Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - Early RB Rankings Part 2

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast 2017 - Early RB Rankings Part 2

Release Date: March 30, 2017
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright delve deep into the early rankings of running backs (RBs) for the upcoming NFL season. The trio brings their signature blend of astute analysis, strong opinions, and matchup-winning advice to help fantasy managers navigate the often tumultuous RB landscape. The episode kicks off with a warm welcome and a playful banter about their guest, Martavis Bryant.

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Guest Appearance: Martavis Bryant

[07:41]
Andy kicks off the show by addressing the latest news surrounding Martavis Bryant, the talented wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The discussion centers on Bryant's potential reinstatement after a period of suspension.

Jason Moore: "Martavis Bryant, wide receiver for the Steelers... expected to be reinstated."

[08:26]
Mike Wright highlights the difference in Bryant's return compared to other players with similar histories.

Mike Wright: "There were reports that Martavis Bryant had some personal issues with anxiety and depression... He's working out and volunteering as a coach."

The hosts agree that while Bryant's return could significantly impact the Steelers' offense, especially with Ben Roethlisberger still at quarterback, it's prudent to wait for official confirmation before counting on his fantasy contributions.

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Running Back Rankings: Numbers 11 to 18

Number 11: Jay Ajayi (Miami Dolphins)

[17:54]
Jay Ajayi is positioned as the consensus number 11 running back. The hosts discuss his explosive potential and the Dolphins' improving offense under Coach Adam Gase.

Andy Holloway: "He had three games over 200 yards... The Dolphins' offense is taking a step forward."

Jason Moore expresses confidence in Ajayi's ability to deliver monster performances, albeit with some concerns about consistency.

Jason Moore: "Any player that can give you... weeks where JI can basically win you a week on his own."

Number 12: C.J. Anderson (Denver Broncos)

[21:39]
C.J. Anderson sits at number 12, praised for his talent but tempered by injury concerns. The improved offensive line in Denver is expected to enhance his performance.

Mike Wright: "When he's on the field, he's going to give you fantasy production."

Jason Moore notes that while Anderson has been inconsistent due to injuries, his upside remains high if he can stay healthy.

Jason Moore: "He's a really solid running back."

Number 13: Isaiah Crowell (Cleveland Browns)

[25:20]
Isaiah Crowell enters the rankings at number 13 as a potential breakout candidate. With a solid receiving skill set and improved offensive line play, Crowell's fantasy value is a focal point.

Andy Holloway: "Crowell is going to have opportunities for big breakaways with what that O line should be able to give him."

Jason Moore emphasizes Crowell's dual-threat capability as a runner and receiver in PPR formats.

Jason Moore: "He's involved in the passing game and the running game."

Number 14: Lamar Miller (Houston Texans)

[30:05]
Lamar Miller is discussed as a versatile back whose fantasy value is closely tied to his team's quarterback situation. His move to the Texans brings optimism, but uncertainties remain.

Andy Holloway: "If Tony Romo signs, he's probably going to end up as my eight or nine running back."

Jason Moore mentions that Miller's performance will significantly depend on the Texans' offensive stability.

Jason Moore: "He's a Lamar Miller, light type of situation."

Number 15: Carlos Hyde (Atlanta Falcons)

[35:23]
Carlos Hyde is identified as a high-risk, high-reward option. His potential for a breakout is offset by injury concerns and inconsistent performance in previous seasons.

Jason Moore: "He's a talented player... but the risks are there."

Andy Holloway compares Hyde's situation to that of Demarco Murray's early career, suggesting that perseverance could pay off.

Andy Holloway: "It's like Demarco Murray in his first few years... When he played a full 16, he was beautiful."

Number 16: Latavius Murray (Minnesota Vikings)

[47:54]
Latavius Murray is ranked at number 16, with discussions focusing on his move to the Vikings and the impact of the team's offensive line on his performance. Concerns about his yards per carry and pass-catching role are highlighted.

Jason Moore: "His role seems to be carved out for Riddick... He should bounce back."

Mike Wright underscores the disparities in his rushing efficiency between his time in Oakland and Minnesota.

Mike Wright: "Minnesota running backs averaged 3.2 yards per carry last year."

Number 17: Jeremy Hill (Cincinnati Bengals)

[55:50]
Jeremy Hill is briefly mentioned as the next in line at number 17, with a nod to his potential but also acknowledging the uncertainties surrounding his role.

Andy Holloway: "He probably wouldn't. The twenties."

Number 18: Theo Riddick (San Francisco 49ers)

[45:43]
Theo Riddick closes out the segment at number 18, recognized for his pass-catching abilities in PPR formats. His role as a receiver-enhanced RB makes him a valuable, if unorthodox, pick.

Andy Holloway: "In a half-point PPR format... 75 receptions."

Jason Moore appreciates Riddick's versatile role despite his unconventional fantasy production.

Jason Moore: "He should bounce back. He's only 26 years old."

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Listener Reviews

[06:12]
The hosts read a glowing five-star review from a listener identified as "the Disness." The review praises the show's in-depth analysis, debates, and fantasy advice, making it a must-listen for fantasy football enthusiasts.

Andy Holloway: "If you said yes to both of these questions, this podcast is for you."

Mike Wright humorously highlights the reviewer's attempt to reference nicknames, teasing Andy about getting Mike "right verified."

Mike Wright: "I love it."

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Promotions and Community Engagement

Throughout the episode, the Fantasy Footballers promote their Ultimate Draft Kit, a comprehensive resource packed with rankings, tier rankings, video profiles, and exclusive content. They encourage listeners to visit ultimate-draft-kit.com to pre-order the kit at the best possible price.

Mike Wright: "Our rankings, our tier rankings, video profiles, exclusive Matt Harmon... jam-packed with all kinds of information."

Additionally, the hosts invite listeners to join their fantasy football community at jointhefoot.com and follow them on Twitter @the_ffballers for ongoing updates and support.

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Conclusion

Wrapping up, the Fantasy Footballers Podcast offers a sneak peek into their continuing coverage of running back rankings and hints at upcoming shows focusing on wide receivers and other fantasy football topics. The hosts express gratitude for listener support and encourage fans to engage with their content across various platforms.

Andy Holloway: "Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast."

As always, the Fantasy Footballers provide a blend of expert analysis and entertaining commentary, ensuring fantasy managers are well-equipped to make informed decisions come draft day.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• [02:09] Jason Moore: "Do you? So don't answer. Let Jason answer first."

• [07:54] Andy Holloway: "He might be eligible for some footies. It depends on how he plays."

• [11:15] Jason Moore: "He is Martavis Bryan, wide receiver for the Steelers..."

• [21:39] Jason Moore: "Everything that I thought would happen with C.J. Anderson has happened."

• [25:20] Andy Holloway: "If he is out there, he's going to produce."

• [28:37] Mike Wright: "Hey, I'm all for it, man."

• [34:07] Jason Moore: "Just make it happen."

• [37:13] Mike Wright: "What if Kansas City makes a move in the draft?"

• [51:27] Mike Wright: "There's a lot of question marks."

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For more detailed rankings and comprehensive fantasy football strategies, visit fantasyfootballers.com and follow the Fantasy Footballers on Twitter.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, it's mark Davis Bryant, aka Marty.

[Mike Wright]

McBride, and you listen to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Coming to you from the fantasyjocks.com studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike wright.

[Jason Moore]

Ah, Marty McBride.

[Mike Wright]

Is he back?

[Jason Moore]

Reemerging from the ashes, from the future, from the past.

[Mike Wright]

Always coming back from space because they call him the alien.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, my goodness.

[Mike Wright]

He was abducted for a year, I.

[Jason Moore]

Believe Mike said verbatim. He says we better use that drop today because there's no guarantee he's being reinstated. Martavis Bryant bringing you into the show today.

[Mike Wright]

Imminent. Imminent. It's happening.

[Jason Moore]

We actually have Martavis Bryant news to talk about on the show. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Andy, Mike and Jason back again. Jumping into our second running back ranking episode. Early running back ranking episode. Very excited to be here. Thank you for listening and for subscribing to the show. Your support is why we do this. So thank you very, very much. Great show today. Have a good quick question. Find us on the web at the fantasy footballers.com and on Twitter @the ffballers. Gentlemen, are you ready for some football?

[Mike Wright]

Certainly very ready.

[Andy Holloway]

Very ready to get into some heated fights. Fisticuffs over. See the top 10 running backs.

[Mike Wright]

It's hard.

[Andy Holloway]

You like them. And if you look at our rankings, like I'm two spots lower than you, you dummy.

[Jason Moore]

Except for one guy, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Todd Gurley.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

But with these running backs we're talking about today, there's some differing opinions in the room.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah. I moved Marshawn into my top three this morning.

[Mike Wright]

I'm not surprised.

[Jason Moore]

So, yeah, draft him now. We'll talk about Marshawn lynch as well. We'll get into the news. Let's start here with a quick question, guys. A real quick trivia question.

[Mike Wright]

Actually think I know the answer.

[Jason Moore]

Do you? So don't answer. Let. Let Jason answer first. The question is in full PPR. I've been in RB1 every season of my 9 year career except for last year. So I mean, obviously eliminates many options with the length of the career.

[Mike Wright]

I'm pretty confident I got this one.

[Andy Holloway]

I've just been doing research on kind of rookie running backs that finish as a top running back. There was only 19 since 2002. So I know I have looked at this guy recently. AP comes to mind. But he has. It depends on how you score that. Because he's missed seasons where he's finished.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that wouldn't. Wouldn't qualify.

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Jason Moore]

So we're looking at forte.

[Mike Wright]

That's My guess, you're both right. Yeah, we did it, man.

[Jason Moore]

Forte last year he was not. But he had been an RB1 every season of his nine year career in full point per reception, giant skyscraper sized question marks over the head of Matt Forte this year people sure thought they.

[Mike Wright]

Had a running back one. When the season was starting with Matt Forte, despite being, you know, inefficient, he was still getting these monster workloads. I mean he, I believe he had a week of. He had 100 yards but it took him 30 carries to get there. But he still got there because they were giving him the work. However, once he went down at the end of the season, you saw Bilal Powell get a very healthy workload and just destroy.

[Andy Holloway]

Wouldn't it stand to reason that because the jets want to lose, they will give Matt Forte and his inefficient work plenty of opportunity to move the chains a time or two before the punt.

[Jason Moore]

Time or two before the punt.

[Andy Holloway]

I think that Forte is going to be a guy that you're going to get so late and he's going to come out of the gates just fine.

[Mike Wright]

Possibly.

[Andy Holloway]

That's, that's my, that's how I view it.

[Jason Moore]

Larry Fitzgerald of the running back position.

[Andy Holloway]

So I mean I'll be drafting him if he's falling into the.

[Mike Wright]

Where, where, where's the fall meet your value?

[Andy Holloway]

He is my running back 27 right now as far as on the season. So that, that's going to put him very late. I think I would look depending on what my roster makeup is and whether I need kind of that I need to plug in a guy that I think can be a starter week one late then you know, I would say eighth, ninth round. I would, I would pull the trigger.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to look at where he is going currently.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I have no idea what his ADP because I mean that's what I'm going to go off of. Right. Because if he's going in the 11th round in ADP then I'm not taking him in the eight.

[Mike Wright]

Currently Matt Forte fantasy football calculator has him going at the beginning of the seventh round.

[Andy Holloway]

Oof. I.

[Mike Wright]

Is that enough for you?

[Jason Moore]

I would, I would take him in a heartbeat there.

[Andy Holloway]

I would be on my roster. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Based on my running back situation.

[Mike Wright]

Well, just throw a couple names right behind him.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Amir Abdullah Dion. And these are just the running backs of course, but Amir Abdullah Dion Lewis, Paul Perkins, Rob Kelly. I would be kind.

[Andy Holloway]

I would take Rob Kelly and Amir Abdullah ahead.

[Jason Moore]

I would take Rob Kelly and Perkins ahead. So. All right, as of today, you know, once Washington drafts the running back, we'll.

[Mike Wright]

I will weep.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I know you will. All right, today is a foot clan Thursday because we have the foot cast this afternoon [e-mail] our exclusive Extra episode for all of our podcast supporters [e-mail] so encourage you to head over there and you'll get to listen into the foot cast later today. From time to time, we do like to read reviews from the listeners. Listener reviews help support this show over on itunes. We appreciate you supporting us over there. And you know, Jason reads these for us because he's got a special skill for reading.

[Andy Holloway]

Reviewasaurus Rex. This one comes in from the Disness. He's giving us the Disney here. Five stars.

[Mike Wright]

The Disney or the. Oh yeah, it is the Disney. You got it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I know how to read, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

I just had. When I briefly looked at it, I assumed it was the dizziness.

[Andy Holloway]

Ah, well, you're wrong. I'm right. He says, do you like fantasy football? How about humiliating your friends because of your extensive football knowledge? If you said yes to both of these questions, this podcast is for you. The amount of in depth analysis you receive from these guys is awesome. Everything, including the debates, the waiver wire pickups, and even getting hooked on player nicknames like the Rolls Royce. Not so much anymore. Either way, you get great fantasy advice you look for along with some great commentary. Best podcast ever. And Mike, you might like this one.

[Mike Wright]

I love it.

[Andy Holloway]

Hashtag get Mike right verified.

[Mike Wright]

I love this.

[Jason Moore]

Hashtag impossible task.

[Mike Wright]

And I will say this, I mean this is a spectacular view. We really appreciate that. From the Disness, I will say that the one falter that the Disney's made is he had set it up so beautifully. Getting hooked on player nicknames. I mean that's a perfect segue into hooked on a Thielen. But he just didn't execute. But that's okay.

[Andy Holloway]

We appreciate it. Still love you business.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you for the review. We appreciate it. Let's jump into the news.

[Andy Holloway]

News and notes from around the league.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I mean, starting with the nicknames. I mean if Marty McBride is back, does that qualify as a 2017 nickname? Now, does the nickname get reinstated?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, the nickname.

[Jason Moore]

Is it qualified for rookie status?

[Mike Wright]

No, that's.

[Andy Holloway]

It won't be on the. On the footy awards. That's an old nickname. But he might be eligible for some footies. It depends on how he plays. He. He wouldn't be an immediate impact player.

[Jason Moore]

He is Martavis. Bryant, wide receiver for the Steelers Houston Chronicles Aaron Wilson confirmed that he's expected to be reinstated. I believe it's been about 60 days since his request for reinstatement. We wish him the best. And getting back on the field and in getting over the past issues with.

[Mike Wright]

Substance abuse, the difference for Martavis Bryant and Josh Gordon, to me, I mean, obviously we're going long distance, just evaluation, but there were the reports that Martavis Bryant, he was, he had some personal issues with, you know, anxiety, depression and. Which led him in a certain direction. Since that time, though, he hasn't been partying shirtless with Johnny Manziel. I mean, the guy's been. We haven't heard it.

[Jason Moore]

Talking about. Talking about Josh Gordon.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. Despite the rippling abs, I would still keep the shirt on and not hang out with Johnny Manziel, but Marta's Brian has not been heard of. That report also spoke of the Guy has added 25 pounds of muscle or so in his off season. So the dude's working out and he's, he's working as a volunteer. Volunteer coach. I mean, so just. I like what's going on here. And if Martavis is, is truly back, I mean, this is.

[Andy Holloway]

He was huge. He was a top 12 upside type of wide receiver. He had a great season already. And in his stead while he's been gone, Sammy Coates didn't get the job done. Marcus Wheaton didn't get the job done. The team is still there. The offense is still there. Big Ben, despite all of his words, is not retiring. He's going to be there.

[Jason Moore]

There was a seven point difference in production with Martavis Bryant on the field in terms of the Steelers and the points scored. So his impact in the offense is massive.

[Mike Wright]

Does this move the needle for Big Ben? For you?

[Jason Moore]

Yes. He's not reinstated. We don't know anything.

[Mike Wright]

We're assuming he's back in another.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm certainly not assuming he's back.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, that's fine.

[Andy Holloway]

The reports are worth talking about. But I mean, with guys like this, I will never. Until it's done and the NFL says it's done. I'm not banking.

[Mike Wright]

And then another important question. Better NFL receiver Sammy Coates or Martavis Bryant's butt?

[Andy Holloway]

Martinus Bryant's. But made a great catch.

[Mike Wright]

That's what I'm saying.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to go with B. I'm.

[Jason Moore]

Happy that you bring that question up because you love Sammy Coates so much so that that's helpful.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

All right. Hey, yesterday, there are only a couple things that Mike does well, he can grow a beard. He can. He can paste pictures of goat heads on to Rex Burkhead pictures.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, my gift game is. Is among. Is among the best.

[Jason Moore]

And he. He walks into the office yesterday and he's just like, hey, has there been any Marshawn lynch news? Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Well, good old peach cobbler Pete Carroll came out and, you know, at the. At the meetings, talked about. Marshawn confirmed that indeed, Marshawn lynch, when he did visit the Seahawk Seahawks facility, spoke of at least having an interest in potentially coming back.

[Mike Wright]

Believe what were the.

[Jason Moore]

What were his exact words was he's.

[Mike Wright]

Kind of thinking about maybe coming back.

[Jason Moore]

Right. Because it's not his job to break that. I'm telling you, he is coming back to football.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's Jason has now adjusted his. I will play the. Yeah, I'll play the man in the middle here. Quickly, the reports a couple weeks ago.

[Jason Moore]

Said you're always the man in the middle, buddy.

[Andy Holloway]

Marshawn lynch, you know, visited the Seahawks and talked about asking for a release. And then the reports came out and said, no, it was just a personal visit. There was none of that talk. Well, Pete Carroll flat confirmed that he was. That he did talk about coming back to football. So I think that original report carries a little bit more credence to me. So they're, you know, I'm moving the needle up. But to give you the quote, he.

[Jason Moore]

Said he's playing with the idea of. Okay. Playing with the idea of coming back.

[Andy Holloway]

We talked too much. Marshawn Lynch.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Agreed.

[Mike Wright]

Agreed.

[Jason Moore]

All right, let's talk about Andre Ellington moved permanently to wide receiver. We expect them to be marked as a wide receiver next year for Arizona.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And here's. Here's where things are difficult. Fitzgerald, when he was on the field, he was in the slot 63% of the time. When John Brown was on the field, which he was in and out, you know, his injuries, he was in the slot 45% of the time. Where can Andre Ellington possibly go besides the slot?

[Andy Holloway]

A lot of people, because we are from Arizona asking for our takes on this, is this matters, this fantasy relevant. There's no way, in my opinion, that Andre Ellington gets ahead of Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown, Jaron Brown, or J.J. nelson.

[Mike Wright]

Jaron Brown's coming off an ACL, so we don't even know if he'll be ready.

[Andy Holloway]

And I still put him behind him, But I'm just saying probably fourth or fifth wide receiver, which for fantasy football is irrelevant.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. What we know is Andre Ellington is He has pretty solid receiver skills, so if he somehow earned his way onto the field, perhaps he, he can have some value. But as of right now, I'm not scrambling to add him to my team.

[Andy Holloway]

This says that the Cardinals will probably be adding another running back, whether that's bringing back Chris Johnson or drafting one. Don't be surprised and don't lower David Johnson when it happens.

[Mike Wright]

That's an excellent point.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. There was a report the other day that Arians wants Johnson at 30 touches a game and that he's too young to be overworked, which is just beautiful noise to the ears of fantasy owners. He averaged, I believe, 23 touches a game last year. The thoughts of him getting more touches is just unbelievable. So. Packers coach Mike McCarthy said he thinks Time Montgomery has the quotability to be a number one running back. We've had a lot of debates in the office about Time Montgomery. A lot of them have just been based around where we rank him today, right now, based on what the packers are bringing to the table, resigning Christian Michael and the potential for them to draft a running back, I obviously believe that they will. Montgomery is an interesting case. Are we talking about him later today?

[Mike Wright]

I don't know if he cracked the top.

[Andy Holloway]

Ty Montgomery did not crack our top 20, but he was.

[Jason Moore]

Maybe it's worth talking about him briefly right now.

[Andy Holloway]

He was one of, he cracks one of our top 20s. Mike, you have him at wide receiver, wide receiver, at running back. 16.

[Mike Wright]

I do and I took a look. So Ty Montgomery last year, once he took over as the full time running back, he essentially averaged 70 total yards a game, which. Wow, that's not spectacular by any means. I mean, it's low end running back, two numbers. And then I just projected, you know, of. Of him, I see a way that he does get better. We saw the ability of him to have monster games when he just destroyed the Chicago Bears. I mean, he went full ham. So we know that's there. We know the ability is there. Obviously the ability as a pass catcher is there. When he had the back to back 10 reception games, I just.

[Andy Holloway]

Wide receiver.

[Mike Wright]

Right. I think that if they move forward with Montgomery and Kristen Michael as the main guys, I think that Montgomery is easily a running back too.

[Jason Moore]

Do you guys see the report of Adrian Peterson working out with Jameis Winston?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, yes, I saw that and I think that that, I mean, I've said from the beginning one of the best landing spots, if not the best landing spot for Adrian Peterson, would be Tampa Bay. They run the highest percentage out of their Rushing plays last year were under center. And that's how.

[Mike Wright]

Under center.

[Andy Holloway]

That's how AP wants to run. I mean, we saw Doug Martin two years ago with this team and with this offensive line be second in the league in yards. So I think it's a good situation for.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I was gonna say, where would you like initially think he'd be ranked if Doug Martin doesn't come back? They signed Adrian Peterson. Is he a I would top 24 guy?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he would be in the top 24 for me. Was.

[Jason Moore]

That makes sense.

[Mike Wright]

Where was Doug Martin when this workout was happening?

[Jason Moore]

Nobody knows.

[Andy Holloway]

Not with Jameis.

[Mike Wright]

Win.

[Jason Moore]

Hold back all of your hamster wheel jokes. All right, we're jumping into the rankings.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, before we.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, running bags.

[Mike Wright]

Well, I was gonna say before. Before we jump in, I just want to remind the Foot Clan, hey, the ultimate draft kit is available for pre order.

[Jason Moore]

That's where you're supposed to say, speaking of rankings.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yes. It's like you're a professional. I know, but so speaking of rankings, the ultimate draft Kit, this is. It's in. We're in pre order right now. This is the absolute cheapest you can get it. I mean, this thing is jam packed. Jam packed with all kinds of information. Our rankings, our tier rankings, video profiles, exclusive Matt Harmon, reception perception on the top 50 wide receivers. I mean, there is an unbelievable amount of material in this draft kit. And right now, like I said, this is the cheapest you can possibly get it. So if you want to save a couple bucks, you know you're going to get it. Let's go ahead and pre order it.

[Jason Moore]

Where do you get it, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

Ultimate Draft Kit dot com.

[Jason Moore]

That's where you get it. All right, number 11 on our early running back rankings. Again, a reminder. Go back, listen to Tuesday's show if you want to hear our top 10. These are our consensus early rankings. We went through the top 10 on Tuesday. We're jumping in right now into the second half of that. And number 11, our consensus number 11 running back. The sometimes enigmatic. Yes, the difficult to have full confidence in at times and yet very impressive. Jay Ajayi, running back for the Miami Dolphins last year. Finished the year as number 11 overall in 15 games played. Played. Had some explosive monster week winner type of games.

[Andy Holloway]

He is both your Andy and my running back 10. So he would have cracked our top 10. Mike, you have him just outside at.

[Mike Wright]

15, and I think we're overall as a show. The three of us are lower on JI than the.

[Andy Holloway]

His average draft position's been Very high, right? Is it? Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

202.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I mean, that's. That is tough. Like Andy was talking about. Enigmatic. I mean, this guy is a mystery. You have those explosive games, three games over 200 yards and which, I mean, you can't. You can't completely write that off. Two of those were against Buffalo. Well, you know, 410 rushing yards against Buffalo. Lucky for him, he gets to play Buffalo twice a year coming up. But aside from those 60 rushing yards a game, in those games where he didn't just fully go off, we saw he had one of his bigger games against the jets, over 100 yards. The second time, though, they completely shut him down. So I'm just not sure what to make of James Jai.

[Andy Holloway]

It's football, and in football, you're going to have good games, you're going to have bad games. The best player out there, you know, if you're Antonio Brown, you're going to have some bad games. You're going to get shut down a little bit every now and then. And so for Jay Ajayi, if they go into the season and through draft and through free agency, they have made clear that he is their guy. And heading into, you know, the draft, the fantasy draft weekend, after that third preseason game, he's set up, I will probably move him ahead of number 10, because when you look at how efficient he was in yards after contact and in every statistical measure of the quality of his performance, it was pretty good. And I think the Miami Dolphins offense as a whole second year with Adam Gase, continuity at the entire. The entire offensive level, the offensive line getting a little bit better. Ryan Tannehill back in year two.

[Mike Wright]

Julius Thomas. Am I right?

[Andy Holloway]

Julius Thomas being added? I think their offense takes a slight step forward, which means if J. Ajay is that guy and he's the starting running back, he's one of the very few kind of workhorse backs. The only issue I have with him is he is not very efficient in the passing game. He's not.

[Mike Wright]

At least he was not. I mean, he had that in college.

[Andy Holloway]

In college he was. But he didn't show it at the NFL level. And I don't like. When I started him out, I thought, man, I see him having a monster year, but when you factor in the receiving numbers and the receiving yards or lack thereof, he fell to my number 10.

[Jason Moore]

The only thing I'd add is that, you know, this team as a whole was finding its footing last year. I think it started the year four out of five games they lost. And then they went on that big run where they only lost one out of their last, I think, I think out of their next like eight or nine games. And so they were in and of themselves, enigmatic, not scoring a lot of points in the beginning of the year, figuring out what they were doing. I see. I feel pretty comfortable with Jai. Like, I'm not worried about him being a monster bust candidate personally, but this.

[Mike Wright]

It'S the draft price. That's where.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly. And that's what he won't be on. He won't be on a lot of my teams because of that. But if the opportunity to acquire him at the right price is there, I feel pretty good about him. And obviously any player that can give you, you know, if you want to know why the shine is on a young player versus that kind of tried and true guy that you can draft later, it's because of those games. It's because of the back to back weeks where JI can basically win you a week on his own. So let's move on to number 12 here. Another guy that I just, you know, you know my story with C.J.

[Andy Holloway]

Anderson.

[Jason Moore]

Yep. And you know, I'm going to just say it's happened. Everything that I thought would happen with C.J. anderson has happened, which is he's a talented player. He's our number 12 consensus. But there are, there are issues there, guys. There are issues there. He was number. He was number 11 in 2014. Since then, number 30. And then last year only played seven games.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's. It's a matter of he can't stay on the field, which at this point, yes, you, you fully have to take that into account. We have him at. As our consensus number 12, but his risk rating, which our risk ratings will be available in the ultimate draft kit, that's going to be high for C.J. anderson. But you cannot deny the fact that he is a good running back and he makes the team better. When he was on the field for his full seven games, Denver as a whole averaged 112 rushing yards a game. Without him, 78. I mean, that's a huge drop off. So he brings a lot. He scored in four of seven games. And what is fantastic for the Broncos and for CJ Anderson, they have upgraded their line. Menelik Watson from Oakland, they went out and they said, who's got a good offensive line? Oakland and Dallas. Good. We'll take one of your players. One of each, please. And they got Ron O'Leary, the guard from Dallas, which is one of the bigger free agent signings of this offseason. So it's. The opportunity should be there with the health is sketchy, but if he's on the field, he's going to give you fantasy production.

[Jason Moore]

Jason, what are your thoughts on cj? I know you made a trade for him in Dynasty. I think you see the opportunity there. I think you saw the fact that he clearly was the better runner than Booker when he went out. That team did not. I mean, I thought Booker might have been one of the best pickups that anybody could have had. Everyone for the second half of the year, like, I think. I think I was looking at him like, hey, maybe he's a top three guy. Rest of the season didn't pan out.

[Andy Holloway]

No. And I did go after C.J. anderson because the. Really. Not because I'm madly in love with CJ Anderson, but because once you get past these top 15 running backs or so, you're falling off a cliff. I mean, you're just out there with hopeful guys like a Dion Lewis where you're going, maybe he'll get the ball. With C.J. anderson, the upside is tremendous. The risk, I mean, stalwart, just like Mike said. That's why we have a risk rating in our. In our draft kit, because he might be our number 12 or number 11 ranked consensus running back, but when I'm in the draft, I'm looking at that risk rating going, yeah, he's in the same tier as someone else, but he's risky. I probably won't draft him, but if he falls to a good spot, I know his upside is there. The only concern I have with him right now is just what they're going to do in the draft. There's been rumors, you know, they like Christian McCaffrey, maybe they'll bring in another running back. Maybe they don't trust his health. But if he is out there, he's going to produce. He's involved in the passing game, the running game, the red zone game. He's a. He's a really solid running back.

[Jason Moore]

You remember that game last year where I had C.J. anderson and he had about.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, everything was called back.

[Jason Moore]

All of his big plays were called back, and I lost by like a point.

[Andy Holloway]

He was so good in that game. But at the end of the. His fantasy production was terrible.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it was.

[Andy Holloway]

That was one of those, like, if.

[Mike Wright]

You don't watch the game, he had.

[Jason Moore]

That open field, like, triple cut and the hold was away from the play.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Makes all these moves, gets into the end zone, and it was like, I don't know, three or four or five of them called back by holding. So I petitioned the league to remove holding from the league for the sake of fantasy football.

[Mike Wright]

Well, what if the whole what if it. You can. It's still a penalty, but whatever you gained on the particular play, you still get that fantasy production.

[Jason Moore]

I like it. NFL.com will add that for a fee. Number 13 on our running back rankings, early running back rankings. I'm excited to talk about him. I think he's in that potential breakout category for our draft kit, which by the way, sleepers, breakouts, busts, all that will be in there as well. Isaiah Crowell, okay, Big year last year when I think people really didn't expect him to have success, certainly yards per carry wise on the ground in an offense that went through six quarterbacks, ended up finishing the year. You know, he's been healthy for all three of his years. Sixteen games a year. Made the jump up from, you know, a running back three finish to high running back two finish last year at number 14. Now you have a. An improved offensive line.

[Andy Holloway]

Monstrously improved.

[Jason Moore]

That's a good way to put it.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm just saying that, you know, they've, they've taken their offensive line and they've said we're a top five. That that's the reason that I see Crowell as such a great sleeper is because he's going to have the opportunity to run behind a line that will be opening up big holes for him. And while last year people complained about the fact that such a high percentage of his yardage came on such a low volume of carries, he had a.

[Mike Wright]

Few big going to bring that up.

[Andy Holloway]

A few big breakout runs. And I don't necessarily expect that to repeat. He'll have the opportunities for big breakaways with what that O line should be able to give him.

[Jason Moore]

Still yet to have 200 carries in a season. Yeah, they have not even handed him the ball 200 times in one season.

[Mike Wright]

And that number from Adam Spinks, you know, the RB scout on Twitter he talked about Isaiah Crowell for the running back position. He had 26% of his yardage from five carries, which was the biggest percentage for any running back. Which, I mean, so you weigh that how you want to is bad and good right? At the exact same time, he did have some games where he crapped your team. I mean, he had eight games of under 45 rushing yards, but they're giving him the ball. Double digit carries in 11 games. You know that Hugh Jackson has a fantastic running back scheme or blocking scheme for his offensive Line, they target the running back. The main guy always gets targeted heavily. They had. The Cleveland Browns had 139 targets to the running back. That was tied for fourth. However, percentage wise, that was number one in the league. That that could change because like Jason said, there was 5,000 quarterbacks.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, there will be again this year.

[Mike Wright]

So we aren't sure what the actual trend will be. But Crowell. I agree with Andy that I like Crowell as a possible breakout guy, but he. His draft price is going to be very interesting to me as well.

[Jason Moore]

You have to really like the improved reception totals. Doubling is going up to 40 on 52 targets, high percentage of passes caught there and doubling his yardage in the passing game.

[Andy Holloway]

So. Well. And just to speak to what Mike just said, you know, it's a matter of that draft price. That's why Crowell, to me, is valuable.

[Mike Wright]

You feel like people still won't.

[Andy Holloway]

As of right now, he's late fifth round. True.

[Mike Wright]

I would love that.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, look at the two guys before him. C.J. anderson is in the third round. Jay Ajay, he's in the second round. Isaiah Crowell, 509.

[Andy Holloway]

Crowell's being drafted behind, you know, Eddie Lacy and Jeremy Hill. Crowell is a guy that I think is going to be on a team that wants to run the ball. I have him projected for 225 carries despite the fact that he's never had.

[Jason Moore]

He's been up each year, though, so a bump up makes sense.

[Andy Holloway]

And I think they're going to be able to run the ball more with that offensive line.

[Jason Moore]

So, Mike, are you preparing your pipes for potential cacao?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I'm always ready for that. You know, I have a soft spot in my heart for the Crow.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Yeah, you do.

[Andy Holloway]

I can't believe we didn't get one immediately out of the gates here.

[Mike Wright]

Well, it was.

[Jason Moore]

To be fair, it's my fault the.

[Mike Wright]

Crow is Andy's guy. This. This offseason. So far, the Crow has been Andy's.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, well, then let's talk about my guy. Okay. He was literally one of the three My Guy candidates last year.

[Jason Moore]

I was going to say, how are you literally. How is he literally your guy's guy?

[Andy Holloway]

On our My Guy episode last season, he was one. And I would say most people feel like he disappointed he didn't have a terrible season. He finished, you know, still as a very high RB2, just behind Todd Gurley.

[Jason Moore]

Isn't that a shame?

[Mike Wright]

But Lamar, 14 games, bro.

[Andy Holloway]

Lamar Miller. Yeah, I know. He only played 14 games.

[Mike Wright]

Give him two more games and he's probably a low end one.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Gurley, two more.

[Andy Holloway]

Gurley gets 18 games a year. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

That reminds me of Kingpin when he's talking about how the Amish, he's like, we do everything two times more than you, so we play 18 frames.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, my God.

[Andy Holloway]

That's a great reference, Mike. No, but so Lamar Miller. Let's talk about Lamar Miller. He is a guy that honestly, I don't like that he's this low in our consensus rankings. I certainly don't have him this low in our consensus rankings. I believe the reason he is there is, Mike. Both Andy and I have him at 11, a low in RB1. I got him 18.

[Mike Wright]

I do need to move him up.

[Andy Holloway]

What happens between if Tom Savage is the quarterback or a rookie drafted or Tony Romo as the quarterback? Those outcomes for Lamar Miller are drastically different for me. Right now I've got him slotted like 70% towards Tony Romo. So if we go into the season with Tom Savage, I'll move him down from 11. But I think if Tony Romo signs, he's probably going to end up as my eight or nine running back.

[Jason Moore]

And that's fair. I mean, I think everybody's disappointed when you went from the lower touches numbers but finished nine and five with Miami. You come into Houston and the wheels fell off for that offense and the team and Osweiler. I'm laughing because you brought up Tom Savage and I saw the interview with O'Brien at the meetings and he just, you know these coaches and they're straight faced, you know, we're so excited about Tom and Weedon. I mean, he said, I mean, he just threw his wheel. We're so excited about Tom Savage and Brandon Whedon and we feel comfortable with these guys was his exact word. And it's like a man sitting in a porcupine chair saying how comfortable he is. It's just he has to do it through wincing. I totally love it. So, yeah, look, I'm okay with him sitting at 14 right now.

[Mike Wright]

That's good stuff.

[Jason Moore]

I'm fine with him sitting at 14 because honestly, he's one of the guys in his early rankings, which is it's not fair to rank because it matters so much. His upside is capped if Tom Savage is the quarterback. End of story. Same with Hopkins and Fuller and everybody on that, on that offense.

[Mike Wright]

So the thing you were, Andy, you were talking about how you get that shine when you have the explosive games like Jay. That's what Lamar Miller did not have.

[Jason Moore]

You'Re right, he had that on.

[Mike Wright]

He had one.

[Jason Moore]

And he was the Clinton Portis of the current age. He was consistent 12 points a game type of guy.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And a lot of that is just a severe lack of touchdowns from what you would expect for Lamar Miller.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And that lack of touchdowns was for the Texans.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Not just Lamar Miller. He actually performed well. If you look at his efficiency stats, they have a good offensive line as well. So I think if they get a good quarterback in there that can have their team start scoring points. Lamar Miller can easily be like a top five running back if he's getting 260 carries, plus he's involved in the passing game. But we certainly have interesting thing.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, you look at those numbers. 268 carries, five touchdowns. Crowell had seven last year, 31 receptions. Crow had 40 last year and more yardage. It's just a matter. I think in both situations, what you put around these guys might make the difference on who you'd rather have. However, Lamar Miller going in the second round. Seventh pick.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. Versus the fifth round.

[Jason Moore]

Versus fifth round.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

See, I can almost guarantee Crow, I mean his ADP is going to climb into the fourth, but it might not climb any higher than that. And that's why he's going to end up in our breakout list. I'm going to tell you, Houston, we have a problem.

[Mike Wright]

We do. Please. I know I've been touting Romo to the Broncos all off season, but let's, let's make this happen. Houston. Just go get him. Yes, go get Romo.

[Andy Holloway]

Trade.

[Mike Wright]

Just, just pay the price. Just pay.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You need to hear Jerry Jones talk about Romo. We're, you know, the deadline for a decision on Romo is camp. So that somebody can come in and have to Ryan Fitzpatrick that situation and bring a guy in real late where they don't have time.

[Andy Holloway]

So stupid.

[Mike Wright]

Just make it, make it happen.

[Jason Moore]

But I mean, what's the consequence to Dallas? Dallas is being smart. There's no consequence to them. Well, they're wait. Other than the fact that might get a pick out of it.

[Mike Wright]

Well, their cap. I mean they're eating a ton of money. They could have done something. They could have added another player. They maybe, maybe they wouldn't lose Ron Leary.

[Andy Holloway]

They have lost a lot of pieces.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Their defense is there, man.

[Mike Wright]

Their defenses has been just picked hard.

[Andy Holloway]

But they still have Tony Romeo.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, they got the Highest paid backup.

[Jason Moore]

Number 15 on our consensus running back rankings. A guy that honestly, my, my kind of internal dialogue feels a lot like C.J. anderson with this, this guy. Number 15 is Carlos Hyde. 26 year old Carlos Hyde last year in 13 games had 217 carries for 988 yards and six touchdowns. Has always flashed great potential both, you know, in the real NFL realm and the fantasy realm. Yet to have a season in which he has finished in the top 15. Last year he was 15 on the dot in 13 games. So there's really nothing finishing in the top 15.

[Mike Wright]

If you are 15.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Yet to have a season finishing in the top 16.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I mean 14.

[Jason Moore]

All right, well let's digress here. My hatred for Carlos Hyde is flowing through potentials there being drafted very high. 209. I'm surprised at that. Mike loves him.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Certainly love Kyle Shanahan's influence there. However, there were, there were all. Every argument you could ever make for Carlos Hyde in the offensive scheme has been made before for Carlos Hyde in the offensive scheme when he had Chip Kelly come in extra plays, great opportunity, yada yada yada.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's what I can say.

[Mike Wright]

15Th in 13 games.

[Jason Moore]

It's not bad. No, it's great.

[Mike Wright]

It's great.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he did perform well yesterday. I spent a lot of time researching Kyle Shanahan's old systems. Every single team that he has been the offensive coordinator for looking at how they finish with regard to their running game. The first four years that he was an offensive coordinator in the league are his lowest four rushing attempt years that he had as far as within the league itself. Lately he's had years where, you know, in Washington he was the third highest rushing attempt. And so then I broke it down and said, okay, what percentage is Kyle Shanahan's system giving carries to the number one running back? And it was about 53% last year to Devonta Freeman, 63% to Devonta Freeman the year before. And going back year after year after year, Almost every number one back got 60 plus percent of the carries of their team, which is a great number. The only exceptions were years where they either didn't have any running backs, you know, where Roy Helou was the best guy on your roster.

[Mike Wright]

Wait, wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Pump your brakes. Hello, Pump your brakes. Insulting my man.

[Andy Holloway]

Or back with the Browns when you had Isaiah Crowell and Ben Tate was their starter for some of the year and Terrence west, it was weird. It was like this three headed figuring out who was, who was the lead back. So with that being said, I feel like I am confident that you're looking at a 250 carry Carlos Hyde, if he can play 16 games, which he's never done, which. And I don't think he can. I mean, he is literally right now my highest risk rated running back in the draft kit.

[Jason Moore]

So shoulder, ankle, calf, hamstring, quadricep, foot stress fracture, shoulder, concussion.

[Andy Holloway]

Yuck.

[Jason Moore]

The story for Carlos Hyde, everything you said sounds so good. If it wasn't Carlos Hyde, like it. When you tell me he's going to get 60% of the carries, I say, ouch. That's the worry with that. And now the upsides there. Every player that has a high risk rating, it's built in that they have really high upside a lot of the time because the efficiency and the opportunity, those things have been there.

[Andy Holloway]

Demarco Murray. Demarco Murray was very similar in his first few years in the league. Complete injury risk year after year. It was this, it was that he can't play a full 16.

[Jason Moore]

And then when he played a full 16, it was beautiful.

[Andy Holloway]

And then it was healthy from the. I mean, he's not an injury risk guy anymore. We don't even consider him that.

[Jason Moore]

And so same with Matt Forte early on.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. So Carlos Hyde, just because he has been in his first few years does not mean he will always be an.

[Jason Moore]

Injured guy, but he certainly will be a risk this year until he proves he can get through a season 16 is Spencer where I'm realizing now how many question marks this middle tier has. And actually when I was looking at my rankings, this is where I traded for C.J.

[Andy Holloway]

Anderson.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, it's just kind of like. It's funny. I have a horrible, horrible metaphor that. To bring up when relating to these players.

[Andy Holloway]

Can't wait.

[Jason Moore]

I just see like a pile of old CDs with scratches on them. And I don't know when I play the album whether or not the song's gonna come out. That's fair because you know, Spencer Ware. Do they draft someone?

[Mike Wright]

40% of our audience has never owned.

[Jason Moore]

A. I know a Compact discompact before. 30% of our audience has no clue to. Do you remember those old. The disc repair kits they'd sell?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And they'd be like $499, it seemed like to buy those things.

[Mike Wright]

And I just, I don't understand how those can even work.

[Jason Moore]

They like fill. I think they'd fill in the scratches with like a, like a plastic or something.

[Mike Wright]

So it just, it would power through it essentially because, I mean, the data has been scratched out.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know if it has. I don't Know what? I think it maybe messes the laser up more than. I don't know. Scientists. Scientists come forward and answer these important compact disc questions.

[Andy Holloway]

Michael Keaton. All right.

[Jason Moore]

Wow.

[Mike Wright]

I had to get it on.

[Andy Holloway]

You got Spencer.

[Jason Moore]

Where? Spencer, where, where, where are you? Started like a. Like a bat out of hell and you ended like you're trudging through the mud. I mean, it was not. I just don't think they can go into the season and hand the ball to him.

[Mike Wright]

See, I. I disagree. I think that Spencer Ware, if he was guilty of anything, it was guilty of setting the expectations with his week one because he was still overall solid on the season, much like Lamar Miller. He wasn't, you know, just giving you these fan this huge spectacular games, but he was solid. 214 carries, 42 targets, and that's in 14 games.

[Jason Moore]

Where do you have on your individual rankings? Do you have him ahead of guys like Lamar Miller?

[Mike Wright]

Let me pull it up. I have said I need to move Miller up. I had Miller at 18 right now.

[Andy Holloway]

Where is 16 or 13?

[Mike Wright]

So Miller will move up. They'll probably be very close to each other. But if. Where his risk to me is there's a lot of rumors of Kansas City making a move in the draft. If they do, then I will adjust where accordingly. But if they move in with. Where is the main.

[Jason Moore]

They've already signed CJ Spiller.

[Mike Wright]

Like I said, if they make a move in the draft, I'll move him down. He just. He was not scoring touchdowns. Of the top 20 running backs for fantasy and where it was 16, he had three rushing touchdowns. I mean, so he was still a strong RB2 with a complete lack of rushing touchdowns pulling him.

[Jason Moore]

Elvin Gordon from two years ago.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, which made no sense. And because he was. He had 18 carries inside the 10.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, right.

[Mike Wright]

To me that's. Well, a positive regression will happen for Spencer Ware if he's going to get those carries again.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, but that's a strong case. If he has the role. Yeah, that's the right situation.

[Mike Wright]

Everything is if he has the role.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, the other way to look at that though is that he was inefficient inside the 10, which would be a strong reason. And I believe that Kansas City will go draft a good running back. So we'll have to wait. And after the draft, this is why we call these the early running back.

[Jason Moore]

Kansas City, Denver. Of all the players we talked about so far, those are the two that you think have the highest potential of drafting a running back.

[Mike Wright]

Until we get to the next team.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, not, not the two highest potential of drafting a running back in the league, but.

[Jason Moore]

No, no, no. Of these.

[Andy Holloway]

Of the players. And now we go. And that brings us to Rob Kelly.

[Jason Moore]

Rob Kelly.

[Andy Holloway]

I do not think Washington drafts a.

[Jason Moore]

Running back, which is.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, really?

[Jason Moore]

Clearly the general public does because. Because they have him as an ADP of 7 11, which is back behind Crowell. You don't think they do.

[Andy Holloway]

I think they'll draft a running back, but I don't think they're drafting a starting running back.

[Jason Moore]

What you have with Robert Kelly is the inverse of what you have with Todd Gurley in the sense that Gurley is afforded a long leash due to his draft position, stock investment of the team, etc. Robert Kelly could absolutely maintain a starting role, but much like Matt Jones, the leash may be very short if the production isn't there. You went from there were. I think Matt Jones ended up what he was in the top five after a couple weeks last year and then poof.

[Mike Wright]

Well, he got the itis.

[Jason Moore]

Well, but it's easier to take that job away from a guy without pedigree, draft pedigree than it is somebody that you have further trust in. So I just. Look, all these guys have their risks. All these guys. It's not nitpicking anymore like it was in the top five running backs. It's.

[Andy Holloway]

You're at number. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

You're at number 17 here. And so you have to make a decision between. Hey, do I. You know, at least the risk with Robert Kelly and the current ADP is. Is nothing.

[Mike Wright]

Right?

[Jason Moore]

I mean.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

The potential starter, what's his adp? It's almost eighth round.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, give me Rob Kelly in the eighth.

[Mike Wright]

That will go way, way, way up.

[Jason Moore]

If they don't draft.

[Mike Wright]

If they don't draft somebody and if they don't draft someone. I like Rob Kelly a good amount. Once he was the starter, weeks eight through 17, he was running back 14. And that includes a final week of the season where he was played through a knee injury which he did have off season knee surgery. He had two kind of clunkers in the middle of that. He just, he'll. He will be the goal line in the first and second down back for a very high powered offense, which makes him a guy that I would target in those as a, as an RB2. He's not an RB1, certainly, but an RB2 would be. I'd love to have Rob Kelly on my team.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I agree with that. The main problem you have with Rob Kelly is he Is not a pass catcher. He's not efficient with it. He's not good at it. And he's not really used in that role either. So you have a good running back who I believe is a good running back. I mean, he very rarely gets tackled for a loss, always falls forward. But he. And he's got a great offensive line, good offense.

[Jason Moore]

He's a businessman.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's coming.

[Mike Wright]

He's.

[Andy Holloway]

He's. Poor man's Alfred Morris.

[Mike Wright]

I think he might just be Alfred Morris.

[Jason Moore]

I think it is Alfred Morris back in. And he put on a different name.

[Andy Holloway]

You guys are forgetting how good alf was.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I know.

[Jason Moore]

He was always a businessman, though.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, no, I agree with that. I'm saying production wise, he's going to be a poor man's Alfred Morris.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, I see. I see that. Possibly.

[Jason Moore]

All right, we'll move on. Theo Riddick, number 18 on our rankings. Kind of the first big PPR name.

[Mike Wright]

Say he is the opposite of Rob Kelly.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's not going to get a. No, he's not getting carries. He's not being efficient with those. He's getting.

[Jason Moore]

He's a sales engine. He's a salesman.

[Andy Holloway]

And the reason he is this high on our list is because this is a half point ppr format. So for instance, I have him down next year for 75 receptions. When you get points half or full for per reception and most running backs are getting like 30 or less and you get 75, you're scoring a lot of extra points and you always have the opportunity with those receptions to gain even more yards than carries. So that's. That's where Theo riddick comes up. I think his role as well is a little bit safer in the sense that if they were to go bring in ap, I think that it will be Theo riddick, not Amir abdullah, who has established himself as that third down role.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's very valuable to this team. He only played 10 games last year. They missed him in the back half of the season. You know, in 2015, he had 80 receptions. Last year he was on pace for 84 before the injury. So this is his role. I mean, he's carved it out. You've seen two years of it. He had the wrist surgery. He should be back. He should be in camp. And he's a great value right now in a standard league. He's almost a 9th round pick in PPR. He's a 6th round pick. I think Theo riddick is somebody that nobody really loves to click the draft button on because you don't get that. You don't get the prototypical production. He's like Danny Woodhead, you know, you just kind of like, boy, I'd sure rather have a guy that I know is getting 15, 20 carries than I would. I really hope he gets five or six, seven receptions and scores. That being said, the values there, he should bounce back. He's only 26 years old and he had five receiving TDs in only 10 games. So theoretic. Another team that could definitely draft a running back. Another team that could definitely sign a running back. But like Jason said, the role seems to be carved out for Riddick. We have him as our consensus number 18. Not always the sexiest of picks, but somebody who should finish in that top 24 at the running back position.

[Mike Wright]

Completely agree.

[Jason Moore]

Latavius Murray, a fun guy to talk about. Last year was 13th in the league in Oakland in only 14 games and the year before was number 11.

[Andy Holloway]

Now he is.

[Jason Moore]

He moves to Minnesota this year and also just had surgery. So talk about Latin.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, actually I was going to. I was going to because the only reason he is in our top 20, Mike has him 23, I have him 24. Is because you have him at 16. So I think you are believing that he can do more with that offense than and with that offensive line than. At least I believe I'll speak for myself. I think he's going to be, I don't know, slightly better than Matt Aziata.

[Jason Moore]

Well, look, the thing that makes him better than Matt Aziata is that he's going to have a more defined higher carry role. And the best comparison for Latavius Murray and my projection for a season would actually be what Todd Gurley did last year. And Todd Gurley ended up as the number 17 running back. So I have Murray at 16. This is an offense that can move the ball. This is an offense that was highly efficient with Sam Bradford. And so you put Latavius Murray, who can catch it in goal line situations. I think he falls the right direction enough times to put you at that number 16 ranking. They invested their money into Latavius Murray. I'm not expecting Latavius Murray to ever give you those high profile Jay Ajayi type of weeks. This is a Lamar Miller light type of situation for Latavius Murray. That's how I haven't projected last year and the year before would have ended up top 12 both seasons loses that offensive line for sure. And so I did take him down a few, a few pegs for. For sure.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he moves from Oakland, who averaged one and a half yards before contact for running backs to Minnesota under a yard. And you also have the red flag of Latavius Murray behind that Oakland offense was 4 yards a carry. And I, look, I understand yards per carries. It is what it is. It can be kind of good and kind of bad. But Murray was at four. Meanwhile, his counterpoints, D Wash almost five and a half. Jalen Richard almost six and those guys, that was over 80. It's over 80 carries. So that's enough.

[Jason Moore]

No, I got you. It's enough of a sample for them to have great production. But come on, when the, When Oakland's winning these games and they're running the clock out, they're just handing it to Latavis Murray to run into the back, run into the line.

[Mike Wright]

Well, he, Whenever they had it started the game, he runs into the back of the line. I just saying that much of a disparity is a bit of a red flag. Meanwhile, Minnesota running backs averaged 3.2 yards per carry last year. It was historically bad for Minnesota.

[Jason Moore]

I want a new stat. I got a new one. You want to figure this one out for me?

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

Go give me the yards per carry first half for the whole season. I want to know who had the best first half yards per carry and how much. Just eliminate like garbage time.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

Or maybe a three quarter thing or something. But I think it'd be interesting to know. Not that I think it's going to bend any direction for Murray, but when you think about closer backs, the Washington and Rashad are so little. I mean it was Murray at the end of every game affecting those numbers.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, no, that's. That would be a last thing I.

[Jason Moore]

Want to do is be the Latavius Murray apologist. I think we all agree he is not a great player, but he's the.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, but I can get on, on board the fact that he is the clear starting running back for an NFL team and that that brings value because there's.

[Jason Moore]

There's just a lot of. Yeah, there's a lot of question marks. He's a fourth round pick. I think that's okay.

[Andy Holloway]

I would probably.

[Jason Moore]

I'm pretty much fine. Latavius Murray is my running back too. Does not bother me this year.

[Mike Wright]

And you had. I tweeted this out, but Jerick McKinnon had 28 receptions in the final five weeks. If you're looking at. I mean there is a clear trend of what happened with McKinnon and Asiata last year. When AP went down, they made a conscious decision. Okay, Jerick McKinnon is going to get the chance. I mean, he was getting high carry totals, low receptions.

[Jason Moore]

What do you think happens with Latavius's receptions? Because you would.

[Mike Wright]

I think they go way down.

[Jason Moore]

Way down.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

I just. Jerick McKinnon got that role at the end of last season. I mean, five weeks. That's enough of a trend from. For me to be concerned about Latavius Murray's role in pass catching. And McKinnon is. He's a spark freak. I mean, he's. He's an uber athlete. Perhaps he's not the best running back, but much like Theo Riddick, I mean, you have a. You have a great athlete. Give him the ball in space and let him. Let him make it happen.

[Jason Moore]

How many. How many attempts, interceptions did Matt Aussie ought to have last year?

[Mike Wright]

How many? He's probably over 100 attempts.

[Jason Moore]

29. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was looking at 20, 15. That's what confused me. Oh, thank goodness. 32 receptions for Asiata.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, but that's what I'm saying.

[Jason Moore]

One hundred and twenty one attempts.

[Mike Wright]

It completely flipped.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it was true.

[Mike Wright]

Asiato was the passing downs back early and then it switched. Yep, yep.

[Jason Moore]

For sure. For sure. And Obviously, you know, McKinnon has a role carved out. He is there.

[Mike Wright]

And Oziada is not currently on the Vikings. Just for. If you weren't aware of that.

[Jason Moore]

Tevin Coleman. Tevin Tevin Coleman, whose jersey is on our wall right now? You turn right, it is Tevin Coleman.

[Andy Holloway]

He comes in at our number 20 running back here, which he's really the first and only guy. I guess Theo Riddick is kind of there as well. But this is a backup on his team. He is not the starter. Is this too high for a backup or is this too low for a guy who last year without playing a full set of games, he only played 13, was actually one spot higher than this at 19.

[Jason Moore]

If you're loading up the Tevin Coleman software, there's a. There's a feature inside of it, and the feature that you can select is top five running back if Devonta Freeman went down. And so that's nice to have when you talk about factoring that in, you know, if he's given that role. Oh, my goodness. I mean, it's just like, even if he's. I mean, I don't think he's a better player than Devonta Freeman. I think Freeman's a better player, but if you give him that backfield, this guy finished 19, so no to answer your question, finished 19 last year. It's not too early for a backup, not one with that kind of an upside.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's. It would be a little bit too early for me. I have him, I believe, down around 27. And I love Tevin Coleman. I mean, clearly I was the one who sought out this jersey because I wanted it on the wall. Just there's. There is the factor of overachieving on the work. 421 receiving yards on 31 receptions. The guy was devastating in the pass game last year, which, because of his athletic ability, there's a possibility that can continue. But the loss of Kyle Shanahan, it's pretty heavy for me if you're talking about the backup running back for Atlanta. So it just.

[Jason Moore]

You'd rather have Gore, you'd rather have Montgomery according to your rankings?

[Mike Wright]

Yes. As of right now, Gore is also one of those guys who could change drastically after the draft.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. Okay. Any final thoughts on Tevin Coleman? We're wrapping up the show right now. I'm going to go straight through the next 10. I'm just going to read them out that we have on our rankings. In case you're curious. You can see them all on the site, the fantasy footballers.com and obviously all of these guys. The cool thing about the ultimate draft kit is that we update this thing constantly and the draft kit will have our point projections in it and just more detailed analytics on each player, including blurbs and things like that. Our perspective, number 21, Jeremy Hill. Then Frank Gore, Ty Montgomery, Gio Bernard. So a couple of Bengals end up in the top, what, 21 and 24. Eddie Lacy, Jonathan Stewart, Amir Abdullah, Bilal Powell, Paul Perkins, Matt Forte round out the top 30. Subject to change.

[Andy Holloway]

And I'll just. I'll just throw out Eddie Lacey, who is my number 17 and your number 21.

[Mike Wright]

He probably wouldn't. The twenties. Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Because of. Mike has him at 38 and I don't get that. But just throwing him out there as a guy that. I think had you not been here, we would have been talking and it.

[Jason Moore]

Might have been the same case with Montgomery. I mean, you guys have. Montgomery is 16 and 25. I'm down at 32.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

So the debates get larger because we look at these kind of second and third tier running backs and we are projecting circumstances for that team. Some we know, some we don't know. So any final thoughts, guys, before we wrap it up? We will have the show after the show today over on YouTube. So head over to YouTube.com. the fantasy Footballers.

[Mike Wright]

What are we talking about?

[Jason Moore]

Subscribe. We are going to debate. We're going to debate some, some movie related talk because Rotten Tomatoes has come under some heat.

[Andy Holloway]

There's some issues that need to be addressed.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. There's some things we got to talk about. Mike, we have to deal with this. All right.

[Mike Wright]

I'm all for it, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Get into wide receivers next week. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So thanks for tuning in. Make sure you subscribe on itunes. We appreciate your reviews. And check out fantasyjocks.com if you need a trophy or a draft board code is footballers. See you later. Goodbye.

[Andy Holloway]

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