Draft or Pass on These 10 Popular Running Back Sleepers (Ep. 1326)

Published Aug 17, 2024, 1:00 PM

Ryan Wormeli, Derek Brown, and Terrell Furman dive into 10 of the biggest fantasy football sleeper candidates at the running back position for 2024. Should you draft them or pass? Get expert opinions on who to target in the middle and late rounds of your draft and who to avoid. Don't miss out on this sleeper breakdown. 

Timestamps (may be off due to timestamps):

Intro - 0:00:00
Nick Chubb/Jerome Ford - 0:04:15
Jonathon Brooks - 0:08:44
DraftKings Sportsbook - 0:14:10
D’Andre Swift - 0:16:25
Tony Pollard/Tyjae Spears - 0:22:15
Gametime - 0:27:50
Javonte Williams - 0:29:15
Zack Moss/Chase Brown - 0:36:55
Brian Robinson/Austin Ekeler - 0:42:28
Devin Singletary - 0:49:18
Trey Benson - 0:59:18
Gus Edwards - 1:05:28
Outro - 1:15:01

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Hello, everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy pros Football Podcast. I am Ryan Warmley, joined today by Derek Brown and also by Terrell Ferman, my new colleague, and this is our first time doing a show together. Terrell, I'm really excited to be talking with you.

Yeah, I'm happy to be here.

Worm.

You know, hey, and you weren't the early worm or the early birds to get the Worm, because me and Debro already did a show together. But I'm glad to finally, you know, finally you got around to asking me and having me on after you know, somebody canceled on you and then you went and said, hey, so real, okay you do it? I said sure, sure.

Ericson was like, I'm going out of town. I was like, I guess we'll sell.

It's fault YEP, It's Ris's fault, dude.

He's he's in that part of life where everything like he's got bachelor parties and weddings every week and all that kind of stuff, you know, at the old age of thirty. I remember what that time was, Like.

I believe he's in China, Maine. As he kept telling to set the X, how would you think? I am so I'm so bad. I feel like I'm gonna have I'm so bad. Uh, thirty Maybe I was gonna say, like twenty seven.

I'm in between thirty four and thirty six.

I was gonna say in the twenties. But I can't.

I don't know, I'm so I'm wrong here.

Thirty Well, I'm not even acknowledging dee bro. I'm all here, not even acknowledging dee Bro. He's way off, and I'm actually kind of offended. I'm twenty eight. That's forty eight, man.

Oh, so I was pretty spot was close.

I thought you were about to Yay, that's not that far. Okay. So I'm gonna tell you a lot of the reality here, Torrell. Once you hit your thirties, it's all the freaking same until you get to forty, Like thirty to thirty nine is all the same shtick. Okay. So I'm sorry you're not in your thirties yet. I apologize immensely, Torell.

I went through to I actually almost went even lower. I almost was like twenty four to twenty five.

No, I don't think that would have been I think I would have felt I would have felt offensive too, that would have But but I mean, I was pretty sure.

There's no right answers here. There's just no right answer.

No, there is one right answer. Actually there is.

Technically one answer.

All right.

Well, I'm glad that I got the closer than Debro. That was very important to me. And I'm glad to finally be doing a show with you, Torell. We're gonna be doing a few more here throughout the month, and I'm sure into the season and you know, definitely, so I'm excited to, like I said, be chatting with you here. Today's episode is pretty straightforward. We're talking draft or pass on ten running back sleepers. We're gonna name more than ten names because some of these I wanted to just kind of include the whole backfield where it's not really clear, kind of like who the number one might be, or you might have kind of a personal preference. So we're gonna name more than ten, but ten running backs slash running back situations are we drafting or passing at cost? You know where they are right now? Quick reminder for everybody. All of our twenty twenty four consensus rankings and tiers can be found at fantasypros dot com. Slash rankings also a quick reminder to get ready for the ultimate fantasy football showdown with the fifth annual Fantasy Pros Fantasy Fest. Join us live on our YouTube channel Monday, August nineteenth, starting at three pm Eastern or twelve pm Pacific for a five hour fantasy football extravaganza like no other. We've got a star studded lineup of familiar faces, the best fantasy experts from all around the industry coming together to bring you the latest and greatest insights to help you dominate your draft. We've got player rankings, breakouts, sleepers, busts, so much more with Jake Seely, Jamie Eisenberg, Scott Pianowski and plenty of others. But here's the best part. You can be part of the action, join the live conversation and ask your burning questions. Can't make it live, no worries. You can catch all the excitement later on your own time, but trust us, you won't want to miss the live show. So mark your calendars and set those reminders because the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Fest is happening exclusively on our YouTube channel. All right, hard to believe that's just like three days away. We've been planning it for so long that it's uh right around the corner, so we're really excited for that one. All right, let's dive in. We're gonna start off with one of those aforementioned backfields. And by the way, we're defining running back sleepers is just anybody going outside the top twenty four at the position. So we tried to kind of hit on names that people are actually searching for on our site and are talking about as long as they were not in that top twenty four. So that's kind of how we try to identify these names. And right off the top kind of the most search for right now is actually Nick Chubb. So I want to kind of loop in Jerome Ford as well and ask you guys of these two and you can answer one or the other, or both or neither. Are you drafting or passing deebra I'll start with you on Nick Chubb kind of slash Jerome Ford.

I'm passing on Chubb. I will say I have bumped him up in my ranks a little bit with the news and the workouts and things like that over the last few weeks. So I've bumped up Chubb to RB forty, but I've still got a rank Jerome Forard ahead of him. I've got him at RB thirty five, and so I'm probably not gonna get a lot of Chubb in drafts, but I do want to circle Jerome Ford's name when I am on the clock because what he could have that early down roll. He could be the guy to begin the season. And we don't know when Nick Chubb is coming back this point, so really it could just not be early season. Who knows, it could be the entire season. I'm not going to rule that out, and I'm not saying that I don't want to see Nick Chubb back stiff arming people into other dimensions. I do. But Jerome Ford, I think we're also sleeping on the upside, and I want to draft him as much as possible, like when he was the starter last year RB twenty in Fantasy points per game. So give me Jerome Ford here.

So interestingly an ECR, Ford is one spot ranked ahead of Chubb. He's five spots lower in ADP, so Chubb is being drafted higher than Ford before it is just barely ranked ahead of Chubb. By the way, that ADP for Chubb is you know, RB thirty and then Ford Ford is down You know, you know, like I said lower than that, so I will not be drafting Chubb there, I will just say right off the bat.

But RB thirty is spice.

You imagine like in home Leagues two, as we get more of those into the data, like people just see the name and oh maybe he bounced back. The injury was early enough, Terrell, what are you doing with this backfield?

So I would love to get Nick Chubb, but he's just never there when I'm looking to draft him, I'm always grabbing somebody else. But I would love to have this backfield shirt up because I'm I would draft both. I would. I just can't draft Chubb where he's at him with all the other talent going around him. But I think this backfield is going to be really good if you are a Nick Chubb believer. I think Nick Chubb is gonna be great when he gets back because this offensive line is now intact and healthy, and they're projected to be one of the best offensive lines in football this year. And we saw what happened when you put a very good running back like a Jerome Ford or like Nick Chubb behind a really good offensive line, great things happen. Look at what DeAndre Swift did last year for the Eagles. So I just think that this is a really, really good spot for both of these running backs. I'm one hundred percent drafting forward. I can't get Chubb at ADP right now. Now. If he falls to me, and maybe I'm in a weird draft where nobody wants to take a chance on Chubb, then I one hundred percent will do that because I think when he comes back, then Chubb is gonna take over. You're gonna have possibly a league windar and when it comes down the championship sign.

Yeah, deebro to that point that Terrell just made, like, are you you know when you are fading Chubb to the degree that you are debro? Are you is it because you think he will like, not be back right away or that he will be ineffective when he's on the field a.

Little bit of both. I think that considering his age and I know we've seen Nick Chubb be one of arguably the best rushers of the football in the NFL for some time. So can I make you a really good narrative or a case that, Okay, he might not be elite, but could he still be above average? Sure? I just worry that after the horrific injury that he sustained at his age and he's currently not twenty four, twenty five, twenty six years old, that I don't know what he's going to look back look like once he gets back. But the other part about this is how much say Cleveland is really going to push like, okay, say they have a winning record, they're pushing the playoffs. Does that strike you as a team that's going to and drome Ford has had weeks and weeks and weeks where he has played well as the starter. Does that strike you as a team that is more willing to push Chubb as soon as he comes back or even towards the end of the regular season if they're staring down the playoffs and say, yeah, sure, like Nick Chubb, let's give him fifteen seventeen carries a week. I don't think it is. So I just worry about all things Nick Chubb, whether it's the health, whether it's the effectiveness, whether honestly, even the volume that Cleveland is willing to give him based off of where they're at in the season or where he's at health wise.

Let's go to the next running back here, and Trell I'll start with you because I already know how Debro feels about this guy, So I want to hear you first, Jonathan Brooks, and I will just say Debro is all over him in rookie drafts this year, you know, talking about him on the Dynasty Show. So, like I said, I know where Debro stands through Jonathan Brooks, obviously coming off an injury last year, but you really talented running back. We'll have the opportunity, it would seem, once he's actually healthy and on the field. Are you drafting passing Brooks this year?

I'm passing, but I'm only passing because there's a bunch of people that are drafting at that spot and I just.

Can't.

I can't get there. I just can't get there with Carolina's offense right now, and just believing that a running back in a Carolina team that has shown me in years past. Now this is a new regime, so maybe it's different, but they haven't been able to commit to anybody. It's been a little here, there everywhere with them. And I think they have a bunch of talents in running backs on the roster that hey, if somebody's slacking, somebody's going down. It's kind of running back by committee and somebody else will pick up. And so I think next year, like if this was Dynasty, I would love him next year. I think that's the chance where they see the flashes this year and he ends up taking over that backfield going forward next year. But this year one, I prefer one. Just haven't been able to sell myself on it.

RB thirty three overall, ninety second in ADP debro again, I know you're really excited in Dynasty. Are you drafting him?

In Reach? I am. I'm drafting Jonathan Brooks and redraft and I feel like I understand he's not gonna play. We've gotten the news he's not gonna play for the first three or four weeks. That's fine. That's not what you're hoping for if you're drafting Jonathan Brooks, or you're hoping for what his full season outlook ends up being for twenty twenty four. For me, for Jonathan Brooks, that's the player that you want to draft and you're expecting, Okay, maybe he starts out slow and it's middle of the season, like he's an RB three when he comes back, and maybe he's splitting a little bit of the work. But like the other thing about it is can we see him can we see him be a workhorse down the stretch? And I think we can't rule that out considering timing of his ACL, the fact that it was a clean ACL. It wasn't something where we had lcl other ligaments or it was horrible involved here. And I'm not just totally dismissing a torn ACL, but I think that the recovery from those has become more stream line. He's a really young player. He was super effective and I know we didn't get testing metrics out of him, but I mean, just looking at the numbers, we're talking about a prospect that last year was twenty first in yards per route run and yards out to contact. He was top ten and elusive rating, So you know, looking at him as a prospect, I think that he would have tested well, if not extremely well, if he'd got a chance to do so. So all the factors are there for him to come back and probably surprise people coming off the ACL. And as far as Carolina goes, I think last year we saw the basement for this franchise, for this team. I'm not saying they're going to be a top five, top ten scoring offense. But Dave Kanel is being there running a better offensive system. Also with the talents that they've brought in. I'm not telling you that like all these players, like we have a top twelve wide receiver in the NFL all that kind of stuff, or the even the offensive line is going to be that good. But I think we saw the basement for this team last year, and heck, with that team, Chuba Hubbard on plenty of weeks was an RB two. So can Jonathan Brooks be that this year? Maybe have more ceiling if he truly is that guy and this team is playing better football than we saw last year. Yeah, I want to get Jonathan Brooks on a lot of teams.

Yeah, I think the Dave Canalis thing does make me a little more optimistic about the possibility of him being a workhorse once he is fully healthy and their willingness to commit to somebody like that. Do you think, Terrelle excuse me, do you think Terrelle that Brooks could be the type of player that you let somebody else draft and then hey, they get other injuries elsewhere they need to make space, they drop him because he's injured and ineffective early and then you try and pick him up for like a stretch run.

Or I'll make a low ball offer when I see he's getting ready to come back, or maybe he does come back and doesn't look as good as somebody that I may be looking at trades target later in the year, but just that capital like Jerome Ford is going later, and I think I want Jerome Ford more than Jonathan Brooks, just saying of how again you talked about RB twenty last year, and I think he could have a solid workload even in whenever Nick Chubb comes back. So it's just hard for me to look at Jerome Ford and Jonathan Brooks and not be interested with Jerome Ford when one I think that the Cleveland Browns have by far a way better offensive line, and I still questioned the Carolina offense that, yeah, they may not be as bad as they were last year, but they could be double as good as they were last year, and that's still pretty bad.

That's a great point. Deeve just quickly the same thought on like maybe trying to add him later on into the season rather than drafting him.

Yeah, I think that's totally fine. I mean, I think, like you're looking at. You want to be ahead of the curve, and whether it's you know, you're tuning in and asking these questions are on live streams this upcoming season, Like, I think the people need to be ahead of the curve and asking those kind of questions and looking at players because we kind of get the idea, Okay, they're coming back. Okay, well he's gonna get a slow ramp up. That's the time. Kind of like with Jonathan Tamer last year, if you wanted him when he came back, you need to put that off er out like a week or two before then, because then people kind of wake up, they hit the smelling salts and I'm like, oh, ohoh, why did I trade them away? So that's exactly the same thing for Jonathan Brooks.

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Deever roh. I did that read yesterday and I was like, I'll take it easy on the accent. I'll just do it normal this time, and Fits and Joe were very disappointed. So I figure it's my last chance. I'll bring the accent back out.

Well. It's funny that this comes into play in this show because I was doing the show with Welsh in the discord yesterday. He didn't do the accent, and I felt like something was missing. I was like a kind of like when you you know somebody's cooked you a wonderful dinner and you're like you take the first bite and you're like, this needs something. This needs like salt, there's some other type of spice. I don't know, but it's missing something. That's exactly how I felt when Welsh was reading that, going through the entire thing and there was no Australian accent.

I was like, it's hard because, like I said, I did without the accent yesterday, it's hard to read a line like Blokes in Sheila's without saying it yes, It like just sounds weird in an American accent. So I figured I'd give one last run through with the Australian accents as best they could. Yes, exactly all right. Next to next running back here, DeAndre Swift, who was just outside that top twenty four you know ranking, he's RB twenty five, but he still is eligible for the way we're approaching this, his ADP is actually higher than that, but in terms of the rankings, he's outside of the top twenty four. And deebra, I'll start with you on Swift. Are you drafting him as what essentially would be like a back end RB two or are you are you passing on Swift?

Nope, I am not drafting DeAndre Swift. And this all comes down to what do we see out of him last year. I think he's appropriately priced. I have no problem with that. But Chicago's backfill was a total headache last year. I mean, they rotated through a few different running backs. You never know who to start out of that. And it didn't matter whether Khalivel Herbert, who's still there, by the way, was blowing it away as far as efficiency metrics didn't matter to that coaching staff. And the same coaching staff is back yet again, and I feel like this is this is kind of one of those things where it's like, Okay, we're going to follow the money. We're hoping the volume happens. And this feels very Miles Sanders esque of last year, where there are other talented backs on this team and they are going to cut into the workload. And I think we're also giving DeAndre Swift a little bit too much credit. Now I do. I have him as RB twenty five in my ranking, so I'm with consensus on that. I kind of want to bump him down a little bit because, I mean, last year, that's expecting him to reproduce what he did last year, and everybody said, like, oh, you look at the full season finishes, he was higher than that. Dude, after you take out those two monster weeks he had in weeks two and weeks three. Week two and three, I mean, he was the RB twenty five and Fantasy points per game from that point on, averaging only seventy two point four total yards. And he sucked as far as a tackle breaker, Like, we're talking about a player that was outside the top twenty five running backs last year and both miss tackles force per attempt and yards up to contact per attempt. No, I don't want to draft DeAndre Swift because much like in the preseason Week one, we saw this worm. We were sitting in Canton and watching part of the game. They got down the goal line, Clil Herbert was getting some carries down there, not DeAndre Swift, And I know all the Bears fans are gonna say, well, DeAndre just had a huge play, was probably gassed and stuff. Herbert got a bunch of carries down there in the red zone. You tell me DeAndre Swift didn't have enough gas left in the tank to come back on the field to get one of those shots that possibly scoring. Mmm. Yeah, I'm letting somebody else fall in that sword.

Yeah, we were watching together. I think I was eating my the third of my like five breakfast burgers I had that weekend in Ken. It was all a oh yeah, all delicious. Yeah, sixty fourth over like, I'm kind of with you. Like positionally, I think around twenty five is a totally reasonable ranking, But sixty fourth overall and ADP. I'm just I'm never the guy who's clicking draft on Swift in that range. He would need to fall for me to be interested. Terrell, how are you approaching Swift this year?

Yeah?

I mean I'm the same way. I'm not drafting them, and not to echo the numbers that Dee Bro put out there, but he's a between the twenties runner, Like that's really what it kind of work with him between the twenties. They use him to get the big play into the red zone, and then they go in there and they trust guys like Kariel Herbert and who I think they're gonna trust a lot more this season, and got some burn with the starters in Roshawn Johnson, and so this is a really really deep room. And if DeAndre Swift Between out of all of them, is the one that I'm more concerned about with injury, I'm more concerned about them just pushing him off as a pass catcher because he makes plays in the passing game. So like, yeah, he could be just a pass catcher on the outside and that will be good for fantasy, but not at this price, Like I need somebody that has a little bit more up the workload, and I just can't see myself. I'm actively trying to trade Deandrey's within a dynasty league right now. I'm not having any luck right now. Clearly they're watching the shows and they understand that I'm not in on them, but I don't want any parts of DeAndre Swift. I really don't.

I think there's a very similar case for DeAndre Swift and Anderell the usage that you highlighted there, where we could be looking at basically Chicago's version of James Cook where it's like, Okay, he gets volume, but where the heck of the touchdowns? Dude. So I'm with you. I'm totally with you, and worm to your point. I've got DeAndre Swift. You said he's at what's sixty fourth over.

ADP, not an ACR and ADP.

Yeah, and I've got him at eighty first. So I'm not going and people follow my ranks are not going to get a lot of DeAndre Swift.

And there's so many other options, Like just look at Caleb Williams and how good he is in the passing game and pushing the ball downfield already, Like he has so many options to throw the balls that's height end to all three wide receivers like that to eat up into whatever passing game works. So if DeAndre Swift goes it has a game where he rushes for eighty yards, maybe catches two balls, like that's Okay, that's fine, but if he's not scoring the touchdowns, he's not jumping that tier that everybody wants him to jump.

I totally agree and deep rough I'm in the same spot with like I've got him at RB twenty seven, so it's a couple spots lower but not that crazy. But I've got him in the in the mid eighties overall, So I'm I'm you know, if he's going in the sixties, I just want I will not have him on many rosters if any Let's go say to other he's safe.

I think he's a safe running back, but I don't think that you're gonna the upside is not there for me, it is.

It's worth mentioning that he was the first guy sign a free agency, like they wanted to bring him on, so maybe they're going to be a little more you know, aggressive in using him. Then we kind of anticipate, but you know, we'll see fair.

But if you also watched all the hard knock stuff or which which I'm losing, we have so many like television programs now or streaming programs where now we're like it's following certain teams. If you watch the everything about the Giants they were or no, excuse me, the yeah with Sakuon Barkley. Also, the Bears were in on Saquon, so I think he was the fallback option personally.

Let's go to another kind of combined backfield here. It's Tony Pollard and Ta J. Spears the Titans backfield. Obviously, in terms of the rankings, Pollard is RB twenty seven and Spears is RB thirty one. In terms of ADP, Spears is RB thirty five and Pollard is RB twenty seven. So a reasonable gap there, I mean, it's I should say, a sizeable gap there. Terrell. Do you like either of these guys where they're going right now? No?

I don't, And it has nothing to do well, it has a little big Tony Polo is a phone or a cowboy, So I'm just that already has a stinch. But it really really has nothing to do with more of the talent and just more of I do not believe that this coach nor this offensive coordinator care about the running back position in Tennessee. I think that of you play football, you have to run the ball. They're gonna do it, but they don't get into the upper echelon of taking this team to the next level unless Will Levis gets them there. Will Levis has the chance to be the Ryan Fitzpatrick Jamis Winston pseudo type of quarterback that's going to guns. I mean, look at what he did in his first NFL game. He threw four touchdowns. I become on and Callahan saw that when he took this job, he said, I can work with that guy. He went and hired an offensive coort there that says, hey, Bick Colts, we can work with this guy, we can get him going. And so, yeah, I think that everything that I've seen has just said that, Yeah, the running back room is kind of second to the passing game in this offense, and they're going to be looking to go down the field, down the field, down the field, big plays. And so I don't think either one of these two backs. If there was just one of them, I think they'd be rostable. But the fact that they're splitting the backfield, I think they're gonna eat into the already short production that I think that two of them aren't going to have, and then it's not going to be worth it.

Dee bro, what do you think? Because I know, like, for me, I really like guys that Pollard is under the profile of which is who we really liked, and then they weren't really good in year one after an injury, and now they another year removed. I also kind of like the fact that it's a shared backfield because we saw him that's when he excelled, when he was uber efficient when he was sharing the backfield was Zeke in Dallas. So I'm like very intrigued by Pollard, and I do think he should be ranked higher than Spears. Having said that, I like Spears going you know, eight running backs later and you know, twenty picks later than Pollard, So at cost, I'd be more interested in Spears even if I like Pollard better. How are you approaching it?

I'm drafting both of them. I'm right in line with consensus. I've got Pollard at RB twenty seven. I got Spears a tick above at RB thirty three. But I look at this like, will we be so shocked? And I know that, like, there are differences between these two teams, and Yes, to hit this type of level, Will Levis is going to have to be a lot better than I probably give him credit for. Because I'm not a Will Levis believer. Or stand. But could this team, if they outperform expectations and this backfield more specifically, could this backfield just be the discount version of the Detroit Lions and what we get out of them. I think it's possible, and I think both of these players are incredibly talented, And yes on all on this. This is not my bias about Tony Pollard. Yes, I misgivings and missteps last year. But the other thing about Tony Pollard is, yes, did I not equate enough of Okay, this injury that he sustained the previous year walking into last year? Could that linger More didn't give enough credit to that? But what do we see out of Pollard towards the back half of the season weeks eleventh through eighteen, he amongst forty four qualifying backs, He's fifteenth in yards are to contact for attempt. So now you give him a full offseason to get the burst back. Now he's going to be back working at a committee backfield. He's not gonna be asked to get twenty twenty five touches, So hopefully we get more of the explosive element back for twenty Pollard. But the same thing with Tajay Spears. Both of these guys are just electricity. They're lightning in a bottle. Like Spears was just amazing. He was top fifteen and basically every efficiency and tackle breaking metric you could pull up and in the past game. So for both of these backs, really it comes down to what do you believe about this offense and this team. I think both of them are incredibly efficient. So you look at both of these players, they don't need two hundred and fifty touches to really pay off their ADPs because they're gonna make the most out of whatever volume they're given in this offense. And if this offense outperforms, we could see both of these guys finish as low end RB twos. I wouldn't be surprised by that. It is a projection, but I want to be drafting both of them because the other part about this, if one of them separates from the other back, like right now, we were playing the game of we don't know how how it's gonna shake out. What if it shakes out that one of these guys becomes the clear lead or takes like a sixty forty sixty five thirty five lead on the other back, one of these guys could easily be like a top fifteen running back if that is the case. So I want to have equity in both of them in draft because if one of them does separate, they could be a difference maker this year.

Terrell, is there a point in drafts where if you get enough of a discount and these guys are following that you are interested or are you just kind of avoiding entirely saj Spears.

I think Taje Spears and can fall enough where I'm getting a discount. But there's there's a guy that's going around the place of Tony Poler that I think I'm We're gonna talk about him later, but I think I just have to pull the trigger on him first before I tridge Tony Poler.

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I'm passing, But it's no fault of Javonte Williams. It's just the fact that everybody else is drafting them too high, Like I just think they're drafting them too high. And he's somebody that thought could be a little bit more of a sleeper this year because everybody is so off of the Javonte Williams train. And I think we know you talked about it and you made a very good point earlier. He's probably one of those players I'd be targeting maybe later mid season and as a trade target because last season, I don't fault anybody in this Broncos offense. They literally were fail. They were destined to fail because the head coach wanted them to fail so he could get the quarterback up out of there. He didn't have any room to get the touchdowns, He didn't really have any room to get the use that he got. Constantly put the ball in Russell Wilson's hand to prove that he's not a good quarterback so that he could ship him out of town and not catch any backlash. And now the thing that the only thing that I could see going up for the Broncos is the fact that these are now all Sean Payton's guys. These are the guys he believe in. You saw bo Knicks in the preseason game. He gave him every opportunity to succeed. Every single opportunity that bow Knicks needed to succeed, Sean Payton gave it to him. And I think if Bo Nicks starts his quarterback, even though I don't believe in Bo Knicks as a quarterback at all, Sean Payton is a good enough coach where he's going to highlight his strengths and make him look a lot better than what he is and make this offense start to flow. And so that gives me hope for Javonte Williams in a touchdown apartment where I think he could actually look a little bit better, and they start giving him the ball around the goal line again, So I see, I see the promise there, but he's just too high. I would actually take Jonathan Brooks over Shavont's Williams right now, even though I think both of them again are trades argets for me in the season.

De bro, I know that you are a big fan of Juli McLoughlin. Are you still willing to even with that pandom draft Javonte Williams. AREB thirty one, by the way, ninety first overall? Or are you passing on Javonte.

I'm drafting Javonte, And if you would have asked me this question a few weeks ago, I would have told you no. But going into training camp and stuff and the big thing about Javonte, I was like, man, I just don't know if he ever gets the juice back. I love him as a prospect, Yes, Like I was all over Javonte as a prospect, one of my favorite running backs to watch and evaluate over the last few years. And it really comes down to, like that knee injury that he's sustained. I was like, I just don't know if he ever gets it back. But all of the buzz out of training camp has been incredibly positive for Javonte Williams, and I think one of these guys and I'm been incredibly high on Joel mclough in the entire offseason. But I'll zoom out and I will give some credence to Jeavonty Williams if he does reclaim, and I'm not saying everything but eighty five percent of his tackle breaking ability before because he has he's lost weight, he looks good in camp. One of these running backs from this team is going to be an awesome, amazing value. And with the positive buzz and talk out of camp, I'm willing to bump Javonte Williams. And I have in my ranks like right now, I've got him at RB thirty two. I'm within striking distance. He's RB twenty nine where you said he's ninety first overall, is that rightpe, And I've bumped him up like I've got him at eighty eighth overall. So I'm firmly if people follow my ranks for drafts, they're in striking distance to get exposure to Javonte Williams, and I want them to because again, there is going to be pass catching volume in this backfield. And if this team again outperforms expectations, and I know expectations are incredibly low, or if Sean Payton does what he's done over years and years and years. And he runs a ton of the red zone offense, even if they aren't a top prolific scoring offense. If he runs a ton of the red zone offense through this backfield, one of these guys is going to absolutely smash. So I want exposure to not only McLoughlin, but Javonte Williams as well.

Think he's so I was on because I do.

I do like you talk about it.

I do love Javonte Williams like I really do. Like it's just I was surprised when you like another guy who's I love ye.

But it's injury.

It's the it's the pain and sometimes you know you gotta have you know, short cut of memory loss, and it's the pain. And I but again, that offense was doomed TOCTY, doomed to fail last year. Like doom the head coach doesn't believe in you and doesn't want you to succeed. You're not going to succeed now with the Sean Payton has locked it in. Oh my gosh, I really do want. I really want to be on the Javancey Williams street. I really do.

I was looking at ranks to see where I had him Mattterrell, and I hear like, you let off the case of like I don't want to draft him, I'm not really fit. And it then like I'm listening to every like as I'm looking to see where I had him ranked up here, and you give the case and I'm like, I feel like Therell's talking himself in Williams.

Right like, so like, just looking at some names around Austin Eckler, I would love Johoncey Williams over Austin Eckler. I would uh, Jerry Warren.

Don't don't be smirch Stalen Warren. It won't even be me. Erickson's gonna come for you.

That's that's fifty, okay, fifty to fifty. Zach Boss is somehow going above him. I have no idea how that's happening. Oh I would say.

We're gonna get to that backfield, but no, no, no, yeah that is on Yeah, that is on the sheet.

Let me let me stop seizing a head.

Well, there are a couple of names coming up that are in this range that I am really curious if we would have Javonte over I'll just to put it on Javonte conversation specifically, debro what like ceiling he becomes the clear RB one for Sean Payton offense. That's actually trying again to Therell's point, like is this ceiling and RB one c is it high end RB two? Like what's best case scenario here?

RB fifteen to twenty I think is probably the best like one of the probably RB fifteen, like being sniffing around that top fifteen is probably the best case scenario. I think the median probably if he gets most of the work and this offense kind of outperforms, then you're drafting an RB three, but you're getting a solid, solid RB two weekly.

But I also think that Sean Payton also could be a fraud and he just sucks and this offense is terrible, and he is like an RB like zero, like terrible, like he could actually like he could be he could lose his job. That's the also part that scares me. He could very well much lose his jobs.

At Julil mcgofflin, I live out here more of a Sean Payton truther than you are.

I live out here in Denver. And if that is the case, Turrell, like, I don't think the fan base would survive. I think they would just be done and not there'd be no coming back from that one because they don't really.

There like, but nobody wants to say it. There is a world of possibility that Sean Payton just doesn't have the juice anymore and it was just it was the New Orleans rub like. That is a very real possibility. I just I can't prove that he was taking the offense last year, but I assume that he was. If he wasn't and he's really as bad as as that was last year, then uh yikes.

I'll say this. I'll say this just to wrap a bow on this. I don't think Russell Wilson was actually running Sean Payton's offense last year. I think it was. I think Russell Wilson was probably the worst fit for a Sean Payton offense that you could possibly ever dream up. And that's why Peyton was like, oh no, it's almost like the club time where you're just like, you ain't got to go home, but you got to get um out of here. Yeah bye, Russ, bye.

All right, let's get to the Bengals backfield. We kind of reference it with Zach Moss but I'm going to kind of include both Zach Moss and Chase Brown by and large, and this is largely driven by Pat Fit. It's Morris being a huge Chase Brown guy. This podcast has largely been Chase Brown over Zach Moss. I'm curious if you guys come down the same way by eighty P Zach Moss RB twenty six eighty first overall, that's just too high. Chase Brown is like in the late thirties. He's one hundred and eleventh overall. I think that will those will come closer together as we get later into August and more and more drafts are done. I think I feel like the conversation is more pro Chase Brown now than maybe it was early in the off season. We were kind of out in front of that. At least fifth certainly was so at cost To me, this one's pretty easy, Terrell. I'll start it off with you, Do you like Zach Moss or Chase Brown at cost? Are you drafting or passing?

No?

I don't like either one. And I know I sound like negative Nancy here because there's a lot of running backs around this range I'm not interested in, and I'm probably looking wide receiver during this range. But it's a lot of I think that this offense and how they profiled in the past when it starts to when it doesn't work out and the running game doesn't get going and we're focusing on Jamar Chase, we're focusing on the tight ends. We're gonna nickel and dime this down the field until we get the big play, and we're gonna run with Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow's gonna be our offense and he's gonna be able to carry this through. I don't think Zach Moss is really that guy. I think he's catching a little bit of the Hey, he made it work under a really good offensive plan under Shane Steichen in Indiana Indianapolis, and then now you're going to Cincinnati thinking that you're gonna get that same rub in the rub is not there. It only worked at Indianapolis. Like it was only good in Indianapolis, it wasn't good in Buffalo. I had a terrible time in Buffalo, and we're gonna have a terrible time. Matter of fact, you probably don't need to be all the way up there. You just need to stay out of outside cold, whether go getting a Dome or somewhere safe. But I'm just not with it in Zach Moss and Zack Moss being there takes away from me having any hope for Chase Brown.

Debro, what do you think.

I do not want to draft any Zach Moss and I will draft Chase Brown. I'll look at Zach Moss. And I've said this on previous shows, but if you're just now tuning back into redraft season, Hi, welcome Zach Moss. I think is this year's Alexander Madison. I want nothing to do with him. I think if you're looking at any player that could take over the backfield, it is Chase Brown. And right now we're refresh my memory here because I'm getting older and the expo is I'm still looking my wounds there. Where are they at overall? Because I want to say, not only do I have Chase Brown ranked ahead of Zach Moss, but I want to say I'm ahead of consensus on Brown and below consensus on Zach Moss.

Where they said overall not not among running backs? Yeah, yeah, over Zack Moss eighty first in ADP And by the way, this data can be found on fantasysprays dot com. We have consensus ADP data from multiple sites. But yeah, Zach Moss eighty first overall, Chase Brown one hundred and eleventh thirty.

So I'm I'm a little bit above market, almost a round above market on Chase Brown. I have him in one hundred and second and Zack Moss I have him hugged up right next to him at one hundred and third. So again, if you're following my ranks, you will not be getting much Zach Moss, but you will be drafting some Chase Brown. And that's kind of how I want attack the backfield man like I have come around and I will own this. I was not high on Chase Brown entering the training camp season, draft season and stuff, but we have to be liquid and adjust to training camp news. So if we were to come out and what I kind of thought we were gonna get was Chase Brown is a handcuff. He's working some with the ones, mostly with the twos. It's probably Zach Moss's backfield, although he's not very talented. The way that it's come out in camp is no, they are splitting reps with the first team. Chase Brown's getting a lot of run with the first team, and for me, that points to Okay, then if they're already giving Chase Brown a ton of run with the first team, then really this just becomes a foot race and a bet on talent. Who is the most talented back, and I think that that is Chase Brown by a mile over Zach Moss. We've seen enough years and iterations of Zach Moss in places and situations where it's like, okay, could he take over a backfield? Okay, that upside was there a multiple years for different teams, and you didn't see it until last year. So kudos to him for getting the bag and getting paid. Love it for Zack Moss. But am I gonna fall into that trap for twenty twenty four?

No, no way, I'm not opposed to wanting Zach Moss on your roster. I think it's a worthy gamble to say, like, maybe we are like kind of a little over our skis at Chase Brown. Somebody is gonna have rushing touchdown opportunities in this offense, and maybe it does end up being Zach Moss. I get that. I just think the cost disparity is too much and it's like super unwarranted. I mean, thirty spots different overall between them in our rankings, Like in ECR they're RB thirty two and RB thirty four, so they're much closer, and I think that's more reflective of how the market is kind of playing out. But right now, you know in ADP the gap is too wide, Like I just don't think that gap.

I agree with you that gap needs to change, and honestly it needs to follow.

And I currently have Moss ahead of Brown. I think I'm probably gonna flip that, but they're very very close to each other. That that again, the it's the disparity in the rankings that is really crazy. We've got one more kind of shared backfield that I wanted to hit on here before we wrap up with a couple of final running backs up, and it's Brian Robinson and Austin Eckler. Once again, I know exactly where Devro stands on this, Sorell, I'm curious where you stand on Brian Robinson versus Austin Eckler. And if you're drafting or passing, you know one of them, both of them, or neither of them.

I am drafting Brian Robinson and I am fading Austin Eckler. I mean, I just, first of all, First of all, he's still the RB one. They brought him in and he's still RB one by all accounts. I haven't heard anybody ever say that he is no longer the RB one Austin Eckler. Austin Eckler went and he got a taste of the limelight and what it was like to be RB one on a team, and then everybody also remembered, Wait, there was a reason why Melvin Gorton was ahead of you, Like, there was a reason for that. You're very, very good at this number two role for us, and we should probably keep you there when we get around the goal line and we need somebody to punch it in. I'm not looking your way. I'm looking at Brian Robinson, who through weeks one through twelve last season was the RB five RB five through weeks one through twelve before he got hurt. RB five. I mean, there's really no like I think Brian Robinson is a league winner because this offense is gonna be better, the defense is going to put them in very good situations. I believe in Jaydon Daniels and hey, maybe Dan Quinn gets that second stint as a coach, and that is the better stint form where he actually puts it all together, because I think at this offense gets around the goal line is going to Brian Robinson and he has the town to punch it in a bunch of times this season.

De Bro. Anybody watching on YouTube could see your reaction and how gleeful you were that Terrell said he was drafting Brian Robinson and not Austin Eckler. And by the way, it is a clean sweep. I totally agree. Robinson is one of my favorite targets this year. ECR is currently RB twenty eight, and you know it's like I think that's a little low. It's not like the most outlandish ranking. But ADP has not cut off to that RB thirty four and ADP I think that'll continue to rise. But he's behind Austin Eckler in consensus ADP right now, and that's just that's just wrong. Like Robinson is the guy you want in my and like maybe there's a world where it's like, okay, maybe we're kind of, you know, shutting the door on Eckler a little too early after one bad year, but Robinson is good, Like I just I would just rather have him.

Robertson is very very good. I still I do not understand what else he has. Like we've seen preseason work, he's been the clear one. I don't know what else we need to see out of Brian Robinson. Like last year he was a top twenty four running back. Let me see it again, people, Because again ECR and ADP has not caught up. Some people are still drafting Austin Eckler for Brian Robinson Junior. It makes zero freaking sense. He's not gonna be the goal line back. That's Brian Robinson Junior. You're giving too much passing down work to Austin Eckler. Again, Brian Robinson Junior is better in the passing game than everybody gives him credit for. He was top twelve and pass blocking grade last year and yards per route run he was also top ten and first downs per route run. So the sticky metrics to tell you, okay, who is a good receiving back, Brian Robinson Junior.

Check check check.

So why are you taking that work away from Austin Eckler and besmirching his name and disrespecting him as an RB three? It makes absolutely zero sense. And yes, I went back to this and I was like, I know Anthony Lynn is on this coaching staff. Is he the running backs coach? Or what is he doing here? Is this also factors in boys Austin Eker was not the goal line back for the Chargers whenever Anthony Lynn was also at the controls and making some of those decisions. Dude, Anthony Lynn just pulled up the picture of the Commander's coaching staff. Let's see what roll Anthony Lynn has. Hmmm, run game coordinator and running backs coach. So who do you think he's gonna have on the freaking field when they get inside the five and they get inside the ten, It's going to be Brian Robinson Junior. He's a top twenty four back in my ranks, has been remains my RB twenty three. Yes, I absolutely agree he is a league winner professional transition as well as foreshadowing there is going to be a top twelve league winners video dropping on Fantasy Pros YouTube channel pretty soon, and you better believe Brian Robinson Junior is going to be in it.

We and the biz call that a t's thank you debro for that. Yeah, I while you were talking, I had him RB twenty six while you were a top talking I'm moving into my top twenty four. I was like, I can't. I can't have him outside RB two range. It all right, and again RB twenty six was already higher than consensus by a couple of spots. But I just too well, like.

Would it be surprising? And I guess maybe a little bit with the mobility of Jaydon Daniels. But if Brian Robinson Junior had this crazy touchdown years something similar to a Jamal Williams who still had DeAndre Swift in the batfield with them, I wouldn't.

Be super wars high.

Saying that name.

Do not say that Washington before he appears J three comparison, Brian Robinson, you gotta.

Say it three times in the mirror. You gotta say it three times. Only did twice though, Okay?

Uh dever just just quickly because again he's been such a big name in fantasy for a while. Is there a range where you would draft Eckler if he's falling or are you just no interest?

I'm just I'm just fading him. I just I don't see the outside of injury to Brian Robinson Junior. I don't see the upside for Eckler. And here's the other thing. What if Brian Robinson Junior were to go down and it's still Austin Eckler's role doesn't change. What if Chris Rodriguez steps into the Brian Robinson junior role and it's not Austin Eckler, And I think that that is a possibility. So in some really deep best ball drafts, I have drafted Chris Rodriguez, and if you look out on a per touch basis, he's actually been pretty stinking good in his end of a career. So I just I'm fading Austin Eckler because I just I don't see the upside. Even if injury were to strike in this offense.

And they were, they weren't jumping out the bit to sign them like it was time had gone by. Austin Eckler was playing the market and we were waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, and then they just said they got him. So I don't even think the commissioners we need a.

Guy to factor in here. We need somebody that knows the system is going to be a depending veteran. And no, it's not like they shelled out like they didn't open the wallet for all sine cler either.

One of the running backs that I had wanted to save, asking you guys about if you liked them over Javonte Williams. Who's going in that range? Is Devin Singletary. Who's the next guy we're going to bring up? So, deeb Ro, I'll start with you here. I'm curious if you're drafting or passing, you know, Devin Singletary at RB twenty nine, eighty sixth overall in consensus ADP. And also I'm curious kind of where you see him in relation to a guy like Jamonte who's going in a similar range.

I look at Devin Singletary as true. Again, it's funny that you layered the show this way because these are back to back my two most drafted running backs this entire offseason, with Brian Robinson Junior and Devin Singletary. Again, why are we ranking Devin Singletary as an RB three? I think the stink of the Giants offense has gone too far now. People have woken up because Malik Neighbors has has made them wake up with all the highlights he's been dropping. But people are not waking up about Devin Singletary, and it's like you could believe in Tyrone Tracy. I don't dislike Tyrone Tracy. He's in my play my perfect Draft article on players to target. But you cannot sit here and tell me that you think truly that Tyrone Tracy is going to take the role if Devin Singletary stays healthy, that he's not going to be the clear workhorse. And we've seen this, like we saw this last year boys, like for Houston when he was the starter, he was averaging almost ninety total yards per game. He was the RB twenty one in Fantasy points per game. So really, I think my ranking for Devin Singletary is accurate. I have him as my RB twenty one in my rankings, So I don't understand again, another player where volume and talent should match up in the situation where he should be in RB two in rankings, but he's not. So I'm just gonna keep drafting more Devin Singletary, And yes, him and Brian Robinson Junior will probably be my two highest exposure running backs throughout this draft season.

Deep are not only are you the highest among the Fantasy Pro staff in your Devin Singletary rankings. Only three rankers in the entire expert consensus rankings on Fantasy pros are higher somebody who has them at RB nineteen two people have them at RB twenty and then you have the MIT RB twenty one. You are the fourth highest among every ranker we have on singletary, So you are definitely kind of planting your flag on this one. What do you think, Terrell? Are you drafting Devin Singletary at RB twenty nine? You know eighty sixth overall?

Absolutely absolutely one noted Giants fan here. So you can take what I say with the grain of salt. But by all accounts, since this regime of Dable and Shane have started, they have taken every opportunity they can to bring in anybody who even sniffed above flow Bill's jersey. I mean they've taken every single chance. You watch the hard knocks and they don't even call them by Devin. It's motor Singletary, motor, motor, motor, motor. We love motor, motor, motor, motor with all of the I'm not even screw the fantasy numbers. I'm talking to you as just somebody that watches football of everything that happened with Saquon Barkley last year, with the upgrades they made to the offensive line, with the fact that they want to prove that you don't have to pay a twelve million dollar running back. They are going to give Devin Singletary every single opportunity to be good in this offense and become a thousand yard rusher because they want to prove they didn't need Saquon. They shouldn't have paid them the money. They should have used it for Brian Burns, used it for all these other pieces instead of paying the running back, and it makes it so much better that we don't have a quarterback because who else are you going to give the ball to. I mean, it's gonna be Neighbors and Singletary in this offense. And I think that's going to be the offense. And I think it's gonna be better than what it was last year. Maybe not great, but it's gonna be good for fantasy. I think that this team is coaching staff loves this running back and they're going to give him every single opportunity to succeed this season.

I mean's somebody pop worm poke, poke some holes in Devin Singletary here because like I just keep looking at his profile and I'm like, why are we Why is consensus so low on him? Like, tell me what am I missing something here?

I have him lower than you do, certainly because you're, like I said, among the highest. I don't have him like drastically low. I do have him more in RB three range than RB two. You're kind of talking me into it on the show. I always lose my conviction when I do these shows and I hear two very impassionate arguments for why I'm wrong on a player. I'm like, you know what, maybe I probably I'm wrong. I just don't like guys typically in this I'm not saying, you know, I don't like Singletary, but in general, I don't like guys who are like older for the position and who haven't had that like huge major breakout yet. That's not I say he's been bad obviously. You know, he's had eight hundred rushing yards last three years. It's not a thousand, but it's not nothing either, Like he's been in effective back. It just has always kind of felt like just a guy to me. But like I said, that's kind of where I was thinking coming into this. I'm not gonna move him up to RB twenty one, but you are. You are swaying me here, Deebro with the argument that maybe and and you know, Ericson has a MARB thirty one, Fits has a MARB thirty one, Joey p has a RB thirty that's right around where I am. I feel like maybe I want to get him into the twenties at least, even if I'm not quite up to top twenty four range yet. Does that appease you a little?

Well? You never try to aim cosider and make me happy about it. If anything, it's it's usually the opposit. But no, man, like I think that anywhere in that the high twenties. I think I could wrap my head around it because there's a lot of players in that range where really it kind of becomes it kind of becomes a question of pick your flavor, Like really that that's what it comes down to. And I just look at the value proposition, and I truly do think that if you took the team situation and you took the Giants out of this, okay, I really think that the stink of the franchise and how badly that it burned people in fantasy last year is weighing into this equation enough to where I think that that's really doing a lot of the heavy lifting or at least like being the anchor pulling him down. Like if you would have taken Devin Singletary and we would take the Giants out of this, and you said, we're throwing Devin Singletary into a team where hopefully middle of the road offensive line, probably not probably somewhere in like the bottom fifteen, but improved offensive line, and a situation where he should be viewed as the clear lead back if that wasn't the Giants that we were talking about, and it just was another team, like heck, put him on the Commanders if you knew he was on the Commanders and same situation, but Austin Ecker went there and he was the clear guy, Like how would we feel about him there? Like, so I think the Giants stink around all these players like leak neighbors Devin single time to your point, that is pulling people your.

Point, like I am a believer in Brian dayball, and like I do think that the offense will be better this year. Like I'm like, I think it's like a mental like stink on the Giants.

But like since the offensive line, like it's the offensive line. We had grocery baggers. There were grocery baggers that were literally going out there. Guys come not even on the practice squad. I'm talking literally got up off the couch and went to go play offensive line for us last year because that's how hurt they were. And so they completely clean house. They bring in car In Brisilla, who is a great Veterans twenty year offensive line coach, coming over from the Raiders where they ran the football. They had things going, and look at the preseason they kind of are flashing to you that they're gonna be really good running the ball in that first preseason game against the Detroit Lions where Eric Gray four carries fifty two yards two touchdowns on the ground and then he also caught four balls for forty six and Dante Miller twelve carries sixty three yards five point three yards per rush. Like, this offensive line looks better in scheme, and so when they get it settled down with the five personnel they're going to have, I think they're gonna be very very good, especially in the screen game. Like I think that's what there's gonna be the takeover for Devin Singletary is in the screen game where they're able to block better and he's able to get a lot of more yards without seeing bodies in his face like everybody else did last year.

I absolutely love I absolutely love Terrell's instance, and you didn't name him by name, but you just could just described the wonderful Justin Pugh reference that you made in there of him coming off the couch and being in the starting lineup the next week very well.

I mean, it's a shoutout Justin Peugh, you know, came through for he was He was good for us in a time, but in twenty twenty three, it was very rough to watch as a fan.

You guys have made the sale. I'm moving Singletary up. There are still names that are in that area that I do like better, Like I do think I probably would lean closer towards Chiavante. I definitely would take Brian Robinson over him, but like some of these other names in the area he's going currently, like Nick Chubb, Austin Eckler, like Jonathan Brooks, like I would rather have Singletary than those guys.

Devin Singletary or DeAndre Swift, Devin Singletary. I have Singletary.

I have Swift ranked higher, but I would rather draft Singletary, so I probably need to change his rankings.

I have Singletary over Pollard in Spears that I was talking earlier. I like, well, for sure over Speared, but over Pollard. Pollard's going above him. Like I think, Devin Singletary again is a back that nobody's looking at. But when you look at the end of the season, he's gonna be an RB two and people are gonna be like, oh crap. I didn't even realize except his fantasy managers.

Yeah, we got two more running backs to get through. Trey Benson is one of these names, somebody that was very high on during rookie draft season, somebody who I really love the possible high upside in this offense. Hasn't been the best, you know, camp for him in terms of some of the quotes coming out from Jonathan Gannon and some of that that shine is coming off Benson. I forgot to pull up the ADP, so let me get that up here before I ask you. De broy okay, So RB thirty six, one hundred and seventh overall in ADP right now, are you drafting or passing on Trey Benson there?

I will draft him, but to your point where the stuff coming out of camp that Amari de Mercado and Michael Carter also like this is not a clear like Benson has or already won or he's the front runner for the RB two job on team. That has given me some pause. So I've dropped him in my rankings like I had him in that kind of like mid tier RB three. I've since dropped him to RB thirty nine in my rankings, and I'm willing to draft him, but again, it kind of comes down to it will be very specific about where he goes in said draft because a lot of ADP on whether you're talking about host sites or just like in draft rooms in general, I don't think that people have really caught up to the training camp news of other names in that RB two battle. So unfortunately, I think Trey Benson is still going kind of where he was to enter the offseason and where we all were like, oh man, he's awesome, fantastic handcuff, probably standalone value. James Connor's gonna miss time, blah blah blah blah, blah. I don't think that like people are equating that enough into the rankings and into the ADP. So I'm willing to draft him, but unfortunately, I just don't know if it's going to catch up enough to weak one to where all these later drafts I'm going to get that much exposure to him, so you know his star has dimmed a little bit for me.

Sounds like you want to trade him to me in dynasty, not.

For pennies, sir. Still waiting for the offer.

Torell Trey Benson. Are we thirty six hundred and seventh overall? Are you drafting or passing?

So what's the reasoning behind drafting him? That's my question? Are you drafting him as a handcuff? Are you drafting him as standalone value? Are you drafting as somebody that like what is because he's not over there's no situation where he overtakes James Connor in his backfield like that. That doesn't happen. So is this a handcuff play? Because if it is, I feel like in this range there are a bunch of other handcuffs that I would just rather take my shot with because if they are the guy, then they're gonna be a lot better than what Trey Benson is for this offense. Like we've seen so many times that James Connor's gone down and we've wanted a running back to emerge out of this offense, and maybe we got it for a week, maybe two, but it's never been anything long term. Like if I if Bijon Robinson goes down, I have Faye Tyler Al's year is going to be a good running back. I would much rather draft Tyler Louars year than Arey Benson at this price, like Choopa Hubbard, Like there's a Marshaun Lloyd. I mean, there's a number of backs around here that I'm just sitting here and I'm like Jilliam McLoughlin is in this range, Like there I could see Jimalia mcgofflin actually taking the job. I just don't understand. Am I only drafting Benson as a handcuff. If it's only as a handcuff, there's other handcuffs that I would prefer.

I think it's it's a great point and a really important question to ask, like why you would be drafting what your your end game is with taking him? And you know during like like in May when we were talking a lot about these rookies in their landing spots and thinking about it from a dynasty perspective, it was really easy to paint the narrative of James Connor another year older, like you know, maybe back half of the year, Benson looks like a league winner and what should be an ascending offense, it just doesn't seem like it's played out that way so far. There's still time for that to change, of course, And like to your point, I just don't think James Connor is giving up this role, certainly not this season barring an injury. So he is I think probably like an upset And like even look at the rookie running backs, I think I'd rather have Blake Korham if we're looking at them as strictly you know, cuffs and what they would do if they if there was an injury. So I think it's a great point.

Asterrell is making the case here, Like I was like, man, that's a really good case, and he's right. He's right, Like if you're looking at like clear handcuff situations, like I'm staring at my running back rankings as Torell's making the points and I'm like, why do I have Trey Like I just made like the I just poo pooed the case for trade Benson. I'm like, why do I have him above Blake Koram? Why do I have him above Zach Sharboney on air? Like I just like, I mean, I don't. I don't hate that at all, man, Like I just moved him down from one hundred and four to one and twenty second in my ranks, behind both Korum and Sharbonay, And I think people should be drafting both Charbonay and definitely Koram above him. So Trey Benson is my AS now. I mean I said it a second ago, like he was my RB thirty nine. I've dropped him to my RB forty two.

I yeah, I think it's I think he should be in that RB four range. He should not be up in that like back end RB three range.

Like what's the difference between drafting Trey Benson and even like should Khalil Herbert even be over him? Like should Ray Davis be over him? At this point? Like you can make really good cases for both of those guys as well to be over Benson. Because I feel like the more we've talked about this and the more the camp news has come out, this is one of those situations where we were so sure that we knew who the handcuff is in this backfield, and as news has come out, we might be tragically wrong about that and we need to adjust.

Terrell just mentioned in naming some of these other running backs, JK. Dobbins, You guys are lucky. I didn't include him because I felt like I had talked about Dobbins enough on this show this summer, as like, if he's healthy, he's just a no doubt about it, least in my opinion, and he looks pretty healthy so far. So I'm really excited for the JK. Dobbins assance and I want to see him like smash this here, even though he's not in Baltimore anymore. But I did include one of his backfield mates, Gus Edwards, who you know, people are searching for a lot on the site, who does fall into this category, who is going highest of these Chargers running backs? And you know, there's been some discouraging comments, you know, and from the Beat reporters, predictions about Commandie Videll, and so really people were thinking about it as like Gus Videll and and Dobbins, and it's looking a little bit more like Gus and Dobbins. And you know, I'd prefer Dobbins going later, just because he's going later, and I think the upside is even higher again if healthy, which is a huge if. That is carrying a lot of weight in that sentence, and I totally get if people are unwilling to take that risk. Having said that, I want to ask about Gus ed It's because we've talked so much about Viadell during rookie draft season, and because we've talked so much about Dobbins as a league winner. Gus Edwards is the guy who's going earliest of that group and is maybe getting the most overlooked because people kind of see him, I think as more of a floor play than a ceiling play. He was really good in Baltimore, really efficient, but he had the you know, added value of being in the backfield with Lamar Jackson, who makes everybody look efficient. What will he look like with Justin Herbert or you know, God forbid, you know Easton Stick in Los Angeles. If Herbert missus any time, you know, obviously they're still gonna want to run the ball with Greg Roman, and he can design a really good run game. I think even without a mobile quarterback. That's all just kind of a preface to ask you de bro like Gus Edwards, you know, he's ranked RB thirty six currently, his ADP is RB thirty eight, one hundred and twelve overall. Like if Dobbins really is like kind of just never coming back to full health, and Videll really doesn't make the team, like some ropport suggested, this may be way too low on Gus.

It might be, but I'm fine with it. I'm fine being wrong on this situation. I really am.

I Gus.

I have as RB forty four right now, and I'm more likely to draft JK. Dobbins if taking a shot at this backfield, because yes, the everything about Cambanividell this offseason has not been great. Jared Patterson is looking like he's gonna be the RB three now. I do think that there's some context that we're missing because the Chargers haven't been just out there screaming and heavily reporting all their injuries. I'm not saying they're hiding anything or anything we have, like, but like Jim Harbaugh has been saying Okay, well, hey, so and so got banged up. He's missing practice, and we're getting like small little reports like where guys miss practice, things happen, but maybe like we're not getting oh he pulled a hamstring and blah blah blah blah on certain players. But with Gus Edwards specifically, I have a hard time envisioning a scenario where if I don't draft him that he burns me. Like that's the part where it's like he he's not going to catch passes. We know that his efficiency last year just straight up sucked. And I look at this backfield and I'm willing to take a shot on JK. Dobbins super late, depending on where he goes. But to be honest, in most scenarios, I'm just fading this backfield at this point just in its totality, because what we could see out of this backfield as well, what if the work doesn't go to one player, what if the work is divided up between Gus Edwards and JK. Dobbins. There's not a ton of pass game volume to even care about because they're just not throwing the ball a ton. So even if we want to say, oh, Herbert will check down, he's done that before. Well, none of these guys are prolific pass catchers, and there might not be that much passing game volume to be had anyway. I kind of see this backfield really like it could dissolve into You've got two to three running backs that are getting anywhere between eight and twelve touches per game, no pass game or minimal pass game involvement, And then it comes down to is it's a bet on the offense and how many touchdowns are gonna score. I don't think anybody's gonna go out there and tell you the Chargers are a top twelve offense this year at all. So then it's really just does any one of these running backs absolutely burn me if I fade them in my rankings and I don't draft them. I just don't see it. So you can count me out on GUS, take some shots on JK, but probably not a ton. I'm just more or less out on this backfield of this.

I mean to me, the upside case is if you are somebody who believes that the injury stuff is just too much for JK Dobbins to overcome, so you're kind of largely taking him out of the equation, which I'm not doing. By the way, I would prefer to draft Dobbins over Gus. Again, I'm all in on JK this year. But if you are that type of person who is going to take rushing touchdowns away from Gus in this offense, I mean, even if they don't score a ton of them, like the equity of whatever the touchdown, the rush touchdowns ay score are a huge percentage of that I think is going to be Gus. If Dobbins is not, you know, largely in the picture and taking this from him. So if you want to fade his health, then I do think Gus makes sense as there is an upside case in that scenario. If Dobbins is healthy, I don't think there's an upside case, and I think it'll be maybe a frustrating backfield, or it will be not frustrating it, or just be clearly Dobbins. I don't think Gus will outperform a healthy Dobbins.

What's so say say Gus has the goal line role, say he has that locked up, or what's your medium projection for his rushing touchdowns? Then in the context of this offense, six six and a half, maybe six and a half, and that could be kind of generous.

I mean, I guess to my point would be, if I'm building an upside case, I'm not. I'm not you know, painting it. I'm not including what his median cases. I'm looking at the the.

High what's his upside case? This is high? I think double digits? Are you really think it's double same.

Last year in upside Kate?

That's for Baltimore.

Listen the charge, But let me let me.

Make this case. You make this case because the thing about Gus Edwards and JK. Dobbins and what people are forgetting is that you got to think of this as sibling sibling things. When you're the older sibling, you hand me down and pass them down to the younger sibling and say, hey, matter of fact, hey, this offensive coordinator wasn't working out for me anymore because I'm tired of him. Our offense wasn't doing anything with Lamar Jackson, and so I'm getting rid of Greg Roman. But you can have them. That's fine. You can take them. Hey, matter of fact, don't only just take Greg Rohman, take both running backs that we had in his system too. They're gonna be great for you and you know what, Just to give you a little hint too, when I had both of those running backs and that offensive coordinator, JK Dobbins was the starter and JK Dobbins was the one that I put the trust in and it gave him the touches at the goal line, and JK Dobbins had the fantasy relevant season while the other one was stuck in the RB fifties.

So if this is the sibling siblings chatter and all of this, and like what reasoning does Harball have to go away from what's been working for Greg Roman's offense.

Greg Roman's offense has been predicated on running the football with a good offensive line, and he has said that JK dobbins skill set has been his RB one skill set. He gives him the ball whenever he's healthy. When JK Dobbins has played, he's been an excellent running back for Greg Roman. It should be the same thing. I think. There's no path that I'm with you weren't. There's no path that Gus Edwards is relevant if JK Dobbins is healthy, because JK Dobbins is gonna easily emerge as the Number one in this offense because he's shown you to you multiple times in the same offense, it's just a different big brother. Now you got little brother.

Dobbins is the guy. I think we would all agree, like if we're drafting one of them, especially at cost, like I want Dobbins and I want him in a lot of leagues more so than than Debro even wants him, Like I want JK. Dobbins in the with my final pick, in as many drafts as I can make that happen. I do think, though, Debro, that like if Dobbins is not healthy, like they're gonna run the ball every time they're up close, and you have Justin Herbert as your quarterback, like, I think that the offense will not be as bad as people are painting it out to be. And if Edwards is getting every single carry inside the five, I absolutely think the upside case I'm not gonna draft him as if he's gonna score ten touchdowns. I think the upside case is that he could get there because of who this coaching staff is, and because of who the quarterback is, and because of how they want to operate. So I think there's again Dobbins needs to be hurt for that to happen. But I think there's there's an upside case there.

I just look at this is gonna be an offense that's gonna run incredibly slow and they're gonna try to strangle time of possession. So it's also fair it's gonna limit some scoring opportunities and just play volume overall. So I mean again, like I just especially now that we're talking about Herbert is also less than one hundred percent. Yeah, God, it just adds even more volatility. Like, dude, if if Easton Stick is starting some games, just count me out, Like, count me out, Like that team projection for point total is gonna be like what like fourteen points maybe less if he's starting.

H So, I mean it's a huge it's a huge factor.

Yeah.

If I'd say Gus Edwards, I have to draft JK. Dobbins, Like that's not a upside play at this point. If I take Gus Edwards, I absolutely have to draft JK. Dobbins.

Yeah, I think I think I needed, I need a discount on on Gus Edwards to get him. But I see the upside case, and I'm gonna be aggressive in getting Dobbins before his ADP. And that's kind of how approaching the backfield is is I I would prefer Away for Dobbins if I get a discount on Gus, great. I want to make sure I get Dobbins though, And I know that's a little more aggressive than you feel, Debro, but I do think there's opportunity here for one of them, and I just love the talent. All right, that was That was great. We got through a lot of names here, so we will go ahead and wrap up there. Thank you everybody for tuning in, and again, just as one last reminder, please tune in to our Fantasy Fest. I mean, it's a super fun time. We've done them in the last few years. As our fifth annual one. Debro and I have been a part of them for a while. Terrell will be on there as well, and that's Monday, August nineteenth, so join us. We'll have a really good time for five straight hours of some fun fantasy chatter and you can get your questions answered. And yeah, please be sure to check that out. For Terrell and Debro, I'm Ryan Warmy. Thank you again for tuning in and we'll see you again next time. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show. The best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple podcasts at fantasypros dot com slash review, or on Spotify. Follow us on x, Instagram, and TikTok at fantasy Pros, and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash Fantasypros sh