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FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast
Week 2 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1699)
00:34:47
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- [00:00]
Pat Fitzmorris
This is an I heart podcast.
- [00:05]
Honey German
Hi, it's honey German, and I'm back with season two of my podcast. Gracias. Come again. We got you. When it comes to the latest in music and entertainment with interviews with some of your favorite Latin artists and celebrities. You didn't have to audition.
- [00:17]
Chris Welsh
No, I didn't audition.
- [00:18]
Andrew Erickson
I haven't auditioned in, like, over 25 years.
- [00:21]
Honey German
Oh, wow. That's a real G talk right there.
- [00:23]
Chris Welsh
Oh, yeah.
- [00:24]
Honey German
We'll talk about all that's viral and trending with a little bit of Cheeseman and a whole lot of laughs. And of course, the great beat us you've come to expect. Listen to the new season of Dashes. Come again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [00:42]
Chris Welsh
What's up, friends? And welcome in to Fantasy Pros. This is the fantasy football podcast. I'm Chris Welsh and these are your running back ranks for week two. We are tackling the top 36 running backs. We're kind of tearing them out where the biggest questions are. Hopefully we are getting into your minds and we are gonna bring out all the big questions that you doing. It is going to be Pat, Fitz, Morrison. Andrew Erickson is always with me. Guys killed the ranks this week. Running backs were about the only thing that I really ranked super well last week. I was better than Erickson, but the only thing I was better than Erickson at because Erickson was 13 on the ranks list. Fitzy was 9. We're ready to tackle. There's a bunch of these questions. Fitzy, do you feel more confident about your running back ranks this week or the wide receivers that we already did on that show? Like, what level positionally do you feel a little bit more comfortable with? Like, you have a good, good grasp of what the value is.
- [01:37]
Pat Fitzmorris
Maybe I feel a little bit better about the running backs this week than the wide receivers. Just, you know, especially after seeing so many of the top wide receivers kind of go belly up in week one.
- [01:47]
Chris Welsh
Oh, that's a good. What do you think about that, Erickson? Like, if you just had to, like, blanket positionally, Only the top 36. Do you feel more comfortable with this position or the wideouts?
- [01:56]
Andrew Erickson
I feel like I like a lot of the top running backs, but then we get to a certain running back tier where there's just. It's like a conglomerate of a bunch of committees where Zach Sharpening can't. Walker, who do you want to start this week? I'm like, we're gonna talk about it. Do I feel confident because you're like trying to take into consideration what happened in week one. Well, Jack's Arbonne was better. So like you should start Zach Cha Renee in week two. But what if they decide, well, we were easing Walker back in like we're going to start him in week one or in week two. So just trying to capture that type of ambiguity in linear rankings is something that I've been trying to do successfully. So I'm glad that we're going to talk about on the show.
- [02:34]
Chris Welsh
What's interesting about what you're just saying too is it's actually like wide receivers this week kind of have this like all these values that were pushed down because like maybe they were a little bit of a failure. And it looks like if as long as they just bounce back and get to that talent. Like Jameson Williams is a prime example we talked about in the wide receiver show. Like that's a guy that's just like ranked low. Put them back up where the running backs. I think there's a lot more questions. Kind of like you were saying Erickson a little bit later on. There's not all this great value that lower end running backs is spattered with just committees and just you're crossing, closing your eyes and crossing your fingers and just hoping somebody performs. But hopefully we will be able to get through all this. If you guys want to follow along or just throughout the week, you want to know where the ranks are at, you can do that@fantasypros.com rankings and we've got tiers in there. You can see where all the experts have it, expert consensus rankings, people across the industry creating one big standard. You can click on the players names though, which is really great, and you can go and see how people individually rank them. You could do that with Ericsson, you could do that with Fitz. I didn't get into a bunch more stuff on the amazing tools we have because there's dissenting tools where you could put Ericsson vs. Fitz, however you want to do it, go and play around with all of our tools. But fantasypros.com rankings, that is the big dog for this episode. So let's get into RB1s, the big board. Christian McCaffrey comes in at number one this week, followed by Derek Henry, Bijon Robinson, Jameer Gibbs, Saquon Barkley. I mean that's as chalk as it gets, as it should be. Number six is Chase Brown seven, Josh Jacobs, Kyron Williams, James Connor, Bucky Irving, Ashton Genty and Devon Achan coming in at 12. That Chase Brown one. It's kind of hurts me a little bit. After 21 carries for almost no yards. He just. We were talking about this before the show. I had a prop bet on the running, the rushing yards, 21 carries and I didn't hit it. Ugh. He's right back into it against the Jags. But we're not here to talk about Chase Brown. We're going to talk about Ashton Genty. Genti got volume. I don't think it was a rousing success. Anybody would call it that. You're jumping out and you're like, he is the modern day Saquon. We drafted him in the top eight. I think there's some questions coming out after this offensive output and you guys are slightly on like different spectrums of him. ECR12. Erickson, you are on the lower side. Fitz, you're on the higher side. So Fitz, why don't you kick us off here? You are higher than consensus. You like the volume. Do you like what you saw though, out of Genti?
- [04:54]
Pat Fitzmorris
Yeah, I mean, I like the volume. Welsh there, there just wasn't. Yeah, exactly. There was not a lot of room for Genti to run against Mike Frable's defense in New England in Week one, and admittedly that is a little concerning. But Genti played 85.7% of the offensive snaps for the Raiders. He had 19 carries, only netted 38 yards. Not the yardage output we're for, but massive workload. Got a goal line touchdown, caught a couple of passes. This usage is why people drafted Ashton Genti in the first round. And you know, while the yardage was not there for him in Week one, his college resume suggests that the yardage will be better most weeks.
- [05:37]
Chris Welsh
It's not a trade show or anything like that, Erickson, but you got him a little bit slightly higher because I obviously want to get what your Week two value is, but do you think there's going to be an element where people are going to regret maybe not sending out trade offers for Jenty after week one?
- [05:50]
Andrew Erickson
You know what this feels like? This feels like the MARVIN HARRISON Week 2 Game from last year. That's kind of the vibes I'm getting from where Week one, we're all super excited to play him. I know I was a little bit more reserved with Genty when we talked about him on the last show last week because I thought the Patriots run defense was improved. That ended up being true. And Patriots were selling out. Stop, Ashton. Jenny. They were like, we're not letting this guy beat us. And so they decided to Let Geno Smith just absolutely cook their secondary. So I think that was part of the game plan defensively, which made it struggle for Argente. Again, just no space to run and he ended up bailing you out because he didn't score the touchdown. So you're not necessarily, oh, I started this guy. He was terrible. At least he got you the score. And I think that the matchup is significantly better this week again, at least in week one. The Chargers dead last in EPA per rush. Among all teams, they were the worst team in terms of giving up expected points added against rushing attempts, the most rushing yards allowed before contact. So that's something to note where now Genty, instead of having no room to go where he gets the ball and there's already guys swarming him, he's going to get himself into space and that's where we know he's most dangerous. Forcing broken tackles involved a little bit in the passing game as well in week one, which I like to see. So yeah, I didn't talk about Genti or Worm and I didn't talk about Genti on the trade show, but in the article I wrote up for this week, you know, kind of outlining all the games, he was a guy that, hey, you should be looking to try to buy Ashton Genti from someone that maybe was disappointed for the week one effort. And I have him RB12 just kind of like talking through it with you guys now. I think I want to move him up, be more aggressive on Genti in a potential week two blow up spot.
- [07:19]
Chris Welsh
Well, as you do that and maybe some other people do it, be on the lookout that Genti's overall ECR could move up a tiny bit. So maybe and not to say that people are going to go and look at like, you know, the week two rankings for trade valuations. But you know, as people just kind of like put week one behind them, there might be a sentiment that's a little bit more positive maybe while the negative is out there. Same thing can be said maybe about Chase Brown. You know, Chase Brown had a bunch of volume, not a lot of production. The Bengals in general just kind of looked bad. There might just be some negative sentiment on both those players that you could take advantage of. But genty in our RB1s always not a ton to talk about. It's again, Chalky, it's you want to play all your guys. The expectation we care more when we do the ranks contest about, you know, who the number one is to the number four. You guys know you're just starting your players and have a little bit more confidence in Ashton Genti. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. We turn to some funny places for support, but not everybody's a therapist. You can find your right match though, with BetterHelp. We've all done this before. We've sparked up a conversation with someone at the grocery store or we start talking a bunch to a brand new friend. And as fun as it can be to talk about everyday topics, you might want to not unload everything about, you know, relationships, anxiety, depression, clinical issues. They might not have all the answers. Instead, get guidance from a credentialed therapist online with BetterHelp. BetterHelp, they do the initial matchmaking process for you so you can focus on the therapy goals. They've got 10 years of experience doing this with industry leading match fulfill fulfillment rates, which typically mean that they get it right the first time. This is all done completely online. You can pause your subscription whenever you need to and you can switch therapists anytime at no extra cost. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 5 million people globally. And it's convenient too. You can join a session with a therapist at the click of a button. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of Expertise. Find the one with Better Help our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com fantasyprospod that's Better Help. H E L P.com fantasy prospod Hola.
- [09:28]
Honey German
It'S honey German and my podcast, Gracias Come Again is back. This season we're going even deeper into the world of music and entertainment with raw and honest conversations with some of your favorite Latin artists and celebrities. You didn't have to audition?
- [09:41]
Chris Welsh
No, I didn't audition. I haven't auditioned like over 25 years.
- [09:45]
Honey German
Oh, wow. That's a real G talk right there.
- [09:47]
Chris Welsh
Oh, yeah.
- [09:48]
Honey German
We've got some of the biggest actors, musicians, content creators and culture shifters sharing their real stories of failure and success. You were destined to be a star. We talk all about what's viral and trending with a little bit of chisme, a lot of laughs and those amazing vivas you've come to expect. And of course, we'll explore deeper topics dealing with identity struggles and all the issues affecting our Latin community. You feel like you get a little whitewashed because you have to do the code switching.
- [10:18]
Chris Welsh
I won't say whitewashed because at the end of the day you know, I'm me. Yeah, but the whole pretending and co, you know, it takes a toll on you.
- [10:25]
Honey German
Listen to the new season of Gracias. Come again as part of my Cultura podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
- [10:34]
Chris Welsh
I'm Dan, he's Ty. Hello. And we're the Solid Verbal College Football Podcast.
- [10:40]
Andrew Erickson
College football season is here.
- [10:42]
Chris Welsh
And you know what that means. Your team is going to break your heart three times probably before Halloween.
- [10:51]
Andrew Erickson
Uh huh.
- [10:51]
Chris Welsh
But fear not, the Solid Verbal will be right there with you through every soul crushing loss and impossible comeback. Join us all season long, all year long, as we ride the rollercoaster of this ridiculous sport.
- [11:05]
Pat Fitzmorris
Whether you're a die hard fan or.
- [11:06]
Chris Welsh
A casual observer, we'll help you make.
- [11:09]
Pat Fitzmorris
Sense of all the chaos and of course celebrate the madness.
- [11:13]
Chris Welsh
Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the.
- [11:18]
Pat Fitzmorris
Emotional support you need as a college football fan.
- [11:21]
Chris Welsh
We don't just love college football, Ty, we live it.
- [11:25]
Pat Fitzmorris
Listen to the Solid Verbal college football podcasts on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [11:33]
Chris Welsh
Foreign and I'm Michael F. Florio and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Fantasy season is here and the question is, are you ready to dominate your league? Because if you're not locked in with us, the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, you're already playing from behind. Every episode we're breaking down the biggest fantasy headlines, injury updates you need before kickoff, and matchups you can exploit to bury your competition. We're talking sleeper picks, breakout stars, and the players you can't afford to bench.
- [12:06]
Pat Fitzmorris
Whether it's rookies making noise or veterans.
- [12:09]
Chris Welsh
Keeping their value, we cover it all. Whether you're drafting for the first time or chasing another championship, we'll give you the edge, the insight and the confidence to make every move count. Weekly analysis, hot takes, and insider knowledge all in one place. So what's it going to be? Another just okay season or total fantasy domination? Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Running back, RB2s, running backs 13 through 24. We're gonna kick it off with Jonathan Taylor at 13, James Cook, Breeze Hall, Chuba Hubbard, Travis Etienne at 17. Now Marion Hampton, Alvin Camara, Tony Pollard at 20, followed by DeAndre Swift, Javante Williams, Treveon Henderson and Ken Walker. We will talk about Ken Walker, but first we're going to talk about Shuba Hubbard. ECR RB16. Ericsson, you are higher. Fitz, you are lower. This is the dissenting tool. This is. You guys are on opposite ends. But will you guys both actually feel that way? Ericsson, why don't you kick us off? You have almost got chuba as an RB1 this week. Hit us with some Chuba love.
- [13:16]
Andrew Erickson
I think it's just a play on him being a workhorse about Cal. That's kind of what he was in Week 1. 16 carries, 57 yards. He also had five targets, three for 32 in the passing game. 67% of the snaps nor the running back touched the ball in the first half. For the Carolina Panthers, it's very clear to me that Chuba Hubbard is the guy they want to feature. Rigo Dowdle is not really a factor. Trevor Etienne is not really a factor. And as long as Hubbard is healthy, he is their bell cow. And he had three red zone rushes. Again, he didn't score in the red zone. But when the Panthers are looking to punch the ball into the end zone like Chuba Hubbard is going to be the guy, they should get one of their offensive linemen that did not play in last week's game. He should be returning for week two. So that's going to help their offensive line just create some push for Chuba Hubbard. And I just don't want to take away too many things from the Panthers offensive struggles overall in a game that had this massively long lightning delay. We saw it happen with the Cowboys and Eagles where they were in delay and then they came out like that game I had the under on and there's no way if there's no lightning delay that that game goes under the total because neither team could stop either of the offenses. It goes to delay and you see a lot less points scored. So not trying to overreact like we talked about, not trying to overreact to the Panthers struggles in a weird game where they had to miss so much time going halftime. Just I'm ready to give the Panthers another shot here and Hubbard is the main guy.
- [14:36]
Chris Welsh
Fitzy. I know sometimes we get into spaces where like a play you don't dislike, maybe you don't love is there kind of mid ish and you look at a player and you're just like they're fine. Is that kind of what happens with you? Like you like some other players a little bit more. I could also see the narrative where maybe you think, all right now they're gonna go on the other end. Rico Doll is gonna get more usage. Just curious at like where your take is with Chuba is this just like you think he's gonna put out a fine line. There's nothing really super interesting even though he did get all that volume and pushed away those other guys last week.
- [15:05]
Pat Fitzmorris
So I mean a small part of it is the status of Icky Equanu, the The former top 10 draft pick and their starting left tackle. Like he had an emergency appendectomy a few weeks ago and if he's back like that, that gives the Panthers running game a boost, I guess part of it for me. It was good to see that chuba had the 32 receiving yards against the Jaguars. I just don't know how much receiving production we can really count on from Chuba. Like There was only one game last season in which he had more than 17 receiving yards and he was not very efficient as a pass catcher either. I kind of think the passing down work is going to belong to Rico Dowdle this year. And I also, I guess I have concerns about the touchdown outlook after Bryce Young just kind of looked so ragged last week. But then again to Erickson's point, like maybe the weather delay did not help with that. You know, no Icky Iguanu, long weather delay. I can see why the Carolina offense was not really in sync, but I just do see Chuba Hubbard as more of a mid range RB2 than a high end RB this week against Arizona.
- [16:09]
Chris Welsh
Rookie running backs were like a big topic of conversation last week and you know, where's the valuations going to be? They. They've all kind of like separated themselves after week one. No shocker. Trivian Henderson I think is maybe one of the more interesting ones. He's got a pretty favorable matchup against Miami. ECR. RB23. Erickson is in agreement. Fit you or not, you've got him quite a bit lower at 28. They said they want to get him more involved. You know, we'll see if that actually ends up happening. But what do you think on Trayvon? Because I want to say this is a pretty big like you have a. You have a good idea now after that week one and people are putting their place markers on these guys. Putting them down at 28 to me feels like maybe you have a better grasp of what he is and what that value is moving forward.
- [16:52]
Pat Fitzmorris
Yeah. And I'm not a huge Patriots homer like Erickson is. So obviously that weighs into it.
- [16:56]
Chris Welsh
Well also ecr must be a lot of Patriots homers in there if he is 23 at RB.
- [17:01]
Pat Fitzmorris
Yeah, no, everyone wants to like Trey And I totally get it. I like him a lot too, you know, I think he's going to be terrific. But Ramon Dre Stevenson out snapped Treveon Henderson 46 to 25 last week and look, we knew Ramandre was going to be involved, but I don't think we were expecting a 2/3 Snapchat for Ramon Ray. I think we were expecting something closer to 50, 50. Now I think Henderson snapchat is going to increase and pretty quickly. Like I hope that's going to be the case. But I cannot rank henderson as an RB2 unless I'm confident that he's going to play more than 35% of the offense of snaps. I need to see that first.
- [17:39]
Chris Welsh
Erickson, will it be trey day in Week two?
- [17:43]
Andrew Erickson
I think it will be because I think if the matchup calls for, hey, explosive plays are going to be coming for Henderson. Henderson didn't have any explosive plays. He had a 14 yard run on a kind of like a weird end around play to convert and that was one of the longest runs that the Patriots had in Week one. And although Henderson did not match the snaps receiving, he had more touches like he had 11 touches, six of which were catches out of the backfield. He had six targets, six receptions. So in full pbr, Henderson is still delivering some type of floor along with the rushing upside that he offers if he can rip off a big play again. He's not going to rip off big plays every week. He didn't do it last week, but against the Miami Dolphins did one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Like this is a spot where, yeah, Henderson's probably gonna rip off a big play this week. Like that's what you want to bet on. And then it's accompanied by the floor. And also the fact that Stevenson looked so bad. He looked like he had cement in his shoes when he was running the football. He could not pick up any of the short distance stuff. It honestly would not surprise me if we see Antonio Gibson play more this week in place of Stevenson. So I don't know how high Henderson's snapshare is going to end up being, but the fact that he is the most explosive playmaker on their offense, they're playing a really bad defense. Mike Frable, like he can say whatever he wants about we have to conserve Travian Henderson to have him for the long haul. Well, you got to start winning games and if he's your best offensive player, like you have to get him the football. So that's why I'm just a little bit More optimistic.
- [19:03]
Chris Welsh
Yeah.
- [19:05]
Pat Fitzmorris
Oh, I was just going to Erickson's point. Like, it was a really good sign for Henderson that he did either carry the football or run a route on like 92% of his snaps.
- [19:14]
Chris Welsh
Yeah, 11.5. Those are the touches. I'll put it at over, under. Erickson, over.
- [19:22]
Andrew Erickson
I mean, he only has one more touch than last week.
- [19:25]
Chris Welsh
That's the point. That's why I put 11.5. Fitzy over, under.
- [19:28]
Pat Fitzmorris
Yeah, that's a. That's a pretty good number. I think it's going to be right around there. Walsh. I'll cautiously be up.
- [19:35]
Chris Welsh
Can't push it and say over. I'll say, okay, I put it at 0.5, so we couldn't push it. So there we go.
- [19:41]
Andrew Erickson
We reel them back in, baby.
- [19:44]
Chris Welsh
We got him. We got him, ladies and gentlemen. All right, the elephant in the room, Ken Walker, ECR, RB24. You guys are on opposite ends. One of you being more positive, one of you being more negative. Fitzy, you are our positive king here. You've got him at RB21. Ericsson's got him a little bit lower. This is. I will predict, I do the Sunday morning show. Ken Walker will 100% be top three and the most asked players this week because things were bad last week. And Charbonnet and every key metric. Metric. Every key point was out touching him. And if that continues, Ken Walker's value is going to decimate. You seem to not think so. As far as your rank, you're putting him in as a startable RB2 this week.
- [20:31]
Pat Fitzmorris
Yeah, not really freaking out that Zach Charbonnet played nine more snaps than Walker was. 30 snaps for Sharbs, 21 for Walker. But this is kind of like the Ramon Dre Stevenson, Trayvon Henderson situation. Walker did out touch Charbonnet 13 to 12, and Walker also had three targets and two catches. Charbonnet, zero targets. And I guess what's encouraging to me was that the Seahawks were run heavy against the 49ers. Like, we knew that Clint Kubiak wanted to run the ball like he drafted a fullback. They took Gray Zabel, this. This great interior run blocker in the first round. Walker and Charbonnet combined for 22 carries. Sam Darnold had 23 pass attempts. And, you know, Seattle just didn't run a lot of plays in that game. So I don't think Kenneth Walker, investor, should panic just yet. Like, let's not forget that Walker was dealing with a foot injury last month and missed some practice time. We probably shouldn't have Been surprised that he played a somewhat reduced role in week one.
- [21:32]
Chris Welsh
Erickson, jumping into our boy Ken Walker here, you've got him at 26, so you are a little bit lower. A, are you kind of. Is this A, you feel out and B, where do you have Charbonnet?
- [21:46]
Andrew Erickson
I have Charbonnet in the what, RB 29. So this is where that. This is the conglomerate that I was talking about earlier, where we got two Seahawks running backs, we got two Vikings running backs, we have two like, like chiefs. Like, like this is where I'm starting to get concerned about, like, well, what's the game script like if you imagine a scenario where, well, maybe Seattle is trying to catch up with points. Well, if Ken Walker is going to continue his role in the passing game, then, oh, this is a really easy path for him to outproduce Zach Sharpenay. And I'm glad that I really liked Fitz's points that he made because I wasn't even really considering how Walker actually did out touch Charbonnet. You know, I was primarily looking at these snaps as I'm seeing all my Ken Walker bags burst into flames on all these fantasy teams. So I'm also trying to not be biased because again, I was an investor of Ken Walker, so seeing this in week one was not something that I necessarily wanted to see. And I'm not trying to hold on to what my draft take was. Okay, Walker's gonna be the guy. He's gonna be the guy. But I think that Fitz made up a lot of good points. And I think that if you are starting one this week, I would say that Charbonnet probably has that touchdown equity because it just. He did see the majority of work in the red zone. But we know Ken Walker is still explosive and we know that he was definitely the preferred guy in the passing game here. So I think that. I hate to hedge and say, well, Walker gets started in full PPR and Charbonnet in half ppr, but I mean, that may end up being the. What actually happens here. Because I think from a projection standpoint, they're both going to be neck and neck unless Walker just fully takes over the backfield like we saw last year. And maybe they were just easing him in after dealing with the foot injury.
- [23:22]
Chris Welsh
I mean, I just want to point this out. If Ken Walker has like nine carries again this week, explosion, it's going to be just absolute explosion. So be prepared for that. Get prepared for our RB3 talk. But first, want to dominate your fantasy football league. You can do it with fantasy pros premium. And guess what? Now available free for six months when you deposit and place your first wager on one of our partner sportsbooks. This is the easiest way to get full access to our top fantasy tools all season long, so go to fantasypros.com premium to get started. RVs 25 through 36 coming down here at 25 is David Montgomery, Jaylen Warren, J.K. dobbins, Aaron Jones at 28, Bill Crosky, Merit at 29, Zach Charbonnet at 30, Isaiah Pacheco, Jordan Mason, Tyrone Tyrone Tracy, Nick Chubb, RJ Harvey and Dylan Sampson. Oh, Isaiah Pacheco has fallen man Bitsy, you and I had a million conversations about Pacheco this year. My worry has been pretty out there and it looked bad. You guys are both shedding some optimism though after week one's bad outing. He is 31, you have him at 24. Ericsson has him at 25. So you guys are kind of lockstep. So you think we're going to get a bounce back and maybe a little bit less Kareem Hunt.
- [24:36]
Pat Fitzmorris
I mean, admittedly I am worried that I'm maybe underreacting here to some troubling usage in Week one for for Pacheco. Like the Chiefs backfield was still kind of a committee. Kareem Haunts continued to play quite a bit, including in short yardage situations. Smith didn't touch the ball, but he was in on some of the passing downs and the Chiefs have a tough matchup against the Eagles this week. Two reasons why I'm above consensus on Pacheco this week though. One, he looks like Isaiah Pacheco again. Like when he came back from his broken leg last season he was a shell of himself and now he's back to being the hard charging runner he was in 2023. And two, like the Chiefs have to try to run the ball this week with no Rasheed Rice and presumably no Xavier Worthy and Travis Kelsey looking pretty dusty like they have to have a healthy run pass balance because if Hollywood Brown gets another 16 targets, the Chiefs are probably going to lose to the Eagles as bad as they did in the Super Bowl.
- [25:38]
Chris Welsh
What do you think Erickson, about Isaiah Pacheco this week?
- [25:42]
Andrew Erickson
Yeah, 16 targets a game is not a recipe for success for Hollywood Brown and the Kansas City Chiefs to win game. He's not going to last if he sees that much volume because we're talking about guys that get banged up constantly. Marquis Brown is constantly banged up and if he's handling that type of volume, I just don't think he's going to end up being there for the Chiefs when they need him the most. So I think Pacheco just the fact that in Fitz kind of alluded to this where they just need playmakers, right? They need someone to just step up. And we've seen Pacheco be using the passing game a decent amount, you know, before. And again he did average 5 yards per carry, like, right? So like he did not look like the same guy last year where he was coming off the broken leg. So I test you're feeling better about that. I think last week also had to do with a little bit of the game script where they just weren't trying to run the football, even though it necessarily wasn't a bad strategy when they decided to give the ball to Pacheco. So yeah, again, I'm cautiously optimistic. I think it's probably the best way to put it and the reason Pacheco is ranked here is I just think that he's still so significantly better than Kareem Hunt versus some of these other running backs in the conglomerate where it's like, all right, well, which Vikings running back do you think is going to be the better running back this week? Is it going to be both of them or is it going to be neither of them? What about the Broncos running backs? Like, I just feel like the gap between Pacheco and Hunt is great enough from a talent standpoint. Again, usage has been frustrating, but from a talent standpoint, I think that Pacheco is still clearly so much better than Hunt that the Chiefs are going to have to find ways to hey, I think we need to get Pacheco more involved because feeding Cream Hunt carry after carry really isn't us getting us anywhere.
- [27:13]
Chris Welsh
You're going to be swimming in tears when Cream hunt gets his five inside the 10 carries this week. But we can keep going with it. How about Bill Crosby merit ECR 29? We were all blessed with a Chris Rodriguez inactive on Sunday and all of a sudden Crosby just goes out and does his thing. Ranked pretty well, you guys. This is another big one, you guys. You 2 have a 210 spot difference between. So Erickson, you, Fitz, he's closer to consensus. You are way above. So let's start with you. You've got him inside your RB2 range. So let's hear the Bill Karoski love.
- [27:52]
Andrew Erickson
Well, if you want to hear Bill Crosby love or Bill Crosby merit love, you go back to watching this Commander's Giants game. You know whose name the fans are chanting in the stands?
- [28:02]
Chris Welsh
Bill.
- [28:03]
Andrew Erickson
Bill. Bill like they love Bill Crosky Merritt in Washington, they love this guy. And I think that what he did in his debut, 10 carries, 82 yards, 8.2 yards per carry, had a touchdown, had that long 42 yarder. I think this is just the beginning. I think that he's going to continue see an expanded role in this commander's offense. And I know that there's probably some fear with the matchup against the Packers. Again, packers just completely neutralized the Lions rushing attack, but I don't think that comparing a rushing attack led by Jared Goff, a statue s quarterback, to one led by Jaden Daniels, a mobile quarterback, is apples to apples. I think it's a totally different rushing scheme and I don't think the packers gonna have nearly as much success stopping the run when it's a mobile quarterback. That's opening up massive lanes for Jacoi Koski Merit, because that's what I saw him do with the matchup against the New York Giants, who also have a very stout defensive line and they had no problems running the ball all over the New York Giants. So I think that his Snapchat has only room to grow at 33% in week one. Austin Eckler's on their injury report this week, so maybe he's not necessarily at 100%. More opportunities for Crosby Merritt, who is the red zone running back again. He is Brian Robinson in this offense, but with juice. So Brian Robinson, we were ranking last year, I think consistently inside the top 30, a top 24 running back. And that was like, hey, he could probably score a touchdown. Like he's fine. But now it's Brian Robinson plus and that's Crosky Merritt and that's why I think that he is a top 24 running back in week two and I think for rest of the season.
- [29:34]
Chris Welsh
Pitzer, you had talked, I think it's on the wide receiver show. You had said packers one of the best defenses in the league. I kind of struggle. I'm a little bit with you on this one as well. Like these are great points that Erickson laid down, but this is a tough defense in what is some version of a share that's going out there. You have him at 32 and you're so you're a couple spots lower than consensus. You still do have him as like a four flex option, but definitely not as optimistic as Erickson.
- [29:57]
Pat Fitzmorris
Yeah. And Welsh. This is an adjustment for fantasy managers. The packers were a green light matchup for running backs for years. Years. Until Jeff Halfley took over as Green Bay's defensive coordinator. I don't know if people have gotten their heads around that yet, that this is a really tough Green Bay run defense now. And, you know, the Lions certainly saw that with Jameer Gibbs and David Montgomery having no room. And maybe Jaden Daniel's mobility does open things up for Bill a little bit. But the other thing about Bill, like, if it, if that doesn't happen and he cannot get it going on the ground, he does not have pass catching really to bail him out. Like, he had one target and no catches in Week one. I just don't think he's going to be a factor in the passing game. We know that Austin Echler is going to own the passing down work, and if Echler can't play this week because of his shoulder injury, then it's going to be Jeremy McNichols out there on passing down. So, you know, if, if Bill smashes against the packers this week, maybe it's a sign that he is destined for stardom, but I think he could have a tough night on Thursday.
- [31:02]
Chris Welsh
Get ready, kind of get ready to.
- [31:03]
Andrew Erickson
Crown Bill Fitzy against your Packers.
- [31:07]
Chris Welsh
We'll get Bill in there a kind of a tough one. R.J. harvey. R.J. harvey. You want to talk about rotational stuff, it's messy in Denver, especially if you catch the ball. Like, how about 37 different players catching the ball and RJ Harvey's ECR 35. This is one where you guys are kind of at value or even lower. Erickson, you've got him at 35. Fitz has got him at 37. So outside of this range, the. The talent is there. We saw that on that big, explosive play. But are the. Is the volume ever going to be there? They like Dobbins and Erickson. I'm. I'm a little bit worried. This is one of those. We all kind of do the rookie running back thing where we're like, all right, talk to me in. But I'm a little bit worried this might take a little bit longer or we just never get that really great volume like we expect Travion is going to get. I feels like the leash might be a lot longer for RJ Harvey. What do you think?
- [31:58]
Andrew Erickson
I agree with you. I had to. I initially, I came out more bullish on Harvey when I first did my week two rankings. And then I had to significantly move him down because, yes, it's great that he rushed for 70 yards, but he had six carries. That is, that is not great. And he's not being involved in the red zone. He's not seeing targets necessarily as much as. As some of the other running backs. Tyler Bidet saw six targets not only in the game, in the first half, he saw six targets. So Sean Payton clearly is showing that no, we are using caliber in the passing game. Like that is a thing in our offense. Whether you like it or not, that's reality and I don't like that. So I think right now I think you're still happy that you have Harvey on your roster because I think long term we know that J.K. dobbins is not made to. He's not built to last for a whole 17 week season. So I think he's probably the one running back that you would probably start from this Broncos backfield just because he had the most carries last week. He has red zone equity. They trust him on third downs. So you can continue to start J.K. dobbins kind of as that back end RB2, RB3, whereas Harvey, I think you just gotta. You just gotta wait. And I think that just the fact that he flashed last week and if you did start him, he didn't kill you because he had the big run. That won't happen every single week. Again, I don't think the matchup against the Colts is one to avoid in any anyway. A Chan looked great on the opportunities that he did get when he was actually in the game against the Indianapolis Colts as a rusher. But I mean 29% of the snaps and different from Henderson. Henderson had at least 11 touches. Like that was not Harvey. We'd be lucky if he gets 11 touches this weekend. You're not setting the over under his touches at 11 and a half because if it is, well, undertaker strikes again.
- [33:28]
Chris Welsh
Undertaker strikes again. Fitz, is this a lot of like the same stuff you talked about with Henderson, but bigger? It's just like the volume. You got to see it before it gets there. We don't trust it. Like we're not arguing in his talent but we are arguing that volume.
- [33:41]
Pat Fitzmorris
Sean Payton always as a backfield by committee, Welsh and you know, we knew it was going to be a committee but I think we were hoping that it was going to be like 80% to 90% with Harvey and JK Dobbins and. And those two splitting it pretty evenly. Well, RJ Harvey had a 29 Snapchat in week one. Like he played 18 fewer snaps than JK Dobbins. He only played eight more snaps than Tyler Badi. So I. You can't start RJ Harvey until he gets more work than this.
- [34:13]
Andrew Erickson
Tyler Madet knows Where the bodies are buried from Sean, apparently.
- [34:16]
Chris Welsh
Yeah, nobody show Debro this show. Please, please don't let DBRO know anything or tag him or anything like that. All right, top 36 running backs in the books. But let's talk about a running back that did not make the 36 that you guys believe should have. Fitzy, we will start with you.
- [34:33]
Pat Fitzmorris
Trey Benson, I mean, you could start him in a pinch. He was. His ECR is RB39. I've got him at RB35. Like he's still the clear number two in the Arizona backfield behind James Conner. But we know that Benson is going to get some change of pace work and the Cardinals have a home game against the Carolina Panthers, who apparently still have the worst run defense in the league. Like the panthers gave up 2500 rushing yards to running backs last season and they got completely trampled by Travis ETN in week one. So I don't think Trey Benson is any sort of must start by any means, but I think he might have flex value in a really good matchup.
- [35:09]
Chris Welsh
Trey Benson over R.J. harvey for Fitzy. All right, Erickson, for you, running back that didn't make the top 36 that.
- [35:16]
Andrew Erickson
You think should Dylan Sampson starting running back for the Cleveland Browns? We're still kind of in this up in the air situation with Quinshon Judkins and whether he's going to play this week or he's not going to play, not really sure. And if he does play, we don't really know what his role role may or may not be. But if anything, I think whatever Judkins does is going to take away from Jerome Ford. Because I think that Dylan Sampson and his role in this offense, he had eight targets out of the backfield, eight for 64 from Joe Flacco. I mean, the fact that the Browns involved their rookies from the jump in Week one so significantly, I think that Sampson's role is here to stay. Again, played 43% of the snap, so he's hovering around that 50% snap rate and what they did in week one, him versus Jerome Ford. I don't think the Browns are looking back and be like, you know, I think we got to get Jerome Ford more involved. I think it's, hey, no, we found maybe something special here with Dylan Sandman. Again, not great as a rusher, but as a receiver out of the backfield, like that's what we care about most for fantasy football purposes. Receptions get more fantasy points, especially in the full ppr. So I, I think that in negative game script. They are massive underdogs against the Baltimore Ravens. Joe Flacco, they're not afraid to have him throw 45, 50 times a game and that's going to benefit someone like Sampson. So I think there's a pretty high floor here for him if he's continuing to see this pass catching role.
- [36:34]
Chris Welsh
Ooh, tune in. This is that's a teaser, by the way. Tune in to the tight end show. When you talk about 40 or 50 passes, might have a guy to talk about. Wanted to give you an update. Ian Rapoport said just a little before we started that Quinshawn Judkins is in New York today meeting with the NFL as part of the investigation under the personal conduct policy. So he is meeting today. So just as you said, his name, just throwing that out there. I don't know if we're gonna have any clarity this week. That kind of does sound like maybe something by the end of the week we could have some clarity. But either way, Dylan Sampson season still seems like it is on. You guys want to check out all the ranks? Go over to fantasypros.com rankings. That'll tell you where all the movement happens. Things move throughout the week, whether it's injuries or, you know, Quinton Junkins type of news or people just get their ranks in. So make sure you're following there. And we talked about a lot of running backs. If we did not talk about your specific situation and you're like, guys, I desperately needed to know about Aaron Jones versus Jordan Mason. Well, guess what, we got you covered. On the YouTube channel. You guys can come and ask your specific start and sit questions every Thursday at 3pm Eastern. For the live streams. And for you listening on the podcast, go to YouTube.com fantasypros subscribe. Get notified whenever we are live. You don't want to miss it. 4. Mr. Pat Fitzmorris and Andrew Erickson, I'm Chris Welsh. Good luck in week two and hopefully we helped you with the ranks. We'll talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros.
- [37:55]
Pat Fitzmorris
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.
- [37:58]
Andrew Erickson
If you love the show, the best.
- [38:00]
Chris Welsh
Free way to support us is by.
- [38:01]
Andrew Erickson
Leaving a positive review on apple podcasts@fantasypros.com review or on Spotify. Follow us on X Instagram and TikTok Antasypros and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
- [38:13]
Chris Welsh
Channel@Youtube.Com fantasypros hey everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here and I'm Bucky Brooks on Move to six. We take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects, prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching.
- [38:48]
Pat Fitzmorris
Trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.
- [38:52]
Chris Welsh
We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.
- [38:58]
Pat Fitzmorris
It's everything you need to understand the.
- [39:00]
Chris Welsh
Why behind what happens on Sundays. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dan. He's Ty. Hello. And we're the solid verbal college football podcast. Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the.
- [39:21]
Pat Fitzmorris
Emotional support you need as a college football fan.
- [39:24]
Chris Welsh
Join us all season long as we ride the roller coaster of this ridiculous sport.
- [39:29]
Pat Fitzmorris
Listen to the solid verbal college football.
- [39:30]
Andrew Erickson
Podcasts on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts.
- [39:34]
Chris Welsh
Or wherever you get your podcasts. We don't just love college football, Ty. We live it.
- [39:40]
Honey German
Hi, it's Honey German, and I'm back with season two of my podcast. Gracias. Come again. We got you. When it comes to the latest in music and entertainment, with interviews with some of your favorite Latin artists and celebrities, you didn't have to audition.
- [39:53]
Chris Welsh
No, I didn't audition.
- [39:54]
Andrew Erickson
I haven't auditioned in, like, over 25 years.
- [39:56]
Honey German
Oh, wow. That's a real G talk right there.
- [39:59]
Chris Welsh
Oh, yeah.
- [40:00]
Honey German
We'll talk about all that's viral and trending with a little bit of Cheeseman and a whole lot of laughs. And of course, the great beavers you've come to expect. Listen to the new season of Dashes. Come again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an iHeart podcast.