2026 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings and Tiers (Ep. 1967)

Summary

FantasyPros Fantasy Football Podcast: 2026 Running Back Rankings & Tiers (Episode 1967)

Air Date: February 20, 2026
Hosts: Joey P. (Joe P. Zappia), Andrew Erickson, Jake Seely

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the 2026 Fantasy Football running back rankings, tiers, and projections based on the very early expert consensus. Hosts Joey P., Andrew Erickson, and Jake Seely debate high-level RB strategy, risk tolerance, positional volatility, and which players to target or avoid. Spirited conversation includes heated statistical arguments, historical trends, workload worries, and the all-important unknowns of team situations, rookies, and off-season movement.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tier One: The Elite RBs

• Key Names: Bijan Robinson (RB1), Jameer Gibbs (RB2), Christian McCaffrey (RB3 consensus)
• Main Question: Can McCaffrey sustain elite value at 30 years old, coming off a 450-touch season?
• The team agrees on Robinson and Gibbs leading the rankings due to youth, production, and role.
• McCaffrey’s ranking kicks off the biggest debate.

Notable Quotes:

• Joey P.: "Will the running back renaissance continue in 2026? That's the question." (00:47)
• Andrew (re: McCaffrey): "I have him at RB10...I just don't want to draft these guys coming off huge workloads." (03:09)
• Jake: "The rushing stunk, but that's not where Christian McCaffrey's value lies. That's what saves him." (07:13)

Timestamps:

• [00:35] Show opens with RB rankings and tiers introduction
• [03:09] Andrew details risk in McCaffrey’s workload

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2. The Christian McCaffrey Debate: Process vs. Outcome

Arguments:

• Andrew Erickson's Process:

  • Downgrades McCaffrey due to historical trend: RBs with 400+ touches rarely repeat top-5 seasons
  • Points out declining rushing efficiency especially when George Kittle is out
  • Prefers to avoid RBs with massive workloads and advancing age

• Jake & Joey P.'s Pushback:

  • Challenge the rigidity of the workload rule, citing historic “outliers”
  • Stress that elite skill sets and unique usage (e.g., McCaffrey’s receiving) mitigate some risk
  • Consensus: Bake risk into rankings but don’t let it dictate all decision-making

Notable Quotes:

• Jake: "The year after is such a crutch...what a surprise a generational season doesn’t get repeated." (06:03)
• Joey P.: "Take whoever lasts the longest towards the end of the first round...the value with all those guys is going to be so tight." (08:54)

Timestamps:

• [03:09-09:22] Extended McCaffrey debate, history lessons, and process arguments

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3. Tier Two & Tier Three: Rising Stars, Volume Backs & Landmines

Noteworthy Players:

• Jonathan Taylor: RB4, "If he gets a QB upgrade, sky’s the limit" – Joey P.
• De’Von Achane: RB5, key question is new coaching and usage
• James Cook: RB6, previously undervalued; hosts bullish
• Ashton Jeanty: RB7 consensus, Jake ranks lower at RB11 due to offensive line/rebuild
• Omariyon Hampton, Saquon Barkley, Chase Brown, Jeremiah Love, Josh Jacobs: Fill out top 12

Timestamps:

• [09:24] Ashton Jeanty: Workload vs. supporting cast. Jake compares to Saquon Barkley’s final Giants year.
• [11:41] Chase Brown: Breakout in 2nd half of 2025; Andrew bullish due to production with/without Burrow

Notable Quotes:

• Jake (on Jeanty): "The volume offsets it...he was just 0.1 percentage points behind Jonathan Taylor in RB touch percentage." (10:12)

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4. Tier Four & More: Sleepers, Split-Backfields, and Injury Watch

Key Talking Points:

• Kyren Williams (RB16 ECR, Jake’s RB10): "Never not been top 10 in points per game...leave Kyren Williams alone." (17:14)
• Breece Hall: Could re-enter RB1 status depending on team; huge ceiling if traded from Jets
• Rookie Watch - Jeremiah Love: Landing spot hugely important; consensus: rank conservatively until team identified

Timestamps:

• [17:14] Kyren Williams defense
• [18:55] Breece Hall’s future, trade scenarios
• [20:56] Rookie RBs & historical finishing positions

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5. Landing Spot & Offseason Risk

• Experimental scenarios: The Chiefs, Ravens, and other perennial contenders picking higher in the draft could shake up rookie RB impact.
• Consensus: Don’t over-draft unproven rookies due to overreaction (see Clyde Edwards-Helaire to KC case study).

Quotes:

• Joey P.: "If [Jeremiah Love] goes to the Chiefs, people are going to draft him as the third or fourth RB off the board and that will be the mistake." (25:42)

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6. Deep Tiers: Replacement-Level and Opportunity Backs

Noteworthy Players:

• Cam Skatteboo (ECR 19, Jake RB26): Split-backfield/injury risk
• Tyler Allgeier: Big riser in Andrew’s ranks for likely move and projected opportunity
• Woody Marks: Efficiency and durability major red flags

Notable Quotes:

• Andrew: "[Woody Marks]...bottom 10 in yards per carry, success rate, explosive runs, EPA per rush..." (37:29)

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7. Free Agency & Contract Watch

• Chase Brown, Kyren Williams, Tyler Allgeier among those whose values hinge on offseason transactions
• Notable Insight: "Do what the team tells you. If the Panthers...don’t address the backfield all offseason, they’re telling us they think there’s a bounce back for Hubbard." (36:46 – Jake)

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8. Risk Management & Roster Strategy

• Take value as it falls—there’s a deep first tier, and players like McCaffrey, Taylor, Cook, Hampton, and more could fall depending on drafters’ risk appetites
• Stay tuned to off-season news for clarity on backfields with competition, contract questions, or potential trades

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jake: "The value with all those guys is going to be so tight that...if you really hate CMC...take Taylor, take Cook, take a chance..." (09:07)
• Andrew: "He's going to be a fantasy RB1 on a team not named the New York Jets. 31 takers, take your pick." (18:55)
• Joey P.: "[Kyren Williams]...every damn year somebody's like, this is the one that's going to take the job. No, he's not. Leave Kyren Williams alone." (17:17)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Segment | |--------------|--------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:35 | Episode opening, top RB tiers | | 03:09-09:22 | McCaffrey debate, workload vs. age/history | | 09:24 | Ashton Jeanty projection, offensive environment | | 11:41 | Chase Brown’s breakout case | | 17:14 | Kyren Williams: perpetually undervalued | | 18:55 | Breece Hall: trade & landing-spot discussion | | 20:56 | Rookie RBs historical comps and expectations | | 25:42 | Jeremiah Love/rookie overreaction caution | | 27:28 | Lower ranked RBs (Manangai, Pollard, Stevenson, etc.) | | 37:29 | Woody Marks efficiency & future concerns | | 39:20 | Deep shots (Sean Tucker, Tyler Allgeier) |

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Final Thoughts

• Early RB strategy is wide open: There’s consensus at the very top, but major philosophical splits after that.
• Understand risk profiles: Many RB1 types (McCaffrey, Taylor, Henry) have volume or age-related risk; rookies’ value hinges on landing spot and context.
• Monitor team actions: Contracts, free agent signings, and draft picks will dramatically shake up the rankings.
• Depth and volatility: RB remains the most volatile position, so building a stable, high-usage depth chart is as crucial as ever.

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For more, watch the full episode or check out FantasyPros for updates as news breaks and off-season depth charts settle!

Transcript

[Joey P. Zappia]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Andrew Erickson]

Guaranteed Human

[Joey P. Zappia]

people who didn't do what John of God wanted them to do, they usually disappeared.

[Andrew Erickson]

John of God was once Brazil's most famous spiritual healer. But in this limited series podcast we

[Jake Seely]

uncover the darker truth behind his global

[Andrew Erickson]

empire of face and fear. From exactly right and adonde Media. This is Two Faced John of God. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts

[Jake Seely]

or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome in everybody to Fantasy Pros. This is the fantasy football podcast. It is me, Joey P, Joe P. Zappia and we are here for another series of our early ranks. We're going to look ahead to the expert consensus of 2026. Yeah, we know it's early, but it's never too early to have some debates and some conversations and to say what might be right and what might be wrong about some of the rankings. And to help me do that, Andrew Erickson and Jake Seeley from the Athletic are back again to have it out with the rankings and see who's right and who's wrong. Well, that's for you to decide at the end of the day because you're going to be drafting these teams. Don't forget to follow us here on Fantasy Pros on our YouTube channel and subscribe wherever you get your podcast as well. Gentlemen, we've done the wide receivers. If you missed that show, if you, you can go back and watch it here on a YouTube channel or just listen to the show as well. So now it's time to break down the running backs because it was a running back renaissance in 2025. Will it continue in 2026? Ah, that's the question. So let's jump into the pool with two feet here and let's start at the very top of tier one, Number one, Bijan Robinson. No doubt about that. Nobody's really concerned about that one. Jameer Gibbs at number two. No surprise there. And then at number three, 30 year old Christian McCaffrey coming off 4000 touches in 2025. Now I could be exaggerating that slightly. I might not be. Let you guys decide. Number four in tier two, Jonathan Taylor start off with a great season that unfortunately Daniel Jones got hurt and the Colts went south, way, way south in the AFC South. Devon Hn at number five. We'll see what a new head coach wants to do with Devon H. And James Cook at number six. The forgotten man in drafts last year, except on all of my rosters because he scored too many touchdowns in 2024. She couldn't possibly be any good in 2025 if you listen to the noise. Sometimes you go deaf. Instead. Just draft James Cook at number six. That's right. Exactly. Ashton Genti at number seven. Maybe he'll get an offensive line this year for Christmas. Omarion Hampton at number eight and then tier three. You got Saquon Barkley coming off a year where he was being drafted as a very highly rated running back. And as I told everyone, anyone who has 400 carries in a season never finishes as an RB1 the next year. Nobody wanted to listen to me. Unfortunately he didn't finish as an RB one last year, but he is back in that tier again this season. Chase Brown at 10. Jeremiah Love doesn't have a team but that doesn't matter because the experts say he's going to be a top 12 RB and that Josh Jacobs at 12. So let's start with Christian McAffrey. Andrew Erickson, we've had a lot of early discussions about this. He is ranked number three but where do you have him in your early ranks?

[Andrew Erickson]

Much lower than the consensus rank of RB3. I have met RB10 and basically it's my way of saying that using my rankings that bet you just won't draft Christian McCaffrey in 2026. And and I'm okay with that. I think that the stats that you brought up Joe, in terms of the carry amount, it's really insightful and that's something that I followed. I did my own research too with it in terms of just looking at the running back that led the NFL in touches one year the following season they don't ever really finish as RB1s last 13 running backs to lead the NFL in touches. Only one of them was a running back inside the top five. The next season after seeing at least 400 plus touches Chris McCaffrey is coming off 450 total touches including the postseason. So good I could be wrong, could get burned. This could be the year the outlier where CMC has a resurgent back to back RB1 finish. But I trusted the process with this with Saquon Barkley after he be the league in touches. Josh Jacobs the year before that. Just don't want to draft these guys. And then the other thing too is I felt like McCaffrey this season even though he did force a ton of missed tackles, let the NFL enforce missed tackles. I felt like his rushing efficiency did fall off a little bit in terms of how effective he was. George Kittle, he's going to miss time to start the year. Cannot overstate how impactful George Kittle is

[Jake Seely]

as a blocker for this offense.

[Andrew Erickson]

And we saw his rushing splits again during the beginning of the season. That's when McCaffrey was really struggling as a rusher. Kittle was out with one of those early season injuries. So for me, I'm just going in a different direction at running back in the top of the first round.

[Jake Seely]

All right, let's get to one of your guys here. Ashton Genty. The ECR has him at seven. Jake, you have him a little lower. You have an 11, which feels conservative, but I think I understand why, which is you're looking at a rookie quarterback. You're also looking at a rookie head coach and an offensive line that's still very much a work in progress. What else can you add to this pile here for Ash and Genti to be a little bit outside of the top 10?

[Joey P. Zappia]

Yeah, and if you were watching the video and trying to figure out how far I could roll my eyes back into my head, you can jump over the Athletic and jump in the comments about the CMC discussion for a completely different one.

[Jake Seely]

Oh, why you have them at one? Is that why?

[Joey P. Zappia]

Oh, no, no, no.

[Jake Seely]

You don't believe in numbers and oh

[Joey P. Zappia]

no, I do believe in numbers. Are we really going to do this again? We've already done it once before.

[Jake Seely]

Like, like I brought my receipts with me. I got a receipt so long it's like CVS style.

[Joey P. Zappia]

And I got the same receipt back. Ricky Williams, ladanian Tomlinson for seven straight years.

[Jake Seely]

CJ2K Tiki for the year 2000.

[Joey P. Zappia]

They are all after 2000. Nice try.

[Jake Seely]

No, no. 2000 end. You didn't let me finish.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Hold on.

[Jake Seely]

I'll tell you what. I will name three guys for every one you can if you want to play this.

[Joey P. Zappia]

That's not true. That's not true because you've already read I haven't I?

[Jake Seely]

No, I got my list.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Arian Foster, Clinton Portis, Tiki Barber, CJ2K, Ladanian Thomas from Ricky Williams, DeMarco Murray bounced back two years later with Tennessee. Everybody always not the last.

[Jake Seely]

Not the year after though. Not the year after.

[Joey P. Zappia]

And it's the year after is such a crutch. And it's the top five is such a crutch. It's like what a surprise. A generational season doesn't get repeated this. Why? Because he's still in RB1 and RB Chris Harris.

[Andrew Erickson]

Why?

[Joey P. Zappia]

Because.

[Jake Seely]

Are you bringing the crutch argument back?

[Joey P. Zappia]

Yeah.

[Jake Seely]

Murray in 2014, Eddie George, 2000, Sean Alexander, 2005. Larry Johnson 06 Jamal Lewis 2000 Corey Dillon 04 Edger James 2000 Curtis Martin 04 Arian Foster 2012 I'm on Green 2003 Jamal Lewis 2003 Shall I continue?

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Because Aaron Foster on my list you picked the last year Larry Johnson on my list you picked the last year Ricky Williams on my list the year

[Jake Seely]

that they had 400.

[Joey P. Zappia]

They had 400 before that next year. And that's the point. This is my point is like we, we. You can go both ways. I'm not saying my way is right either. We already had this discussion in this argument is you can pick. I like if you can pick which side you want. It's just I think the takeaway here is like whatever, we're going to do the same thing as we did after this season. It's going to be like it's going to be confirmation bias at the end of the year if Christian McCaffrey gets hurt. Christian McCaffrey sucks. It's going to be like haha, told you if it's Christian McCaffrey.

[Jake Seely]

What about the age though of I

[Joey P. Zappia]

don't care because Danny Thomason did it forever. Christian McCaffrey is not the same touches. He's not the same kind of touches because I was going to say this credit to Andrew and one thing he is right, the rushing stunk. But that's not where Christian McCaffrey's value lies. That's what saves him. So I'm not worried about the 30 because he also doesn't have the touches that some of the other ones have. If we're not talking about Derek Henry and Derek Henry's been five. So all that being said is the biggest thing is that I think people make in the industry as a mistake. You might be right. I might be right. The biggest thing is if you go into this process, understand like we don't take the value at the end of the season and be like, ha ha. That's what I was right. You have to understand like the process of why you understand the risk here. So Christian McCaffrey I do not have as my RB1.

[Andrew Erickson]

I don't.

[Joey P. Zappia]

I went to RB3 mid round. John, you and I did the draft. We talked about it. I have wide receivers in front of him because I am associating a risk.

[Jake Seely]

Sure. So what is your McCaffrey. I mean this isn't even a guy we're going to talk about with you.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Right.

[Jake Seely]

Since we're doing it, we might as well. McCaffrey. We might as well. I think that Ship has sailed a long time ago, my friend.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Well, we both have Chase Brown, so we don't have to spend much time on him.

[Jake Seely]

Good. So Chris McCaffrey, where do you have him in your RB ranks?

[Joey P. Zappia]

I have him at three, four, five, but I am a seventh overall. Give me three, because that's what I'm saying.

[Jake Seely]

Three, seventh overall. Okay. If Jonathan Taylor gets a quarterback, I'm taking Jonathan Taylor. And I feel better about James Cook just at this juncture in his career than I do about McCaffrey at the juncture in his career, schedule wise, of the 49ers. The kiddo point, I think is really astute.

[Joey P. Zappia]

I'm with you.

[Jake Seely]

Hold on.

[Joey P. Zappia]

And this is where I'm with you on this. So I have Bijon and Gibbs, Tier, McCaffrey, Taylor, H.N. cook, Hampton, Barkley, Henry. You might even get Williams or Genti. And that's my.

[Andrew Erickson]

What?

[Joey P. Zappia]

I think you set me up, Joe. This is the one I'm so glad about. Because if you disagree, that's fine. Because just take whoever lasts the longest towards the end of the first round, early the second round. Because the value with all those guys is going to be so tight that I don't have a problem. If you really hate Christian McCaffrey and that's what my takeaway is going to be like, if you hate him, fine. I agree with you.

[Jake Seely]

Take Taylor.

[Joey P. Zappia]

If you hate both of them, take James Cook. Take a chance. Take a Marian Hampton. They're all going to be within the range of each other and that's the biggest thing here.

[Jake Seely]

Can we talk about Ash and Genti?

[Joey P. Zappia]

So he's not going to be in the range of these guys. He's not going to be in the range. I know this is why we do this, because you pulled it all the

[Jake Seely]

way back and I have been friends for 15 years.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Too long.

[Jake Seely]

This is just what we do in real life. Way too long. Way too long. Ashton Genty. Why do you have him so low? What's wrong with you?

[Joey P. Zappia]

I hate Ashton Genty. I hate the generational talent of it. Yeah, there it is. All the yards after contact. Through the first three weeks, the guy actually had 103% of yards after contact. Let that sink in for a second. Because he was averaging negative yards before contact, he still finished with nearly 90% of his yards after contact. And I understand we have Colt Miller coming back. He didn't play most of the season, but Parham is a free agent, their best guard. We need to see that they address the offensive line more than just saying, hey, let's hope Colt Miller, hope Colt Miller stays healthy and just swap part him for another player because they're probably going to still be bottom third of the league and maybe not bottom actually the bottom three teams, but maybe bottom 10, like 10th worst. And in that case, you know what you what did I bring up to

[Andrew Erickson]

you the other day?

[Joey P. Zappia]

Joe I think Saquon Barkley on the Giants final season is a great comparison for what the potential is for Ashton Genti on the Raiders. It's still potentially going to be really bad. The volume offsets it. He was just 0.1 percentage points behind Jonathan Taylor and RB touch percentage for number two in the league only behind Taylor. So the volume's already there. Kubiak's him the same volume. He's not going to give him 93% of the touches. So I look at the offense hopefully being better, but it really just comes down to that volume. We have to also see the offense take an uptick for Ashton Jetty to get inside the top five. So right now I have him in that tier with Kyron Williams and Derrick Henry and the next guy we're going to talk about and even Barkley. But I could see him getting out of this tier higher if the Raiders make the right moves this offseason.

[Jake Seely]

All right, Andrew, Eric said I need you to talk on this show more. Chase Brown. Hey, Mat.

[Andrew Erickson]

Let's go.

[Jake Seely]

This is classic Sealy piece of p. This is what we did. Jake and I did a show together five days a week for two years.

[Joey P. Zappia]

I'm sorry.

[Jake Seely]

So this is. Those are the best days of my life. Jake Sealy.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Award winning.

[Jake Seely]

I still didn't have hair then.

[Andrew Erickson]

Yeah. Award winning frequent listener.

[Jake Seely]

Frequent listener. Andrew Erickson. That's right. That's right.

[Joey P. Zappia]

I'm also sorry.

[Andrew Erickson]

All right.

[Jake Seely]

Yeah. Maybe we should make a formal apology. S. Andrew An Edible Arrangement. All right. Chase Brown is number 10 on the ECR, but you've got him a little bit higher. Erickson. Talk about why you have an RB7.

[Andrew Erickson]

Well, when Joe Burrow finally came back into the offense for the Cincinnati Bengals last year, even before he came back, when they got an influx of any type of good quarterback play in the form of Joe Flacco, if there was a Joe under center, it was good for Chase Brown. RB7 in points per game from week seven onward at 18.3. And then when we saw Joe Burrow return to the lineup, 20.6 half PPR points per game, RB3 from weeks 13 through 17. So Chase Brown as much of a league Loser. He looked like after you drafted him in the second or third round, Joe Burrow gets hurt. It's a total disaster in the second half of the season. Man, he looked like a league winner, like he was dry. Like the one team that I actually got to my finals, I had Chase Brown on it because I traded for him before the trade deadline. And he played a big role in kind of moving my team to advance into the postseason. So. Rushed for over a thousand yards for the first time in his career this past season. Finished fifth among running backs, 69 catches, 437 yards. Through the last two years, he's averaged just shy of a thousand rushing yards per season, nearly 1400 yards from scrimmage entering the final year of his rookie contract. I think Chase Brown's going to go out on a high note here and try to cash in on a bigger deal. It's a former fifth round pick. He's shown that he can handle bell cow level usage and I know that the concerns are. Well, he was splitting touches and snaps with Samaj P. Ryan in the second half of the season. You know, is that concerning for what his workload could be? And I, I would acknowledge that. But at the same time he was getting all this production with Samaj P. Ryan seating snaps. Because Chase Brown is good. He's good as a pass catcher. He's explosive running back and I want to buy into that, especially with Joe Burrow leading the offense on a crappy Bengals defense. It's gonna be shootout after shootout just like it was this year. So I love Chase Brown.

[Jake Seely]

Well, obviously it's one thing we know. Jake Seely hates everything. So Jake, why do you dislike Chase Brown more than the ECR? Because you've got him at RB12.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Yeah. We're on the other sides of this and it really comes down to nothing that Andrew said it was wrong. I actually love Chase Brown, the player this really comes down to. I have a little bit of a dynasty hat in this thinking of if I am drafting today, I kind of want to avoid the risk and I say the risk is what Andrew just said. Samaj Piran was no great shakes and they continue to use him 35% of the time. 35. 35. It was actually 65, 35 almost down the line when healthy and not that players can't be productive because my argument for Kyron Williams is that with that workload, Kyron Williams is still a top 10 running back. Why does everybody hate Kyron Williams? So teaser. By the way, the thing with Chase Brown that I Have is the concern is where I think the difference is is Kyron Williams has his contract. I might as well just talk about Kyron Williams at this point. I'm jumping ahead for you, Joe.

[Jake Seely]

No, not yet. We're not in that tier.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Stop jumping that. I'll just leave that there and say Chase Brown doesn't have a new contract. Chase Brown still has the threat of what is the possible most threatening free agent running back class we've seen in some time. And I think the Bengals have more important priorities. But what if, just what if they brought a timeshare piece in there and all of a sudden we're looking at Kenneth Walker Charbonnet of the Bengals. So that's why it's only because who's in front of them? Kyron Genti, Barkley, Henry Hampton has nothing to do with Chase Brown and everything to do with just the potential threat.

[Jake Seely]

All right, we'll get to Kyron Williams, I promise, in just a second. I want to remind everybody watching though, we're giving away free stuff. The fantasy football championship belt giveaway is here again. And if you want a chance to win this symbol of ultimate fantasy glory, well, there's one way to do it and that. Subscribe to the channel, drop your comments below and you could win the trophy smack. Fantasy football championship belt. The number one destination for epic fantasy football hardware is trophy smack in. This massive gold plated belt is built to make a statement. It's bold, it's heavy, it's guaranteed to turn heads in your league. Or if you can wear it out shopping or, you know, family events if you like, you can wear it to the club. Go out there, ladies. Very, you know, very, you know, so the guys wearing the belt in the club all of a sudden get all the attention. Just saying, just saying, guys and ladies, same thing. Ladies walk into the club wearing championship belt. Guys just flock to them. It's automatic. So if you want to get that and wear it to the club again, subscribe to the channel. Drop your comments below. Championship belt can be yours. It's very cool though. I've got a couple of them. Jake has none. Andrew's got a few himself. And again, we'll be announcing the winner here on the channel, so make sure you turn on those notifications so you never miss a chance to catch our show. And we can let you know if you're the big winner of the championship belt. I am being exaggerating. I think Jake has at least one belt, right, Jake? How many? How many of the belts you got from the Trophy smack I think four or five I got three Andrew, got any trophies? Mac belts? We gotta get you one.

[Joey P. Zappia]

You also have a chain.

[Andrew Erickson]

I want. I gotta win.

[Jake Seely]

I gotta win and I've got the chain. That's right because I'm a multi time flex league champion. That's right because I don't draft 30 year old running backs off 450 touch seasons. Next up here, Derrick Henry at 13, Bucky Irving at 14 pre solid 15. Kyron Williams in tier four now at 16, Ken Walker coming at 17, Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker, RJ Harvey, Cam Scatter Boo at 19, Travy on Henderson at 20, Travis Atn at 21, Javante Williams at 22, Quinshawn Judkins at 23 and then DeAndre Swift at 24. All right, we waited Jake Sealy for the Kyron Williams. I'm gonna set you up. ECR is 16 but you have him at 10 and I hate myself but I agree with you. I think he is much closer to 10 than he is to where the ECR has him.

[Joey P. Zappia]

You know the cliche meme joke Love something as much as fancy people want to murder Kyron Williams value every single year like that. I have never seen a player productive in fantasy that people hate more than Kyron Williams. He has never not been top 10 in points per game and he's actually been top 10 overall every single year. And even the top three when he's played the full season he was just nine lockstep with Chase Brown and points per game. By the way I bring that number up 64.6% of the touches in the backfield. Chase Brown actually had 71.5 because as we talked about smashing P. Ryan wasn't healthy the entire year and yet lockstep with him on fewer touches. It's who he is. It's what the Rams offense is. It's what Sean McVay is. I don't know how much we have to do this if Matthew Stafford retired. Completely different story. The offense is now in flux. Who knows what's going to happen. But the same argument where I agree because I didn't get to chime in too much but I 100% agree with Erickson on the Devonte Adams value is that he is a wide receiver. One I am 100% in agreement that Kyron Williams still deserves to be a top 10 running back. Until further notice stop trying to make every other running back in the history oh you know something else? You know what Sean McVay has done every single year he's been with the Rams and less need have done. They've drafted a day three running back every damn year. And every damn year somebody's like, this is the one that's going to take the job. No, he's not. Leave Kyron Williams alone.

[Jake Seely]

Well, as you said before, Jake, they're paying him too. He signed that extension. Like, follow the money, bro. This is not that hard. All right, Breeze Hall, Andrew Erickson, you got some feelings on him. He has ECR 15, but you've got him a little higher. You also have him as an RB one, just like Sealy has Kyron Williams. You've got him just cracking that group at 12. So let's talk about Breeze hall and your expectations for him this off season.

[Andrew Erickson]

He's going to be a fantasy RB1 on a team not named the New York Jets. 31 takers, take your pick.

[Joey P. Zappia]

What if they franchise him?

[Andrew Erickson]

A Super bowl franchise and trade him?

[Joey P. Zappia]

No, no, no. I'm legitimately asking you if they franchise him, like, where would he fall? I'm assuming you drop him.

[Andrew Erickson]

I. He's. I don't think he's going to play for the Jets. I think he's like, oh, see ya.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Answer the question.

[Jake Seely]

I mean, what, you think he would hold out?

[Andrew Erickson]

He wants to play for the New York Jets. I think that he's done. And what do the jets have to gain from franchise tagging him and then letting him sit up?

[Joey P. Zappia]

103 talents. Anyway, continue. I was just.

[Andrew Erickson]

I'm just curious.

[Joey P. Zappia]

I was just curious how much you would move him down if he got stuck with the Jets.

[Andrew Erickson]

So if he was on the jets, he'd probably be around. RB18.

[Jake Seely]

Okay.

[Andrew Erickson]

Probably around because that's where he finished last year. Okay. And I can't imagine that this. Because the thing is, he had a thousand rushing yards for the first time in his career last year. Somehow in the jets offensive line, again, good tackles like the interior needs some work, but they have so much cap space that I think the jets offensive line's not really the issue. It's obviously the quarterback play was horrendous last year, especially with Fields and Tyrod and just Brady Cook, just an absolute mess. But Paul, we've seen a ceiling with him where he's been a top three fantasy running back before and the former officer coordinator that was his coach in 2023 when he was fantasy's RB2. Well, that guy's in Arizona now. Arizona needs a running back because James Connor's gonna get cut. So I can think of great landing spots such as Arizona, Kansas City, Houston. Teams that need running backs that you could drop Reese hall in, he's a three down superstar. We know what he can do. In the past catching game. I, I think he has a top five ceiling that he's already shown. So I think he can be a fantasy RB1 as long as he's not on the New York Jets.

[Jake Seely]

All right, now a lot of people think that Jeremiah Love can be a RB one right now because they've got him at RB 11 overall, but you've got them a little bit lower. You've got an RB15, so you're taking a little bit more of a conservative approach. Why is that? We all think that Love is a great talent. I understand landing spot has a lot to do with that. Is it just a placeholder for landing spot or is this just. I've been burned by the rookie running backs one too many times and I don't want to get too excited too quickly.

[Andrew Erickson]

It's really more of a placeholder spot. I don't think that we can confidently say, oh, he's gonna fish. Exactly this one. We don't know what team he's on. Right. You know, if Ashton Genti goes to any other team but the Raiders, that was just so bad in terms of run blocking up front. Well, he probably has a much better rookie season. Maybe he's more efficient. But then you could also look at it, well, maybe he doesn't get as many touches on a different offense. So the thing with Jeremiah Love, I kind of took this from a wider lens looking at what I do in terms of rookie running backs taking in the first round. Like, where is their average finish? It's RB18. Like that's historically where the rate has been. And if you look at last year, Genti and Hampton, where do you think they both finished? Points per game? Genti RB17, Hampton RB16. So it is kind of in that range where, okay, I'm gonna put him here based on I know he's going to be a first round pick. Like that's what I feel most confident about. But is he going to have 350 touches? He's a top 10 pick. I would presume that that would be the plan for a player of his caliber. But you know, some teams are looking at, we like using committee backfields a little bit more. We don't want to give it because we want him to remain super, super efficient. Does it turn into a Kyron Williams, Blake Corum situation? So there's a lot of different ways where this can shake out and to have him at RB11. No, I don't think that it's ludicrous based on his talent profile. But I think that, you know, we all get carried away sometimes with oh, I want to get the rookie running back when maybe the better bet is for him to, you know, have a so so rookie year and then buy him in year two like Ashton Genti. So that's kind of how I view love again, someone that I could definitely end up. He's going to move in the rankings regardless when we figure out what team he's on. But I just wanted to share from an overarching standpoint where these first round picks tend to typically finish and RB11 is probably a little higher on that end of the spectrum.

[Jake Seely]

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[Joey P. Zappia]

league of her own.

[Jake Seely]

After making history as the first black woman to win an individual Winter Olympic gold medal, she returns to the ice faster than ever. A former inline skater, she dominates the 500 meter sprint with explosive power and arrives in Italy to defend her crown for more Winter Games gold. Search olympics on the iHeartRadio app. When you're a pro, you gotta do a little bit of everything. A little, a little and even a little little. And it helps to have something that works as hard as you do. That's why Valspar has durable high coverage paint for every job, every time made. For more Valspar pros, head to Lowe's today and talk to a pro rep about saving time and money on your next job with Valspar. Signature paint exclusions apply. See valsparpro.com for details. It's so interesting because the oddity this year, Andrew, in this draft is that you have perennially good teams like the Ravens and the Chiefs picking much higher than they normally do. So if he ends up in a spot on a team, I'm gonna say those teams specifically. But any of the better teams that don't typically find themselves picking in the top 15. That's very interesting because oftentimes we find these really high end running back of the Bichon Robinsons go to a bad team. Ash and Genti obviously last year, you know, bad organizations, bad situations. There were some really good organizations that had bad years. So that's going to be a really interesting thing to try to figure out in our brains too.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Like I know, I mean everybody and their brother is mocking him to the Chiefs. I just don't see it because I

[Jake Seely]

think it's wish casting. Jake, I think we don't like to see this open here. I think it wouldn't be the dumbest thing in the world to be honest with you. Because at this stage in Mahomes career it would be nice to take more pressure off of him and that's one thing that certainly would especially coming back from an injury. So I don't think it's the dumbest thing ever. But I do agree with you. I think that's less I would take the field over Jeremiah Love if you were if betting on it.

[Andrew Erickson]

If you're interested why the Chiefs might be looking at maybe why there's a connection here. So they tried to interview the Raiders running back coach who used to be Notre Dame's running back coach, who coached Jeremiah Love and engineering Price.

[Jake Seely]

This is where we throw up the shot of Charlie and Phil.

[Joey P. Zappia]

That's my point.

[Jake Seely]

They could take the best at this.

[Joey P. Zappia]

They could take Price in the second, maybe even the third. So anyway, what I think the biggest takeaway here is everything. So I would rank them higher just on assumption period of who might take them because I don't think you go back to Bijan. Bijan being a disappointment as the RB2 that year in ADP was RB7/8 depending on your league. And that was seen as a massive disappointment. Yet he was still top 10 running back in a timeshare because of Tyler Algier. So I'd say 78 is fair on the right team. The worst case scenario I think is where Erickson has him. But I wanted to bring up the Chiefs. I'm glad you guys did because for one thing if he does go to the Chiefs, people are going to draft him as like the third or fourth running back off the board and that will be the mistake.

[Jake Seely]

Yes it will.

[Andrew Erickson]

There's no way we'll stay level headed after we saw Clyde Edwards hilarious as

[Joey P. Zappia]

a first round 107, 107 that year.

[Jake Seely]

That was crazy to me. That was. That was so nuts.

[Andrew Erickson]

I was like oh, he gets drafted by the Chiefs ninth overall, bro.

[Jake Seely]

When that happened I was like oh cool. He's gonna. Clyde Rosala will be a really cool third round.

[Joey P. Zappia]

And it was only because Williams decided to sit out for Covid.

[Jake Seely]

That was the only reason that happened. But no, again hard out. If we get to that Cam's Gadaboo ECR19 Jake, you've got him at 26. Is that because of style of play concerns?

[Joey P. Zappia]

It's everything. Like we're, we have Harbaugh coming in and Harbaugh might bell Callum or he might say, you know what? I'm going to do the same thing that worked here with the mix of Trier and Tracy. Also, because we want to keep Scatter Boo healthy, because playstyle is not going to change. How many times do we have to do this with Tebow and Cam Newton? I know those are quarterbacks, but you could go down the list at any position you want to. You try to hammer in their head a different way to play the game. And I mean, Robert Griffin talks about it still to this day on his podcast how he wishes he would have just started to slide more and step out of bounds and even as somebody in hindsight still didn't do it when he played. I don't think you're going to change Scatterboo going headfirst juggernaut into everything he possibly can because that's part of what makes him so fun to watch and such a fun teammate is because he gives legitimately. Like there is no such thing as 110%, but the dude gives 200% because he's insane. So that's part of my concern is that it's a timeshare split backfield. He will be the lead. Joe, you and I talked about it before last season, just like we called that he was going to take over as the lead this year, 2025, and will be the lead next year. But in front of him some other timeshares. But most of the running backs are clear leads and I think that's really why I have him as the rank that I do.

[Jake Seely]

All right, closing out that tier at number 25 is Jalen Warren. And then tier five begins. Kyle Manangai, 26. From Andre Stevenson, Rico Dowdle. Blake Corma, 29, Tony Power. At 30, Bashel Tutna, 31, Chuba Hubbard. At 32, Woody Marks, James Connor, Aaron Jones. And then at 36, Jacori Crosky, Merritt, Andrew Erickson. You know, one of my favorite things is Kyle manon guy. He's RB27, but you've got him all the way that 38. Why are you doing my dude dirty? What's going on with that?

[Andrew Erickson]

I don't know where to rank him. That's why I. I really can't say anything negative about Kyle. This tier, this honestly, not. Not a bad number. Not a bad number. Because when I look at this tier, I see there are a lot of different scenarios and levers and things that I can pull where I can move. Manangai up because oh well this is going to happen to the veterans in this group between Aaron Jones, James Connor, you know, Chuba Hubbard, what's going to happen with him. I guess I'm having trouble pinpointing exactly where I want him because he's not the starter for his his team but maybe I'm getting hung up on that a little bit when it's DeAndre Swift just because credit to Kyle Manangai and how excellent he was Last year again RB29 Overall, doesn't ever fumble, never fumble to college. Didn't fumble this year in his first year in the NFL, sixth overall in rushing success rate he averaged in terms of crossing the line of scrimmage. 10.7 miles per hour, third fastest mark among running backs. At least 100 carries per next gen stats. Look, he fits the offense really well. Ben Johnson trusts him. Ben Johnson loves him. We know what he can do if Swift were to get banged up. It's really I guess how I feel about DeAndre Swift that's kind of holding me back. I was trying to fade DeAndre Swift into the sun last year and at the beginning of the year it looked like a good call but then he caught fire. Both him and Manangai were super efficient running backs. If Swift is coming back though, how high can I move Manangai if Swift is still going to kind of be the 1A to the 1B so I don't know if you guys have more bullish takes on woman on guys take over the backfield. Is that what we need to get

[Joey P. Zappia]

Swift is on Swift is owed 8.8 and they can cut him for basically one he's going to get cut like that. They save over 7 million if they cut them.

[Jake Seely]

I think this is one of those wait and sees how I think 26 is correct because I think he's a RB3 he's a flex RB right now if that cut happens and he becomes the guy or it's you know they bring in somebody else to handle some of those third down duties but he's more of the first and second guy and he's the goal line guy too. Look Mananga's is a tough runner. Like he's just kind of a little bit more I think Chicago style like that you're gonna have to get you know we get the Chicago style pizza got the New York style pizza. You could quote me on that. You'll bro he's the deep dish running back. You can quote me on that one and you can clip this for social media because that's what Kyle Menon guy is. So I think eventually over time he becomes a really interesting asset and I want him to stay in this range personally and I don't want him to start getting into that mid RB2 because to Andrew's credit, I'm still not sure exactly how good it will be, but I think it's a value where it currently is. We'll see how it travels over the off season here. Let's go to one of Jake's guys too. Jake, you have Tony Pollard here at 38, but his ECR is 29. Now Tony Pollard finished the year pretty strong, rattled off a bunch of 100 yard games. I know he had some incentives so motivation is key. But why so down on him this year?

[Joey P. Zappia]

Because just like Happy's finger paintings, they aren't any good. He's not any good. Like it's just he's Tony Pollard's replacement level and it worst I was gonna say, let's say best case, Dable's coming in. What does Dable do? He splits the hell out of that backfield. Like if it's not Tajai Spears, which by the way started to finally look like Tajai Spears that we had hoped to see and flash towards the end of the season as well before he got hurt. Like if that's a healthy situation, what if he's the Tracy and Pollard's the Devin Singletary? Like that's just where I'm already playing this let alone what if Dable comes in with solid says, you know what, we're actually going to go into free agency and forget Tony Pollard. He's going to now be the Devin Singletary to somebody else. I just, I don't want a piece of Tony Pollard. I just feel like there's nothing but downside at this point. He's been a volume running back without the volume. He's been no more as an RB3. And that's similar to what Andrew was saying about CMC, is that when he doesn't get 70% of the touches, which is what put him inside the top 10 on almost any given week, he always finishes an RB3. That's just who he is. And that's why I'm saying this. That's it's kind of a statement.

[Jake Seely]

Erickson, Ramandre, Stevenson, obviously a debatable player too because we saw how that backfield New England worked this year. He's ECR of 20 come from Jim all the way at 34. Well, I mean look, look, if you want to see more on that we had a great show again the sophomore seasons of all the rookies from last year, Laquan Jones from NFL, myself and Jake had a great conversation about all these guys. But obviously Andrew, you're baking in that Travion has a much bigger workload from this ranking.

[Andrew Erickson]

He has to, right? Why?

[Jake Seely]

I don't think that I want him to. He has to. I don't know if that's the answer. I'm not sure yet. Sell me on it. This is your chance.

[Andrew Erickson]

Well, here's the selling point. The guy that a lot of people compared Henderson to coming out was Jameer Gibbs.

[Jake Seely]

What?

[Andrew Erickson]

It was Jameer Gibbs, rookie season, like David Montgomery. A lot of Dave Montgomery was really annoying. And not to say that this backfield is the same because it's not. But I, I don't think that they go into year two thinking, yep, we're going to run Ramondre back. We're going to have him play 70 of the snaps. Henderson's going to be used seldom in terms of packages. We're never going to use them on passing downs. I, I don't think that's the case. We see a lot of young running backs take steps forward in terms of their pass protection and especially a guy like Henderson who was herald like as a prospect coming out. Oh, this guy's so great. Pass protection. Which couldn't have been farther from the truth during his first NFL season where that was part that he struggled and was reason why Stevenson was playing so many snaps. So, and I do think too that the playoffs in particular, we know that that doesn't necessarily always carry over again. This is winner go home. Very different mindset versus, okay, we have an 18 or 17 game season to prepare for. If you look at just the last eight games between Henderson and Stevenson, it was closer to a 50, 50 split in terms of the total opportunities. Henderson was at 46%, Stevenson was at 54%. So that's taking out. Stevenson missed some time in the middle of the season. He came back for week 13 for that Giants game. So the last eight games that they played together, it was much closer to a 50, 50 split. But if you look at just the playoffs, well, it was Stevenson blowing Henderson out of the water essentially. So I think that maybe this ranking is attached too much to that in particular, especially like in the championship game when Henderson barely played. Look, James White, that's another player that Josh McDaniels coached as a pass catcher. He saw his role grow outside of being a rookie. And I think that we're going to see more of Henderson. I think that ultimately that's going to hurt Stevenson. Not to say that Stevens is going to totally go away because I'm not in love with the Henderson ECR rank either. Like, I think that these guys are really tough to pinpoint. But again, when push comes to shove, I got to pick a Patriots running back that could take over eventually. At some point. I mean, it's probably going to be. It'd probably be Trayvon Henderson. So that's at least my take and why I'm a little bit lower on Stevenson.

[Jake Seely]

All right, Jake, let's talk about Rico Dow for a second here. A guy that is right now ECR of 28 and you've got him at 33. And you need to throw Chuba into this conversation, too. I mean, both the Carolina guys, because I know you had some feelings about both of them from last year into this year. Chuba Hubbard, ECR, 32, you've got them all the way at 42. So walk me through your takes on those two guys real quick.

[Joey P. Zappia]

I don't think either of them are an answer for anybody. And I know Rico Daddle is upset. The fact that he went off in those two games and he looked great and he looked better than Hubbard at times, which is part of the reason for Hubbard is tiny and the testament to that fact that they gave him that contract. But at this point it's a little different than Kyron Williams with the situation of their team and like how they structured everything like that. But point being is Hubbard didn't look good. He was outplayed by Dowdle and then Daddle fataled it a little bit and we saw the timeshare and his back and forth and it's the Panthers being the Panthers and really what it comes down to, Dowel's leaving, he's not going back to the Panthers. He said he wants to find a team that's going to give him all the work. Well, you couldn't find it the year before coming off the season from the Cowboys, who went to Javante Williams, coming off 17 injuries that didn't look like himself for three years and gave him half a million more. What makes you think anybody's really going to do that? And like I hope for him, like, cool, maybe I'm wrong, prove me wrong, Dowdle. But at the same, I just don't think it's going to happen. I think he's walking to another timeshare and he's walking in timeshare, that nobody's going to bring him in as the lead option. Like nobody's out there. These teams that need running backs and there's not a ton. Which is why I brought up the fact that free agency is a big threat to a lot of people because there's a lot of overlap where people could all of a sudden go from when we did our show a couple weeks ago from players that could be like, hey, we're set right now, Chase Brown. And all of a sudden it's a timeshare situation where like love Woody Marks. Andrew Erickson brought said what if they bring somebody else in because he was remarkably inefficient. So there's a lot of threat to the jobs and I just don't think Daddle's stepping in anywhere to be the lead option. And I think the Panthers are going to do two things. They're going to see if Jonathan Brooks has anything left. Like because this is now two massive injuries, but maybe he comes back from them or they bring somebody as a significant threat because Hubbard, like I said, he just faded last year and looked nothing like the Hubbard from the year before. Maybe he gets them back on track and this is too disrespectful. And if Joe, I'll give you the one that we should always do in fantasy too, which was really telling about Javante Williams and why he was such a good value last year. Do what the team tells you. If the Panthers spend this entire off season and don't address the backfield one, they're telling us they think they can get something out of Brooks, but they're also telling us that they think there's a bounce back for Hubbard and then this ranking is way too low.

[Jake Seely]

That is fair enough. All right, real quick, Andrew, I know you have some feelings. Woody marks, is it 33 in this grouping here on ECR? You've got him all the way to 44. Is that because you think he's going to get replaced? And if so, I know Fitzy and I want to replace him with Mike Washington. That's the guy that Fitzy and I have been talking about. What a good fit for the Texans. Washington would be a bigger, stronger back. Is that what you think he just. Woody Marks probably just gets replaced in the draft.

[Andrew Erickson]

They're going to add some type of backfield competition and maybe put Marks more into the pass catching role. That that's what he was looked at that coming out as a college prospect didn't really play that role in his first year in the NFL and he was brutally or as Jake put remarkably inefficient For Woody marks, again, bottom 10 yards per carry, success rate, explosive runs, EPA per rush, basically any metric you look at, advanced rushing metric. He was in the bottom percentile, last among all running backs and missed tackles, force per attempt. So that's the one to highlight because yes, the offensive line for the Texans was really bad. Nick Chubb's hand holding Woody Marks and a lot of these really bad rushing efficiency metrics. But missed tackles forced, that's on the running back. Like you got to make a play and Woody Marks really failed to do that. Worst running back at fantasy points versus expectation. He also had a lot of durability concerns. I mean, you look up and oh, he's back in the blue medical tent just constantly. So whenever he was trying to build momentum, it was really frustrating because he would never take all of the opportunities he was getting and really take advantage of it. He's a former day three pick around four, so he doesn't have draft capital to fall back on. Oh, like, like we took this guy in round two, we have to give him another year. That's not really the case. And the way that things are going to shake out with Joe Mixon, he's probably going to get cut from the Texans. So they just, Nick Chubb's a free agent, so they have to bring in somebody to compete with Woody Marks. So I think best case scenario is that they just bring in like the dustiest veteran. I mean they brought a Nick Chubb last year. If they do that, like that's best case scenario for Woody Marks. But I don't think that they go back into this season thinking, oh yeah, Woody Marks is going to be our bell cow. I mean, never had a five catch game, only had one 100 yard rushing game and that came in the post season. Whereas Gerard Jordan in his first game that he plays immediately has 100 rushing yards and five catches in the first game he plays. It was against the Cardinals, so Woody Marks would have smashed, but like I said, he got injured in that game because he. Because I just don't think that he's a bell cow.

[Jake Seely]

All right, so running backs outside of the top 36, I'm not going to go through the list because again, these guys are all kind of in that RB4ish kind of range. But. But if there's one guy that's moving up for you higher than the ecr. I know Jake, you've circled Sean Tucker. So let's talk about him. His ECR is 61, but you've got him at 55.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Yeah, this just comes down to opportunity. Assuming that as of today Rashad White's free agent unlikely they bring him back with what they have in Bucky Irving and what we've seen from Sean Tucker and there's been hope for Sean Tucker before and we've seen Sean Tucker as the lead on this team and also a timeshare and the upside that he brings and actually I believe is a better compliment to Bucky Irving than Rashad White ever was stylistically because they differ.

[Andrew Erickson]

Differ.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Unlike Rashad White and Bucky Irving, there's a lot of talk about Irving with his injuries coming back from now shoulder and the other injuries. There's two injuries. We're assuming everything's going to be fine. We're hoping. But all it takes is one more and we've seen that Bucky Irving hasn't exactly been a super picture of health. So if he's Sean Tucker stays as like another one where they don't address it like just kind of bringing a flyer as a third running back and he's the only backup essentially behind Bucky Irving. Honestly, 55 is too low.

[Jake Seely]

All right, fair enough. And for you, Andrew Erickson, Tyler Algier, also a little bit too low. He is 41, but you've got him all the way up at 28, which means he's going to a good spot. He's going to go to the Texans or he's going to go to the Broncos or somewhere there where he can make a big impact.

[Andrew Erickson]

My guy's going to get the bag because I think that people are going to view him as a running back with not a lot of tread on the tires. Right. He's been in a committee with BJ Robinson for the last three seasons. But. But don't forget Tyler Algier as a rookie in 2022 rushed for over a thousand yards as a fifth round pick, nearly five yards per carry. Trust me, I was there. I was all for it. I loved Tyler IG because it was him and Cordero Patterson in the Arthur Smith offense. But then the next year they drafted Bijan Robinson. Tyler, as you get screwed, it's not his fault. It wasn't necessarily a knack against his type of talent. It's just, yeah, they just happened to find the generational running back that they wanted instead. And he's been a thorn in the side of Bijan at some times this year, especially in the red zone. So we know the Falcons can't afford to give him starting running back money because they have to sign Bijan Robinson to a long term deal. So I don't think they can justify paying starting running back money to two different running backs. They'll probably replace Tyler Azure with either a cheaper veteran or somebody in the draft to spell Bijan at times. But I think Algier is going to have a fair share, fair share of suitors in free agency. And I think that he's a really talented guy. It's not his fault that he's just been behind Bijan the last three years.

[Jake Seely]

All right, there you have it. That's the debate right now. Is anything settled? Probably not, but we'd love to hear from you. Drop your comments below. What do you think of the early expert consensus rankings? Who's too high? Who's too low? Who's just right? Drop your comments below. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. You might just win yourself that fantasy championship belt from trophy smack. Gentlemen, great job as always. And if you want more debates, go watch the wide receiver version of the show or the quarterback and tight end version. All coming on our YouTube channel, so check them out as well. That'll do it for us, but the story of the game goes on for Andrew Erickson and Jake Seely from the Athletic, I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time, kids.

[Joey P. Zappia]

Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pro's Fantasy Football podcast.

[Andrew Erickson]

If you love the show, the best

[Joey P. Zappia]

free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on apple [e-mail] review or on Spotify. Follow us on X Instagram and TikTok Antasypros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com fantasy pros. This is an iHeart podcast.

[Andrew Erickson]

Guaranteed Human.