THE UNOFFICIALFOOTBALLERSFAN ARCHIVE↗Transcript links use the exact YouTube video’s clock. Machine transcripts can contain errors.
A longer-than-usual opening yell makes the desk assign Kyle an imaginary stopwatch and propose an over-under on Andy's welcome scream. The idea borrows from the absurd Rory McIlroy green-jacket arm prop, while Mike and Jason reaffirm that tails never fails.
The hosts say Kyle is half insane from digging through top-30-visit correlations. The work pays off later: teams with at least two running-back visits selected a back in the first four rounds 71 percent of the time over the preceding decade.
Jeremy, addressed as Al, refuses an early Christian McCaffrey pick because injury has burned him too many times. A genuine Ducers Alley cut shows the dim three-human booth while the hosts claim the bad lighting hides how yellow Jeremy is and invoke the Brock Bowers chicken line.
A Bucky Irving ceiling argument produces 'Rashad Dick White.' The desk immediately rules that one host owns the mutation and notes that the shortened middle-name gag had never before been spoken as a complete name with Dick in the middle.
One side forecasts 275 Bucky Irving carries excluding injury; the skeptical side accepts, and the desk seals it as a Water Bet. The published show then plays the real green Wheel of Water/Water Bet bumper, but no wheel is spun and no water is thrown.
The desk decides that Anthony Richardson can save his career by becoming the first quarterback to throw underhand in the Rick Barry granny style: just toss it forward and float it.
Prompted to defend Kenneth Walker, Mike says his Walker love and Joe Mixon disdain make every anti-Mixon argument disingenuous because the same objection can be judo-thrown back at Walker. His final defense is simply that Walker is different because Mike likes him.
After the consensus top 15 excludes Breece Hall, Jason chooses him as an omitted back who could still finish there. He frames it as a small light of joy in Breece's show history and answers the prediction that he will not draft Breece with 'I still might.'
Andy, Jason, and Mike are the only live main-desk occupants. The opening proposes an over-under market on the length of Andy's welcome scream, assigns Kyle the imaginary stopwatch, and recalls betting on which arm entered Rory McIlroy's green jacket; Mike and Jason also affirm that tails never fails. Kyle is then described as half insane from mining top-30-visit data, later supplying the finding that teams with at least two running-back visits drafted one in the first four rounds 71 percent of the time. Jeremy, addressed as Al, answers from Ducers Alley that Christian McCaffrey's injury risk has burned him too often; the program visibly cuts to a dim three-human producer row while the desk says the lighting hides how yellow Jeremy is and deploys the Brock Bowers chicken line. Bucky Irving analysis accidentally puts 'Dick' in the middle of Rachaad White's full name, then a 275-carry forecast becomes a Water Bet and triggers the real Wheel of Water bumper without anyone being splashed. Anthony Richardson is prescribed a career-saving Rick Barry-style granny throw, but no such throw is shown. Mike candidly admits his Kenneth Walker love makes his anti-Joe Mixon arguments disingenuous, reinforcing the Bone Zone. Jason still offers Breece Hall a small light of joy and says he might draft him even though Breece misses the consensus top 15. Complete published-video review finds ordinary desk coverage apart from standard bumpers and the real Ducers Alley cut; no imagined prop, player tableau, granny throw, or water punishment is physically enacted.
But he has the ability to really go poof. 50-50 shot in the first three rounds that that team takes a running back. James Cook comes in at 12 on our rankings. We've all got them similarly ranked. He's RB 13 on Sleeper. One thing that I found interesting about James Cook, he was the single worst fourth quarter runner in EPA per play in the entire NFL. Tuckered out. So you better get them early. because he was the number one first down running back in EPA per play. So when they're in that part of the game that they love running the football, he wasn't great in the fourth quarter. They had a lot of games put away. They used other players. But, you know, 16 rushing touchdowns. Yeah. Didn't get extended his offseason. He is nerve-wracking. Yeah. I mean, like the work went down, you know, targets went down, rushing attempts, rushing.
yards. I mean, his his yards per attempt was actually slightly up, but his attempts is down. But you go from two touchdowns on the ground to 16. This, he, we, like, I loved James Cook going into last year. He was a my guy. And he fully feels like a touchdown variance just bounced in the correct direction to totally bail that out because 200 carries for a thousand. with 32 receptions for 250 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground, you're like, man, James Cook really let me down because he had all of, he had 16 rushing touchdowns. These are the RB8. That's the exact inverse of who he was this entire career. The only thing that you could be confident in is he's not going to get rushing touchdowns. And then 16 rushing touchdowns ties OJ. Simpson's record. It's a wildly efficient.
season, a very good season. If you had him, you were happy. I agree completely. He's, he's scary. He's not a bell cow workload situation. He's talented player. I think they're content using multiple backs. They 100% are. At 13 is Joe Mixin. Mike has him down at 19. I'm at 11 on the other end of the spectrum. This was the number one running back. in all of fantasy for the first 11 weeks of the season. Yeah, he looked real good. I mean, he also was right behind Kyron in touches per game in the red zone. So he averaged 4.2 chances to score inside the red zone per game, which is awesome. The Houston offense, it disintegrated down the stretch. It's a little bit tough because we've looked at C.J. Stroud and we've kind of like said, what happened?
But I feel like it's been kind of in front of our face when you have injuries to Diggs, Collins, and Dell. Those hurt your offense. And so your opportunities per game in the red zone for Joe Mixon, which is where he was making his hay, those went away. He is older. So I think the quick... He'll be playing at the age of 29. I just think that the default reaction is going to be, okay, he started hot, got old, and then died off. And I think it's more nuanced than that with how the offense lost other pieces. He was hurt multiple times, dealing with a high ankle sprain. To me, this is like Josh Jacobs light in the sense that the team, the Packers and the Texans both have their running back situation figured out. They did it last offseason. They paid them. Nothing's changing. Joe Mixon's still under contract for two more years. He is there.
primary guy and will receive a massive workload for what could be a very good often. I am much, much more in the camp that Joe Mixon is going to be very good for fantasy. He's a found pick right now. That is delightful. Yeah, I like that. My big worry is simply that this was a bad offensive line that seemed like what they did is they got all their bad offensive linemen together and then they said, you're all fired. Which I get that because you guys sucked. But they didn't have anyone else to. And then they said, hey, the good one. We're going to trade you to Washington. You're gone. So I'm like really scared about this offensive line situation. It's, yeah, it seems like it can't get much worse. So you'd hope they spend on draft day. We'll be watching that. Kenneth Walker comes in at 14. Mike's got him at 12. I'm at 16. This is the weirdest dude.
He's very strange. It is. I'm looking up Kenneth Walker numbers, and I'm not looking for bad. I'm just looking for truth. They're there, though. And his 4.4 yards from scrimmage per touch was sixth worst in the NFL. His 3.9 a carry versus just base defenses, worst runner in the league against base defenses. 3.2 yards per carry in the first half last year. So if the team's throwing in the second half, in the first half, he did nothing. And... He did involve himself in the passing game. He's capable. He got 46 passes in, wait, how many games? The numbers in the eyeballs don't match up for Kenneth Walker to me because I feel like he's the same twitchy, elite talent in the backfield, but he did get really inefficient last year. And now you've got a new offensive coordinator who you think is going to emphasize the run. Now you hope he's out there. He's injury prone. This range of outcome.
outcomes for Kenneth Walker freaks me out, Mike. Talk me into it. It's hard to talk you into him because I am aware. Like I said, we are doing vibes checks. These are not our UDK stat projections for these guys where we just, the numbers do the talking for us, even if it can be upsetting. And I am well aware that my love of Kenneth Walker and my disdain for Joe Mixing, it is about as. terrible as you can you can go. It's just not, it's disingenuous of every argument I make against Joe Mixing. You could just judo throw that thing right back at me and be like, well, that's Ken Walker. I'll be like, yeah, but it's not. Yeah. Because I like Ken Walker. So it's, it's hard of that it's, it's what you're saying, Andy of watching Kenneth Walker play. You're like, this is an exciting guy. And it's hard. It's hard to see it.
It's hard to see it bounce the right way, but he's the type of player to me that if it bounced right, Kenneth Walker is a top five fantasy running back at the end of the year. Do you agree that this is kind of a defining year for him for our expectations and for his career? Because it feels like we could say, okay, he's not what we thought he was if this year doesn't go well. Yeah, I think that's that's a very first. And it's contract year. So this is this is everything for it for him. Like he needs to play his way into more money.
And what's wild about Ken Walker, because it's, you know, like over the course of his career, if you've had him, I think it's been more good than not, where year one it took some time for him to take over. But then he did. And he was like, he really, really helped your team win. And the next year it felt disappointing. And except points per game rookie year and sophomore you were about the same. And then he had more points per game this past year. You're like, dude. you're killing me well in a different way too like being more effective in the passing game like it's going to be a very interesting year for ken walker i'm happy this guy is our number 15 and made it into the list here chuba hubbard sneaks in at 15 he's got some really weird receiving numbers that i thought i'd throw out there
His 3.2 yards per target is the worst in the league over the last two years. And his 4.9 yards per reception was worst in the league over the last two years. So to me, I've now pictured a man that catches the football and falls to the ground. The truth of Chuba is that he is just a fantastic interior bonafide between the tackles running back. And he gets touches in the red zone. He's a workload guy. I don't think we believed any of these things about him when he was the backup for Christian McCaffrey. I don't think we believed he could evolve into this kind of a player that got a big contract that could deliver big numbers. From weeks 3 to 16, he was the RB7. So he is not going to be drafted highly, period, for fantasy. He will not be drafted where he could finish.
I agree with that. I'm glad we're giving him the respect that he has earned. I do worry a little bit about the workload. He was such a massive workload guy that if that took a hit, that could be really problematic. This is a team who has brought in three running backs on top 30 visits. So they are, you know, you said 50, 50 chance of a top three pick for a team that brought in two. They've brought in three. And I don't know that they know about the future of Jonathan Brooks. That would be the, that's what's so painful about that decision is, is you've got, you paid Chuba. Jonathan Brooks, you just spent a high pick on. Yeah. But I think that. And then they let go Miles Sanders. I think that for them. Brought Enrico Dattle. I'll say it. Brought in Rico Dattle. No, they did. Yeah. Thousand yard rusher. Yeah. If they were to drafts, you know, an RJ Harvey or something in the fourth round, I could see him coming in and getting a. They will. Not work where.
Chuba is not the primary lead back. But, you know, they need to not give him 350 opportunities. There's no way they won't take a player that makes you worried about Chuba because everything about Chuba's career is always it shouldn't work. That's the last two years, nothing about Chuba Hubbard's situation, bad team, right? We just looked at numbers. You're supposed to play for a good team to produce for fantasy. Yep. They draft Jonathan Brooks. Ah, there goes Chuba, not valuable. Then he gets a... bunch of money at the end of the year. So they'll probably draft somebody you love. This is the time that I want to respect Chuba. Not draft season. You know what I mean? When draft season rolls around, y'all can have them. Yeah. All right. So there's our top 15. We also, I wanted to give you a quick opportunity to name a player that we didn't mention that you still think could finish in that top 15. David Montgomery will be a top 15 running back on a points per game basis. Nice. Nice finish to the sentence.
You said quick. Yeah, but do you believe he could finish as the top 15? I think he will finish as a top 15 running back, yeah. Okay. And then I'm going to go with Breece Hall to shine a small light of joy in Breece Hall's time on the show. That's not a phrase. Second most running back receptions in football since 2023. Currently being drafted at running back 10. Yeah, I see it. I see it being okay. I see it being okay. Oh, yeah. That's certainly good. I mean, you won't draft him. I still might. He's not in our top 15. No, he's not in our top 15. I think that's just because he finished as the running back 17. Yeah. For what it's worth, he's at 18 in our list behind Camerick and Connor right now. James Connor is the guy I would highlight. Jason ranked him 57th. So that's why he didn't average out. James Connor is. That's your name? Yeah, of the group of like the old guys where.
They're kind of dead zone running backs. James Connor is someone who I will, I can't see a way right now where I abandoned James Connor and be like, this guy, he should just be an incredible value pick yet again. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he is very, very important to the team. He is the running back room. Trey Benson did not step up. I can't have. I don't think that they will spend draft capital on another running back. I think they like Trey based on what I hear Kyler talk about. Right. And they'll just, they'll try to work them in, but the Cardinals will be a team that they'll be in that win threshold. They'll be right around seven to nine, like, you know, I'll give them eight, whatever, eight wins or so. They'll find a way to get that. And then James Connor will just beat this workhorse yet again.
All right, on Thursday, we're going to go through our early top 15 wide receiver rankings. And so you can look forward to that. If you have a minute and you want to help the show out, we always appreciate a follow on your podcast app or a subscribe button over on YouTube. You can watch the show over there. And you can find us on socials on X at theFF ballers on Instagram at Instagram.com slash fantasy footballers. And of course, the UDK is available for pre-order. Ultimate draft kit.com. That is it for today. We'll catch you on Thursday. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at theFF ballers.