Fantasy Football WeeklyIn the deepest running back class in memory, Thor Nystrom breaks down his top six rookie running backs.
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Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and whatever stupid stuff they decide to drop into the show. Now, here's your host, Paul Chargian.
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. I am Paul Charchie, and my guest for this show and most of the shows between now and the draft is Thor Nice Drum.
Hey, buddy, Yeah, Hey, how you doing.
Oh god, I'm so excited for the first awesome running back draft we have had in many, many years. There's a very real chance that this goes down as the deepest best running back draft in like decades.
Yeah, yeah, I mean I've been doing draft work for a decade now. This is the best running back class during that time for sure, you know, and you'd have to go back earlier than that. But yeah, this is just a nasty, nasty running back class.
God, I love it. There's so many running backs that we're we're actually gonna break this concept down. We're gonna break down running backs. We're gonna break it into two shows because there's just so many guys to talk about. You like, last year, we're gonna do six running backs deep dive on six running backs today. Last year there were only about six guys worth even talking about. And you know we're gonna cover between the two shows. We're gonna do six today, We're gonna do like twelve next week. It's crazy how many guys there are worth talking about this year.
Thor Yeah, this is the year where if you have multiple spots in your running back room, you probably want to take two running backs in the draft if you're an organization. But yeah, for dynasty owners out there, this is the year to get your running backs load up.
It is. And you know, from a dynasty standpoint, thor Well, I would love to have pick one overall, right, ashon Jety, we'll talk about them with plenty. But you know, if you got to make you need a running back, and you got to make do it pick five, at picks six, at pick seven, you're gonna get way better prospects in the middle rounds of your dynasty draft than you would have in most years.
Right, definitely, Yeah, I mean you you squeeze these two classes together, the last running back class in this one, you might have six or seven guys from this class that would have gone before Jonathan Brooks last last April. So yeah, it's it's just a totally different animal. We're dealing with the running back class this year.
Yeah, it really is. I thought that we would. I would start here, for there's a lot of running back and needy teams, and I've broken into two groups, and you can feel free to disagree with me, into like Tier one teams that really need a running back and then Tier two teams that I think could spend equity on a running back, especially in this deeper class, that maybe just don't quite have exactly the backfield that they want yet. So let me start here. I think Cleveland is in business. Nick Chubbs got plenty of question marks and free agency, and so I think Cleveland is in business here, although they've got addressed quarterback. First, how about Pittsburgh. Najie Harris is an unrestricted free agent. Houston to me, I think is a sneaky running back destination. Joe Mixon petered out hard after he remember remember thor when he started the season so well and then in the middle end of the season, it just didn't come together for Joe Mixon and he looked old. Yeah, Denver Javonte Williams does not look like the answer. Nobody on that roster right now looks like the guys that are ultimately the answer for Sean Payton Las Vegas. Right now, the leading running back under contract for this coming season of Las Vegas is Sincere McCormick. That tells you plenty uh. And then what do you think about the What do you think about the Chargers what they had? You know, they tried the Dobbins Edwards thing, the recycled Ravens, and while it Dobbins looked good at the beginning of the season, he wasn't able to get anything done. And you know Jim Harbaugh wants to run the ball.
Yeah, you're you're not going to be able to prevent Jim Harbaugh from taking a running back in the best running back class. So we've seen the decades in the NFL, so you can count on that, right.
Yes, Dallas is the team everybody points at, and I think it's it's totally valid. And if there was one team where you go, yeah, you know, Ashton genty will never slip by that team, it's got to be Dallas, right.
Agreed, Yeah, his Ashton Genz's floor is picked twelve. Will he get to pick twelve? That is the debate.
Yeah, I don't think it will. The Bears, I think are a sneaky running back destination. You look at the improvements they made on their offensive line. I know they have to get more productivity out of their running back room. I think DeAndre Swift is just a guy in Chicago's a destination. And then the Vikings Aaron Jones, unrestricted free agent, Cam Akers unrestricted free agent ty Chandler doesn't look like anything close to a reliable back. So I think the Vikings are also a Tier one team that could take that it needs running back help.
I agree with both of those, I think at ten, depending on the way that the board falls. For Chicago, I absolutely think that there are scenarios where they would take genty And do they feel like they have to take a tackle They obviously just recently traded for two guards. You probably could use a tackle across from Darnell, right, But what if a tackle isn't there that you like? Yeah? I mean Ben Johnson comes from the organization that shocked everybody by taking Jamier Gibbs three years ago at twelve or so. So yeah, I mean he wanted to build up the offensive line. Do they feel like they have built it up enough with the acquisition of those guards. What's their feeling of Braxton Jones the new coaching staff. But yeah, I think Gent's in play for them for sure, certainly in play for Las Vegas. And if he gets through the wickets, that's where Dallas comes in.
All right, I'm gonna give you some Tier two teams. I think New England's in player, even though you know Thor I love Ramondre Stevenson, and I think in a different unit where he hadn't been stuck playing behind this terrible offensive line and terrible quarterbacking for his entire career, Romandi would be just like a great a stud playing somewhere else. But the reality is that he hasn't been as productive as as the Patriots would want, and they may put some of that blame on him. So I think Patriots are in play. I think Kansas City could be sneaky in play because Isaiah Pacheco. The fact that they refused to use him in the in the playoffs was just so telling, and maybe this injury that he suffered, even though he came back from it. You know, maybe he's just not the same guy in Kansas City, could have some question marks at running back and might be able to find somebody that you know, they just for whatever reason. What you know, if they're worried about Pacheco that I think that's a possible destination for running back. Do you think that's accurate. Do you think they just go right back to Pacheco this year?
No, I think it's accurate. And I think this where we'll get into the depth of the running back class with these Tier two teams, because both of those teams could use a mix and match back and different kinds, right like the Patriots. You could use an airback, I think, an explosive back to pair with Remandre And we know that the Patriots new head coach fetishizes running the ball. He had that silly stat he put out of if you run forty or more times, your record is this and if you like that that Vrabel just loves it. So yeah, I would expect New England to dip their toes in at some point with the complimentary back, and then I think the complimentary back to Kansas City is looking for. It's sort of the opposite where you're looking for the meat and potatoes efficiency guy that you could pair with Pachecko, And yeah, I mean, and then if that guy ends up really really flashing, maybe you have your starter of the future, but a guy where you wouldn't have to give big time draft equity there and you would get a viable, immediate guy that could mix a match with Pachecko.
Yeah, and seeing Patrick Mahomes getting getting hit more than ever last year, and you know you want if they don't, if they don't end up trying to diversify their offense a little bit more, the running game going Washington, to me is a team that's in play. I've never I'm not a Brian Robinson guy. I just I think he takes whatever his offensive line gives you a little more. Austin Eckler obviously at the very end of his career. So this is a that's an opportunity for Washington. See as the Pollard Spears thing and it was okay, I thought Pollard was a little better than I expected last year. That might be an opportunity. New Orleans needs to start thinking about the succession plan. To Alvin Kamara, I think they're in play, and then I'll give you one sneaky one and tell me you think San Francisco Christian McCaffrey plenty of question marks. Thoor. We you know, we saw them have to go deep into their roster. Maybe San Francisco is a is A is a not not like the first round, second round. But I think San Francisco might make a move at running back at some point in the in the middle part of this draft. What do you think?
Yeah, San Francisco, they sort of have the remember back in the day with Green Bay with Ron Wolf where he had that thing off he wanted to take developmental quarterback every year in the draft and they take the one in the sixth or seventh round. San Francisco started like that with running backs and and Kyle Shanahan. He has his flavor of running back that he likes for that that zone system there were you know, just like we were talking about with those other teams to mix and match kind of guys. There will be his zone back available that that I think that they'll be attracted to fifth, sixth, seventh round. There's there's going to be attractive UDFA running backs in this class. But yeah, I would expect San Francisco to dip their toe in and the only other team from that group but Washington. I think Washington fans would would advocate for you bumping them to the Tier one. When I've been on the Washington radio shows, every single time they're asking me about the running back class. They are not looking for a complimentary back for Brian Robbinson. The fans of that organization, they are looking for someone to replace. Yeah, totally, Yeah, I think Washington's in play potent one of the teams that could take a running back.
On day two, I am moving Washington into my Tier one spark part of my notes of this show not and you know what, nobody will ever see it again except me, But I'm with you on that. I am absolutely with you. All right. So let's we got six guys to talk to, talk through in the show, Let's dive in. I almost feel like the guy we should spend the least amount of time on is Ashton Genty because he's so popular and he's so good that I think that people know the most about him, and he's depending on the landing spot we could be talking about. Ashton Genty is the first overall player taken in redraft leagues, so let's talk about the guy who had more yards after contact than any other running back had in total.
Yeah, Ashton Genty is insaying that comp that some people had for him in college was was Michael Myers from the Halloween movies, because he's a killer, and and the way he stands in the backfield, like right before the snap, it kind of looks like Michael Myer's standing. So it's kind of funny if we have to keep it to a football camp minus Ladanian Tomlinson gent five eight, two hundred eleven pounds. He is impossible to tackle. He's the hardest guy to tackle. Since I've been doing the draft work over the last decade. You mentioned the broken tackle numbers, the yards after contact numbers. They they're like video game numbers. That the next closest guy in misstackles forest was forty nine away. That was Cam Skatabu. It was forty nine broken tackles away from what Ashon Genty did last year and nine only forty nine. And he proved it against the better teams, right like against Oregon. Initially, Oregon was the only power for a team that finished the regular season undefeated. In twenty twenty four, the Boise State came as close as anybody to knocking them off. They only lost by a field goal because Ashton Genty was doing his thing against Oregon, against Penn State and the College Football Playoff. Penn State had that nasty, nasty defense and they loaded the box up against gen T and Genty was still getting his yards there. There was one run in that game where he either broke six or seven tackle attempts, like you're talking about, just absolutely ridiculous stuff. And then the other thing with him, you know, in addition to this stuff, it's a guy who is a tremendous receiver, and I think that's the aspect of his game that people sleep on, people that are just getting exposure to him off twenty twenty four because Boise they changed his usage in twenty twenty four where they wanted to funnel the touches he was getting as a receiver all into rushing because they wanted him to make a run at Barry Sanders's record. It was a part of their pitch for Genty to return to Boise State as a true junior, you know, which they ended up doing. I think Gents's going to be the last G five first round pick at the skills that we ever see stay his entire career in the G five. So this is sort of a dinosaur, But in twenty twenty three he was a killer as a receiver. They motioned him out into the slot to the boundary I think he took. It was something like ten percent eleven twelve percent of his snaps were taken out wide, and he was awesome with that. He was awesome with his his routes out of the backfield. And it's no surprise that he is a really, really good receiver because as a junior in high school he took over Marvin Mims's job on his high school in Frisco, Texas as the slot receiver on that team. Yes, it was only it was only Genti's second year back in America. This is a guy who learned to play the sport in Italy. He was living on an Italian naval base and he played there through ninth grade and his team entered in ninth grade. They ended up winning like the euro title, you know, like they went around to other naval bases and we're playing those teams they you know, Germany and like all these other different ones. They ended up winning it. Or whatever, But yeah he was. He goes to America Frisco and as I'm sorry, as a junior, he shifted out to the slot, replaced Mims, like I said, because that team had a guy who ended up signing a scholarship to P four at running back, this kid named jad and Nixon who went to Okahoma State and then Western Michigan. But Genty was All conference in Texas high school football's highest level as a receiver as a junior, and then he ends up as a senior just went utterly ballistic replacing Nixon as the running back there. That's what you know, between living in Italy before that, between having to play receiver as a junior, which is your most important recruiting season in high school, that's why he was under recruited. Boise got an early Boise the team that had developed the last star running back from Frisco, Texas, a guy named Jay a Jai and so Geny, yeah, I mean Jaya Jay's picture is hanging all over the facilities there in Frisco at high school whatever. So Genty, it was a dream come true. That's how he ended up at Boise, and and and the rest was history. But yeah, this is the best running back prospect entered the NFL. Sin Saquon Barkley.
I love it. You in people can see follow your work at at fantasylife dot com. And you've got a rookie running back article, A gravy trained, a bunch of a bunch of stuff from But you mentioned that last year at Boise State, Uh, when he was when he was asked to go as a receiver, he cut forty four or forty eight targets. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's why I mean, yeah, year before, two seasons ago. I guess I should say. So he's going to help out it through the air, you know, potentially depending on his landing spot a lot more than maybe people realize. And he's the obvious first pick in dynasty leagues and might be the first pick and redraft as well.
Agreed.
All right, Now, let's go to a player that that you and I might disagree a little bit more on. Amarian Hampton is your number two running back right now? And your comp here is a guy who I loved in during his playing days. Deuce McAllister, Yeah, talk to me about Omarian Hampton?
Yeah? Him? And do is they they have the same frame and they have the same running style. Like it sort of eerie watching them, you know, and thinking back to Deuce McCalister because it's it's the upright type runner in the in the well fortified frame. McCalister was six one two twenty two coming out. Hampton was five to eleven two twenty one. McAlister ran a four to four to one with the thirty seven and a half vertical and Hampton was four four six thirty eight inch vertical. But with Hampton, it's a bullet trained guy. Once he gets into the open field, you're you're talking about legitimate sprinter wheels on, you know, at two hundred twenty one pounds or he can get up to two hundred twenty five the playing weight. He's good between the tackles. You're not going to get him with an off angle attempt or an arm tackle attempt, So you get sort of the meat and potatoes efficiency with him, with the possibility for dingers. As a receiver, He's not going to run any you know, super impressive routes beyond the line of scrimmage, but he will give you value between checkdowns, screens and swings running with the ball apt for the catch. That the idea basically on those latter two things is just get him the ball in space with the convoy in front of him, and then let him do the hit. You know, his thing of good luck trying to tackle me in space defensive bat. So that's that's the thing with the Marian Hampton.
I was really impressed with his balance at the point of contact and his his his hips and thighs are gigantic, and he is so strong lower body that he is a he is a really really tough tackle.
Yeah, he sure has. This is someone who is has you could say, maniacal work ethic. You could also just say he was obsessed with the weight room, like from a really early age. If you go into the weight room of his high school, you'll see Omar. They have like a record board or whatever Omar and Hampton's name is all over it. For every single lift that they had there, they had to get him to stop lifting some of the thing because he with the squad rack. I think it was he had gotten up enough with it in high school where it was starting to bend the bars and they were like, oh, Marion, you need to stop putting weight on there or it's going to break, so so he he could lift more than than their weight room could handle. But yeah, you know, he's just been maniacal with that forever and charge to your point that the lower leg drive is crazy, right, and you're going to have to get him on the ground for those legs to to stop churning. And you're talking about a speed to power conversion thing there, and I think that goes in with the contact balance. It's that bullet train thing that I'm talking to, the locomotive thing. Once he gets on that straight line, he's got the acceleration or you know, and starts to build up to that speed.
It is.
It's really really difficult he gets on his path because you have to be you know, it's the thing of you got to step on the train tracks and the train's coming through. To get him on the ground, you're going to need multiple guys. You need to make sure that you have Omari and Hampton dead to rights are on the line of scrimmage or it's it's a problem. It's it's the Trannosaurus Rex breaking containment at Jurassic Park and all the sirens are going off. What he gets into the second level, you got a problem.
Now here's the only thing I saw, and I watched through every snap of two or three games of his I didn't see the long speed and I didn't you know, he had some long runs, but he would get tracked down a lot on the in the least in the games that I watched. And so do you feel like a Marion Hampton has got the explosive big playability or is he more of the guy that I saw where he's breaking a tackle or two and then gets pulled down, you know, eight yards downfield rather than making those you know, long stretch runs.
Yeah, I think the speed that we saw more or less plays on the field, like where he I saw him got tracked. I mean, famously he was tracked down by Nate Wiggins the Clemson corner the burner, right like, and Nate Wiggins came from I don't know, twelve fifteen yards behind him and ended up catching up doing the length of the field. But Nate Wagans, of course was what something like that. Yeah, just an absolute burner. But yeah, I mean, like you know, anyone four or five or less, certainly he's gonna be out running and the power element with him allows him to access that speed, right, like getting through the line and stuff like that. You're, like I said, you're gonna need the flush tackle at time. You're you're probably gonna need multiple guys. But yeah, I mean it's it's he's not he's certainly not four to three speed. And the other nitpick on him with the running style is the hips in the lower half while they're pistons, right, I mean, the strength it speaks for itself. There is some stiffness there and that goes you know, it's the thing we talk about with like you know, in the UFC with bodybuilders, the guys with all the muscles, it's you know, you can punch yourself out a little bit, you can get a little bit tight. That's his lower half is a little bit tight where you don't get certainly not the joystick agility. This is not someone who is trying to evade. You will get the one cut with him, but you're not getting many more direction changes than that. Yeah, he's trying to he's trying to blast through and then like I said, get into the open field and get on a straight line and then you know, good luck. But yeah, that's you're not getting a ton of evasion with Omri and Hampton, and Hampton.
To me looks as a receiver. He he can catch. He doesn't look like a naturally gifted fluid pass catcher to me.
Yeah, I think that that's right. Yeah, I mean, you know, certainly the route running is not there, right, Like it's just the leak out to check down the screen, the swing that he has. But yeah, the ball it's not the most natural ball skills either. He is clearly most comfortable getting that ball from the quarterback and then he can pick the attack plan after that and start rumbling downhill or whatever. But yeah, there's guys in this class where they have that extremely smooth it's not just the good hands, but like the extremely smooth conversion from receiver to runner, you know where you don't lose a beat in there and you can just go upfield and fluidly and now you're starting to chew up the yards. Like Hampton, there is a click with it right where okay, we got to make sure that balls and okay, we got it. Now we're looking upfield. So yeah, it's it's it's limited. Ish. I think he probably gets a little bit more credit for a receiver than he actually is without the context being explained. He is the yards after the catch threat every single time. But yeah, there there are contextual things you have to keep in mind there.
Okay, let's that's what Mari and Hampton. Let's go to your number three running back and somebody who honestly I like more than Hampton from a fantasy standpoint, it's Travion Henderson. We're gonna talk about Ohio state backs today in this show. Let's talk. Let's talk about Travon Henderson. And your comp for him.
Is Clinton Portis.
Yeah, baby, Yeah, we're a monster for most of his career.
We're hopping in the time machine for some of these comps. But yeah, Travion was a tough guy to comp because he has sort of a unique game where at the NFL combine and he waited at two h two, but in college he was playing closer to the threshold size two twelve, two thirteen, which basically, like we used to consider two fifteen threshold for running backs, it's come down a little bit, you know now it's it's sort of two twelve. So Trevion Henderson is a threshold size back, but he has the ridiculous explosion. So you're talking more athletic than your typical threshold size back. And for the game that he has with the the the athletic explosion, the outside the tackle stuff that receiving utility, Generally those guys are more dancers or their their game. It's more you have more agility there. Henderson is unique where it's the straight line bullet thing he is. He he is not looking to evade. I mean even between the tackles, it's the shout out of a cannon thing. And and he has a unique game between the tackles because this kid is not afraid of contact whatsoever. It's gotten him in trouble a couple of times. But there are there's a whole bunch of backs in this class. I could point you to where they don't even try with pass pro or they just kind of ten and then they play paddy Cake and they stink at it. Tradyon Henderson loves to scrap that guy like when he gets an upper the free blitzer coming through a gap. That that's one of the guys in this class who was licking his jobs and he gets down in his stands and he is looking to blast people and he did his his That tape is fun. He had some fun run blocking tape as well, getting up in front of Will Howell on quarterback around the edge. Yeah, I saw him blast a few guys with with that as well. But it's it's a more physical game than you're accustomed to from from a back like this. But the athletic explosion plays at that size four four three At the combine, he had the nine to four to three ras. All that stuff was good. The the acceleration speaks for itself. The question ish with Trevion Henderson is as a true freshman, he was a five star recruit coming out of Virginia. He was the belcoyw back for Ohio State as a true freshman, and he was great as a sophomore and junior. They wanted him to be the same. Both years were injury ravage. It was stopping started is one nagging injury after another. So they went out and they got Quinjohn Jenkins and the transfer port Ohio State did about a year ago to pair with him, and it turned out to be perfect on the national title winning Ohio State Buckeyes. Judkins took the meat and potatoes type work and then it freed Henderson to do his thing. And Henderson he averaged it was like eleven touches per game, so it was greatly cut down from a couple of years before that when he was on the field. However, he played sixteen games during that national title run and he was not injured one time, so that was really good for the evaluation. I think it's also instructive thinking about the way that his NFL team should think about him. I think Trevion Henderson also in the NFL, should be paired with in early down sort of meat and potatoes type guy, where you save Trevion Henderson the wreckage of his you know, straight ahead bullet game and all the punishment that he takes, try to prevent him from getting the nagging injuries that we saw his the middle two years in college, and leave him healthy for the end of the season. Where for instance, Church, you remember the semi game against Texas where it was really close. Right before halftime, Texas had just scored a touchdown and it appeared as though Ohio State was going to kill the clock and then get into halftime. They decided to run a delayed screen to Travon Henderson, and Travian Henderson took it seventy five yards for a touch. It was all him. He caught that ball behind the line of scrimmagers, all Travion Henderson, and flipped that entire game Texas instead of going into halftime where the game it's you're right there and you know you have the momentum. Now you go into halftime year down. I think it was by ten points at that point, just utterly demoralized in Ohio State obviously pulled away. You know after that, if you're the NFL team at Travion Henderson, you have to take some of that between the tackles work from him. He would love to do it. He would love to beat the bell callet there. The whole time. You have to protect him from himself so that you have access to him later on in the season and in the playoffs to create those game flipping plays like he did against Texas.
So I want to highlight a couple of things that I noticed about tre Von Henderson that that I'm really interested in. First, he's this upright track star runner. Usually those guys have our long striders, and long strides are a mixed bag in the NFL. What I loved about him is he's got choppy footwork that lets him instantly cut hard because when he needs to cut, he's not in the middle of some loping stretch, right, He's got a foot on the ground and he can make that cut really quickly. And then, as you already mentioned, the acceleration is just remarkable for him, and they Ohio State used him on a lot of stretch plays. And the other thing that I noticed, in addition to his ability to cut hard and accelerate on the stretch play, when he sees his whole he almost never chooses the wrong lane thor he knows instinctively where where to go on those stretch plays. And that's not an automatic in the NFL.
Yes, yeah, and this is you know, a lot. We don't go off the field a lot with some of these evaluations. But I think it's important to bring up Trevion Henderson. That kid could have gotten academic scholarships almost to anywhere that he wanted to go. He was a straight A student in high school. There's a funny story where his mom wanted him and his brothers to you know, get out of have a key to get out of town, you know, after their high school graduation. So she offered them. It was like one hundred bucks for straight A report cards. Trevion Henderson never gave her anything less than a straight A report card, and I believe in Ohio State he finished with a four point three. This is an extremely extremely bright young man and you can tell that to your point charts that he sees the game slower than other people. He gets the information quicker and he synthesizes it quicker. And that has to do. You know, you're talking about the thing of we con track the movement of the second level defenders while we simultaneously paying attention to the flow of the line of scrimmage right and what's going on there and the opening of the holes and stuff like that. And he can do that well, paying attention, like I said, to the flow of the second level guys and start doing interesting things as far as setting them up. But you see this as well with the pass blocking, where there's some guys where even if they try, the guys that give effort, they don't denote the danger right away. You know, It's like they're like a sparkle. They'll they're like a butterfly and they'll get distracted by that and they take a couple steps forward, and all of a sudden, they're not a depth to complete the block of the most present danger. There's a guy who's looped around that you know, the right tackle who's coming in now, but you don't have the depth to make that block. Henderson has a really good sense of all that stuff, of where every piece is on the chess board, you know, no matter if he's the runner, if he's the blocker, whatever it is. And the other thing that you said charge that I wanted to hit on really quick, that thing you're talking about with the sprinter thing, with the way that he runs, you know, you were talking about those shorter, choppier steps with the guy who is sort of the angular runner. I thought of him. It's like springy, right, like that, you know, like the guy who got in trouble for others stuff. But that sprinter that had the you know, the the what do you call it, like the springs for legs or whatever. And there was like a Pastoris there.
There was like that oh yeah, yeah, yeah, killing a guy.
Who ended up killing a guy. Yeah, So I almost didn't bring him up, but it was like this. There was a debate in the sprinting community for a while of like, oh, the springs are those unfair, But that's like how Treyvon Henderson runs like. His legs are absolutely like that. You have to upbraak torso and then you have the bent knees and it's just super springy. And that's how he can just shoot off, you know, speaking to the acceleration. You have all that lower body strength and and just push off really quick and and and access his top speed really quickly.
I can't wait to talk about an next runner. It's Caleb Johnson. And when we take a quick break, when we come back, we're going to talk about what I think is one of the best fantasy prospects for this coming season. When we return to Fantasy Football Weekly, Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly, Paul Charchie and throw An Eystrom with you. We are breaking down the rookie running back class. It's so deep, it's filled with so many people. We're doing deep dives on six different runners. We've already done three. I want to turn my attention thor to the guy who carried the entire Iowa offense, Caleb Johnson. Yes, your comp for Caleb Johnson is drool worthy and accurate. Tell people who it.
Is it's Larry Johnson from Penn State back in the day. And for people that meet you know, and then the chiefs of course in the NFL, like people that don't remember Larry Johnson. It was the tall, well built kind of zone runner who want He ripped off a whole bunch of explosive runs, you know, the ability to get through the line, that good vision, the good patients, and then once he got up to top speed, that's where he became the locomotive. And Caleb Johnson is very very similar six to one two twenty four pure zone runner Iowa Tim Lester, their new offensive coordinator twenty twenty four. He had come from the Packers and the Iowa rushing offense. The concepts they use between the inside zone, the middle zone, and then the stretch outside zone type concepts. Those were ial to what the Packers run, which is very very similar to what the Rams run with the forty nine Ers run a couple other teams in the NFL. So there's gonna be plenty of shooters that are interested in Caleb Johnson and the outside zone system. He will evoke for you a lev On Bell type with the patients picking down the line his ability to force linebackers to declare their gap before he does, which is the thing that allows him to get through more open holes than I think other analogous type zone backs, and it's the thing that allows him to get the runway to access the high end top speed. Now, Caleb Johnson only ran a four to five to seven at the NFL Combine.
And surprised me because he plays faster than that.
Well, let's break this thing down because it actually makes sense and in a way that shouldn't kill his evaluation for folks where it jives with his profile on the field, even though he had the ninety eight percent i'll breakaway rate in college, et cetera. Yeah, the four to five to seven on that run, Caleb Johnson actually hit twenty two miles per hour max speed, which was high end for the running back clad the entirety of it. The interesting thing is IOWA was GPS. They clocked him at twenty two point two miles per hour max speed on one of his runs last year, so it was actually equivalent to that, and you're wondering if you hit that top speed And also he had it was something like the sixth of the seventh fastest max acceleration on that run as well, so it's like counter then he finished with a four or five seven he fished doesn't add up exactly. It's because he had a one six two ten yards split, which was seventh percentile at the NFL combine, you know, going back twenty five years or so. He needs the three, four or five steps to get too top speed. And that's the thing on those stretched one concepts when he has given himself that gaping hole because he has sucked the linebackers into the false doors and now they're caught up in the muck of humanity there where he then threw there. Once he is into the second level, and certainly when he is approaching the third, he has now gotten up to his top speed, which again is high high end. It's that stuff initially, but the zone concepts itself and how good he is, the decisions he makes, and the manipulation of the second level defenders, it's what allows him to access that high end speed more than I think.
You know, some people might think, but we're not drafting Caleb Johnson in my mind for his speed. It's the big thing here is he's so hard to tackle. His balance is so good, so powerful, he breaks so many tackles. You noted that Caleb Johnson ninety fourth and percentile in yards after contact per attempt. Yep, Yes, this is what he's got. He is a true power back. He's a goal line back, and I feel like he's just built for fantasy points.
Yeah, it's This is another similarity with with Larry Penn State's Larry Johnson, where Larry Johnson ran upright even though he was tall, but he broke a ton of tackles and it was the contact balance and then the power thing. It's the same thing with Caleb Johnson, and it's really deceiving because he runs so upright, So it would seem like it would be pretty easy to get a guy like that down. It's not. It's I think I compared him to a light pole caked in grease, like when yes, it's great phrase, Yeah, they just can't. Like there was this one explosive reception that he had against Nebraska last year. There was like three guys who had their arms wrapped around him something like five yards upfield, and none of them could impede his forward progress, Like they just kept flipping off of him like he was this enormous banana peel and all of a sudden, you think the play's over, and all of a sudden, he's now running in the secondary and it's like, oh my god, no one's gonna catch him, right, and then he just runs the rest of the way. And that's what it is. You're not gonna It's the same thing where you're not gonna get him with an arm tackle attempt or an off angle attempt. So you got to get him. And this is this is a you know, I was mentioning this with Hampton, it's all the more true with Caleb Johnson. You need to get this guy around the line of scrimmage. You cannot allow him to access that top speed that is where he is a true, true problem. But because of how good he is in his zone concept with the patients and the vision, that's what makes it really difficult to be able to confront him with linebackers or descending defenders around the line of scrimmage, you know, especially on those outside zone concepts.
All right, let's move to your your next running back. We've mentioned earlier with Travon Henderson that he would not be the last Ohio State running back. We would talk about in this show. Your number five ranked running back is quinch On Judkins from Ohio State, who posted that his RASS score was a nine point eight nine crazy y.
I certainly was not expecting it, although I started get a hint from it when the day before this was last Friday in Indianapolis, the day before the running backs test, that I asked Quinn John Jenkins at his podium session. I said, you know, you are known for having such good bursts and acceleration, but people have questioned your long speed. Is that is that? Because he had already said he was going to test do all the tests, and I said, is that something you're looking forward to going out? A question that you're looking forward to going out and answering and and and he just smiled at me, you know, and and you know, was like absolutely, you know. And and he goes out and test better than we thought. You mentioned that the nine to eight nine RASS five eleven two twenty one is extremely impressive. That ridiculous burst of his that he is famous for. That that was a parent out there. He had a one to five to one ten yard split, which was number two among running backs four foot eight forty yard dash was was really good at his size, thirty eight and a half vertical inch was top five for the running backs, and as eleven foot broad jump led the group right and that goes into the explosion on the first couple steps, you know, and and the acceleration there. I love him as a as a natural runner. I mean, that's like the thing that all of his coaches you talk to Lane Keffen, Ryan Day, that they just in his high school coach, that they go nuts about. It's his vision. He just has really really good vision and feel, and then he naturally toggles the tempo and then the clean footwork, you know, depending on what he is perceiving and the planning has at that time. It's just really really natural. The thing that you ding him for it's on the passing downs. He does have good hands, he doesn't drop the ball, but it's another thing where he's not great running the routes and he is not a great pass blocker either. I think the thing that Ohio State had going last year that we were talking about with that platoon, that's what you're looking for for Judkins at the next level. He can handle a heavy workload, especially the first two years at Ole Miss when he was the bellcout back, and it was they run the hyper tempo offense that you know at Ole Miss, So be like, you know, six yard run for drunkins, sprint back to the line, immediately handle the ball again. You know, now five yard runs, sprint back to the line. So he the the carry numbers just accelerated there. We know that he can handle that without getting nicked up. So a team that could use a bellcout back but like you know, can give him is the quote unquote rests on obvious passing downs because you have that air back. That's what he should should be going to in the NFL.
Yeah, it's I I saw a lot of things I like. By the way, I didn't give you a chance to mention your comp for Judkins, it is Joe Joe Mixon, and I can I can see it originally when you when I was when I was watching Judkins' play, I was like, I didn't see it at first, But the more I looked at him, the more the more I can see it. Especially uh this, especially because of how sort of light on his feet he can be despite the fact that he's carrying two hundred and twenty one pounds. I mean, with everything that you just described, he should not be able to do that at two hundred and twenty one pounds. You know, these are the these are the traits of somebody who's carrying like fifteen fewer pounds.
Yeah. The feet there on that kid, Yeah, it definitely you don't think you're dealing with a back that bag with. Yeah, how light on his feet he is, and how precise and sudden the footwork is. And you forget this guy. He's in the same sort of size phylum as Omari and Hanton and Caleb Johnson, just a little bit shorter but than Caleb. But yeah, at the two hundred and twenty one pounds and then testing as well as he did that size, I just thought it was super impressive. That tape speaks for itself. With Judkins, he's gonna be He's gonna get a lot of carries in the NFL.
And right from the get all right, our final guy, it's time to rock Chuck.
You ready, Yes, Yes, let's do it.
Devin Neil. Now, I think he's better than the sixth the best back in this class, And I worry that you're so concerned about a perceived personal bias for your alma mater, that you've overcompensated and you're actually underappreciating Neil. I love how shifty he is. Tacklers have got Devin Neil dead to rights and they don't get a hand on him. They they they completely whiff on him. His footwork is so good, and I love that he's a good pass catcher. And I'll let you expand on all of that. You know way more about it than I do. But I love this kid and I feel like he is he is a three down back who's going to be a big fantasy factor in the right spot.
Yeah, I definitely agree with all that. It's it's at his size, the footwork, because he was two hundred and twenty pounds at the Senior Bowl. He at the combine two hundred and thirteen. He cuts seven pounds for the testing, but you're talking about a two hundred and twenty pound back and just absolutely ludicrous footwork, you know, and and the thing of making people miss. He does that in the second level and out in space. But the footwork, it also plays between the tackles and around the line of scrimmage with sort of these micro cuts that he does that where it just sort of it's hard to tell where he is going. Because of that, he can change the direction so quickly and so fluidly, like and sometimes behind the line. You'll see it a couple of different times where it's like is he gonna go outside, No, he's going inside. No, actually he's it's going between the gard and the tackle, like just because of these these contortions of his footwork and his upper body. It's you know, behind the line is just changing where the direction where he's had his pointed. It's really really cool watching that guy run. You have that, and then the receiving utility. He was a good receiver at Kansas. They used him, they didn't use him enough. I'll say that, like as a receiver, they had three Kansas did three veteran seniors starting receivers and a starting senior tight end. They used their passing concepts to go to those guys. And then Neil was always the checkdown too, so he would get the checkdowns where you know, typically it was you know, the quarterbacks under duress and then you know you don't have a lot to work with there once you end up getting the ball. The times where we have seen Devin Neil allowed to run routes down the field. It's the footwork. You can't stay with the guy's footwork, right, So it's like, by definition he is a good route runner because but he's going to create the separation every time you literally cannot stay with his footwork. So he got to do more of that stuff. At the senior ball, the routes five, seven, ten yards downfield and he was always open. Again, a linebacker or a strong safety, you're not staying with the footwork. So I think at the NFL level you were gonna see a much better receiver than you saw Kansas, where it was sort of the part back type concepts and he got the ball.
What I liked about seeing seeing Devin Neil's a receiver or he's just so natural and fluid as a receiver. It looks like he was born to catch the ball, and I love I love to see running backs who look that way. And I think that's ultimately going to unlock a lot more productivity than what Kansas had with Devin Neil and some team. You know, I'm not do you have a do you have a rough estimate for the round Devin Neil is going to go in is he trending to round two? Round three?
I think he's going to go in round three.
Okay, round three, some team Minnesota is going to find a three down back in the third round. That it can be. Absolutely, he's just NFL traits and I I love, I'm really really optimistic on Devin Neil.
Yeah, and you don't have to you know, you mentioned a three down thing, you don't You don't ever have to take him off the field because he can now pass block as well. That's an area of his game that's getting better. His Initially in Lawrence, he was not a good pass blocker. He told us at the Senior Bowl, like, heading into last season, he knew, He's like because I know in the NFL, like you have to pass block to stay on the field. And he got a whole lot better at it. And with the frame, the footwork, the strongholder half, you can project additional improvement after what you saw last year. So I think that that's a guy who, if nothing else, is going to be passable in that phase in the NFL, if not develop into a solid one. The receiving we're talking about that really really good and pretends well to the NFL and such a natural and fluid runner.
Yeah, your comp for Devin Neil is durable.
Ja the aforementioned j guy, he's out there. He's like man in my second shout out of Fantasy Football Weekly this week, but you know, recalled j Jaii coming out of Boise State. I love that kid's game. It was just a thing of like he didn't have cartilage and his knees. Knew that there was a you know, like a sand timer on his time in the NFL. Think about if Jay Jay coming to the NFL with perfectly healthy knees without durability concerns. I think that's what Devin Neil is. It's it's the big guy with the really really really smooth feet.
Great work on part one of our running back breakdown. We're gonna hit even more players next week on next week's Fantasy Football Weekly, and more running backs in particular. I mean, so a deeper dive on more guys. And just because we've got like the what's the draftable pool here of playoff running backs store for this draft class? What are we talking about guys who have like a draftable great? How many oh.
Man around thirty?
That's insane pretty potentially draftable running backs. We're not gonna hit We've done six, we're not gonna hit twenty four next week, but we will have a lot of fun hitting maybe like a dozen guys. How does that sound for now?
That sounds great to me. We have to it's this historic running back class we got to.
Yeah, it sounds great, and I will try to hit you with what I think is the best running back class of like the last thirty years. When we talk next week to great job thor thanks for listening, everybody, Please stay tuned next week more Fantasy Football Weekly coming up. Then in part two of our rookie running back draft class coming up,
