Early RB Rankings Part 2 + C.J. Trolls Jason

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary
Episode: Early RB Rankings Part 2 + C.J. Trolls Jason
Release Date: April 4, 2019
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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Introduction

In this episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright delve into the Early Running Back (RB) Rankings Part 2 as the NFL draft approaches. Building on their foundational rankings from Part 1, the trio provides deeper analysis, engages in lively debates, and shares their expert opinions on the upcoming fantasy football season.

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Free Agency Surprises

The hosts begin by addressing surprising free agents who remain unsigned as of the episode's release.

• T.J. Yeldin:
  Andy Holloway (02:43):
  "To me, it's TJ Yeldin. I mean, TJ Yeldin is a serviceable NFL running back who's 25 years old, he was four picks away from being a first-round selection in the NFL draft."
  Holloway expresses surprise that Yeldin hasn't secured a team, pondering whether it's due to salary demands or waiting for the right opportunity.

• Jay Ajayi:
  Paramount Concern by Jason Moore and Mike Wright:
  The discussion shifts to Jay Ajayi, with Mike highlighting concerns about his knee injuries.
  Mike Wright (07:02):
  "The problem with Jay is what you said is the problem is his knee."

• Michael Crabtree and Chris Hogan:
  Mike Wright (07:37):
  "Chris Hogan and Michael Crabtree are surprising free agents that haven't found a home."
  They note that despite their past performances, these wide receivers remain unsigned, citing concerns over Crabtree's declining prowess and Hogan's inconsistent usage.

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News and Updates

The episode also covers recent signings and team updates affecting RB performance and fantasy implications.

• C.J. Anderson Signing:
  Mike Wright (09:08):
  "The Lions have signed running back C.J. Anderson, formerly of the Rams, to a one-year contract."
  The trio discusses how this could disrupt fantasy expectations, especially concerning other RBs like Kerryon Johnson.

• Leonard Fournette and Jacksonville Jaguars:
  Andy Holloway (10:36):
  "They're just going to let Leonard Fournette really take the reins this year. They're giving him a shot this year."
  Fournette's situation is analyzed, focusing on his potential role and the Jaguars' offensive strategy.

• Ryan Grant Signing:
  Jason Moore (13:05):
  "Raiders have signed wide receiver Ryan Grant, formerly of the Colts, formerly of the Ravens, to a one-year contract."
  The hosts critique this move as ineffective for fantasy purposes.

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Early Running Back Rankings

The core of the episode focuses on the trio's early RB rankings, discussing each player's strengths, weaknesses, and fantasy potential.

1. David Johnson
   Andy Holloway (16:10):
   "He could very well be in the top 10. But it has been two years. It's been a while now."
   Johnson is positioned at RB10 by Holloway, noting his inconsistency and the Arizona Cardinals' offensive vulnerabilities.

2. Nick Chubb
   Andy Holloway (20:14):
   "Nick Chubb has the Kareem Hunt scare for the second half of the year."
   Chubb is ranked across the hosts' lists between 11 and 12, with discussions on his reliance on the run-heavy offense and the uncertainty introduced by Kareem Hunt's return.

3. Damian Williams
   Jason Moore (23:57):
   "Atonement risk to Damian Williams, 100%."
   Williams is ranked from 11 to 18, emphasizing the risks associated with his consistency and the impact of the NFL draft on his role.

4. Leonard Fournette
   Andy Holloway (28:27):
   "He was on pace for a potential 1200 yard season."
   Fournette is scrutinized for his past injuries and unpredictability, but potential upside in a revamped Jaguars offense is acknowledged.

5. Sony Michel
   Jason Moore (32:08):
   "He is the most talented player on that team."
   Michel is highlighted for his touchdown potential but flagged for inconsistent utilization in the passing game.

6. Marlon Mack
   Mike Wright (37:40):
   "If he can overcome his role in the Colts' passing game, Marlon Mack could be a solid RB16."
   Mack's high-efficiency running style and potential under new offensive strategies are discussed, with considerations of team performance influencing his ranking.

7. Devonta Freeman
   Mike Wright (41:22):
   "He has the Falcons offense to build around."
   Freeman's reliability and role in the Falcons' offense position him variably across rankings, with injury risks noted.

8. Derek Henry
   Jason Moore (43:05):
   "He is the guy that can handle 25, 30 carries a game."
   Henry's durability and potential as a high-volume back make him a subject of optimism balanced by his consistent performance metrics.

9. Aaron Jones
   Mike Wright (46:07):
   "He's a fantastic running back and he's set up to succeed in a big way."
   Jones is evaluated for his talent and role in the Packers' offense, with concerns about split workloads under the new coaching regime.

10. Kerryon Johnson
    Andy Holloway (51:19):
    "Kerry Johnson doesn't belong at 20, I don't think."
    Johnson is debated for his potential as a dependable RB2, considering the Lions' commitment to build around him despite concerns about draft stock and offensive performance.

11. Chris Carson
    Mike Wright (54:43):
    "Chris Carson was averaging the fourth most touches per game in the NFL."
    Carson's workload and Seattle Seahawks' offensive uncertainties are weighed, making him a contentious but potentially valuable RB23.

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Notable Quotes

• Andy Holloway on Draft Importance (00:05):
  "My fantasy draft, it's an important job. I need someone I can trust."

• Jason Moore on Sequel Quality (01:16):
  "These for fantasy. I feel like this is so much more important to discuss."

• Mike Wright on Offensive Systems (20:22):
  "The problem is his knee."

• Jason Moore on Player Utilization (39:32):
  "Frank Wright came out, he talked about we want to be a top five, top seven rushing team."

• Andy Holloway on Aaron Jones (48:44):
  "Aaron Jones is extremely talented and not just moderately like he is."

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Conclusion

The Fantasy Footballers provide a thorough and engaging analysis of the early RB rankings, offering valuable insights for fantasy enthusiasts. From assessing player consistency and offensive schemes to debating the impact of recent signings, the hosts equip listeners with the knowledge needed to navigate their fantasy drafts confidently. As the NFL draft looms, their expert opinions and dynamic discussions underscore the complexities of RB selection, emphasizing the importance of both player talent and team strategy in achieving fantasy success.

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Join the Fantasy Footballers community at jointhefoot.com and follow them on Twitter.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

There's some indecisiveness in the air, but I promise you, I don't take this lightly. My fantasy draft, it's an important job. I need someone I can trust. And the Fantasy footballers are my number one guys. Their ultimate draft kit is the everything I need to get ready for my drafts. Don't dance with the devil in a pale moonlight. Jump on over to www.ultimatedraftkit.com. without it, you just might be a dead man. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast coming to you from pristineauction.com studios with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome in the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Back again, Andy, Mike and Jason. It's Thursday. It's April 4th. We're just a few short weeks away from the NFL draft and these are the early ranking shows. In fact, it's the second early running backs rankings show and it is going to be a fun one, actually, you know, part one, stellar, great. The sequels, probably better.

[Mike Wright]

Right? Well.

[Jason Moore]

Which is a rarity. It's a rarity. You usually.

[Mike Wright]

Jason and I had this discussion a couple days ago about trilogies.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And the entire point of the sequel in a trilogy is just to make sure that the third movie is always the best.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. Set up to succeed. The sequel, it brings you down. But not this one.

[Mike Wright]

No, not this one.

[Jason Moore]

Because there's.

[Mike Wright]

Because there's no third.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. We're not going into these RB3s yet in the early rankings. But the reality is, like when we talked last episode, we go into some specifics on, you know, why the top guys, maybe why to avoid some of the top guys. But they're all pretty excellent. Like, that's why they're in the top 10. These for fantasy. I feel like this is. This is so much more important to discuss. The guys that. Are those RB2s, can they be an RB1? Are they going to fall out?

[Jason Moore]

There's so much more disparity between our individual rankings on these guys. Running backs 11 through as many as we can get through today. Probably get to 20, 25 guys in total. So I'm excited. There are several players that I don't know we're probably five, six, seven spots off on. And so we'll debate a little bit more on the show today, the merits and where these guys belong. Very excited about that. Make sure you follow us on twitter @the ffballers, Instagram, YouTube and ad free. You can listen to us ad free on Stitcher Premium. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google podcasts, wherever you listen. We appreciate your Support. We appreciate those reviews. This independent podcast goes year round and you guys are why we do it. So we thank you very much for supporting us. Couple other notes, real quick. Still got a giveaway going on. A signed Michael Thomas jersey. We're giving it away on the website for free. For free. It's one of those giveaways where we give it away.

[Andy Holloway]

Not just like a product for sale. No, we're selling a Michael Thomas jersey.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

New business model.

[Jason Moore]

It's a new model. We sell one thing per show, but this one we're selling for free. Okay, got it, got it. But we're only selling it to one of you. Footclaimgiveaway.com you can enter. It is free, as Mike said. Also, there are a couple of brand new articles. If you are just itching like the draft, you know it's coming but you're like, I wish it were here yesterday and I need to read about some of these guys.

[Mike Wright]

If it was yesterday, I would have missed it.

[Jason Moore]

You would have because you didn't have the channel on or what?

[Mike Wright]

No, because if it's yesterday, then today is today. And that was yesterday and the draft's already over and I missed it.

[Jason Moore]

Where did they go? Where did the good players go?

[Mike Wright]

I don't know. Oh, because I missed it. I didn't see any of it.

[Andy Holloway]

Just a bad joke.

[Jason Moore]

Notre Dame wide receiver Miles Boykin, Ole miss wide receiver A.J. brown. Both of those reception perception articles up on the website. Here is the quick question for the day. This one comes in off of Twitter from Jake. He says which remaining free agent are you most surprised has not found a home? We're about to jump into the news. We're going to talk about a couple of free agents that did find homes between last show and today. But who are the most surprising names that you, you can't believe they're out there. I mean, teams are missing out.

[Mike Wright]

You know, there's Jason stole mine.

[Andy Holloway]

There's not too many people out there that I'm like, man, how have they not signed? Except for one. To me it's TJ Yeldin. I mean, TJ Yelden is a serviceable NFL running back who's 25 years old, he was four picks away from being a first round selection in the NFL draft. He is a pass catching back. So in today's NFL where committees are happening and they want to bring in a pass catching back, he's a big bodied, young, highly drafted guy. I don't know if he's asking for too much money or just waiting for the right opportunity. Maybe he'll wait until after the NFL draft. But I am shocked he hasn't signed. I literally just drafted him in our startup dynasty draft and it felt super yucky because he doesn't have a team. But I'm like, if he hit signed with anyone, he goes several rounds earlier.

[Jason Moore]

Here's why I think he's unsigned. He doesn't really fit one role well. He is a depth back. He is not a great between the tackles runner. He is not a pigeonholed pass catching phenomenon. Right. He's not going out there. Although last year he did have 55 receptions. But he kind of does everything fine now.

[Mike Wright]

That's why it's shocking he doesn't have a job.

[Jason Moore]

It is got to be depressing to TJ Eldon, the person that Alfred Blue now has a job and he doesn't.

[Mike Wright]

He has his job.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And that's. Yeah, he has his job. Okay, so T.J. yeldin's yours. Mine is Jay and Jay. Although I know teams are apprehensive about the knees, he's still to me a more proven game changing type of running back than TJ Eldon is. I'm surprised that he doesn't have a home. He visited the Colts. But I do think teams, I guess they're just questioning the durability.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. The problem with JHI is what you said is the problem is his knee. And you said that but like if it was just his knee, he's coming off the knee injury that took him out for the season. Except it is knees or if it.

[Andy Holloway]

Was just the other knee with arthritis.

[Mike Wright]

Right, but it's both. Not the Bees knees.

[Jason Moore]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Mike Wright]

Not at all.

[Jason Moore]

If he had the bee's knees, he'd have a team. Mike, who is. Who is your surprising free agent that hasn't found a home delighting the young.

[Mike Wright]

Demo with bee's knees references.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I agree with one of yours and disagree with the other.

[Mike Wright]

That's. That's fine. But try to guess which is which. It was C.J. yelden. Who is who? I'm surprised but. But for a couple wide receivers that I'm a little surprised they haven't found a landing spot yet. Chris Hogan and Michael Crabtree. Yes, I know, Andy, you think that Michael Crabtree is 100% done. I don't think he's done. He's not what he used to be. He's not even probably 80% of what he used to be. But the NFL needs pass catchers and to be a possession guy Michael Crabtree, I think, can still get that job done. And Chris Hogan showcased here and there with the Patriots what he could do. But I guess if the Pats don't want him back then. Then nobody wants him back.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I don't know how much either guy has left in the tank. I feel like Chris Hogan is more competitive than Michael Crabtree is from what we've seen. And so I tend to think that Hogan will find a job before Crabtree does, but we'll see. I don't think either one's going to change a team. I don't think either one's going to make you happy. In Fantasy.

[Andy Holloway]

Crabtree and Hogan are the two most surprising wide receivers at this point that haven't been signed. And I think that shows you how incredibly bad this year's free agent pool of wide receivers were.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, we need the draft, guys. We need the draft to come.

[Andy Holloway]

It's a good year. It's a deep year. I feel like for wide receivers.

[Jason Moore]

Record deepness.

[Andy Holloway]

News and notes from around the league presented by Sleeper.

[Jason Moore]

All right. The Lions have signed running back sleeper C.J. anderson, formerly of the Rams, to a one year contract. Nothing gave me more joy than knowing that Jason's patronus, his very, his spirit animal, C.J. anderson has gone to disrupt. His is his favorite player.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, this.

[Jason Moore]

Although I don't think he really will.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I mean, look, part of me is really excited just because, hey, my two guys are together now. They're hanging out.

[Mike Wright]

They're probably, they're best.

[Andy Holloway]

Probably best friends.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

But it also sucks for both of them for fantasy a little bit. I mean, look, we knew, you know, when, when Malcolm Brown signed the tender or the, the offer sheet, the chicken with. Yeah, man.

[Jason Moore]

Mike, you are having an awful day. You're having a rough day.

[Andy Holloway]

When, when he signed the offer sheet with the Lions. You know, I said this is pretty much best case scenario because you knew they were going to bring someone in. Then Malcolm Brown got signed, you know, by the Rams. They took it back. C.J. comes and what's the difference really between C.J. anderson and Malcolm Brown? I mean, they're both. Okay, guys, neither one is a true game changer. That's just going to demand 15 carries a game. And, and we'll talk a lot about Kerryon Johnson today because he's in our rankings and he's one of the guys.

[Jason Moore]

Not anymore. Not after this signing one of the.

[Andy Holloway]

Players that we have the largest disagreement on.

[Jason Moore]

Now the nice thing is, is we don't have a precedent with Matt Patricia of using some kind of okay, oversized bruiser to disrupt the workload of carry on.

[Mike Wright]

Especially when he's just inefficient. Inefficient. Inefficient. Yet we keep giving the the ball.

[Jason Moore]

Because actually at the goal line. If we had that precedent. Yeah, Mike, at the goal line, I'd be concerned.

[Andy Holloway]

Now real quick to interject Legarrett Blunt was also like BFFs with Matt Patricia from his Patriots days. There is no such personal connection between CJ Anderson.

[Jason Moore]

How do you know? How do you know?

[Andy Holloway]

I have looked it up. I'm paid to.

[Jason Moore]

What do you think? They're logging their diary entries here.

[Andy Holloway]

And second, Kerryon Johnson and limited games had a great utilization around the goal line. So if, if, if we feel like Legarre Blunt was already getting that, then here's the reality.

[Jason Moore]

Regardless whether it was Blunt or Anderson or Malcolm Brown or anonymous draft pick X Kerry Hunt's workload is going to increase. His production was going to increase this year. He is going to take a step forward. If he stays healthy, he will be an impact player. We'll talk about him later. Duke Johnson's rep has asked the Browns to trade him. Probably the only player that wants out of Cleveland right now. The way that the hype train is going, Browns have been in no hurry to trade Duke Johnson because his cap number in 2019 is only $3 million and they don't really have a rush job to do. So the cap hit doesn't change a whole lot if they trade them before or after June 1st. And so do. I guess I should ask the question, do we want Duke Johnson as fantasy owners to be traded in week eight? That's what you want when Kareem is back.

[Mike Wright]

You mean week nine?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, in week nine, when Kareem Hunt gets back, we say, duke, you did your job. Go get us a draft pick.

[Mike Wright]

I'd like him to be traded because I think Duke Johnson has fantasy value. He has a lot to offer teams if he found the right spot. I think he's a good running back. He's a great pass catching running back.

[Jason Moore]

I'll take Duke Johnson over T.J. eldon in a heartbeat.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure, sure. And that's the perfect example of what you're talking about. He's a specialist in a certain area. He's a better pass catching back than T.J. eldon.

[Jason Moore]

All right, let's go ahead and jump into this beautiful signing.

[Andy Holloway]

Mediocre signing of the week.

[Jason Moore]

This one stings a little bit.

[Mike Wright]

Why you gotta do them like This I know.

[Jason Moore]

Raiders have signed wide receiver Ryan Grant, formerly of the Colts, formerly of the. Almost of the Ravens. One year contract, supposed to be worth up to something like $2 million. Ryan Grant, if you remember, last offseason, signed a four year, 29 million dollar deal. Only he didn't because the Ravens. The Ravens said no thanks. Pass.

[Mike Wright]

Well, yeah. Michael Crabtree.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I was going to say they were. Michael Crabtree.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. How'd that work out? So Ryan Grant, he may not even make the team, but he's a depth player on the Raiders. He's a fantasy. Irrelevant. Is that it for news? Are we good?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

All right. That is it for news and notes. Today we're going to get into early running back rankings. I don't want to remind people. Switch your Dynasty league over to Sleeper. They're adding new features all the time. Just go download the app. It's free. It's not a paid platform. Just. Just go. Go do it. It's a great platform. Check it out. I promise you'll like it. And a quick reminder to check out the ultimate draft kit. You heard the intro?

[Mike Wright]

The very timely intro.

[Jason Moore]

What? Because we had the Joker.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

We had good friend of the show, Jackie In.

[Jason Moore]

Jackie In? Yeah. Nobody calls him that. I didn't mean to do that. I don't know why Derek Carr's.

[Andy Holloway]

It's probably just because of the huge Ryan Grant news.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Now that he's got Ryan Grant.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

Alongside Antonio Brown and Tyrell Williams may.

[Jason Moore]

Have slipped on the soundboard sitting in the car. Maybe that was a prognostication. Maybe Derek Carr is destined for glory. Didn't you just draft him in a dynasty league?

[Andy Holloway]

I sure did. I drafted him in a dynasty league and he is the reason that I continue drafting quarterbacks and got case Keenum later because if.

[Jason Moore]

Is that why Jon Gruden spent an extra few hours talking to Kyler the other day?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, exactly. I'm like, oh, they're stacking up all these wide receivers. This is great news for Derek Carr. Unless Cardinals don't take Kyler Murray, in which case.

[Jason Moore]

So we're going to get into the rest of the rankings. Real excited about the udk. Real excited about the UDK app. The UDK app is out. You're going to have all the rankings available on your phone. All of the features, the breakouts, the bus, the research, the analysis videos. Videos. You got player profile cards now a part of the app. Be able to watch the exclusive videos we do for the UDK and see the player blurbs and the projections and last year stats. So it's a lot of. A lot of pretty sweet stuff in the Ultimate Draft Kit. You can check that out at ultimate draft kit.com.

[Andy Holloway]

Running backs all right, let's.

[Jason Moore]

Go ahead and get into the heart of it. Last episode on Tuesday, our top 10. It was Ezekiel Elliott, Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, Melvin Gordon, Alvin Camara, Todd Gurley, Joe Mixon, James Connard, Alvin Cook and Le'Veon Bell rounding out the top 10. So we're jumping right in today with none other than David Johnson.

[Mike Wright]

I still can't do it, man.

[Jason Moore]

I feel like that because he's at 11. Is that why? Yeah, you're giving him the business because he's at 11.

[Mike Wright]

We can't even get him in the top 10.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the reality. He could very well be in the top 10. But it has been two years. It's been a while now. I mean, he had a disappointing year last year and that's following the year, missing the entirety of it with injury. So now he's an older back relative to the other, you know, top 12, top 15 running backs who hasn't done anything of spectacular note in two years. It's hard to trust the Arizona Cardinals offense and say, let's sing David Johnson's name and his praises.

[Jason Moore]

Well, you, you have him at 10, so it makes sense that you were the one to sing by yourself there. Yeah, the cheese. I have him at 12. Mike has him at 13. Now last year he only had one game that would have been classified as a weak winning week. So it's exactly what you're talking about. He could not overcome either the offense, Mike McCoy, but how much was, you know, Saquon Barkley had a bad situation too. He overcame.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

What we know is things did get better for David Johnson once Mike McCoy was fired. He went from 8.3 yards per reception up to 9.3 big jump. His yards per carry rose from basically 3 to almost 4. So it got better. Not drastically. The problem is the Cardinals offense in 2016, the monster season where he was putting up Todd Gurley levels of touchdowns. He had 33 attempts inside the 10 zone. That is money in the bank for a fantasy running back. 2018, 15, 15 attempts.

[Jason Moore]

How many was the year before?

[Mike Wright]

In 2016? It was 33.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Down to, down to 15. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

That's not going to get it done.

[Andy Holloway]

That's a problem with the offense. Now on the other side, if you want to speak his praises, you say, well, okay, he only had one weak Winning week, defining week. Last year he only had one bust game too. And this was on a bad offense. Pretty much worst case scenario for the Cardinals last year and in some scoring formats. Ours, he finishes the running back 10. So how can you project him to go anywhere down from last year's version of the Arizona Cardinals? I don't blame anyone if you want to say, hey, he's a top five back to me, when I look at the rankings, the reason I've got him at 10 isn't because I don't believe he can't finish higher. Just because I like those other players who are breaking in versus trying to hope David Johnson gets back.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, his draft price is. Will be much better this year. I mean, the reason we're so disappointed because he was a top three draft pick last year. So he'll go right around the range where I think it's a fair value where you're getting a running back who is the workhorse guy and can shoot into the top five. So David Johnson could be a steal, but I think he's a. A fringe RB one.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I agree with that. And you still have the variables involved in David Johnson. Look, can it be as bad as last year on offense? Probably not. But you do not know who his quarterback should. You don't know who his quarterback is. Right now you have a brand new head coach bringing a new system into play. So there are variables there that don't exist with the other guys. Number 12, Nick Chubb. We've all got him ranked around the same spot. I have him at 11, Mike and Jason at 12. Last year he was the number nine in terms of consistency. That was based on week seven and on. Once he was a starter, pretty much once he was a starter, he only had 16 rushes from weeks one through six. Maybe had he had more, they could have been pushing for the playoffs.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe.

[Jason Moore]

But your favorite player, Carlos Hyde was. Was. Why don't they.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, somebody wanted to play Carlos Hyde and Tyrod Taylor. Don't know who it was.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. All right.

[Andy Holloway]

I got one, fellas.

[Mike Wright]

You got one?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. I'm back, baby. So now here's.

[Jason Moore]

That one was good.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the thing about Nick Chubb. Nick Chubb has the Kareem Hunt scare for the second half of the year. Right. When I.

[Jason Moore]

It's fair too, because we know the cream hunt is to spin it, if you don't know, he suspended for eight games. That's been finalized. We had thought, hey, it could be 10, could be 12. No, it's eight games.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Done. It's settled. So you know that the first eight games it's going to be Nick Chubb and presumably Duke Johnson as of right now. And when I end up statting these guys out on the season, Nick Chubb stats are not going to be as good as where I will be willing to draft him because I want guys that get off to a hot start. I want the player who for the majority of the regular fantasy football season is the guy in the backfield of a great offense. I think Nick Chubb, you know, it's one of those things where this is a philosophy decision. Do you take the guy who might, you know, get off to the hot start but see a bunch of work later in the playoffs where you will hopefully be thanks to him or would you rather not to deal with that issue of the future oncoming problems and go somewhere else entirely?

[Mike Wright]

And Nick Chubb is a running back you're taking very high who while he's an adequate pass catcher, he just doesn't play that role for the team. When he was the guy, he was getting about three targets a game.

[Jason Moore]

But he's a great runner, right? And last year he was Pro Football Focuses highest ranked, highest elusive ranking for players with 60 plus attempts.

[Mike Wright]

But you can go like to your.

[Jason Moore]

Point though Jay, just to piggyback real quick to your point, if he's going to get you to the playoffs, if he does what you expect him to do, he is still the guy on a great offense. And that if that translates for your fantasy team, maybe we over emphasize the Kareem Hunt involvement for the second half, right? Like if he's producing at otherworldly levels, you know, maybe it's Alvin Camaro Weeks 1 through 4 versus Alvin Camaro once Mark Ingram came back. You're not going to have a situation where a successful Browns offense with a dominant running back says, man, we we signed Kareem Hunt. He hasn't played all year. It's week nine, it's week ten. We need to give him 40% of the work, 50% work.

[Mike Wright]

They might fresh legs. Keep take some work off of Nick Chubb. It'll be really hard to figure that out once you're at that point. But what I was going to say about Chubb is the 1 through 11, all of those running backs, all of them have pass catching in their profile up until we are at Nick Chubb. That's and that's I love him as a player. I think he's a fantastic running back and he's set up to succeed in a Big way. But if you don't get those targets, like, bad things can happen for fantasy.

[Jason Moore]

Ceiling wise.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, he was. He was pretty darn impressive last season. But you're right. I mean, there are a handful of players that we'll talk about in that same vein where, you know, Derek Henry. We just had this conversation in the studio yesterday. We'll talk about it today. It's interesting. I do see some similarities between the way you would look at Nick Chubb and Damian Williams. And Damian Williams comes in at number 13. Now I have him at 18. Jason and Mike much higher. Mike at 11, Jason at 13. That means Mike does have Damian Williams higher than Nick Chubb, which means that, Mike, you must be reading in more to the Kareem Hunt situation and having more confidence that Damian Williams is going to get you from point A being week one to point B, which is the end of the season.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Damian Williams at this point of the offseason is extremely difficult because I don't think that any of our rankings are going to be anywhere close today. When you go after the NFL draft, if after the NFL draft we know that Damian Williams is fully projected to be the lead runner, I won't have him at 11. I will have him higher than that. He will be inside my top 10. And the same can be said that if they draft somebody in the third round or higher, Damian Williams will crash out of my top 20.

[Jason Moore]

There is a ton of risk to Damian Williams, 100%. That's why he's ranked where he is for me, because I actually factor in more than just the NFL draft. I think the NFL draft is a variable that could be a detriment to him. The reason you love him is he's the RB3 from weeks 14 through 17 when he was the starter. Now he could have the most fluid rankings of any running back in the top 25 for the duration of the offseason. We're talking into preseason because there's still a world where you're seeing things from Carlos Hyde in Kansas City. That or in training camp. Get ready for the buzz time. You're going to see things that. Oh, no. Why did. Why did. Why did Carlos Hyde run with the ones two days in a row?

[Andy Holloway]

Exactly.

[Jason Moore]

Why did he run with the ones again?

[Mike Wright]

Carlos Hyde doesn't scare me.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I get that he doesn't scare you. Now, I want to see you so resilient when the buzz comes in because it could happen.

[Andy Holloway]

I do.

[Jason Moore]

Damian Williams hasn't earned it.

[Andy Holloway]

We cannot ignore Carlos Hyde because If you told any one of the three of us at this point last year, hey, here's what's going to happen next year. Kareem Hunt is gone, okay. And the Kansas City Chiefs great offense is going to bring in Damian Williams and Carlos Hyde. Who do you want? I mean sure at the beginning of last year we would have all wanted. We would have said, oh, Carlos Hyde is way better than Damian Williams. Especially I would have said that.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So now I got two words for you.

[Andy Holloway]

What Damian Williams did can't be discounted. He's. He knows the offense, he knows the system. But we can't just throw away Carlos Hyde.

[Jason Moore]

And what's the difference, Mike, in your mind, to be honest, between at least having a part of your prognostication attached to Alex Collins and Gus Edwards. Did you know Gus Edwards name before last season?

[Mike Wright]

No, but Gus Edwards, Alex Collins exploded.

[Jason Moore]

At the end of the year before.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

So everybody drafted him really high. It was supposed to be set up.

[Mike Wright]

To succeed, but Damian Williams exploded and then three weeks into his explosion they extended him. They didn't do that for Alex Collins. Damian Williams, when he was the guy, he averaged 19.6 points per game. You know how many this of course small sample, I won't argue that. But Kareem Hunt up and earlier in the season up to that point, you know what he was averaging 19.7. He was giving you the exact same production fantasy wise as Kareem Hunt. And you can look back years and years. Jason talked about North Turner liking one running back. Andy Reid prefers one player to be a. The heavy producer for his team.

[Jason Moore]

You can look back, it's just hard to. It's still a small sample. You can't extend that sample no matter what.

[Andy Holloway]

And to bring up the contract because I've heard that talked about a lot, you know, oh, they extended him right when they needed him. That's just brilliant. Right. He knows the sesame because it was two years, five million, I mean two and a half million a year is.

[Jason Moore]

Carlos Hyde is making more money off the cap this year than Damian Williamson.

[Mike Wright]

Carlos side is on his fourth NFL team in 12 months, which is.

[Jason Moore]

I'm making a point just to show you the difference in the financial, the financial piece. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

They're not.

[Jason Moore]

If a Carlos side on the fourth team in 12 months gets more money than Damian Williams does on the cap hit this year. It's just you need to be careful. Yeah, that's, that's why I have him at 18. I feel like that's a hedge. That's A perfect hedge position for me is I'm going to wait and see. I'm not going to tell somebody out there in the fantasy universe to go over invest. Now though, this is a lotto ticket because he could be the RB3 like you, like you said. All right. Leonard Fournette. Jason's rolling his eyes.

[Andy Holloway]

No, he can't be the RB3.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, that'll hurt. That'll hurt real bad.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that would hurt.

[Jason Moore]

Carry on down at 30 next running.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

When Damian Williams out produces Kerryon Johnson, that's going to.

[Andy Holloway]

That'll sting.

[Mike Wright]

That'll be a kick right in the grundle.

[Jason Moore]

Leonard Fournette, speaking of kicks in the grunt. Fantasy owners right in the grundle. Last year, intermittent availability due to injury, suspension. Just a lost season for Jacksonville overall. Now you have a new quarterback and some at least front office confidence. Those are the words coming out of Tom Coughlin's mouth. They, you know, and to back it up, Alfred Blues, your backup right now, and I believe they signed one other Benny Cunningham. Yes. So you're, you're set up, Leonard.

[Mike Wright]

We'll see if Benny makes the team.

[Andy Holloway]

If you are a Leonard Fournette owner, you cannot be more possibly thrilled than having Alfred Blue and Benny Cunningham signed. They're saying let's take care of the running back position now, but not really. We're just going to let Leonard Fournette really take the reins this year. They're giving him a shot this year.

[Jason Moore]

You still watch out for the draft based on those two signing.

[Andy Holloway]

Really?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Because Benny could not make the team. So you could easily have a situation where Alfred Blue does what he does. He loves to sit on the bench, back behind somebody else and then just be available. Just be a body on the cheap. And then I think they could sign. I think they could draft somebody for sure.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Now, I don't expect it. So to that point, we know Fournette is motivated.

[Andy Holloway]

There's a bunch of money issues as to whether or not his contract will be guaranteed or not.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

It got. Yes. I mean, but I believe he's appealing that. So TBD right now his contract is not guaranteed. And so my point is he's. He's got that motivation. He's coming up to where he either has to put up or shut up. I mean, I think that the team is. Look, with Nick Foles there, I don't think Blake Bortles is an awful quarterback, but it was. Nick Foles is an upgrade for Leonard Fournette to be able to run you know, against. Not, you know, 11 in the box.

[Jason Moore]

Well, he didn't run against anybody for a bunch of the weeks last year. That was the problem too.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

Because he wasn't playing because he's always hurt. We all obviously believe it's going to be a better year for Leonard Fournette than last year because we're not factoring in anticipating eight weeks worth of injuries because we, you know, last year he was the 25th most consistent running back.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

End of the year, okay. Had a nice stretch, had three games of reminiscence.

[Mike Wright]

He will 100% get volume. The interesting thing for Leonard Fournette was he. He had 22 receptions last year. I don't know if people realize that. And that was in eight games, which. Okay, that's 50% of the season. I can play the game. That puts him up to a pace of 44 receptions. Joe Mixon had 43 receptions last year. If we can get that passing game volume for Leonard Fournette, that would be a huge uptick for the floor of Mr. 3.3. A carry.

[Andy Holloway]

And T.J. yeldin. It was. He was replaced with Alfred Blue, who's not a pass catcher.

[Jason Moore]

No, no, no. He's not even a ball runner. Sorry, Alfred.

[Andy Holloway]

Man.

[Jason Moore]

That's true, though.

[Andy Holloway]

This little peel back the curtain. Andy has always had it out for Alpha Blue. You have never. I mean, you just. But see, you don't even care. You're like, well, yeah, of course he sucks.

[Jason Moore]

Let's see Alfred Blue, give me the yards per carry.

[Mike Wright]

That's what I was checking.

[Jason Moore]

Let me just predict it. I bet the number is he's actually.

[Mike Wright]

0.1 yards behind Leonard Fournette.

[Jason Moore]

3.6 to 3.7 from last year's. Leonard or career?

[Mike Wright]

No career.

[Andy Holloway]

Career. Last.

[Mike Wright]

Last year Leonard got. Leonard was at 3.3. Meanwhile, his teammate TJ Yeldin was able to run for a clip.

[Jason Moore]

Is Leonard Fournette, is he a Jacksonville Jaguar last next year predictions next year?

[Andy Holloway]

2020.

[Jason Moore]

That would be. Yeah. Yep. The only next year I know.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

That if that money is not guaranteed, if that. That stands. No, he will not be on the Jags.

[Jason Moore]

I might have vote. No. Jason, you say yes, I say yes. Okay. How'd that work out with Ingram? We got one Sony Michelle coming in at 15. I think I'm the most bullish on Sony. I've been talking about him quite a bit. Look, I just loved, loved, loved what I saw from Sonny Michelle in the playoffs last year. I think we know what New England wants to do. With him, I think he is the most talented player on that team. Last year, through 13 games, 209 carries, 931 yards, six touchdowns. He does not catch the football 7 for 50. And I mean it in two senses. His statistics, they show he doesn't catch it often. Also watching him, he didn't catch it when it was thrown to him. I think that that will marginally go up just with utilization. But in his.

[Mike Wright]

In the final seven games of the season, he got three targets. So it's, it's hard to judge his pass catching. They just, they chose not to throw it to him.

[Andy Holloway]

Tom Brady chose not.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe Tom Brady says Sony can't catch.

[Jason Moore]

But here, here's the gist. The Patriots want to run the football. Last year they had the third most running plays in the league, the highest running back market share in the league. In the playoffs, the games I'm talking about where I became more and more bullish, they averaged 100. He averaged 112 rushing yards a game and two touchdowns in three games played. He is he. The draft capital for Sonny Michelle. We cannot forget it. Okay. He was banged up. He was working himself in last year. He was on again, off again. But they drafted him in the first round.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And look, they had huge success with LeGarrett Blunt and LeGarrett Blunt. I mean, you talk about how few targets that Sony Michelle got. That's the exact comp. Not player wise, but you usage wise in the same offense through 16 games. Back in 2016 when LeGarrett Blunt was an absolute beast and had 18 touchdowns, he had a total of eight targets through. I mean, that's just not using him in the passing game at all. And you could see that. Again, I think that Sony Michelle's upside is huge based on touchdowns. The question that I think fantasy owners want to know is will it be consistent? Will it be, you know, okay, let's say he has 14 touchdowns. Awesome.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

But will it be, you know, two here? Exactly, three here? And then you've got a bunch of stretch where he's just not in that game plan because that's what Bill Belichick is known to do before.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that could happen. He could be the least valuable top 10 running back that people have had. Because that, look, I like him because of what you're saying. He's going to get into the end zone. They just want a Super bowl on the back of him running the ball consistently and getting into the end zone. What's his upside? What can go wrong with. For Sony?

[Andy Holloway]

What could go wrong, aside from injury is utilization, is unpredictable and he hurts fantasy owners because you start him in games where he's basically not used. His upside though is monstrously high. You know, a top six type based on touchdowns. If you look at the LeGarette blunt comp and realize that this team needs to run the ball more, There was only one game that entire season where he had fewer than 13 carries and he had 11. And most of the games that year, you're talking 18 plus carries. LeGarrett Blunt's utilization was huge. So I, I mean, I think I need to move Sony Michelle up in my own mind because I am still stuck in the world where I don't believe Sony will be consistent. But you know, we have data to suggest he might get 15 carries every single game.

[Jason Moore]

All right, moving on to Marlon Mack. I call him Marlon Mike because he's Mike's guy. Yeah, we all have Marlon Mack at 16. Now. One of the reasons I think this show connects with listeners that you've told us is that we're not sitting here just giving you advice without any context. We're not, you know, we're in leagues, we're very passionate about them. I enjoy beating these two gentlemen very, very much. Now, in one of those leagues, the Marlon Mack owner, he's actually here today. He's behind the scenes, longtime friend. His name is Brian. He owns Marlon Mac. He is here listening to the show. It's at this time I would like you to please take off your headphones and not listen to this next portion.

[Mike Wright]

Well, no, no, no, no, no. After looking into Marlon Mack, it just even more.

[Jason Moore]

Are you going to throw some shade on him? Am I going to be able to acquire Marlon Mac?

[Mike Wright]

You have to throw a little bit of shade on him. It's, it, it's funny that he comes right off the heels of Sony Michel in the rankings because you're talking about the exact same player, like the exact same role for the Colts when he came back from his injury. Seventeen carries a game, 80 yards, averaged a touchdown a game. But in that time he was averaging one and a half receptions per game. He was an absolute monster when it came to getting carries in the red zone in the 10 zone. But Nahim Hines had that pass catching role on lockdown. So if, if he is going to hold up to being a high end fantasy running back, it's going to be all about the touchdown. So that's why I keep talking about the Colts as I want the Colts running back. I'm not necessarily buying into Marlon Mack, what he can do. I'm buying into the Colts offense. I think that they will, they will continue to be one of the stronger offenses in the league. But the fact that they aren't utilizing or they didn't utilize Mack in the passing game, which I think he can succeed in. But they like Sony, Michelle. I think Sony can succeed in that role too. But they have James White, so why even throw him the ball?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, see, I don't really worry about that because we've seen Marlon Mack utilized in the, in the previous year with heavy volume, you know, six targets a game, five targets a game. And so we know he can do that.

[Jason Moore]

When Naim Hines wasn't there.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, sure. Very, very different situation.

[Andy Holloway]

And you also have to factor in when you know the games as they stacked up when Marlon Mack was in the game, I mean they were ahead, they were winning, there's fewer dump offs.

[Mike Wright]

We were completely different regime though. Like this is, this was Frank Reich, this was his team.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's just look, let's just look then at. So this is the one thing I would say in his favor, right. Marlon Mack played how many games? 10, 12 games, something like that. His 16 game pace with that regime, you're right. Only 23 receptions, that's not great. But he was on pace for 1200 yards on the ground. If you can do that, plus double digit 12 touchdowns for a great offense, that's going to be in good game scripts.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I don't think the argument here for Marlon Mack is to make the case that he's going to catch a ton of passes the same way. I wouldn't make the argument with Sony, even though I think Sony can catch the ball a little bit. Here's the argument. Frank Reich wants to run the football and last year in the season in which you said he was on pace for a potential 1200 yard season, they weren't that great of a running team. They were 20th in the league in rushing yards. They were 4.2 a carry. That was 21st in the league. Frank Wright came out, he talked about they want to be a top five, top seven rushing team. He says he has a super strong conviction that that's what it takes. Now when push comes to shove for the Colts, Andrew Luck's going to have the ball in his hands. That's generally been the case. The question is that defense going to give them enough opportunity to fulfill what Frank Reich wants to do? Because if they're down, you're going to see if you're down. Marlon Max on the bench and Naim Hines is in the game and you're going to be rolling your eyes and you're going to be frustrated. The banking on Sony being successful is banking on New England being successful. The banking on Marlon Mack being successful is, to me, banking on Indianapolis being an up and coming team.

[Mike Wright]

Totally agree.

[Andy Holloway]

I think most people would agree that both of those teams project to be very good.

[Jason Moore]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

And that's why I can buy into Marlon Mack, even though there's that little bit of hesitance, because I want my running backs getting targets.

[Jason Moore]

All right, Devonta Freeman, we've talked a lot about him. He comes in at number 17, Mike all the way up at 14 in his rankings. I've got him at 15 right now, Jason at 21. We talked a lot about him on the March 26th forgotten players episode. But give me the cliff notes on Devonta Freeman. I mean, the gist is that we still know that this team wants to build its offense around Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman. Right?

[Mike Wright]

Right. The gist for me is they might.

[Jason Moore]

Not get what they want.

[Mike Wright]

The gist for me is that Steve Sarkeesian stinks at being an offensive coordinator. He is no longer there. He just did not dial up passing plays to Freeman. And that's where Freeman crushed in the passing game and getting rushing touchdowns. I believe in the Falcons offense as a whole. And Dirk Cutter's back. Dirt cutter calls passing plays to the running back.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think there's a lot to like with Freeman. I know on the lowest that's more of an injury risk situation.

[Mike Wright]

It's hard to ignore that the last.

[Andy Holloway]

Few years he has not been able to stay on the field. He's young enough where he can get back by his specific knee. Injuries are such that they could. They could cause a higher probability of re aggravation.

[Jason Moore]

All right, Derek Henry at number 18. I have him at 14. The most. Most bullish on Derek. Jason has him at 18. Mike at 21 last year. Well, he. He had a really nice week. 14, scored 47.8 fantasy points, set the world on fire. In fact, 48% of his fantasy points came in weeks 14 through 16. Now I remember this next stat. He didn't surpass 65 total yards until that game. You want to know why I remember that, Brooks? Was that because I said it 30 times on the show the next week when I told people not to play it. And then he went out and scored 29.7 points in the follow up in the sequel.

[Andy Holloway]

With 33 carries.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, with 33 carries then 15 and then 11. He's a.

[Mike Wright]

If those trends continue.

[Jason Moore]

He is a big man. He can take a pounding. 30 plus carries. If there's anybody in the NFL, assuming Marshawn lynch isn't in it, there's anybody that can. That can handle 25, 30 carries a game. Derek Henry. They also had success. And my. My ranking is based entirely on the belief that that success will continue into the new year. That's it.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's. It's so tough to buy into Derek Henry. We have what, 3.8 or whatever seasons.

[Jason Moore]

Of high for his yards per carry.

[Mike Wright]

No, no, no.

[Andy Holloway]

Have been great.

[Mike Wright]

The 3.8 seasons of Derek Henry hope hype and then complete and total failure for anything for fantasy purposes except the fantasy playoffs of last year. The team wants to build around him. Great. I, Unlike the Colts, unlike the Patriots, sorry, Titans fans, I'm not buying into your offense. And that's why I'm hesitant, very hesitant for Derek.

[Andy Holloway]

He buying into the Tennessee. Derek Henry's. I am fully convinced based on looking at everything that they've both said and done. Right. You can't just get on the hype train alert. Oh, Vrabel wants to get on the ball. Oh, the, the tight. You know, the tight end coach who's now their offensive coordinator says we need to get him the ball. Oh, the owner says we need to give him the ball. That's all great. But then they went out and they spent big money to improve their guard and, and they're. They are building their team to run the ball with Derek Henry. And Derek Henry, we, you know, his yards per carry on the majority of his carries are not good. But on his career, they've always been great because he gets those huge breakaway runs. But he's capable of that. I mean, he spent the first two years behind DeMarco Murray. He was great coming out of college.

[Jason Moore]

Damian Williams has a long history in the NFL. He had three great games.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

Situations change.

[Mike Wright]

Damien Williams got extended.

[Andy Holloway]

You go Back to the two year.

[Jason Moore]

Here's the thing that I'll give you $5 million. Not to mention that anymore.

[Mike Wright]

Accepted.

[Andy Holloway]

You dang it quick.

[Mike Wright]

You were gonna lead me into my next point.

[Jason Moore]

Brooks, write him a check before talking.

[Mike Wright]

Damien is there. Okay. They're gonna build their team around Derek Henry. Derek Henry's in a contract year. I mean, if the team is so sure that Derek Henry is the future of this team, why would you let him go into the last year of his contract? And maybe they won't.

[Jason Moore]

It's April 3rd.

[Andy Holloway]

No and not only that, I don't.

[Mike Wright]

Have you heard anything of any whispers about contract extensions for Derek Henry?

[Jason Moore]

I've heard whispers about whispers.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the. Here's the truth. I mean, those are ghosts. They want Derek Henry to be their feature back. They don't need to extend him. And if they give him the ball 20 times a game and he sucks. They don't. They don't. They won't extend him.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, they're going to try it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

But we did say if he's. If he's not good, he'll be. He'll be bad.

[Andy Holloway]

That is well said. Unbelievable insight.

[Jason Moore]

Mike mentioned some ghosts. There is a ghost there. Dion Lewis is still. Yes, he is member of the Titans. But it seems like this team kind of figured out they tried to force Dion Lewis into like, had they never signed him, they would have been better off last year.

[Andy Holloway]

I agree.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's not a.

[Jason Moore]

So Aaron Jones at 19. Kerryon Johnson at 20. Let's talk about Aaron Jones. Man. I have a strange apathy about Aaron Jones this offseason. Apparently we all got him in 19. We all recognize the talent. We all understand that. Look, he ran for 5.5 yards of carry in both of his seasons. And yet can any of us sit here and say, man, he's going to. He's going to get more work than Jamal Williams?

[Mike Wright]

I think that's the problem is everyone is scared of what Matt LaFleur was talking about. I mean, he. LaFleur gets the job and immediately is talking about, well, we're going to try and split everything up. But Aaron Jones, once he finally won over Mike McCarthy to be the starter for the team, he was the running back 12 in points per game before he finally went down to injury. The Aaron Jones is the much better running back, which should say that he should get on the field more than Jamal Williams. But I don't think that's a guarantee.

[Jason Moore]

So that Jamal Williams always gets his coach a fresh hot coffee in the morning. He'll pick up his kids if you need him. I mean, he is.

[Mike Wright]

Here's your paper, Mr. LaFleur.

[Jason Moore]

He's a friend. He's a friend.

[Mike Wright]

No, I mean have the last two french fries.

[Andy Holloway]

Mr. Lafleur. The ceiling of. Aaron's got a heck of a voice.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know why he's me, Jamal Williams. I don't know why he's a newsy.

[Andy Holloway]

That's exactly what I thought. I was totally a newsy. The ceiling for Aaron Jones is extremely.

[Jason Moore]

Disappoint you on the field.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, are you trying to sing some newsies?

[Andy Holloway]

Maybe. We got a different expectation.

[Jason Moore]

Please resubscribe, please. When you get a chance, please resubscribe.

[Andy Holloway]

Resubscribe. I know you just unsubscribed, but just hit that.

[Jason Moore]

Just hit the button again. Yeah, we understand.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, Aaron Jones is extremely talented and not just moderately like he is, which is the definition of extremely. Aaron Jones, when you watch him, he looks a lot like Alvin Camara. And I don't want to stress that too much and say he is, but in those games where he got the rock, he was on pace for only 222 carries. That's still a good amount. I mean that's. But that's not like workhorse back. Twelve hundred yards and sixteen touchdowns. That's Alvin Camara, you know, efficiency and he's on a great offense. So if he gets the ball, if he's getting the ball, you know, what would that be? 13, 14 times a game? Then he, he has the chance to be a top 10 back. The problem is he also has a chance to be irrelevant because there's no, there's no guarantee, there's no investment, there's no commitment to him. Where we as fantasy owners know right now, he's the guy.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, make a commitment to me. Come on, come on the floor.

[Andy Holloway]

Give him like, man, just give him like a two year, $5 million extension so I can totally buy in.

[Jason Moore]

Wouldn't it be nice if. Here's what we got to do, Brooks and I, you know, you're the judge so you can work, you know, legal stuff. We got to start working into these extensions, these contracts, these future deals. They need to have MGs, they need to have minimum guaranteed carries, MGCs.

[Mike Wright]

Oh yeah.

[Jason Moore]

You need to know when Aaron Jones, when Derrick Henry's extended, he signs a two year, $15.5 million deal that comes with 20 guaranteed carries per game, then fantasy owners can buy in. I will be reading lit. We'll be reading legal papers long into the night if that stuff starts working in. All right, let's wrap it up with number 20 and then I'll give you a few more on our list. But number 20 is Kerryon Johnson. Alright? Last year, consistency, rank of number 19, finished the year at RB 34. Obviously he missed a bunch of games. I've got him at 23, Jason has him at 15. That is an eight spot gap. Mike has him at 20. A little closer to my side. And the reality is when I was going through, and these are, you know, these are April, late March, April Rankings. But when I was going through, I think my one reaction I said in studio, when I was putting these guys together, like, I had Carry on at like, 14, 15.

[Mike Wright]

Mentally. Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

No, at your startup rankings.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, I just had him. Yeah. Mentally, whatever you want to say. He was sitting there and I'm moving guys around, and he just kept sliding down. He just kept moving like my. I kept looking at different players and saying, do I like them better than Kerryon Johnson? With Matt Patricia, head coach. Look, as a pure talent, Kerry Johnson doesn't belong at 20, I don't think. I think he is a top 15, top 12 type of player. I'm worried. I'm worried about this team. Look, they want to run. That makes me happy. They just signed C.J. anderson. You know, what are the chances that Carry on gets enough work to make you happy? Jason, you got him at 15. I think he's a firm RB2.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I think the chances he makes you happy are extremely high, with the sole exception of if his draft stock rises too high. I mean, I've heard about Carry on going, you know, high in the third round. That. That's probably too high because. Because of who else is on the board. But Carry on is safer than you think. His ceiling isn't there from a volume and an offense standpoint. I'm not in love with the Lions offense and I, you know, obviously he's not going to be a workhorse back, but he will get the lion's share. He is the leader. Oh, he. He is the leader of that backfield, and they know what they have in him. Nobody out there, I think, thinks they're going to come into year two after him knowing the system has gotten in the groove and say, let's. Let's take it back a step. Let's give him a little less work.

[Jason Moore]

Do you think he'll be the main guy? The main.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, I think he will. Oh, man. Andy's on fire now.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

He will be the mane of the lion for sure.

[Mike Wright]

I'd like to tail this discussion if.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, good. Yes. I am the champion. If you look at when he was healthy last year before he left. So he didn't. He wasn't really involved.

[Jason Moore]

You've scarred me, man. You've scarred me.

[Andy Holloway]

He wasn't really involved. I'm just gonna skip to the end here. Here's the end.

[Jason Moore]

So she just jumped the next guy?

[Andy Holloway]

No. How dare. You know. We are not skipping past. Carry On.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

What I want to say is that last year, on a points per game basis when he was actually, you know, after the first few games and until he was injured, he was the RB14. In a bad offense, he was the RB14.

[Jason Moore]

That's about worry. I mean, like, that's his ceiling to me.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure. I've got him at RB15 right now. You've got him at RB23. I just don't see a world where he gets worse this year than better.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, you could be right. Well, we'll see. I don't have my trust of Gimli. Not. Not high, man. Patricia, trust, not high. Wasn't happy with the off. And that's it. That's a total offensive assessment. That's not saying he doesn't want to run the ball. Lots of people want to run the ball, but that offense looked bad. They turned Matthew. They turned Matthew Stafford into a cub. I mean, it wasn't. It was not a good situation. All right, Philip Lindsey comes in at number 21. Mark Ingram at 22. Chris Carson at 23.

[Andy Holloway]

We have him way too low.

[Jason Moore]

And Tariq Cohen rounding out the top 24. Mike, you were looking into Chris Carson.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

You thought we had him maybe a little lower than. We should talk to the people as to why and why wouldn't we just move him?

[Mike Wright]

I think I have a Chris Carson problem and.

[Andy Holloway]

Hi, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

Thank you. I'm glad to be here. The Seattle Seahawks are just so strange that they would spend the first round pick on Rashad Penny and then they let the late seventh round pick Chris Carson be the guy. This, it's not an indictment on Chris Carson's talent. It's a, what are you doing as a team. But Chris Carson was the man and I, I think he was more of the guy than people actually realize. You take out the first two games. Seattle still trying to figure out what's going on in those first two games. New regime, new offense and everything after that. Chris Carson was averaging the fourth most touches per game in the NFL. 21. That's more per game than Christian McCaffrey, Fournette, James Conner, David Johnson, he had the fifth most carries in the 10 zone. He had only two fewer than Saquon Barkley. Two fewer opportunities inside the 10. The Saquon Barkley the fourth most inside the five.

[Jason Moore]

You say all that and I get it. It's a compelling case for the RB15 last year. Sure. So to me, it's not that hard to go from our. Like, we have him at 23, 15 to 23. That. That eight spots could be named. Rashad Penny.

[Andy Holloway]

We've. We've also joked about his running style where.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, he runs. I. If there's a, if there's a name for the running style, it has to be kamikaze. He is just trying to smash everyone on his way.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. He learned that from Rolls Royce.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. And so, you know, he, he dealt with injuries. Not shockingly.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

And so the injury risk with Rashad Penny maybe taking a step forward, who I still believe is a great back, you know that that could do it.

[Jason Moore]

But it does hurt.

[Andy Holloway]

David's gone.

[Jason Moore]

You look at weeks 11 through 17 where he was the RB5.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[Andy Holloway]

It.

[Jason Moore]

And it worked. I had run off. They ran off games. They won.

[Mike Wright]

Exactly.

[Jason Moore]

It worked.

[Mike Wright]

Schottenheimer's in the back room just beating his chest saying, ha, look what I did.

[Jason Moore]

Seriously. And did he earn your respect? Because you. When we went into the season, on a scale of 1 to 100, your Brian Schottenheimer respect was about a 1.

[Mike Wright]

Sure. It's a creepy. It creeped up to a mill. Come on. It's at least a six.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, really?

[Mike Wright]

Out of 100.

[Jason Moore]

Why is it fantasy owner there?

[Andy Holloway]

It is.

[Jason Moore]

As a Russell Wilson owner, that respect went down.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

But as a Chris Carson owner, it went up. I mean, they were so committed to running the football and he was good. He was. He was really good. And maybe we are underestimating that one fantasy football calculator.

[Mike Wright]

It's still early. Chris Carson is going in the fifth round. He's not. He's not.

[Jason Moore]

You're not worried about Rashad Penny?

[Mike Wright]

I'm worried that Rashad Penny will be Mike Davis from last year and that Chris Carson will still. They'll try and give him the ball 18 carries, but he's. He's the guy that can get game scripted out if things aren't going favorably for Seattle. But for a fifth round pick, I'm willing to invest in that.

[Jason Moore]

I'm not worried personally about the Mike Davis situation because I think they will find the next man up to play that role. They're not going to just overlook. I think it's pen those two. Yeah. Well, I mean my point being that if you want three guys that are going to get on the field, maybe it's McKissick, maybe it's pro size because he's back from the dead. Maybe it's another draft pick, but it's going to be two or three guys. And I don't think Mike Davis is this talent that's like. Or, you know, he has to be on the field. I think they'll put somebody else out there who will probably get hurt.

[Andy Holloway]

I just really hope that McKissick is a thing again.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, get them smooches going. He won't be.

[Jason Moore]

All right. On that note, we've got one more segment. Pristine Deal of the day. All right, pristineauction.com deal of the day. Aaron Jones signed Green Bay packers jersey yesterday. It went for $74.94. We just talked about them. That's a smoking deal on a piece of authentic autographed memorabilia. So check it out. There are hundreds of daily [e-mail] thanks for tuning in, for listening, for supporting the show. Make sure you check us out on YouTube. You can watch it. We've got some new stuff going on in the studio today. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

See my terrible hair?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's rough, man.

[Mike Wright]

And we'll see you next week.

[Jason Moore]

Better than your jokes, though.

[Andy Holloway]

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter heffballers.