← Footballguys Fantasy Football Show
Footballguys Fantasy Football Show
Rookie Running Back Tiers and Rankings || Fantasy Football 2026
01:04:20
Loading summary
Transcript105 lines
- [00:00]
A
At Charmin, we heard you shouldn't talk about going to the bathroom in public,
- [00:03]
B
so we decided to sing about it. Charmin ultra strong. You can use less better than the rest. Charmin ultra strong booty pass the clean text Shaman weave texture.
- [00:15]
A
It's the best.
- [00:16]
B
Study up, teach a lesson on fresh your booty pass the clean test. Charmin ultra strong. Charmin ultra strong with diamond weave texture cleans better than the leading one plaid brand so you can use less. Enjoy the go with charming. Sorry a little gassy. Had a ate a whole pound of broccoli before we recorded. That was not my smartest move as
- [00:40]
A
one would a whole pound. Did you weigh it out to an entire pound? Like weigh it out and say like metal. Metal cup there of like this is my pound of broccoli. I use my scale for.
- [00:52]
B
I mean it was, it was about. I had a two pound bag and I ate over half of it.
- [00:56]
A
Like where do you. Did you weigh the bag out to make sure that it was £2? Cause I saw a video on Walmart where people were weighing meat and it was like not even close to being the actual size.
- [01:05]
B
I do, I do have a scale that I use for my meat. But when it comes to veggies, you know the difference between just eat as
- [01:11]
A
many veggies as you can and you just go with it.
- [01:14]
B
That's it. Yeah. Like it's impossible to overeat veggies like when you're trying to cut weight. Like I'm trying to do. I eat about 80 blueberries and about a pound of veggies every single day. Yeah. But the problem is if I do it right before I record, then I get gassy.
- [01:29]
A
Do you grow your own blueberries and broccoli? Is that. I mean, that's the next step, Dave.
- [01:34]
B
No, not. I live in a desert, dude. It is a. We've got a backyard full of sand. I could have grown.
- [01:40]
A
Can't grow anything in sand.
- [01:48]
B
Today we are wrapping up our positional rookie series. We have talked about wide receivers, quarterbacks, tight ends and today we are going to finish with running backs. I'm joined by with Jeff L and Jeff, we're going to talk about 20 something. 20 ish. This is not the deepest of the positions this year. We did a lot for the rookie guide. We only got about 20 something combine invites. So we're going to talk about the guys more than anything else that are going to be hopefully improving their stock this week in Indianapolis.
- [02:17]
A
Yeah. And first off, hats off to you because you took this entire group and you really ran with it and you know you went super deep on this position and part of it's because you, yo, you definitely working on a project with you. You have a gung ho like can do attitude and you got in there and you was super deep and you basically blew through the watch list and did all the profiles and now you know everything about every potential deep sleeper possible and especially the guys that went to the combine and combine is happening right now, the ones that we really should pay attention to.
- [02:49]
B
Yeah. And if Dean Connors gets a spot start four years from now, I will be able to tell you all about him. But we're not going quite that deep today. We're going to talk about the guys that have a chance to get drafte and mostly the guys that are in Indy and then maybe a few snubs as well. But Jeff, we're going to start at the top like we have done every single time we've done one of these series so far. Jeremiah Love. What is there really to say about Jeremiah Love that hasn't been said already? Game breaking speed, pass catching abilities. He can block, he's got contact balance, he's got one of the best spin moves we've maybe ever seen from an incoming prospect. I mean this guy, his highlight reel alone, like we've all seen the touchdown that he scored against Penn State where he broke like four tackles inside the two yard line. This guy is about as close to a can't miss prospect as you can be. So I think the real question here, Jeff, is assuming he gets drafted in the top half of round one, where does he land in Dynasty rankings? Because I've got him right now behind Jameer Gibbs, Bijan Robinson and Ashen Ginty is my RB4 and there's nobody else I want to put ahead of him there.
- [03:47]
A
No, I think that that's probably the spot to have him right now. And really the major question on him or Genti comes down to not knowing Jeremiah Love's landing spot yet. Not knowing if he's going to be a top 10 pick. I think he almost certainly will be a top 10 pick. Not knowing what that backfield is going to look like and maybe not knowing what Ashton Genti's backfield might look like. And if you're listening to some of the combine rumors, it sounds like the Raiders are looking to pair him up with somebody. And meanwhile you've got general managers that are saying please do not allow Jeremiah Love to become a Kansas City chief because we're not going to be able to deal with it if that were to happen.
- [04:22]
B
And that, I mean that that's the best landing spot. There are so many good landing spots at the top of the draft this year that even if it's not Kans City, Dallas could be in the market
- [04:31]
A
for going to Dallas. Dave, they just gave Javonte Williams a bunch of money. Dave, it's not happening.
- [04:36]
B
No, they, they gave him $6 million. He's, he's like not even top 20. Like they, there's enough flexibility in that contract that they could definitely bring somebody in. It's basically a one year, $6 million deal like that. That is backup money that they gave Javonte Williams. I'm happy for Javonte Williams, but they could absolutely add to that backfield. Cincinnati Bengals. What about that? All they've got right now. They've got two day three running backs. They've got Taj Brooks and Chase Brown. Like almost no money tied up there. Maybe they look to make an improvement. Washington Commanders Another really fun potential landing spot for Jeremiah Love. All right, maybe Dallas isn't the most realistic, but there's a lot of fun landing spots in the top half of round one is what I'm saying.
- [05:14]
A
Yeah, the scary one that I heard thrown out was the Giants potentially looking at Love and, and you know, they, we got Scatterball already. We've got Tyrone Tracy. I really hope it's not the Giants. And I mean even at the top of the draft and there was talk that Ashton Genti might have been a Jaguar if the Jaguars didn't move, you might, the Cardinals might be in on Jeremiah Love. There is potentially a spot in the four pick and I mean they really, there's a lot of opening around even the top five of the draft potentially for Love to go.
- [05:48]
B
I, I don't think Tennessee should do it. But Tajie Spears, like they have not shown that they want to burden him with a full workload. Tony Pollard's a free agent. I mean, you know, you, you can talk me into just about any team. The only one I really wouldn't want to see is Cleveland. Like after spending up for Quinjan Judkins last year, that would just be, you know, not, not, not a lot of fun. But yeah, a lot of good landing spots for Jeremiah Love and we're not going to spend too much time there because he's just, like I said, pretty, pretty much a can't miss prospect. RB2 and what we're doing here. Footballguys.com rookieguide if you haven't checked this out already. Just do it like right now. Like if you're listening to a podcast, YouTube, whatever it is, open up a tab. Footballguys.com RookieGuide it is 100% free. Me, Jeff Bell, Mike Kashuba. We did over 150 scouting reports. We've got strengths and weaknesses on all these players. We have player comps, we have ideal team fits, statistics, consensus rankings, everything you possibly want. And it is 100 free. You don't have to do pay anything. You just go to footballguys.com rookieguide Put your email address in and you get full access to everything here. So that's what we're doing today is just working down our consensus rankings here. And RB2. This wasn't the RB2 when we first released this guide a couple of weeks ago. But Jeff, you have warmed up to this prospect. I've warmed up to this prospect. Prospect. We both have him as our RB2. Mike Washington Jr. Out of Arkansas. I gotta say, you got there before I did. You know, I was a big fan of him. I kind of slotted him into RB7 in my first set of rankings. Watched a little bit more, moved him up to RB5, moved him up to RB3. Now he's all the way up to RB2. Talk to me about Mike Washington a little bit because this is a very, very, very fun running back.
- [07:24]
A
Yeah. So full disclosure on that first version of the guide. I watch a lot of college football. What? But in college I'm like watching the games and enjoying football as a fan because we work so, so hard during the season that college football becomes my escape. And I don't really turn the prospect hat on until we really start diving into the guide. And I worked on about 60 wide receivers for that first version. So I wasn't really feeling very comfortable about running backs when we went to do those initial ranks. Now that we've had some time, we've been able to go back and watch the other positions that we missed on that first cut because we did go so deep. And really when I got into it, it was was one of those that, you know, I didn't want to listen too, too much to what the consensus opinions might be or any, anything like that. Just viewing, I knew obviously we have love and obviously there's ambiguity about who the running back two should be. But once you dive in, this guy is huge. He's fast, he is explosive. He was a very, very productive back in the SEC this year. You watch him, he's a natural pass catcher. It doesn't Seem like he's struggling at all involvement in the passing game. And it's not just screen passes, working him on wheel routes, things like that. He naturally catches the ball. He's got explosion to hit the edge at some level. It's like, well, wait a minute, why don't we love the 230 pound big fast guy, blew up the Senior bowl and can be involved in the passing game. What's going on here? And to me, that's where it naturally became my running back too.
- [08:58]
B
So you know what it is, Jeff? I dug into this a little bit because I was kind of wondering the same thing. Like, the more I watch, the more I like. And you talk about it, this guy, 233 pounds at the senior bowl, like just a mammoth of a man and ran the second fastest speed of any running back there. Talk about the pass catching upside, you know, that was what really surprised me. He wasn't just a checkdown option. Like he was running routes and catching the ball deep downfield and like seamlessly catching the ball and then creating yards after the catch as well. And I was trying to figure out like, why other people weren't there as well. And I think so much of it comes down to devi rankings and like, this guy wasn't that guy. Like he came out of high school as a two star recruit. He was in a split backfield for a couple of years. And I think so many people get enamored by the, the Nick Singletons and the Jadarian Prices, these guys that were five star recruits that they've been waiting for three, four years to come into the pros, where Mike Washington just kind of got lost in that Debbie shuffle. But if you look at just what all of these running backs did last year, I'm with you, man. I got Mike Washington as my RB2 right now. Just big, wide shoulders, a muscular frame, just fast with punishing speed, but also has like the bend to get around guys when he needs to. The more I watch, the more I like of this guy. And I said it on a show a couple of weeks ago, but like, wouldn't surprise me one bit if this guy's just a consensus first round pick in rookie drafts.
- [10:16]
A
Yeah, the devi stuff is a lot of fun and there's smart people that do it, but at the same time, like Fernando Mendoza, you can find published ranks from last April that didn't have Fernando Mendoza, the top 50 Debbie quarterback. And so that, that is one of the things that I think keeping that lens clear until we really get into the prospect Cycle until we really are able to look at these players. And yeah, he shared a backfield at New Mexico State, but shared a backfield with Seth McGowan. And Seth McGowan is a pretty good back.
- [10:46]
B
Five years older.
- [10:47]
A
Well, yeah, that too. But I mean, he's at the combine. He's in the draft. He was pretty productive in one season at Kentucky. He was a, a Debbie bag. He was a high, high prospect coming out of it. So it wasn't like he was with a scrub at New Mexico State, the Buffalo stuff. I think he dealt with some injuries there. It just was not really separating. Obviously decided to make that decision to transfer, landing at New Mexico State before landing at Arkansas. But then in one season with Arkansas, it just exploded and was very, very productive.
- [11:17]
B
And one other thing that I want to say real quickly. I, I always say 233 pounds. He was 228 pounds and the fastest speed. There's another guy we're going to talk about in a little bit who's 233 pounds with the second fastest speed. We'll, we'll get to him in a bit. I get these two guys confused often, but next guy we want to talk about here, Jeff, Jadarian Price and Mike, you, me, we all have him inside our top four. He averages out to our RB3. Now I feel like so much of the Jadarian Prize thing is the same Carnell Tate thing where people are like, whoa, he wasn't even the, the top guy in his own backfield. How could he be this good of a running back? But sometimes that just happens, like he was playing behind the best running back in football. But this is a guy that has game breaking speed so much. What I saw was on special teams, like his biggest, best plays are on special teams. And I think that means he's going to be an immediate contributor just in that facet. But we didn't get to see him do a lot of the running back dirty work because he was behind Jeremiah Love. There are some smart minds out there that are saying this guy could potentially be a round one pick in the NFL draft. Do you see that with Jadarian Price, Jeff?
- [12:19]
A
I couldn't imagine him being a first round pick. He's, he's not going to be a first round pick. I think Jeremiah Love is probably the only first round pick that we're looking at here. But yeah, it definitely has that level of under the radar. I mean, Carnell Tate, that comparison I think is fair and you know it. I, I saw the criticism of like you know, talking about it felt to me at some level more people were talking about people talking about Carnell Tate not even being the best receiver than actual people talking about Carnell Tate not being the best receiver at Ohio State. And then I went on Reddit and it was like the first thing I saw was somebody saying, well, Cardinal Tate wasn't even the best receiver at Ohio State. And I was like, okay, universe, you have served me. But I think that Price, yeah, absolutely. I mean, obviously behind Jeremiah Love, arguably maybe the only player he might have been behind in college football last year. And, and so now we are getting this backfield and we had that argument last year with again another Ohio State with Judkins and Trayvon Henderson, and it seemed to go back and forth about who was the actual the best back. And when it came down to it, they were both just good and they were both early second round picks. And so I think that Price, I would be surprised to see him in the first round. I think he's a day two player, but it's very much in that conversation that he could be leading a backfield as that day two selection. And so much is in the air right now, and it really does come down to landing spots for a lot of these players.
- [13:46]
B
Now, you know, I, I like Jadarian Price a lot, but I do get a little bit confused when I see a lot of people put him up there at RBD talking about the first round draft capital, because I think that he's a very, very good athlete. You know, he just runs like a track star. But I do have some concerns about his lateral quickness, his ability to pick up blitzes and things like that. So I think for fantasy purposes, like if this guy gets an opportunity, I think the big play up side is there in spades where he can just, you know, make his entire week in fantasy on one play, but also didn't see a lot of receiving. And now that could be a product of the Notre Dame offense because Malachi Fields also didn't have a lot of receiving and Jeremiah Love didn't even have that much receiving. That's just, you know, the Notre Dame offense, but just an absolute spark plug. My comp for him was C.J. spiller, which obviously, you know, didn't work out in the NFL, but just a guy with game breaking speed who can immediately contribute on special teams. He can be a very fun player. Now, my original RB2 in my first set of rankings was Katron Allen. I've moved him down just a tick. I moved Mike Washington ahead of him. But all of these running backs that we're talking about here, Jeff and after Jeremiah Love, there's this cluster that in my opinion are pretty tight. And we'll talk through. I've kind of got like a mini tier break over these next six players, but Caitrin Allen just seems like people want him to fail. Like the way that he's talked about, I, I don't know, it's kind of weird. Like there's just these weird narratives surrounding Katrin Allen, but I see a very technically sound runner. Like this guy can get it done between the tackles, he can get it outside zone schemes, back man schemes, it doesn't matter. Like he's able to find creases and that's something that I know NFL teams value very, very highly. Now, he's not the guy who's going to run for 80 yard touchdowns. He doesn't have that sort of breakaway speed, but he's just always able to pick up that extra yard by that extra yard by accelerating through contact or just taking that angle. That helps him get a couple extra steps here and there. He's got good footwork in between traffic as well. So this is the NFL combine week. It hasn't happened yet. We're recording this on Thursday night. We'll find out in a couple of days, but I expect Cater now to go out there. He might not run the fastest 40 time, but what I'm going to be paying close attention to his 10 yard split during the 40 yard dash, paying attention to his 3 cone, his shuttle, the things that actually matter for running backs. It's possible that he goes out there and runs, you know, in the high four sixes and I wouldn't be thrilled about that, but I really want to see if that on field quickness shows up in these combine drills.
- [16:06]
A
Yeah, I mean we've talked through it a little bit here of recording this. We are recording this on Thursday night of the combine. So I really hope this gets published on Friday because there are definitely some things that we could say that might be aging very, very poorly.
- [16:19]
B
Before Emma Johnson doesn't look too fast and he's gonna go out and run like a 4, 3, 9, you know.
- [16:23]
A
Exactly. Yeah. I think it's. When it comes to Alan, I mean we, we did touch on the Debbie conversation a little bit, but Nick Singleton was the w running back one for a period of time and he was going to be viewed as the guy that everybody was waiting for he to be. Even in last year's class, he was supposed to Be that top back in the class. And so I think that you're coming into it now with him falling apart and the reason why that kind of happened. Throughout the time at Penn State, Allen was the guy that was always there was always the just the study productive player. He was the like the more the under the radar player that that came. He wasn't the number one running back recruit when he came to Penn State in the same class as Singleton. And I think it just levels of annoyance probably on investments, those types of things. When it comes down to it might have been a big driver in Allen. Obviously Allen left Penn State as the all time leading rusher. He was the better back this past season. He's the back that doesn't have a broken foot for Penn State right now. So I mean there are, there are positives here but I think it's. He is one of those guys. Yeah, you touched on the explosion. Where's the explosion? What, what are we going to see here out of testing? Is this going to be, you know, is this going to be, I don't think a Caleb Johnson moment where we thinking that this is a 4, 4 player and he runs nearly close to a 4, 6. I. I don't know what we're dealing with.
- [17:47]
B
44 player.
- [17:48]
A
Well, yeah, exactly. And, and so I guess there's only upside with John with K Tron Allen here. But it does kind of feel like the, the guy that's going to do the right things and that a coach is going to like and he's just gonna end up in a role where he's seeing a lot of volume. But he might be a player that could be goal line dependent. Could. Is he going to be involved in the passing game? Those are going to be real questions because as much as we talk about Jadarin Price, we just talked about the appeal of the Explosion or even Love and Washington, these players that can generate these flash plays. Allen's going to be a little more chip of away player. It's kind of almost maybe like that mold of the Kyron Williams where you're not getting a ton of passing game involvement but he's just there and he's just getting a lot of involvement.
- [18:34]
B
You know, you talk a little bit about Penn State and you know last year it wasn't good for Penn State. Like this has been a good offense during Cateran Allen and Nick Singleton their entire career. Last year Drew Aller got hurt early in the season and they leaned heavily on catering Allen. After Aller went down with the injury. Cateran Allen responded with the most rushing yards, most scrimmage yards, the most yards per carry, and the most yards per touch of his collegiate career. So, like, when things weren't going great, defenses were loading the boxes against them and they were losing games. Kitchen Allen still was more productive than ever. So that to me signals that, you know, he's going to be fine in the NFL when he's facing tough defenses and he's got to work harder for those yards than they were coming through his first couple of years. So, you know, moved him down to my RB3. This is all going to change after the combine, but a player that I like quite a bit now continuing to move down the list here, RB5. And this is where I kind of put that mini tear break here. I still think these next three guys that we're going to talk about are very good, but I do see a little bit of a separation between these guys in Caitrin Allen, Jadarian Price and Mike Washington that we just talked about. Emmett Johnson out of Nebraska, one of the most productive running backs in college football last year. Of the guys that we have coming in in our rookie Guide, which is 45 running backs, he ranks second in rushing yards. He was second in receptions, third in receiving yards. I mean, this guy was just a workhorse for Nebraska last year, but a little bit undersized again. You know, we're going to talk about the combine a lot. I think on film there were moments where I didn't really see the burst that I think a lot of other people see. There are a lot of big plays, but a lot of times that's just outrunning a guy who's going to be working at Wells Fargo next year and not outrunning NFL speed. And that's kind of my concern. So we'll find out this weekend. Like, is that speed translatable? If he goes out and runs a 44 foot in my mouth, you know, then we're excited about Emmett Johnson, but I think that's my major concern right now is that he's undersized. And you can be undersized if you have game breaking speed, but if you're undersized and slow, that's basically a death knell for the NFL.
- [20:36]
A
Yeah, I have him currently in the guide as my running back three. But before this show, again, I made it at the top of the show. I got an opportunity to sit down and actually watch players a little bit more. And I didn't come away loving EMT Johnson. He's going to move down from that RA ranking. I think you, you hit on a lot of the points there on just. It's the explosion. It's. Yeah. Is it really there? Is it a lot of. I mean the, the power is probably not going to translate. He's smaller back relative to some of these other backs. What are we really working with on Emmett Johnson? I understand the production profile. Definitely, definitely there. You got to be good to produce it at some level. But it, you know, in watching the tape it seemed like a big plays were just coming against like Ruckers in like those types of teams. And that's kind of what I saw.
- [21:29]
B
And, and another weird thing too. I'm always a little bit leery of the guys who like don't do anything for their first few years and then just kind of explode in their final season. And that's what we saw from Emmett Johnson.
- [21:39]
A
Like quiet through Mike Washington's our running back too.
- [21:42]
B
Mike Washington a little bit of a different story. Like he transferred to get there, came in as a low recruit like Emma Johnson. Like we've kind of been waiting for this and again, you know, we'll, we'll find out. We'll have more questions answered after this weekend than we have right now. So I don't sit here and pile on like we've still got him as a top five running back in the rookie guide. I think the upside is there. My comp form was Ahmad Bradshaw who very good NFL career but never a guy that was like the lead back. He wasn't a three down back. He was always a complimentary piece and I think that's what I see with Emmett Johnson. I think he can be part of a split backfield and if he ends up with the passing down role, which I think is very likely, then there can be some PPR utility here. But I don't think he's ever going to be, you know, Jameer Gibbs type player which is I think is the hope. The kind of the wish casting with Emma Johnson is that he just smokes the combine, comes out as this freak athlete and I don't know if I saw enough to really get there. Next guy we want to talk about, Jeff, RB6 Jonah Coleman out of Washington. This guy is just a bowling ball like somewhere around 230 pounds and he puts that on a five foot nine frame. So just a big bruising punishing back. There was some elusiveness and a little bit of bounce that you'd see here and there. But again I, I don't know about the top speed and we'll we'll find that question out. But I think, you know, the, there's a spectrum here of the, the range of outcomes for Jonah Coleman, and it's somewhere between Audre Estimate and Doug Martin. And I think that all kind of hinges on whether he has that breakaway speed or not.
- [23:12]
A
Dave, I'm, I think that in this range, I think just we're kind of getting to the point now where we're deep enough in rookies where we're feeling pretty good. Like, it's like we talk ourselves, we know walking in, we know that this class isn't as good as what we think it should be, but then we're like, wait, I mean, Evan Johnson, I mean he's top five back in the class. I mean, he could be there. So, so definitely Travian Henderson. Like we're, we're talking about. Travian Henderson would probably be the running back too, pretty comfortably in this class. So.
- [23:41]
B
And I think Judkins would probably be the running back too.
- [23:44]
A
And yeah, RJ Harvey was the next back off the draft. I mean, RJ Harvey, we're probably putting him, I mean, we're putting RJ Harvey above these guys. I would think.
- [23:55]
B
I think, I think I might take Mike. I've got Mike Washington in my Dynasty rankings right now. I have Mike Washington ahead, not even knowing the landing spot, but I have him ahead of RJ Harvey right now. RJ Harvey is going into his age 26 season. I mean, like, I think the age is the main thing here. If it was a 22 year old RJ Harvey, I could probably get behind it. But yeah, right now I prefer not, not just Mike Washington, I actually prefer Mike Washington, Catron Allen and. Nope, that's it. Mike Washington, Catrin Allen and Jadarian Price. I have ahead of RJ Harvey.
- [24:27]
A
Then there were three guys that went later in rounds, like later day three, early day or later round three, early day, early round four. We had Caleb Johnson, you had Bashal Tut and you had Cam Scabo. And so I think we're still putting those three players above these guys here. We're starting to talk about on Jonah Coleman and that. So I think that that's kind of the context that I'm viewing, starting to view this area of. I, I don't know that these guys are definitely day two running backs probably arguably more day three backs. And I think it, we ran into, I think there were two different things that kind of happened last year. We saw the depth of the running back class, which I think drove some players into day three. That probably would have been day two running backs in that type of class this year. I think you might have some players that are driven into day three because there's just not really good running backs. And so I think that that's kind of adds context to this tier. Now that we're talking about here with, with Jonah Coleman, who I think is a player that could potentially handle volume. And definitely I wouldn't have big questions about that if he lands in the right spot, I think that the opportunity is there. But again, a player that questions about the overall explosion, questions about we do have him as a potential three down back. And I mean that size, that skill set plays into that to be able to have that role. But this is also too a very, very deep free agency class with running backs. And so I think it's the open roles for some of these players. I'm really, really questioning on what's going to be there.
- [26:13]
B
Yeah, and I agree. And you know what you talked about last year we saw that kind of weird thing with all of these running backs getting pushed down. We can kind of see the adverse effect this year with some of these running backs getting pushed up. I also think what we're going to see is the wide receivers with how deep they are, they are going to get pushed down where a lot of guys that may have been round three picks last year are going to fall into round five this year because there's going to be a lot of NFL GMs kind of playing chicken on when they pull the trigger on those wide receivers. So we got to look through every single draft class through a fresh lens. I was on a show earlier today where somebody said, you know, last year there were eight rookie running backs that finished inside the top 36. Who are some of the guys that can do that this year? And I said there might only be one running back that finishes inside the top 36 this year. Like we can't compare that to last year's class because it was a very different class.
- [27:00]
C
My perfect day has sand, salt water and friends. But my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis can take me out of the moment. Now I'm all in with clearer skin thanks to skyrizi risen Kizumab RZA a prescription only 150mg injection for adults who are candidates for systemic or phototherapy with Skyrizi. Most people saw 90% clearer skin and many were even 100% plaque free at four months. Skyrizi is just four doses a year after two starter doses.
- [27:27]
B
Don't use if allergic to Skyrizi, serious allergic reactions, increased infections or lower ability to fight them may occur before treatment. Get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor about any flu like symptoms or vaccines.
- [27:39]
C
Thanks to Skyrizi there's nothing on my skin and that means everything is everything. Ask your doctor about skyrizi, the number one dermatologist prescribed biologic in psoriasis. Visit skyrizi.com or call 1-866-skyrizi to learn
- [27:56]
B
more under RB7Jeff we already mentioned his name, Nick Singleton, this guy who split the backfield with Catrin Allen. Now I think Nick Singleton would have been a lot higher if it weren't for the broken foot that he suffered at the Senior Bowl. But we can't talk about his long term outlook without addressing that the reality is probably won't be ready for training camp and if he's not ready for training camp it is really hard to jump on a moving train as Mike Tomlin likes to say mid season. So I think with Nick Singleton you know he's going to get drafted for sure this year but in dynasty drafts like I am hesitant to say this but I almost feel like you have to be okay just taking a zero for year one because that is in the range of outcomes here year.
- [28:42]
A
I mean I think that that's fair but at the same time this is does seem to be the position that it's a little bit more plug and play than you know, making the comparison that, that that quote you're talking about was about a wide receiver versus running back and yeah, wide receiver Tyler Williams here, yeah was traded at like right before the season and he really struggled. So I think that it's, I think the argument would be that it's more difficult for a receiver to get acclimated into a passing game than it is for a running back that you can kind of on some level here's the ball kid, go run. And and so I think that that's potentially in play for me. I'm definitely going to be moving Singleton up. I think when I did these ranks there was the initial reaction to I think what you bring up there very valid point on that foot injury but at some level we're going to start talking about the overall upside, what these backs really can do and I think that Singleton is still in that conversation of if everything goes right he's the running back two in this class, the potentially even the running back one in this class should everything go right. It's now we are kind of had a bad senior season and if you read between the lines of what was put out there between some of the coaches there. There's a reason why Catron Allen was like the Cateran. Allen was basically an adult and showed up for work and kept going. And Nick Singleton wanted to go to the NFL and maybe didn't want to come back even for that one year. Penn State, me, things were lined up right with Nil and with Drew Aller returning, those types of things. And then as soon as it goes sideways, get me out of here, I'm ready for the next thing. And so I do think that there are layers and levels that were involved in the down displaying year last year, now having the foot injury but overall to talk about the general base of it, he's, he's right there at the very top of the class.
- [30:35]
B
Yeah, and I agree with you there. I think my trepidation and like again, you know I kind of talk about that like mini tier inside this big tier of six right here. Like maybe I should put Nick Singleton ahead of Jonah Coleman and Emmett Johnson. But for me it's just that that fear about like you know, missing all of training camp this year could end up missing meaningful time. And we have seen like Kyron Williams is the one that jumps out to my mind that was like hurt his entire rookie season and then just blew up in year two. It can be done but does give me some pause here. But yeah, you talk about it like the, the sky, the ceiling is sky high here and I think that is worth chasing especially in a pretty weak class. Another guy, Jeff, and it's funny, this guy doesn't get lumped into that tier but maybe he should be Leon Moss, just a fantastic athlete, just a track star in high school. And you see that speed like when he is able to just get into that second gear. Nobody is catching him. The big issue is at Texas A and M he was constantly hurt. He has had multiple injuries that really kept him from ever putting together a full productive season. Never played more than 10 games in a single year throughout his four years at Texas Tech or I'm sorry Texas A and M. So this like when we start talking about range of outcomes here, the range of outcomes here is so vast. Like my comp for him and you know I have fun and I try to look at the ceiling comps here but I see like this guy could be Dalvin Cook 2.0 if he's able to stay healthy. Of course he hasn't been able to stay healthy so far. But talk to me a little bit about the upside here for Le'Veon Moss.
- [32:05]
A
Yeah, I think it's. It's an interesting conversation on just the landscape of. We've already talked about two Penn State backs and two Notre Dame backs. We talked about. I'm gonna talk about Ohio State every chance I can. We talked about the OHI backs last year, these situations where we're seeing these deeper backfields. And it's because these running backs are. They're pretty intelligent on trying to get to the next level and trying to preserve themselves to the next level, which doesn't always play very very well into production models because it seems to be like a guy like Emmett Johnson, who's like a later breakout guy that ends up not on a very good team, becomes that. That guy that put up great numbers because there's nobody else there to potentially split with. I mean, it was a pretty deep along with the injuries, but a deep backfield with Texas A and M and spreading the ball around when he was available. And so I think that that's a factor as well. But when you really dig down to it of the. The case of the explosion, of the upside, I mean, Jaden Blue didn't really work out the rookie year. There might have been other things going on there, but that's another case of a player that he just was viewed higher by the NFL, viewed higher in the draft because he didn't really put it together at Texas. But at the same time, the. The profile that he brought was just a rare profile to be able to be that explosive weapon potentially. And I think that that's what Moss offers. I absolutely think he should be in the conversation, especially that second tier. He should be in the conversation. And this is a player that I, I think he's going to be a potential Day 2 running back, and we're going to see where that landing spot ends up. But. But he has that explosion, like you mentioned, that NFL teams are craving for the position.
- [33:46]
B
And it's funny, here we are like, we're. We're talking ourselves into these guys, RB8. I know we're going to do it. The next guy we talk about too, like, you know, we're talking about the guys that we have ranked higher and finding reasons like, where it could go wrong. And then once you get deeper into the rankings, it's like, well, if everything goes right, because that's what we do. And like, when you're sitting at that point in your rookie drafts, these guys are going to be going late round two, early round three. So we want to talk about the upside cases here because these guys are far from sure things. So, yeah, chase the upside. You know who else has a lot of upside, Jeff? Adam Randall out of Clemson. This was one of my favorite players when I was going through this process, watching all these guys. Adam Randall was drafted as a wide receiver and did nothing for his first two years. Like, absolutely nothing. One of the final games of the season in his sophomore year, all of the running backs were hurt and they just kind of said, hey, you know, emergency running back duty. Get out there Adam, and let's see what you can do. And he looked good, so they made the switch. Going into his junior season, he's still a very raw player. Like, doesn't have any sort of lane discipline. Like it is just all just effort out there. But £233, one of the fastest guys. You know, I talked about it earlier, I mixed it with Mike Washington, second fastest speed at the Senior bowl at 233 pounds. Former wide receiver, so he could run crisp routes out of the backfield. He's got soft hands. I was proud of myself with this player comp because I comped him to Cordero Patterson. And then when Mike Shuba was down in Mobile at the Senior bowl, he was talking with Adam Randall, asked him who he models his game after and he said Cordero Patterson because just very similar skill sets. So for it to work out for Adam Randle, especially early in his career, he's going to need a creative coach that's going to design some touches for him and get the ball out in space and let him cook. You know, we're looking at a potential Leviscus Chenault sort of situation here, but I also think that the ceiling is just so high that again, you're chasing upside at this point in your rookie drafts. And there's so much fun upside if Adam Randle can figure it out.
- [35:36]
A
Yeah, I mean that's the case of definitely if he figures it out. This is very much a three down back skill set. And so at some level it comes down to, you know, like we did the quarterback episode with Mike or when we talked about tight ends with Mike of, you know, this, this might be a very good inline tight end that NFL teams will like and he will play a lot of snaps and he can be the Cole commit and then a Colson level and will come in and be an actual passing weapon and really just to lead out of there. And so when you're looking at what you're potentially doing later in your draft left, it's looking at these players that do have this potential skill set to reach if they were to reach that top 10% outcome or that very best outcome. It's a lot different conversation than a back that might be lucky to be 185 pounds or some of these smaller backs or a player that you know he's, we definitely know that he's slower and he could be a goal line back like Randle definitely has that package to be that upside of being involved in three downs and seeing a variety of different roles, being involved in the passing game, being involved in the goal line work and really when it comes down to fantasy points, those two things we know have proven to be significant drivers for high production.
- [36:48]
B
Yeah, so really fun potential outcome here but also like I said, like he's still very new to the running back position. He's only been playing it for two years and it definitely shows up with some of his decisiveness. So we'll see how this kind of shakes out. But either way just a fun player worth watching. And actually I said it was the end of his sophomore season, it was the end of his junior season that he took over the running back duty. So misspoke there. So just over a year of experience playing running back but definitely has the tools that an NFL team is going to want to bet on. Next guy to talk about our RB10 demand, Claiborne. This is an undersized guy but just a really fun twitched up player. Can make big plays, has the speed, has the pass catching chops but because of the lack of size this is never going to be a three down back. However, for fantasy purposes I think this is a guy who has that skill set where he can come in on passing downs, he can catch a lot of balls, he can be a PPR machine and he can make big plays after the catch. You know the ceiling comp for these types of players is always going to be Aaron Jones who over time developed into a three down back but he is very much so the outlier at that size. I liked him on Claiborne a lot but I do worry that he's kind of going to be shoehorned into this just like you know pass catching specialists who get some special teams work here and there.
- [38:05]
A
Yeah if it's I do think that we've seen a change in what type of back can potentially be a three down back. And okay, so like James Cook was 511199 when he has rookie so even that's 13 pounds. Saw James James Cook lead the league in rushing this past year as a fact that was sub 200 back and and I know that there was a period and that might still be a period where people wouldn't touch running backs that were sub 200 pounds because of the history around them. And, and Cook is a player that potentially changed that. I think when you're looking at a player that just the opposite of the conversation of Adam Randall, a player that has potentially the upside of all around here now if we're peeling that back and you're looking for either a plotter that needs to get into the end zone or a player that can be involved in the passing game and create, especially in PPR formats, create some points that way over time I think you want to defer to the passing involved option and hope that they can kind of slide into more of that seeing volume. And and so I think that's the bet that you're making on Clayborne is that he can be involved in a passing game and potentially develop himself like you said to that Aaron Jones type player and show himself to be that more of a well rounded player that can profile closer to a three down skill set.
- [39:32]
B
And my comp forum was a guy who, you know, another very small guy who never had more than 100 rushing attempts throughout his entire season or throughout his entire career. But Nahim Hines, who we saw would kind of flirt with that back end RB1 production every now and then just because of how much he would catch the ball in ppr. So I think there is that out for Devon Claiborne, but that's also a narrow path. You know, there's other guys where it's like, you know, this guy can just be scheme agnostic, you can put him anywhere and he's going to find a path I think for all of these guys that we're talking about. Adam Randall, you know, demond Claiborne in different ways, do need coaches that are going to be able to to get the ball to him. Next guy we want to talk about here, Jeff, RB11, Robert Henry Jr. Out of UTSA. This was a fun, fun story. You know, not highly recruited at all despite having 7,000 yards and 99 touchdowns in high school, ended up becoming the JUCO Heisman winner his freshman year. Leading all JUCO running backs in rushing yards. Transferred to UTSA and from there, you know, was just consistently productive. Like just big play after big play after big play. Actually to start last year, the 2025 season, four straight games with a rush of over 74 yards. I mean this guy is just a dynamic playmaker but of course the huge question is that how does that translate going from UTSA to the NFL? Jeff, how often do we actually see a player make this leap successfully from
- [40:58]
A
UTSA to the NFL? Do you know who was the leading back in use at UTSA before Robert Henry Jr. Came in?
- [41:07]
B
I do not. Do you.
- [41:08]
A
Sincere McCormick was the only had a window. Sincere McCormick was actually insanely productive at UTSA. So like seeing UTSA and he had like I remember like yeah, yeah. Back then he, he. Well prior to this past season, the end of 2024, we were sure that Sincere McCormick was going to be the Raiders back of the future. And then they go out and draft Ashton Genty because they said well our sincere McCormick's a running back right now, so we're going to take action gentleman. But I, I do really do like Henry a lot. I think that Henry, you know we've already talked about, we talked about Texas A and M a little bit being talented team. We're talking about during the combine and they have the most players at the combine and he tore them up. He. And so I think that that's really interesting to see because these players that come into these situations where everybody knows in that Texas A and M locker room we got to stop this running back. Like this is the guy that UTSA is trying to run through and he still goes out and has a great game against there. That, that, that, that raises my eyebrows. And so that I think happening early in the season maybe at Ghost to the NFL like might have happened later in the season potentially. But I think that Henry I think is very, very interesting when it comes to being an explosive back that can be the again what we're talking about here, players that were hunting players that can create explosives. And I think that that's in his
- [42:29]
B
profile and you know, getting invited to the NFL combine is just step one like that is tough for a player from UTSA to get and he got that combine invite so, so hope that he can do well this weekend and improve that draft stock. Next guy we're going to talk about here, Jeff, and this has been one of my favorite sleepers. I actually talked about him on our sleeper show Desmond Reed. And this is another very undersized guy. There's a lot of what we said about Demon Claiborne that we're going to say now about Desmond Reed. On top of being undersized, he also dealt with some injuries. But this guy had over 1300 all purpose yards two years ago. Just a really fun player at Pittsburgh, but then lost basically all of the 2025 season two injuries but but another very small guy 175 pounds player comp for him was almost too easy. Comped him to Tariq Cohen because he just has that jitterbug human joystick type of ability in the open field but injuries, lack of speed or lack of size. I think the downside here is pretty obvious but if this guy lands in a roll where he can be used as a primary pass catching running back the PPR scam out is always in play here.
- [43:33]
A
Yeah yeah and that's exactly what you're looking for in this profile. A player that can be find creative ways to get the ball in his hands and open himself up to being more involved. And Reed, I know that you love him and he's your guy so I appreciate the call out.
- [43:52]
C
My perfect day has sand, salt water and friends but my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis can take me out of the moment. Now I'm all in with clearer skin thanks to Skyrizi Risankizumab RZA a prescription only 150mg injection for adults who are candidates for systemic or phototherapy with Skyrizi. Most people saw 90% clearer skin and many were even 100% plaque free at four months. Skyrizi is just four doses a year after two starter doses.
- [44:19]
B
Don't use if allergic to Skyrizi. Serious allergic reactions, increased infection or lower ability to fight them may occur before treatment. Get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor about any flu like symptoms or vaccines.
- [44:31]
C
Thanks to Skyrizi there's nothing on my skin and that means everything is everything. Ask your doctor about Skyrizi, the number one dermatologist prescribed biologic in psoriasis. Visit skyrizi.com or call 1-866-Skyrizi to learn more.
- [44:51]
B
Yeah and we'll start working through these next guys a little bit quicker. You know we want to spend a little bit more time up top but the next guy I want to talk about one of my favorite stories and you know a story is important. Jeff, you got like super passionate talking about Tyron Montgomery and his path and
- [45:04]
A
like absolute crime that he was not to the combine.
- [45:07]
B
I agree and we'll talk about some of the the running back combine snubs too. But Jabari Taylor, man, his story just like this is a zero star recruitment. He went into JUCO and found a role as a walk on at a junior college playing special teams. Turned that from a special teams role to a rotational back role. Took over as the lead back eventually ends up trans transferring. Like after years of going through this juco circuit, he finally ends up at Virginia Tech last year. I'm sorry, at Virginia last year and had himself a very productive season. Had over a thousand rushing yards, over 250 run receiving yards. And I just love when you know a a story, a path through college shows the ability to overcome adversity, shows perseverance. So like just at a personal level, the narrative here with Jamari Taylor, I love it. But he's also a very well rounded, competent running back. My comp forum was James Robinson. You know, James Robinson didn't have any game breaking speed or anything like that. Was just a sound runner with good vision and good pacing and that's what I see with Jamari Taylor and it wouldn't surprise me if he goes the same UDFA route that James Robinson did. But just a fun player to watch and just an easy guy to root for.
- [46:17]
A
Yeah, no, and I do love those stories and I do appreciate that with him and, and that's what we're going to see, we're going to watch here this weekend on the combine who can separate themselves, who can create the opportunities and definitely has that profile. You said that that work ethic that team's going to be looking for as a back who can fill. You know, we're talking right now like path to the roster where these guys need to be involved in special teams probably and work their way up as backup running backs. And that's what you're looking for when you're looking for a player towards the end of the bench, end of the roster that can come in and be a supporting piece and grow into being a larger role in the backfield.
- [46:57]
B
Next guy we're going to talk about. I see between the three rankers that we have in the rookie guide which again footballguys.com rookie guide if you didn't listen to me earlier in the show, but you're saying, hey these guys know what they're talking about, you can find out way more information on these guys@footballguys.com Rookie Guide Jamarian Miller JM Miller I am a little bit lower on him. What I wrote is that he is an SEC tested runner but lack of production, lack of efficiency. To me this felt very reminiscent of watching Brian Robinson but with even fewer highlights. I know there's some excitement here because he's going to be over 220 pounds. He was the lead back at Alabama for a handful of years but but I don't know Jeff, what am I missing Something here, is there, is there something specific about Jam Miller that you think maybe I should be a little bit higher on him? Because I saw a guy that just didn't like well rounded, competent, but there was like nothing that ever made me think like wow, these skills are really going to help him in the NFL.
- [47:54]
A
Yeah, he dealt with in fair amount of injuries, didn't he? I guess time with Alabama, was that a reason why he wasn't really separating? I mean I guess I see 13 games played, 14 games played. I feel like whenever I was like, yeah, nagging injury type thing of like, yeah. But when I watched Alabama the last couple years, definitely didn't ever really pop out as the, the guy that kind of like TJ Yeldin type where like TJ Yeldin's in the backfield of Derek Henry and you're like, well you got Derek Henry back there, why are you giving it the fall to this other guy? But they didn't really have that guy I think at Alabama right now. So it really comes down to, I mean the Alabama pedigree. You're looking for a size potential mentally a guy that can be a three down back, I mean can handle a heavy workload. I mean that's, that's the what you're wish casting here probably with Jamari and Miller. When you look at ranking him and
- [48:46]
B
yeah, yeah, I, I looked it up. He had a dislocated collarbone, a concussion and then there was a. What else? Late season lower leg injury. So yeah, he did deal with quite a few injuries this year. But I don't know, you know, I watch this guy a lot but maybe I need to watch him a little bit more because I know there's a lot of buzz for Jamari Miller and for whatever reason I just haven't been able to get there. Next guy we want to talk about though, Jeff RB15 in our consensus rankings, Seth McGowan and this really good running back. Like I gotta say, he's got power, he's sudden, he's violent. Like there's a lot of things that I like like here, if I'm being brutally honest, my concern is his age. He's already 25 years old. Like this guy we, we made, we talked so much last year about how old RJ Harvey was coming into the league. Think Seth McGowan's already the same age as RJ Harvey. So that's my major concern here. We won't get into the details of it, but if you want to look it up, he was let go from Oklahoma for some legal issues, took some time off, came back in. So I mean this guy, he, he's been in, in the college circuit since 2020 and now is finally hitting the NFL draft. So that's my major concern here with Seth McGowan. I think he is a good running back, but I do worry a little bit about a guy who's going to be finishing his rookie contract at age 30.
- [50:05]
A
Yeah, I mean you're looking for a good time, not a long time probably with, with a player like this, but it does seem he was a player that when I saw him come across, I definitely remember the name from, from my devi times and I know that he was a high, high recruit and definitely got into some trouble. But then, and along with that comes potentially a player that, you know, maybe things went easy for him or maybe, maybe it was easy for him in high school, goes to Oklahoma, is a high end prospect there going to be easy path to the NFL. And then life gets taken away from you a little bit and you need to reevaluate and come back and build your way back. And definitely has done that. And so again, it's like this story you talk about with Jamari Taylor. Maybe it's completely opposite end of the spectrum, but at the same time it's somebody that had reached a low point in their life has built up from there and, and those are the types of encouraging things that you want to see as a player that does have potential upside that earned him that high rank at one period of time.
- [51:11]
B
Continuing to work down this list, Jeff, we've got Noah Whittington as our RB16. This guy who again, not quite as old as Seth McGowan, but a guy who has been in college football for quite a while now, started his career in 2020 at Western Kentucky. And this is just, you know, we've been with waiting for this guy to come to the pros for a little while now, but a little bit undersized, very good pass catcher, you know, on the wrong side of the age curve for what we want to see from a rookie running back. So I think this is a guy like Hetty coming to the league A couple years ago he probably would have been a little bit more excited, but you know, it took him seeing multiple NFL level running backs in Oregon move on through the NFL draft for him to finally break out in 2025. So do you have any strong thoughts here on Noah Whittington? I mean, I expect him to, to probably be a rotational guy at best, but we're already at the point, Jeff, I don't even know if we're, we're looking at guys that are getting drafted. Like everybody from here on out, like Maybe in Seth McGowan, like a lot of these guys are going to end up being UDFAs.
- [52:13]
A
Yeah, it's really difficult to compare last year's class to this year's classes in terms of numbers because we knew that last year was a very, very rich crop of running backs and that plays into the amount of guys are getting drafted this year. There are a lot of young backs already on rosters and so we know that running back of Fungi Wolf's position, but I think the real thing with him that you mentioned, obviously Bucky Irving was there, then Jordan James was there and high, high end recruit coming in. And so your backfield was pretty locked down, especially two years ago when you both had James and Irving there. And then the past year when it was James's show essentially. And then Whittington's always been that supporting player and that's now, I know this year it was the opposite end where there was a high end for true freshman, I believe it was, that came in from Oregon and was really the explosive player that everybody's excited about and Whittington like flipped and was the veteran in that, in that rotation. But it's a player that has been at a blue blood program, has been productive in stretches and these players tend to find their way to the end of rosters and potentially set themselves up up for injuries, allowing an opportunity.
- [53:23]
B
Next guy we're going to talk about here, Jeff. And you know, I might have outsmarted myself with this one. Roman Hemby and Kalin Black were the Indiana duo and I preferred Kalyn Black to Roman Hemby quite a bit. But one of them was invited to the combine and one of them was not. Roman Hemby. Got the combine invite while Kaylin Black will be watching from his couch, I presume. I gotta be honest, man, I do not see it with Roman Hemby and you know, the NFL did. That's why he got invited to the combine. This guy's been a workhorse for four years at Indiana. He was a part of the national championship winning team this year, but I felt like every time I was watching an Indiana game, I'd see Roman Hemby get three or four touches and then Kaylin Black would come in and he'd do something spectacular and then they'd go right back to Roman Hemby for 2.5 yards per carry and then Kaylin Black would come in and break four tackles and go back to the bench. I don't know, I don't know what I'm missing with this backfield but I know I'm also not alone in this thought. To me, Roman Hemby is, you know, he's going to do the bare minimum and not much more than that. My, my comp to him was Ty Chandler because there are some pass catching chops here and I think that, you know, special teams, maybe some situational passing down work here and there. But I, I have serious concerns about Roman Hemby leading the backfield.
- [54:41]
A
Yeah, clean up. He was four year back at Maryland, three year starter at Maryland and then transferred to Indiana for one year. But to, to be completely fair though, we, we often talk about, on when we're talking about NFL about you know, the, the, the grinder back and then you bring the other back in and then now all the, the efficiency, the metrics look better for this guy because you know, you've got Najee Harris getting hit with a baseball bat in the middle of the field over and over again and then Jalen Warren's able to come in and look explosive because he wasn't getting hit with a baseball bat over and over again. So I mean that kind of was the role as you're talking about. That's what Hemby was asked to do and he was.
- [55:21]
B
Jeff, I just want to point out 230 carries to 186 carries. It's not like we were looking at this like vast split like it was pretty close to 50, 50 and Kaylin Black was, was more productive and efficient. So I, I don't know, I'm missing something here.
- [55:34]
A
There's a lot of garbage time in Indiana football this past year. There's always been a lot of garbage time in Indiana football, but it's this, this past couple of years have been a lot different than the garbage time used to be for Indiana football. But yeah, I think it's again similar. Just I know that Roman Hemby's family was sharing on X that he's never dropped the pass I believe or something like that. So I mean it's very, very sure handed back and you know, can handle volume potentially. But it's, you're probably there on talking about the overall upside explosion and we are walking on the tightrope with the combine and he could run out, go out there, run a 442 and they're like what are these idiots talking about with explosion? So we'll wait.
- [56:13]
B
That's the risk that we take. So Please, if, like, you're. You're tuning in on Sunday, just skip this. We'll have another episode coming out Monday morning when we react to the combine. But next guy I want to talk about, Jeff, is a guy that I am weirdly excited about just because he is such a unique player. Eli Heidenreich. I think that's how you say it. Heidenreich. I don't know. The. The guy from Navy that did all of the wild things. I mean, this was one of the most unique players I had ever seen before. What they called him was their sniper, which wasn't really too familiar with that term at first, but this guy was just used all over the place. Like out of the slot, out wide in the backfield. They're using him. It's almost unfathomable. Like, he's not going to get this sort of usage in the NFL. They built the entire Navy offense around his skill set, and he'd be catching bombs 50 yards downfield, and then he'd run between the tackles on the very next play, and then he'd line up in the slot and he'd take an end around. I mean, they were just scheming up so many touches to get him the ball. And he's a fun player, you know, close to 200 pounds, 5 11, so he's got size that could work in the NFL. But this was one, like, I couldn't even find a running back comp for him. My comp was Chris Hogan, who became a slot receiver. And, you know, Heidenreich is going through the process as a running back, but I think this guy could end up. It wouldn't shock me one bit if he lines up more in the slot than he ever does in the backfield. Just a very unique player.
- [57:40]
A
Yeah, I know that behind the scenes, we. We had a little bit back and forth with Eli Heidenreich, where you kept moving him into the receiver pool. And I kept saying, no, Dave, they're having him try out as a running back. They have him at the Shrine Boat as a running back. They have him at this. The combine as a running back. And.
- [57:56]
B
And we.
- [57:57]
A
We traded back and forth for. And I think it really just came down to we. We were both doing a lot of work and was just there as a player that got shuffled back, back and forth.
- [58:06]
B
But I think I tried pushing Max Brezan on. On Mike.
- [58:10]
A
You tried to make him a tight end as well. I did, yeah.
- [58:12]
B
I was. I was on, like, my 45th running back, and I was like, you guys can take some of these.
- [58:17]
A
Yes. No, it's. It is, though. I do want to thank you because. Because of Eli Heidenreich, because of you. The position of sniper came into my mind, and it is snipe, snipe, not sniper. Snipe, snipe, snipe, snipe. Yes. Okay, well, I think sniper sounds a lot cooler Navy, by the way. So just if you're out there inventing positions and words, so you could just go with sniper for the Navy. Sounds really, really cool versus snipe. But anyways, it is a neat thing that he's able to do, and it's a unique skill set that he's able to offer, and it'll be interesting to see how that gets valued, where that works in. And does this become, as we are moving towards a time of. Have some of these players that are positionless growing in value because NFL offenses are able to utilize them in various different roles. And essentially the goal right now is to keep base personnel and be able to play spread or heavy. And maybe that plays into Eli Heidreich's involvement and creates a role for him at the NFL level as a snipe, not a sniper.
- [59:21]
B
But, I mean, I think sniper. I think so much of this is going to be, like, where he ends up, because I. I can't see, like, an old school vanilla coach drafting a guy like this. But, like, you know, if like the Jaguars draft him or the Bears draft him and we. We link this guy up with like a Liam Cohen or a Ben Johnson, a guy that we know has, like, some creative tendencies here, it's going to be hard not to get excited about his PPR outlook.
- [59:46]
A
You know, where he would be if we were four or five years ago, he would be newing and Patriot because they. This screams Bill Belich. Navy, Navy guy.
- [59:54]
B
That was my top ideal fit. Yeah.
- [59:56]
A
You know. You know, it screams newly paid. It's like last year when I. And of course now like Afton Chisholm when I saw him last year. And I, I said in February and January, I said, I mean, future New England Patriot, Afton Chisholm. And what did we get? Future New England Patriot Afton Chisholm. And yeah, he's Heidenreich. Screams Patriot.
- [60:19]
B
Do you know where Bill Belichick's dad was, the longtime head coach?
- [60:22]
A
Yeah. Navy.
- [60:23]
B
Yeah. Yeah. It just makes too much sense. Yeah, that was. That was my number one comp. Like, I was like, how could I not? Or not comp. Ideal fit. I was like how could I not find a way to, to put Heidenreich on the Patriots? But continuing to work down the list here, Jeff, this is another just, you know, a Big Ten grinder. I feel like C.J. donaldson and Roman Hemby, you know, two peas in a pod, like very similar players. I think, I think there's a little bit more finesse as a pass catcher with Hemby, maybe a little bit more of a power back tendency with C.J. donaldson. But really the big thing here is these were productive running backs in college. And I'm just not sure if there's the athleticism and the size to help them be productive in the NFL. And I shouldn't say that size. I mean C.J. donaldson's probably going to weigh in over 230 pounds this weekend, but he is more of a just, just power back that you don't really see in a lot of today's football. I think, you know, this would have been a guy that the NFL would have been gushing over 10 years ago. But I do wonder how a 230 pound guy without the burst, without the long speed, how that fits in today's NFL. What are your thoughts on C.J. donaldson?
- [61:31]
A
Hey, a guy that I actually have thoughts on that I've watched this past year. So I mean he definitely has size. I do think he's got soft hands for his size. I don't know that there's like any love like second level explosion at all with CJ Donaldson. I don't know that he's particularly good. It was definitely a disappointing experience to go from Quintad Judkins in that powerback role in the Ohio State offense to CJ Donaldson trying out in that powerback role and ultimately ended up being true freshman Bo. Jack Jackson was the pro, the basically the three down back for Ohio State by the end of the year, two freshmen, which is pretty rare for a program like Ohio State to have a true freshman be that impactful. But that, that kind of says Donaldson was brought in to be the Judkins replacement. Definitely was not Judkins. I mean I do think that he can find a roster as a special teams guy that can find his way into a dark depth chart. And we know that these deeper backs, I mean situations come up where they can be involved. But I, I'm not overly again and I think that this, I mean running back 20 last year was like Kyle Menon guy. And I definitely don't think CJ CJ Donaldson's Calvin on Guy.
- [62:45]
B
Yeah. And we are going to get to our RB20 right now. Also invited to the combine. So we'll see him this weekend. Rasul Faison out of South Carolina. Jeff, this is. I couldn't believe it. Like, you know, we talk about this, the, the Nil and the COVID years, you know, it really kind of made things a little bit wonky. Russell Fleisan is going to be 26 by the end of this season. Like, he's going to be playing his rookie season at age 26, which is just unheard of for running backs. He's good. I mean, like, again, I. I feel like I'm going to say a lot of things that I said about Seth McGowan. Like, he is a good running back, but. But a lot of times when I see these guys that are just like beating up on college talent at 24, 25 years old and then coming into the pros, that's not something that you see translate all of the time. So, yes, the production was there, but I think like the ceiling here for Fison is just kind of being like below average to average starter at best. I just have some concerns about how the, the wear and tear is going to hit him now at age 26.
- [63:47]
A
Yeah. And I think that Kyle Menonga was actually running back 22 in last year's class. Corey Crosby Merritt was running back in last year's class.
- [63:55]
B
Yeah, we talked about Kyle Menong guy, like, as a sleeper all year. Like, we don't even think that many running backs are getting drafted this season.
- [64:04]
A
No, it's gonna. Yeah, it's usually. Last year was just a outlier of a year. It usually ends up being around 21 running backs that get drafted in the class. And so, so that. I think that was 21, 20 running backs invited to the combine. I think 21 if you're counting like the fullbacks that we talked about. So, yeah, we're right at the end. I think Faison's last guy in our rankings that was actually dead or earn a combined invite as a potential halfback. And I mean. Yeah, I mean, an older back, I don't know. Yeah, exactly. Right on these guys that are like 25 years old beating up against 19 year olds.
- [64:36]
B
So.
- [64:36]
A
Yeah.
- [64:37]
B
Yeah. And then I just, you know, couldn't do this show without saying Kaylin Black, Jayden Ott, Jamal Haynes, Rika Capinu, K John Owens, Jaden Nixon. There were some fun players that I thought should have been invited to the combine that did not. So if you ever, you know, if, if a UDFA or a guy that didn't make the combine. I mean, we saw it last year with Corey Crosby Merritt, and we're gonna remember that forever because he was the outlier. But if any of these guys get an opportunity there, there are some fun players that won't be at the combine this weekend that might end up on practice squad rods at some point. But Jeff, we have done it. Every single position. We've gone through all of them. Combine is going to be here after this weekend. We will talk about risers and fallers coming out of the combine next week. If you're listening to this show on the Fantasy show feed, I'm going to be back with Joey Wright on Monday morning on the YouTube channel. We're going to talk about some instant reactions of the combine. On Wednesday, we'll have an episode coming out with Jeff and I both on the Fantasy Channel and the Dynasty Show Field read doing a much deeper look at the combine, you know, really digging into the winners and losers rather than just some instant reactions. And then free agency is going to be here before we know it. So Bob Harris is going to join me on Friday to talk about some free agency predictions and the best landing spots. Then we'll do a recap next Friday going over all of the free agent signings. So Jeff, it feels like the season just ended and here we are now at the start of the 2026 season. Free agency. The combine draft's going to be here before we know it. We are just about two months away from being able to finalize our 2026 projections.
- [66:05]
A
Well, we know that the NFL wants to make itself into a year round sport and they really have accomplished that with the Super Bowl. Was what, two weeks ago was the Super Bowl? It feels like maybe it was three weeks ago, but yeah, definitely. I mean, aging like Clint Kubiak now, what's going on here?
- [66:23]
B
I want to thank everybody so much for taking the time. Please, if you haven't subscribed to the YouTube, do that. If you haven't haven't subscribed to the podcast feed, do that. And if you haven't left a podcast review, please do that because that is the best way to help us grow. But want to thank you so much for taking the time to hang with Jeff and I today and we will see you soon.