Fantasy Football 2017 - Top 10 Running Backs + ADP Price Check

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary Episode Title: Fantasy Football 2017 - Top 10 Running Backs + ADP Price Check
Release Date: August 8, 2017
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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1. Introduction to the Episode

In this August 8, 2017 episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright dive deep into the 2017 fantasy football landscape, focusing primarily on evaluating the top 10 running backs and conducting an ADP (Average Draft Position) price check for several key players.

2. ADP Price Check Segment

a. Jaquiz Rogers

• Discussion: The trio begins by assessing Jaquiz Rogers' current ADP, which was previously the 5th pick of the 11th round on July 7th.
• Mike Wright [05:18]: "I'm willing to go eighth, ninth round for this rental. Who's going to give me three starters?"
• Conclusion: Jason and Mike agree to target him around the 10th round, considering his potential as a valuable rental option.

b. Cameron Meredith

• Discussion: Originally the first pick of the 10th round, Cameron Meredith's ADP has remained relatively unchanged at 9th pick of the 9th round.
• Jason Moore [07:00]: "I like Cameron Meredith a lot. I would take Cameron Meredith in the eighth round, depending on who else is on the board."
• Conclusion: Meredith's ADP hasn't shifted significantly, maintaining his value as a late-round pick.

c. Latavius Murray

• Discussion: Murray, with an ADP of the 12th pick of the 7th round, faces uncertainty due to position changes.
• Jason Moore [08:07]: "I think he's going to be double digit rounds. Yeah. 10th round, 11th round."
• Conclusion: Increased uncertainty, moving Murray to around the 10th-11th round due to depth chart changes.

d. Jameson Crowder

• Discussion: Crowder's ADP has not moved much from the back of the 6th round to the top of the 7th round.
• Mike Wright [09:39]: "I just don't worry about him at all because he has been better when..."
• Conclusion: Crowder remains a stable late-round option with slight movement upwards.

e. Rashad Matthews

• Discussion: Matthews has seen a notable drop, moving from the 11th pick of the 10th round to around the 12th pick of the 7th round.
• Jason Moore [10:17]: "He's looking like a steal in the draft."
• Conclusion: Matthews is considered a value pick, slipping further into later rounds.

3. Running Back Rankings

#1. David Johnson

• Overview: Johnson tops the rankings due to his dual-threat capability as both a rusher and a receiver.
• Jason Moore [22:49]: "He's number one in almost in the majority of analyst rankings and in ADP, he's the clear number one."
• Andy Holloway [23:07]: "Through the air. He is ridiculous. Two players in. One, he's a wide receiver."
• Key Points:
  • Last season: 1,239 rushing yards, 879 receiving yards, 20 total touchdowns.
  • High usage in goal-line and passing plays.
  • Consistently a top performer with a secure role in the Arizona offense.

#2. Le'Veon Bell

• Overview: Bell is praised for his high target volume and consistent performance when healthy.
• Jason Moore [25:48]: "I would take Le'Veon Bell over David Johnson if it wasn't for the possible injury risk."
• Key Points:
  • Last season: 1,200 rushing yards, 75 receptions.
  • Strong offensive line support.
  • Potential concerns over injury risk and holding out during training camp.

#3. LaShawn McCoy

• Overview: McCoy is valued for his heavy workload and consistent RB1 or RB2 performances.
• Jason Moore [31:09]: "You have new smoking J. Cudi in town."
• Andy Holloway [27:18]: "He is a scat back. He's a scat pack."
• Key Points:
  • Last season: 1,200 rushing yards, 50 receptions.
  • Reliant on a run-heavy scheme supported by a strong offensive line.
  • Concerns about injury history but remains a reliable workhorse.

#4. Ezekiel Elliott

• Overview: Elliott is highly regarded for his rushing prowess, though his ADP is subject to potential suspension risks.
• Andy Holloway [31:15]: "Don't feel guilty taking Lashawn McCoy."
• Jason Moore [33:05]: "He's worthy of the third pick."
• Key Points:
  • Last season: 1,740 rushing yards, 16 touchdowns.
  • Exceptional yards per reception among RBs.
  • Potential floor concerns due to possible suspensions.

#5. DeVonta Freeman

• Overview: Freeman is noted for his versatile role in both rushing and receiving, making him a valuable PPR asset.
• Jason Moore [35:29]: "I have no fear in Freeman at all."
• Andy Holloway [35:25]: "He gets enough goal line work and passing down work."
• Key Points:
  • Last season: 1,200 rushing yards, 462 receiving yards, 12 touchdowns.
  • Solid consistency and integral to the Atlanta Falcons' offense.
  • Maintains high value despite some regression concerns.

#6. DeMarco Murray

• Overview: Murray remains a dependable option as the Titans' primary back, expected to carry a significant workload.
• Jason Moore [40:02]: "DeMarco Murray is legit great."
• Mike Wright [39:09]: "I drop in my confidence a little bit after him."
• Key Points:
  • Last season: 1,200+ rushing yards, 53 receptions.
  • Fully integrated into the Titans' run-heavy scheme.
  • High consistency with minimal risk of losing his workhorse status.

#7. Melvin Gordon

• Overview: Gordon is seen as a top-tier running back with high usage, though concerns about touchdown consistency and injuries persist.
• Jason Moore [44:37]: "He could certainly... the offensive line is better."
• Andy Holloway [43:55]: "His role is secure. I'm not sure the leading the league or leading the team in receptions thing is more a reflection on his ability as a pass catcher."
• Key Points:
  • Last season: Over 1,200 rushing yards, 10 touchdowns, 50+ receptions.
  • Expected to thrive with a competent offensive line in Los Angeles.
  • Concerns about fluctuations in touchdown totals and potential injuries.

#8. Jay Ajayi

• Overview: Ajayi is valued for his potential as a workhorse back in Miami, balancing rushing and receiving roles.
• Jason Moore [50:04]: "If you have a quarterback that says you can't stack the box. We have deep threats."
• Andy Holloway [49:25]: "He's saying, don't throw me the ball."
• Key Points:
  • Last season: 1,300 rushing yards, 410 receiving yards.
  • Shares workload with Benny Cunningham, potentially affecting his consistency.
  • Versatile in both rushing and receiving, making him a strategic flex option.

#9. Jordan Howard

• Overview: Howard is praised for his efficiency and potential upside, though offensive scheme concerns may limit his touchdown potential.
• Andy Holloway [52:26]: "He didn't play week one. He was kind of wrestling the job."
• Mike Wright [54:04]: "He is a really, really good running back."
• Key Points:
  • Last season: 1,304 rushing yards, 6 touchdowns, 29 receptions.
  • Highly efficient with high yards per carry.
  • Offensive changes in Chicago could impact his scoring opportunities.

#10. Todd Gurley

• Overview: Gurley rounds out the top 10 with high floor and potential growth, despite last season's drop in production.
• Jason Moore [57:25]: "Todd Gurley is going at the back of the second round."
• Mike Wright [58:20]: "He is going to have to suck to not be top 12 next."
• Key Points:
  • Last season: 300+ carries, 1,200+ rushing yards, numerous receptions.
  • Improvement under new head coach Sean McVay, with increased involvement in the passing game.
  • Seen as a safe pick with high upside potential in a revamped Rams offense.

4. Conclusion and Teasers for Next Episode

The hosts wrap up the episode by reiterating their top 10 running backs list:

1. David Johnson
2. Le'Veon Bell
3. LaShawn McCoy
4. Ezekiel Elliott
5. DeVonta Freeman
6. DeMarco Murray
7. Melvin Gordon
8. Jay Ajayi
9. Jordan Howard
10. Todd Gurley

They tease the next episode, promising to discuss running backs ranked 11 and beyond, along with sleeper picks to enhance listeners' leagues. Additionally, announcements about their live show scheduled for September 4th in Phoenix, Arizona, are highlighted, encouraging listeners to secure tickets.

Notable Quotes

• Mike Wright [05:37]: "Who’s going to give me three starters?"
• Jason Moore [07:00]: "I like Cameron Meredith a lot. I would take Cameron Meredith in the eighth round."
• Jason Moore [22:49]: “He’s number one in almost in the majority of analyst rankings and in ADP, he’s the clear number one.”
• Jason Moore [25:48]: "I would take Le'Veon Bell over David Johnson if it wasn't for the possible injury risk."
• Andy Holloway [23:07]: “Through the air. He is ridiculous. Two players in. One, he's a wide receiver.”
• Jason Moore [33:05]: “He’s worthy of the third pick.”
• Andy Holloway [35:25]: “He gets enough goal line work and passing down work where I have no fear in Freeman at all.”
• Jason Moore [40:02]: “DeMarco Murray is legit great.”
• Mike Wright [43:55]: “His role is secure. I'm not sure the leading the league or leading the team in receptions thing is more a reflection on his ability as a pass catcher.”
• Jason Moore [50:04]: “If you have a quarterback that says you can't stack the box. We have deep threats.”
• Andy Holloway [49:25]: “He's saying, don't throw me the ball.”
• Jason Moore [57:25]: “Todd Gurley is going at the back of the second round.”

Final Thoughts

This episode offers comprehensive insights into the 2017 fantasy running back landscape, providing listeners with informed rankings, strategic draft advice, and valuable ADP analysis. Whether you're a seasoned fantasy manager or a newcomer, the Fantasy Footballers deliver actionable content to optimize your draft strategy and enhance your team's performance throughout the season.

Transcript

[Mike Wright]

Hey, Footclam. We're going to be talking running bears on today's show. But before we do that, I want to remind you about the ultimate draft kit. The one thing this is all you need to be ready for your fantasy football drafts@ultimate draftkit.com youm have our premium rankings, our projections for all offensive players. You have a hundred plus player profile videos. You have sleepers values, breakouts bust. You have Matt Harmon, NFL from NFL.com his reception perception. There is so much going on. Printable cheat sheets are tiers. I can't even talk about all the things without running out of air. So head to ultimatedraftkit.com and check it out today. Hey, it's Martavius Bryant, aka Marty McBride.

[Jason Moore]

And you listen to the fantasy footballers podcast. Welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast coming to you from the draft studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, my goodness. Welcome to the show.

[Mike Wright]

Talking about running backs.

[Andy Holloway]

Tuesday, August 8th. Today's show is gonna be hot. We're talking Targaryen levels.

[Mike Wright]

Jason, you caught up.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, dude, we're straight fire.

[Mike Wright]

We're still a spoiler free show on a Tuesday.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Hot show today. Hot show. Top 10 running backs. We're jumping right into the rankings shows here on the podcast. These are some of the most popular offseason shows and we are excited to talk running backs today. Gonna try to get through the top 10. I think we can do it. I think we can put our mind to it, make it happen. So we're excited. It's going to be a lot of fun.

[Jason Moore]

Go through the Next. The next 10 and some sleepers on tomorrow's episode. Go as, go as deep as we can. Go as as far as we can get.

[Andy Holloway]

We have an exciting announcement.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Coming very quickly.

[Mike Wright]

Tell me when to unleash.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll give you the point. I'll point at you and then you go. Or maybe we sound the. We'll sound the. Oh, the horn. The horn of Gondor.

[Mike Wright]

Just warming up. Just warming up.

[Andy Holloway]

You can follow us on Twitter at the ffballers. We are going to do a quick ADP price check for the quick question. Today I'm going to quiz. I'm going to quiz these guys on quiz. That is Jaquiz and four other players.

[Mike Wright]

That's a mic joke.

[Andy Holloway]

That is a mic joke. And I'm going to ask you guys where you would draft them, what you think their current ADP is. And we're going to compare that to July, early July, and see if you guys know where They've moved around in the draft. But I guess before we do that, I'll let Mike share a very exciting announcement, something he's been working on.

[Mike Wright]

I teased this last week. Foot Clan, an announcement we are very excited about.

[Andy Holloway]

The beard is coming off.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, that's not it.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Mike Wright]

But you may be able to see the beard, perhaps touch it in person live, because we're taking the podcast out of the studio and we're bringing the Fantasy footballers live, a live show. It's going to take place on Monday, September 4th at 7:00pm that is, in fact, Labor Day. So I know you're not doing anything, so come on out. It's like I said, in Phoenix, Arizona. It's going to be at a venue called the Crescent Ballroom. Tickets will go on sale this Friday. You're going to hear me talking about it this week. But Friday, Friday, you head to ballerslive.com you grab some seats. This is a show for 16 and up, and if you have some young ones who are 13 and up, as long as they have a guardian, they can come. So we're trying to make this for everyone. It's going to be so much fun. We're going to be taking questions live on the show from the Foot Clan. Play some games, do hang out, meet and greet.

[Andy Holloway]

Hugs.

[Mike Wright]

Hugs for all.

[Jason Moore]

There's going to be a party, so it's.

[Mike Wright]

I'm very, very excited.

[Andy Holloway]

Touch the beard just a little bit, though.

[Jason Moore]

Make sure the hands are not a requirement. You don't have to touch the beard. We don't want people to go. I was gonna go, but then they said I gotta touch the beard.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I guess that's. That's fair, but I. Who doesn't want to touch the beard?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it'll be a lot of fun.

[Mike Wright]

Monday, September 4th. It's at ballerslive.com this Friday. Tickets are limited, so if you want to go, if you're in the southwest region or if you want to fly in, our good friend, Dr. Football, trying to figure out how to fly over from Scotland, over the sea. I don't know if he's gonna be.

[Andy Holloway]

Able to do it, but he'll need a plane.

[Mike Wright]

It's gonna be so much fun and I hope that you can be there.

[Andy Holloway]

Cool. Awesome. Let's jump right into that ADP price check, guys. Let's start with Jaquiz Rogers on July 7th. His average draft position was the fifth pick of the 11th round. So let me know where you think their current ADP is and where you would draft them. Jacquiz Rogers. Where do you think he's currently being drafted?

[Jason Moore]

I assume in the last month, especially when the news came out that Doug Martin said. Or the news came out that Doug Martin is not a lock to, you know, reclaim that starting role, that he's gone through the roof. I start looking for Jacquiz in the 10th round. I want those double digits. I assume he's creeped a little higher than that.

[Mike Wright]

It's all about roster construction. We brought him up on yesterday's mock draft show, but I'm with Jason. 10th round is where I'm looking for him. But depending on how my roster is shaping up, I'm willing to go eighth, ninth round for this rental. Who's going to give me three starters?

[Jason Moore]

If you drafted someone like Zeke and you just. You're not sure yet still where you're at, then, yeah, ninth round.

[Andy Holloway]

He is a. He's the second pick of the ninth round now. Okay, that's still a little more than two.

[Mike Wright]

That's still manageable. That's not a problem.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, how about Cameron Meredith? July 7th? His ADP was 1001. So the first pick of the 10th round. Where do you think Cameron Meredith is going now? And. Yeah, take a guess.

[Mike Wright]

I would say that. I mean, there's been little to no buzz publicly about Cam Meredith. The fantasy community is talking about him, but I don't think that he's gotten enough. Like, there's no. There's been no Terrell Pryor training.

[Andy Holloway]

There was a mini. There was a tiny little bubble for him where people were talking about him. And then he had the kind of got sidelined with a little injury. And then it just looks like everybody zipped their lips. No more talking about Cameron Meredith.

[Jason Moore]

I think he benefits, though, from the poor news that's been coming out from Kevin White. I mean, everything about Kevin White is like, hey, we're talking to him about how good he was in college to get his hopes up.

[Andy Holloway]

Did you hear about that? The rest of that report?

[Jason Moore]

No. Do tell.

[Andy Holloway]

The wide receiver coach came out and said, hey, I showed him film of his old highlights to get him pumped up. And then Kevin White denied the story.

[Jason Moore]

What?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So the receivers told him that. And then Kevin White's like, no, that didn't happen.

[Jason Moore]

Someone lying.

[Andy Holloway]

It's just a bad situation. Look, Cameron Meredith.

[Jason Moore]

I like Cameron Meredith a lot. I would take Cameron Meredith in the eighth round, depending on who else is on the board.

[Andy Holloway]

Absolutely. That's what I. And he's 908 right now, so he's.

[Mike Wright]

Not moved so I don't think he's moved.

[Andy Holloway]

So no he hasn't. And if you read my by the.

[Jason Moore]

Way pause, this should be the big announcement.

[Andy Holloway]

Dun dun. My article that you mocked me for. It has come out. It is released on the website the fantasy footballers.com Seven years in the making, 32 shamelessly bold predictions for the 2017 season. I took a stab at a bold prediction for each and every team.

[Jason Moore]

It is really fun and Cameron Meredith.

[Andy Holloway]

Was my bold prediction for him was 1100 yards and eight touchdowns.

[Mike Wright]

So throwing it out there.

[Andy Holloway]

Latavius. Latavius Murray activated from the PUP yesterday. Dalvin Cook currently listed as the number one running back on the depth chart. But Murray was out there on the practice field on July 7th. Latavius Murray's average draft position was the 12th pick of the seventh round. Where do you think he is right now?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, he's plummeted.

[Mike Wright]

I bet he's gone down. Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I think he's going to be double digit rounds. Yeah. 10th round, 11th round. And I news is if he is there, I assume he'll rebound. But right now that's a great deal. I watched him run routes yesterday. He looks fine right now and it's early enough where he should get plugged into that goal line role.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me ask you this though, not to prolong this segment too long before we get into the running backs but he has ninth round, he's 902. But do you think that you would think he's a great deal if he wasn't there and it was Jerick McKinnon at 902. Is it just the name recognition that makes him a great deal? Because this offensive line people asked me yesterday, they said, I mean look, Dalvin Cook, I was saying I'm rising on him. But why? They said because the offensive line is so horrid.

[Jason Moore]

I don't think the offensive line is so horrid anymore. This is one of those offensive lines that has, has had a big change from last year. They've, they've made some moves, they've got some health. So I don't see it as bad as it was. I said that when we were a couple weeks ago when we were going more in depth through each team and because of that and you add in the fact that look, Matt Aziata had relevance and goal line opportunity. If you make the offensive line a little bit better and then you take Asiata out and put Latavius Murray in, I think he's going to be fantasy relevant. Not a Powerhouse.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's move on. Jameson Crowder, July 7th. His ADP was 7:02. Where do you think his ADP is now? Mike, are you on board yet?

[Mike Wright]

To be fair, I'm not off of Crowder. I like him. I just don't. I'm not projecting the breakout like very, very many people are, including you guys. You're talking 90 plus receptions. And so I think that he has moved up. I would put him at the back of the fifth is my guess.

[Jason Moore]

See, I don't. I don't think he's moved much. I would put him. Where was he? Top of the 7, 702. Back of the 6. If he.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason's on it. He's 6, 10. Okay, so he hasn't really moved much.

[Mike Wright]

That's good.

[Andy Holloway]

Last one here. Good. Name, Rashad Matthews.

[Jason Moore]

Ooh, this is a good one.

[Andy Holloway]

11Th round pick in July, 1102. What's his current ADP?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man, I feel like Mike and I need to apologize to Rashard Matthews because we were big fans in Miami then we were big fans of Tennessee, and we. We jumped off that boat and said, I'm safer in the water. I don't want to.

[Mike Wright]

I feel like I did a. I was in the water. I still have my hands on the boat, though, just in case the sharks came around and I could quickly scamper back into the boats.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, where's his ADP?

[Mike Wright]

Similar.

[Jason Moore]

His ADP's got a. You're saying it was 1102? It's got to be super low. Still 10th round maybe, but he is looking like a steal in the draft.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow. See, he's dropped.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, great.

[Andy Holloway]

Even he's 1107 or. I'm sorry, he's 1207 with the Corey Davis. Yeah, Decker.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, Decker showed up. But I was saying the Corey Davis injury, I guess that's probably still too new of news to have really impacted his injury.

[Andy Holloway]

It should impact it. Matthews is going to make a mark this year. Also, news that Marcus Mariota is going to start the preseason game. So he's healthy. And we'll talk some more news.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Mike Wright]

Did we wish everyone a happy Jeff Fisher Day?

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Mike Wright]

Happy Jeff Fisher Day, everybody.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, we want their day to be more than average.

[Mike Wright]

It's 8 and 8 day celebrating mediocrity.

[Andy Holloway]

I tweeted this morning, I'm really. It makes my heart happy to think somewhere in the hills of Montana, Jeff Fisher's phone is blowing up. Today I had a lot of Twitter notifications.

[Mike Wright]

I had a Good friend tweets on a flip phone.

[Andy Holloway]

That's true.

[Jason Moore]

I had a good friend contact me this morning and he said he's so excited for the announcement because it's coming on Jeff Fisher day.

[Mike Wright]

That's true.

[Jason Moore]

He thought for sure we were going to have Jeff Fisher on the show almost. But we wouldn't do that to you, Foot Clan.

[Andy Holloway]

Actually, I would do that in a heartbeat.

[Jason Moore]

I don't think he would. I don't think.

[Andy Holloway]

Based on today's tweet, he's not available for comments. Yeah, we got. We can go in the hills of Montana. We can find him.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

Do some fly fishing.

[Andy Holloway]

He's wrestling a catfish up there or something. Keep wrestling, Jeff. Keep wrestling. All right. The jets have placed Quincy Andunois on injured reserve with a neck injury. That sucks. Age 25, year had a great opportunity. Feel bad for the guy. He also was the de facto number one there. So now you're going to have to wade through the Robbie Anderson who's having a bad camp. Our Darius Stewart. A lot of good news about Chris Harper, who, if you remember Chris Harper, he was a standout in Patriots camp, I believe last year and last preseason, maybe it was the year before. But he has a lot of talent and he's got a lot of opportunity all of a sudden, so.

[Mike Wright]

And they're saying Robbie Anderson's having a really bad camp. That's what the.

[Andy Holloway]

Which is what I just said.

[Mike Wright]

I apologize, but. Because I was too. Too busy over here thinking about Austin Safari and Jenkins.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Who has been in our UDK for a while because you need to draft him if you need to sign him in week three.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Pete Carroll revealed Eddie Lacy did hit his 250 pound or less requirement. Latest weigh in. Thomas Rawls and Eddie Lacy split first team reps during a mock game on Monday. Rawls took the first series in that split of the first team rebs. I'm a big believer in Rawls as a late round flyer. I think that there's an opportunity there for him to stand out as much as there is an opportunity for Lacy to potentially struggle.

[Mike Wright]

And as the residents.

[Andy Holloway]

That's not to bury Lacey, by the way. I just think there's a chance as the residents.

[Mike Wright]

Not anti Rawls, but just. I didn't.

[Andy Holloway]

You weren't. You didn't buy yourself a Royce last year.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I did.

[Mike Wright]

I certainly did not.

[Jason Moore]

But.

[Mike Wright]

A free Rolls Royce? Yeah, I can get on board with that.

[Andy Holloway]

You'd take that down the street. You'd take it to the market.

[Jason Moore]

The Better value here is clearly Thomas Rawls. That being said, I still fully project Eddie Lacy to be the starter and the the lion's share starter. I think they're just working him in slowly. That's how I see it. But if I'm in a draft, Thomas Rawls is without a doubt the better value.

[Andy Holloway]

Ted Ginn is listed as the starter opposite Michael Thomas on the Saints first official unofficial depth chart. This is further affirmation confirmation of a great offseason by Ted Ginn. He is in a great situation with Drew Brees. He moved up my rankings yesterday. I didn't really take Willie Snead down significantly because I wasn't projecting 100 catches for Willie Sneed anyways. He was in the 70s. I still have him in the 70s. But Ted Ginn right now is one of my favorite late round wide receivers. He may be a startable wide receiver 2, 3 guy on certain weeks and really could be a factor in this offense. You lose Brandon Cooks and I think he's going to have passing volume. I think he's going to be around 70 receptions.

[Jason Moore]

Wow. 70.

[Andy Holloway]

I do. I think he's going to be in the high 60s.

[Mike Wright]

I, I wouldn't go that far but I'm with you that I love Ted Ginn. Late as a steal, as a ceiling play for your flex every single week. And this is, I'm with Andy again that this is not a down, down crease as Jason would say on Willie Snead by any stretch. Michael Thomas Willie Snead will see a lot of targets and you have to have a reasonable, he's going to bust deep several times this year.

[Andy Holloway]

You have to have reasonable expectations for Willie Snead. You can't, you couldn't have taken Brandon Cooks out of the offense and then just anointed Willie Snead a super high wide receiver two role. I just think he's very solidified in that offense. But this is great news for Tedkin. All right. You know this isn't big news for me but Cooper cup listed as a starter and the Rams first depth chart.

[Mike Wright]

See I think he's a late round PPR flyer.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, sure he fits. Sure.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, for sure he, he fits the system. He's an, he's a, he's a wide.

[Andy Holloway]

Receiver because he's Jameson Crowder of the system. It's just hard for me to. It's, it's just like what any of these other teams that haven't had offensive success. I don't know why we debate the 2, 3, 4 wide receiver.

[Jason Moore]

I mean there are so many guys that are super late in drafts that are a flyer on a good team with a good quarter quarterback where they're a deep touchdown option and maybe that hits and becomes a very relevant fantasy player. If Cooper cup hits his ceiling this season, it's going to be a guy that on your bye week, problem week, you start in flex and cross your fingers.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'm going to skip the rest of this kind of none of the main news except for this Indy star.

[Jason Moore]

Oh good.

[Andy Holloway]

Has talked Zach Keefer from the Indianapolis Star. He's writing that Robert Turbin has been quote, terrific.

[Mike Wright]

This is not the first time we've heard this.

[Andy Holloway]

No, it isn't. And Turban, last year, despite only I think 73 touches, had eight touchdowns in the Indianapolis offense. I want to remind people what preseason is for if you're a fantasy football player. Preseason in my history of playing fantasy football has been to identify with my eyes players that do look look different than they've looked before and who match the height that you may have heard about them a few years ago. Mark Ingram looked very different in preseason. Julius Thomas in Denver, you could see him in preseason. If you go all the way back to when Chris Johnson was a rookie and no one expected him to be a fantasy relevant player, something special showed in preseason and, and last year Terrence west was an example of another running back. You said, wow, a little more pep than I have seen before from Terrence west and he delivered. If Robert Turbin looks spry, if he looks like he matches this kind of hype in preseason, you need to pay attention. This is the year 34 season for Frank Gore. Turbin already made a goal line impact.

[Jason Moore]

This is 34th season, right? That feels about right.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep, yep.

[Jason Moore]

Going for that Emmett Smith record.

[Andy Holloway]

That is correct. So yeah, he was on the original Browns, not the new version. So pay attention to Robert Turban. You really need to just keep an eye on him.

[Jason Moore]

He's a great late round guy.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, starting to look that way. Definitely. And for those of you who are saying, well, what about Marlon Mack? You know, he's he's a scat back. He's a scat pack. All right. Hey, we're going to get into the top 10 running backs. Before you do that, we want to say thanks to today's sponsors.

[Jason Moore]

Great sponsors.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh my goodness. I mean, how is there a more perfect sponsor for our show than NFL game Pass guys. Every single throw catch, every two minute drill, every fourth and inches, you can see it all Everything that's happened on the in the NFL. NFL Game Pass has it. We've talked about it on this show before.

[Jason Moore]

We use it. I mean that's what we use to analyze film.

[Andy Holloway]

When we sit down and have lunch every day, we pull up Game Pass. We pull up players we want to watch. Look, there were so many favorite games from last year. I love rewatching the super bowl because it reminds me of Mike crying in the corner when he lost the water bet. To me those it was dirt, dirty eyes. You probably haven't seen that game. But look, you can replay every game from every angle. Whatever your favorite team is, whatever your fame, you know your favorite fantasy players is, are NFL Game Pass has those. They've got you covered for this year's action as well. All the live out of market preseason games, you can watch them on there. That's when I always subscribe to Game Pass at the beginning of the year to watch all the preseason game games. You have condensed games so you can watch them all in 45 minutes. You've got coaches film from all 22. So like I said, if it's NFL football and it happened, NFL Game Pass has got it. Best of all, you can kick off the 2017 NFL season with a free NFL Game Pass trial right now through our URL NFL.com fantasy footballers. That's NFL.com fantasy footballers free NFL Game pass trial. Check it out.

[Mike Wright]

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[Jason Moore]

Awesome.

[Mike Wright]

But for you sneakerheads shopping online, go to StadiumGoods.com enter our code. Footballers, get 10% off your first. Order that StadiumGoods.com and use the code.

[Jason Moore]

Footballers.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's talk. Let's talk running Max.

[Jason Moore]

Running backs.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, we're going to dive into the top ten running backs. I'm excited. Let's get into it. Number one, David Johnson. Whoa.

[Jason Moore]

I went for the hoo hoo hoo and I swallowed my throat. I don't know what happened.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, my goodness.

[Jason Moore]

Whoa.

[Mike Wright]

Just.

[Jason Moore]

It did not feel good.

[Andy Holloway]

I feel like we owe David an apology.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, we do. Thank you. Wow. If you want to not miss that, go to the YouTube channel.

[Andy Holloway]

I hope that's not a premonition for this season. There better be a who after David Johnson.

[Mike Wright]

What?

[Andy Holloway]

There it is. All right. All right.

[Mike Wright]

We individually soul left his body.

[Andy Holloway]

That was great. That's gonna be a moment for the YouTube, for the YouTubers. Mike almost lost his mind.

[Jason Moore]

There's not much to say.

[Andy Holloway]

His Nike SBS flew right off his feet.

[Jason Moore]

There's not too much to say about David Johnson.

[Andy Holloway]

He's number one in all of our individual rankings.

[Jason Moore]

He's number one in almost in the majority of analyst rankings and in ADP, he's the clear number one. You've got a guy who last year had 20 touchdowns. I see that as also a negative in the sense that there is certainly not, not just room to, you know, regress on the touchdowns.

[Andy Holloway]

But you say a likelihood.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, absolutely. I would never project any player for 20 touchdowns in my rankings.

[Andy Holloway]

That means I project most of my quarterbacks for that. But that's true.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, fair. You've got me there. Well played. But the thing is, is all the reports out of Arizona from just about everybody, whether it's David Johnson or Bruce Arians or Fitzgerald, they all talk about wanting, desiring to get David Johnson to the thousand and thousand mark.

[Mike Wright]

I was going to bring in.

[Jason Moore]

He was so upset that he missed that, which he wouldn't have missed if he didn't get injured in that last game. A thousand rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards, if the team cares about that. And he's as talented as he is and as capable as he is. I mean, there's, there's, there's not much left to save. If you get 2,000 total yards, you're going to be worthy of that.

[Andy Holloway]

Number one pick last year. 293 carries for 1,239 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground. 80 receptions for 879 yards and four touchdowns on 120 targets. Through the air. He is ridiculous. Two players in. One, he's a wide receiver.

[Mike Wright]

Three, to go along with your running back.

[Jason Moore]

One, you get an extra roster spot. Essentially you get to play one more player than your opponent with.

[Andy Holloway]

He averaged 54.9 receiving yards per game on 7.5 targets a game. Despite the volume. Right. He was still fourth in the league in yards per reception from the running back position. One of the most mind blowing things. You look at Tevin Coleman, Spencer Ware, Ezekiel Elliott, who were all in that top three, they all had 30 receptions.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And you look at their, you know, yards per reception, you say, well, that's not sustainable. They only had, you know, 30 receptions. Ah, but David. Nonsense.

[Mike Wright]

David Johnson could do it.

[Andy Holloway]

80, 80 receptions at 11 per reception. He was an RB one or two in every week except for the last week when he was injured. So 93% of the weeks the injury was minor. He's back, he's healthy and the team is willing and able to ride him. He's everything you want in a fantasy football superstar. We're going to move on, we're going to talk about someone else and we're going to talk about the 1B. 1A, 1B in my mind, Le'Veon Bell. You know the name. It's not even 1A 1B, it's 11 capital A1, lowercase A. I mean, however close David Olivia Bell, he averaged more targets, more targets than David Johnson did per game. 7.8 compared to 7.5. He was absolute fire when he was on the field last year. He ran for over 1200 yards in 12 games. In 12 games he had 94 targets, 75 receptions, and his pace was incredible. So if you want to take Le'Veon Bell before David Johnson, go right ahead. That's absolutely fine.

[Jason Moore]

I would take Le'Veon Bell over David Johnson if it wasn't for the possible injury risk. I view him as a slightly higher.

[Mike Wright]

Injury risk and suspension risk, but I.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, I don't view him as a suspension risk. But you're right. I mean, maybe he is. He just. I don't think he has the same track record to as, you know, what he's been suspended for. It doesn't worry me. But his injury risk. His injury risk to me is the only reason, especially with him holding out right now, not being in camp, getting that later start and you see that happen from time to time. If he was in camp, I might take him over David Johnson just because he has a longer track history of doing this. He's always when he's out there, he's the best in the league.

[Andy Holloway]

Martavis Bryant is healthy with Antonio Brown with Big Ben could argue that this offense is better than Arizona's. You could argue that they'll be better this season. And with that, those weapons around him, as long as he's on the field, they've shown the willingness to pretty much run the offense front to back through Le'Veon Bell. If you remember the Buffalo games last year, it wasn't like he was coming off the field when these were blowouts. He was still there. So that's what you got to love about Lev Bell. Look, it's not rocket science, these first two on the rankings, but that's why, that's why they're there. Let's move on to number three on the running back rankings.

[Mike Wright]

Now. This is going to be surprising.

[Andy Holloway]

It might be. LaShawn McCoy is number three on our rankings here. I have him at three. Jason and Mike, you both have him at four. This is obviously because I do not have Ezekiel Elliott currently.

[Jason Moore]

You have crushed our Ezekiel Elliott rankings.

[Mike Wright]

And just crushed is crushed is hard.

[Andy Holloway]

Because Zeke is next. Just spoiler alert.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, but I just. You need to explain this where you have proactively bumped Zeke down. Jason and I haven't altered his projections yet. We're still waiting for the news to drop, but I do agree with Andy. I'm confident that something is going to happen. So Zeke will likely end up as the four.

[Andy Holloway]

That is correct. Back to Shady. I apologize. I moved him down because I wanted to give people drafting right now a fair expectation of where I would draft him. So that's what my rankings reflect. So LaShawn McCoy, like I said, his ADP right now is the seventh pick of the first round. Love Shady. Shady did everything we could have hoped for last year. Played 15 games, had over 1200 yards, caught 50 passes. What do you want to tell people about Lashelle McCoy expectations for this year? I think some people are curious about the potential offensive changes when you, you know Rex Ryan's not there. They were so run heavy with Rex ryan. How will McCoy be used? What are your expectations, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

Well, I expect the team to still be run heavy. They still have a fantastic offensive line and similar to David Johnson, Le'Veon Bell, the team runs through LaShawn McCoy. The offense is powered by Shady. Now there are a couple red flags with LaShawn McCoy in most notably his ability to go down with injury but somehow recover. But it still seems like he's.

[Jason Moore]

He doesn't Miss a lot of games.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, but he. You think that he's going to be out for the season at least five times throughout per game and his touchdowns, that's. There's been a massive fluctuation with Lashawn McCoy's touchdown. He had 13 rushing last year, but 2015, three, 2014, five. I mean, so it's. And he's had a year of 17 rushing touchdowns. He's had a year of two rushing touchdowns. He fluctuates. It's got to be more than any other high profile running back in the league. I still have tremendous amounts of faith in Shady McCoy. There was a hype alert saying out of Buffalo, saying that LaShawn McCoy could actually lead the team. Yes, please get that train rolling. He could lead the team in receptions, which would be ridiculous.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, the fluctuation in touchdowns is legitimate, but if you look at their offensive line, the run scheme, what they want to do as a team, the fact that you had Mike Gillislee leave, I think you have to project that he has another successful season. When it comes to touchdown totals, LaShawn McCoy is as consistent as any, you know, outside of those top two guys you look at. Okay. LaShawn McCoy over the last three years, 75% of his games, he's an RB2 or better. Over 50% of his games, he's An RB1 or better. I mean, that is.

[Mike Wright]

Or better. He's better than a one.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's an RB0.

[Jason Moore]

That is. That is incred. And when you compare, okay, you know, the guys that are up there that have done that, at that percentage, you're talking about Jordan Howard, who, you know, has only played 16 games. Zeke, who's only played 16 games.

[Mike Wright]

Shady, 15.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Shady has 43 games in the last three years and he is that consistent. He's set up to win and he is, he is clearly the third or fourth back, depending on what you do with Zeke out there. And the question that I get more than anything is I'm the fifth pick in the draft, the sixth pick in the draft. Do I take Shady over Julio and Odell Beckham? That's the question that everyone is always asking. Would you. You're at 5 or 6 on the clock in a, let's just say half point PPR league.

[Mike Wright]

You broke it for me. I was going to say ppr. It's easy.

[Jason Moore]

I still take the receivers, half point ppr. What would you guys do? I think I would go receiver.

[Mike Wright]

I would still take one of the big three receivers.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's certainly the chalk way to do it. I mean, if you want a running back, you don't feel guilty taking.

[Mike Wright]

Certainly not.

[Andy Holloway]

That's kind of the message, I think. Don't feel guilty taking Leshawn McCoy. If you feel like you can draft wide receiver later, you get a locked and loaded running back. I mean, his role is secure. I'm not sure the leading the league or leading the team in receptions thing is more a reflection on his ability as a pass catcher or the fact that Sammy Watkins can't stay healthy. And they have now Anquan Bolden and Zay Jones on that roster. And those, those catching receiving totals might not be very significant, but yeah, Lashawn McCoy, that's the case. Number four, Ezekiel Elliott. I have him at eight right now as a reflection of the potential suspension. Jason and Mike at three, as we said.

[Mike Wright]

But just to clarify for the people, if. If it comes out, Zeke has no.

[Andy Holloway]

Suspension, he's right back at three.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Fifteen games last year, 322 carries. That's a big workload. Sixteen hundred yards, 15 touchdowns. And I think the area that people are excited about, I don't know if they'd be surprised to see those numbers go down. Maybe he's around the 300 carry mark. Maybe he's at, you know, 1300, 1400 yards. I think you're really, really happy. 15, 12 to 15 touchdowns still seems very likely. But where people are excited about Zeke and his potential is the fact that on the 32 receptions, he pretty much led the league in yards per reception. At the running back position, he only had 363 yards and one receiving touchdown. But there's room to grow. The top two guys in our list, the number one and number two, they're there because the receiving totals are so high. If you were just looking at rushing totals, if you were not counting receptions from the running back position, is Zeke the number one? Because I think he would be, yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, you have to keep in mind that he did not play in the last week of the season. When you look at his season totals as well, you know, 32 receptions, but that was in 15 games. I expect him to be up at least at 40 this year. His 16 game pace was 1740 yards, 16 touchdowns, another almost 400 receiving. Zeke is worthy of the third pick. If he's suspended three games or less, I'm taking him at three overall. That's, that's my view.

[Mike Wright]

I think he's that valuable now, historically speaking, since 2010, when you have a rusher go over 1600 yards like Andy was talking about. There's, there's been regression where these guys. Shady was the only person to eclipse 1300 yards after a 1600 rushing yard season. Now 1300 rushing yards. I will, I'll take that. I will gladly take that.

[Andy Holloway]

Just saying he might have that due to suspension. He may end up with 1200 yards because he misses four games or something to that extent.

[Mike Wright]

But he's, he's fantastic. He's still my three. I'm with Jason that if he misses three or less, I would still take him third overall. We saw last year the penalty that people paid by letting Le'Veon Bell drop in the draft.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's go ahead. And anything else you want to touch on with Zeke? I mean, people know the story.

[Mike Wright]

Nope, it's just waiting on the news.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, number five on our list here is Devonta Freeman, running back for the Atlanta Falcons last year. 227 carries for over a thousand yards, 11 touchdowns and then made. Wow. Brooks, you put this in here. Very interesting. 54 receptions for 4,462 yards.

[Jason Moore]

Incredible.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's not.

[Jason Moore]

Why is he not our number one?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we have made mathematical error not putting him at number one. 54 receptions, two touchdowns through the air, had 65 targets. Look, last year he was an RB1 or two, 81% of the time. This in spite of all the doubt that people had about his workload, doubt about Tevin Coleman's workload increasing. What do we think about Devonta Freeman repeating that this year? And should owners be exceptionally. Oh, his, his receiving yardage went down to 462.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, what? That's a 4,000 drop.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. That's disappointing.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Are you disappointed in the fact that his receiving yard has dropped Jason? And is that going to make you move him?

[Jason Moore]

That won't make me move him. Other than from the number one spot. DeVont Freeman is far and away to me like he is the next highest after Shady. There's only one other guy put in that tier. When it comes to me personally over the last two years, which is basically when Devonta Freeman took over. The only guys with a higher percentage of RB1 or 2 finishes are Le'Veon Bell, Ezekiel Elliott and LaShawn McCoy. Now when you go, okay, we're projecting things forward. You've got all the talk there in Atlanta about still trying to work a long term deal with Devonta Freeman. They love him. You watch the film on NFL game pass, go back and watch games. It's hard to Bring him down. He is perfect for their scheme. He fits everything that they're doing. And yes, I have been the, you know, the Mr. Regression alert for Atlanta but I don't worry about him at all because he has been better when Tevin Coleman's on the field and two years ago when Atlanta was much more just a pretty decent offense rather than the, you know, straight Targaryen fire they were last year. He was the number one back and he is literally the only guy in the last two years that each year had 1,000 yards rushing. I think he's consistent. I think he's necessary for the offense. He gets enough goal line work and passing down work where I have no fear in Freeman at all.

[Mike Wright]

Is Alex Mack still there?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Devonte Freeman is going to be excellent.

[Andy Holloway]

I think. Why people have a problem with a player like Freeman over Murray or some of the bigger names because you know, he has to be efficient to give you fantasy value. He doesn't carry the ball 300 times but.

[Mike Wright]

But he catches at 50 plus.

[Andy Holloway]

He catches at 50 plus. He was 73 receptions in 2015. If you just google Devonta Freeman you're going to be hit with the same old articles. Look number fire article Devonta Freeman is overvalued. Fan cited article fan cited art 1 day ago fan cited article Devonta Freeman is a fantasy football bust according to fan cited 21 hours ago. This is the same story you get every year. But I think the baseline for him is so high because he's going to be over a thousand yards. He'll probably be double digit touchdowns in that offense and he's going to catch the ball. So we love him. I think he's a little bit higher on our boards than he is some other people's boards. But he's a. His average position is 111 right now.

[Jason Moore]

That's great. I mean when literally we get the question all the time. I'm at the, you know, the end of the first round turn. Who am I hoping gets there? It's always for me it's Devonta Freeman.

[Andy Holloway]

If he gets there, that's for me it's David Johnson. I hope he gets. Hope he gets to the back of the first.

[Jason Moore]

Fair enough.

[Andy Holloway]

Number six.

[Mike Wright]

That falls apart a lot of the time at pick two though.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's trouble.

[Mike Wright]

It's doubles.

[Andy Holloway]

Doubles. DeMarco Murray, number six on our rankings. Number seven on my board. Six on both of your guys. Reports this morning that he's almost back out on the practice field. Had a hamstring tweak Last year, he was DeMarco Murray again. 293 carries over 1200 yards, nine touchdowns, caught 53 passes, was on the field on pretty much every important down for the Titans. He should be the stalwart in the backfield again this year. If you take out the last two weeks, which arguably he was injured.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, not arguably. He had a foot injury.

[Andy Holloway]

Other than that, I mean, you're looking at top 10 performances all but four weeks, RB 1 or 2, 87% of the time. And he was back to being his same old self because he was in.

[Mike Wright]

A scheme that utilizes DeMarco Murray. It was. You go back when he was on the Eagles, it was so frustrating to watch Chip Kelly insist on trying to get demarco Murray moving laterally instead of just. Just send the wrecking machine up into the line. I mean, the exotic smash mouth.

[Andy Holloway]

I think we're moving Jason more laterally. No, we're moving him straight up the middle.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You don't want me going side to side. I need a head of steam. And then you try to take me.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, and that head of steam. I remember flag football.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

You'd kick yourself right in the butt running down the field, running down.

[Jason Moore]

But no one would grab me. And the ref would make fun of me and say, you run. Like, what do you say? It's like, oh, no. He's like, you're the ugliest runner I've ever seen. It's like, I got a touchdown.

[Mike Wright]

And last year, DeMarco Murray accounted for nearly 23% of the team's red zone targets. You don't. When you think of DeMarco Murray, you don't.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Voice of public opinion. Yes.

[Jason Moore]

But Mike, Derek Henry was drafted to be used and there behind him. Doesn't DeMarco Murray have a chance to just lose his role as a workhorse?

[Mike Wright]

No, I don't think he has a chance to lose his role as a workhorse. You could see a closer split, but why move away? And this is DeMarco Murray. I think it comes down to how do you project the team? How do you think that they will. They have success this year and would they move away from what was so successful last year? Like, that's. That's the big question for me. And the answer is you have Murray there, still ride till the wheels fall off, so to speak.

[Andy Holloway]

Winnable division.

[Mike Wright]

And I just don't. I just don't see a reason for the team to move away from Murray. And he had massive, massive success on the field. Massive fantasy success.

[Jason Moore]

And they have such a good offensive line. They are set up to succeed. They want to run the ball. And the way that the team views DeMarco Murray is more important than how you view DeMarco Murray. They don't view him as old. Busted. They view him as one of the best running backs in the league. And he really is. Someone on Twitter pointed this out to me and I thought it was absolutely great. If I remember who it was, I would love to give you credit, but, you know, they gave me a player A player B scenario and said, who would you rather have? Player A averages 16.2 rushing attempts a game. Player B, 16.9. That's better. Player A, 76 and a half yards per game. Player B, 77.6. So it's better. Both half a touchdown a game, receiving totals 3.3, 3.2, 25 yards, 22 yards and the same touchdowns. So they're almost identical. They're the same age player, except one has hundreds of fewer touches in his career. And that was LaShawn McCoy versus DeMarco Murray. DeMarco Murray has a higher three year percentage of top one and two finishes. And the three year, you know, version includes when he was in Philly. DeMarco Murray is legit great. And he's the only other guy I put like this, to me is where the drop off happens. I know that other guys will probably finish higher than some of these. You know, maybe Melvin Gordon pops off again. But this is where I'm confident in everybody we've talked about so far, including DeMarco Murray. I drop in my confidence a little bit after him.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's talk about Melvin Gordon, our number seven running back on our top 10 running back rankings. I have him at four right now. Obviously he moves up a spot because Zeke is further back due to the potential suspension for me. So he's just behind Leshawn McCoy. So he's the next best running back on the board for me. Mike, you have my nine. Jason at seven last year, he was downright great. I mean, he had multiple number one fantasy weeks. It was an RB1 or two, 92% of the time.

[Mike Wright]

Basically 100% of the time. Really?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Because he was hurt his injury game. Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Basically 100% of the time he was incredibly consistent. I hear people criticize the yard per carry type of number.

[Jason Moore]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

Look, he's their whole offense. I do not put. I put the smallest single drop into that argument. When he is your whole offense. When he gets the ball as much as he got it 254 carries despite missing the end of the season. I mean this guy would have been up there at around 300 carries, just under a thousand yards, 10 touchdowns, caught the ball, did everything the team asked them to do. On an offense that was beat up, bruised and losing and losing a lot. I mean, he did everything that was asked of him. He has the physical talent and skill and ability to do it again. I love Melvin Gordon and I think the reason I have him ranked so high too has to do with the pieces are back in Los Angeles. Philip Rivers is a competent and capable quarterback. He has weapons now. This is going to be a good offense. It's going to be an offense where he has the opportunity on the goal line. He's going to have it a lot. So I am, I'm very bullish on Melvin Gordon. I love him this year.

[Jason Moore]

He could certainly, I mean he was, he was drafted with the pedigree to say you are a, an all star, all pro type of running back and he was last year. The offensive line is better. Anthony Lynn, the new head coach is a running guru. You know, the fact that they drafted Mike Williams said to me because he was the best, you know, run blocking wide receiver on the edge that I've seen in college in a while. They look to me set up to have Melvin Gordon succeed. But there are plenty of other worries here of, you know, touchdown regression. He went from zero to what do you have, 12 or 14 last year total?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, totally at 12.

[Jason Moore]

10 rushing touchdowns, 12 total touchdowns last year. You have Keenan Allen back and some different parts to the offense. So I think Melvin Gordon is clearly the going to be the main back. I'm not scared of Brandon Oliver or any of the other backs there. You know, he'll be involved in the passing game. I like Melvin Gordon, I do, but I just have more worries with him that if he doesn't improve his efficiency and the touchdowns, you know, aren't there this season, will we be disappointed for where he's being drafted right now?

[Mike Wright]

Despite my criticism of Melvin Gordon, I still have him as a top 10 fantasy running back because I'm not going to make an argument against his usage. He's going to get the ball a ton. While I'm not scared or nervous of Brandon Oliver taking a huge chunk of work, he still will get on the field. Last year it was Melvin Gordon that was the only person of any kind of competence.

[Jason Moore]

Danny Woodhead went down, Brandon Oliver went.

[Mike Wright]

Down and we've seen Brandon Oliver have success in this offense. So I just I think that he will get some touches, but it's. I just have great concerns taking Melvin Gordon in the first. I get knocked all the time for liking guys who are injured. Melvin Gordon has, in his couple years had, has not played 16. So I don't know why you guys give him the free pass on that situation.

[Jason Moore]

I don't, I don't give him a free pass. But it's, it's very difficult to find running backs who haven't missed games. I mean, DeMarco Murray, LaShawn McCoy, even Devonta Freeman, you know, it's, it's tough to find any running back that's just always out there.

[Andy Holloway]

Sixteen, it's a really, I think it's a bad, logical argument to work past, you know, early seasons into these projections for young guys. So when you have a rookie who comes in the league, okay, he had no touchdowns. I can't believe we're still talking about no touchdowns from Elvin Gordon going into year three. He had 12 last year and he missed four games. So I think it's important we realize players, you know, if you've been in the league seven or eight years, okay, maybe you see a pattern. But he's developing his pattern. He's. He's becoming a player. He's not just what he is. So that's why I'm more excited about him. Jaya Jay, he comes in at number eight. I have him at six. Jason and Mike have him at number eight. So we all like Jay Ajayi quite a bit. We talked a little bit about the implication of Cutler coming into that offense. We've talked at length about the fact that Jay, look, he wasn't good in the passing game, just 29 receptions, really low yard per reception, totals only one touchdown, 50 targets. But last year had a couple of those monster games.

[Mike Wright]

1300 plus yards, 410 of his yards were against Buffalo.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, and he didn't, he didn't play week one. He was kind of wrestling the job away from soon to retire Arian Foster at that point. But he's hyper talented. We've talked about that before. One of the reasons he dropped in the NFL draft was concerns about basically, you know, look, his knees aren't going to last forever, and so he dropped. But right now, here, now, redraft, Jay Ajayi has every chance to be workhorse extraordinaire. I mean, you talk about the rise of the running back, the return of the running back. We saw this last year. All these names that we've brought up, they fit the workhorse role. You're not taught there's no RBBC happening in Miami.

[Jason Moore]

Now. Do you think that it's a chance that it wasn't the return of the running backs as a whole, that this is now back to the running back being king, but it was just an outlier that last year was maybe, you know, you saw wide receivers get fewer touchdowns as far as top wide receivers and those translated over to the rushing game. That's. I think that's a question for people. You know, you look back a couple years ago when there were several thousand yard rushers, you know, as there are every year, and none of them repeated and.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I'm not talking about the stats, Jay. I'm talking about the fact that the return of the running back. Look, do you debate that any of those top eight running backs that we've talked about so far are the workhorse back for their team?

[Jason Moore]

Nope.

[Andy Holloway]

So that's all. That's all I'm talking about.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you're talking workhorse versus.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'm talking about the running back. Is there. He's the guy that's going to get the ball. These guys all had huge touch totals.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So with Jai, I mean, you've got new smoking J. Cudi in town. That to me says two things that old smoking J. Old smoking Jake. Two things. Did you see his.

[Mike Wright]

Was that a real quote about him talking about his cardiovascular? It was.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, really? There's video? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

Share that quote with our audience.

[Mike Wright]

I don't have the verbatim, but it's basically he said, well, it's a good thing I play quarterback because then I don't have to be in great cardiovascular condition.

[Jason Moore]

That's what you want your quarterback to say.

[Mike Wright]

And also smoking Jay Cuddy has just admitted that he's been throwing back three cartons a day.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And he's eating potato chips. Hey, Jay, why are you back? My wife really wanted me to come and Adam Gaze really, you know, tried hard. Do you want to be here or is this just everyone else wants to be. Here's what Jay Cutler does for Jay Ajayi. It says to me that they're going to. Just like when Matt Moore came over and was thrust into starting, they relied on the running game. They wanted to focus on the running game. And now they'll be able to rely on the running game. But have a quarterback that says you can't stack the box. We have deep threats in Parker and Stills and a large arm that can get him the ball. So you're going to have to watch the passing and watch the running game and you have, you know you have. Matt Forte for years has been a pass catching back. His quarterback was Jay Cutler in college. Jay Ajayi's last year he caught 50 balls for over 500 yards. He can get the job done and if he's utilized in that role, Jay Ajayi will go from having oh, all this production came in a few games to having a higher baseline in those game scripts that weren't good for him because he's involved in the passing game now. There's also the chance that Kenyon Drake could be more involved in the passing game now.

[Mike Wright]

Damian Williams get rid of. I just say they.

[Jason Moore]

No, I know they love Damian Williams. I just don't understand why Miami loves Damian Williams. He's a very.

[Mike Wright]

Mike, I agree that I've, it's taken me time but I've, I've come to terms. I've. I've accepted J. Ajayi as a running back one and I did. I bumped up his reception total when Jay Cutler was, was signed to the team. I just, it's, it's hard to hold it against a player when you do something like 410 yards of were against one team of your 1300 rushing yards. I mean that's a huge percentage coming in just two games. And then essentially when he didn't go full ham, he's only getting you 60 rushing yards a game. And that, I mean that's not what you want out of a first round pick. But I think that the reception totals help him. It's a lot of it has to do with Mike Pouncey and the health of the offensive line and especially Mike Pouncey. When JJ had good games, Mike Pouncey was playing.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, number nine. Jordan Howard comes in at number nine. I have him at 10. Jason, you got him at nine. Mike, you have him at seven right now his average jab position is the beginning of the second round in a PPR league. 204 and last year set the world on fire. 252 for 13, 13 and six touchdowns, 29 receptions for 298 yards and one touchdown. And this is a guy who did.

[Mike Wright]

Not have the role second leading rusher in the league despite not being the starter for the first few games.

[Andy Holloway]

The main concern with Jordan Howard is just going to be. It's his job. The concern is going to be how good is this offense going to be? Is it going to put him in a position to, you know, be Carlos High is It going to be from last year where you just don't have a lot of goal and opportunities. The touchdown totals are very, very unlikely to get into the double digit range for Jordan Howard. So maybe you lose that upper echelon ceiling week to week. Maybe not though. I mean he had a few weeks last year against Indianapolis, he was the number four fantasy back. He was a number one against Minnesota, number two against San Francisco, number eight against Green Bay. What that tells me is outside that Minnesota game he exploited some of these bad rushing defenses to the tune of top 10 performances last year. 70% of the time was a RB one or two. You know, he's. To me, maybe I love the role. I just, I'm just curious about the offense. Different quarterback, different.

[Mike Wright]

I get the concerns about Jordan Howard. I, I don't want my top pick to be on a bad offense. This is why I was concerned with spending that 101 last year on Todd Gurley. There's just, it's sketchy because you're not going to get these, the burst games, those touchdown games. But Jordan Howard, even on a bad team was dominant. His final nine games he had 100 plus yards from scrimmage. I mean this wasn't when he was.

[Andy Holloway]

Playing with Matt Barkley, wasn't he?

[Mike Wright]

For part of that? Yes. I mean he just, he is a really, really good running back. The offensive line in Chicago is, is good enough. So it's, it's up to their defense. Can they keep the game script manageable for Jordan Howard who he's not not the best pass catching back. No, he is not in the world. He can, he can catch a football but that's, it's not his specialty by.

[Andy Holloway]

When he catches it like when he actually secures it after that good things have happened.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the funny thing about Howard is he was in that top five of yards per reception with David Johnson and with Zeke and Ware and Coleman.

[Jason Moore]

I don't remember the stat but his percentage of drops on targets was comical. He is not, like I said, it's not his strength. That's the thing. It wasn't his strength from college.

[Andy Holloway]

No, it wasn't. And Matt Barkley didn't help.

[Jason Moore]

In three years in college he had a grand total of 24 receptions. He had 4, 9 and 11. His career high college year was 11 receptions. He's not a pass catcher.

[Andy Holloway]

So there was some surprise when the ball was coming at him.

[Jason Moore]

Last year they draft Tariq Cohen. So this is to me a first and second down back who is extremely talented. With a good offensive line, but in a role that's going to be in bad game scripts and not score touchdowns. I think he's going to be your quintessential RB2. You know, he's going to. He's going to give you what Lamar Miller gave you last year, which is going to upset you if you draft him where you have now. If you look at his touchdowns last year, the big problem. Oh, he only had, you know, six touchdowns on the season. Yeah. Three of those came in one game against the Niners. That means there were only, you know, three games on the season that he actually scored a touchdown.

[Mike Wright]

I actually watched the film on him running a route and so. And he turns around, he starts waving his hands.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Saying no.

[Mike Wright]

He's not saying, I'm open.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, he's saying, don't do it.

[Mike Wright]

He's saying, I'm open. Don't throw me the ball.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I think you make a good argument. And that was false. Mike didn't actually see that in the.

[Mike Wright]

Film or did I?

[Andy Holloway]

So. No, you make a good point. And look, people have told me if you had to pick somebody to bust from that upper echelon of running backs last year, Howard is a candidate for me. Because if it does get pulled into a first and second down roll and the team struggles, let's say Jordan Howard ends up with four touchdowns on the year, that's going to be a disappointment from where you have to draft him.

[Mike Wright]

And then they brought in Benny Cunningham, so they brought in Todd Gurley, his old pass catching nemesis, and Benny Cunningham, which Cunningham's a good pass catching back.

[Andy Holloway]

Todd Gurley rounds out our top 10. He is our number 10 running back.

[Mike Wright]

Certainly rounds things out.

[Andy Holloway]

Andy is my name and I have him at 11. Jason has him at 10, Mike has him at 13. We've talked about Todd Gurley. I love him. This year, Jason is. Jason's favorite player is Todd Gurley.

[Jason Moore]

Don't you put that evil on me.

[Andy Holloway]

In recent episodes and his average draft position right now, if you think he's going to return to form potentially, he's going at the back of the second round. For a player who, despite having as bad of a season as you can with 278 carries, you know, still finished inside that top RB1.2 range 56% of the time. I don't want to talk him into the ground.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

But the upside is there, especially with the Commitment by Sean McVay to get him involved in the passing game. Camp reports have been good in joint practices with the Chargers. It was reported that Gurley was, you know, pretty much dominant on the field. So can he translate that? Can he be committed? Signs are good, but he needs to do it on the field.

[Mike Wright]

Now you can take this stat either way. You can say that, well, this is a good sign for him because there should be return to the mean or this is just a sign of how bad things were. So last year, seven running backs had 300 plus touches. The other six were running back ones. And I had to go back to 2012 to find a running back who had 300 plus touches who wasn't a running back one. And that was Chris Johnson. In 2012, the top five running backs and total touches, they were all top five fantasy running backs except for Todd Gurley.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So you can take it as he really stinks or you can take it.

[Jason Moore]

As well as should be a top running back. And if you remember Scott Barrett's work, you know this is Jeff Fisher Day, National Jeff Fisher Day. He found what a perfect end. Yeah, this is a perfect end to today' show. He found out that, you know, when he went back and looked at those most inefficient, high volume running backs who didn't get the job done, it was like three of the top five played for Jeff Fisher and Jeff Fisher is gone. I think that that's going to change. I look at Todd Gurley at the back of the second, you get him at the 2, 3 turn versus the 12 turn with Jordan Howard. Todd Gurley is probably getting 40 plus receptions versus, you know, 20 something for, for Howard. This is why it's, it's because of where he's going in the draft and the baseline, not because I believe Todd Gurley is going to be a top five back by any stretch. I don't think it's going to happen, but I think he's a safe pick and his floor is high and he has room to grow based on, you know, everything you're just saying there, if he does get 300 touches, which I think he will, it's going to be. He is going to have to suck to not be top 12 next.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's probably, maybe he does probably going to be over 300 touches because I mean 270 something carries last year and you know, you talk about 40 receptions, he's going to be up at that 310, 320 range. All right, number one, David Johnson. Two left bell. Three, LaShawn McCoy. Four, Ezekiel Elliott. Five, DeVonta Freeman. Six, DeMarco Murray. Seven, Melvin Gordon. Eight, J. Ajayi nine, Jordan Howard, ten Todd Gurley. And tomorrow we shall bring you running backs 11 through however far we can get.

[Mike Wright]

We will bring you more running, more running back.

[Jason Moore]

You know, honestly, we're bringing you the more important running backs because everybody knows, you know, everybody knows the top guys. Everyone focuses on those first, the first and second round. But it's when you get into rounds four, five, six, seven, where are you drafting the gyms that are going to help you get to the playoffs?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, and we'll throw a couple running back sleepers in the tail end of the show tomorrow as well, on top of the 11 through however far we get. So it's going to be a great show. Thank you very much for supporting us. And a reminder. Hey, subscribe on itunes. Now's the time. If you got. If you enjoy the show, you enjoy the content, you're over on YouTube or you're on itunes or you're on Google Play on your Android device. Wherever you're at, we always appreciate a good review. If you like the show and we invite you to come hang out with [e-mail].

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, we always tell you you don't win the championship at your draft, so make sure you subscribe. Stick with us through the season. Maybe you'll even be in the listener league with us. REM submissions close soon.

[Mike Wright]

Nick, what's the email address?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, if you want to submit an entry for the listener league, you email us listenerleagueantasyfootballers.com Send your entry over there. We've received many hundreds of entries.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you guys so much.

[Mike Wright]

We close it on Friday.

[Jason Moore]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

Correct.

[Jason Moore]

So you got to the end of the week and finally just want to remind people about the Secret to Victory podcast, new podcast from Gatorade and Gimlet Creative about how the best athletes in the world use defeat to fuel a win. This week you'll hear from Serena Williams about being on the wrong side of the biggest upset in the sport, how it drove her to come back stronger than ever. So visit Gatorade.com podcast listen now or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

[Andy Holloway]

Sounds pretty good. Things are getting fun, guys.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man, this season is so great. It's. I mean, I feel the football fever. Ooh.

[Andy Holloway]

And you don't want. No, you don't want no prescription for that.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, no.

[Andy Holloway]

You want that to infect.

[Jason Moore]

I need to spread everywhere.

[Mike Wright]

You let it burn. I mean, you just let it burn and work its way through, you know.

[Jason Moore]

Like the chickenpox parties that you have. They need that with the football fever. You get your friends together and you spread it. Yeah, you spread it. Like, ever.

[Andy Holloway]

They do those parties to malaria to build up immunity and I don't want immunity.

[Jason Moore]

No, we want.

[Andy Holloway]

I want the beast.

[Mike Wright]

No munity.

[Andy Holloway]

I want someone to inject me with it once a year.

[Mike Wright]

This is getting really weird, fellas.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, check out playdraft.com ballers if you want to play some best ball with us, get a free entry.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to do a game today, so watch our Twitter for a link if you want to join in with me. And don't forget the Fantasy Footballers live ballerslive.com Tickets on sale this Friday.

[Andy Holloway]

Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

Goodbye. 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 at theffballers.