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FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast
Week 8 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings & Tiers: Studs, Sleepers, and Must-Starts (Ep. 1791)
00:38:39
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This is an iHeart podcast.
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Look, if you smoke or dip, I'm going to give you a few good reasons to try Zyn nicotine pouches. First, Zyn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand and Zyn offers an unbelievable rewards program. There's a lot of options for nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen. Visit zen.com find to find Zen at a store near you. Again, that zen.com find zen spelled z y N. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. What's up, friends? And welcome in to Fantasy Pros, the fantasy football podcast. This is the running back ranks for week eight. I'm Chris Welsh. We got Pat Fitzmores and Andrew Erickson in the house. Dealing with bipocalypse. A lot of running back. Six teams on by that obviously is going to have a pretty large effect on running backs and you are going to feel it. We've already been feeling the running back threes. You know, the 25 through 36. They've already been kind of gross. You're going to feel it a lot deeper this week though. You know, waivers kind of pushed you up a little bit. There's going to be Fitzy. There's going to be some decisions that we're not going to be proud about this week. This is going to be a rough decision making thing where we're going to have a hard time looking ourselves in the eye for some of the starts that we're going to make.
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Yeah, we're going to have to come up with 24 starting running backs in 12 team leagues and that's going to be tricky. But hallelujah, we do not have to deal with the Seattle running backs this week though, so we can rejoice about that.
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Erickson, are you going to be able to look at yourself in the eye when you're just like, all right, guys. Brashard Smith, top 35 running back this week. Tyler Algiers, a lock in the top 25. Like that's what we're dealing with. That's what we're going to talk about.
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C
I mean, tell us. Here's playing the Miami Dolphins. So he's locked and loaded. 24 running back. Let's go.
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B
There it is. I knew it was going to happen. Where will Kyle Manong guy rank? He was probably at the tippy top of your waivers. We are going to talk about him. We're going to talk about a big old crew of running backs through the top 36. We'll look at the big board and we're going to do so using fantasy pros, ECR Expert consensus ranks fantasypros.com rankings if you guys want to check it out all week long and you want to follow along with us. As a note though, depending when you're listening to this, there could be some subtle changes in the ranks as people or some more dramatic changes as well as people start to submit their ranks. All the expert consensus guys if you want to hear how the Week 7 ranks finish, you can go listen to the wide receiver show where we did give a shout out to the top three who finished in the ranks contest. All right, let's not waste any time. Let's get right into this. Let's jump into the big board for the running backs for Week eight. It starts with Bijan Robinson versus The Dolphins. I mean, if there's a matchup of matchups, this is the one. Coming in at two is Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey at three seems pretty standard. Those top three doesn't really matter. The matchup Josh Jacobs at four, Devon Achan at five, Derek Henry, James Cook, Saquon Barkley, Javante Williams, Rashad White at 10, Gwyn Sean Judkins at 11 and Cam Scatterboo at 12. There actually were quite a few questions we could have dug into. Derek Henry was one that Fitz had put on here just for timing purposes. We took off. But I think that's like a legitimate question. People are just like, you know, can I trust him? I think coming off of a buy, if there is a week to trust that he could get back, this is just my note. This would be the week coming off of a buy that they're going to reestablish that. But Rashad White really jumps out here as a top 10 back and actually specifically the guy that he's ahead of, which we're going to touch on RB10 for Rashad White. Erickson is right about at ECR at 11. Fitz are you? Not so much. You're at 17 so you know he's a wide receiver or running back one here you've got him as a mid tier RB2. What's got you down on Rashad White versus New Orleans?
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So White is at the bottom of a tier for me, Welsh and That tier includes J.K. dobbins, DeAndre Swift, Chase Brown, Jalen Warren and Breece Hall. So you could split hairs. I I could easily move White up two or three spots there. I can't quite get him into running back one range. The usage outlook for White is pretty good. Even though he only had 10 carries against the Lions last week. He was up against a good run defense and the game script went sideways on the Buccaneers in that game, obviously. But Rashad White, he's at the bottom of that tier for me because I think he's a worse runner than all the other guys on that tier. 3.9 yards per carry this season, 3.8 for his career. I just, I think all of Dobbins, Swift, Chase Brown, Jalen, Warren, Breeze, Hall, I think they're all better runners than Rashad White is.
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B
Ericsson, you got him as an RB one. It's just a great matchup. It's a really, really good matchup. They lost Mike Evans. We don't know what the weapons are going to be around this team. So because of this last matchup where they kind of got away from, from Rashad White and game script that they might kind of re establish that also could mean more Sean Tucker. But what do you think about Rashad White? You've got him at 11, so one spot lower than ECR.
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C
I think that he's a three down workhorse. He played 90% of the snaps last week, so I know that they've kind of sprinkled in Sean Tucker here and there. But when push comes to shove, it's Rashad White's backfield when Bucky Raving's not there. So 90% snapshare, that is one of the highest in the NFL among any running back. So that gives Rashad White a super high floor and he's game script proof. Doesn't matter whether they're losing, they're winning, he's going to be involved in the game plan. We're talking about all of these receivers to the Bucks. Oh, Tez Johnson, Sterling Shepard, Cameron Johnson, Kate Otten. Well, what about Rashad White out of the backfield? He can catch passes, he catches targets. So I, I just think his floor is super, super high. You have a good matchup against the Saints and I think, I think Rochelle Whites look significantly better as a running back this year as a rusher. And I don't know if it's just because Troy Aikman's been pumping his stock on the two Monday night games that Rashad White has been on. But Rashad White is running like a guy who lost his job last year. In my opinion. He, Bucky Irving outplayed him last year he lost his job. But this year among all running backs, Rashad White is number one in rushing success rate. So although his yards per carry doesn't necessarily pop off the screen because Because I don't think he's ripped off any like really massive runs. He's constantly picking up positive yardage. When it's third and four he gets five, when it's third and three, he gets four. So he's moving the chains. They trust him to play all the snaps. And against the Saints, the Saints have been bad against two things when it comes to the run defense. They're bad against outside tackle runs and against stack boxes. Rashad White in those situations, number one in the NFL in rushing success rate at 60%. So he's a lot. He's a, he's an RB one for me. I'll tell you.
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B
He's also running back running like he is going into free agency next year, which he is. So I think that would be a big piece of it just to throw out to you. So Vitzi's got him at 17, you've got Rashad White at 11 going to the next guy. You guys have this flipped again. This is more dramatic and coming off of a three touchdown week. I just don't know how I ever rank Quince on Judkins. Not as like a top 10 guy. He is ECR 11, so he's below Rashad White in the overall ECR ranks. You've got him at 10, but Erickson, you got Junk Kids down here at 17. So you guys have got that completely flipped. Is the New England defense that much of a worry that Judkins and his 76 carries in this game are not going to be able to get touchdowns and yards?
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C
Yeah, I do think the Patriots defense is legitimate, especially against the run. Their third in run defense. Deep epa, six fewest points allowed to running backs. They've allowed just two point yards after contact per carry on design runs this season. That is third lowest in the NFL. And remember, we're going from the worst defense in the NFL against running backs Miami to one of the top defense in the NFL. So this is a stark contrast from what Judkins faced last week in a smash spot going on the road now against New England. I, I don't like the spot for Judkins and although he has been game script proof in some matchups, there have been some times where two weeks ago it was more Jerome Ford and Dylan Sampson catching passes because the Browns were losing. So that concerns me if the, if the game script does go south, is it Judkin still getting a ton of carries we've seen? Sometimes it does and sometime it doesn't. And the thing I want to point about last week too. And Welsh, I believe it was you that had the Quinton Judkins one of his props, right? Was it that you bet one of the.
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B
Not this week, not this week. But everything was. Remember he opened up at 85 and then it jumped to 95. The rush attempts was the 1. I think I told you. I like the rush VPNs which was 20.5, but I like Judkins props in general.
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C
So the thing that was really interesting about the Miami matchup, so he had 18 carries for 75 yards in the first half and he didn't do like anything in the second half of the entire game. So Miami Dolphins terrible run defense was able to bottle up Judkins in the second half. And when you look at his success rate, so on a down to down basis, he had a season low in rushing success rate against the worst run defense in the NFL. Last week against the Miami Dolphins he had one run over five yards which was the 46 yard touchdown. So I don't think Judkins is nearly as bulletproof. And we've seen this before a couple weeks ago, Chargers running back. Come on, monster game. What do you do next week? 20 rushing yards because he wasn't facing the Miami Dolphins. So that is why I've pushed Judkins more into the mid RB2 range. Agreed. He still has a floor, but the Browns are no lock to score a touchdown in this game on the road against a pretty good Patriots defense. If he doesn't score, you're left with 60 rushing yards, maybe a catch here or there and I think that you're feeling a little bit disappointed. So that's why I'm lower on Judkins this week.
- [09:46]
B
On a normal week, I would say a Running back at 17 is the start of a guy that you could maybe justify to like not start. So it's like really important this week. I don't know how anybody wouldn't with like bipocalypse and stuff. But Fitzy, you're on the other end. So again you're, you're on the positive end of quinch on Judkins. Let's get all this negative Nancy stuff out from Erickson and let's hear some positive Judkins talk.
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Yeah, I just got a vehemently disagree with Erickson here. Judkins is a star. Rashad White is just a guy. It's kind of that simple. And Erickson is kind of casting Judkins as this matchup dependent guy. He has had tough matchups before. 18 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown against the packers, who have one of the better run defenses in the league, 21 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown against the Lions, who by the way just shut down Rashad White. The Patriots are a tough matchup, no question, but Judkins has done well in other daunting matchups. Really, the only thing I don't like about Judkins is that he has not been very involved as a pass catcher ever since Dylan Gabriel took over as the quarterback. So in Gabriel's three starts, Judkins has three targets and one catch. But I don't know if that's gone away completely because he was catching passes when he was playing with Joe Flacco earlier in the year. So I'd love to get the pass catching productivity back, but I'm still pretty confident about the running production with Judkins even in the tougher matchup this week.
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That'S the sound of James adding long lasting Gain scent boosters to his laundry this morning.
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Several hours later, James sniffs the irresistible.
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Scent of gain on his shirt.
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Ah gain.
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Several hours later, James has even caught.
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The attention of his mother in law.
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And she never gives him attention.
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Ooh, you smell amazing James.
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Oh thanks Mom.
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I love you too.
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I never said that. Add Gain Scent Boosters to your laundry. Add joy to your day.
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B
RB2s this is RB13 24. It starts off with JK Dobbins at 13. DeAndre Swift, Breece Hall, Chase Brown, Jaylen Warren, rico Dowdle at 18, Jordan Mason, Alvin Kamara, Kamani Vidal, Ramondre Stevenson, Jakori Kroskey, Merritt and Isaiah Pacheco. This is kind of the meat of some of the players. We got multiple players we want to talk about. Let's start it off with Chase Brown. Is Chase Brown back? He comes in at RB16 this week. Everything looks better with Joe Flacco. You guys kind of have an agreement going on here. Erickson's right at ECR at 16. Fitzy, you're at 14. So Fitz, we'll just jump in with you here for a second. You're the positive. Is Chase Brown back in our good graces? Is he back in the circle of trust?
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I think he is. Welsh. I know Chase Brown isn't playing quite as much or getting the same sort of massive workloads he was getting last year when he was fantasy monster down the stretch getting these games where he had all of the carries, all of the running back carries for the Bengals and 90 plus percent of the snaps. He did have 37 carries in the Bengals first two games this year when Joe Burrow was still the quarterback. But Brown's rushing production kind of cratered with Jake Browning at quarterback. Although he was still catching some passes, Bengals just weren't moving the ball, weren't picking up first downs. You're not going to have a 20 carry games very often when your team can't move the ball. And Chase Brown's rushing totals haven't been great In Joe Flacco's two starts, at least not as far as the carry numbers 9 and 11, but he's averaged 7 1/2 yards per carry in those two games. I'm. I'm buying into Chase Brown because I'm willing to buy into the offensive environment in Cincinnati with Joe Flacco at quarterback. And Brown adds value as a pass catcher. He's averaging four targets and about three catches a game. And we have the rare instance where the Bengals are pretty big favorites this week at home against the Jets. The jets run defense has been pretty good, but Brown does have that two way value, running and catching, and the environment should be pretty run friendly this week.
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Erickson, you technically have Chase Brown above quinch on Judkins, so that just in itself feels like a statement of trust. But you're right at ecr. Do you feel comfortable again with Chase Brown starting or is there still a little bit of diet? Not that anyone's going to have like a bunch of other great options necessarily, but are you feeling a lot better how this offense is moving and that Chase Brown can get going more?
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C
Yeah, I think that this is a prime spot for Chase Brown to have the most carries he's seen since probably week two when Joe Burrow last started for the Cincinnati Bengals. Just looking at the optics of this matchup, the Bengals are favored at home against the New York Jets. When's the last time the Bengals were favored when Joe Burrow was still the starting quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals. This is exactly what we bought into last week when I want I was trying to push Isaiah Pacheco. It's just look there, he's a starting running back and their favorites at home by a lot of points. He should produce. And it wasn't a monster game for Pacheco in many means, but it was the best game of the year for him and he had 15 carries. So I think that this can be more vintage Chase Brown from what we saw last year. I talked about this when I was just a tiny bit lower on some of the Bengals wide receivers where I don't think this is a 45 drop back type of game for Joe Flacco. I think it's. We can actually get Chase Brown going in this game because we're facing the Jets. They're 07 and they're facing the lowest pass rate in the NFL because they're 07, because teams are able to run the ball on them, especially in the second half. So I think that the splits with Samaj P. Ryan I don't think are going to be as drastic in this particular matchup because the Bengals have been down to start both games the last two weeks with Joe Flacco, so they've been kind of forced to air it out. We were playing more at third downs with Samaj P run out there catching passes, but if they're playing with a positive game script, I think we actually will see Chase Brown push his carry. So it's gone up. The last two weeks it was nine, then 11. I think we're going to see Chase brown north of 13, 14 or even 15 carries and I obviously like his odds to score a touchdown against, you know, a pretty lifeless jets defense coming.
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In at number 18. I think we've got a good vibe on what the Panthers are now. Last week it was kind of a it's Chuba, it's Rico. Take your sides. And what ended up being is a little bit of everybody and it hurts everybody. You know, this is going to be some split version of a backfield that maybe unless you guys are going to feel different, but they proved it to be. I think it was Chuba at 14 carries, Rico at 17. Rico is the better back. I don't think that's a question. And Rico is going to get the edge here. Feel free to throw in where you guys have Chuba here. Chuba is actually going to be in our next section, but 18 at running back. Fitz at 20. Erickson, you're at 19. So you're slightly higher than Fitz, but you guys are both lower than consensus. Do you agree that this is just a messy backfield? Rico's the better guy and we're looking at pseudo RB1 is an RB2, one is an RB3, but obviously the lean is going to Rico Erickson.
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C
Yes, and that's because Rico has been the more efficient of the two running backs, even though the usage has kind of been split 50 50. And you could actually argue that Hubbard has actually been more of the pass catcher than Rico Dowdle, which is kind of weird because it seemed like in the preseason Rico Dowdle was going to be the guy that was would be operating more on third downs. But that really hasn't been the case. Even this last game Chuba Hubbard had more targets and ran more routes, but Hubbard still is kind of knocking off the rust. He was less efficient than Rico Dowdle was and Dowd has obviously been an absolute monster with the games against Dallas, against Miami and even against the jets, who I don't think are a terrible run defense, he was clearly more efficient back. And in my time doing these rankings, especially when it comes to these muddle backfields, when it's a good matchup, you sometimes you just got to start both guys and just hope that they can rip off enough explosive plays and not really get so caught up in the oh, who's going to get more touches? If it's the Buffalo Bills same run defense that it was to start the year where they're just giving up explosive runs left and right, then it's not going to matter how many touches they get. And if the Panthers do what they like to do and establish the run and feature both guys getting double digit touches, I think both of them can at least be fantasy RB2s. But yeah, I have Rico Dowdle ahead but Hubbard's not that far behind. He's still a top 24 guy for me.
- [18:38]
B
Daddles definitely been an explosive back. Like when you get him that open lane and he just goes, that's what I really, really like about him. Fitzy, what do you think? How far off do you have these guys is? I'm going to guess based on your rank. Like Rico has got the lean but is it close as well or do you think there's a bigger separator and Rico is going to start separating from the pack?
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Close Ish Welsh I have Rico ranked RB20 and Chuba Hubbard ranked RB26 because it is a timeshare in Carolina now with Hubbard back last week, 33 snaps for Dowdle, 38 snaps for Chuba Hubbard, 18 touches for Dowdle, 16 for Hubbard. So this is a 5050 backfield and on one hand the Bills run defense is not that great. Probably objectively worse than the jets run defense, but on the other hand, run friendly game script last week for the Panthers against the jets and maybe not as run friendly a game script against the Bills, who are pretty significant favorites over the Panthers in this game.
- [19:47]
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I'm going to really be watching as well if they continue the series thing with those two running backs because I wouldn't hate if they killed the series thing and we got to see more defined roles like I think they should have. Reek, you want to see Rico in the red zone, let Chuba have third downs. But they're not doing that right now. So just something to watch with that. It is just series, just Chuba gets first series, Rico gets a second.
- [20:09]
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I kind of like the series type of aspect to it because to me, when you're doing it series by series, it almost puts the running backs incentive to produce because if you get more carries on your drive, if you do good, right. So if you go out and just get stuffed a bunch of times now, sometimes situational based, sometimes you just run a bad play. But I feel like when you do series by series, it's almost like let the best running back win, right? If Rico Delta keeps ripping off all these runs, well, it's like, hey man, it's my drive. Like if I get us down to the red zone, I'm punching it in, not Chubba Hubbard. So. But yeah, we'll see how it shakes out. All right.
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B
Kamani Vidal, he comes in at RB21. You guys are a little bit flipped on him. We've got RB22 for fits. Erickson is in here at 18. We had a really positive look in that first game. The heavy volume game carries rate 124 yards. This past week against Indianapolis only had nine carries for 20 yards, which definitely stunk. But he was targeted five times out of the backfield. Erickson, you've got him a few spots higher at 18 than his actual ECR. What are you thinking here against Minnesota? Are you liking the matchup? Do you think they're going to reestablish back into volume for Vidal? He's a top 24 back. He's an RB2 this week.
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C
It's not really that I'm expecting this monster rushing game from him because I don't think the Vikings defense is a total push over now. It depends on what matchups they've had. Again, they stopped Seiko and Barkley last week, but is that really, I mean, a lot of defensive stop Seiko, Barkley this year. So is that really that impressive because they've been ripped up by other running backs at other times during the season. So I think it's kind of just like a, a normal matchup. Not like amazing or terrible. But the thing that I love about Videl is or Videl guys with more red zone touches over the last three weeks. So that includes the game that Omarion Hampton still started. Running backs Christian McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, that's it. Nobody else has more running back touches in the red zone than Kamani Vidal. So I think he has a ton of touchdown equity attached to the Chargers offense. The Chargers could get upgrades on their offensive line. Trey Pipkins and Joe Alt have been practicing this week. So I think that could be a significant boost to the blocking up front to help Videl in the run game. I mean he catches passes so whatever the game script is, you know he's going to be on the field and has son Haskins is not even playing. So when we're going to. Okay, how what's his snapshot going to be? 75%, 80%. With all the red zone equity with catches out of the backfield, the usage is just too good for me to not feel confident ranking him as a top 20 running back.
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B
Fitzy, when we look at the running backs I think we kind of said this at the top. So like let's say there's and I'm going to arguably say let's say there's 20 backs. There's 20 backs that you're just like, yeah, those are RB1s and twos. Then there's maybe a collection. I'm going to call it five or six guys that are like the other guys. And then it's just like oh my God, like you can't deal with it. You know that way you're starting the Algiers of the world and stuff like that. Is Kamani Vidal the end of the I feel good tier or is he part of the other guys? And I think Chubo falls into the other guy again, not The Camara in ECR is RB20 is like cool. We know what that is. But are the other guys Vidal and Stevenson and maybe Pacheco who are going to talk about how what tier range do you view him as?
- [23:29]
A
All right, so I've got the feel good range goes to 17 at Rashad White and he's.
- [23:35]
B
That's a good name.
- [23:36]
A
Then I've got sort of a five man purgatory Welsh before we get to the guys I'm worried about. And that five man purgatory tier includes Kymani Vidal. It's Pacheco, Jakory Crosky, Merritt, Rico Dowdle, Alvin Kamara and Kymani Vedal.
- [23:51]
B
Perfect.
- [23:52]
A
So, yeah, I'm kind of straddling the fence with Vidal. I thought he was one of the hardest players to rank this week. Now it does look like Hassan Haskins is going to be out this week. He's considered doubtful, so the workload for Vidal should be pretty substantial. But, and I can't believe I'm saying this on a team that has Greg Roman calling the playoffs. The Chargers are a pass first team.
- [24:13]
C
Now.
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A
And I don't know, like, I worry about Vidal's carry share and I don't think they're really going to feature him as a pass catcher when they've got three good receivers and an emerging star at tight end. So maybe I'm low. Like Vidal did have 18 carries for 124 yards against the Dolphins two weeks ago, but, well, it was the Dolphins. Every running back goes nuts on the Dolphins. Yet I don't think it's fair to judge Vidal on his nine carry, 20 yard rushing day against the Colts last week because the game script went completely haywire in the Chargers and they were throwing like crazy to try to catch up. So he's a hard guy to pin down. Big workload share or big backfield share, I should say, coming this week, but I just don't know how many backfield touches there are going to be for the Chargers in any given week, which again, really strange to say for a Greg Roman team.
- [25:14]
B
I like the purgatory line. That's the purgatory tier and we're going to kind of stick in that tier, especially for you because the last one we're going to talk about here is Isaiah Pacheco who comes in as ECR RB24. Again, shout out to Ericsson for kind of calling him getting back. Right. Crim Hunt got a little bit banged up. They were just able to do a lot of stuff in the running game. Prashard Smith was kind of balling out a little bit. Fitz, you've got him at 18, Erickson got him at 21. So Fitz a little bit of the higher. But you had said the start of your purgatory tier is Isaiah Pachec Pacheco at 18, or maybe it was 17 and he's right there. So he's at the tippy top. But this is probably the most aggressive rank you've had on Pacheco since week one, maybe two. And then you kind of relented and Just we brought him back down. So top 20 back for Pacheco this week for you, Fitzy.
- [26:01]
A
I do feel best about him of the Purgatory backs because he reassumed the lead back role for the Chiefs two weeks ago and that was before Kareem Haunts hurt his ankle last week. So Hunt's status not entirely clear yet. We should know more after the Wednesday practice report. We're recording this on Wednesday morning, but Pacheco has had 27 carries and five targets over his last two games. And even if Kareem Hunt is out, Rashard Smith is going to play some snaps for the Chiefs and take some of the passing down work. But Pacheco should get the goal line work this week. He wasn't really getting it early in the season. Hunt was the goal line guy but you know, now Pacheco is the lead back in one of the best offenses in the league. And the Chiefs are double digit favorites this week against the Commanders at home. The arrow is definitely pointing up for Isaiah Pacheco Erickson.
- [26:52]
B
Do you believe that Pacheco is kind of like the, that second tier, you know, where it's like, hey, you feel good about the top 17? Would you agree with that or do you think. I mean your Rank is at 21, so you'd have to have a little bit of a bigger tier that you feel comfortable about. You think he's in that middle. You're just kind of like, I don't know if I feel great but let's get him in there.
- [27:09]
C
I think you feel good about Pacheco. I don't know if great is probably the right word. Just because the Chiefs don't love to run the ball like they rather just throw it a million times, especially in the red zone. So that's like the one. And Pacheco's not really involved that much as a receiver. They really like Rashad Smith in that role. I just think he's fine. Right. I think he's an RB2. Again, I don't have him at. I'm have him higher than ECR just because ECR I think is a little low on him. And RB24, I mean Fitz laid out the game script, right? If they're smashing the Commanders at home, then Pacheco doesn't have to even do that much because even like last week, right. Was that like his breakout game? He was RB15, right.
- [27:45]
B
So you're not like 57 rushing yards, you're like, yeah.
- [27:49]
C
So if that's like the ceiling, it's. It's on, especially on this week. Well, you'll take it, right? That's all I need. I think he's a locked loaded RB2. Strong start. Not gonna bust this week. Maybe he doesn't. Maybe if he scores multiple touchdowns, then. Okay, now you're cooking with gas. And that obviously can be influenced by Kareem Hunt. You know, if he doesn't play, then I think I would probably even move up Pacheco a little bit more. Last two weeks, he has six red zone attempts to cream Hunts one.
- [28:13]
B
Do you have, I think, Fitz, you said you have Pacheco over Bill Crosky Mayer. Is that correct?
- [28:18]
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One spot higher. Yes.
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B
Erickson, do you have Pacheco over Crosby?
- [28:22]
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Yes.
- [28:23]
B
Okay, so unanimous. There you go. All right, we've got running back threes 25 through 36 coming up, but a little bit of offer time for you. Dominate your fantasy football league with fantasy pros Premium now available free for six months when you deposit and place your first wager with one of our partner sportsbooks. This is the easiest way to get access to our top fantasy tools all season long. So go to fantasypros.com premium to get started. RB3s, 25 through 36. The big board. Chuba Hubbard coming in at 25, followed by Tony Pollard, Tyler Algier, Woody Marks, Taje Spears at 29, Nick Chubb at 30. There's Kyle Managai at 31, RJ Harvey, Kenny Gainwell, Burchard Smith, Isaiah Davis, and Tyrone Tracy. Tony Pollard. Yeah, is right. There's a lot of, like, just we could talk about. Like, I look at Isaiah Davis and it's like that's where we're at. That's what we're doing here. I feel like we're falling out of favor with Tony Pollard. We had a question on one of the live streams this week, early in the week that said, should I drop Tony Pollard for Tajie Spears? The snap percentages were close. Kind of feels like with where this team is heading, this might be going in favor of Tajie Spears. I just don't know if you can make that move. Those two are within four spots of each other. On ECR. You guys are both lower on Tony Pollard, he's 26. Fitz, you've got him at 28. Erickson, you're down at 31. So, A, what level of trust is Tony Pollard as a top 30? And B, do. Yeah, okay, zero. There you go. Now, B, do you like Tajie Spears over Tony Pollard this week and rest of season?
- [30:03]
C
I don't like either running back. I don't want anyone on this team. Like, I'm sorry, that's not the answer.
- [30:08]
B
Now, which Titan do you like? Do you like any?
- [30:11]
C
Oh. Because the answer is no. I don't want any of these guys on my team anywhere near my roster. And yeah, you want Tasha Spears over Tony Pollard, be my guest. But, you know, the next week Spears are gonna have more targets because, like, last week was so weird because Spears was like, locked and loaded into this receiving role. And then in the fourth quarter, in total garbage time, Tony Pollard is out there catching all these passes. He caught four passes on four passes in a row on the Titans final drive. Before that, he had basically done nothing the entire game against the New England Patriots. The opportunities have been in Pollard's favor the last two weeks. He's had 12 opportunities in each game. Spears has had nine in each game. So it's close to a 50, 50 split, but Pollard has been seeing a little bit more. I just, I don't want you. These guys are both outside the top 30 for me. And I guess if you really wanted to ask me, like, rest of season, the best bet is probably you're. I mean, you're kind of like hoping that one of these guys gets banged up and then the other guy just takes over as the 80 snapshare running back. And look, Tasha Spears just doesn't have a great track record of staying healthy, right? So, like, that's. That's my only, like, hesitance about, oh, you gotta just drop Pollard, pick up Spears, because what is Spears doing that's so amazingly great that they're gonna bench Tony Pollard who they paid? I don't think that's necessarily going to happen. So I, Yeah, I don't. I don't want either of these guys.
- [31:37]
B
And if they hadn't paid, maybe he'd have a little bit more trade equity. He just move on with new regime and stuff like that. But just not sure that's going to happen. Fitz, what's your take on Tony Pollard this week?
- [31:46]
A
Erickson said it perfectly. I mean, obviously we're in the soup here when we're talking about 50, 50 backs on the Tennessee Titans, the worst team in the NFL. I want to rank Tajie Spears higher than Tony Pollard because Tony Pollard has been such a fantasy dullard for the entire season, even when he had that backfield to himself, like, he couldn't convert that into fantasy value. Frustrating. And I would have had Ty Jerry Spears ranked higher this week if not for that final series that Erickson was just talking about and I had to start Tony Pollard in a couple of leagues last week and it looked like it was going to be an absolute washout of a fantasy day for Pollard and he kind of salvaged something out of it by playing in that two minute roll and I'm like wait a second, I, I thought Taje Spears was gonna be the two minute back for the Titans. So now I'm pretty confused about what the usage is gonna look like for these two guys. I just, I don't want to use either guy if I can help it. So even though Spears is I think the more dynamic guy and the better candidate to be the passing down back, I feel obligated to rank Pollard slightly higher than Spears this week.
- [33:01]
B
Well, an interesting debate that can happen in here. One of you likes this running back common on Guy over Tony Pollard, the other does not. But regardless of that, you guys both like Kymanong guy more than ECR. He's in at 31, probably at the tippy top. I obviously could have been picked up weeks ago in spots, but I think he was the dominant waiver guy this week as he was able to pop off. Fitz you've got him at 29. Erickson you've got him at 26. Fitz you are the one that does not have Kalman on Guy above Tony Pollard. I'm not sure that really says anything because we're kind of in the mud now. But what do you think about Kalmanangai in this Bears offense moving forward?
- [33:40]
A
Well, the Bears got a really run friendly game script last week against the Saints. They led for most of the game and it was a very windy day in Chicago so Menon Guy had 14 carries for 81 yards and a touchdown and added a couple of catches. I like Minangai a lot, like I loved him at Rutgers. I mean this guy has the heart of a warrior. Not big, not fast, doesn't catch a lot of passes, but he's just really hard to bring down and he always seems to make the right decision in traffic. We can't count on another 14 carries for Kyle Menagai this week. DeAndre Swift is still the lead guy and the Bears are six and a half point underdogs in Baltimore. The game script might not be as run friendly this week, but the Ravens run defense has been pretty bad. I know that's been injury related and they might get some of their guys back this week but they're not getting all of the guys back. Matabwike is still out and I think with a favorable matchup Manangai potentially flex worthy in a week with six teams.
- [34:44]
B
On by Ericsson, you do have Kalmanangai above Tony Pollard. Do you think the tides are turning in favor of Manangai or is he at least going to be able to hold up, you know, flex appeal which is probably like you need like 10 touches.
- [34:58]
C
Yeah, I do. I like the matchup and that's why the one win brace. Even in committee running backs when it's a 1A 1B backfield, if a matchup is positive, you can sometimes start the secondary running back. So I am kind of biting into that with Manangai and you look at what they've done this season. Who has more RB1 finishes this year? Common guy over Tony Pollard. He has one. Tony Pollard has zero. So who has more upside? You're not going to find upside in Tennessee, can tell you that much. So I'll take, I'll roll the dice with common on guy even if the floor is not as high with Pollard just probably a lock for a higher snap share play for upside. Give me, give me the Bears running back.
- [35:37]
B
I think this is probably. It's a good synopsis of where this last one we're going to talk about and why you're taking this player. RJ Harvey, is he going to be worthwhile? He. Because he really hasn't been at any point this season. He's ECR RB32. It's a good matchup. It's Dallas and I think that probably breeds to it a little bit as well. You guys are on opposite ends. Fifths, he's a little bit lower than ECR 34. Ericsson you've got at 27. So he's one spot lower than Manangai. Is it the same concept when you're in these like mid to late 20s. Are you just playing pure upside? Because we have not seen volume from Harvey. It just doesn't exist. JK Dobbins is much of a force, but you know they're getting Harvey a little bit more involved. They like to get him involved in the passing game. Is this just a pure. We know the upside play because there's not a great floor for RJ Harvey.
- [36:28]
C
Yep, just pure upside play. You want pieces of this Dallas Broncos game, right? Should be a high scoring contest. Every game with Dallas seems like it's fun and biting for fantasy football success. Are all these guys going to hit from Franklin, Mims, Harvey? No. But if one of them hits in a big way, well, that's going to be the difference in whether you win or lose your week. And I'm, I'm willing to shoot for the moon with a player like this because every Broncos player has usage problems, Right. Except Cortland Sutton. He's like the only guy you can actually rely on weekly, whereas everybody else. And I would say J.K. dobbins is pretty reliable, too. But I mean, Kenny Clark got injured. I mean, the Dallas Cowboys run defense was already terrible and now they just lost one of their starting defensive tackles with Kenny Clark. So if he misses this game, I mean, it's wheels up and then it's just a bet on. Okay. R.J. harvey, explosive pass catcher. If there's negative game script, maybe you see Harvey get more involved in the passing game. I know it didn't really work out last week, although he did catch a touchdown. So, yeah, give me the explosive rookie.
- [37:25]
B
Fitz, you're. You haven't been 34. Number 34 on ECR is Brashard Smith. People are going to be forced into starting him this week. Who do you like better, RJ Harvey or Brashard Smith?
- [37:37]
A
I think I have Brashard smith. No, I've RJ Harvey ranked one spot higher, RB 34 versus RB 35. And Erickson just used the phrase wheels up. And I feel like it's wheels up sort of like the little model planes that people fly at the park for.
- [37:54]
B
RJ Harvey, where the wheels never actually go down, by the way. They're just permanently up and they're little tiny baby ones. Yes. I like this analogy.
- [38:02]
C
Yeah.
- [38:02]
A
Because RJ Harvey has played under 30% of the offensive snaps in each of his last three games. And last week he actually played one fewer snap than Tyler Bidet. So the matchup against Dallas, yes, it looks really good, but man, with that usage it's just, I get it. But he's just, he's a Hail Mary, starts in a deep league in a 16 bye week. That's it.
- [38:28]
B
There's a lot of Hail Mary starts with the bi weeks and the injuries and the adjustments that are going on. So we know you guys are going to have a ton of more fantasy questions and that is why we got the weekly start and sit live stream. It's on our YouTube channel where you can come and ask whatever. And I know there's going to be a million other RB stuff, whatever RB questions you have start and sit. We're here for you. Thursdays, 3pm Eastern. If you're on the podcast YouTube.com fantasypros that's YouTube.com fantasypros subscribe. Click on the bell get notified and come and hang out in our weekly live streams. That is going to do it for the week. Eight ranks for Pat Fitzmaurice and Andrew Erickson. I'm Chris Welsh. We'll talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros.
- [39:06]
C
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on apple podcasts@fantasypros.com review or on Spotify. Follow us on X Instagram and Tik Tok at Fantasy Pros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com fantasypros this.
- [39:48]
A
Is an I heart podcast.