Fantasy Football 2017 - RB Rankings Pt. 2 + Sleepers

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast - Episode: Fantasy Football 2017 - RB Rankings Pt. 2 + Sleepers Release Date: August 9, 2017
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
Podcast: Fantasy Footballers - The ONE Fantasy Football Podcast

---

Introduction

In this episode, the Fantasy Footballers dive deep into their continued analysis of running back rankings for the 2017 season, offering expert insights, strong opinions, and valuable sleeper picks to help listeners dominate their fantasy leagues. The trio also addresses listener questions, shares important NFL news, and discusses drafting strategies to maximize team performance.

---

Podcast News and Updates

[07:38] Mike Wright: The hosts kick off the episode by sharing key NFL updates relevant to fantasy football.

• Devonta Freeman's Contract Extension:
  Brooks: "Devonta Freeman signing a 5-year deal Friday night."
  Mike Wright: Congratulates Freeman, highlighting Atlanta's commitment to him as their main back for the future.
  Brooks: Predicts, "Tevin Coleman knows now in two years, he's gonna go, he's gonna get paid somewhere else."

• Andrew Luck’s Status:
  Mike Wright: "Andrew Luck news broke this morning that all indications point to him not starting the season on the PUP."
  Jason Moore: Suggests Luck is a better value this year due to uncertainty around his start.
  Brooks: Considers this positive for quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers who might see Luck's draft stock decline.

---

Running Back Rankings Part 2

The hosts continue their comprehensive ranking of running backs from number 11 onward, providing detailed analysis and differing viewpoints.

Number 11: Lamar Miller

• Jason Moore ([11:03]): "Now, if this is who am I going to draft, I think it's an easy answer. It's Jamal Williams to me..."
  (Note: This appears to be a misattribution in the transcript; context suggests Lamar Miller discussion.)

• Brooks ([11:15]): Expresses strong support for Miller, emphasizing his over 1,000 yards in 14 games.

• Mike Wright ([14:33]): Highlights concerns about Miller’s increased carries impacting his efficiency, comparing him to Todd Gurley and favoring Gurley for higher ceiling prospects.

Number 12: Isaiah Crowell

• Brooks ([16:48]): Compares Crowell to previous Browns running backs, stressing the importance of volume and team offensive strategies.
• Jason Moore ([17:07]): Acknowledges Crowell's potential but is cautious due to Cleveland's inconsistent quarterback play.
• Mike Wright ([21:03]): Critiques inefficient rushing attempts last season and questions if Cleveland's offense will sustain his usage.

Number 13: Marshawn Lynch

• Early Rankings:
  Brooks ([24:57]): "I love Lamar Miller." [Seems to be a misplacement; correctly attributed to Marshawn Lynch discussion]
  Jason Moore ([26:13]): Projects Lynch's potential with Oakland's strong offensive line, tempered by age and injury concerns.
• Concerns:
  Brooks ([27:42]): Points out Lynch’s degenerative back issues, voicing fears about his longevity and potential to miss games.

Number 14: Leonard Fournette

• Mike Wright ([28:14]): Praises Fournette’s talent and roles within Jacksonville's offense, despite offensive line concerns.
• Jason Moore ([29:09]): Believes Fournette is a generational talent but remains cautious about Jacksonville's offensive line stability and play-calling.
• Brooks ([29:25]): Questions Fournette's dual-role effectiveness given potential conflicts with other backs and offensive strategy shifts.

Number 15: Mike Gillislee

• Discussion ([34:20]):
  Mike Wright ([34:20]): Highlights Gillislee’s versatility and potential upside with the Patriots, despite concerns about usage and lingering hamstring issues.
  Brooks ([34:40]): Emphasizes Gillislee’s efficiency and Patriots’ trust in him as a key replacement for LeGarrette Blount.
  Jason Moore ([35:39]): Notes Gillislee’s enhanced role in Patriots’ offense but remains wary of fluctuating game scripts.

Numbers 16-24: Additional Running Backs

• Danny Woodhead & Christian McCaffrey:
  Brooks ([41:02]): Recommends Woodhead as a valuable late-round PPR pick, while McCaffrey is lauded for his exceptional pass-catching abilities and fit within his team’s scheme.

• Carlos Hyde & Frank Gore:
  Brooks ([41:56]): Endorses Hyde for his elusiveness and recurring RB1 status, despite health concerns.
  Jason Moore ([43:25]): Praises Gore’s consistent performance and veteran presence, making him a reliable mid-round pick.

• Dalvin Cook, Mark Ingram, Joe Mixon:
  Brooks ([51:12]): Discusses Ingram’s role in the Saints’ offense and Mixon’s potential in Cincinnati, emphasizing their high draft value in later rounds.

---

Sleeper Recommendations

The hosts identify potential breakout running backs who could outperform their draft positions:

• Jamal Williams: Recognized as a sleeper with significant upside.
• Theo Riddick: Praised by Brooks for his performance in past seasons.
• Robert Turbin & Donnell Pumphrey: Suggested by Jason as valuable late-round or undrafted options.
• Jamal Charles: Mentioned by Mike Wright as a potential surprise performer if he proves healthy and active.

Notable Quote: Brooks ([53:19]): "I'll throw out. He shouldn't be a sleeper because if you play fantasy football, you should know who this running back is. But it's Theo Riddick always gets drafted far too late."

---

Listener Mailbag and Q&A

The hosts address listener questions, providing clarity on fantasy football terminologies and strategies.

• QB1/RB1 Designations:
  Jason Moore ([54:41]): Explains that QB1 or RB1 refers to players finishing within the top 12 in a 12-team league.
  Brooks ([55:10]): Adds, "QE2 is A. Is a big boat."

• Impact of Passing Touchdowns on Draft Strategy:
  Brooks ([55:49]): States, "It changes almost nothing. It might shift guys around a little bit as far as overall rankings... But it does not change at all. My belief in taking a quarterback late because they are replaceable in fantasy football."

• Overlooked and Overemphasized Statistics:
  Brooks ([57:07]): Suggests that reading team and coordinator tendencies is more crucial than raw statistics.
  Jason Moore ([57:12]): Critiques the overemphasis on touchdowns and highlights the importance of consistency metrics.

Notable Quote: Jason Moore ([58:14]): "I think the more overutilized one is touchdowns... And the most underutilized would be consistency metrics."

---

Drafting Strategies and Tips

• Positioning and Value Picks:
  The hosts emphasize the importance of targeting high-value players in the mid to late rounds, focusing on those with high upside and consistent performance.

• Consistency Over Explosiveness:
  Emphasizing players who consistently contribute week-to-week rather than those with sporadic high scores.

• Adaptability to League Settings:
  Adjusting strategies based on league formats, such as PPR (Points Per Reception) versus standard scoring systems.

Notable Quote: Jason Moore ([39:23]): "I think in standard leagues, you need to the 308 [ADP] and in PPR. Sure. But in a standard league that, that's... Too high for me, I agree."

---

Conclusion

The Fantasy Footballers offer a thorough and nuanced analysis of the running back landscape for the 2017 fantasy season. By dissecting player performances, team dynamics, and strategic drafting considerations, they equip listeners with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions and secure victory in their leagues.

Closing Remarks: Mike Wright ([61:31]): Encourages listeners to utilize their Ultimate Draft Kit and engage with the community for additional support and resources.
Brooks ([61:32]): Teases the next episode focusing on wide receivers.

---

Join the Fantasy Footballers Community:
For more insights, rankings, and interactive discussions, visit jointhefoot.com and follow the hosts on Twitter @TheFFBaller.

---

Disclaimer: The opinions and analyses shared in this summary are based on the podcast transcript from August 9, 2017, and reflect the hosts' views at that time.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

For the second time in my life, I'm guilty of committing a crime. Being horrifically ill prepared for my fantasy football draft. Cause I doubt my league mates minding my team finishing 3:10, earning the ridicule of not just my friends and family, but of every man, woman and child I've ever encountered. At this season, I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a future Foot Clan champion can feel. A future champ. Or the start of a long journey whose conclusion is dispersing a wide range of insults upon my leaguemates. Things like, you're one pathetic loser or you must be a major disappointment to your parents. Or my personal favorite, you suck butt face. You know who's going to be the Toilet bowl champion this year? Not me. Not me. To join me on this journey, head to www.ultimatedraftkit.com. i hope to see you there.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, coming to you from the Play Draft Studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Mike Wright]

Ah, we're back again.

[Brooks]

Football's back. Big, big shout out to our friend Morgz.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, Morgz. Yeah. That tells you everything you need to know about our actual relationship with Morgan Freeman.

[Brooks]

That is very strong.

[Mike Wright]

I am so excited to be here today. So excited for this show. My entire morning was rejuvenated by the drive in to the studio today. Brooks is laughing because I've already shared this with him. I was just blaring Come Sail Away by Sticks.

[Brooks]

Oh, really?

[Mike Wright]

Just blaring it?

[Brooks]

Oh, man. Don't. Don't get me started.

[Mike Wright]

It's such a good song. It is the perfect song.

[Brooks]

Oh, sailing. Don't get me started.

[Mike Wright]

You know what that song is? That song is like freaking Carlos Hyde because it starts so nice and then all hell breaks loose over the back half of that song.

[Jason Moore]

You showed up today with a special swagger or something.

[Mike Wright]

I told you I did.

[Brooks]

Well, come see.

[Mike Wright]

I told Brooks I want it on vinyl. And then I said, actually, I want to go find a place that makes me a custom vinyl and puts it on there 12 times in a row so I can flip it on the vinyl. It's a great song. I'm ready to rock today.

[Jason Moore]

I don't think this is a coincidence that today is the start of actual NFL preseason as opposed to the hall of Fame game.

[Mike Wright]

I've been infected. We talked about it on the show. Someone injected me with some fantasy fever.

[Brooks]

I was not ready for this.

[Mike Wright]

I. I'm Excited.

[Jason Moore]

I'm pumped up now.

[Mike Wright]

Yesterday we had maybe the most people go to YouTube that hadn't been on YouTube because Jason's ridiculous David Johnson choke. David Johnson gargle, whatever you want to call it.

[Brooks]

Gargle gate.

[Mike Wright]

Gargle gate. Oh, my gosh.

[Jason Moore]

It's been a long time since one thing. I mean, every. Every show, you know, will say something and people go nuts on Twitter and they'll take something and fight with it. But the amount of tweets on my. Whatever you call that throat. Throat collapse.

[Mike Wright]

You had a moment.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man. And it hurt physically.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. You swallowed your throat on the show.

[Jason Moore]

Brought people joy.

[Mike Wright]

We have a great show. We have running back rankings part two on the show today. Also going to share some running back sleepers. A great quick question. Whatever Jason has in store, we never know. Whatever his bot, whatever his body has in store for this show will be on the show. One of the things people probably wonder, I mean, there's a podcast. Do you ever edit it? And the answer is no. I mean, we. I don't know. We've done 405 shows, 410 shows, whatever it is. And I think we've probably, you know, edited a handful of them for things like technical difficulties. Yeah. Something falling in the studio in the middle of it or something weird where we'll cut that out. So you get unadulterated body noises by Jason. That's part of our promise to you. Quick question of the day, gentlemen. It's. It's the Williams trio question. Which late round rookie running back flyer do you prefer? Is it Joe Williams? Is it Jamal Williams or. Well, this one's not a rookie, so I don't know why rookies in there.

[Brooks]

But Jonathan Williams you blame at Des Bryants.

[Mike Wright]

That's right. That's right. So which late round flyer, running back flyer of these three? Williams, Joe Williams, Jamal Williams. Jonathan Williams. So that's Jonathan Williams of the Bills, Jamal Williams of the packers, and Joe Williams of the 49ers.

[Jason Moore]

Now, if this is who am I going to draft, I think it's an easy answer. It's Jamal Williams to me, even though I don't actually think he finishes the year of these three with the most fantasy points. And I think that's an important point. Point to clarify. People might go, but wait, like, if you think that guy scores more, why wouldn't you draft him? And the reason is because. And the guy I think might score more is Jonathan Williams here as the backup touchdown guy for the Bills. And if Shady were to go down But Jamal Williams is the only one of these three that I see. The Green Bay rookie who has a chance to come out in week one and have a surprising volume, come out in week one and get 15 carries and be a goal line back for a great offense. The other two guys, I don't, I don't think there's any chance, barring a preseason injury for them to do that.

[Mike Wright]

It's Jamal Williams for me as well. I'll keep it simple. I'll also ask the question, is there a player? Does your answer change if it's a dynasty draft?

[Jason Moore]

No, I don't think so. I mean, I still believe I would want to have the rookie on the best offense and that would, that would still be a Green Bay rookie.

[Mike Wright]

Mike, who is it for you?

[Brooks]

I'm with Jason. It's Jamal Williams and for the exact same reason. His, his ceiling, his opportunity with ceiling is the highest of the three without something happening.

[Mike Wright]

Follow us on Twitter @TheFF Baller. Subscribe over on YouTube if you want to watch the show over there, it's YouTube.com the fantasy footballers. Our fantasy football community is jointhefoot.com there you can get an extra episode every week. You can join our special community forums for the Foot Clan.

[Jason Moore]

Chat with us.

[Mike Wright]

Chat with us. There's a lot of good stuff going over there. The Foot Clan league's over there. So if you need a good league to play in, you can find people locally or online. A lot of free goodies for those that support the podcast and reminder Friday.

[Brooks]

This Friday tickets will go on [e-mail] for our live show in Phoenix, Arizona at the Crescent Ballroom taking place on Labor Day. It's going to be amazing. So mark it down. Your calendars that.

[Mike Wright]

Mark it down.

[Brooks]

The tickets are going on sale Friday [e-mail] All right, I'm going to forego.

[Mike Wright]

The formal news section of the show. I want to get right into the running back rankings as we resume from 11 through however far we can go today. The two pieces of news I want to mention real quick. Congratulations to Devonta Freeman Signing a 5.

[Brooks]

Year, just got paid 5 year deal Friday night.

[Jason Moore]

I love it. It shows everything. We talked about him yesterday. You know that that shows Atlanta is committed. They view him as their main back for the future.

[Mike Wright]

You think there's a grimace on Kevin Coleman's face when he gives him the old handshake? Congratulations.

[Brooks]

No, because I think Tevin Coleman knows now in two years, yeah, he's gonna go, he's gonna Go get paid somewhere else.

[Mike Wright]

So Devonta Freeman locked up. Great signing by the Falcons. And then Andrew Luck news broke this morning that all indications point to him not starting the season on the pup. So for those of you that were slightly more worried, or maybe that knocked Andrew Luck way down your draft board. I said this yesterday. I don't think that there's. I said yesterday I don't think there's any chance he starts on the pup. It's looking like that's true. I don't think he's going to miss week one either.

[Brooks]

He still could.

[Mike Wright]

He could. Yeah, absolutely. He could absolutely miss week one. If you listen to Chuck Pagano, Pagano kind of sounds like a guy who's hamstrung by the medical staff. Once Luck out there and basically says, hey, when I get him, I get him. And then he basically said, Andrew Lux played a lot of football, alluding to the fact he doesn't need to practice to play. So if he doesn't throw the ball until week one, they'll probably still put him in there.

[Jason Moore]

This is.

[Brooks]

Oh, sorry. This is actually good news to me because I draft my quarterbacks late, but I also don't bypass an outstanding value of a player like a quarterback. Let's say Aaron Rodgers somehow falls to the fifth. Andrew Luck is going to fall in your drafts if you're drafting right now because of this. So it's. How risky do you want to be? But for instance, I did a best ball draft yesterday on play draft, and I was doing it on the periscope. It was the back of the sixth round and Andrew Luck was there. And I said, heck, why not get a guy who has number one possibilities in his range of outcomes at the back of the sixth? I mean, normally I wait a few more rounds to grab anybody, but I had to get him.

[Jason Moore]

So, yeah, I think he's. He's going to be a better value this year because of the injury. And it's not like a running back like Le'Veon Bell who's holding out. Andrew Luck is there. He's participating and, you know, he's game planning and he's, you know, it's not like he's just, you know, he's not sipping my ties on under the covers saying, I, he's rehabbing.

[Mike Wright]

And he, you know, they want to be careful with him. They don't want to get him hurt, but it causes hesitation and I understand that for sure. So, all right, let's go ahead and let's talk running backs.

[Jason Moore]

Running backs.

[Mike Wright]

You know, other than Jason's special moment on the show yesterday. There is another reason to go back and listen if you haven't. And we went through the top 10 running backs on our rankings.

[Brooks]

That's probably second to second to Jason's throat swallow.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, the throat burp, whatever that is.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know what that was. I think a throat collapse special. Right?

[Mike Wright]

It was special. All right. Number 11 on the running back rankings. It's one of Jason's guys, traditionally, Lamar Miller. Lamar Miller comes in at number 11. I have him at 14. In my shamelessly bold predictions article, I projected an early demise for Lamar Miller. Jason has him at 11, Mike has them at 10. So Mike is actually the highest on Lamar Miller.

[Brooks]

I love lamar Miller.

[Mike Wright]

Standard ADP average draft position is 212 right now. PPR, PPR, ADP.

[Brooks]

Come on, people.

[Mike Wright]

303.

[Brooks]

That's stealing.

[Jason Moore]

Most drafts I've done recently. He is in the third round, which I.

[Brooks]

That's unbelievable.

[Mike Wright]

Real drafts.

[Jason Moore]

The.

[Mike Wright]

You know, we talked about Gurley at the end of yesterday's show. Gurley is going around seventh, eighth pick of the second round. Lamar Miller is going after him. In 14 games last year, he was 268 for 1073 yards and five touchdowns. Caught 31 passes for 188 yards. That's not a lot.

[Brooks]

That's Brock Osweiler.

[Mike Wright]

One touchdown through the air. Let's talk about Lamar Miller. Range of outcomes.

[Brooks]

Lamar Miller is. It's similar to Todd Gurley last year where it would.

[Mike Wright]

Because it really is.

[Brooks]

Because he was such a high draft pick and burned people, so to speak, that they're. But now they're completely off of Miller. Well, it seems like the public are more apt to give Todd Gurley another chance. Lamar Miller was solid. He was. He was nothing special. Absolutely. He really only had two just abysmal games where he hurt your team. Other than that, though, I mean, he was. He was still a startable running back to. He was an RB1 or two, 71% of his games. And that's this. Here's the key. 14 games, still over 1000 yards. Almost 1100 yards in 14 games. And so you give him his full season. He's. He's fantastic for you. So that's. That's hyperbolic, but he's very good for your team. Meanwhile, only five touchdowns with the amount of carries he was getting, it just. It seems like there is. There is an easy way for that to move up at least a few touchdowns, which. Which helps gives you those bigger weeks from time to time.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. As the resident Lamar Miller lover Truther, I will say I am not confident in more touchdowns this year. I think if he ends up this season with five or six touchdowns, I won't be in the slightest bit surprised because I don't see the offense being a high production, high scoring offense. I don't think Brock Oswalder leaving and the combination of Savage and Watts of being able to actually help this team's, you know, score any kind of, you know, jump up in points. So with that said, I do think Lamar Miller is great at the place he's going right now because when you drafted him last year, he was going about seventh overall in your draft and he disappointed that. Very similar to Todd Gurley this year when he's not your RB1. Yeah, you know, you talked about 70, over 70% of the time he was an RB2 or better. That is great. But people were disappointed because of the lack of his top 12 performance. He was just every week he was like the 14th, 15th best running back. And that's not good for your RB1, but for your RB2, you can't really ask for much more than that. His 16 game pace would have been 1400 yards. So he can get it done. And if his efficiency returns to anywhere near his career average and he wants the volume. I agree.

[Mike Wright]

This is my only problem with Lamar Miller. Everything you said is 100% right. If you're listening to me out there, Lamar Miller deserves every bit of the value he's, he's currently providing in drafts because he's a starting running back on a team with great opportunity. He will produce for your fantasy team regardless of how efficient he is, regardless of the yards per carry, which I don't care about in this situation. The problem that I have with Lamar Miller is you did have a transition from Miami to Houston last year and the increase in carries will nullify that efficiency. Because I don't think Lamar Miller, and I think this is why people are more off of him than maybe Gurley. I don't think Lamar Miller is necessarily made to receive 270 carries, made to do more than. Look, he made his hay on straight line speed and being that breakaway guy. Last year he was one of the worst players in all of football in terms of yards. After contact per touch, he was like 69th in the league. So when he's being hit, when he's going between the tackles, there was some problems. And so I think when people project Gurley and Miller, I side with Gurley because I say, well look here, here's A player who's younger and the big playability returning for him seems much more likely. And so I'm just choosing higher ceiling with Gurley. Lamar Miller is going to give you fantasy value. There's no doubt. No doubt in my mind.

[Brooks]

Yeah. The only question for Miller is just will the touches remain the same? Because this is what Lamar Miller is now. He's a volume Play. And Bill O'Brien did say over the off season they want to get Lamar Miller or they want to decrease his touches. They kind of spoke with that in the draft when they took Deontay Foreman. But whoever he showed up to camp out of shape, which, I mean, really, really, most rookies do that. But then he had his incident with the law. We're still waiting. Or is that actually. Has that been resolved?

[Mike Wright]

I don't think there's anything to worry about that.

[Brooks]

Yeah, I don't either. I'm just saying. But it's still there. And so there's just a couple. There's already some. Some strikes against a rookie. So it takes. It takes a little bit more time for him to get acclimated into the offense is all I'm saying.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Isaiah Crowell comes in at number 12. I'm waiting for it now. Jason, it came out.

[Brooks]

This is.

[Jason Moore]

That's you.

[Brooks]

And you're the. You're driving this bus.

[Mike Wright]

I am driving that bus. I have Isaiah Crowell inside my top 10. I'm at number nine. Jason has him at 14. Mike at number 12 last year. And under 200 carries. Ran for 952 yards, seven touchdowns. Caught the ball 40 times. I think that was surprising to everybody.

[Brooks]

Yes. Who owned him, especially Duke Johnson going, what the. My job.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I think you see Crow on the field a lot, and those. Those receptions, they're a result of being on the field. 319 yards on those. No touchdowns through the air. So, look, Isaiah Cruell, if you want him to end up in your top 10 like me, you have to project more carries, you have to project more dependency on the run. And that's a complicated equation for Crowell and for the Browns because, look, you can want to do something, and then you can be down three scores, and then you don't get to do it anymore. And that was the situation a lot last year. And you've heard Hugh Jackson come out and talk about, look, I really wish I had leaned on the run more. It was one of my biggest regrets is not giving the ball to Isaiah crawl more. But does that translate? Look, you say a lot of things. I Project a very good season from Isaiah Crowell, obviously. Where do you guys see him? Do you think that the volume increases? Do you think that because of how improved the offensive line is there, the efficiency and the volume increase. How can I get you in a fresh Isaiah Crowell?

[Jason Moore]

You know, Isaiah Crowell, early in the off season, we were high on him when he was. I feel like he was like eighth round. I mean, he was pretty much an afterthought. A lot of people were high on him. There's so many reasons to project a step up. And you named a lot of them. Their offensive line, way better. Their head coach wants to run more. Isaiah Cruell showed enough. But then the opposite is equally true from the standpoint of this is a team that is not able to run the ball in the fourth quarter. And I think Isaiah Crowell's success is going to come down to the quarterback success, you know, as it does for a lot of teams. If the quarterback play in Cleveland is. Is not good and the games are getting out of hand, then Crowell's not going to be able to run the ball in the fourth quarter. You know, that's the biggest problem I have. And if I am honest, I can't project the Cleveland quarterback play to be anything other than like, the best I could project is mediocre. Like, you know, maybe they'll be middle of the pack. So that's why I've got him the lowest of us. I think his range of outcomes. He's the first guy I see that we talked about in our now in our top 12, where if he finishes the year outside the top 36 running backs while healthy, I won't be shocked. I'm not. I mean, he's my number. He's my number 14. I like him. I think he's good. But his team situation scares me more than all the other.

[Brooks]

I'd say a pretty solid comp. When you're talking situation here is Jordan Howard, who we have ranks slightly higher than Crowell because they're both good running backs. I think Howard's a better running back, but Crowell, he's good. Very strong offensive line, probably better in Cleveland. They've made some offseason moves to shore things up, but when you talk about the volume, here's an interesting stat for you. Among running backs carries, Cleveland was last in the league with 279 carries to their running backs. There were only three teams that had under 300 carries to their running back or for their running backs. I mean, it's. That's a You're going to need a really, really large jump in carries for your running back to feel secure in Crowell, who Crowell was one of. He was the top running back when it comes to getting your, your fantasy points in gouging runs similar to Todd Gurley two years ago, where the majority of his production was on these huge plays. That's what Crowell was giving you last year. So if those fall off, then I see in the range of outcomes for Crowell being that low end running back too. So I have concerns about Crowell. I do have him at 12, but.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know if he averaged an extra yard per carry after contact than Lamar Miller.

[Brooks]

Yeah, no, it's good. But he also had those huge runs where Lamar Miller did not.

[Jason Moore]

If you compare like Todd Gurley's on a bad team. Right. Todd Gurley last year had 278 fourth quarter rushing attempts. The Cleveland Browns had 279 on the season.

[Mike Wright]

Wait, what did you just say?

[Jason Moore]

Rushing attempts in the fourth quarter? What?

[Mike Wright]

That's not possible.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, what?

[Brooks]

You're looking at no.

[Mike Wright]

Total on the yearly total carries?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, he gave me Todd Gurley. Fun fact. Gurley had over a thousand carries last year and broken down by quarter.

[Brooks]

Oh, thank you, Jason.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's what I'm much appreciated.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe move on to. Before we move on to the next running back, why don't we talk about Flea Flicker for a second?

[Jason Moore]

Sure. You know, a lot of times people are all. One of the most common questions we get is, you know, where's a great place to play a league? You know, you're a commissioner or you're wanting to check someone out. Flea Flicker, they've been around for a long time. I remember playing Flea Flickr, you know, a decade ago. And it's a great system that is completely free. You can have league sizes ranging from four teams. You know, you and a couple buddies want super teams all the way to 24 teams. You know, so it's perfect for family, friends. They've got, you know, features like email drafts and time management is a breeze with them. So you can go there. They've got great live scoring through the season, an easy to use interface, cool blockbuster trade features, and they even have a new mobile app for this season. So if you're thinking, hey, where should I start my league? I would definitely give Flea Flicker a chance. Plus, Flea Flicker is one of the people that have been around for a long time. So, you know, they've kind of worked through some of the issues and you're going to have a smooth process. Pick Flea flicker for a better fantasy football experience. It's fun and easy, fast and free. Just go to fleet flicker.com footballers today. That's F L E A flicker.com footballers.

[Brooks]

And we also want you to check out Pristine Auction. Pristine Auction. I can't stop myself from jumping on there every single day because they are the best sports memorabilia site of all time. I'm getting pointed at.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you're getting pointed at because we just picked up four items for some giveaways we're gonna do.

[Brooks]

You're jarn tootin. We did.

[Mike Wright]

We're giveaway and it's the first time I'm saying it. We're giving away an autograph David Johnson helmet.

[Brooks]

You want to jump in there, Jay?

[Mike Wright]

So that's coming soon. Got it. On Pristine Auction they continue to improve what they're doing over there. Now you can get your jerseys custom framed as part of the process. So if you get an autograph jersey from one of your favorite players like Stefan Diggs or Jay Ajayi or Jake Butt or Jake Butt.

[Brooks]

The people have asked where Jake Butt.

[Mike Wright]

Frame that. Butt who?

[Brooks]

Very nice.

[Mike Wright]

Frame that. But there's Pristine Auction.

[Brooks]

There's tons of new stuff every single day. Pristine Auction. P R I S T I n e auction.com make a completely free account. It's free to bid, free to check things out. But when you make your account, let them know that the fantasy footballers sent you.

[Mike Wright]

Now, I. We will talk about each of these running backs, but I don't. I want to get through as many as we can. So I'm giving you guys the heads up. I want to try to fly through as many as we can because I think people want to see all of the rankings. So we've talked already about Isaiah Cruell. We've talked about Lamar Miller. So Miller was 11. Crowell's 12. At number 13, we're talking about Marshawn Lynch. Welcome back to the NFL. Marshawn Lynch. I have him at 12. Jason has him at 12. Mike, you have him at 15. We know about the offensive line. The offensive line in Oakland is outstanding.

[Brooks]

Ranked seventh. From Pro Football Focus.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it benefited Derek Carr tremendously. Latavius Murray was great in short yardage situations. He had 12 touchdowns. He missed some time. He still had a productive fantasy football year. What's the real ceiling for Marshall Lynch? Because I haven't really heard either of you guys discuss that. I think you've both. Obviously you're showing you're on board with the ranking he's inside your top 15. Mike Jason, top 12, all the reports out of camp. Look, if you go back. Let me say this real fast. If you go back a few years when he was in Seattle, the end of his tenure in Seattle, you talk about the, the potential for injury and things. He wasn't in camp all the time. He wasn't at these voluntary practices. This, they needed to part. This was ending in Seattle. This season in Oakland, it's been completely different. He's been at every single event. He's been at every single practice. He's been participating in everything that they're doing. And at least from what we're seeing out of Oakland, he's been the model teammate, he's been the model guy in the locker room. Everybody loves this guy and he's been everything on the field. They said, you know, the burst, everything's there. But what does that really mean? You know, if he gets 205 carries, what can he really be? Because he used to be the perennial top five guy.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, Marshawn lynch, his ceiling if he plays 16 games is to have, you know, 15 touchdowns. That's what he would be. You know, I don't see him being one of these volume backs that is getting 275 carries. You know, there's the reports, oh, we're going to keep him under 200. I expect him to top the 200 carry mark if he plays 16 games. But with that offensive line and with the offense as a whole, he will have enough goal line opportunities that he can convert to be a very valuable asset. The biggest worry is going to be his age. Two reasons. One is the question of will that cause injury and two is will he be able to sustain through the season. He's going to be one of those candidates. For me, if he comes out in the first four or five weeks and he's looking great and in four weeks he's got, you know, four touchdowns or something like that. I might be looking to move him out of.

[Mike Wright]

It's a good thought.

[Jason Moore]

Out of fear for, you know, the breakdown for older guys or guys that have been out of the league. You know, you think about Jimmy Graham. Came, came back last year off of that year, off through the injury, and he was fine to start, but as the season waned on, you know, it takes a toll.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's. It does. Good point. And it certainly has for him historically.

[Brooks]

And my concern is like, Jason, it's just injury for Marshawn. And I know that he never, I believe this. He never technically missed a game with his back. With his back injury. But this is like his back is a. It's a degenerative issue.

[Jason Moore]

This is just.

[Brooks]

This is not something that necessarily completely goes away. And I guess you're always quick to point out, Andy, that, well, he didn't miss a game because of his back, but he's often. He would have to stay on the field at halftime because he couldn't. He couldn't go back to the locker room because he know that his back would completely seize up and. And he wouldn't be able to move the way that he needs to. So I just. I have concerns about that. Of missing an entire year. I mean, you retired for a reason in the first place. And I know that this situation was. Was unbelievable for Marshawn. You get to go back to your hometown and I totally get that. But just. What? 31. Is that how old he is?

[Mike Wright]

Are you happy with him in the third round of a PPR draft?

[Brooks]

Third round. Oh, man.

[Mike Wright]

Probably because he's 31.

[Brooks]

Because of the ceiling.

[Mike Wright]

Just turned 31.

[Brooks]

Because his ceiling. I don't even think his ceilings. 15. I mean you're talking. His ceiling is. Look here at blunt touchdowns from last year. That's his ceiling. It's very possible that that happens. Or not very. It's possible that that happens. I just. There's so many red flags with Marshawn missing games. Going in on him that early in drafts is sketchy for me.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Leonard Fournette, number 14 on the rankings, rookie out of Jacksonville, seems to have the starting job locked up. I mean, it'll be his or he's.

[Brooks]

Or starting with the other two guys.

[Mike Wright]

What do you mean?

[Brooks]

Because he was listed as co starter on the. On the initial death certificate.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, but this should be his backfield is my point. It should be Leonard Fournette's backfield in Jacksonville right now. He's going as high. You know, his average draft position right now is 205. So you're having to pay up for Larry and Fournette. This is not. It's a middle of the road offensive line at best and an offense that I think is transitioning to be run centric. I think he's a volume play. I think he'll have some big plays in this offense and I'm really comfortable with him at the back of the second round early third round.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. He's a guy that I've been higher and higher on lately. I believe he is. I want to go with what I saw on film and what I believe about the player, which is a generational talent that when, you know, he was. He was touted that way in high school, and he lived up to the hype. You know, he was touted that way in college, and he lived up to the hype. He was drafted with the fourth pick in the NFL, and I think he's going to live up to the hype. I really believe he is, talent wise, that good. My big worry with him is obviously the Jaguars. I mean, if I've got a worry with, you know, Crowell and the. And the Cleveland Browns, there's. There's room to worry about the Jags now. The Jags have a much better overall team, much better defense, a quarterback that can get it done. We have seen him at least get it done statistically before Ron Burgundy. I'm Ron Burgundy. You know, it's going to come down to me for whether he's worth his draft value. A lot of it's going to be on the offensive line. I've been listening to some beat reporters on air, and they were talking about this last week. They had several injuries to their offensive line, but when I'm researching it, I can't find anything on that. So I want to stay tuned to that. We know that their left tackle that they traded for.

[Brooks]

I was going to say, we got to talk about Brandon Albert.

[Jason Moore]

Brandon Albert. He comes in and it's like, oh, good, they're going to shore up that offensive line. Then he's like, well, I want more money. And they're like, no. And so he's like, I'm gonna retire. And they're like, okay, pay us the 3.4 million signing bonus. No, I'm on retiring. And they're like, we don't want you. Yeah, you're on the NFI to be determined.

[Brooks]

But so I know that Andy, you guys are. You're just. You're higher on Fournette than me. I know. I know what the ceiling is. But you have. You have a bad team and you have good game script stuff right for Leonard Fournette. Where can he be the passing down back? Can he be the third down back when you had Yeldin have pretty. Pretty strong success? I mean, Yelp. T.J. eldon had the seventh most targets to a running back. He had the 11th most running back receptions at 50. That's. That's tied with the Sean McCoy. I don't know if people realize that T.J. eldon caught as many passes as shady. I mean, that's. That's high volume. So will they completely Abandon that and go all to Leonard Fournette.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I think that they're going to change the style. I mean, you had Blake Bortles throw for about 10,000 passing attempts last year. So that gets the running back receptions a little bit higher. But I do see your point. Leonard Fournette will not be the complete show. But then again, Zeke wasn't really used in the passing game. I mean, he. He was. I think he had, you know, 30 plus receptions, but he wasn't. There were other backs used to see.

[Brooks]

Fournette getting to that area. About 30.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I do see him getting, you know, above 25 for sure.

[Mike Wright]

You want to hear something crazy? Jacksonville last year on third and short, they threw the ball 75% of the time. That's number one in the league. That's what's changing in Jacksonville.

[Brooks]

Yeah, that's going to.

[Mike Wright]

Mind you, that'll be 0%. Blake Bortles passer rating on third down was 57. So you just. You chose to throw it on third down.

[Brooks]

Is that out of 60?

[Mike Wright]

That puts him the only player out.

[Brooks]

Of regular pass down.

[Mike Wright]

The only player worse than him was Ryan Fitzpatrick on third down. And the next highest is Carson Wentz. So Carson Wentz was the third worst. He was 10 points higher. So this was not good. This was not a good strategic decision. Things change with Doug Marone coming in this team under new leadership with a very. Look, the defense needs to be talked about. If you want to become a running team, you have to be able to sustain it. You couldn't be the New Orleans Saints and say, all we're going to do is run the ball, but we're going to give up 38 a game on the defense. So if their defense can sustain it, the game scripts will change. They'll take the ball out of Bortles hands. Marone wants to do that.

[Brooks]

It's not just Marone. I mean, it's also Tom Coughlin. I've heard that. Speaking of changes, Tom Coughlin has instituted a rule that everyone on the team has to wear original white briefs.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, yeah. And because they're comfortable, affordable, supportive, and they instill responsibility. When you put them on, you automatically you go pay your bills.

[Jason Moore]

Alex Smith wears briefs, that's for sure.

[Brooks]

No, of course he does. Tom Coughlin. No Alex Smith jokes.

[Jason Moore]

All right, Mike Gillislee.

[Mike Wright]

Mike Gillis, number 15 on our rankings. Mike, you just snagged him in our little. We just started a sleeper bot league. A company league, six owners, super teams. Took a while for Josh, our community manager guy. It took him a while to realize there were, like, three running backs and three wide receivers and two quarterbacks.

[Brooks]

Know your league system, know your rules, people.

[Mike Wright]

But I saw you. You grabbed Gillislee, right?

[Brooks]

I did.

[Mike Wright]

I ended up taking McCaffrey over Gillislee in this draft. And so, you know, I have him at 17. Jason, you have him at 18. Mike, you got him up at 11.

[Brooks]

Yeah, I don't blame you.

[Mike Wright]

It's not complicated to see the possible upside for Gillislee. I, you know, you're obviously taking a side of the Patriots choosing him. I guess all the reasons that you might pause a little bit about Marshawn's back. I go because of Bill Belichick and the different game scripts and if Gilsey's great, even though, like. Like Blunt was great. Right. But I don't know how often last year fantasy owners felt like they could roll Blunt out every single week. Like, I know that there was some points where you felt that way, but there's still those games that disappear for the running backs on the Patriots. So what do you think about Mike Gillisley? I was obviously incredible in Buffalo. He has to transition here.

[Brooks]

I've been very aggressively ranked as a running back one. And I get all the fears of the Patriot running back. You don't know who it's going to be. Except last year, we knew who it was going to be. It was LeGarrett blunt. Two years ago, we knew who it was going to be. It was Dion Lewis. A couple of years before that, before he fumbled away his opportunity, we knew it was going to be Steven Ridley. So I. I just. I believe they brought him in for a reason. They. They basically poison pill stole him away from the Buffalo Bills. They had to give up a pick and sign Gillislee to a contract that they thought that the Buffalo Bills would not match. So they were highly aggressive when they went out and got him. Now, I know they also added Rex Burkhead, but that was a. That's just a contract. That's a free agent. So I. I just believe that the team sees Mike Gillislee as the LeGarrett blunt type of replacement. And he's more versatile. Versatile. Versatile, whatever. Than legarrett Blunt, where you can line up in the shotgun and know and not assume they're going to run if LeGarrett Blunt is there or he can catch the ball. He was one of the most efficient running backs in the league of qualified runners. Basically had the highest yards per carry. He's. He's a sensational running back and there is very high risk here taking him, but I don't think it's an injury risk despite him. He has a hamstring right now, which is I think led to some fears of Mike Gillisley, including me. You know, it's a little bit of a red flag there, but the reward for Mike Gillislee can be so tremendous. But his ADP is out of control right now. Yeah, I was fine with him in the fifth. I was comfortable in the fourth. If he jumps up into the third, I don't know. I don't know if I can do that.

[Mike Wright]

Everything I hear about Marshawn's hammy is it's just pristine. It's just in perfect shape. Hey Jason, do you need to touch on gills here or can I move on here?

[Jason Moore]

The only point I was going to make is, you know he's a better running back than LeGarrett Blunt, but LeGarrett Blunt had 18 touchdowns last year, so people are wanting that. LeGarrett Blount also had seven games where he was not a top 20 running back.

[Mike Wright]

There you go. That's why I didn't feel like you were confident week to week.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So best ball, trying to catch some fire.

[Mike Wright]

16 and 17 on the rankings. Danny Woodhead, Christian McCaffrey. I'm throwing them together. We can talk about them because they both fill a similar role in their offensive schemes and they both are joining teams that seem to really need their particular set of skills. So let's talk Woodhead and McCaffrey. Like I said last night, I took McCaffrey over Gillislee. I am a believer. If you read that article. I believe Cam Newton. Yo Yo's back to form this year. I believe in the offense. I believe in the fact that we're going to see another really, really big fantasy. Cam Newton.

[Brooks]

What is a return to form for Cam Newton though? Well, because is not the MVP season.

[Mike Wright]

I think he's going to return to not the MVP season but a very, very high production fantasy offense.

[Jason Moore]

Let me ask you guys this question philosophically because I think it connects these two players. Let's say you have two really good pass catching running backs. They're the same age and it's. And it's redraft. Okay? They're both 26 in their prime. One is on a team that passes to the running back a ton but does not have as high powered an offense, won't score as many touchdowns and the other is a team that will have the more high powered offense. But does not usually utilize that role. Just, you know, philosophically. What. Which one would you prefer to have?

[Mike Wright]

I would take the better offense.

[Brooks]

I would take the guy who's going to get the targets.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think I lean that side too.

[Mike Wright]

I feel like Kareem rises to the top argument is mine. You know, if you're hyper talented and your offense is in the red zone more often, give me that guy.

[Brooks]

Yeah. And I get. I love McCaffrey. I have him ranked the highest out of all of us. I believe that he will be utilized. And Jason's thinly veiled philosophical debate. There was McCaffrey where we know that the Panthers just have not utilized pass catching running backs in the past. So that will be, that'll be a transition for the team. Meanwhile, Baltimore can't stop passing the ball and Danny Woodhead is one of the best pass catching running backs of his generation. And two years ago when Danny Woodhead played a full season and was healthy, running back one in half point ppr.

[Jason Moore]

The.

[Brooks]

You got to go back another two years ago.

[Jason Moore]

A running back one.

[Brooks]

Yeah, sorry, a running back one. He was injured the year before that, but then you go back again and he was a running back too. He's. He's very, very good. His ceiling has now gone up with. He doesn't have to worry about Kenneth Dixon coming in and taking some of that work. It's Terrence west and Danny Woodhead. I'm not concerned that Buck Allen's going to take reps away from Danny Woodhead. So I really like both of these guys. Danny Woodhead though is just, he's someone you can always get later in adp.

[Mike Wright]

So both of those players have, you know, obviously extra value in half and full point PPR league. Certainly you're going to see a disparity in rankings when you look at them in standard versus PPR formats.

[Jason Moore]

Well, what's funny about that is when you look at their adp and this is something to keep in mind, you know, if you're out there drafting. So Danny Woodhead in standard leagues is in the seventh round and he's in the fourth round of ppr. That makes sense.

[Brooks]

He still has value in standard league.

[Jason Moore]

Sure. But I'm just saying a three round gap. Christian McCaffrey is in the three in standard. He's the 308 in PPR.

[Mike Wright]

Oh my goodness.

[Jason Moore]

He's the 308. So I think in standard leagues people need to the 308 and a PPR. Sure. But in a standard league that, that's.

[Mike Wright]

Too high for me, I agree. I agree with that.

[Brooks]

The third and fourth rounds are going to be. It's. Plant your flag in those rounds. Just. They're all highly questionable. You just take the one that you, that you want on your team.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's talk 49 or new and old here. 18, 19. Carlos Hyde and Frank Gore. Carlos Hyde and Frank Gore. Carlos Hyde, I have him as a running back. 2.

[Brooks]

Welcome to the club.

[Mike Wright]

Mike, you have him at the same spot as me. Jason, you have him even higher. Look, Carlos Hyde, it's all about health. Last year he was still an RB1 or two, 69% of the time. We talked about him on the show recently. The offensive line isn't great. His ability to stay healthy hasn't been great. But the pure talent, if the opportunity is there, it's going to produce fantasy points. Just has.

[Brooks]

He's. He's always been one of the more elusive running backs when it comes to breaking tackles, yards after contact. That's why he's able to put up actual usable fantasy numbers on such poor teams. And I don't know if there's a lot of evaluation you need to take on Carlos Hyde. It's. He's an excellent running back who has never completed a full season. So will he be worth the draft price in the fourth round? In the back of the fourth round, I think he's worth.

[Mike Wright]

I love him as my 2. I really would. I'd love him as my 2, and I would insure him with some, some depth on my bench and make sure I'm in a position where I can benefit from his health and then, you know, have a contingency if the draft.

[Brooks]

Fell to you in a certain way, that you end up going wide receiver, wide receiver, wide receiver, because just that's how the tiers work out. You can't bypass the, these high level players. Would you take Carlos Hyde in the back of the fourth or would you be looking for a different option? Let's say. So you have Hyde at 23. You have Ty Montgomery at 25.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I would take Hyde.

[Brooks]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Jason Moore]

The last three legit drafts that I've been in, I've grabbed Carlos Hyde in all three of those. I think he's a great value right now. Kyle Shanahan, historically, when he's got a. A clear leader at the running back position, he gives that guy over 60% of the carries, which is a great number. You can go back to certain teams he was on, like the Browns, where there was no clear winner. In fact, like, I think they started with Ben Tate and then he got injured.

[Brooks]

Oh, that was just. Yeah, so the Muggles, that was.

[Jason Moore]

I think Carlos Hyde will get the volume and he's got the talent. He's got a good offensive coordinator. He should be a nice three weeks. Yeah, he should be very good. When he's on the field, It'll be like 10.

[Brooks]

Come on now.

[Mike Wright]

Broken up, over, under. Maybe he can do the every other game and just schedule it out. Take one off. You know what I mean?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Seriously.

[Mike Wright]

Go game one, take one off. Go game three, take one off.

[Jason Moore]

I like it.

[Mike Wright]

Game five and then he's there. He needs a two week recovery time. That's no big deal.

[Jason Moore]

Now, in fairness, I'd probably need about.

[Mike Wright]

A six month recovery time from playing in one NFL game.

[Brooks]

I would need a lifetime to recover.

[Jason Moore]

I know he's never played 16 in his short three year career, but he has, you know, 13 and 14 games in two of those seasons. So, you know, if you say he's going to play 13 games, I think he's going to be worth his draft spot.

[Mike Wright]

All right, I'm moving on. Time Montgomery at 20, Spencer Ware at 21 in our rankings. Let's touch on what are the highlights here for those two players. Time Montgomery is one of the most difficult to ascertain. You talk about planting your flag right now. He's a late third round pick. You have to plant your flag on Time Montgomery. If you draft him there and I can see both that. I can see him being such a key cog in this offense. He's gained weight. Right. We've talked about the fact that he's, you know, he's put on muscle. He was pretty incredible last year when he had the opportunity to actually run the ball. He had 77 carries for 457 yards and three touchdowns, caught 44 passes. I think he's one of those players, you know he's going to get the ball. It's just a matter of does he get it enough to justify him being a late third round pick or as we have him right at that RB2, RB3 fringe, I'd feel so much more comfortable stealing him later in the draft. So I don't think Montgomery's on many of my teams.

[Brooks]

Ty Montgomery is the opposite of Lamar Miller. This is. You're going to get a far, far fewer touches, but the actual quality of the, of that touch when it comes to fantasy points is much, much higher because you're on. You have a good offensive line in front of you. You have Aaron Rodgers as your quarterback, you know that they're going to put up high 20s, low 30s, nearly every single week, giving Montgomery a huge opportunity. He's a converted wide receiver, so you know that that's part of his game. You saw when he was thrust into the running back role and didn't really know how to play it. They just targeted him ten times a game. And those targets did go away as he became more acclimated and that where he could take carries and everything. But my flag. I love Ty Montgomery. I think.

[Mike Wright]

So you are playing.

[Brooks]

Yes. I think that he is going to be worth the price of admission. I think he'll be a strong running back too, with. With massive weekly upside.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. The news on Aaron Jones is good in the sense that, you know, Ty Mongory has the pass catching role. We're not sure about those early down.

[Mike Wright]

He's at least going to take some of that.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. My big worry with Ty Montgomery is I think he's going way too high in standard leagues. His value comes in a PPR league where, you know, his 40, 50 receptions will count for points.

[Mike Wright]

I got a great question for you guys. It's a tough one. Maybe you're in a league, you need a flex. You've got to choose between time I go biceps. A bicep flex.

[Brooks]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I don't. You got to choose between Ty Montgomery and Devonte Adams in your flex in a half point per reception league. Who do you want week to week in your flex in that league?

[Brooks]

I'll take Adams.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think I would go Adams as well. Higher. Higher. Touchdown opportunity, I believe.

[Mike Wright]

All right, Spencer Ware at 21. Jason, you got him down at 28. Oh, I have him at 20. Mike, you got him at 17.

[Brooks]

Why are you burying the where?

[Mike Wright]

Look, Kareem Hunt's gonna get work. He's gonna get work. Work.

[Brooks]

I mean, yeah, he's. But he work is gonna come at the expense of Spencer. Where of the Charizard.

[Mike Wright]

No, he's gonna get work in place of the where at some point this season.

[Brooks]

Possibly. But. So Jason's got him at 28.

[Jason Moore]

You.

[Brooks]

You feel the. The least confident on him. So you are expressing just overall confidence. And Hunter, you're just saying it's going to be a quagmire.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I actually like Spencer Ware for where he's going. He's. You know, we've been talking about all these guys in the third round and.

[Mike Wright]

Now where's he going? Huh?

[Jason Moore]

Where in the world is Spencer? San Diego.

[Mike Wright]

Nice. Nice.

[Brooks]

He's going to Spencer San Diego, Come on.

[Mike Wright]

He inversed it. It was very creative. Mike, it's not one of your.

[Brooks]

Look at this.

[Mike Wright]

It's not one of your jokes.

[Brooks]

If he had gone Spencer Devin bunches of funches.

[Jason Moore]

If he count Vaughn Devon bunches.

[Brooks]

If you gun Spencer like Kansas City or something. I mean, you have to. You're using the song, but you got to go with his location.

[Jason Moore]

All right, well, I will write a formal apology in a little bit in. In the fifth round. You have a value here in Spencer. San Diego, you have a value because you know you don't have to pay that third round price. And he's going to be a volume back on a gum shoes team that has a head coach that has always produced quality running backs. But the problem I have with Spencer Ware is Kareem Hunt. I don't think Spencer Ware is going to be a 60% timeshare guy. I think they're going to be splitting this pretty even. And at the end of the year, both are going to be valuable. Both will probably be in the. In the top 36 running backs.

[Brooks]

Andy's just singing the song I'm singing.

[Jason Moore]

In my head and I'm going to take the guy instead of taking Spencer Ware, I'm going to take Kareem Hunt. Several rounds later.

[Brooks]

Now, see in my atlas and you know, because Carmen San Diego had came with that gigantic atlas, I didn't care if you're looking in the United States, Europe, time space. I still think Spencer Ware is the starter for the majority of the year.

[Mike Wright]

And if you're right, you steal a starting running back in the fifth round. That's the. That's the cool thing about him. And you want a little excitement in your life. Draft Spencer Ware.

[Brooks]

I love Kareem Hunt. I think that he is a spectacular talent. I think that next year Kareem Hunt is going to be a top three round pick.

[Mike Wright]

What a pickle you're in with. I know who you love, but you do give Kelly and Ware the credit.

[Brooks]

Yes. And that's. That's where. That's the side action.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's do our. Let's do our cooking.

[Brooks]

Let's stand with the veterans.

[Mike Wright]

Let's do our cooking by the book here. Dalvin Cook it. Dalvin Cook at 22, Mark Ingram, 23 and Joe Mixon 24. Rounding out our top 24 running back rankings, Cook Ingram. Mixon can't be lazy. Welcome to. Welcome to question Mark City. Especially when you get into Ingram and Mixon because the payoff is huge. You talk about flag planning. You've got guys, Ingram in the sixth round in PPR leagues as late as the alert, okay, alert, alert, alert. Draft Mark Ingram at the eighth pick of the sixth round in a PPR league, Mark Ingram. Mark Ingram might be the third down guy all year long for New Orleans.

[Jason Moore]

The biggest question mark I have, and.

[Mike Wright]

He'S lower there than standard leagues, which is mind blowing.

[Jason Moore]

The biggest question mark I have with Mark Ingram is always, how long can I wait? Because according to my rankings and my belief, I mean, he should be going in the third round according to where I have him, but I'm never going to take him there because I don't need to. So it's one of those games where it's like, oh, man, in the fifth, I like him as a value, but I might be able to get him in the seventh. So do I keep playing that game? And I mean every draft that's the game I'm playing is how late can I get Mark Ingram? You have him. I believe in mostly the same role he had last year. I think Adrian Peterson's going to come in to that role that Tim Hightower had. It'll be a larger role, more involved, but I still think it's going to be, you know, essentially that role. And Mark Ingram was, you know, he's a top 10 back for multiple years running in this offense. And for him to be able to be in the sixth, seventh round in certain drafts, he's a great value for where he's going.

[Mike Wright]

All right, so Cook, Ingram, Mixon rounds out our top 24. I'm going to run them back. Lamar Miller, Isaiah Cruelty, Marshawn Lynch, Leonard Fournette, Mike Gillislee, Danny Woodhead, Christian McCaffrey, Carlos Hyde, Frank Gore, Ty Montgomery, Spencer Ware, Dalvin Cook, Mark Ingram, Joe Mixon. Before we move on, and I want to answer a couple mailbag questions. So get your pipes ready, Mike, before you do that.

[Brooks]

I want. Jason should do it.

[Mike Wright]

I want a sleeper running back. Pick one out. Give me your sleeper running back. And it can't. Look, Jamal Williams falls into that category for sure as a sleeper running back candidate. But who's another one deep down in drafts hidden away that you could throw the name out there and maybe get something special from.

[Brooks]

I'll throw out. He shouldn't be a sleeper because if you play fantasy football, you should know who this running back is. But it's Theo Riddick always gets drafted far too late. And in ppr, he's an absolute stud. He's been fantastic and he's he's coming along fine. He'll be ready for the season.

[Mike Wright]

Theo. Nice.

[Brooks]

Jason. Late in drafts. Why would you not grab Theo?

[Jason Moore]

Two guys that come to mind for me, depending on how late. Robert Turbin. We don't draft handcuffs usually, but I see him as someone involved. And you can. You. You can actually touchdown vulture touchdowns and use him in the meantime. But Donnell Pumphrey mentioned him a while ago as well.

[Brooks]

How do you pronounce that?

[Jason Moore]

Pronounced with an umphrey.

[Brooks]

Thank you.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think he is. If you're wanting super, super late. I mean, undrafted, deep, deep leagues, I'll.

[Mike Wright]

Throw out a guy you may never have heard of him. Jamal Charles. I'm gonna throw Jamal Charles out there. I think there's gonna be. If he shows that he has some pep in his step, I don't think there's gonna be hesitation whatsoever.

[Jason Moore]

Coach said he's playing on Thursday.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, there's no hesitation for the coaching set.

[Jason Moore]

Never mind.

[Brooks]

Oh, they took it back.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, they took it back.

[Mike Wright]

I'll throw Jamal Charles out there. We'll see what happens. All right, let's get in the mailbag.

[Jason Moore]

Mailbag, mailbag.

[Mike Wright]

All right, if you have a question for the show, head over to the website, the fancyfootballers.com or you can leave us a voicemail question. 302464 TFFB 302464 TFFB leave us a voicemail question. Keep them short, to the point, and we'll get through as many as we can. This question comes in from Tom in Bridgeport, Chicago. He says he always hear. He always hears us refer to so and so as a QB1 or QB2 or RB1 or RB2. Please explain exactly what is meant and how that is determined.

[Jason Moore]

Great question. I was actually going to say this earlier when I corrected Mike from, you know, running back one to a running back one because a lot of people don't know that. It's very simple. We use everything here in half point, 12 team leagues. So a running back one or a quarterback one or a tight end one means a top 12. They finished within, you know, there's 12 teams in your average league. So he was a top 12, a QB2, a wide receiver two would mean they're 13 through 24 at the end of season rankings.

[Brooks]

And the QE2 is A. Is a big boat.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's different. Totally different.

[Jason Moore]

It just to throw in, if you say the running back one, right, you mean final standings at that position. Yeah, he was the number back, the running back one or the Running back six.

[Brooks]

Excellent point, Brooks. Thank you.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, thank you, Brooks.

[Jason Moore]

The nuances of fantasy football. You're welcome, guys.

[Mike Wright]

All right, Tom, in Ohio, when drafting in a league where passing touchdowns are worth six points instead of four points, does that change your draft strategy? This is. Look, if I had came out with a book of frequently asked fantasy questions.

[Brooks]

Did you do the cooking by it?

[Mike Wright]

This would be part of that equation. Six point versus four point leagues. How does that change?

[Brooks]

It changes almost nothing. It might shift guys around a little bit as far as overall rankings like Tyrod Taylor and a four points because passing, he throws a lower amount of passing touchdowns, but he gets you rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. So it can change those rankings slightly.

[Mike Wright]

So that's within the quarterback category. Shuffling names, not necessarily changing where the.

[Brooks]

Quarterbacks belong, but it does not change at all. My belief in taking a quarterback late because they are replaceable in fantasy football.

[Jason Moore]

We will never stop getting this question asked.

[Brooks]

And that's. And I will answer it every time.

[Jason Moore]

No, but that's important. I mean, so many people see this and get the wrong perception that that means they need to take that quarterback in round two. And we urge you, don't do it.

[Mike Wright]

All right, Mr. Butterface has a question at MrButterface himself says friend of the show. What useful statistic in evaluating players is the most often overlooked or underutilized? I've got one, I'm gonna throw it out there. I would say possibly, and I don't know this, but maybe, maybe fantasy points per snap would be interesting to find out.

[Jason Moore]

You're saying that that could be, that that's underutilized and should be utilized potentially.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I mean it does factor in things like, you know, opportunity and efficiency. It's an interesting one. But what do you guys think? What do you think is most often overlooked or underutilized? And I'll throw in there. What do you think is maybe overemphasized?

[Brooks]

I would say underutilized. It's not necessarily a statistic. It's just, it's reading a situation. It's what is. What are the tendencies of a team? What are the tendencies of an offensive coordinator who's now he's got a new job and because you we. It's really easy to look at quantifiable things from last year. What did this team do last year? Well, the Baltimore Ravens, the last two years have been the most pass happy team in the league. Meanwhile, their new offensive coordinator, he's, he's not known for that. There could be a dynamic shift back to or returning things more to a more balanced approach. So that's not a stat, but I think that's an underutilized thing, is reading a situation instead of looking at actual raw numbers.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, my. One for each would be. I think the more overutilized one is touchdowns. You know, if. If a guy's had a lot of touchdowns, he gets bumped up and he is now a touchdown guy. But, you know, those fluctuate so much and they're hard to predict. And the most underutilized would be consistency metrics. You know, you look at versus end of year, end of year numbers and total numbers, but check out. And we just built all of these consistency metric data so you could check out what percentage of time last year or the year before or the last two years or three years, whatever. For every position, how often were they finishing in a place that helped your fantasy team? Because I would much rather have a guy who finished five spots behind. You know, he was at the wide receiver 20 instead of the wide receiver 15. But every single week he was helping me not lose, whereas the every other week I was losing. Because he put up a goose egg.

[Brooks]

And he didn't Week 17 explode 30 points to boost his overall final ranking.

[Mike Wright]

Look, LeGarrett Blunt's not new England anymore. But if he was, where's he going in this draft this year? Because that final total of touchdowns versus where he really belonged. Jason just said six weeks outside the top.

[Jason Moore]

What, seven weeks outside the top 20 and a half.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. So that's what Jason's saying. He's saying the consistency factors in. All right, that doesn't.

[Jason Moore]

Wait, I know we're nearing the end, but I have to avenge myself from the ridiculous stat earlier of fourth quarter.

[Mike Wright]

Here's the thing.

[Brooks]

I mean, you almost had this just amazing stat where it wasn't. Todd Gurley had 270 carries. The Cleveland Browns had only had 279. Two running backs.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, so here's. I knew this stat from earlier and I was looking it up on the fly. That's why it happened, because I, you know, I clicked the wrong button. Go figure.

[Mike Wright]

Didn't do your cooking by the book.

[Jason Moore]

I didn't do my cooking by the book, but I'm not going to be lazy. Here are the real numbers. So the Cleveland Browns in the fourth quarter only had 48 rushing attempts, whereas Zeke had 86. Lamar Miller had 69. Todd Gurley had 63. The next lowest team was at 57 rushing attempts, and there were, I think over 10 teams that had over 100. So for Crowell, the Browns have to be in games for its change.

[Mike Wright]

And that's one of those stats, too, where you're just basically, you look at it as opportunity or a negative. You can take it both ways. Wow, this is such a low number. It's got to change this year or. Wow, that's such a low number. Ooh, I hope it doesn't happen again.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think you got to look at the. Why. Why was that number low? Is because the Browns sucked. And so don't worry.

[Mike Wright]

Brock is here.

[Jason Moore]

Whoo.

[Mike Wright]

Wallpaper situation in Cleveland has upgraded, as has the quarterback height equation. All right, that is it for today's show. Check out the ultimate draft kit atultimatedraftkit.com if you're looking to play some best ball or DFS this year, there's no better partner than the one we got. And that is draft. Grab the draft app for your phone. It takes two seconds. Go to playdraft.com ballers and they'll throw in a free paid entry to a best ball league. Mike just did a periscope yesterday with a live best ball draft. They're super fun.

[Brooks]

Yeah. So much fun.

[Mike Wright]

Jason, right before the show today, just made his pick. Who did you take?

[Jason Moore]

Who did I take?

[Mike Wright]

I was. I. See. I stole somebody for me. I took McFadden. I think we're in the 12th round. You took Dachshund.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Yeah. And you foolishly didn't like it. Doxen in the 12th round. Amazing.

[Brooks]

That's a great pick.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

All injured. League.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

All right, check it out.

[Brooks]

Talk about overutilized.

[Mike Wright]

All right, we'll be back tomorrow. We're starting wide receivers. Isn't that right, Brooks? Oh, yeah.

[Brooks]

Goodbye.

[Mike Wright]

See ya.

[Jason Moore]

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 the FFballers.