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Dave Kluge
Foreign.
Jeff Bell
Backs are the most volatile of all
Dave Kluge
of the assets in Dynasty fantasy football and it is so hard to generate a flat list of rankings.
Jeff Bell
And I'm not doing that. What I decided to do instead was
Dave Kluge
rank these guys into archetypes of guys who have similar production profiles.
Jeff Bell
Rank within those buckets. And today Jeff Bell and I are going to discuss every single one of
Dave Kluge
these and we are going deep, talking
Jeff Bell
about every single fantasy relevant running back and maybe some guys that aren't even fantasy relevant.
Dave Kluge
But Jeff, let's start at the top here.
Jeff Bell
Bijan Robinson, Jameer Gibbs, the two guys that have just separated themselves from everybody else in Dynasty. Is there anybody else that you would
Dave Kluge
even think about adding into this tier?
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
No. I mean, we need to see it. We need, I think your next tier is going to hit on it, but we really need to see it out of the remaining guys. I mean, I think you can make
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
an argument off of last year that Devin Hn arguably would have been included in there potentially, but now the situation
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
around him's changed so dramatically, it's easily Bijan Robinson and Jameer Gibbs at the top.
Jeff Bell
Yeah, and there are guys that could
Dave Kluge
join that, that are younger, that are on the upswing.
Jeff Bell
But when you look at it right now, both of these guys 24 years old, like just not even in their athletic primes, they still have a year or two where they could potentially get better. And Jeff, both of them are following very similar off seasons as well, where Tyler Algier, David Montgomery have both been this frustrating thorn in the side of manager for the last few years. They're both out of the picture now, so Jameer Gibbs, I'm not too concerned about Isaiah Pacheco taking a ton of work.
Dave Kluge
Sure he might take some touches here and there, but I don't think it's going to be anywhere near the magnitude that David Montgomery had.
Jeff Bell
And then Brian Robinson, he'll get some touches in Atlanta, but I don't expect him to just take all the goal
Dave Kluge
line work like Tyler Algier did.
Jeff Bell
So Jameer Gibbs and Bijan Robinson, they have both been top five running backs
Dave Kluge
in back to back seasons and it's not crazy to think that the best is still yet to come with these guys.
Jeff Bell
But let's take a look at the next bucket.
Dave Kluge
Bucket here.
Jeff Bell
And I labeled this one, the top tier was the elites and this is
Dave Kluge
the could be elites. And Jeremiah Love and Ash and Ginty, they make up this bucket right here. And they are both younger than Bijan Robinson and Jameer Gibbs.
Jeff Bell
So with how allured Dynasty managers are
Dave Kluge
by age, if either of these guys starts the season hot, we could see by like week four, week five, week
Jeff Bell
six, lumping these guys in with those
Dave Kluge
elite guys and it could happen right really quickly in Dynasty.
Jeff Bell
Am I crazy for thinking that?
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
No, I don't think you're crazy for thinking that. I. I do think that there seems to be an undercurrent with Ash and
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Genty that I think is interesting because I was pretty encouraged by Ashen Genti of what we saw last year. When you really break it down and
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
especially the past game usage, he answered every single question that there was with the past game usage. It wasn't quite there on the rush, on the rush side, but the expectations were so high.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And I've talked before about the curse of expectations of when you are expected
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
to be this guy that's going immediately be a top five fantasy back and instead you're kind of a lower end running back one, high running back two right out of the gate there's that visceral reaction of the pullback. And so that's where I think Jeremiah Love certainly has a lot better odds
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
of being able to do that because if we see it right away with
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
him, I think that there's a level of, there seems to be an undercurrent of is Ashton D. Even good?
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Like seems to be the conversation out there, which I think is a little bit ludicrous. But I understand that there were some underlying stats last year that weren't the best for Gentee.
Jeff Bell
Yeah. And I mean the underlying stats are going to be bad when you are
Dave Kluge
facing like seven guys in the box every single time you touch the ball. There was really no threat of a passing game. We saw a hobbled Geno Smith just like couldn't push the ball downfield.
Jeff Bell
I have, you know, we, we talk
Dave Kluge
all the time on the show about like trying to find the offenses that everybody has just assumed are going to be bad and could be good. And the Raiders are the one for me this year that just keeps jumping out. We see the huge coaching change. I'm a big believer in Clint Kubiak. We've seen nothing but success in the offenses that he has coordinate. I think they get a big quarterback upgrade. The offensive line is going to be better. They've got some new weapons there. I mean, this to me, like I could see the Raiders completely turning things around.
Jeff Bell
And Ashen Jinty, who already in a worst case scenario gave us a top
Dave Kluge
11 season last year, just an extra
Jeff Bell
two, three points per game pushes him into that top six, top five discussion.
Dave Kluge
And given his age, given the draft capital, he could easily be one of those elite guys.
Jeff Bell
And then Jeremiah Love, I think his
Dave Kluge
Runway to being one of those elite guys is even shorter.
Jeff Bell
Like this guy comes out, let's just
Dave Kluge
say hypothetically he drafted, drops 30 points in week one, people are going to be talking about him ahead of Bijan Robinson and Jameer Gibbs, like almost immediately because the excitement for Jeremiah Love is just so high.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah. And we did a show last, last night on it's out now with Matt Waldman on the Dynasty show. We talked about landing spots. We talked about Ashton Genty landing with the Cardinals.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And there seemed to be some pretty
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
strong reaction when he landed with the Cardinals. I think it was hope about, about Tyler. Well, yes, Jeremiah Love.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yes, yes, I'm, I'm Dave.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I'm so tied in knots right now.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
But yes, Jeremiah Love landing with the Arizona Cardinals.
Jeff Bell
And I just have to shred you
Dave Kluge
before the YouTube comments too.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah, I appreciate that greatly. You know, they'll get there.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
So YouTube, if you're on the YouTube,
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
make sure to make those comments and shred me like that. But anyway, Jeremiah Love landing with the Arizona Cardinals and I think the expectations, the hope that Tyler Algier would finally get his shot and kind of just putting cold water on that. But looking around and that's a great point that Matt Waldman made on the show and the Dynasty show about how the, the other landing spots potentially outside of maybe Kansas City, which isn't even that great anymore with Kenneth Walker, they're not that much better or any better at all. Than Arizona.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And I think Arizona, if we see
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
them kind of have a similar game plan as last year where they're not even trying to play competitive football. They're just trying to score as many points as possible.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
That really good for Jeremiah Love?
Dave Kluge
Absolutely.
Jeff Bell
And I'm not too scared about the touch competition here.
Dave Kluge
When you look at Tyler Algier, James Conner, Trey Benson, you know, all of
Jeff Bell
these guys can play meaningful football, but
Dave Kluge
you don't go out and spend the third overall pick to draft a running back. So you can give a bunch of touches to a 31 year old James Conner coming off of an ACL tear. So I think we've basically covered this bucket here. Let's move on to the next one.
Jeff Bell
And this one, it just so happened so perfectly. All these guys are the same exact age, so 25, ready to thrive.
Dave Kluge
We got Devon, Agent Chan, Breece hall and Kenneth Walker. And that's how I rank them.
Jeff Bell
Jeff, do you think I have this
Dave Kluge
ranking right going hn hall and Walker?
Jeff Bell
Because I know a lot of people
Dave Kluge
really want to put Walker ahead of Bree hall and I'm personally not there.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I have Achan ahead.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I, I have two other guys that
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I probably would say my tier of three, arguably two other younger players that I think that I'm ready to put up there in Dynasty. But I understand that we haven't exactly seen probably everything we would want to see to get them up there. Do you know who those players are?
Jeff Bell
I'm going to guess Omarion Hampton and
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Quinn, John Judkins, Trayvon Henderson. So.
Dave Kluge
All right.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
So I think it's kind of, if
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
you want to break it down to a tier 3, I understand where you're going here. I do have Breece hall and Ken Walker a little bit behind probably. I've got James Cook and Jonathan Taylor above those guys. But I think that tearing them together I think makes a lot of sense.
Jeff Bell
And, and I do want to say
Dave Kluge
too, again, this isn't a flat list of rankings. I mean, I would put Omarion Hampton in here as well. We'll talk about him in a little bit though.
Jeff Bell
But this is kind of the, the,
Dave Kluge
the, the buckets here.
Jeff Bell
And like I, the reason I lump these guys together is because these are
Dave Kluge
guys that are all not even hitting their peak yet.
Jeff Bell
Like, we could see their best years
Dave Kluge
still ahead of them.
Jeff Bell
So these are the guys that I
Dave Kluge
said, like, whether you're rebuilding or contending, these are guys that you go out and target.
Jeff Bell
And Ken Walker is the one that
Dave Kluge
I think is the most Interesting. And I want to bring him up because Joey Wright and I talked Monday and we got a lot of angry YouTube comments about it.
Jeff Bell
I talked about Andy Reid's historical penchant for wanting to split a backfield. And we've seen also that he has lean on guys.
Dave Kluge
You know, Jamal Charles, Kareem Hunt, LaShawn McCoy.
Jeff Bell
He has that history as well. But we have seen a limitation from
Dave Kluge
Ken Walker in the passing game throughout his entire career, even dating back to Michigan State. Like, he has never really been a good pass catcher.
Jeff Bell
And then when I see Emmett Johnson,
Dave Kluge
I have some questions about Emin Johnson,
Jeff Bell
but you can't question his pass catching where he was second in the FBS in receptions last year. Could you potentially see it shaking out that way, Jeff, where like there's so
Dave Kluge
much excitement about Ken Walker in Kansas
Jeff Bell
City, but maybe where he kind of lands in more of a Pacheco role than a Jamal Charles role, where he's
Dave Kluge
getting pulled off the field for Emma Johnson on third downs. Or am I just totally big brain in this?
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I mean, if you're going to go
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
that direction, then you probably open up the conversation for Rashad Smith still, arguably, given him his history as a wide
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
receiver, to me, I think Rasheed Rice
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
is kind of the surrogate for that receiving back in the way that he's operates within the offense. And so that's where I think Kenneth
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Walker is maybe arguably a little bit safer to be on the field there. And I do think that they wanted
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Pajo to be that guy and he was trending in that way prior to the injury early in 2024. He got hurt very early in 24 and they went away from it. Obviously we saw, I think it was 2022 now at this point where the Jerick McKinnon at the end of the season, but it was the injury and then they last year they just never figured anything out in that 25 backfield.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
But I think that that's where they
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
were heading at that direction with Pacheco as a potential Balco early in 2024, I think they see Kenneth Walker as the ability to go out and handle that role.
Jeff Bell
So let's move on to the next one here. And some of these buckets just worked
Dave Kluge
out so well with age where everybody's going into the same age season.
Jeff Bell
So they just clumped together nice and neatly.
Dave Kluge
Real quickly though, Jeff, you talked about the show that you did with Matt Waldman the other day. Check that out. If you haven't already here on The Dynasty Show YouTube channel subscribe if you haven't as well.
Jeff Bell
This one we're going to be bringing you.
Dave Kluge
Every single week, Jeff Bell and I are doing an episode. Whether you're watching this on the Fantasy Show Network or the Dynasty Show Network, we're going to be collaborating between the two channels here, doing this every Wednesday between now and kickoff. We're going to be doing these positional breakdowns over the next month. Then we jump into Jeff Bell's projections going through team by team, division by
Jeff Bell
division, and then by time we're done with that.
Dave Kluge
Believe it or not, training camp is
Jeff Bell
here, just like two months away from training camp. It's coming up on us quick. So subscribe, be here while we're doing our work, talking through all of this
Dave Kluge
and hopefully you can learn a thing
Jeff Bell
or two and have a better 2026 fantasy season than you've ever had before. But let's go ahead and jump into this next one here. And Jeff, I dubbed this one the Peaking and Productive.
Dave Kluge
I put a lot of thought into these names. I hope the audience is recognizing the thought that I put into these Peaking and Productive.
Jeff Bell
We've got some good alliteration here, but it is James Cook, Jonathan Taylor, Travis Etienne, and when you look at all of these guys, they're all heading into
Dave Kluge
their age 27 seasons. They all have contracts that are going to keep them with these teams for multiple years.
Jeff Bell
They are all in good situations, they are all productive coming off of top 12 seasons. The only thing that I'd say here if we're starting to pick nits at this point is these are probably the guys, Jeff, that you're reserving more for contenders. Like if you are just totally rebuilding. You don't want to go out and
Dave Kluge
buy a 27 year old running back, do you?
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
No, not at rebuilding, no.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
But at the same time I do.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I mean, diving into Dynasty theory a little bit, I think that the belief around what is a rebuilding and what is a contending team is a little probably too rigid. The expectations for rebuilding teams think that they need more players than they probably actually do need.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And so it really all depends on
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
value and if you're able to go out there and see somebody that they really want to punt for the 27, 27 class. And that's really something that we should be talking about as we get into the Dynasty season. Rolling on is the expectations around those 2027 picks and people tanking actively to set themselves up for that.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
You are going to see some people
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
that want to get some of these backs off their rosters or some people that are really going to decide very hard to move that way.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And so you might view yourself as
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
a rebuilder and adding a Jonathan Taylor,
Jeff Bell
Jonathan Taylor could make you a contender
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
right in there, becomes a contender potentially
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
in your league the way the competitive landscape works out.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And so I think it's something especially early in the off season, early in the summer, you need to about and
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
you need to consider and we'll see
Dave Kluge
that all the time where people like
Jeff Bell
reach out to us with trade questions and they're like, yeah, you know, I've got Jackson Dart, Caleb Williams, Malik Neighbors, but I'm rebuilding. And it's like, no, like you've got a core right there where you just hit on two waiver wire guys and you are contending. So I think that you are right.
Dave Kluge
Way too many people are just content to just throw in the towel and say that they are rebuilding when they've
Jeff Bell
got good bones to their team and this could be that switch that flips it. Jeff, we've got our first and there's
Dave Kluge
going to be a couple of these,
Jeff Bell
these guys that are just in a
Dave Kluge
tier of their own and not even
Jeff Bell
a tier of their own. But I just don't know where the
Dave Kluge
heck to rank Jadarium Price to me
Jeff Bell
personally and I know I'm going to get some flack for this.
Dave Kluge
I haven't shared this take on the YouTube channel yet. I'm getting some CH vibes here, Jeff,
Jeff Bell
like a team fresh off a Super
Dave Kluge
bowl win, picking 32nd overall, drafting a luxury that they don't really need, reaching
Jeff Bell
for a prospect that I don't think is a first round talent. I was very, very blunt about how
Dave Kluge
I felt about the Chiefs taking Clyde Edwards Hilaire in 2020.
Jeff Bell
I think the Seahawks are probably a
Dave Kluge
better run organization and I think Jadarian
Jeff Bell
Price is a bit better of a prospect. But this is one that like to
Dave Kluge
me doesn't make sense. But when you look at the huge chasm between where Jadarian Price was drafted and where the rest of the running backs were drafted in this year's class, it's really hard to lump him with anybody else.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
So we know the 2025 class was
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
deeper better than the 2026 class. You've got a couple I'm gonna be play spoiler here.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
You've got a couple 2025 backs ranked behind Jajari and Price and that's where
Dave Kluge
again, these, these are my rankings, Jeff.
Jeff Bell
My rankings. I prefer you beat these tiers, Dave,
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
that you put into an order that you did not call the rankings, but you listed them into a certain order.
Jeff Bell
So, you know, I'll just get it
Dave Kluge
out there right now.
Jeff Bell
I prefer Omarion Hampton, Quinjon Judkins and
Dave Kluge
Travion Henderson to Jadarian Price. Yes.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Okay.
Dave Kluge
Yes.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
That's where I was going because I wanted to have the conversation and I wanted to say that I think that we think that the three of those
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
players are all better than Jadarian Price and would have been drafted above Jadarian Price. So.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
But I understand this article that you've done is tears, and it is not. And it might be listed in a certain. This doesn't mean it's in an order. What is order anyway?
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
So order is disorder. So it's just tears. Okay, I get it.
Jeff Bell
And you can kind of fold all of these together, which it does make it a little bit frustrating. But again, like, I can't put Jadarium Price in the same tier as James Cook and Cam Scatter. Boo. Because depending on the team situation, like, three different teams should be approaching those three players with three different outlooks. So it is really hard, and we talk about this all the time, the
Dave Kluge
frustration of doing a flat list of rankings.
Jeff Bell
So, yeah, Jadarian Price would get folded
Dave Kluge
into the next tier, which I dubbed the let it ride tier.
Jeff Bell
These are guys you drafted as rookies, and we saw enough that you feel good about it.
Dave Kluge
Like, there's no reason to move off of these guys. I also don't think you should be selling high on these guys. I think if you drafted Omarion Hampton, Treveon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins, Cam Scatterboo, you're
Jeff Bell
feeling good about what you got, and you're just holding on to it at this point. Cam Scatterboo could have maybe been higher
Dave Kluge
in this list if not for the injury. The only reason he's at the bottom
Jeff Bell
of the list is because I want
Dave Kluge
to see how he returns from this injury, how he looks after the injury. He might have some down production this year, which would make him a buy going into 2027.
Jeff Bell
So he's the only one that kind of has some questions to answer. But the rest of these guys, Hampton, Henderson, Judkins, you're feeling really good about
Dave Kluge
them in Dynasty, right, Jeff?
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I do.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And this is what I want to ask you.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
So Travis H.N. is. Is tiered in this, listed above these backs. So if I'm going to league with you, Dave, and I offer Travis Hn for a Marion Hampton or Travion Henderson. Are you. Are you Saying yes to that trade.
Dave Kluge
I am not.
Jeff Bell
No.
Dave Kluge
But I do prefer what I kind of did when I. When I did rank these tiers. Jeff was kind of the top of the tier. So like Devon Achan, I prefer to James Cook, and James Cook, I prefer to Jadarian Price.
Jeff Bell
So once you get deep into these list, yeah.
Dave Kluge
There might be some mess about trying to look at, like, well, this guy
Jeff Bell
is ahead of this guy. But I kind of went from the
Dave Kluge
top of every single tier, and that's how I rank the tiers. But no, like, I would absolutely, like, you know, Kenneth Walker, too.
Jeff Bell
Kenneth Walker, Travis Etienne.
Dave Kluge
I would trade any of those guys
Jeff Bell
for any of the guys. Not.
Dave Kluge
Not scatter. Boo. But I would trade Kenneth Walker or Travis Etien for a Marian Hampton, Travion Henderson or Quinton Judkins without thinking twice.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah. So I've. I had this theory a couple years
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
ago that I never really got to flesh out of.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Basically, like, kind of like clouds of,
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
like, rankings instead of tears and just kind of have nebulous clouds, like, floating around.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And I feel like he kind of
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
did this here a little bit, and I enjoy that.
Jeff Bell
So Dynasty is tough, man. Like, it's really easy in Redraft when
Dave Kluge
you're just saying, like, this is the order you should draft these players in. Because everybody's playing the same game and we're playing for 17 weeks and we
Jeff Bell
know at week one who's going to be playing who.
Dave Kluge
It's so much harder in Dynasty trying
Jeff Bell
to project three, four years out at
Dave Kluge
a time and knowing that different teams are in different positions. I mean, we have to, like, we have to have a flat list of
Jeff Bell
rankings, but it is just, you know, for nobody who's. For somebody who's never done it before,
Dave Kluge
I don't think you realize how frustrating it is.
Jeff Bell
We were talking pre show, like, Derek
Dave Kluge
Henry is a guy that, like, when
Jeff Bell
you're doing Dynasty rankings, you could put
Dave Kluge
Derrick Henry at RB12 or RB50, and
Jeff Bell
I'd say, yeah, that's defensible. Like, you could put him anywhere. And some teams should be targeting Derrick Henry. Some teams should be selling Derrick Henry
Dave Kluge
for whatever they can.
Jeff Bell
I mean, it is just Dynasty is a completely different game. And I think that's why we see
Dave Kluge
so many people liking Dynasty content over
Jeff Bell
Redraft content, because it's just a more thoughtful game.
Dave Kluge
Like, it's not just projectable volume and these small sample sizes. You really do have to talk about the game theory behind it.
Jeff Bell
And that brings me to my next one, because these guys are all guys
Dave Kluge
that we feel good about in Redraft, Kyron Williams, Chase Brown, Bucky Irving, they all had pretty good off seasons where they were able to come out of the draft relatively unscathed.
Jeff Bell
But in Dynasty, we know that these
Dave Kluge
day three running backs are shaky to hold long term.
Jeff Bell
So they're still on the right side
Dave Kluge
of the age curve. They have been productive for the last couple of years. Save Bucky Irving, who dealt with some injuries last year.
Jeff Bell
But Jeff, am I just like overthinking
Dave Kluge
the day three of it? I have just seen this happen so many times where you see these day three running backs be productive for a year or two or three and then it disappears. It feels like we're already starting to see it a little bit. Like Blake Corum took out a big chunk of work from Kyron Williams down the stretch last year. Bucky Irving, we saw when he got that bigger workload, couldn't stay healthy. Chase Brown seems the safest for now, but we heard some buzz about the Bengals being interested in Jeremiah Love and
Jeff Bell
who knows what they're going to be
Dave Kluge
looking at in the draft next year. So maybe I'm like too cautious with these guys, but I always like if you have a day three running back that you can flip for a first round pick, I'm just doing that 99 times out of 100 without even thinking about it.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And I think the, the argument here,
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
and I would say in Redraft right now, I don't know that people feel very good about Kyron Williams or Bucky Irvin. It seems to be people are pretty hesitant about those players.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Chase Brown seems to be the one
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
that is a slam smash at this
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
point, but at the same time he's also the one that doesn't have a contract, but he doesn't, doesn't have competition. So that's where you feel better. And I think for him you want to see that contract. And it's kind of, it's fun to talk about this, this tier. Especially because you can make the argument for Chase Brown that you want to see the contract before you really want to buy in on Chase Brown. But you saw the contract with Kyron Williams and people don't want to buy into Kyron Williams. And so it's like it's whatever string you're going to pull at of this Gorgon knot that we've got is like everything is going to kind of unravel off of it. So I think it's interesting to look at it because yeah, the argument is there if Chase Brown has the best potential out of the group to be a running back one be a. Arguably even a top five running back. But at the same time, yeah, the day three of it and not having that second contract and really wanting that second contract, but Kyron Williams has that.
Jeff Bell
So how do we feel about Bucky Irving? I think he's one of the more
Dave Kluge
interesting guys, like really struggle with where to rank him. He's another one of those guys that like a lot of excitement coming off his rookie season. People are quick to just push him into the top 10. And then the injuries last year, they bring in Kenneth Gainwell, they bring back Sean Tucker.
Jeff Bell
Now there are all of a sudden everybody who has not sold high on a day three running back and was kept holding the bag is now having flashbacks to the Damian Pierces and all of these other guys with Bucky Irving. And I mean he's a guy who, if it comes out this year where he is in a committee and he's splitting touches with those other running backs,
Dave Kluge
we're going to see immediate. Just tailspin to his dynasty value.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
So I did an analogy of. And.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And I did it in the cryptic
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
way that I would do an analogy and social media didn't understand what I
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
was talking about, but I essentially said, you know, Travis A. Chan is Bucky Irving.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Then you've got, well, Quint Allen as
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Kenneth Gainwell and you've got Bashaw Tutin
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
as Sean Tucker and who was the back that you wanted last year very easily etn.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah, exactly.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And you know, there's. I. I don't even know anymore, David. This. I.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Nobody has asked Trevor yet. Nobody has asked Trevor.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
How does.
Jeff Bell
No, I think somebody didn't. Trevor like Rebu did it and like said something. I have to look at you keep talking. I'm gonna look this up. But I'm pretty sure Trevor was like. I don't know what he's talking about. Talking about.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah, I think. I think he's embracing New Orleans. But, but to look at. So, so there are. Are. That's Liam go in backfield and actually, I don't even.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I think Josh Grizzard got fired. I don't know who the Buccaneers offense coordinator I should know this. I'm going to start doing my projections
Dave Kluge
and I don't know who the Zach Robinson is.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Zach Robinson.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
That's right. Zach Robinson and Zach Robinson used the committee.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
But I think that to me, I see Kenneth Gainwell come in and there's
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
a lot of talk about Kenneth Gainwell
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
because Kenneth Gainwell was Pretty good for fantasy.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
At the end of last year he
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
was good for fantasy because that Steelers offense was broken. They weren't able to do anything other
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
than dump it to Kenneth Gainwell.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
They open up. One of the things that disappeared with Liam Cohen left when Josh Grizzard was the offense coordinator was involving the running
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
backs in the passing game. That kind of fell out in 2025.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Now with Kenneth Gainwell, it's not so much that Kenneth Gainwell can be got
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
the guy in the passing game, but
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
now you've got support there that Bucky Irving can be the guy in the passing game. And if Bucky Irving goes down, you're not entirely abandoning that portion of the playbook. And so I think Bucky Irving is the most talented back and I think
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
he's the most well rounded back all out of all of them.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And what's the push right now across the league is to get to guys that are handling three downs that you're not giving things away offensively. And so I think that they've got
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
support system here with Sean Tucker, with
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Kenneth Gainwell to be able to allow you to really lean hard on Bucky Irving as the top back. Because you can say if something happens to him, we can flush over to this Sean Tucker and Gainwell committee as the kind of the backups, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's locked in out of the jump into a three headed committee.
Jeff Bell
Yeah, I think that's an interesting way
Dave Kluge
to look at this and we'll find out when the season kicks off. But I know the the Bucs running backs are going to be one of the ones that we're going to be watching closest at the start of the season to see how that usage is spread out.
Jeff Bell
Let's talk about the next one here though, Jeff.
Dave Kluge
The Buyer beware bucket. I called it. We got Christian McCaffrey going into his age 30 season, Saquon Barkley going into his age 29 season, Josh Jacobs going in his age 28 season. That puts all these guys officially over the hill. Now we have seen elite talents can continue producing into their 30s. It's not unheard of.
Jeff Bell
But we also see that the value
Dave Kluge
for these guys in Dynasty gets very, very, very shaky. Christian McCaffrey was the RB3 before he had that calf injury a couple years ago. Falls down to like the consensus RB40
Jeff Bell
has since rebounded coming off of a good year. But this is just at the point
Dave Kluge
there is no value insulation here. These guys are only as good as their last week. Once you get past a certain age in, in Dynasty.
Jeff Bell
And that's kind of where all these three guys fall. So we could be looking at McCaffrey, Barkley and Jacobs. If they finish the year as the running back one, running back two and running back three, it wouldn't surprise me. But they could also pick up nagging injuries and just spiral. So these are some of the riskier guys to acquire in Dynasty, but also
Dave Kluge
could very easily be league winners if they stay healthy.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah, and it's incredibly, this tier is very interesting because we saw the running
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
back three in the class, Kaylen Black,
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
get drafted by the 49ers. And to me, I think that they're saying we just want Kaylan Black to be able to run into the middle of the line of scrimmage because we recognize, recognize that Christian McCaffrey basically became our slot receiver. And so We've got Christian McCaffrey here.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
We talked about, we mentioned the name Zach Robinson.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
One of the things I found interesting last summer when I was doing the
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Falcons training camp beat was basically they figured out, they went looked back at Zach Robinson's offense of the year before and the John Robinson, it was a big talking point that he didn't have these breakaway runs. And they basically figured out that Zach Robinson was running receivers into right where. Right, right where Rajan Robinson would break out. And so there were defenders basically standing there because Zach Robinson was sending receivers into there. I think Saquon Barkley with the con, with the Kevin Petulo offense in Philadelphia is kind of a similar example of that. We didn't see the big breakout runs
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
from Saquon Barkley last year.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And I think a lot of 15, 16, 17 yards running the defense into right where he was having Saquon Barkley run into. And I think that those are the layers of a really good offensive coordinator relative to a guy that is has the title of offensive coordinator. And so I think that Saquon Barkley
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
is prime for a potential breakout.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And then Josh Jacobs, I know last year he kind of wore down a little bit and they had Emmanuel Wilson kind of being able to trust him go in there. They've never shown with Chris Brooks that they feel comfortable giving Chris Brooks any level of volume. But I do think Chris Brooks right now, hypothetically would be the running back too. And then we have Marshawn Lloyd, who, I mean, when he plays a full football game, I think it might be his first full football game so that you can make the argument Josh Jacobs
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
is set up better than he has
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
been for a little while. And, and I think that some of these guys you look at, especially Barkley and Jacobs getting the opportunity to maybe reset after some long playoff runs after some big seasons in 2024. Now they kind of get that chance to reset and hit really hard with 2026.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I really like them a lot.
Dave Kluge
This is why you and I get along so well, Jeff. Like Chris Brooks. I haven't seen anybody talking about Chris Brooks. He's my most drafted player so far in Best Ball. You and I have never mentioned the name Chris Brooks to each other, but of course you would just like organically bring him up on a show today
Jeff Bell
because he is like he is a
Dave Kluge
guy right now that's going undrafted in 20 round best ball leagues. And you're telling me the RBT for the Packers, Josh Jacobs coming off of a knee injury, like yeah, even if
Jeff Bell
I get no usage there, if I get one week as a starter, I
Dave Kluge
mean there's just so many ways that can break and he is the clean your RB2. So glad that you talked about him because a guy that nobody's really talking about right now.
Jeff Bell
So I tried to be pretty objective with most of these tiers.
Dave Kluge
This is my first opinionated tier. Jeff. I called this one the sneaky buys. Javante Williams, Blake Corum, Zach Charbonnet, they've got a couple things in common. They are all 26 or younger going into this season. They are all day two picks and they are all near and dear to my heart. These are all just guys that I like a lot and they've been in
Jeff Bell
the league for a couple of years and may have never broken out in
Dave Kluge
the way that we had hoped.
Jeff Bell
But Javante Williams, Blake Corum, Zach Charbonnet,
Dave Kluge
just guys who can handle three downs, can catch passes, can score touchdowns, are
Jeff Bell
all on good offenses and all a
Dave Kluge
lot younger than I think people realize.
Jeff Bell
So this to me, I don't know,
Dave Kluge
maybe I shouldn't be opinionated when I'm
Jeff Bell
making these, but these are three guys
Dave Kluge
right now that I'm actively trying to buy in all of my dynasty leagues because I think they are still on the upswing. They are going to be productive this year, can gain value and even if
Jeff Bell
you get a year or two of production, like these guys have good profiles, they have all suffered bad injuries. Like these guys could all realistically be
Dave Kluge
more valuable two years from now than they are today.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
So this is obviously not a rink.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
You didn't do ranks, you just did tears.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
But yes, tell me why Kyren Williams
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
should be ranked above Javante Williams?
Dave Kluge
Because he's been in RB1 for three years and Javante has been an RB1 for one year. I think that's would be the consensus opinion on that.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Okay. Okay. Yeah.
Jeff Bell
But I'm not sure he should be.
Dave Kluge
I mean I, we, we talked about Williams a lot. Last year. I wrote a mid season article about Javante Williams. Like he was my biggest miss last year. I didn't draft a lot of Javonte Williams and I'm kicking myself for it now.
Jeff Bell
But yeah, this guy last year, he's going to be 26 years old this
Dave Kluge
year, was a very good prospect. Checked every box we wanted to see as a rookie.
Jeff Bell
And then you talk like he had
Dave Kluge
that injury and just never really regained his.
Jeff Bell
I don't know, just never, never really
Dave Kluge
got it back in Denver. And I think just the change of scenery just completely unlocked him.
Jeff Bell
Like Javante Williams. I think people have this idea that
Dave Kluge
he's just this old Dusty has been
Jeff Bell
running back when he's approaching the peak of his career and he has a backfield to himself on one of the league's best offenses. Yeah, Javante Williams, like one of those guys that when I'm doing these best
Dave Kluge
ball drafts, I just cannot stop drafting.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yep, I completely agree. I like him quite a bit.
Jeff Bell
Zach sharpening by Jaden Blue and Phil Mafa and Deuce Vaughn.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Like, no, no, no, no. Zach Charbonnet is like the one player
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
that we just, just don't agree on. Like we just. You think he's better than I think he is. I think he's basically Tyler Algier and Rashad White and you think he's better than that and I respect your opinion there.
Jeff Bell
I also like Rashad White.
Dave Kluge
But we'll save the Charbonnet discourse for another, another day.
Jeff Bell
But yeah, I think, I think he's
Dave Kluge
a good running back. Day two guy catches passes, scores touchdowns, good enough speed, can handle a big workload.
Jeff Bell
Those are all things that I value. But yeah, you know, maybe not the
Dave Kluge
most exciting, explosive player and may have been replaced by Jadarian Price this year. We'll see how that all shakes out late in the season.
Jeff Bell
But Jeff, this next two that I like is one of my favorites in this.
Dave Kluge
Whether you are rebuilding or contending, this is the young enough to maybe gain value tier and we love age in Dynasty. I think it's a blind spot in everybody's analysis. We just want to keep going after these young guys. These are kind of your lottery tickets. They're not going to be super expensive, but they're guys that I want to
Jeff Bell
bring on my team because they can
Dave Kluge
be productive, they can gain value and
Jeff Bell
you might be able to get them for a third now and flip them for a second after the season.
Dave Kluge
Jonathan Brooks, RJ Harvey, Bashal Tutin, Kyle Menungai, Tyrone Tracy, Braylon Allen, Tajie Spears and then I had to sneak Trey Benson in there. I know a lot of people are going to want Trey Benson in like the, you know, just off the radar tier. We still have to hold on to hope for some of these players and
Jeff Bell
I'm not going to throw in the
Dave Kluge
towel on a young player who has been bitten multiple times by the injury bug.
Jeff Bell
Does anybody in this year really stand
Dave Kluge
out to you Jeff?
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Really stand out?
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I mean the, the hype and excitement probably around Bashaw, Tutin and then you've also got Jonathan Brooks. It seems to be some level of momentum there. I mean Kyle Menon guy is the potential. I mean he not even the potential as pretty much the confirmed David Montgomery role within that Ben Johnson off. We certainly like that. I mean try to run Tracy when every time he's getting got an opportunity he's looked pretty solid. I've always been a big Taj Spears
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
fan and Trey Benson, I do, I think that James Connor just wants to
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
be a Cardinal and basically they would say James Connor, we're going to lower your salary down to a dollar. And he would say, well I still want to be a Cardinal and so
Dave Kluge
I want to retire in Arizona.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah. And you see those, those four backs
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
now in that backfield.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
To me I would be surprised to
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
see them break the season with those four backs. I would think that they're probably going to once they get through camp, see where they are health wise maybe look and see what they can go get. And to me, Trey Benson probably seems like the guy that they can dangle out there and recoup some draft capital for.
Jeff Bell
It might also just get flat out released at this point which truthfully could
Dave Kluge
maybe be the best thing for him, just like allow him to pick his next team.
Jeff Bell
And this is a guy that like there were flashes.
Dave Kluge
We're not just holding on to the production profile from college. Like yes he was athletic, yes he was productive in college, but we saw flashes over the second half of his rookie season last year.
Jeff Bell
We didn't really get a chance to
Dave Kluge
see it because he was hurt all year.
Jeff Bell
But still a guy that I'm going to keep a light on for.
Dave Kluge
And funny enough like if you look through my best ball exposure right now, you're just going to See all of these guys up there. Like I am just a sucker for these young guys who might not even have projectable volume but an injury away. Just guys that I believe to be talented.
Jeff Bell
So these are guys that I have
Dave Kluge
in a lot of basketball rosters. I'll be drafting in a lot of redraft teams and I have in a lot of Dynasty as well because they
Jeff Bell
are kind of situation agnostic.
Dave Kluge
In Dynasty, like if you're contending you
Jeff Bell
could get potential RB1 production from Kyle Guy and if you are not contending
Dave Kluge
and you're rebuilding, you could bring on a guy like Trey Benson and hope that he signed somewhere where he can gain some value.
Jeff Bell
So I think these are just guys that regardless of your situation in dynasty,
Dave Kluge
go out and acquire them. They are young, they are talented.
Jeff Bell
Most of these guys were drafted with,
Dave Kluge
you know, some sort of draft capital that'll give them a little bit of insulation. This is probably my favorite tier.
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Jeff Bell
Now the next one we're going to talk about.
Dave Kluge
Jeff I had Jadarian Price in a tier of his own because I just didn't know where to lump him in with the other rookies. Derrick Henry is also in a tier of his own.
Jeff Bell
Like he probably should be in that
Dave Kluge
buyer beware tier right with Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley.
Jeff Bell
But I don't know. He has shown no signs of slowing down. Top two in rushing yards in back to back seasons. Yes we should say like this is
Dave Kluge
it for Derrick Henry. Sell while you can. But we have been saying that for years.
Jeff Bell
I want to look back historically Jeff.
Dave Kluge
He has 3,800 over 3,800 scrimmage yards over the last two years. Only two other players have done that in back to back seasons beyond age 30 in NFL history. That's Walter Payton and Tiki Barber.
Jeff Bell
And Tiki Barber retired after his age 31 season. Walter Payton remained productive into his mid-30s. So if we're looking at Derek Henry as a generational type player, it's not crazy to think that he might still have another two, three, maybe five years left of solid production.
Dave Kluge
So, yes, history tells us to sell Derrick Henry, but if you're contending, man, I think you just hold and ride him until the wheels fall off.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah, Derek Henry and Devonte Adams is the wide receiver version of this. Make me feel like I'm old because I've gone past the point of like,
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
give me the young mystery box.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Like it could be anything.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Give me Emmett Johnson. It could be anything. And I'm like, I'll just give me
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Derek Henry for however long and I'll just ride it until.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Because I always. And I still think I'm a big believer in getting value while you still can and getting out on players while you still can. But it seems to be the, the
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Vonte Adams and Derrick Henry is like
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
just the, you know, I'll just keep buying them. I bought them in rookie drafts. Everybody's talking about what to do with these 26 picks that they don't want. And I traded some. I got Derrick Henry for a 2.05 in one league. I got Devonte Adams and Trey Benson for like, I think it was the 202, 203 and in one league. And like, you know what, like, I, I don't know that any of these
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
guys in the second are going to be any good.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Give me Derek Henry. I'll ride it till the wheels fall off and I'll make my team an immediate contender by having Derek Henry.
Jeff Bell
You know, Andrew Cooper, a good friend of the show.
Dave Kluge
I know you and I both talk with Andrew a lot. Just one of the sharpest guys in the industry.
Jeff Bell
And he talks about how when we're like looking at these age curves that you shouldn't put hall of fame level players on these age curves because they
Dave Kluge
defy the age curves and that's what makes them hall of fame players like you.
Jeff Bell
Look, so many of these guys that
Dave Kluge
have been historic fantasy producers kept doing
Jeff Bell
it late into their 30s. Imagine if you were playing fantasy football
Dave Kluge
back in 1992, Jeff. 1992, you're going through your dynasty team and you say, man, Jerry Rice has been really, really good for me. But four straight years with double digit touchdowns, he's going to be 31 next year. I just don't want to hold on to him anymore. You sell Jerry rice for a second round pick. You missed out on 1500 yards the next two seasons. You missed out on 1900 yards the next season.
Jeff Bell
Ten years after he turned 31 years old, he was still putting up 1200 receiving yards. So I'm not saying that Derrick Henry is the Jerry Rice of wide receivers, but he might be the closest thing we've seen to it. So yeah, like we have been saying for the last three or four years,
Dave Kluge
like sell Derrick Henry, sell Derrick Henry, sell Derrick Henry.
Jeff Bell
And he just keeps producing and now, you know, it's probably too late. But like don't sell Derrick Henry. Just draft him in your drafts and hold him in Dynasty because maybe he does fall off and if he does, it happens. But, but like it wouldn't surprise anybody
Dave Kluge
if Derek Henry is 35 years old, still going out there and rushing for 1700 yards.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
But let's have this.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
So here's the conversation now.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
So Derek Henry is, let's see, he is 10th in all time career rushing yards, 13, 018. He needs about 240 yards to get
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Derek Eric Dickerson at ninth. Emma Smith, number one is 5337 yards away.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Derrick Henry, if he's 1500 yards, what's that? Three and a half years at 1500
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
yards, three and a half years. Derek Henry is the all time NFL leading rusher.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
So as you start to look at it and you know, maybe the wheels do fall, maybe the wheels fall off
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
right now because we're having the conversation about it and we've put it out in the universe.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
But Derek Henry, if he bangs out
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
another 1600 yard season and we're really having the conversation about Derrick Henry becoming the all time career rushing yard leader and it might be the type of
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
thing, maybe he cares about it, maybe he doesn't care about it, but once you start to get that close, then it's really hard not to care about it.
Jeff Bell
The Ravens told us how they feel
Dave Kluge
about Derek Henry this off season, Jeff.
Jeff Bell
They spent a seventh round pick on
Dave Kluge
a running back that they went out in a press conference after and said the owner made us draft this guy. Basically.
Jeff Bell
Did you see that? Was it six rounds? I forget. But yeah, like Eric Dacosta was just basically saying like, yeah, the owner watched
Dave Kluge
this guy and made us draft him and we didn't really have a choice.
Jeff Bell
Not what you want to hear. They let Keaton Mitchell walk.
Dave Kluge
So like they have faith in Derrick
Jeff Bell
Henry because they are building this entire
Dave Kluge
offense around the idea that Derrick Henry is going to Continue to do what he has been able to do.
Jeff Bell
So here we are, Jeff.
Dave Kluge
We're on a Dynasty show talking about
Jeff Bell
running backs and we have to get to almost the 40 minute mark to talk about the cluster of rookies. Just goes to show you how uninspired
Dave Kluge
we are with this class.
Jeff Bell
So I ranked these guys the way
Dave Kluge
that I prefer them and I've tweaked these rankings a little bit since the draft.
Jeff Bell
But this is where I'm at.
Dave Kluge
On Tuesday, May 5th at about 9pm Eastern, I've got Jonah Coleman, Nick Singleton, Emmett Johnson, Caitrin Allen, Kalyn Black and Mike Washington.
Jeff Bell
And these are what I dubbed the
Dave Kluge
rookies that could matter. Now there might be some other rookies
Jeff Bell
that aren't in this list.
Dave Kluge
This is subjective. You know, I had to draw a line somewhere.
Jeff Bell
These are the guys that I think
Dave Kluge
are probably a little bit more valuable than the other guys. Like could Coleman Bennett be the next David Montgomery and a Ben Johnson offense? Sure, it could happen, but we're not banking on it.
Jeff Bell
I think these are the guys that were probably drafting inside of round three
Dave Kluge
of rookie drafts and then the rest were just kind of going to pay attention to training camp and see what happens.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I have to give a hat tip
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
to our former colleague, Jagger May.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And Jagger brought up a really good
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
point that I saw on social media because he was talking about, we tend
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
to have this philosophy that one of
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
them's going to matter. One of them's got to matter.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And Jagger brought up the 2024 class
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
with Trey bets we've already talked about.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
No, none of them mattered. None of them mattered. And we, we have, we tend to,
Dave Kluge
Jonathan Brooks could matter.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah, we tend to, in fantasy think that there, there must be the answer. And sometimes the answer that is just none.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And, and I mean, I say that
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
one of these guys will end up matter, but sometimes the answer is just
Jeff Bell
none, sometimes the answer is not. And sometimes it's 10 times more than we expect. I mean, we're.
Dave Kluge
It could be, it could, it can break either way.
Jeff Bell
And Sigmund Bloom, we had, he and
Dave Kluge
I had this exact conversation last week
Jeff Bell
on the show talking about like, yes,
Dave Kluge
the draft capital is bad and all
Jeff Bell
of these guys could be nothing. But, but also like they all landed
Dave Kluge
in sneaky good situations. Like where I could see Sean Payton giving Jonah Coleman a big workload. Nick Singleton is the only running back under contract in Tennessee beyond this year
Jeff Bell
and the only one that was selected by the new staff. Emmett Johnson, we already talked about his
Dave Kluge
upside as a pass catcher in Kansas City. Cateran Allen, like might be the best
Jeff Bell
running back in Washington. Calen Black, they drafted him in round three. And Mike Washington Jr. You know, we
Dave Kluge
just got to hold it down for Mike Washington Jr. And say that he might matter.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I am going to say you need
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
to put Devon Claiborne in this group. I'll say that. And that was one thing that I know Matt Waldman on the show. He was, he was definitely on the Demon Claiborne. I know Brandon Angelo is very, very sharp analyst. He's been on Demont Claiborne. I think Demon Claiborne needs to be mentioned within this tier.
Dave Kluge
And I think, yeah, I mean he is a top the tier later on that we're going to get to the
Jeff Bell
ones who I'm a little bit lower on. But I, I do see and I
Dave Kluge
think the out for Devon Claiborne probably not anything this year unless Aaron Jones goes down. But does seem like a very intentional, you know, future replacement for Aaron Jones.
Jeff Bell
So he could.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah.
Dave Kluge
And you know, I, I didn't want
Jeff Bell
to just lump all of the rookies
Dave Kluge
in here, but I think Devon Claiborne, yes. I mean, he is very much so on the fringe, as is Adam Randall and even Seth McGowan. I kind of lumped it as like a fringe guy. It's tough to know where to draw that line. And like I said, that's why I opened it. Kind of saying this is a subjective list here. But yeah, I think you make a good point. Mon Claiborne. Absolutely. The ceiling is high there.
Jeff Bell
This next one I want to talk about Jeff. Veterans who could be productive.
Dave Kluge
These aren't the James Cook, Travis etn. Who's the other one, Jonathan Taylor that we talked about earlier that are all kind of at that, like atop the age curve.
Jeff Bell
Those guys we know are going to
Dave Kluge
be RB1s if they stay healthy.
Jeff Bell
These guys, the volume is a little bit shakier, but I still like targeting
Dave Kluge
a lot of these guys.
Jeff Bell
Even if you are, you know, these could be.
Dave Kluge
We talked about Jonathan Taylor being the difference between a rebuilder and a contender.
Jeff Bell
I don't think it's crazy to say the same thing about David Montgomery. DeAndre Swift, you know, if these guys end up having good years, we saw good production from both of them last year. David Montgomery, I don't know. I'm expecting he's going to be the new Joe Mixon, but he could very much so be the new Nick Chubb
Dave Kluge
in Houston as well.
Jeff Bell
Like, I don't know which way this is going to break. I'm putting my chips on David Montgomery, expecting him to be productive. I'm expecting DeAndre Swift to maintain his role in Chicago. But things could change quickly.
Dave Kluge
And when running backs are this sort of age, they don't really have that insulation beyond that. So let me just run through this list real quickly. Veterans who could be productive. I've got DeAndre Swift, David Montgomery, Najee Harris, Jalen Warren, J.K. dobbins, Ramadre Stevenson, Rashad White, Chuba Hubbard, Alvin Kamara, and Tony Pollard.
Jeff Bell
You know, I'm actually looking right now
Dave Kluge
and I think J.K. dobbins was too far down that list. I just moved him up a couple ticks. I moved him ahead of Najee here. So I've got J.K. dobbins third in this list.
Jeff Bell
But Jeff, looking at this list, does
Dave Kluge
anybody stand out to you as guys that you like to target or guys that maybe you're trying to sell right now?
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Nick Chubb was done when he went
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
to Houston last year, that that foot injury was serious. If Nick Chubb had never. If that year never existed and if we went right from Joe Mixon bouncing from Cincinnati, being very productive with Houston to David Montgomery, how much more valuable do you think that David Montgomery would be viewed in the consensus without that memory of the lost Nick Chubb year?
Dave Kluge
He'd be a late second round pick.
Jeff Bell
I mean, Joe Mixon was giving us
Dave Kluge
100 yards and a touchdown almost every single week.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah, Dave Montgomery is, is one that I'm smashing and it really kind of what I'm seeing so far and we end up, we.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
We get to this point of the year, Dave, we transition from rookies and our dynasty show our becomes a best ball show as well. And we end up talking about our exposure all but when I'm drafting right
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
now and where I'm seeing running backs, Dave Montgomery kind of is standing there by himself. And David Montgomery I feel like is
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
probably two rounds too low. And after David Montgomery, it is like
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
when you see a map and there
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
be monsters, like basically is kind of what you're seeing after that territory. And I do think that the, the fact that Nick Chubb really didn't have anything left when he went to Houston is shading and coloring the way that David Montgomery is being viewed as well as David Montgomery kind of of it. It really wasn't. I don't think it was a fault
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
of David Montgomery the way that Detroit
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
backfield really kind of split. To Jameer Gibbs, it was Ben Johnson leaving. It was an offensive coordinator that was struggling and it was Jameer Gibbs reaching that point of his career where it was like, just let this guy go because this guy is, is elite level. And so I think that, that, that's really interesting there. Chuba Hubbard, I think is fascinating because
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
it was laughable two years ago to think that Chuba Hubbard would emerge in the Carolina Panthers backfield and then Caroline, he did end up emerging in the Carolina backfield.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And then last year to, to suggest that Rico Dowdle might be the better
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
backer, that Rico Dowdle might be the
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
guy it was locked in. It's all Chuba Hubbard. They love Chuba Hubbard. And now it's like we haven't even seen Jonathan Brooks actually play football. But it's like everybody's just riding off Chuba Hubbard for Jonathan Brooks again. And so, so it would stand to reason that maybe Chuba Hubbard's one of
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
those every other year guys and Chuba Hubbard pops here a little bit.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And Tony Pollard is fascinating. The way that he closed the year
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
last year and he was like top three running back last year over the
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
last month of the season came out of nowhere. And maybe he was running for contract
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
incentives because he was a very incentive laden contract.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
But given what we saw the last
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
stretch of the Titans with Tony Pollard
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
with them, not, not, yes, they added Nick Singleton, but at the same time,
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I don't know that Nick Singleton is immediately pushing Tony Pollard and Tajie Spears. I like Tony Pollard quite a bit still too.
Jeff Bell
And two things I just want to
Dave Kluge
kind of backtrack to for those who
Jeff Bell
aren't playing best ball right now.
Dave Kluge
David Montgomery, he's going in round five.
Jeff Bell
Like we didn't mention the ADP Round five.
Dave Kluge
I've got him in over a third of my teams.
Jeff Bell
He's one of those like, I don't
Dave Kluge
care how I start my draft. If I've got three running backs, if
Jeff Bell
I've got three wide receivers, if I
Dave Kluge
got a tight end or a quarterback
Jeff Bell
mix in there like, like you can
Dave Kluge
just fit around five David Montgomery into just about any build. So love that call out.
Jeff Bell
And then Tony Pollard.
Dave Kluge
The one thing I want to mention here, Jeff and I said this on the fantasy show a couple of days ago, so some people might already be have heard this take, but I think we're going to find out how Nick Singleton's foot heals up in training camp. Because the way they set up Tony Pollard's contract, they can release him after June 1st and still get those cap savings. They can save $7.25 million this year if they release Tony Pollard. I Think they're probably going to keep
Jeff Bell
him just because he has been a good, serviceable running back for them.
Dave Kluge
But if they open up training camp and Nick singleton is just 100% and just this wow type of player, they might be willing to take those cap savings and Tony Pollard could end up somewhere else.
Jeff Bell
So I think Tony Pollard is just
Dave Kluge
like a good enough running back that wherever he lands, he's going to be on his feet and he'll find some production.
Jeff Bell
But I'm going to be paying close
Dave Kluge
attention that if he does get released, then I'm going to immediately go out and just shoot Nick Singleton up my rankings and see if I could buy him where I can.
Jeff Bell
So just kind of, you know, getting
Dave Kluge
ahead of potential tea leaves and how we might be reading those in training camp, but let's move on to the next one.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Jeff, the year I just want to say. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I, we. We do love to talk about cap savings and those, but it's not like cutting Tony Pollard after June 1st will allow them to sign Michael Parsons.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And I understand that cap money moves forward, but like, we do tend to get stuck in that of like, well, they could save this much money. But I think that when you see
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
actually productive players that they're counting on,
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
we don't really see those guys get
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
cut too, too often after June 1st.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah.
Jeff Bell
And, you know, they.
Dave Kluge
They had a pretty expensive off season,
Jeff Bell
so this would be like kind of
Dave Kluge
looking forward to 20, 27, rolling some of that money over. And again, like, I might be big brain in this, talking about training camp casualties in May, but just something that I think might be worth keeping an eye on. On.
Jeff Bell
Let's talk about these year two guys. And these are the ones, you know, we talked about there was that. That cluster up top, right?
Dave Kluge
Omarion Hampton, Cam Scatter, Boo, Trayvon Henderson, Quinjan Judkins, guys that we said checked all of the boxes.
Jeff Bell
These guys did not check. And, and we like young players because
Dave Kluge
they still have an opportunity to check those boxes. So Dylan Sampson, Devin Neal, Jecori Kroski, Merritt, Woody Marks, Caleb Johnson, Taj Brooks, Jordan James, Ali Gordon La laquint Allen and DJ Giddens. You know, I ranked these guys in the player or in the order that
Jeff Bell
I prefer them, but it's, you know, Dylan Sampson has some nice projectable volume. If you look at, you know, how
Dave Kluge
he might start the season. While Quinn, John Judkins is recovering, Devin Neal now kind of buried behind two RB1s. There's not a ton to get excited about. In this tier, Jeff, is there one guy that you might want to try to sell me on saying like, no, you should be excited about player X.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I mean Jakora Koski Merritt could still
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
be the starting running back for the Washington Commanders. They did not draft Jeremiah Love. They did sign Rashad White. They signed Jerome for. I mean that could still be Jacori Koski Merritt. I think some of these other guys are pretty stuck.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I think Dylan Sampson, we didn't see
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
it turn into a fantasy role. But when I had Dan Hendry on the Dynasty show, we were talking about how the Todd Monkin offense was so split heavily between Derrick Henry and Justice Hill. A pass back and a rush back and Judkins especially coming off injury.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I think there's a chance that we
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
could see that with Dylan Sampson being
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
the Justice Hill and maybe it means
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
a little bit more passing production because
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I think Dylan Sampson does have some juice and looks pretty good towards the
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
end of last year.
Jeff Bell
You know, Ali Gordon, talk about the past catching upside. I mean he hit 40 targets last year and there were some games like saw eight targets in week one, first NFL game ever and he pulled eight targets.
Dave Kluge
Like we know that he can do that.
Jeff Bell
He didn't check all the boxes, but he did certainly check the capable NFL pass catcher box.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah, I, I was very anti Caleb Johnson last year.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Now I feel like the price is
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
count Caleb Johnson is to the point where you probably should be buying some Caleb Johnson because I mean this is a guy that we thought was going to be potentially a first round pick going into last year, but obviously had
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
the, and, and it is fascinating because
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
it really just turned on that mistake
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
in the Seahawks game and arguably the way you see the way the season's played out, I mean the Seahawks went in to win the super bowl. They probably lose that game. And I, I'm big on inflection points of players careers, but also team seasons. I mean maybe if he doesn't make that mistake, he takes the backfield over at some point towards the end of the season. Maybe the Seahawks don't get off to don't get rolling and maybe they're not Super Bowls.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I don't know. I don't I'm saying. But I think also we also know
Jeff Bell
Mike, Mike Tomlin is a very old school hard coach and he coaches these young guys hard. Like we heard him saying, you know,
Dave Kluge
bad things about Roman Wilson or not
Jeff Bell
even bad things, but just like he coaches these players hard. And now I think too like a
Dave Kluge
new coaching staff, Mike McCarthy coming in
Jeff Bell
there fresh set of eyes. He might just say like, wow, like why wasn't this guy getting touches last year? So you know, as we talk about
Dave Kluge
on the show all the time, when player values change, your player takes should change. And last year when people were saying
Jeff Bell
spend the 104 on Caleb Johnson, we were quick to kind of shut that down. But when you can go out and get Caleb Johnson out for a third round pick in your dynasty leagues. I like Caleb Johnson a lot more than I like the rookies going in round three in this year's rookie drafts.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Do you know what we just did? We just did a YouTube call to
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
action because everybody is going to comment now about Caleb Johnson.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
So they've made it 53 minutes into this show.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
They're going to comment on YouTube about Caleb Johnson because he is one of those guys that if you say anything nice, you will get YouTube comments.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Are there any other call to actions,
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Dave, that we're supposed to do in this show?
Jeff Bell
Rookie guide version three is available. It's been available since the Saturday night of the draft, but footballguys.com rookie guide, if you haven't already, leave a leave
Dave Kluge
a review on the podcast.
Jeff Bell
We love love reviews Fantasy show, dynasty show. However you're consuming this one, leave us
Dave Kluge
a review and let us know what you think. Jeff, have we have we buttoned up everything? Is the show ready? I don't know.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
No, I'm not a professional. I don't have no idea.
Jeff Bell
Cheap veterans who are in injury away,
Dave Kluge
formerly known as the handcuff running backs. We're trying to change the verbiage a little bit.
Jeff Bell
So cheap running backs who are an injury away.
Dave Kluge
Take Bigsby, Chris Rodriguez, Brian Robinson, G Jr, Isaiah Pacheco, Sean Tucker, Kenneth Gainwell, Rico Donald, Tyler Algier, Ray Davis, Keaton
Jeff Bell
Mitchell, Kamani Vidal, Emmanuel Wilson, Jordan Mason,
Dave Kluge
Chris Brooks and Justice Hill. These are starting to get bigger as we get deeper into the rankings. I'm not trying to delineate the difference between a Chris Rodriguez and a Justice Hill.
Jeff Bell
I mean, these are all guys who
Dave Kluge
might have some projectable volume and could end up just surprising in training camp. Maybe Chris Rodriguez runs away with the job. Maybe Brian Robinson Jr. Ends up giving the Tyler Algier role and gets all of the goal line work.
Jeff Bell
Maybe Isaiah Pacheco is the new David Montgomery slash Jamal Williams. I mean, these guys could have some weekly utilization. But the reality is for these guys to really be relevant in fantasy, they
Dave Kluge
probably need the guy ahead of them to go down with an injury.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I think Ray Davis might Arguably be the most fascinating player in best ball right now because he's going in the very last round. He is the handcuff clear backup to the NFL's leading rusher in James Cook. I understand Ty Johnson is playing third down snaps. Ty Johnson would continue to play third down snaps. I'm telling you, if James Cook were to go down, Ray Davis would be getting 20 touches per game. And he is and he did.
Jeff Bell
In the one game James Cook is missing the last two years Ray Davis handled, I think it was 18 opportunities in that 2024 game.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And so it's, it's so interesting because the case for Ray Davis is the exact same as it was last year.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I understand there was some contract stuff
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
with James Cook early in the off season last year, but the case for Ray Davis is the exact same case
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
as it was last year.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And Ray Davis, like I said, is
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
an 18th round pick, whereas he was like an 11th round pick last year in best ball. And I think that as you're looking
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
for players, it's harder, I think a
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
dynasty to go out and, and like you try to trade directly for Ray Davis, that person's going to say, wait
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
a minute, he's the backup to running back to James Cook, but you kind of slide him into a deal or you, you're in a startup and it's getting late.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Ray Davis I think is just kind of hanging out there under the radar.
Jeff Bell
One guy I want to talk about
Dave Kluge
in this list, Jeff, is Keaton Mitchell.
Jeff Bell
So I've been doing this series, you know, we're doing a show on it
Dave Kluge
today, but this is an article that I write and I've done this series. Now this is the third offseason that I've gone through this and the first time that I did it, you know, I have these random, you know, we saw Jadarian Price in a tier by himself, we saw Derek Henry in a tier by himself. And when I did this going into the 2024 off season, there was a guy in a tier by himself that I called the arbitrage Devon Achan tier and that was Keaton Mitchell.
Jeff Bell
And I said, I don't know where
Dave Kluge
to lump this guy.
Jeff Bell
If you look at his per touch
Dave Kluge
efficiency, he's one of the most explosive players in the NFL.
Jeff Bell
Why go out and trade the farm for Devon Achan when you can get a similar efficiency profile for way cheaper? Keaton Mitchell, of course, comes out and
Dave Kluge
blows his knee out the next year and hasn't really done much since then.
Jeff Bell
But Keaton Mitchell now gets Signed by the Los Angeles Chargers, who brought in Mike McDaniel, who found a lot of good valuable usage for Devon Hn. So these are the two guys, you know, again, back to the best ball exposure that I find myself drafting a ton of of late in drafts, but also in Dynasty. Like, we know Amarian Hampton is going
Dave Kluge
to get his workload. He's a first round running back. He can handle all that.
Jeff Bell
But Keaton Mitchell can do exactly what
Dave Kluge
we saw Devon Achan do alongside Raheem
Jeff Bell
Mostert, which was just get like 30% of the pie, but be so efficient with that opportunity that he's given you.
Dave Kluge
RB1 production. So Keaton Mitchell, you know. Yeah. The contingent upside if Omarion Hampton has to go down is really alluring, but there might even be some standalone value here that's just based on the efficiency.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Better in best ball probably in that. I think you're right.
Dave Kluge
So again, back to another opinionated tier of mine, which I have a few of these sprinkled throughout.
Jeff Bell
Worth trading a fourth round pick for
Dave Kluge
because why not Kendra Miller, Isaiah Davis, Will Shipley, guys who probably don't matter, but they matter to me.
Jeff Bell
Jeff, these are just guys that I
Dave Kluge
like and might be floating out on waivers in some of your shallow leagues. We don't have to dive deep into this tier. But.
Jeff Bell
But am I a sucker for still holding on to faith for Kendra Miller, like finally started putting it together last year? I was beating my chest, feeling proud after being like the sole guy still holding a torch for Kendra Miller and
Dave Kluge
then the acl and that might be the end of the road for him, but I don't know.
Jeff Bell
These are just guys that I like
Dave Kluge
and I'm going to keep stashed on the back end of all of my dynasty rosters.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah, I mean, I think we've all gotten a killer word to become a guy.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
It was.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Would be very, you know, as we're talking about buckets. And if you're looking at analytical profiles and things like that, I think the
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
analytical odds of Kenry Miller becoming something's probably pretty low. I think Will Shipley is probably the most interesting one out of this. I know Isaiah Davis had some flashes last year, but Shipley, if. If something were to happen to Saquon
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Barkley, I mean, it probably arguably would be tanked big. At the same time, I think Shipley
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
would definitely have a chance to earn that.
Jeff Bell
And Shipley, we didn't see much last year.
Dave Kluge
He broke his ribs in week one
Jeff Bell
and then just never really got.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
He looked like he very Much had a role in the office.
Jeff Bell
For the first half of that Week 1 game, it looked like Shipley was going to be involved and then he broke his ribs.
Dave Kluge
That necessitated the trade for Tank Bigsby.
Jeff Bell
But I still, yeah, Shipley is a guy that clearly, you know, as I said, I'm.
Dave Kluge
I'm still keeping a light on for.
Jeff Bell
I think he's a good, fun player.
Dave Kluge
Next tier, we've got the farewell tour. Jeff.
Jeff Bell
These are the guys that, you know, might.
Dave Kluge
Might still have something left in the tank, but I doubt it. James Connor, Aaron Jones, Kareem Hunt, Austin Eckler, Joe Mixon, Nick Chubb. I couldn't even. I thought about like going through. I was like, I'm going to tally up how many cumulative RB1 seasons there are before this tier. And I said, that's not even worth it.
Jeff Bell
There's been a lot.
Dave Kluge
These guys have all been RB1s, most of them multiple times.
Jeff Bell
Would it surprise you if any of these guys rewound the clock and turned out an RB1 season this year? No, because we see that all the time. Like these elite players will randomly have
Dave Kluge
these like, splash elite years into their 30s, but you can't bet on it with any of them. Like, if it happens and they're on your team, you feel good about it. But probably the end of the road for most of these guys.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Aaron Jones is the one I like
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
the best out of this.
Dave Kluge
Another every other year guy.
Jeff Bell
And this is the on year.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
It is the on year here.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I feel like Kareem Hunt is just destined for. Like we're just going to be looking
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
at him in week six saying, how bad do I need these eight ppr half PPR points Wherever Cream Hunt ends up being, how bad right now do I need 8 half PPR points out of this running back two spot because of injuries buys whatever. That's Cream Hunt's destiny.
Jeff Bell
And right now as a free agent,
Dave Kluge
my guess is that he is just waiting. And I think the same with Najee Harris. Like, I've been drafted both of these guys late in my best ball leagues
Jeff Bell
too, because there's no reason for them to sign now.
Dave Kluge
Wait until training camp open opens.
Jeff Bell
Like somebody gets hurt every year in training camp and then you can show up with fresh legs and get a job. So yeah, Kareem Hunt, Najee Harris, two guys that are off the radar for most people but could end up being
Dave Kluge
there by the time training camp rolls around.
Jeff Bell
Now we've got the second group of rookies and yeah, you know, there's.
Dave Kluge
There's a gray line somewhere in here.
Jeff Bell
So I said these are the rookies who probably won't matter, but could. They could matter. I'm not, I'm not saying that, you know, these guys are done. It's just going to be a tougher,
Dave Kluge
longer road for them to find fantasy relevance. Adam Randall, Seth McGowan, Demond Claiborne, Le'Veon Moss, Robert Henry Jr, Jabari Taylor, Desmond Reed, Jam Miller, Noah Whittington, Jaden Ott, C.J. donaldson, Roman Hemby, Jamal Haynes, Jaden Nixon and Coleman Bennett. Jeff, anybody from here really? I know we already talked about Mon Claiborne a little bit.
Jeff Bell
Anybody else that kind of gets you excited or.
Dave Kluge
No.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I mean, Clayborne needs to be in your other group.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I'm just saying that he needs to be in your other group of young guys.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And then, I mean, I know you
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
like Adam Randall and I understand like the talk about Adam Randall. If forbid something were to happen to Derrick Henry, it's.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
They're not giving the ball 20 times
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
for a game to Justice Hill. So.
Jeff Bell
No, the hope with Adam Randall is that year nine he ends up in an Arthur Smith offense and gives us top 15 production.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
I'm just saying this year, if something
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
were Derek Henry or missed time, it's
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
not going to be the Rasheen Ali
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
and Justice Hill show.
Dave Kluge
Yeah.
Jeff Bell
So that's why I like, you know, Adam Randall could be a fun player. Still a very raw player. But you know, I, I still think
Dave Kluge
just the size, speed, the pass catching upside, you know, he's a fun late round art.
Jeff Bell
But we're at the point now, Jeff,
Dave Kluge
like we're over 100 running back Steve.
Jeff Bell
I mean these guys all. Seth McGowan is another one that like
Dave Kluge
I have him high up in this list and I think for Dynasty purposes there's plenty of reason to be apprehensive. You know, he's going to be 26
Jeff Bell
years old or 25. I think he's already 25, turning 26, whatever it is, he is a very
Dave Kluge
old man as far as rookies go.
Jeff Bell
But I think that if something were to happen to Jonathan Taylor, like wouldn't be here for a long time, but could absolutely be here for a good time like Seth McGowan. If you, you, if you're giving Seth McGowan 20 touches behind that Colts offensive
Dave Kluge
line, I can get really excited about that. And I don't know exactly how they feel about DJ Giddens, but I don't think DJ Giddens has that build to carry a three down workload. Or Seth McGowan could.
Jeff Bell
So one of those guys that like we've seen a lot of the rookie drafts I'm doing that are going four rounds deep.
Dave Kluge
Seth McGowan isn't even being touched right now.
Jeff Bell
I think he's worth picking up and
Dave Kluge
just stashing at the end of your bench as a, as a potential handcuff.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah, I agree.
Dave Kluge
The extremely cheap year two guys.
Jeff Bell
We talked about the guys who checked all the boxes. We talked about the guys who checked some boxes. And these guys, not much to get excited about.
Dave Kluge
Jaden Blue, Phil Mafa, Trevor Etienne, Xavier Scott, Raheem Sanders.
Jeff Bell
I mean these guys are even cheaper than the other year two guys and they're even more volatile. We're at the point now, Jeff, we're
Dave Kluge
like in your standard 12 team league with eight bench spots. You're probably not even been thinking twice about these guys.
Jeff Bell
But for you sickos out there that
Dave Kluge
are in your 16 team dynasty leagues
Jeff Bell
or you've got rosters with 20 plus bench spots. Yeah, we need to talk about Jaden
Dave Kluge
Blue, Phil Mafa, Trevor edn, Xavier Scott and Raheem Sanders.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
They are players in the NFL. So they. We see guys come off the radar. I mean, bam night last year. We see guys come out of nowhere, become and really kind of I'm going to break into this next year. We're kind of up against it a little bit. Link Davis is like the backup running
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
back in Dallas right now, arguably. So like I'm looking at the rest of the guys that you have listed
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
and to me I think he's the most interesting one out of all the rest of these tiers left just because he, we saw last year he was the backup to Javonte Williams. And so I think that other than
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
that you were, you're right, we're there
Jeff Bell
and we will rapid fire through the rest of these because the YouTube video promised 139 running backs and we're going
Dave Kluge
to give you 139 running backs.
Jeff Bell
So worth checking the waiver wire for in your extremely deep leagues.
Dave Kluge
George Holani, Malik Davis, Rasheen Ali, Patrick Taylor, Jawar Jordan and Amari damarcato.
Jeff Bell
George Holani could end up getting some
Dave Kluge
early season work in Seattle. It seemed like they like him. Obviously Jadarian Price and Emmanuel Wilson throw a wrench in there. Malik Davis, as you said, could be the backup in Dallas, which there could
Jeff Bell
be some usage there. The next one that we've got, remember these guys, this is the tier that I'm saying if you can get a Fourth round pick for any of these guys, do it because if not, you're
Dave Kluge
probably just going to be dropping them mid season.
Jeff Bell
These are the definition of roster cloggers.
Dave Kluge
Jalen Wright, Bam Knight, Audric Estimate, Michael
Jeff Bell
Carter, Jerome Ford, Jarquez Hunter, Rashard Smith, Marshawn Lloyd, Isaac Rando, Roshan Johnson, Tyler Bidet, Dylan Louby, Zamir White. Jeff, let me just ask you point
Dave Kluge
blank, is there one of these guys
Jeff Bell
that you're saying, no, this guy should have been higher?
Dave Kluge
Dave, you are crazy for ranking this guy.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
This probably Jalen Wright. I think Jalen, we've seen flashes enough to have him in there and who knows what that backfield is going to look like.
Dave Kluge
And Chris Harris, also a fan of Jalen Wright. I know we liked him coming out of college. In the limited opportunities he's had in the NFL though, has looked pretty good. And then this one is the veterans who have faded from relevance. I'm going to list these names and if you have these names on your roster, flip over to whatever app you play fantasy football at and drop them. This is your sign. There's no reason to roster any of these guys in any leagues anymore. Actually Samaj P. Ryan in deep leagues, yeah, he might be an injury away, but 31 years old, they'd probably bring in a free agent before they give Samaj P. Ryan a huge workload. But Samaji P. Ryan, Cam Aker, Zach Moss, Devin Singletary, Damian Pierce, Eliza Mitchell, Khalil Herbert, Miles Sanders, Trey Sermon, Ty Chandler, AJ Dillon, Gus Edwards, Jalil McLaughlin, Alexander Madison, Ty Johnson, Antonio Gibson, Sincere
Jeff Bell
McCormick, all players that were near 100%
Dave Kluge
roster chip at one point over the
Jeff Bell
last couple of seasons.
Dave Kluge
Probably not much relevance in fantasy or dynasty anymore. Jeff, would you push back on any of those or. Yeah, is that just where we are, man?
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Antonio Gibson's your second to last player. And it was not that long ago that again, entire religions spouted up about Antonio Gibson not that long ago. And now he's the second to last player and 139 players. I mean, Devin Singletary, I feel like it's one of those guys like, like I said with Kareem Hunt, Devin Singletary is gonna end up in the position of like I really need these 8.7 half PPR points Devin Singletary sitting here. Other than that, no, not really.
Jeff Bell
And that is a trap in itself. Like is the guy who's Giving you like 4.2 points per week with the, you know, once every two and a half months double digit performance. Like is that guy really relevant because I shared this list because there was
Dave Kluge
a fun quote that I, I used in this write up and I shared it to Twitter and I got a lot of pushback.
Jeff Bell
A lot of people saying, Samaji P. Ryan very relevant. Last year, Samaji p. Ryan averaged 4.4 points. He had two games with double digit points and nobody was starting him in those weeks. So yeah, if you want to look
Dave Kluge
retroactively and say like, actually, you know,
Jeff Bell
he kind of snuck into the top 60 running backs. Show me a week that you started
Dave Kluge
Samaj AP Ryan and he helped you win it and I will apologize, it didn't happen.
Jeff Bell
Like it's not happening. And same thing with Devin Singletary. Like Devin Singletary is going to have a two touchdown game and somebody's going to say, oh, you told me to drop Devin Singletary and I'll show you 0% roster ship the week that he scores two touchdowns. Because that's what happens. Like these guys might have a spike week here and there, but you're never
Dave Kluge
putting one of these guys in your lineup.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Dave, you've put it out into the
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
world now and you're going to get
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
in position where one of your leagues, you're going to cut Samaj P. Ryan because you're going to say it doesn't
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
matter and then you're going to lose
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
a game by 0.8 points where you
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
would have had Samaj P Ryan plugged in.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
But you're going to play Adam Randall instead because it's going to be bye weeks and injuries and Adam Randall is
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
going to get zero points points and
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
smash vp runs gonna have 3.1 points and it's going to be the difference and it's going to knock you out of the playoffs because that's manifested.
Jeff Bell
I will sleep like a baby and
Dave Kluge
tell myself that the process was right.
Jeff Bell
Well, Jeff, this is, you know, we're doing this positional series over the next month.
Dave Kluge
We're going to do Wide receivers next week, which is going to be another mega episode like this, probably an hour. Plus the quarterback and tight end episodes
Jeff Bell
will be a little bit shorter than that.
Dave Kluge
And then hard to believe that, that it is going to be projections and divisional previews and team breakdowns after that.
Jeff Bell
So thanks for hanging out during the
Dave Kluge
month of May here on the the, the, the Jeff Bell and Dave Kluge show, whatever we're calling it these days,
Jeff Bell
this is very much so the Dave Kluge Month. As we're going through all of my positional rankings next month, the month of June is going to be the Jeff Bell month as we pick apart all of his projections. Jeff, these next three months where we're
Dave Kluge
doing positional breakdowns right now, and then in June we do all of our projections and team breakdowns and then come Aug or come July we have training camp. These three months are my favorite time of the year. Just like getting to talk with you, kind of talking about every single player, pulling back the layers, looking at team situations, talking through all of this.
Jeff Bell
I enjoy doing this with you and
Dave Kluge
I hope the audience enjoys hanging out here as much as you and I enjoy doing these shows over these next few months.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Yeah. And I sincerely apologize and our friend
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Chris Harris busted us up last year because these, this show should have been like 95 minutes. But I gotta join my friends over at Trade Addicts and I'm freaking out right over here because I've got three minutes.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
Troy and and Cavs are on and I'm. I don't know that I'm a full blown Pistons fan, but they probably would be my team right now.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
And I really don't like Cleveland.
Jeff (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
So like this is going on over here. I gotta join my friends.
Dave (Alternate or Guest Analyst)
This should have been like a 95 minute show and I really do apologize to our listeners. I really appreciate you, Jeff.
Dave Kluge
You have to tell me beforehand when you have a heart out and I will make sure to get you there.
Jeff Bell
But let's go ahead and get you to your next show. One of the busiest guys in the industry want to thank you all so much for taking the time to tune in.
Dave Kluge
We'll be back next week talking about wide receivers. Thank you for tuning in and we'll see you soon.
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Episode: Dynasty Running Back Rankings and Tiers || Fantasy Football 2026
Hosts: Dave Kluge & Jeff Bell
This episode is a comprehensive, deep-dive breakdown of Dynasty fantasy football running back rankings and tiers for 2026. Hosts Dave Kluge and Jeff Bell analyze the positional landscape through carefully crafted "buckets" of similar RB archetypes—emphasizing dynasty-specific strategy, value volatility, and cross-year projections. The discussion spans the highest-upside young stars, the “old guard,” sneaky value plays, rookie intrigue, and roster landmines, blending sharp analysis with humor and direct listener advice.
This summary provides all major discussion points, context for every major tier/strategy, and includes key memorable quotes and timestamps. For dynasty fantasy football players aiming to master RB values, this episode delivers a high-density, actionable playbook as the 2026 season approaches.