just got a text from him and he said, we can't talk about Ryan Matthews anymore. Because he might break down. Let's move on to another guy, a little bit younger. He's interesting to me because I don't, do you believe your eyes or do you believe the past? So Mark Ingram, unlikely to be back.

in my opinion, in New Orleans. Probably looking at that money that DeMarco was actually offered about $4 million a year. He's younger. He proved this year that he could carry the load, just about 1,000 yards rushing. What is Mark Ingram? What is Mark Ingram? Man, Mark Ingram was a guy who I liked a lot. I mean, you covered the Saints. Yeah, I was doing some Saints coverage for fantasy pros.

So I watched a lot of Mark Ingram. And I was on top of that heaping pile of hatred for Mark Ingram that people carried. I never wanted him on my team ever. Then I start watching him this preseason, and things just looked different. I mean, that eyeball test of... He's just quicker to every hole. It's shifter. You're like, there's something here, especially when you're going to be able to draft him late.

And then he came out in the first two weeks just exploded in fantasy production, even with limited carries. And then I think what he'd break his hand or... Yeah, he had... After the broken hand, though, he had like four out of six hundred-yard games, right? Yeah, where they really gave him the carries. It looked like he started to break down. My biggest concern is when guys do this in their contract year. Yes. I don't blame them at all for having an extra pep in your step.

when you're playing for millions of dollars. But you just wonder why it didn't happen before, is what you're saying? It feels like it never works out for guys who you get really excited about them because they had a huge year. It was their contract year. And then they move up the draft and you get really disappointed. It's the same thought that I have as the contract year was because not just the history of other people doing it, but look at Mark Ingram in the NFL.

super talented everybody's about him when he was drafted everybody thought oh what a great position to be in he's so good and then he comes out and disappoints and then the next year it's kind of one of those things year after year people are talking about how he's not playing up to his potential and then all of a sudden he's faster to the hole

He's quicker, he's shiftier in his contract year. You put those two things together, and I start to worry about maybe this really was an extra motivation thing and not just a, oh, he figured out how to run faster thing. With a one positive mark, you can say positive mark for Mark. That's funny as that is. He was criminally underutilized.

by the team that drafted him in the Saints. They moved up in the first round to draft Mark Ingram and then just didn't give him the worklord. That sounds awful. The work lord. No, DeMarco Murray was the worklord last year. Does somebody want a new fantasy nickname? I'll pass. I'll take it. But he showed.

that if he's given a heavy load, he can produce. I don't know if his body can stand up to it. Criminally underutilizing a guy with those yard per carry numbers, those first few years might be overstating it for my taste. But he also, we're starting to get a bad taste in our mouth for these Alabama running backs coming out that are beat. That's why we have you here for your musical talent. I mean...

You might be right. He's around four a carry his first couple years, but he's a guy that I just, I don't know. When's the last time we saw a mids, I mean, an off-season transition of one of these running backs really pan out? Can you guys think of any? As far as free agents, going to a new team? Free agent running backs in this middle tier that have gone. I mean, you had a situation where Michael Turner, right? He left San Diego, but he was in a backup role. He had his chance to come and break out. And then you have Ben Tate in his backup role. He leaves, he underwhelms in.

Cleveland, when's the last time we had one of these middle tiers be a top tier guy? Because I'm not placing a lot of them right now. Thomas Jones? Okay. It's been a while. That's a long time. If you're talking middle tier guys. I just don't know where, I think the philosophy in football nowadays, and this is something we have to watch in fantasy, is guys, or teams, I'm sorry, they're content drafting these guys in the middle rounds and giving them

a healthy amount of carries. You know, why pay a guy who's 20, let's use Ryan Matthews as an example. Goodness, Frank Gore going on 32. Even guys like Ridley, free agents Bradshaw, why pay them the veterans premium when you can bring in a guy in the middle rounds that can perform? To me, it's past protection. Right. Well, no, I mean, it makes sense. If you're.

The reason that you would take a proven guy over just a super cheap second round rookie who has a tremendous amount of upside is you know that somebody can pass block because that's so important in the way the NFL's run today. Fair. Fair point. But that doesn't necessarily speak to fantasy relevance for those guys. But yeah, I mean, I totally agree. I mean, you've got guys coming out this year in Gurley, in Gordon. Oh, God.

A number of guys that will have a role, but maybe, yeah, getting up to speed in the NFL slows down that process for them a little bit. Some guys can come in and do it. Yeah, you're right. Most guys can't. So, Mark Ingram, if he's back in New Orleans, is he, what is he, where does he get drafted? He'll get overdrafted if he's still with the Saints. I don't see his role turning into that every down.

back like he was. That was because of Kyrie got hurt. What do you think, Jay? You agree? I agree. He's going to be overdraft if he goes back. But I have a hard time talking about that because I don't think that there's a very good chance that he goes back. I think that they let Darren Sproles go. They let Reg Bush go. They've got no problem letting him go. They've got guys behind them and they're not going to pay. And they're in a terrible cap position. I just don't see...

I think he might want to come back, and I think they might want to have him back, but I don't think it's going to happen. So I think he'll go somewhere else, and I think he'll be overdrafted there too. So regardless of where he is, I think he's going to be overdrafted. Maybe steer clear.

Or at least let the dust settle and reevaluate here. Yeah, try to get him at a good value, but don't buy too far into the few games of health in his contract year that he put up big numbers as far as, you know, your fantasy draft next year. I really want to talk about this next guy because this is the opposite of me wanting you talk about Ryan Matthew, so I just have no interest and even, you know, all I see is broken collar bones with him. Justin Forsett is 20.

Nine years old. He is an example of a guy who was a perennial, irrelevant fantasy player, went to a team in Baltimore. Didn't look like he had a shot. I mean, when the season started. We had Ray Rice. We had Bernard Pierce. Oh, Bernard Pierce. We had a rookie drafted by them. Oh, man. Lorenzo. I was so close on that backfield with my last pick. I took Lorenzo instead of Forset.

I was almost the smartest man in my life. And yet he came out and he put up career numbers across the board. Is it system? Is it Forset? Because he, in Seattle, in these other places, I mean, I believe he was a backup in Houston for a little while. He's been tossed around the league. How does a guy that size, that age, come out and put up enough? I mean, because for me, if you thought DeMarco is going to break down, man, did I think Justin Forset?

was a flash in the pan, and he just wasn't because they were committed to the run. Jason, you mentioned before the season you liked the trend of Baltimore's offensive line. You believed that whoever was back there was going to succeed, so props to you on that. Thank you very much. But, okay, I'm going to make sure not to give you credit on the air ever again. But Justin Foresett had a huge year. Is he coming back? I don't think so, because he wants his money now. He wants years, which is really surprising for his age. He wants commitment. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, which it doesn't, for that kind of a guy who's been tossed around, and he's... Oh, yeah, cash in, right? 235 carries, man. Yeah, I would try and cash in. He started to, he was one other one of those guys who, watching him, he did start to slow down a little bit towards the end of the year. But his problem is just, he's always, I can't think of the list off the top of my head for everybody, but he's always been behind a superstar. Mm-hmm.

It's not just he's been second on the depth start. He's second because the guy in front of him is an all-star running back. He just kept getting a short end of the stick for that part of his career. He's finally given a chance. I'm a five-year run. I don't think anybody saw this coming. Yeah, none of us did. Especially, I mean, that waiver. You, everyone is so excited for the first week of waivers.

When the guy pops, is he the guy for the year? And, man, I could. You are a lucky man if you spent your fab dollars on Justin Forset and not Jonas Gray. Or those guys, you know? Yeah, he was consistent this year. And he put up a five point, you were just telling me this before the show, a 5.4 yard per carry number. And that is surprisingly not the first time he's done that in his career.