Top 12 RBs for 2026! Plus Superlatives Winners and Coaching News (01/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today (CBS Sports)

Episode: "Top 12 RBs for 2026! Plus Superlative Winners and Coaching News"

Date: January 14, 2026
Hosts: Adam Aizer, Dave Richard, Jamie Eisenberg

---

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the early fantasy football landscape for 2026, with a focus on ranking the top 12 running backs for the upcoming season. The crew (Adam, Dave, Jamie) break down player outlooks, discuss major NFL coaching changes, and announce the winners of their fan-voted season superlatives (MVP, Waiver Wire Hero, etc.). The roundtable features deep analysis, statistical nuggets, internal debates, and a splash of humorous banter about fast food faux pas and league drama.

---

Key Segments & Insights

1. Coaching Carousel & Fantasy Fallout

Timestamps: 02:48–13:15

• NFL Coaching Chaos:
  • Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh are both out, resulting in rare simultaneous vacancies in the AFC North.
  • Heavy speculation about where top offensive minds (e.g., Mike McDaniel, Greg Roman) might land, and what that would mean for teams like the Giants, Eagles, Chargers, and Lions.
• Fantasy Impact:
  • Steelers: “Quarterback is going to be different, coaching staff's going to be different...so really, I think the only thing you're looking at at this point is where you'll take DK Metcalf, where you'll take Jalen Warren and then sort of figure out the rest." – Jamie (07:54)
  • Eagles: Potential for a creative play-caller to ignite value for skill players; Kellen Moore mentioned as an OC replacement.
  • Chargers: Rotating OCs and injury to Herbert dampened offense, but a healthy offensive line spells major fantasy upside.
• Other Notables:
  • The guys riff on the trickiness of predicting the fantasy impact of new coaching regimes.

2. News & Notes Rapid Fire

Timestamps: 13:15–16:46

• Injury Reports: Key players like Fred Warner (49ers) and several on Buffalo were monitored for playoff implications.
• Player Options & Team Decisions:
  • Bryce Young’s fifth-year option picked up.
  • Uncertainty around Vikings QB job and Jordan Addison's off-field issue.
• Casual banter about Adam’s embarrassing first trip to Sonic, rapid-fire “things to know” about mid-round RB gems (e.g., Chase Brown).

3. Top 12 Running Backs for 2026

Timestamps: 18:09–50:15

General Trends & Criteria

• Touchdowns and Catches: Running backs need pass-catching roles to finish elite unless part of a top-scoring offense.
• Offensive Context Matters—but less so recently for RBs, as noted by Adam's deep-dive on top-12 finishes from bad offenses.

Top 6 Consensus (with Notable Debate)

• 1. Bijan Robinson (Falcons)

• 2. Jahmyr Gibbs (Lions)

• 3. Devon Achane (Dolphins)

• 4–6. Mix of Christian McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, James Cook, and the bold mention of Omarion Hampton (Chargers).

  "We have two running backs in the top three who were not on top 20 offenses. We've got the Dolphins obviously in flux a little bit..." – Adam (19:56)

• McCaffrey Discourse:

  • Drop from consensus RB1 due to workload/age concern:

    "I'm worried about the workload catching up with him... he'll turn 30 years old next year. Over the last 16 years... only three outperformed their 400+touch year." – Dave (23:36)

  • Counterpoint: Because of CMC's receiving skills, optimism remains, but injury risk, O-line issues, and history give pause.

• Omarion Hampton is highlighted as a breakout if used as a three-down back.

• James Cook is climbing based on a major increase in workload and sustained efficiency.

RBs 7–12: Divergence & Sleepers

• Chase Brown: Loved by all for late-season production and upside as Burrow’s lead back (34:05 on).
• Ashton Jeanty (Raiders): Universally ranked top-12, viewed as a bounce-back candidate with a better supporting cast possible.
• Josh Jacobs (Packers): Some concern about age/workload, but noted as a "dominate the backfield" guy IF healthy, in preferred system.
• Others discussed: RJ Harvey (Colts), Saquon Barkley (Eagles), Travion Henderson (Patriots), Derrick Henry (Ravens).
• Derrick Henry debate (Jamie the lone top-12 believer):

  "I just tired of betting against Derrick Henry at this point...the touchdowns save him from the lack of receptions." – Jamie (43:36)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On CMC's Outlook:

  "If he stays healthy, the thing that saves him is he's not getting all of his production as a rusher...he is getting a ton of his production as a receiver." – Jamie (26:16)

• Fantasy Takeaways for Upcoming Drafts:

  "I'm still working through it and I want to make sure that Jacobs A, is a Packer and B is in that exact same role that we're used to seeing him in before I push him up higher in my drafts. It could happen. It's. What month is it? It's January. We got time..." – Dave (36:11)

• On Ashton Jeanty’s Sophomore Potential:

  "Betting on that upside on a 23 year old running back is the type of thing that fantasy managers should be doing." – Dave (40:08)

Deep Data Nuggets

• "Adam’s stat: Only two RBs were top-5 on subpar offenses in 2025—both had at least 11 TDs and strong receiving roles."
• "James Cook’s leap: Catches stayed flat but carries went way up—efficiency remained elite." (30:21)

4. Superlative Awards

Timestamps: 50:15–59:09

Categories & Fan-Voted Winners

• Fantasy MVP:
  • Christian McCaffrey (CMC) won with 48% of the vote.
  • Notable moment: Adam reveals he voted for JSN “because he was a third-round pick,” prompting ribbing.
• Waiver Wire Hero:
  • Michael Wilson beat out Matthew Stafford (55% to 38%).
  • Fun trivia: “Wilson averaged more PPR points per game than McCaffrey. Wilson did in the five games with Brissette and no Marvin Harrison Jr. That's ridiculous.” – Dave (53:51)
• Comeback Player:
  • Javonte Williams (59%).
• Biggest Bust:
  • Justin Jefferson (61%).

Humorous Drama

• "Bumbling" Mock Draft Slap:
  • Running joke about Adam calling a coworker a “bumbling moron” for drafting Malik Nabers in the mock’s first round, culminating in a light-hearted on-air confrontation (56:01).
  • "You are a bumbling moron who shouldn't even be invited into a league if you take Malik Neighbors in round one." – Adam (59:09)

---

Additional Highlights

• Timestamps for segment transitions:

  • Coaching News: 02:48–13:15
  • News/Notes: 13:15–16:46
  • RB Top 12 Discussion: 18:09–50:15
  • Superlatives: 50:15–59:09

• Memorable Banter:

  • Adam’s Sonic fast food story (04:18)
  • TV recommendation: “Mayor of Kingstown is amazing. Watch that show. Talk about it with me. I freaking love it.” – Adam (16:13)
  • Quick tangent on “longest-tenured US coach”—Erik Spoelstra (10:24)

---

Conclusion

This episode provides a thorough, playful, and sometimes contentious early look at the running back landscape for 2026 fantasy football, while weaving in real-world NFL changes, draft philosophy, and the human side of the fantasy community. The suggestions are nuanced—factoring in age, usage, offense, touches, and “what-ifs” around coaching and personnel moves. Listeners are left with actionable early rankings, reasons behind the ranks, and clear caveats for how spring and summer movement can change the game.

---

For full rankings, see cbssports.com/fantasy

Notable Quote Summary:

“Betting on that upside on a 23 year old running back is the type of thing that fantasy managers should be doing.” (Dave, 40:08)

"I'm worried about the workload catching up with him... he'll turn 30 years old next year." (Dave on CMC, 23:36)

“I'm just tired of betting against Derrick Henry at this point.” (Jamie, 43:36)

---

Episode Recommendation:
A must-listen for dynasty and redraft players looking to get a head-start on the 2026 season—full of sharp analysis, evidence-based debates, subtle cautions, and community camaraderie.

Transcript

[Adam]

Life insurance. It is such an important thing to have. I carry a lot of responsibility in my household and if something happened to me, there are real consequences like mortgage payments and everyday bills that don't just disappear. That's why I recommend life insurance through Ethos. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy and 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes and get same day coverage. And and there's no medical exam. You just answer a few simple health questions. You can get up to $3 million in coverage. Some policies are as low as $30 a month. As of March 2025, Business Insider named Ethos the number one no medical exam instant life insurance provider. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Now by going to ethos.comfft in as little as 10 minutes you can get your free quote and up to $3 million in coverage. And at ethos.comfft that is E-O S.comfft ethos.comfft application times and rates may vary.

[Unidentified Advertiser]

I cannot believe it's already 2026. Truly, where did the year go? I blinked, planned Thanksgiving, watched a little football, and boom, suddenly we're here. And with a new year comes that little voice saying, all right big guy, time to make a change. That means getting organized, tidying up, giving my bedroom a refresh and and finally fixing my game room so it feels peaceful instead of cluttered and stressful. And Bob's is perfect for all that. Their storage pieces are so smart. Sofas with hidden storage, beds with drawers and storage headboards, dressers with hidden jewelry, storage. They find a way to put storage into everything. And their office furniture makes working from home feel a little more inspiring. When it comes to sleep, Bob's has a huge range of mattresses, memory foam, hybrid, firm, plush, dual feel, and many are Consumer Reports recommended. You can add adjustable bases with massage, programmable positions, motion activated under bed, lighting, even Bluetooth speakers. And if you want a fresh look for the new year, Bob's has stylish options like the Sofia sofa or an extendable dining set with beautiful nail head detailing. Get your picks in 26 at Bob's Discount Furniture.

[Adam]

This is Fantasy Football TODAY from CBS Sports. What a play. Can you believe this? No, I can't.

[Dave]

It's time to dominate your fantasy league.

[Adam]

Off to the races and he stays on his feet. This is going to go the distance.

[Dave]

Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.

[Adam]

Welcome everybody. This is Fantasy Football today presented by BetMGM. Make it legendary. It's Wednesday, January 14th, and we are talking about the coaching news. Mike Tomlin is out. John Harbaugh is out. We knew that. But that's just kind of crazy to think in the AFC North. And we are talking about our top 12 running backs for 20, 26, and it's fantasy superlative time. Who won MVP on Facebook? Who won comeback player of the year? All these things will tell you welcome. Good morning, Dave. Richard.

[Dave]

John Harbaugh is out to the offices of the New York Giants today in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

[Adam]

Should I. Should I drive by and see what's going on?

[Dave]

I think you should go in and try and talk him into being the Giants head coach because if anybody could convince him on all the great things the Giants do, it's certainly you.

[Adam]

Good morning, Jamie.

[Jamie]

Good morning, Dave.

[Adam]

You said I should go in. I want to tell you the the worst place I ever went into, shouldn't have gone into. I'd never been there before. Didn't know the rules. Went to Sonic. They brought food to my car. You've been to Sonic?

[Dave]

I'm fat. Of course I have.

[Adam]

But we don't have them in South Florida, but. Oh, really?

[Dave]

You could walk to one from my house. They figured out where they'd make the most money and they.

[Adam]

Well, anyway, you're not supposed to go in there. So they brought me my food. I think I needed some napkins or whatever. I got out of the car, I went in and they looked at me like, what are you doing, you freak?

[Jamie]

Oh, there. There's one near, not far from our office that actually you could dine in.

[Adam]

Really? Things are changing. Things are changing in the world. I can't keep up with it. Anyway, busy show today. So let's get to it here. Starting.

[Dave]

I love how that's your example of things changing in the world.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Is a Sonic that has like a few tables and bar stools that you can sit at. Like, that's.

[Adam]

Wow.

[Dave]

The world is really a different place.

[Adam]

It's pretty deep stuff. I'm going to tell you the other thing that you all need to remember. Okay? Two. Two. I'll give you two. I'll give you a bonus since we're talking about top 12 running backs. Okay. Go back to 2024 after the Zach Moss injury. Chase Brown was the number three running back on a per game basis in the second half of the season in 2024. That's why we liked him so much coming to this year. How about when Joe Burrow came back? Week 13 this year, Chase Brown was the number two running back for the rest of the season. So that's two sample sizes of him as the lead running back. Now, P. Ryan did not play in a lot of those games, so that's a big thing. But.

[Jamie]

Well, if you go back to even before Burrow came back, like he was starting to take off much earlier in.

[Adam]

The season, it's actually really only, I feel like a couple games for him before Burrow came back. No, you're right. You're absolutely right. It was four games before that. Then he had that eight. He hadn't had any, like, big rushing performances. Then he had 18 carries for 99 yards. But you're right, the four games before that.

[Jamie]

Wow.

[Adam]

You know what? I'm telling you, let's run it from week eight. Let's see where he was from weeks eight through 18. Chase Brown was the number four running back in fantasy and number three per game, and he averaged 21.2 PPR fantasy points per game. Good stuff.

[Dave]

Sexy.

[Adam]

Thank you, Jamie. All right, we'll get to that in a minute. Let's get to the news and notes. All right, we got Kevin Patullo, Philadelphia offensive coordinator, not fired, but demoted, might remain on the staff. Mike Tomlin stepping down. Adam Schefter said he's not expected to coach this season, but there was a different report that, that said, oh, I'd be surprised if he didn't coach this season. So we'll see Greg Roman, the offensive coordinator for the Chargers, and their offensive line coach, Mike Devlin. They've been fired. They finished 18th in scoring, but in the four healthy games with Joe Alt, they averaged 26.8 offensive points per game. And they faced the Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos and Vikings in those games. And their lowest output was against the Raiders. How weird.

[Dave]

Yeah, Herbert had 26.2 fantasy points per game in those.

[Adam]

Yeah, I mean, it was, it, was it interesting that Roman is, is taking the fall here, but I don't know.

[Dave]

Well, he didn't have a counter punch when, when their offensive line went to dookie. Yeah. So that's probably why he and Devlin got the ax. But I think this is going to be the first time now where Jim Harbaugh doesn't have roman as his OC so we're headed towards some interesting times in LA. And just the, the, the 26.2, that's just, that's like the little small sample size microcosm that you can remember when it comes to drafting Justin Herbert next August. Because if he's got a healthy offensive line, that's his upside. That's top five QB upside. I've taken him in both of our. Of our mock so far. I intend to keep doing it.

[Adam]

Jamie, when you look at the Eagles news, Steelers news, Chargers news, what are your big fantasy reactions that are going to go viral, be seen by more than 2 million people, and grow our audience?

[Jamie]

I mean, obviously the Steelers are going for a complete reset here, so we have no idea what this is going to look like. Quarterback is going to be different, coaching staff's going to be different, really, I think. And Kenneth Gainwell's a free agent, so really, I think the only thing you're looking at at this point is where you'll take DK Metcalf, where you'll take Jalen Warren and then sort of figure out the rest. But yeah, there's. There's just so many questions to be answered in regards to the Steelers for the Eagles, if the personnel is the same. You know, we've gone through this already twice. You know, when they lose Shane Steichen and then replace him eventually with Kellen Moore and how that looked and how great it was for the Eagles. And so now hopefully they get the offense coordinator situation right. My guess, unless he gets a head coaching job, is Mike McDaniel is going to have his choice of Detroit or Philadelphia, which I think are probably the two best offensive coordinator jobs available with head coaches in place. That's a pretty good opportunity for both of those offenses to get a creative play caller in there that could hopefully help those playmakers and be great for fantasy. What was the other one you mentioned?

[Dave]

Well, the Chargers would also be one of those places that would be a trap.

[Jamie]

I don't, I don't think McDaniel makes sense for the Chargers personally, but it would be fun. You know, I think the best case for McDaniel would probably be Detroit, just knowing that there's so many options from a speed standpoint, which is what he's had so much success with. So I would love to see him go there if he. Again, if he's not going to be a head coach. But look, obviously everywhere, anywhere he goes, he's going to inject life into that offense. I'd be, I'd be very surprised, though, if Jim Harbaugh and Mike McDaniel are on the same staff.

[Adam]

Would you be surprised if Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman are on the same staff? Because they have been. Right. And, and then. But his brother just fired him.

[Dave]

So awkward. But, I mean, John Harbaugh.

[Adam]

Yeah, sorry. John Harbaugh. Yeah. I'M sitting here, you know, obviously very invested in this coaching stuff, thinking, man, I really want them to get John Harbaugh, but I don't really want Greg Roman to be the offensive coordinator under.

[Dave]

Yeah, I'd be surprised. I'd be surprised if Roman and the other Harbaugh, the longer tenured Harbaugh, where was. Well, I guess that's Jim now. Right. Because John just lost his gig.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Dave]

I'd be surprised if Roman was with a Harbaugh brother this coming year.

[Jamie]

It's pretty funny that Zach Taylor is the now longest tenured.

[Adam]

Right.

[Dave]

Right.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

AFC North. Do you know the longest tenured coach in pro sports in the United States? I think it's pro sports United States. Yeah, I heard this morning.

[Adam]

I saw. Yes, I saw it yesterday on Twitter. What'd you say?

[Dave]

Dave Spolstra.

[Jamie]

Yeah. Yep.

[Adam]

How long?

[Jamie]

Oh, God, it's gotta be two decades. I believe he took over right before the big three. So that was 2006, 2008.

[Dave]

Only there was an Internet.

[Jamie]

Oh, 2008.

[Adam]

It wasn't.

[Jamie]

It wasn't. Van Gundy.06 is when they beat the Mavericks.

[Adam]

Did Stan Van Gundy win a championship with them? I always confused this.

[Jamie]

No, Stan was. Well, Stan. I think one. No, Stan was fired midway through when they got checked.

[Adam]

Oh, midway through. Okay. All right. Well.

[Jamie]

I don't remember what it was, but Riley took over.

[Adam]

Yeah. The thing. Okay. So we got. We have. I mean, this is such a fascinating coaching cycle now. We've got great coaches out there.

[Jamie]

Nine jobs.

[Adam]

Nine job and. And, you know, offensive coordinator positions and good offenses like we talked about. And honestly, as much as I just said, I don't really want Greg Roman to be the Giants offensive coordinator. He's been. He has coached 12 seasons as an offensive coordinator and top 12 in scoring in eight of those 12 seasons. I just think he's typically been too conservative to, you know, he's had some great offenses, like with Lamar Jackson, but a little bit too conservative. Like, I don't really want that. But.

[Jamie]

But he would make sense though, with the Giants personnel because you have a running quarterback and you have playmakers that can still make explosive plays in the right situations.

[Adam]

Yeah, I don't think we will be excited about it though, from. From a Malik Neighbors or Dart standpoint.

[Jamie]

I'm gonna guess if you get Harbaugh, everybody's gonna be excited about the Giants as a winner.

[Adam]

Yeah. As a fantasy. That's the thing. Is it good for fantasy? I don't know. It depends on the core.

[Jamie]

I think Those players are good for fantasy. But you know what? You already hate Malik neighbors anyway, so.

[Adam]

That'S why he went in the first round again yesterday. I just cannot see a just Malik neighbors right now in drafts that we are certainly not going to play out. But right now being a first round pick, it's madness. It's madness. I'm not going to say anything bad about anyone because I don't want Jamie to rat on me and then me get a text message about me saying something bad about someone for drafting Malik neighbors.

[Jamie]

That would be bad. It'd be bad for you to say anything disrespectful about a co worker.

[Adam]

What do you mean? What am I missing?

[Jamie]

Nothing. What?

[Adam]

What? What did I do now?

[Jamie]

Nothing.

[Adam]

All right, more news and notes. Fred Warner, 49ers linebacker. He could play if the 49ers advance to the NFC championship game. So we maybe one week away. Did you see Sean Payton get mad at the reporter for asking about Dre Greenlaw? Downhill tackling.

[Jamie]

No.

[Adam]

So unnecessary. What the heck so mean? All right, Buffalo guys. Buffalo's gonna lose. Very injured. They're favored at Denver. They're gonna lose. They running back Ty Johnson, he was. He missed practice. So did cornerback Maxwell Harrison listed as missing practice. Safety Jordan Poyer is out this week. I thought his replacement struggled last week, so that. That's a concerning one. And wide receivers Gabe Davis and Tyrell Shavers tore their acl. Jo, Josh Palmer is on ir. Are these great game changing players? No, but they have three healthy wide receivers right now. They play at.

[Jamie]

This was the genius of the Bills. They knew that they would run into the Broncos eventually and said, you know, Patrick's return is just going to shut down our best receiver. We don't have one.

[Adam]

Who you guys think is going to win that game?

[Jamie]

I mean I have Buffalo in the super bowl so I expected this.

[Dave]

I guess Buffalo, but I haven't decided yet.

[Adam]

I am surprised that they are favored. You don't see one seeds as underdogs at home ever? Basically, yeah. This is like the third one I have actually have that note somewhere. I'll try to find it. But more news, Seattle. Good news for them. Left tackle Charles Cross, tight end Elijah Arroyo. They practiced in full. They play the Niners on Saturday. Denver defensive tackle John Franklin Myers practiced in full. They get the Bills on Saturday. Carolina picked up Bryce Young's fifth year option, but they have not committed to him long term. You have to pick up a player's fifth year option before his fourth year. So that's a Basically two years left of Bryce Young unless they sign him to a long term deal.

[Jamie]

I heard this also on the radio the other day that he would be like the 20 something by cost quarterback in 2026. And by the time his fifth year option kicks in, he'll probably be like the 24th to 26th quarterback in terms of cost. Like it just makes so much sense to do it.

[Adam]

And Minnesota head coach Kevin o' Connell wants competition at the quarterback position. And Jordan Addison was arrested for trespassing. Hopefully that's nothing too serious there. Okay, I've said there was a. I said there were like two things I was going to give you to know. I only said one of them. The Chase Brown thing. I got a bonus thing for you in just a moment. But right now it's playoff time. It's time for football at BetMGM. When you register with BetMGM, you'll get instant access to to a variety of parlay selection features, live betting options, boost tokens, and the best daily promotions in the business. And when you huddle up with BETMGM at your fingertips, every pass, every catch and every game matter more than ever. So football's here. Don't miss out on any of the hard hitting action. Place your money line prop and parlay bets with BETMGM today. Here's your bonus thing to know. You guys gonna ever take my advice? Please commit right now to taking my advice.

[Dave]

Oh gosh. No, no, no, no.

[Adam]

Don't go into Sonic is one. But also.

[Dave]

Well, why would you ever.

[Adam]

I needed napkins. What was I supposed to do?

[Dave]

That's fine for napkins. That's okay.

[Unidentified Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

Were you by yourself?

[Adam]

No, I was with two other people. Yeah, it was embarrassing.

[Dave]

Okay. For napkins. It's okay.

[Adam]

My first Sonic. The other thing is Mayor of Kingstown is unbelievable. I just finished season four. It's a Paramount plus plug to boot here. But even if it weren't, I would tell you Mayor of Kingstown is amazing. Watch that show. Talk about it with me. I freaking love it. It's so good. It's so addicting. Quick, you don't have to. It's not two and a half hour episodes like Stranger Things. They're. They're an hour. Just go through them. You're gonna love it. Great show.

[Dave]

You. You weren't this excited about a show since Stranger Things.

[Adam]

Yeah, I know. I love Stranger Things. But I. At the end I was like, oh my God. You know, I start watching at like 11pm Like I don't. I can't be up till 1. This is ridiculous. So a little too long. Mayor of Kingstowne doesn't have that problem. All right, let's take a break. Top 12 running backs and superlative winners when we come back on Fantasy Football today.

[Unidentified Advertiser 2]

Why does every recipe I try need 18 ingredients, including a jar of something paste I'll never use again but will sit in my fridge for nine months? I just want dinner in the oven fast. That's why I love Blue Apron's new one Pan, assemble and Bake meals. They send you fresh ingredients that are already chopped. All you do is put it all together and bake. That's it. No chopping, no weird leftovers. Just delicious, easy to make meals. Get 20% off your first two orders with code APRON20. Terms and conditions apply. Visit blueapron.com terms for more.

[Adam]

Hey, Sal.

[Jamie]

Hank.

[Adam]

What's going on?

[Dave]

We haven't worked a case in years.

[Adam]

I just bought my car at Carvana and it was so easy.

[Dave]

Too easy.

[Jamie]

Think something's up?

[Adam]

You tell me. They got thousands of options, found a great car at a great price, and it got delivered the next day.

[Dave]

It sounds like Carvana just makes it easy to buy your car, Hank.

[Adam]

Yeah, you're right. Case closed.

[Unidentified Advertiser 2]

Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply.

[Adam]

Welcome back, Everybody. Okay, top 12 at the running back position. Now this is if you want to talk about maybe Bijan Robinson is going to be one. Is it going to be two? Just consider Jameer Gibbs was on the second best offense in the NFL. Bijan Robinson was on the 22nd best offense in the NFL. Got a whole lot of notes on finishing top five on bad offenses and whatnot, but might just be like Bijan Robinson scored 12 touchdowns. I think 11 touchdowns. He scored 11. He scored 11 touchdowns. There were actually two running backs in full PPR that finished top five on bad offenses. You're going to call them bad. Below average, whatever. Falcons were 22nd in scoring. Dolphins were 25th in scoring. Those two guys scored 11 or 12 touchdowns. HN scored 12 and 16 games, but they had a ton of catches. So that's super important for these running backs that may not score the same amount of touchdowns. They need to have the catches. Bijan and HN almost certainly will. The other three guys in the top five, there were five, like elite running backs who averages more than 20 points per game. The other three guys were McCaffrey, Gibbs and Jonathan Taylor. And they all scored, I want to say 18, 17 or 18, say 18 or more touchdowns. So that's the benefit, obviously. Of being on these great offenses. More touchdown opportunities. All right, let's go with our top three. Jamie, who's the top three?

[Jamie]

Bijan is one, Jamir Gibbs is two, Devon Hns three.

[Dave]

Okay, Dave, I have a totally different order. I've got Robinson one.

[Adam]

That's what he has.

[Dave]

Gibbs two, and Devon three.

[Adam]

All right, well, I guess just to be different, I have Bijan Robinson 1, Jir Gibbs 2, and AJN 3. But it is interesting, right, that we have two running backs in the top three who were not on top 20 offenses. We've got the Dolphins obviously in flux a little bit. For what it's worth, Quinn Ewers gave Devon Hn only three targets in both of the games that Achan played with him. So should we be reconsidering? Those guys is as Bijon number one, Hn number three. When I mean, the Lions just finished second in the NFL in scoring and fire their offensive coordinator. That's how good their offense is. You know what I mean? Like, how much, Dave, should that be a factor here?

[Dave]

It's definitely something to keep in mind when it comes to Gibbs. He absolutely has the potential to move up to number one. What would it take? It would take a nice splash at offensive coordinator. We've already talked about how cool it would be if Mike McDaniel was the. The. The offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. It would also. I would be more encouraged if the Lions moved on from David Montgomery, which is possible, and they don't really replace him with somebody who's a. Who's a legit threat to take 10 to 12 touches away from Jameer Gibbs from game to game. And so if that were to happen, if we go into the year where we know Jameer Gibbs is far and away the lead back, the stud, everything in Detroit's offense. Yeah, I think you could absolutely look at him as the number one running back, and he would leapfrog Bijan.

[Jamie]

The irony would be, is if they move on from Montgomery and sign Algier.

[Dave]

Right.

[Jamie]

That.

[Dave]

That wouldn't be something. That. That wouldn't excite me. That would not make me want to move Gibbs over Bijan. We're nitpicking between these two, but that's the type of thing that would hold me back from putting Gibbs one in. Bichon two.

[Adam]

Yeah. And Gibbs. So the first eight games of the season, he averaged 14.2 carries per game. The second nine games of the season, sorry, he averaged 14.4 carries per game. Same exact thing. However, the difference is David Montgomery's role shrunk so Gibbs, the percentage of running back carries actually went way up in the second half of the year. What happened? Their defense once again fell apart. Was one of the worst in the NFL in the second half of the year, and they just didn't run the ball as much. But if they can get back to what they want, like a decent defense, run the ball, you could see a career high in carries easily for Jameer Gibbs.

[Dave]

All right, so Gibbs just did what he did. It was 21.6 PPR points per game on 320 touches. That's it. Like everybody else that had huge fantasy averages way north of 350 touches. The one exception being Achan.

[Adam]

Johnny Airport says, I'm gonna go out on a limb and I'm gonna say 1, Bijan, 2. Gibbs 3. Hn. I appreciate that. We need the.

[Dave]

We've got a consensus.

[Adam]

All right, let's do 4, 5, and 6 here. And this is where things will be different for sure. Jamie, go ahead. Four, five, six.

[Jamie]

Yeah. Christian McCaffrey's at four, Jonathan Taylor's at five, and James Cook is at six.

[Adam]

McCaffrey, Taylor, Cook. Dave.

[Dave]

Yeah, same names, different order. Jonathan Taylor is fourth for me, I've got James Cook fifth, and Christian McCaffrey is sixth.

[Adam]

And then I'm the. Who has Hampton, four, McCaffrey, five, Cook six. Okay, first of all, McCaffrey's RB1, which is. No, you know, it's not. He's no stranger to that spot. Dave, why isn't he higher than fourth or fifth for anyone?

[Dave]

I'm worried about the workload catching up with him. We already know that he's sitting at 434 touches with at least one more game to play. He'll turn 30 years old next year. I did the the study on Saquon last year, and running backs that had a lot of work and what happens the year after this will sound familiar, but here we go. Over the last 16 years, Christian McCaffrey is now the 18th running back to get 400 plus touches in a season. Of the 17 running backs before him that had 400 or more touches in a season, and this includes Saquon Last year, only three outperformed their 400+touch year. Four more were close enough to their 400/touch year. And the other 10 running backs who fell short, they either sat out, which is what Le'Veon did in 2018. Thanks a lot for that. Le'Veon got hurt. That includes McCaffrey in 2020, Derek Henry in 2021, or saw at least a 20% drop in their per game average, and that includes Saquon in 2025. It's worrisome, especially for a running back who's about to turn 30 behind an offensive line that's got a left tackle who's basically the linchpin of their offense, who's also way older and might not be there next year, and one of.

[Jamie]

Their best blockers who may not be there at the start of the season either, with George Kittle. I think in the case of McCaffrey, it's probably the most fascinating player at this point to discuss because of the six of us who submitted rankings that are on the site. From the stories, you can't see them in the ranking list, but so that includes Keith, Dan and Jacob. They all have McCaffrey higher than the three of us do. So Heath has him as the third running back, Jacob has him as the second running back, and Dan has him as the first running back. So you can imagine when you see the story of our top 24 players, McCaffrey's first overall for Dan and in the top five, or, excuse me, top three for. For Jacob and Heath, I believe. Oh no, I'm sorry, Heath has all three wide receivers first. So relatively high in any event. So that's just a sample size of 6 people ranking players and where McCaffrey is going to go. Now in the drafts that we've done, we only done two one PPR, one half PPR. McCaffrey has not gone in the top three, I believe. So there's still some trepidation from people drafting him. Now again, those three people who ranked him that high and not at the chance to draft him. So that might change things. So I think just where he comes out, it's very similar to the Barkley conversation from a year ago of exactly like it. The the people who are going to be bullish on him are going to draft him high, understandably so. And look, for what it's worth, Barkley stayed healthy, which was the best thing, you know. So at least you still got good production from him. You just did not get the return on investment that you were expecting because he dropped by almost eight PPR points per game. I think the thing with McCaffrey, if he stays healthy, the thing that saves him is he's not getting all of his production as a rusher, right? He is getting a ton of his production as a receiver and hopefully the 49ers are smart enough to manage that bit differently going into he like turned 30 this year in June is when he turns 30. So, you know, we'll see how, how he comes off the playoffs, how far they go, what the offseason is like. But we dealt with this two years ago already. 2023, he was awesome. Long playoff run, came back 2024, only played four games. So the, the history with McCaffrey is just not favorable. It's just a matter of, you know, when you want to buy into drafting.

[Adam]

Okay, well, it's. Yeah, the fact that he has all those catches is what's going to make it much harder for me, certainly, and I think what makes him more challenging than Barkley from last year. But, yeah, McCaffrey. I look forward to getting into some. Some good debates about that for the next six months and beyond eight months. Okay, so it's a recap. I've got Bijan Gibbs, HN Hampton, McCaffrey, Cook. Jamie has Bijan Gibbs, Achan McCaffrey, Taylor Cook, Dave has Bijan Gibbs, HN Taylor, Cook, McCaffrey. So I guess we could talk about Amari and Hampton here. You know, he only had four games all year where he played more than 62% of the snaps. He played nine games for the season, and he still had 32 catches. So I think we're all in agreement, like, they get both of their tackles back next year. Healthy. Alton Slater, they could have a phenomenal offense. They drafted him in the first round. You know, I definitely want to see what they do if they sign another running back, whatever. But there's a lot of potential here. You can all agree there's a lot of potential for the offense for the Chargers. So it is a little bit bold for me to put an unproven Omarion Hampton, who averaged 4 1/2 yards per carry but only 3.7 yards per carry. If you remove his game against the Giants, who had a historically bad run defense, and quite frankly, sometimes it just didn't look that good. But very involved in the passing game. If he's there every down back, if he's playing 80% of the snaps, he's a guy who has, I think, RB1 potential, and he did that in four of his nine games. So it's a leap of faith.

[Jamie]

Right now.

[Adam]

I don't know that It'll stay at 4 for Hampton, but he's got that potential.

[Jamie]

I mean, he's definitely a top 12 running back, top 10 running back, I think for almost everybody. You know, you see what the upside could be. You hope that there's not going to be an injury scenario that follows him. So you Know, let's just say it was a fluke situation this year with the foot ankle injury that he dealt with. But yeah, and this is kind of a little bit why I'm somewhat hesitant on Herbert. Because we know what Harbaugh wants to do and this guy is as good as advertised. Then this could be a very run heavy offense and they limit what Herbert's ceiling can get to. Still, you know, worth taking as a borderline number one quarterback. But you know, will we ever see the heights of Herbert? Because when Herbert was at his best earned this season, they were, you know, tentative with Hampton. They were still going with Hampton and Naji. And then really once Hampton started to get going a little bit is when the offensive line started to break down, then Hampton gets hurt. So the thing that I love about Hampton, you, you brought this up I think when we previewed the playoffs was what he started to do as a pass catcher when he came back, you know. And so I think that's the, the thing that's encouraging. So do they bring in a guy that's going to play on obvious passing downs? They bring in a guy that's going to supplement him on passing down situations. You know, that would be more of the concern for me because if he's just a first and second down guy then I don't think he should definitely not be a top five overall running back. But if he's going to be in every down three, three down running back, you know, can do everything that we look for, work at the goal line, work on passing downs, all those things, then the upside is, is huge, especially if the offensive line stays healthy. So yeah, borderline first round pick. I think he's better in the second round, at least at the moment. But certainly somebody you should consider as a top 10 running back fisherman.

[Adam]

All right, last thing here on this group and then we'll get to 7 through 12. Dave, Jonathan Taylor. I'll just. Let me just give a quick stat on James Cook. Cause he's in the top six for, for everyone. He's fifth for Dave, six for Jamie and me. James Cook was the number six running back per game this year. He was number 11 in 2024 per game and he went from 16.7 points per game in PPR to 18.1. What changed? They finally gave him more carries. He had 309 carries last year. He was on pace for 223 carries. If you remove Week 18 when he barely played, played 22% of the snap so just the catches didn't change. They basically stayed the same, but the carries went way up. And he averages over 5 yards per carry every year, basically. So that was cook for Taylor. Dave, does it bother you you have him fourth. Does it bother you that he was the number 23 running back per game after the bye week? In their last seven games, he averaged 3.3 yards per carry. He really struggled after that huge 50ish point game against Atlanta.

[Dave]

I'd argue that he struggled once Daniel Jones got hurt. And once Daniel Jones got hurt, that whole offense went from bad to worse. And I say bad to worse because midway through the year they were great. And then things started to slide as Daniel Jones did. What Daniel Jones does. Here's where I'm very encouraged by Jonathan Taylor is that in 12 full games with Daniel Jones throw out week 14 when Jones got hurt, he averaged 24.8 PPR points per game and 3.3 targets per game. And that's kind of new for him. That, that was exciting. And if Jonathan Taylor is going to stay fairly involved in the passing game and we know what he's capable of doing as a rusher, he's coming off of a year where he scored 20 touchdowns, had almost 2,000 total yards, 369 touches. I can't help myself. He's one of these running backs that you look at and you can pencil in for 20 plus PPR points per game. Those are the guys that belong at the top of a fantasy draft.

[Adam]

I think I'm just really worried about what Daniel Jones is going to be next year. I think he was already.

[Jamie]

If he's the quarterback.

[Adam]

Yeah, exactly. I think he was already starting to slip. Now he's coming off a torn Achilles. He's not even under contract. Right. It was a one year deal.

[Dave]

It's true. Yep.

[Jamie]

So.

[Dave]

So they could have somebody completely different. I'll be encouraged as long as it's not Anthony Richardson or somebody like Anthony Richardson who will clearly take some touchdown opportunities away from Taylor and someone who will change the way defenses play against the Colts.

[Adam]

Okay. All right, let's go to, let's go to commercial break. And when we come back, 7 through 12 in our 2026 running back rankings.

[Unidentified Advertiser 2]

After this new year new me. Cute. But how about new year, new money? With Experian, you can actually take control of your finances, check your FICO score, find ways to save and get matched with credit card offers, giving you time to power through those New Year's goals. You know you're going to crush start the year off right. Download the Experian App based on FICO score 8 months. Offers an approval, not guaranteed. Eligibility requirements and terms apply subject to credit check, which may impact your credit scores. Offers not available in all states. See experian.com for details. Experian.

[Adam]

Looking to create the bath you've always dreamed of without all the hassle? The Home Depot makes it easier. Shop fully styled rooms and curated collections.

[Dave]

To bring your vision to life. Use digital tools to print, preview flooring and finishes in your space.

[Adam]

And get everything you need, from tubs to tile, delivered fast and priced right.

[Dave]

The Home Depot dream baths built here.

[Adam]

Okay, let's reveal seven through 12 for Dave. It's Chase Brown, Ashton Genty and Omarion Hampton. We'll go seven through nine here. Chase Brown, Ashton Genty and Omari and Hampton. Jamie has Hampton seven, Chase Brown eight and Josh Jacobs at nine. Dave, you do not have Jacobs in your top 12. I'm seeing.

[Dave]

I don't.

[Adam]

Interesting. And I have Taylor seven. So I was a little guy on Taylor, Jacobs eight and Chase Brown nine. I can't believe I'm the low guy on Chase Brown. I'm always the high guy on Chase Brown. I have him ninth, Dave has him seventh, Jamie has him eighth. So you see Chase Brown in the in from seven through nine for all of us. You see Josh Jacobs for two of us. No, Jacobs in the top 12 for, for Dave. You see Hampton here for Jamie and Dave. I had Hampton fourth. And then you have Genti, which is, I guess, not that crazy. Dave. Jamie has him 10th, Dave has him 8th, I have him 12th. So we're hoping for a bounce back there, you know, improvement there. But anyway, Jamie, what do you want to say about Hampton, Brown and Jacobs 7, 8, 9?

[Jamie]

I think we already talked about Hampton enough. I think in the case of Brown, you know, we sort of noted this how he finished the season after a slow start, really the question will be is who do they bring in, if anybody, to play alongside him and do they decide to take a little bit of the work off of him, which was a concern coming into this year and I think they tried to do that and then realized they need him on the field as much as possible. But you know what I mean. Samaj p run. Give him credit. He was doing some nice things before the injury and then I don't think he was fully healthy when he came back. So just nitpicking with somebody who's got so much upside and so much potential. He's, he's going to be a second round pick. You could probably argue that he should be a borderline first round pick depending on how many running backs come off the board. But there's just a lot to love about Chase Brown when there's a healthy Joe Burrow and just how that offense continues to click.

[Adam]

Okay, and Jacob, so J. Dave. I have Jacobs eighth, Jimmy has him ninth. What do you have? 13th, maybe 13th. Okay.

[Dave]

And honestly, like I don't have a lot of conviction once I get past Hampton at nine. So, you know, don't hate on it because I don't have Jacobs at 10 when it's Harvey Barkley, Travion and then Jacobs. So I'm still working through it and I want to make sure that Jacobs A, is a Packer and B is in that exact same role that we're used to seeing him in before I push him up higher in my drafts. It could happen. It's. What month is it? It's January. We got time for these things to get hashed out.

[Adam]

Sure, sure.

[Jamie]

I think in the case of, you know, and you can make the argument when you're talking about Gibbs versus Bijan, you know, we get recency bias, which is understandable. And so Bijan's playoff performance was amazing. Jameer Gibbs was not. Josh Jacobs fancy playoffs, excuse me, Josh Jacobs fantasy performance in the playoffs and even the NFL playoffs were horrible. And so how much of that was the knee injury? How much of that was no Jordan Love, how much that was all of that factored into one. Prior to the, the last three games, he was still one of the best fantasy running backs. He's still going to be on an offense, assuming LaFleur is there, that's going to, my guess would be still run centric. And so yes, he's going to be older. We talked about this, you know, previously, 28 years old. He's starting to maybe get to a point where you have to worry about a breakdown for somebody that's, you know, taken on a lot of work recently. But there aren't many guys and you look at this list that you can say, okay, should they dominate their, their backfield? He checks that box. And so that's hard to overlook for the offense that he plays on, the coach that he plays for and the type of player that he's been since coming to Green Bay. So in comparing him, you know, just to two guys on Dave's list, like, I can't see a situation barring injury where Trevion Henderson is not in a 5050 split with Ramandre Stevenson, who's looked fantastic to close the season And RJ Harvey most likely is going to be in a. In a shared situation based on how they used him when everybody was healthy there. So if it's Jacobs versus those two guys, I'm taking Jacobs.

[Adam]

Okay, Jacobs. Yeah, I think I mentioned this on our last show, but week 16, he was horrible. 12 carries, 36 yards, two catches, 12.

[Dave]

He was horrible ever since his knee injury.

[Adam]

Right, right.

[Dave]

And that happened against the Giants. It was like week 11. And before then he was awesome. He was Josh Jacobs.

[Adam]

But even in if. Even if you go just a week 15 through week 15, he averaged 17.8 PPR fantasy points per game. Josh Jacobs, that's just under what James Cook averaged this year. Right. So he was terrific. And then his last two games, he scored 6.1-PPR fantasy points combined in his last two games, wasn't healthy. And Plum, and it really hurt where he finished.

[Jamie]

All right, Genti, Zach, Tom, dealing with injuries, you lost the center. I mean, you know, I think that that line stayed healthy. There's a lot to love about Josh Jacobs here.

[Dave]

It's true. And especially if they don't do anything to add to their running back room, I'm going to guess that they restructured Jacob's contract so he doesn't hurt them as much against. The captain, needs some cap space and so he'll be back 28 years old, featured role. Yeah, I probably have him a little too low, to be honest.

[Adam]

Okay. But genti, you have eighth, which is interesting. I have him 12th. Dave, Jamie has him 10th. Why did you put Ashton Genty eighth?

[Dave]

I just can't help but think that the Raiders will not be the same as they were last year. I think they'll have a better offensive line. I think they'll have a better play caller. I think they'll have an exciting young quarterback that can energize that passing game and make it much more of a threat than where it was at the end of the season. The metrics on Ash and Genti are also impressive based on everything that he had to deal with in that offense. 0.6 yards before contact per rush. That was 47th out of 48 qualifying running backs. And he still had a 22.9% avoided tackle rate that was eighth best.

[Jamie]

I'm.

[Dave]

I'm counting on his talent to shine brighter and stronger while still having a huge workload in what should be an improved Vegas offense. So betting on that upside on a 23 year old running back is the type of thing that fantasy managers should be doing.

[Adam]

Okay. All right, so that's 7, 8, 9. For me, it's Taylor, Jacobs, Chase Brown. For Jamie, it's Hampton, Chase, Brown, Jacobs. For Dave, it's Brown, Genti, Hampton. Let's go to 10 through 12. Dave's got RJ Harvey, Saquon, Barkley and Travy on Henderson. Jamie has Ashton, Genty, Derek Henry. You're the only one of the three of us who has Henry in your top 12. And Saquon, Barkley. So Genti, Henry, Barkley, and for me it's Barkley, Harvey, Genti, I mean, Derek Henry was RB7 this year per game in full, in full PPR with only 15 catches. And I haven't done it yet, but if you take out the games Lamar missed it, you know, he's. He's probably like RB5, something like that. Or no, he's probably not at the 20 point per game, but he's not far would be my guess. All right, so again, for Dave, it's Harvey, Barkley, Henderson, 10, 11, 12. For Jamie, it's Genti, Henry, Barkley. For, for me, it's my day. For Adam. For Adam, it's Barkley, Harvey, Genti. All right, Jamie, Genti, Henry, Barkley.

[Jamie]

For you, I think, you know, what Dave said about Genti makes sense. You know, you're hoping that the talent shines through that, the new coach plus a hopeful, better quarterback and improved offensive line, like everything's got to be better for the Raiders than it was this year. And that's just the, you know, upside that you're banking on for a guy that was expected to, you know, hit the ground running. And we probably ranked him too high in his rookie season. I'm expecting a better sophomore season. It's just a matter of, you know, where you want to slot him in. So, you know, can see him still as a borderline first round pick. If everything is, you know, looking great in Las Vegas, I could see him slipping to the back end around two, you know, if it's a, you know, heavy receiver, run the tight ends go ahead of him, etc, but he's got still just too much potential to overlook. And, and I think, you know, Dave sort of hit on. This is kind of the spot where you start to get a little bit like, okay, who belongs in this range? Which kind of tells you like, there's going to be, I, I think a pretty good group of number two running backs. But, you know, who belongs in that upper echelon, you know, that, that second or third tier, depending on where you're breaking down the running back list and so for me, once I got past Genti and again, that's more of a hope it's okay, who can still deliver on being a top tier guy. And I, I just tired of betting against Derek Henry at this point. Like if, if the coach is, is not somebody that's going to say, okay, we have to open up the passing game and get away from this, you know, clearly, at least for me, I didn't change my rankings. This was done before Harbaugh was, was let go. I can't imagine. And you said this, Adam, you know, if, if it's still the same core of players in place, Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry together have been pretty good the last two years. So I know he'll be. He just turned 32. It's hard to continue to bank on this, but I mean, he keeps himself in such great shape. He seems to do a great job of avoiding injuries. He had one significant injury in his career. It was a broken foot. You know, again, Father Time's undefeated. At some point it will, it will catch up to him. But if he's back and still the featured guy and still doing what he does, the touchdowns save him from the lack of receptions. Really the one that makes me the most nervous, honestly, is Barkley, you know, so that's kind of where Harvey and Scatter Boo come into play for me in terms of like the next player probably Scatter Boo ahead of Harvey if he's healthy. But at this point, like until Derrick Henry says he's done, I'm probably just going to continue to, you know, go the opposite direction of what I went when he was 28 through 31, you know, just like. Or 20 to 30. I was on board last year, 28 to 30 and just be like, I'm, I'm done betting against him.

[Adam]

Okay. Yeah, it's tough. I think one of the toughest questions for fantasy managers is we all have Barkley in this range. I have him 10th, Jamie has him 12th, Dave has him 11th. Is. Are the Eagles. What we saw from the Eagles this year? Was it a blip because of the coordinator or some other factor? A lot of injuries on the offensive line. Even when the guys were playing, a lot of them were playing hurt. Or was this the beginning of something bigger, you know, a downward trend? Not having Kelsey's. Yeah, Jason Kelsey is a big deal for them. And, and Lane Johnson is older and has trouble staying healthy. And we have. There's a lot of people that just don't really think that highly of Jalen Hurts, you know, so that's this factors in with Barkley. I mean, we all saw there were times when Barkley would get in the open field and he'd look amazing. Right.

[Dave]

He looked like Saquon saw it on over the weekend.

[Adam]

Absolutely. Right. So the talent was still there. The efficiency was horrible. I wonder if people will dock him for that. I don't think people are docking Christian McCaffrey at all for his yards per carry. Will they do it with Saquon Barkley? But, yeah, it's a tough question to answer. And then RJ Harvey, I think that, you know, what happens in the fantasy postseason, Dave, might impact how he gets drafted, obviously, the offseason and what they do. But I think the fact I'm pretty bullish on him. I'm 11th, you have him 10th. Jamie, you probably have him right outside the top.

[Jamie]

He's the top 15. You know, again, I, I just think that this is going to be a backfield that's going to be split to. To who he's sharing with and what role he has. That will determine, I think, how high he goes. And I, I do think, you know, to again, bring back, you know, what Dave said about this. Like, we could see a handful of guys jump into this range. You know, if the jets get things right and keep Breeze hall or hall leaves, he's an Easy potential top 12 guy. We talked about this when we reviewed the first mock draft. If Zach Charbonnet is the guy for the Seahawks and the only guy for the Seahawks with minimal competition, I know I'll be bullish on him, and that's somebody that I'll be looking to target, you know, and then we'll see sort of how the, the free agent slash draft shakes out. And do the Chiefs get somebody of significance, you know, you know, specifically love, for example, you know, so there's, There's a lot of ways that this can go. I don't, I don't think that we're. We're close to being what it was.

[Dave]

Sure.

[Jamie]

Or what it looks like now.

[Adam]

Right.

[Jamie]

Right. Yeah.

[Adam]

Okay. Let me ask you this about Genti. When you look at the guys who were, you know, top 10 picks over the last 10 years or so. So am I missing anyone? We had Bijan Robinson, who actually was RB17 per game as a rookie. He had that one game with the migraine where he had like three touches or whatever, but he still had a disappointing rookie season for fantasy. You had Zeke not even, not even.

[Dave]

15 PPR points per game.

[Adam]

You had Zeke, who was amazing. You have Genti, you have Leonard Fournette, who had an interesting rookie season, he had a lot of touches. He averaged 3.9 yards per carry. He kind of. I think he finished like RB8 or something like that per game. Yeah. Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey wasn't that good as a rookie. He, he was not their main guy. I think they had Jonathan Stewart maybe for one more year.

[Dave]

That's who it was.

[Adam]

And he only averaged 3.7 yards per carry. Christian McCaffrey. I, I am a little worried that Ashton Genti is, is trending toward Leonard Fournette. I just don't think we saw much and, and he's on such a bad team, like, bad franchise, to be quite honest. I don't know. I'm not that worried about it. I have him 12th, but. Are you guys. How, how easy is it to just dismiss this really bad year for Ashton Genti? Jamie, it's going to be.

[Dave]

Oh, sorry.

[Adam]

No, go ahead. My fault, my fault.

[Dave]

It's, it's, it's just. It's going to be really easy to dismiss. If the Raiders have a home run at head coach and offensive coordinator and we're already penciling in Mendoza to be their quarterback. And I think any coach that goes to Vegas and doesn't improve their offensive line might have a similar fate as Pete Carroll. So of course they're going to go and try and improve that offensive line, especially with a rookie quarterback. Are you kidding? They have to do that. And all those things will improve the, the surroundings for Genti and give him the opportunity to not get smashed in the backfield one out of every two carries that he has. So as long as that's the case, and that's the assumption that I'm working off of, is that things will be better for him, then I would expect his talent to shine through. And that's. It's. It's betting on things happening that haven't happened yet when it comes to a rookie running back now going into their second year. And I think he's talented enough to prove it. Plus he's good in the passing game. Over the course of the year, he averaged 4.3 targets per game. That's pretty high for a running back. If it's the right offensive coordinator, that number can go up. You can have more targets per game. And so to me, he could be very easily a running back that could finish top three in fantasy next year.

[Jamie]

I think the, the better Compton for net is probably Bijan, you know, just with. Because he still had a good rookie season. Genti did he just didn't live up to expectations, you know. And so you hope that comes back. Year two, Bijan was obviously on a bad team. They tried to fix some things. He got much better. And I'm not trying to compare them from a talent standpoint, just scenario standpoint, like.

[Adam]

Well, you should compare them from a talent standpoint.

[Jamie]

Right? I mean, well, I don't know if Jenny's as good a receiver as Bijan, so, you know, I don't supposed to be right.

[Adam]

He was a wide receiver.

[Jamie]

Yeah. But I, I don't think it's.

[Dave]

Sure, sure.

[Jamie]

I think Bijan's just on a different level, but it's not far. Right. But that, that's the hope is that year two is, is a big step forward.

[Adam]

Hope so.

[Dave]

And I don't. By the way, it's not wrong if you're, if you're gonna doubt Ashton Genti now because nothing has changed yet for Las Vegas.

[Jamie]

Well, yes.

[Dave]

Be open to changing your mind. Well, yeah, okay, that's fair.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Okay. So already some good things are happening in Las Vegas. But wait, let the off season play out and then decide. Don't, don't, don't write it in ink now that you're just not going to draft Ashton Genty.

[Adam]

Just a quick note here. In full PPR leagues, we usually get looking at the last 10 seasons. We usually get about three running backs per year that finish top 12 overall, not per game, finished top 12 overall on offenses that are 20th or lower in scoring. We. So over the last 10 years, 24.2% of the running backs who have finished top 12 overall in PPR have been on offenses that are 20th or Lower in scoring. So it's right around three per year. Compare that to wide receiver. Only 18.3% of wide receivers over the last 10 years have finished top 12 in PPR on offenses that ranked 20th or lower in scoring. But that is changing because half of the wide receivers who have done that in the last 10 years, it's happened in the last three years. Eleven of the 22, we're seeing more wide receivers on kind of bad offenses finish top 12. I don't know what that's all about, but my argument used to be that offense matters more at wide receiver than it does at running back. The ten year trends support that. The three year trends do not. Okay, superlatives, thank you very much for your top 12 lists, guys. Good stuff. They're on the website if you want to see them. From everyone, let's get to the superlatives. We Asked you on Facebook. We came up with the finalists in four or five categories last week, and then we asked you on Facebook. So let's take a look at our results. Let's get to fantasy MVP Chaffy T. Throw it up there. Who do we got? We had McCaffrey, Puka, JSN and McBride. That's the order in which they finished. 48% of the vote is Christian McCaffrey. I think I vote. Let me go to Facebook. I think I voted for JSN.

[Dave]

You didn't vote for McCaffrey. You.

[Adam]

I don't remember. Because JSN was a third round pick.

[Dave]

After you championed McCaffrey in the off.

[Jamie]

Season after the draft. Value factoring.

[Adam]

I am.

[Dave]

Yeah. And, and I don't, I don't. I'm not gonna ding you for that. But he had you on his fantasy tennis team. He told you that before your tennis match with Dan.

[Adam]

I forgot.

[Dave]

Adam, you turned your back on Christian McCaffrey. I can't believe.

[Jamie]

An absolute jerk.

[Adam]

I totally forgot. I am going to play tennis today later, though, so I'll be thinking of him.

[Dave]

Yeah, well, McCaffrey is not going to be in your corner anymore.

[Adam]

All right, well, McCaffrey is our fantasy.

[Dave]

Trading you for whoever you're playing. You know he's trading you for Dan.

[Adam]

Oh, that's no good. McCaffrey's our MVP. What's next? Shaver? We've got the best waiver wire pickup and our winner. This was one where we debated a long time. I definitely voted for Stafford on this and Matt. Michael Wilson. 55% of the vote for Wilson. 38% for Stafford. Brissette, 5%. Wanda Robinson, 2%. Way to go, Wandale. Way to get in there.

[Dave]

I told you no one was going to vote for Brissette if Stafford was on the same list.

[Adam]

And I told you that this was one of the most meaningful things for Jacoby Brissette. And don't you deprive him of being one of our finalists for this award. But we needed to put him on there anyway because he earned it. He earned it. But Wilson, Jamie, that's, this is. I think this was wrong. I think it should be Stafford. QB2. QB. Was he QB1? I think it was QB1. You picked him up off waivers?

[Jamie]

No. Josh Allen was QB1. I, I, I think, look, when Wilson was starting for Marvin Harrison, he was unstoppable. And so as great as Stafford was for his body of work, Wilson's games were just fantastic. Just must start wide receiver. And as I told you, we were debating who should be on the first team. Quarterback. Stafford wasn't universally started when Wilson was the guy. He was universally started.

[Marone]

Right.

[Dave]

He averaged more PPR points per game than McCaffrey. Wilson did in the five games with Brissette and no Marvin Harrison Jr. That's ridiculous.

[Adam]

Only five games. By the way, Stafford. We're both right. Stafford was QB1 this year, but that's because Allen barely played.

[Dave]

Right. He took one snap in week 18.

[Adam]

Yeah. So QB2 through week 17, actually. I don't know. He outscored Allen by 30 points, so I think he probably was QB1. Oh, no. He had a huge week 18, didn't he?

[Jamie]

It doesn't. Wilson was better, right? Next.

[Adam]

No, he wasn't better. People are wrong here. Should have been Stafford. Next up, I love getting the last word in. Oh, this one's a blowout. Comeback player of the year. We had two Jaguars on there. Lawrence and ETN, Javante Williams and Chris Olave. Javante Williams, 59% of the vote. Congratulations.

[Jamie]

Cool.

[Adam]

All right, next up, I think our last one, biggest bust. Was it Justin Jefferson, Saquon Barkley, Ashton Genty or Brian Thomas Jr. Is this the biggest margin here? 61%. Justin Jefferson is your biggest bust. Yeah. Hard to disagree.

[Dave]

We didn't even need to put this on Facebook.

[Adam]

Brian Thomas Jr. 31%. And then Barkley and Genti both got 4%.

[Jamie]

It just. Man, he's gonna. He's another one. That's gonna be very fascinating to break down, but I do. I do wonder. So, Adam, let me ask this question. Would you take Jefferson or neighbors right now?

[Adam]

Right now, I take Jefferson. I wouldn't take neighbors in the second round right now.

[Jamie]

You wouldn't take neighbors in the second round right now. Okay. So just to rehash your feelings on I'm a league Neighbors, you really, really were upset that he was. He was drafted in the first round in both drafts, right?

[Adam]

Yeah, I wasn't really that upset about it, but I.

[Jamie]

Well, you were so upset that you. You critiqued one of our co workers.

[Unidentified Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

And let's just. Let's just. Thomas, you have that. Do you have the. Adam making fun of you are a.

[Adam]

Bumbling who shouldn't even be invited into a league if you take Malik. Neighbors in round one.

[Jamie]

So there. There you have it. That's what you said about our. Our friend Marilyn Berksen.

[Dave]

So Thomas is literally the nicest guy in our building, by the way.

[Jamie]

Really? And joins us all the time in our drafts and, you know, just very, very challenging and disappointing that you said that. Oh, no. So here he is. Bumbling Mehron.

[Adam]

Oh, what's up, guys?

[Dave]

Hey, Mero.

[Adam]

How's it going?

[Jamie]

As you know, we really appreciate all the work that you do behind the scenes in making CBS Sports HQ F fantastic. And when you join us on our draft, you make our drafts better because you are one of our more talented fantasy managers.

[Marone]

Appreciate that.

[Jamie]

And then to just to get slandered like that by somebody who is a fellow University of Miami alum and a Giants fan. And a Giants fan. I mean, just. Just amazing that he would call you a bumbling. I don't even know. I can't even go on.

[Dave]

Yeah, I called you a bm.

[Marone]

It's really back to. If you could see my screen here. To a little score in the playoffs where I defeated this Bumbling. More undefeated. Animated. A little bitter about that. Yeah, I was. I was shocked. I was shocked by. Most surprised. I've been in a very long time to hear that. But we'll get through it and hopefully the Canes can win and bring us back together again.

[Adam]

Yeah, I agree. Listen, you're a producer, Marone, so I think you understand that sometimes a host has to feel the show out and go, this is a moment to. To really like. To really, you know, shake things up. Right. I said it earlier. Go viral. 2 million. We're getting 2 million views out of this. We get 200,000 more subscribers out of this bumbling segment. So I didn't mean anything. I said I was only doing it for the audience. Okay, I know.

[Marone]

I know you're very edgy.

[Jamie]

I think, Maron, you should show how great your team was in that draft by taking Malik round one. So here was.

[Adam]

I thought it was a yard draft.

[Jamie]

They did. He did. Look, stacking the Giants, Jackson Dart and Malik Neighbors got Chris Olave as well. Colson Love. Like, this is just an unbelievable team, especially if Genti and Camara live up to what could be for Genti what once was for Camara. But this team, to me, is. Is fantastic. Even with taking the big risk, the big leap of taking Malik Neighbors in round one.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Marone]

I didn't even think it was that crazy because, you know, he should be back for the beginning of the season. And he was amazing before he got hurt Dart second year. He's confident. He didn't even play with dart really at the. At last year. So they're going to develop that chemistry. He has high hopes for him. So I'm excited about Neighbor's potential next year.

[Jamie]

I Think.

[Marone]

I think he could be a late first round pick. I was thinking about Genti too, in that late first round as well. So I was happy he came back to me. I like Genti a lot next year as well.

[Adam]

It's a small sample size Marone, but Neighbors played one game with Jackson Dart and he tore his acl. So it's not a good track record here. Well, is there anything, any other surprises you want to throw at me, Jamie?

[Jamie]

No, no. This was just one I wanted to give. Meron, Very good friend of mine, very good friend of all of ours, you know, and. And certainly friend to the fantasy community. Because when he drafts, everybody should follow what he does. And for you to just slander him like that. Let's run this one more time, Thomas, if you haven't just. Just so everybody knows exactly what he.

[Adam]

Said, you are a bumbling moron who shouldn't even be invited into a league. If you take Malik Neighbors in round one. Wow.

[Marone]

Well, and I think in the mock that we did yesterday, somebody took Neighbors, I think at the end of round one, too. I didn't hear any slander there. You know, it might be personal.

[Adam]

I was watching Dodgeball. I was not paying attention. The movie, you know, it wasn't really paying attention to the draft.

[Jamie]

So you guys are all canes, guys. Very excited for all three of you. Hopefully it works out in your favor. How excited are you for the game Monday night?

[Marone]

Very excited. I'm trying to get tickets, but it's a little difficult. So I think I'll be watching the comfort of my own home, but very excited. It's been a while. Biggest, biggest game of our adult lives here. I think, guys, I've. I was very young when. When the last championship.

[Adam]

Speak for yourself.

[Dave]

You're the young one. We witnessed some other pretty big games, but it's the. It's the biggest Gaines game in 23 years. So, yes, it's pretty exciting.

[Marone]

And as a Dolphins fan, I've never seen a meaningful football game. Really too much. So very excited for this one.

[Adam]

Yeah. Listen, maybe you and I, like, we do like a lottery where one of us sells a kidney and then we can afford tickets to the game. The most expensive game. I think it's the most expensive game in college football history. It's definitely the most expensive playoff game.

[Dave]

Crazy.

[Adam]

In college football. Crazy.

[Marone]

And then you saw Parking now is like 800 just to park.

[Adam]

It's really wrong. They gotta fix that. That's just wrong. It's disgusting.

[Jamie]

I know.

[Adam]

Yeah. I'm excited. I. I'M nervous. I don't see how you could possibly pick Miami, but I like that we could kick people's ass up front. You can always. You can always win, but you can win up front, right? Yep. That's one thing I know. Thank you, Marone.

[Marone]

All right, thanks for having me, guys.

[Unidentified Advertiser 2]

Appreciate it.

[Jamie]

Thanks.

[Adam]

Thanks, Jamie. What a nice surprise. All right, we'll talk to you tomorrow on fantasy football Today. Thank you all for watching and listening. Have a great day. See ya.

[Jamie]

Paramount podcasts.

[Unidentified Advertiser 2]

Paramount plus is the new home of ufc.

[Adam]

It isn't just combat. It's cinema. Unbelievable. Every strike is a frame. What a shot. Every rivalry a story. Oh, my goodness.

[Jamie]

This canvas is more than a stage.

[Adam]

Are you not entertained? It's where legends are made. UFC on Paramount/ every fight one subscription streaming this January.