PodcastFrom Establish The Run
Which RBs To Target and Which RBs To Fade This Season (Episode 1011 with Evan Silva, Adam Levitan, John Daigle)
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
1 hr 16 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 19, 2026
Published
Wed, August 19, 2026
41
Player insights
35
Players mentioned
Topics
Chris RodriguezSaquon BarkleyRJ HarveyTank BigsbyAlvin KamaraBijan RobinsonBlake CorumBreece HallBucky IrvingChase BrownChristian McCaffreyChuba HubbardD'Andre SwiftDavid Montgomery
Player analysis
Player insights
Alvin Kamara
PositiveInjury71:12
Evan Silva removes Alvin Kamara from his target list due to a reported MCL sprain, noting that this injury increases the fantasy outlook for Travis Etienne.
Insight pageBijan Robinson
PositiveProjection3:37
Bijan Robinson is firmly entrenched as the RB2 overall in the analysts' rankings, with the group agreeing he is a top-two overall player in home league formats.
Insight pageBlake Corum
NegativeValue72:20
John Daigle notes that Blake Corum is a clean handcuff but carries a higher draft cost because he possesses standalone fantasy value.
Insight pageBreece Hall
PositiveProjection26:28
John Daigle believes Breece Hall has top-five fantasy running back upside due to his explosive playmaking ability and receiving profile. While Hall is currently dealing with a groin injury, Daigle and Evan Silva are not overly concerned, with Silva noting it is a short-term issue that should not impact his availability for the season.
Insight pageBucky Irving
NegativeUsage52:20
John Daigle and Evan Silva are wary of Bucky Irving, noting his poor efficiency metrics (3.4 yards per carry) and lack of explosive playmaking after week 13. While the improved offensive line provides some optimism, he is not a priority pick.
Insight pageChase Brown
PositiveBreakout19:55
Evan Silva ranks Chase Brown at 12th overall, significantly higher than his 22nd overall ADP. Silva notes the Bengals' lack of depth at WR3 and TE makes Brown a de facto third receiver, and he expects him to thrive with a healthy Joe Burrow.
Insight pageChris Rodriguez
NegativeDepth Chart42:33
Evan Silva notes that Chris Rodriguez could potentially challenge Tank Bigsby for the lead-back role in Jacksonville. Silva mentions that his previous prediction of Rodriguez as the Week 1 starter is starting to look plausible again, noting that Bigsby has not had a clean training camp.
Insight pagePositiveRole42:48
Evan Silva notes that Chris Rodriguez is healthy and receiving a significant volume of first-team reps in Jacksonville, which coincides with coaching staff concerns regarding Bashal Tootin's development.
Insight pagePositiveSleeper65:44
Adam Levitan identifies Chris Rodriguez as a late-round target who could secure the goal-line role in a good offense and potentially earn more base work.
Insight pageChristian McCaffrey
NegativeBust5:37
Evan Silva and John Daigle express concern regarding Christian McCaffrey's age (30), high career touch volume, and a three-year efficiency decline. Daigle notes that only 16.5% of RBs with 370+ touches in a season improve their points per game the following year.
Insight pageChuba Hubbard
NegativeRole59:47
Evan Silva is fading Chuba Hubbard, noting that he is a limited player who will likely remain involved in the Panthers' backfield due to his leadership and pass-protection skills, which complicates the value of other backs in the committee.
Insight pageD'Andre Swift
PositiveValue44:16
Evan Silva prefers DeAndre Swift over Bashal Tootin, citing his superior talent and his role within the Bears' offense under Ben Johnson.
Insight pageDavid Montgomery
PositiveUsage35:01
John Daigle views David Montgomery as a viable target in the middle rounds, noting that he is projected for 300-350 touches. Daigle argues that Montgomery is a better bet than Javante Williams or Kyren Williams because he was targeted at a higher rate on his routes and can be drafted a couple of rounds later.
Insight pageDe'Von Achane
NegativeBust30:11
The analysts are concerned about Devon Achane's outlook due to a change in quarterback and offensive system, which may lead to a dramatic reduction in his receiving production compared to last season.
Insight pageDylan Sampson
PositiveSleeper68:17
John Daigle and Evan Silva are high on Dylan Sampson as a free late-round stash in a Todd Monken offense, noting his efficiency in the passing game and strong yards per route run metrics.
Insight pageEmmett Johnson
PositiveSleeper21:56
Evan Silva and John Daigle are high on Emmitt Johnson as the direct handcuff to Kenneth Walker. Silva plans to move him into his top 150, citing his pass-catching ability and reports that he has pulled ahead for the RB2 job.
Insight pageJadarian Price
PositiveUsage45:54
John Daigle is fading Jadarian Price, citing his lack of receiving production, poor target-earning rate on routes, and the expectation that he will not play on passing downs. Daigle believes Price lacks fantasy upside even if he is a good runner.
Insight pageJahmyr Gibbs
PositiveProjection3:37
Adam Levitan and Evan Silva both rank Jahmyr Gibbs as the RB1 overall, and the group agrees he is firmly entrenched as a top-two overall player in home league formats.
Insight pageJavonte Williams
PositiveProjection26:57
Evan Silva ranks Javonte Williams at 23 overall, placing him above Breece Hall and Jeremiah Love. Silva argues that while Williams may be less talented individually, he benefits from a superior offensive environment in Dallas, including a better offensive line and higher touchdown potential, and he is currently healthy.
Insight pageJeremiyah Love
NegativeInjury28:18
Evan Silva is concerned about Jeremiah Love due to a high ankle sprain, noting there is no commitment that he will be ready for Week 1. Silva highlights that such injuries are prone to aggravation and can sap effectiveness, especially given the Cardinals' deteriorating offensive line situation.
Insight pageJonah Coleman
PositiveSleeper62:58
John Daigle highlights Jonah Coleman as an undervalued player in the Denver backfield. Coleman has a strong profile with high target efficiency and is being managed carefully by the coaching staff, making him a player to target.
Insight pageJonathan Taylor
PositiveProjection13:30
Evan Silva views Jonathan Taylor as having a higher ceiling than Christian McCaffrey this season, citing his younger age, a superior offensive line, and the potential for increased pass-catching volume if the Colts' offense improves.
Insight pageJonathon Brooks
NegativeValue59:13
Evan Silva and John Daigle view Jonathan Brooks as highly price-dependent. While he has talent, the combination of his recovery from double ACL tears and the Panthers' poor offensive situation makes him a risky pick unless his ADP drops to the 7th or 8th round.
Insight pageKeaton Mitchell
PositiveSleeper66:42
Adam Levitan and John Daigle view Keaton Mitchell as a high-upside late-round sleeper. Daigle notes that Mitchell's explosiveness makes him easier to flex than other options, even on limited touches, due to his role in a high-quality offense.
Insight pageKenneth Walker III
PositiveValue26:53
Adam Levitan and Evan Silva prefer Kenneth Walker over Ashton Gentry, with Levitan highlighting that Walker is a 'match made in heaven' for the Chiefs' offense, projecting 300+ touches and significant explosive play potential.
Insight pageKyren Williams
NegativeUsage30:21
John Daigle is underweight on Kyren Williams, noting that his backfield touch share dropped from 74% pre-bye to 60% post-bye last season. Daigle points to the presence of Blake Corum, who was highly efficient, as a threat to Williams' workload, and he expresses skepticism about Williams' lack of a receiving profile.
Insight pageMarShawn Lloyd
NegativeSleeper70:34
Evan Silva and John Daigle view Marshawn Lloyd as an upside handcuff who can contribute in the passing game. Silva notes his 4.4 speed and the injury/suspension risk surrounding Josh Jacobs.
Insight pageMike Washington Jr.
PositiveSleeper70:15
Evan Silva identifies Mike Washington as a favorite handcuff/sleeper, noting he is a freak athlete who has seemingly secured the RB2 job for the Raiders in an improving environment.
Insight pageNicholas Singleton
PositiveSleeper67:12
John Daigle highlights Nicholas Singleton as a late-round stash who could win a job without needing an injury ahead of him, citing his consistent 1.5 yards per route run over the last three college seasons.
Insight pageQuinshon Judkins
NegativeBust38:43
Evan Silva considers Quinshawn Judkins a classic 'dead zone' running back. Despite liking his rookie performance, Silva is concerned about his injury history, the Browns' poor offensive environment, and his limited receiving background, leading Silva to rank him at 56 overall, well below his 45 ADP.
Insight pageRJ Harvey
PositiveValue62:03
John Daigle is targeting R.J. Harvey at his current ADP, noting his profile as a second-round receiving back. While he has flaws, his potential for receiving work makes him a worthwhile bet in deeper leagues.
Insight pageNegativeUsage63:30
Evan Silva notes that R.J. Harvey is not expected to play on passing downs due to a lack of trust, but he remains a viable early-down back who performed well around the goal line last year.
Insight pageSaquon Barkley
NegativeValue21:20
Evan Silva is down on Saquon Barkley relative to his 13 overall ADP, citing his age, a massive workload, and the loss of offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland. Silva also notes that while Barkley is a good receiver, he is not heavily utilized in the passing game due to Jalen Hurts' playing style, and he expressed concern over Barkley's 4.1 yards per carry and lack of explosive runs last season.
Insight pagePositiveProjection23:07
John Daigle is high on Saquon Barkley at the first/second-round turn, viewing him as a buy-low candidate after he finished as the RB15 in points per game last year. Daigle attributes Barkley's 2024 struggles to the Eagles' offensive line and Kellen Moore's scheme, noting that the team is expected to run more under-center play-action, which should benefit Barkley.
Insight pageNegativeProjection35:26
Evan Silva ranks Saquon Barkley 15th overall, noting that while the Eagles have a talented offensive line, Barkley's age and massive workload create uncertainty.
Insight pageTank Bigsby
PositiveBreakout40:47
John Daigle remains a proponent of Tank Bigsby, arguing that he is a bet worth making every time at his current ADP. Daigle notes that Bigsby finished sixth in success rate last year and was effective in short-yardage situations, suggesting that if he earns an additional receiving role, he could significantly outperform his cost.
Insight pagePositiveValue72:02
Adam Levitan and John Daigle consider Tank Bigsby a 'clean' handcuff because he would inherit the primary role if the starter were injured, and they believe he is a talented player in his own right.
Insight pageTony Pollard
NegativeValue64:15
Evan Silva and the analysts are avoiding Tony Pollard due to a poor situation involving the league's worst offensive line, a multi-headed backfield, and concerns about the quarterback. Silva ranks him at 81, near his ADP of 80, and finds him unexciting to draft.
Insight pageTravis Etienne
PositiveValue44:29
Evan Silva and John Daigle both highly value Travis Etienne, especially with Alvin Kamara sidelined. The Saints' favorable schedule and fast-paced offense make Etienne a priority target in the fourth round.
Insight pageTyler Allgeier
PositiveSleeper71:19
Evan Silva notes that Tyler Allgeier is a reliable handcuff who coaches trust in goal-line situations, especially with the starter dealing with a high ankle sprain.
Insight pageWoody Marks
PositiveSleeper73:15
John Daigle highlights Woody Marks as a target, noting that the Texans previously gave him 20 touches per game during the playoffs, making him a valuable handcuff.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00Hello and welcome to Episode 1011 of the official Establish The Run podcast.
0:04My name is Adam Levitan, joined by Evan Silva and John Daigle.
0:08And NFL offenses continue to evolve back to the run.
0:11The running back position continues to evolve as a whole.
0:14And running back remains the most important part of fantasy football.
0:18Evan, how's it going today? It's going well. Probably my favorite position to watch in the NFL is running back.
0:24And as you mentioned, the importance of the running game has made at least a little bit of a return.
0:31So it'll be fun to break it all down today.
0:34Indeed. Daigle, how's it going? Doing well. The time of the year where everyone tunes in to establish the run.
0:41There's always rankings and tiers changes going on. So we can feel the season getting much closer.
0:46Indeed. On today's show, we are going to be talking all things running back.
0:50How to handle the early rounds, player takes, targets, busts, sleepers, handcuffing, and more.
0:55If you have a fantasy draft coming up, and I know you do, we can help.
1:00I promise no one dedicates more time and frankly money to ensuring that we have the most up-to-date and best rankings that you can bring to your draft.
1:09Our Draft Kit Pro is only $55. Includes Silva's top 150 in tiers.
1:13All our ETR rankings. My draft strategy. My player-by-player notes.
1:17Thorman's rankings in season. Tons, tons more. And if you're really serious about the fantasy football, you need the bundle.
1:23Combines Draft Kit Pro with our in-season product, aka all our projections.
1:27Silva's matchups. Thorne offensive line. Defensive line matchup. Tons of premium shows, including man versus machine in-season.
1:32Tons more. Details on both of those products. DraftKid Pro and the bundle are available at establishtherun.com.
1:38All right. Let's get into it here. I want to start by talking about some of the early round stuff around running backs.
1:45So clearly, the NFL has changed. Passing rate is down.
1:48Passing yards are down. Yards per target is down.
1:51At the same time, starting running backs have sustained health at a really high rate over the last two seasons, leading to
1:58running backs being, and you combine all that, and running backs have been overwhelmingly the best fantasy plays on average.
2:05Now the ADP has shifted a little bit. We now have, I expect 12 running backs to go off the board in the first 20 picks.
2:13So that kind of sets the stage here for the early rounds.
2:17I think all of us have Gibbs and Bijan.
2:20I know me and Silva both, Gibbs one, Bijan two.
2:23Daigle, do you see any merit to taking wide receiver over Bijan there at the top?
2:28I think we're all in agreement that Gibbs is our number one player.
2:32Especially since we're talking about home league formats. And as we move along this episode, we'll talk about the players that we've
2:40lost confidence in that you can draft on the comeback.
2:43So Gibbs, Bijan, firmly entrenched as one and two overall.
2:46Okay. Yeah. And as we talk here today, we are referring to the standard half PPR 12 team redraft formats that I
2:53know is the most common format out there for people.
2:56I think a question that people have, Silva, is Gibbs, Bijan, Chase, Puka, everybody feels good about.
3:02When they get to pick five, people can make a case, well, Jackson Smith and Jigba lost Clint Kubiak.
3:08Should we be, we need running backs? Should we be looking at a Christian McCaffrey or Jonathan Taylor at pick five?
3:15Or some people have Amon Ra over JSN straight up.
3:18So anyway, Silva, when it gets to you, I pick five, what's on your mind, especially when it comes to the running back position.
3:26It's wide receiver. It's Amon Ra for me as well.
3:29I actually have Puka down here as well, just due to the, uh, the at least mild suspension risk, uh, that Adam Schefter has brought about.
3:37But I mean, the running backs here that you're looking at right in this range would be Christian McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, maybe James Cook, Kenneth Walker for me.
3:46Um, the thing with Christian McCaffrey is that he's 30 years old.
3:50He's coming off a career high in carries and touches.
3:53He's already experienced some tightness in training camp. We don't even know if that's real.
3:58There have been some rumors that that might be contract related.
4:02I'm not worried about the injury. I am a little bit worried that he, you know, he continues to get more advanced
4:09in age and all this, all this wear on his tires at the NFL.
4:13He's had a ton of touches at the NFL level.
4:16He had a ton of touches at the college level as well.
4:20And then Jonathan Taylor, we saw how awesome he could be when that offense was humming last year in weeks one through a little bit after mid season.
4:29Um, the Colts had the best offense statistically in the NFL and Jonathan Taylor was absolutely killing it.
4:35Now Daniel Jones coming off of the torn Achilles, you know, he had the broken leg last year.
4:41Is that going to affect the overall output of the offense?
4:44I think that those guys, McCaffrey and Taylor at the top of this tier belong behind Amon Ra, Jackson Smith and Jigba and Puka.
4:52Yeah. And that's how Silva has it in his top 150.
4:56I'm more open to running back here at pick five.
4:59If you wanted to Daigle, Christian McCaffrey or JT, I'll get to my takes on them there in a second.
5:05But Daigle, I assume you have the top four.
5:08The way I described earlier, what do you think about pick five running back versus wide receiver?
5:14It's to your point, as you mentioned at the top of the show, because of the health of running backs, the last
5:21two years, the top 12 finishers and points per game have all come within the first three rounds besides Javante Williams, who
5:28was an eighth round pick last year. Thus ADP has been accurate.
5:32So I want to insulate these top 12 guys and feel confident in drafting them on a wide open board from 105 on.
5:39I have the same concerns that Silva does with Christian McCaffrey coming off the 10th most touches of the 21st century.
5:46And there has been 24 situations of a running back reaching 370 touches since DeMarco Murray did so in 2014.
5:52And only four times, a 16 and a half percent outcome.
5:56Did that player improve their points per game the following year?
5:59McCaffrey's also had an efficiency dip quietly for three consecutive seasons.
6:03So I am worried, but I also understand the overall structure of drafting.
6:07So whoever you want to jam up here, McCaffrey included, please feel free to do so since when we're looking one, two
6:14steps ahead, I don't want to get too ahead here because we will talk about these individual players in the second round.
6:21We are going to discuss a massive teardrop off after Derek Henry and Devon Achan, who maybe come back to that fifth,
6:28second, sixth spot in the second round. So I just want to be ahead of running back in this spot.
6:35Yeah. Okay. And agreed. I think I just want to double click on Christian McCaffrey here for a second.
6:41The point that Daigle brought up that that is the biggest concern to me is not how many touches he's had, not that he's likely to get hurt.
6:50It's that the efficiency has been in decline. And at some point, you know, it's going to get to a point where
6:57if you're averaging 3.8 yards per carry, it's hard to be the number one player in fantasy.
7:02Now you can make up for that by catching 90 balls, 100 balls in a season like Christian McCaffrey does.
7:09So I think that despite the efficiency concerns, if Christian McCaffrey plays 16, 17 games, there is very few guys going here
7:16that I'm more confident will finish among the top three fantasy players this season.
7:20And that's why I am willing to take Christian McCaffrey at pick five or pick six.
7:25Is he a favorite to get hurt? Yes. But I would consider every running back that we project for 300 plus touches
7:33this season a favorite to get hurt. The outlier, the unexpected surprise is sustaining health the previous year.
7:38And that's why you see all these guys who have tons of touches the year before.
7:43That's the surprise. That's the outlier. That's why they get hurt the next year, because that's just the standard and the expectation.
7:51So I think that all these guys who we project for 300, 350 touches are favorites to get hurt.
7:57I think McCaffrey, I'm so confident he will finish among the top three fantasy players if he stays healthy.
8:03And so I still think you can take him there at five.
8:07I wanted to ask about Jonathan Taylor again here, Evan.
8:10I know you mentioned my take on JT is the pass game volume was so much better last year.
8:16Caught 46 passes. They do not have much behind him.
8:19I think Seth McGowan is going to end up winning the backup job.
8:23I mean, they're going to be hard pressed to take JT off the field, including in passing situations.
8:29So I feel really good about that. The bigger concern I have on JT and the reason that I'd have CMC just
8:36a hair ahead of JT is just he's dependent on the Colts winning.
8:40Like it does not go well for JT when they fall behind in games.
8:45That's like the only hole that I can really poke in him.
8:49And I would be fine taking him at six overall or seven overall.
8:53So Evan has JT here at eight overall. Evan, any final thoughts here on JT before we move on?
8:59Well, if we were just to compare Christian McCaffrey and Jonathan Taylor entering this season and just talk about who could maybe
9:06have a better season than they did last year.
9:09I think that Jonathan Taylor could maybe have a better season than he did last year.
9:14Although it's not, you know, maybe the floor isn't as high last year just because of the overall the, you know, the returning pieces on offense.
9:23You know, specifically at quarterback. It's not going to get better for Christian McCaffrey than what happened last year because of how
9:30much usage he was able to handle and how healthy that he stayed.
9:34But with Jonathan Taylor, there are situations where he could be better.
9:38The Colts return one of the better offensive lines in the league.
9:42Way better offensive line in San Francisco, by the way.
9:45If Daniel Jones does return to a high level of play as a passer, he's not moving as much in the pocket.
9:52More dump downs. I think Jonathan Taylor could catch more passes this year than he did last season.
9:58Also, he's considerably younger than Christian McCaffrey. So if we were just to compare those two and talk about who's going to
10:05have a better season, I think that Taylor actually maybe has the higher ceiling, at least relative to what they did last season.
10:12I don't think McCaffrey's going to, McCaffrey's really going to struggle what he did to repeat what he did last season.
10:19Yeah. And clearly, you know, McCaffrey's better in full PPR than half PPR.
10:23I think that should go without saying. Okay. Diggle, I want to talk about some of these home league ADP outliers.
10:30You know, people know I've been doing a ton of the best ball stuff.
10:34There is some pretty big discrepancies here, even at the top, between home league ADP and best ball.
10:40The one that I want to start with is Derek Henry, who is going 10th overall in home league ADP.
10:46We're actually, for the first time, like ahead of the best ball market on the big dog.
10:52Derek Henry. Diggle, what do you think about him at 10th overall?
10:56We're just expecting an entirely different offense under Declan Doyle.
10:59And I think the emergence of both Matthew Hibner and Jacoby Lane in the preseason even highlights that the Ravens are going
11:06to be something different than they've ever been with Lamar Jackson, which we're naturally then hoping leads to more light boxes and
11:13just an easier time in life for Derek Henry.
11:16So again, I believe he is in this next tier of running backs, but also this next tier of running backs is very large.
11:24So you can nitpick, you can choose between all of them.
11:27Derek Henry, I believe, is completely fine. Derek Henry will be 33 years old in January.
11:32At some point, he's not going to be able to do this.
11:36I have not seen any signs that this will be the year that he's not able to do this, you know?
11:43So especially in half PPR formats, just feels really safe that he's going to be among the league leaders in touchdowns here.
11:50Another outlier kind of at ADP at the top here, Evan, is Chase Brown.
11:55Chase Brown home league ADP is 22 overall. Silva is up at 12 overall.
11:59Now there's different ADP sources here. Some of them, you know, have Chase Brown going a little bit higher.
12:05We talked about this a little bit on the news show, Evan, but is Chase Brown a target for you in this kind of setup in round two?
12:14Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, the Bengals are – so I think that there is – the general consensus that the Bengals are
12:21going to be at least a little bit better on defense this year.
12:26Certainly more competent, I think. We have Brandon Thorne ranking the Bengals offensive line very much middle of the pack and also
12:33highlighting the fact that they might have depth on the offensive line, the potential to withstand some injuries up front.
12:39Those are not characteristics that we've talked about regarding the Bengals offensive line in years.
12:44We have the fact that T. Higgins and Jamar Chase are obviously at the top of the passing game totem pole in
12:51Cincinnati, and there's just not a whole lot else.
12:54The Bengals have done very little to address their third receiver, very little to address their tight end position.
13:00That almost makes Chase Brown the de facto third receiver for the Bengals.
13:04He had 69 receptions last season, and we saw that he was really disappointing early in the season based almost entirely on
13:11the poor quarterback play with Jake Browning under center.
13:14The Bengals finally moved away from that. They brought in Joe Flacco, and Chase Brown immediately resumed killing.
13:20And obviously he's going to crush with Joe Burrow back healthy.
13:23I mean, he's a really, really easy click. I think he absolutely belongs at that one-two turn and no later.
13:30Yeah. The big thing for me on Chase Brown is Joe Burrow is such a good thrower of the football to the running back position.
13:38And so, you know, P. Ryan's going to play.
13:41It's going to be annoying. But Chase Brown is going to be a pass catcher and a touchdown scorer here for this team.
13:48I agree. I like him there as well. The gente conversation, Daigle, is one that is tough at the top.
13:55He goes around the one-two turn in best ball.
13:58I've seen him much later in home league ADP.
14:00Perhaps people are a bit spooked off of last year.
14:04Daigle, where does Gente fit into your running back strategy here in the early rounds?
14:08I also like him around Kenneth Walker, Chase Brown, which, as you mentioned, ADP doesn't reflect.
14:14But we do have some natural regression and just play-calling differences coming for the Raiders.
14:18Clint Kubiak now, who just steered Sam Darnold into career-high and yards per attempt.
14:23The Raiders go out and get 25-year-old Tyler Linderbaum to start at center, who was PFF's fourth-highest graded run-blocking center just last year.
14:30And last season, the Raiders quietly scored 80% of their touchdowns through the air.
14:35We've seen that happen 12 times only in the last decade.
14:38None of those 12 teams were able to replicate that mark the following season.
14:43So that led me down a rabbit hole to think, well, maybe we've had some breakout running backs from those teams that
14:50actually did score a lot of passing touchdowns the year prior.
14:54And there was a lot of meandering in the results.
14:57Just a lot of RB16s who finishes RB24 and vice versa, which doesn't mean anything at all.
15:02But the hits were actually massive, including Orleans Darkwa, who went undrafted in fantasy football.
15:07In 2017, he finishes the RB40 in points per game.
15:10And James Robinson, we all remember, in 2020, who finishes the RB7 in points per game.
15:15So I just think that's a situation for Ashton Gentry to capitalize on.
15:20And ADP doesn't reflect that as a mid-early second round pick when his range of outcomes includes outscoring Christian McCaffrey.
15:26Yeah. Orleans Darkwa. Now, there is a hell of a pull.
15:30You brought me up the show. This is what you get.
15:33I had forgotten that name. A hundred percent erased from my mind.
15:37Okay. I'm fine with Gentry too. There are running backs I prefer ahead of them.
15:42And I think Silva does as well. The first one up here, which I don't know if it's an IKB.
15:48Or not. But I prefer Kenneth Walker. And I just did the, explaining the default rankings for ESPN.
15:54And ESPN's default rank on Kenneth Walker is 21st overall.
15:57So I'm not saying you have to reach up into the round one or end of round one to get him.
16:04But I think Silva and I are on the same page that I would take Kenneth Walker over Ashton Gentry now, if forced just straight up ADP aside.
16:13Do you agree with that? Evan, any more thoughts on Kenneth Walker?
16:17I would take Kenneth Walker over Ashton Gentry beyond any shadow of a doubt.
16:21And I think that Kenneth Walker actually really belongs in that tier along with McCaffrey and Jonathan Taylor, who we already discussed.
16:28Go ahead. For the first time, the Chiefs finally have a running back that can answer whenever teams instead drop back to defend Patrick Mahomes.
16:36Like Isaiah Pacheco last year faced the league's lowest rate of stacked boxes.
16:41And yet his longest run was 16 yards. Like now we have freaking Kenneth Walker whenever teams want to defend solely Patrick Mahomes.
16:48It's just a match made in heaven. And I know a lot of people zoom out and just say, well, Kenneth Walker
16:55couldn't play on passing down in Seattle. That's the concern.
16:58But you know the bets for season long whenever you only have to beat 9-11 of your friends.
17:04Like and Kenneth Walker is a bet you make in this range.
17:08So many explosive run play opportunities are coming for Kenneth Walker.
17:11And what is the strength of Kenneth Walker's game?
17:14Explosive runs. Add to that the fact that we have the Chiefs with a top 10 offensive line this year.
17:21And I mean, it's exactly what he said. It's a match made in heaven.
17:25Yeah. Just because Kenneth Walker might not play on third and 10 does not mean that he can't catch 50 balls this season.
17:33We have seen Andy Reid, Eric Biennemi scheme tons of screens to guys on early downs, check downs, et cetera, as they play safeties deep.
17:41So I think 300 plus touches is a borderline lock.
17:44For Kenneth Walker here in one of the best setups that he could have.
17:48And all the run game stats from the Chiefs are so broken because their running backs have been the corpse of Kareem
17:56Hunt and Isaiah Pacheco, who like is barely an NFL player.
17:59So yes, that's like my biggest IKB there in round one is Kenneth Walker over a bunch of those guys at the back there.
18:07At the back of round one there. Okay. One more ADP outlier here, Daigle.
18:11Devon Achan is going 13 overall roughly. On ESPN, he's listed at 10th overall in the applet.
18:17I was so happy to see that because I didn't want to like get on the clock at pick 19 or pick
18:2420 and be like, gosh, Achan's here. Do I really want to bet my entire home league season in round two here on Achan in this setup?
18:33So strikes me as a really good thing, Daigle, but any more thoughts on Devon Achan and where he goes in home leagues?
18:40Everyone knows who Devon Achan is the second and third highest target share in the league, but we're also now adding an
18:47entirely different quarterback play caller and really offensive system for Achan.
18:51He's the kind of player who will have usable RB1 scores this year because he's that explosive, but are they as consistent?
18:58Even our projections have their doubts. So he's really a player where at ADP, I'm fine taken assuming he falls.
19:04For instance, if everyone wants to go back in the feed, we did that 12 team ETR staff mock and he fell to 208.
19:12Totally acceptable there. Again, there's a tear break after Achan if he goes that late.
19:17But at the first second round turn, there are just other bets I think we all want to make.
19:23And that includes Chase Brown, who's really Christian McCaffrey light when you talk about catching the ball consistently.
19:29You just mentioned Kenneth Walker, Ashton Jinty, and we haven't even touched on Saquon Barkley.
19:33So those are just bets I would rather make than Achan, but I understand when people want to take him or have to take him.
19:41Yeah. And you know, if he gets there and I'm at like pick 21, 22 and Achan is there, I think it's,
19:48I wouldn't be like excited about it, but it's a really tough pass because of what Daigle said about the teardrop there at running back.
19:56Go ahead, Silver. Running backs that are really reliant on catching the football, playing with quarterbacks that are run first by nature,
20:04it's swimming upstream to expect Devon Achan to try to have the kind of receiving production with Malik Willis that he did with Tua Otunga Bailoa.
20:12Yeah. I love Devon. And it also took a special kind of play caller in Mike McDaniel and outside the box thinker
20:19to give Devon Achan 300 plus touches last year.
20:22I mean, there are not many coaches in the NFL that would give a dude who weighs 188 pounds that much work.
20:29So we'll see if Jeff Halfley will be willing to do that.
20:33You know, that's TBD. But I certainly think that Devon Achan is at a risk of a dramatic reduction in receptions this
20:40year because of the nature of the quarterback. Yeah.
20:43Well, I mean, this boomer Halfley is already talking about how many times we run the ball in a game.
20:49I mean, buddy, you do not have the roster to get off 40 runs in a game.
20:55Of course, they're going to try that. They're going to be down 28 to six.
21:00And then it's like, well, now what do we do?
21:03And it's like, it's just hard to see it going.
21:06That's another thing is that truly, I mean, the Dolphins coaching staff and with Bobby Sloick at offensive court.
21:12I mean, we've seen his act before. These guys might just be dolts.
21:16Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. Like Achan's best ball ADP is closer to 19.
21:20And I hardly have any of him there, let alone at this 13 overall ADP in home leagues.
21:26Evan, you mentioned Saquon Barkley. I just wanted to ask about him before we move on here at the top.
21:33Evan's at 15 overall on Saquon. I think that's roughly in line with where he goes.
21:38I've kind of gone back and forth on this one.
21:41Any thoughts for the people on Saquon, Evan? Age, massive workload.
21:45You know, the potential rise of Tank Bigsby, who I know that you're on, Adam.
21:49You know, the Eagles have a really, really talented offensive line.
21:53But man, it feels like it's hanging by a thread.
21:56Lane Johnson, you know, Landon Dickerson. I mean, these guys are, these guys are, you know, they're being held together with like masking tape, I feel like physically.
22:05And the Eagles lost their offensive, their great, renowned offensive line coach, Jeff Stoutland.
22:10The age, really, at the end of the day for Saquon Barkley.
22:14And the receptions. Again, this is a running back who is an excellent receiver, but is not funneled the ball heavily, voluminously
22:21in the passing game because of the nature of the playing style of his quarterback.
22:25And all those factors sort of have me down on Saquon Barkley relative to ADP.
22:30Yeah, it's really how much do you want to blame Petulo?
22:34Because I do think Saquon is a really good receiver, right?
22:37And like we've seen some of these Mannions, the offense that I expect Mannion to put in, more play action, more under
22:44center, get the ball to running back in the passing game more.
22:48That was kind of like a leap of faith.
22:51The concern for me, Dago, was just the efficiency on Barkley last year.
22:55You can blame it on the offensive line. You can blame it on Petulo.
23:00The bottom line is 4.1 yards per carry in a season for Saquon Barkley and not very many explosive runs whatsoever was concerning.
23:07Dago, where you at on Saquon? It does go back to Petulo and the offensive line.
23:12I think the best reference point is that Saquon led the league in yards before contact per carry in 2024.
23:19Last year, Lane Johnson was banged up and the Eagles fell all the way to 23rd in that stat, which is an offensive line stat.
23:27But for me, I just look and see a moving stock price that I want to buy low on considering everyone previously,
23:34just last year, one of them as the overall RB1.
23:37And now here he is in the second round after finishing as the RB15 in points per game.
23:43Not only that, but the Eagles dropped back from under center with Petulo last year at the league's third lowest rate.
23:50Their first play out of camp was 12 personnel under center tossed to Saquon Barkley.
23:55I think we're going to get just an entirely different offense than we've ever seen from the Eagles and Jalen Hurts.
24:01And I'm really excited about it. So Saquon Barkley is a player that I'm very high on at that first, second round turn.
24:09But again, I speak in tiers. So if someone wants Chase Brown or that over him, I completely get it.
24:15Yeah. Very close between those guys at the top.
24:18Agreed. Yeah, I certainly don't have a Saquon fade on.
24:21I'm just kind of like in line with Mark.
24:24I think he goes roughly in the right spot.
24:27Does Saquon. Okay, Daigle. I think for a lot of people, it's somewhat easy in round two if you get a later half pick, right?
24:35You have that huge tier of running back. We're likely taking one of those, whoever our favorite is, Walker or Chase Brown
24:42or Barkley or Gentier or Henry or whatever you want to do.
24:46The tougher spot, I think, Daigle, is if you get the first overall pick or the second overall pick or the third
24:53overall pick and all of these running backs are gone when it gets back to you.
24:58Are you willing to pull up a Brees Hall or Kyron Williams or Jeremiah Love to the back half here of round
25:05two, say pick 24, 23, 22, 21? Are you willing to bring those guys up there, Daigle?
25:11Brees, Kyron, Jeremiah Love? I have not been to this point personally, but there are some exceptions.
25:16Very quickly, I mentioned the ADP for the top 12 guys being accurate due to health.
25:21But where the hits later on have come to replace this next group of running backs has been this situation entirely.
25:28The RB 13 through 24 in points per game, so a guy you start every single week as your RB2 the past
25:35two years has averaged a sixth round ADP. So we are looking at these individuals and saying, well, who are the ones
25:42that naturally then would break out and be worth taking since they've historically been misses?
25:47And that previously for me was Jeremiah Love and Brees Hall.
25:51The issue now is that the receivers are going the opposite way and that whereas Hall and Love are now battling ankle
25:58injuries from the preseason, we have risers, for instance, like Chris Olave, who is now getting a better situation with Jordan Tyson missing six to eight weeks.
26:06So it's kind of gone opposite for me in that I'm still targeting wide receivers, Brock Bowers heavily in this range.
26:13And this is a situation where I'm avoiding the running backs here.
26:17And if I don't, then it's those archetype of receiving backs I'm targeting.
26:21Yeah. You know, like the historical stuff is tough for me just because I think like the way that Brees Hall and
26:28Jeremiah Love score points is just like they can actually finish as a top five fantasy running back because they're so explosive
26:35catching the football and they can make such huge plays.
26:39It's like it's the guys that were going in round two, round three historically that don't have that profile that are more just like grinder types.
26:47Those guys don't really go round two or round three anymore.
26:50So I'm open to it. Evan has Brees Hall 24 overall.
26:54Jeremiah Love 27 overall. And Evan actually has Javante Williams.
26:57Actually didn't cross my mind for this spot. But Evan does have Javante Williams here at 23 overall.
27:03So Evan, back end of round two. What do you think about these guys here?
27:08Brees, Jeremiah Love, and you have Javante above them also.
27:11Yeah. I mean, the reason that I have Javante slightly above Brees Hall and Jeremiah Love as well.
27:17Number one, Javante Williams is healthy. But number two, because of the offensive environment, I think that when you get into like,
27:24we're talking about like secondary tiers behind the truly elite talents at running back.
27:28You could say Jeremiah Love is an elite talent, but he hasn't played in the NFL yet either.
27:34You know, let's bank on the offensive environment. The Cowboys are going to score way more touchdowns.
27:40The Cowboys could score as many touchdowns as the Cardinals and the Jets combined.
27:44I mean, literally this season, you know, much better offensive line situation.
27:48Javante Williams is not as talented, I don't think, one for one as either Brees Hall or Jeremiah Love.
27:54But the offensive environment is just so, so, so much better.
27:58And that's what I'm banking on here between these guys.
28:01Brees Hall, I'm not as worried about his injury right now.
28:04I know this is not really an injury analysis show, but I'm not worried about him.
28:10Um, it's like a, what, a one and a half week to two week groin injury.
28:15And we're doing this three plus weeks away from week one.
28:18Not worried about Jeremiah Love. I'm kind of worried about that.
28:22Um, with the high ankle sprain, there has been no commitments that he's going to be ready for week one.
28:28And those are injuries that are very prone to aggravation and also to just sapping the effectiveness of a guy who may
28:35struggle to find alleys in the running game because of the offensive line situation in front of them that also deteriorated when
28:42the Cardinals lost their projected starting right guard, number 34 overall pick in the draft, Chase Basantis.
28:48Yeah. Um, agree on the injury stuff. Brees Hall sounds like he's gonna be back in a couple of weeks, maybe two
28:55to three weeks from this groin thing, clicking a rookie running back with a high ankle sprain in round two is going
29:02to be a tough click for me. And that sucks because I really like Jeremiah Love.
29:07I thought he was probably a good deal, but it's really gonna depend on ADP.
29:12Like, would I take Jeremiah Love in the back half of round three?
29:16Definitely. Like, I think you're accounting for enough risk there.
29:19So if he slips to 30, 34, but right now, you know, I'm still seeing, um, Jeremiah Love ADP up here around
29:2627, uh, overall the guy in this tier Daigle.
29:29And I know he's not in this tier for Silva, but the guy in this tier ADP wise is Kyron Williams that
29:36we did not, um, hit on the Rams are expected to be, I mean, everybody, not just me, but I think they're
29:43the most talented team in the league on paper.
29:46They're going to score an astronomical amount of points from a projection standpoint.
29:51When you factor all that in, it's really hard not to get there on Kyron.
29:55Even if you give, like we're still giving Blake Corum a lot of work and projections and Kyron still comes out as a reasonable pick here.
30:04Round two, round three turn early round three. So Daigle, what do you think about Kyron here as part of a running
30:11back heavy build at the, at the outset? And we know Sean McVay's backfield historically does not get targets whatsoever.
30:17Basically finishing bottom two and every season since he's coached there.
30:21Uh, I am out on Kyron Williams personally at the cost last year before the buy, he handled 74% of the team's backfield touches.
30:29And then in 13 games post by dropped all the way down to 60% because Blake Corum is a very good player
30:36who finished second only to Devon Achan and their rate of 10 yard carries.
30:40Uh, it's similar to my argument against Javante Williams too.
30:43Sylvan and I have talked about this, uh, off the recording as well to where we just differ on it.
30:50Uh, last year, 59 running backs ran a hundred routes.
30:53Javante Williams finished 57th in yards per out run among them.
30:57I agree both the Williams, the Williams tier. This is when I usually check out mentally in the drafts.
31:03Uh, they have high floors, but I don't think I'm chasing higher floors at these costs.
31:08Uh, when you don't carry a receiving profile with you personally.
31:11So Kyron and Javante are two guys I'm really underweight on.
31:15Well, that, that was kind of my point about, are you capable of finishing as a top five running back?
31:21Can I take you in round two or in round three?
31:25If you're not going to catch a ton of passes, you're not that good in the receiving game and you're not going to break really long runs.
31:33That's why I thought Jeremiah loves profile. Brees Hall's profile was better for taking, uh, in this range here.
31:40I think that Javante Williams can finish as a top five running back, um, because of, because of the touchdown upside.
31:46And also he's not a good receiver. I mean, as you mentioned, but Javante Williams has caught a lot of passes in the NFL.
31:54Uh, he's played five seasons in the NFL. He had 40, he had a 43 cut season, 47 cut season, 52 last year, only 35.
32:02Um, but the Cowboys did nothing to upgrade the running back position in the off season.
32:07They didn't draft the running back and they also did not, um, sign one in free agency.
32:13I know we've heard some buzz on Jaden blue and I think he's a very intriguing late round pick this year.
32:19You know, absolutely. Like I draft Jaden blue, but not because I think that he's necessarily a threat to cut heavily into
32:27Javante Williams work the touchdown upside with Javante Williams.
32:29You know, I think he's got a chance to compete for the league lead in rushing TDs, you know, in a very
32:37friendly offensive environment behind a really good offensive line.
32:39The Cowboys gave him a bunch of money. That was the second move.
32:44The second transaction of the Cowboys off season was to lock up Javante Williams.
32:48That's what I'm banking on. The point that no one is making also.
32:52So I'm going to sell your point on Javante Williams too, who again, I, I don't personally take, but also high floor.
32:59Don't think he's a terrible pick is that the Cowboys defense is going to be better.
33:05That is the one point everyone keeps saying. So we're going to get different game scripts.
33:10Will they run their offense through their elite passing talent?
33:13Most likely, but also just adding Caleb downs and key pieces in free agency, bringing over an intuitive play caller like Christian Parker to replace Eberflues.
33:21Like it's going to be league average, if not slightly better, which is a, an entirely different case than last year.
33:28So there will be great situations for Javante Williams, who, if he outscores Devon, a Chan or Derek Henry, even, I don't think it'd be shocking.
33:36Okay. Um, we're doing a draft strategy show later this week.
33:40I don't want to get into strategy here really, but, um, running back, running back starts, even running back, running back, running
33:47back starts are certainly viable depending on where you pick and how the ADP goes.
33:52But again, stay tuned for the draft strategy show for more on that.
33:56I want to go to the middle round of running backs now here.
34:00And, you know, people who have been in the fantasy streets for a while understand this whole concept of the dead zone at running back.
34:08And we've done a bunch of articles and content and shows over the last few years under kind of the same theory,
34:15which is, is there even a dead zone anymore?
34:18Because fantasy drafters have gotten so much sharper. And by the way, I define a dead zone running back as a profile
34:25that isn't exciting, not a pass catcher, not an explosive runner, not a really talented guy, but he's just, he's going to get all the volume.
34:34So he ends up in the dead zone. And, you know, like poster example of that is like what happened with Alexander
34:41Madison or Mike Davis or guys that just like, we're not good at football for any reason, but we're going between rounds
34:48three and round six because we projected them. There was no one else to give touches to basically the bottom line.
34:55The only guy in here, Daigle in these, that goes in these middle rounds that actually think fits the bill.
35:01And he doesn't really fully fit the bill. It's a guy I know you're on.
35:06That's why I wanted to bring it up. And that's David Montgomery, because I don't see David Montgomery as an explosive player.
35:13I think he's actually a decent pass catcher. And that's why maybe he doesn't even fit here as a dead zone back.
35:20But the reason people are excited about David Montgomery is not because the offensive line, not because the offense, not because he's an explosive.
35:28It's literally because he's going to get 350 touches.
35:31And I actually don't disagree. He probably will get 300 to 350 touches.
35:35That's the only argument that I can make really for a dead zone back through.
35:40So do you think he is and there's anyone else in the mid range there that you think might be a dead zone candidate?
35:47So unfortunately, the risers in this tier that I thought we had in Cam Scadaboo, who was ninth in target share and
35:5412th in yards per outrun until he was injured last year.
35:58We lost, in my opinion, with the nausea Harris signing and just the overall vibes coming out of preseason.
36:04Also, Quinshawn Judkins, I still think as a fine pick, was targeted on 23% of his routes when he was activated in week two last year.
36:12But we can also poke holes there, giving the injury he's coming back from.
36:17And the last four players to return from that fabula fracture, they've averaged six and a half fewer points per game the
36:24following year as less explosive, less efficient players. So that's how you nitpick the potential risers.
36:29So there are a few guys that stand out.
36:32Dave Montgomery is certainly one of them, especially when he plays those slow ass Bills linebackers in week one.
36:38But beyond that, quietly, he was targeted on a higher rate of his routes than the guys that I've heard argued for in the tier before.
36:46Kyron Williams, Javante Williams. To me, Dave Montgomery is the same bet as Javante Williams just a couple rounds later.
36:53And so that's why I like these kinds of players who I think then can emerge a couple rounds ahead and be hits at their ADP.
37:01Yeah. I mean, the offensive environment is going to be different and the offensive line play is going to be different for Dave Montgomery versus Javante.
37:10Evan, but Evan, do you have a David Montgomery take here for the people?
37:14I think you guys have summed it up pretty good.
37:17I just wanted to pause for a second and take a time to acknowledge the sweet soliloquies coming from John Daigle on
37:24today's show who I mean, you must think that I must have cleaned up on man versus machine with all the anti-Kyron Williams and anti-Kim Scottaboo stuff.
37:33I want to appreciate it. Daigle, do you want to be friends?
37:37Do you want to come live with me for a little while?
37:41I don't think I'm over the last time we did that yet.
37:45I'm still scarred mentally. Okay. This range, and this is why I argued for, and Daigle's point is well taken.
37:51If you like these guys through here, you can get them a couple rounds later.
37:56The reason I argued more for running back heavy starts is because I don't feel great, Evan, about where these guys go.
38:03Judkins goes 39 on ESPN. Cam Scottaboo goes 40.
38:06Bashel Tootin goes 41. That is ahead of Flowers, Devonta Smith, T.
38:10Higgins, Ladd McConkie, J-Mo, Waddle, Burden. So for me, I want to be taking wide receiver through that range.
38:16Guy that Daigle just mentioned, we haven't spent a lot of time on, Evan, is Quinshawn Judkins.
38:21Because Quinshawn Judkins coming off of a severe injury, team is expected to be bad.
38:26And the biggest argument against Judkins is a two-down running back on a bad team.
38:31Monken seems to be pretty excited about him, though.
38:34Evan, any thoughts on Judkins here in the mid-range?
38:37Yeah, I think he's good. But I think that Quinshawn Judkins is a dead zone back, though, to me.
38:43I mean, maybe a pretty classic example of one.
38:46And I do think that he's good. I really liked what he showed as a rookie in a really bad situation last year.
38:53But, you know, some of the Twitter doctors, you know, and you can take them or leave them.
38:59Some of the Twitter docs say that the injury that he suffered was actually worse than the one that still has us worried about Cam Scadaboo.
39:07They were sort of similar in nature. But some people say that the Quinshawn Judkins injury was worse.
39:13Now, we haven't heard anything negative about Quinshawn Judkins' health through training camp.
39:17So I feel okay about his health right now.
39:20But, man, this is another really, really rough situation with a revolving door at quarterbacks, you know, a questionable at best offensive
39:27line, a team that is not built to score very much, and a new coach.
39:32I mean, look, we all love Todd Monken. We love Todd Monken.
39:36But even can, you know, can Todd Monken even do anything with the pieces that the Browns have on offense?
39:42It's just it's a really, really tough sell. You know, add to that the fact that Quinshawn Judkins has a very limited receiving background.
39:50And it's not a fun click whatsoever. Quinshawn Judkins in 2026.
39:54Yeah. I mean, he goes 45th overall in the home league ADP that we're pulling in.
39:59I have him at 60. Yeah. ETR ranks are at 56 here on Mr.
40:03Judkins. I wanted to hit on the Tootin stuff through this range, Daigle, because I was shocked.
40:09Like when we first started this a few months ago, I was like, man, Tootin is going to go in the fifth round in best ball for sure.
40:18Like he has the exact profile. But in home leagues, I thought that maybe we could sneak Tootin past some people and
40:25get him in round seven or round eight. The normies, not even people that listen to the show, nobody, not on fantasy Twitter.
40:32I'm saying like normal home league people are in on Tootin.
40:36He is still going in the 50s in home league ADP, which surprises me a little bit.
40:41I struggle with this, with the Tootin stuff. Daigle, where are you at in home leagues on Tootin?
40:47In best ball, it's easier to nitpick and say Chris Rodriguez will be a hamper to his ceiling.
40:53But still in this range against, again, nine or 11 other of our friends, I think it's a bet I make every
41:00time and just understand the process, even if it misses.
41:03It's a lot like, honestly, the Kenneth Walker argument in the second round where I'm closing my eyes and saying if this
41:10leads to a bigger role than this profile, the most athletic running back to ever test at the combine until Mike Washington
41:17did so earlier this year can win. The Jaguars last year had a terrible offensive line.
41:22I'm not sure it's gotten much better, but they had a terrible offensive line, finished 25th in yards before contact per carry.
41:29Individually, though, Tootin still finished sixth in success rate and converted four of his six carries into touchdowns inside the five-yard line.
41:37Like, he showed that they can trust him on short yards downs as well.
41:41So all we needed is that additional receiving role, which he didn't really even have an opportunity for last year.
41:48And suddenly this is a player who hits at this ADP.
41:51So I still love Tootin at his cost. Yeah.
41:54Gosh, I wish he was cheaper, man, because, like, we think he's good.
41:58The NFL made him a day three pick. He wasn't, like, I thought he had a good...
42:04He didn't even hit 400 yards from scrimmage as a rookie.
42:07Yeah, I mean... Yeah, less than 100 touches. You know what?
42:11It's a good thing that we have differing opinions on guys like this.
42:15Because, I mean, there is a crazy group of people online, terminally online, who love Bashal Tootin.
42:20I mean, and I experienced this in March when, I don't know, you know, one of our producers clipped me saying that
42:27I thought that Chris Rodriguez was going to be the week one lead back over Bashal Tootin.
42:33Oh, my God. Just people roaring online on social media at me.
42:37And, actually, that's starting to look kind of good again, by the way.
42:41And people were like, oh, this is going to be on fantasy receipts that, you know, that I had Chris Rodriguez maybe
42:48as the Jaguars week one lead running back. It hasn't been the greatest camp for Bashal Tootin either.
42:54First of all, I have him dead in line with ADP right now in the mid-50s.
42:59And I never get him because in every single draft, I think I've drafted him like once in like 50 drafts.
43:06It's because there's some crazy person who's willing to take him in the 40s, like, beyond any shadow of a doubt, Bashal Tootin in the 40s.
43:14And I just, I can't do it. Also, it hasn't been a clean training camp for him.
43:19There were some comments recently from Liam Cohen being like, and Liam Cohen had talked him up like crazy, Bashal Tootin, throughout
43:27the spring and at the start of training camp.
43:29And recently, Liam Cohen was like, we kind of want to see him take another step.
43:35And that's not the kind of rhetoric that you want to hear coming from a coach, especially when it coincides with a
43:42time in which Chris Rodriguez is healthy and getting a ton of first-team reps.
43:46And, you know, even LaQuint Allen, who I know is banged up right now, but he was drawing some first-team reps as well early on.
43:54I just, I think at the end of the day, this is going to be a three-man committee, and it's going to
44:01be very frustrating trying to pull fantasy, any kind of consistent fantasy production out of it because they're going to play three running backs in Jacksonville.
44:10Yeah. I prefer, here's two guys in this range, I'm curious your guys' takes on that I prefer to Tootin.
44:16And they're a little bit different in costs, but DeAndre Swift, I prefer over Tootin.
44:21I think he is much better than Kyle Menonga.
44:24I feel really good about Ben Johnson there and just being part of that Bears offense.
44:29And then the second one is Travis Etienne. I know he got a little boost today with Alvin Kamara being out for a week from the torn ACL.
44:38Again, be part of this Saint setup, which gets back Eric McCoy, adds David Edwards, plays a ton of games in the
44:45Dome, is going to play extremely fast. So in this range, like if I miss on these running back heavy starts, Etienne,
44:52Swift, and a little bit later, Jadarian Price, those are more targets for me.
44:57Daigle, any thoughts on those guys or anyone else you want to mention in the mid-range that you like?
45:03You could argue Etienne should be all the way up with Javante and Kyron, given that now 31-year-old Alvin Kamara is already
45:10out for the next month and dealing with an injury.
45:13The Saints also projected with the second easiest schedule in the entire league.
45:17So I like Etienne a whole lot. I didn't even know he was in this range.
45:22If so, that's my pick. That's my favorite among all these guys.
45:26Also then, are we considering Ramondre and Jonathan Brooks in this tier?
45:30Or are we going down later for them? Yeah, I think that's a little bit later.
45:35You can get those guys in the 70s. So yeah, I think that's a little bit later.
45:41I mean, Travis Etienne is probably going to go in round four somewhere.
45:45But I think Tootin is going to go in round five.
45:48And at cost, I'd much rather have Etienne in round four than Tootin in round five personally.
45:54And then Jadarian Price is just a player I'm out on.
45:57If everyone goes back and listens to the draft show, we already had this discussion where Silva put on his cloverleaf glasses and got very upset at me.
46:06But I'm just seeing what the Seahawks are saying.
46:09Like, I understand. No, I don't understand why they drafted him, actually.
46:13295 college touches on his resume. So now we're pushing this guy up like Mike Davis, who has never handled a large workload.
46:21And suddenly we're saying he's going to get a large workload just because Zach Charbonnet is injured and the team drafted him first overall.
46:28But even on that light workload, fumbled four times, only 15 career receptions.
46:32And then also he, whereas if everyone argues Jeremiah Love got targets because he played a lot.
46:38Jeremiah Love led this class and being targeted on his routes, his rate of targets on his routes.
46:44Jadarian Price was second lowest in this class. So even when he played on a per route basis, he could not earn targets.
46:51So I'm going to push back. I'm going to hero call the Seahawks on Jadarian Price.
46:56Be like, my bottom pair is going to beat you.
46:59So that's fair. He also is going to go in round six or like the very end of round five, round six.
47:07And so you're not paying a huge cost for him there.
47:10And I agree with you. He's not going to play on the passing downs.
47:15They're going to have Helani on the passing downs at the beginning.
47:18And once Charbonnet gets healthy, they're going to have Charbonnet on the passing downs.
47:23What you're betting on is that Price is such a good runner that when Charbonnet comes back, Price still seizes and controls that.
47:30And this is one of the most run heavy teams in the entire league.
47:35And the last thing you're betting on, Dago, that you didn't mention, you have not watched Hard Knocks.
47:41If you watched Hard Knock, it is impossible not to get the full 3.9 for Jadarian Price.
47:46They are loving him. But yeah, Silva, go ahead on Jadarian Price.
47:50Yeah, I mean, you know, Dago can sit here and rally off as many statistics as he wants, you know, about Jadarian Price.
47:57But at the end of the day, how many Lombardi trophies do you have, Dago?
48:02Because the Lombardi trophy winning Seattle Seahawks just drafted Jadarian Price in the first round.
48:07I'm going to go with them here. Okay. But also with Jadarian Price from a fantasy standpoint, it's not that fun.
48:14I mean, I actually think that Jadarian Price is good.
48:17Dago builds a case against him being very good.
48:20I think that Jadarian Price is good. And it's still going to be difficult for him to really help us in fantasy
48:27because of the fact that it's going to be Helani in passing situations initially.
48:31And it sounds like Charbonnet could return. And the Seahawks love Zach Charbonnet.
48:36Even if he's out there averaging 3.6 yards a carry, they don't care.
48:40They feel confident with him. They believe that he's the best pass-protecting running back in the league.
48:45They like him at the goal line. Jadarian Price can have a really, really good rookie season and still not really move
48:52the needle in fantasy, be like a 12 points per game kind of guy.
48:57He doesn't have very much upside because of the situation around him, whether or not you think he's good.
49:03I mean, the biggest reason that I don't have a ton of Jadarian Price right now is because I'm afraid of the peptides.
49:10The reports around Charbonnet are out of control. Out of control.
49:14Like they're saying that he could be back September, October, which is mind-blowing to me.
49:19But yeah, I don't want, like in this new age of modern medicine, I don't want to assume that Charbonnet is not
49:26going to be back until December anymore. You know, I just don't think we can do that.
49:31Okay, three more guys in this range I want to touch on quickly.
49:35This Scadaboo stuff we'll talk more next week on the news in the wake of the Najee Harris signing.
49:42Daigle already gave his take. My take is that like the Giants have been linked to running backs in free agency, in the draft.
49:49And now throughout this process with dusty veterans here in the summer, it just makes me feel like they do not feel
49:56that great about Cam Scadaboo as their feature workhorse back.
50:00And so as much as I think Cam Scadaboo is an awesome profile for fantasy, great goal line runner, really good pass catcher.
50:07I think we have to dock him and we did dock him in the rankings.
50:12So Silva, we'll talk more about this on news next week.
50:15But any initial thoughts on the Scadaboo thing in the wake of Najee Harris?
50:20You know, I've been down on Cam Scadaboo since the outset.
50:23So to me, like all this kind of stuff is just confirmation bias.
50:28You know, the fact that he's coming off a really, really rough injury.
50:32And I mean, Sam brought in our Slack today was like, there's also a chance that Cam Scadaboo just might be mentally insane.
50:39I mean, you know, like, I mean, he is a crazy guy.
50:43That's kind of what kind of makes him great, too.
50:46You know, at least he was a great college player and he had a really nice rookie season.
50:52But he's coming off this really, really bad injury.
50:55Tyrone Tracy was getting a ton of first team reps at the expense of Cam Scadaboo.
51:00You have a changing offensive situation. You have an entirely new coaching staff now coordinated offensively by Matt Nagy, who I don't think that any of us trust.
51:09And now they bring in Najee Harris, who really, from a skill set standpoint, overlaps with Cam Scadaboo.
51:15They're both four, six guys. They're both coming off bad injuries.
51:18And they're both guys who are good close in in scoring position and also are good in pass protection and good in the passing game.
51:26So, yeah, it's not a comfortable situation whatsoever for Cam Scadaboo.
51:30I have him at 62 right now. Yeah. And I have not even moved him down yet.
51:35And I think I'm going to have to move him down after the Najee signing because it's just I don't trust him.
51:43I don't trust the offense as a whole either.
51:45I think it's telling that Silva and I came to the same conclusion despite coming into the argument on different sides of
51:53it since I have lost confidence along the way.
51:55I mean, and Scadaboo is still ADP in home league.
51:59We're pulling in his round 37. I don't think that's going to be accurate by the time we draft in a couple weeks here.
52:06But ETR ranks are down at 50 overall on Scadaboo.
52:10And it's possible we get lower if we hear more good if we hear good things about Najee here.
52:16The other two guys in this range I want to touch on quickly.
52:20Daigle, Bucky Irving is one who like. When he was going in round three and round four, I thought was one of the worst picks on the board.
52:29Now, Bucky Irving, we're getting home league ADP here closer to 48, 49 overall.
52:33Still kind of a toughish click for me there.
52:36I thought in round six more, he was someone I was interested in.
52:40But Daigle, any thoughts on Bucky and the ambiguous Bucks backfield?
52:44Not a player I would be high on even at this price.
52:48Zero carries inside the five. Then they returned Sean Tucker who led the team in that range as a touchdown or bust guy.
52:55Brought in Rashad White who can't handle the load.
52:58Oh, I'm sorry. Brought in Kenneth Gainwell who can't handle the load but is a carbon copy of Rashad White and definitely going to play.
53:06And the passing game. And perhaps it was because Bucky Irving then returned injured in week 13.
53:12But from that point forward, everything just plummeted. 36% route share, 3.4 yards per carry.
53:16Not explosives at all. So, just a player I'm worried about in season long.
53:21Whereas, you know, best ball you can take on that floor.
53:24Or I question his ceiling in a committee. Yeah.
53:27I agree wholeheartedly with Daigle here. On man versus machine, I thought that Leone actually did present a decent argument for Bucky Irving.
53:35I still disagree with him. But I thought that he made a pretty good argument.
53:40I think that Levitan, well, of course, Levitan awarded him the win on Bucky Irving.
53:44But he pointed to the return of the Bucs offensive line.
53:48Bucky Irving is a fairly offensive line dependent running back relative to other running backs.
53:53And the Bucs, their offensive line just collapsed last year.
53:56And now, Brandon Thorne has him up at number three overall.
54:00Due to the healthy return of Tristan Wirfs, the healthy return of Casey Mock.
54:04And so, that gives me at least a little bit of optimism to where if Bucky Irving falls past his ADP, I'd
54:11be willing to maybe at least consider him. But ultimately, I'm on the side of Daigle that he's not a priority draft pick for me this year.
54:20Yeah, I agree. And closer to round six, you know, it would be better.
54:24But I think he's going to go more early round five here, which is a little bit steep for me.
54:31I'd rather go wide receiver there personally. Last one in this range, Silva, is Travion Henderson.
54:36I mean, this is another guy similar to Tootin, who I thought would be going much later this year in home leagues.
54:43I'm seeing home league ADP on Travion Henderson around 51-52 overall.
54:47So, you know, we're kind of in line with rank there.
54:50You can see how it goes really well. When Ramonjer was out last year, Travion was awesome.
54:56Silva, what do you think about Travion here around 52 overall?
54:59What did you do, 52 overall? Yep. Yeah, that's literally my ranking.
55:03Yep. Of Travion Henderson. And, yeah, I draft him sometimes.
55:06He gets to me and I take him right in that range.
55:10See, like, to me, it's not that similar to Tootin because Tootin was a fourth-round pick who, in his rookie season, he
55:17didn't even hit 400 yards from scrimmage, whereas Travion Henderson and now Ramondre missed some time, which obviously helped here.
55:24But Travion Henderson had over 1,000 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns as a rookie.
55:28If you were to pop him in an algorithm and be like, oh, you know, high second-round pick in the NFL who
55:35had, you know, 1,100 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns as a rookie, Travion Henderson is, like, going to pop out as,
55:42like, you know, a future Hall of Famer. I mean, these are really, really good, you know, statistical indicators for Travion Henderson.
55:50And I know, like, all the rhetoric has been, hey, Ramondre's returning as the starter.
55:54They still trust him in pass protection more. Henderson is really, really talented, though.
55:59And he's a player that I'm willing to bet on his talent.
56:03His situation is pretty good, you know, other than having Ramondre there.
56:07But, I mean, the offense, the offensive line, you know, the quarterback.
56:10They're getting – Josh McDaniels is trustworthy, Vrabel. But, to me, it's – there's enough upside here that I get excited when
56:18I get the opportunity to draft Travion Henderson. I don't think anyone in a normal two-running back league is starting Travion Henderson in week one.
56:26But it's such a sweet setup from 106 on if you double-tap that second and third tier of running backs that we've discussed.
56:33Because then if you have Travion Henderson, who also, you know, you wouldn't want any other back if their starter was injured in the entire league.
56:41He proved that last year. It's such a sweet setup because then you leave your drafts with, what, only four running backs?
56:48And you can stack the rest of your roster.
56:51So, Henderson is certainly usable regardless of how we project them in week one or the first month.
56:57Yeah. Agreed. I like that take. We're a little bit lower in the ETR ranks.
57:02We're at 59 overall in ETR ranks on Travion.
57:05You know, we have his ceiling boosted if he gets to find that ceiling.
57:09You know, and that's part of the reason we have him there.
57:13On base, it's hard to see it on Travion at 52 overall.
57:17But, yeah, the ceiling outcomes are really awesome there for Travion.
57:21Let's go to later rounds. And we get to a lot of ambiguous backfields here, Daigle.
57:26The thing that people say about ambiguous backfields is just take the cheapest one, take the cheapest one, take the cheapest one.
57:33I don't know that that's always the best strategy.
57:36So, I'm just going to run through some of these here.
57:39I'm curious who you guys take. Let's start with Washington here.
57:43Daigle, Ja'Cory Krosky-Meritt, Rashad White. Some people think Catron Allen's going to get in the mix.
57:48Daigle, what do you think about playing commander's backfield, if at all?
57:52I've been a Ja'Cory Krosky-Meritt bull all offseason. We talk about stock prices, and remember, he was a sixth-round pick in home leagues last year.
58:00Now we can get him several rounds later. Not only that, but what he showed us still was impressive.
58:06Will the receiving resume come along? We're crossing our fingers.
58:09Probably not, but there's still a range of outcomes here after he had nine – no, seven collegiate receptions and nine NFL receptions so far.
58:17Having said that, still, his explosive rate of carries, so the rate in which he's reached 10-yard runs, is finished sandwiched between Bijan Robinson and Derrick Henry.
58:26He proved he's a very good runner, and we're expecting David Blau on that offense to also have more multi-tight-in sets helping
58:33him out and assisting Jane Daniels this year. So I just look at a second-year explosive running back and say, you're letting
58:40me have him three or four rounds later. I'm going to make that bet.
58:45We are on Krosky Merritt also. ETR ranks are at 87 overall on Krosky Merritt.
58:49His ADP in home leagues is around 105. I don't think that he's going to have an improved pass-catching role, but when
58:56you play running back and you can have explosive runs with Jane Daniels, we know there's going to be opportunities to make
59:04those explosive runs here for Jacory Krosky Merritt. Let's keep it moving with ambiguous backfields here.
59:09Let's go to the Panthers where we have Jonathan Brooks versus Chuba Hubbard.
59:13I know we talked about this a little bit in the wake of Chuba's hamstring injury.
59:18It's really hard to get a feel for Jonathan Brooks' ADP because it's just changing so, so fast.
59:24We're pulling in 92 right now. I do not think that will be accurate by the time most drafts happen.
59:30I think when most drafts happen, Jonathan Brooks will likely be going in round six maybe.
59:35Silva, what do you think about Jonathan Brooks versus Chuba Hubbard at that price?
59:40I don't want anything to do with Chuba Hubbard whatsoever this year, and that was the case before the hamstring injury.
59:47Again, we can debate the talents of these running backs, and I still think that, especially with guys that aren't truly, truly
59:54supernatural freaking talents, the situation can be really tough to overcome when it's really, really bad.
59:59Carolina has a potentially really, really bad situation there without both of their starting offensive tackles.
60:04Their quarterback can barely see over the offensive line.
60:07They're not going to score a lot of points.
60:10They've got a multi-headed backfield period. Even if you don't like Chuba Hubbard, he's going to play.
60:15He's like a freaking team captain. They're going to use him in pass protection situations at least.
60:21They're going to give him a handful of carries because he's like a leader on the Panthers whenever he comes back from this hamstring injury.
60:29I'm definitely more optimistic than Adam is about Jonathan Brooks, and I still kind of shudder to draft him because the situation is so rough.
60:37Because, again, you're placing essentially a financial bet on Jonathan Brooks coming back from double ACL tears in a committee backfield on
60:44what I think is going to be a bad team.
60:47Yeah. So that's not fun to me at all, Jonathan Brooks.
60:51And I do take him sometimes. But you're right.
60:54In every draft, he goes in a different spot because you just kind of never know because there are so many varying
61:01– sometimes he'll go in the fourth round. Yeah.
61:03And I wouldn't take him until like the seventh.
61:06Yes. This is – Super price dependent for me.
61:09Real quick, Diggle. Super price dependent for me. If he goes in the seventh or eighth round, I'm taking Jonathan Brooks.
61:16I just don't think that he is going to get there.
61:20Go ahead, Diggle. This is where we can't hand feed you with our rankings.
61:24You have to temper check these two players. Like I think more so than any other backfield because there's also going to
61:31be times where the guy who has a six-month-old at home shows up to your draft with a magazine and he drafts
61:38Chuba Hubbard in the fourth or fifth round. Now suddenly Jonathan Brooks is a value.
61:43So you're just going to have to watch it because it's going to differ every single draft.
61:49Yeah. Okay. Another ambiguous – That's how it is these days.
61:52You see a guy show up with a fantasy magazine.
61:55Oh, there's the fish right there. There's Chuba Hubbard, fourth round.
61:59Okay. A couple more ambiguous backfields. Diggle, Denver. People are surprised that R.J.
62:03Harvey is still going first here in ADP. Speaking to what Silva said about plugging something into a model, I mean, R.J.
62:10Harvey's rookie year from a raw production standpoint, it would be exciting for year two.
62:15But there are a lot of flags here based on what Denver did in the offseason and the way R.J.
62:21Harvey played in the underlying stats last year. That's why I also think it boils down to his ADP and how far.
62:28Where he goes. He's a player where I've already done several industry drafts and just leagues in general, 12-team, 14-team.
62:35And I've taken R.J. Harvey multiple times just because, as I talked about with J.J.
62:40Zacharisen on his recent Late Rounds Perspectives show, R.V.
62:43is a second-round receiving back. So if you remove everything else, including that you have to scroll to the last page of
62:50every rushing stat to find him, you remove everything.
62:53And that's the kind of player you typically want to bet on at a dipping ADP.
62:58So totally fine grabbing him. But I also still want to make sure everyone's making the bet with Jonah Coleman and this ambiguous backfield.
63:05ADP is not catching up in either best ball or home leagues.
63:09It seems like Coleman's really going under the radar despite being removed on the first drive because Sean Payton, the offense, even said they had seen enough.
63:18Like, we got to get this guy off the field because we have to keep this genie in its lamp.
63:24And also a great profile coming out, too. 80 catches on 90 targets over the last three years.
63:301.73 yards per route run last season, which ranked second only behind Jeremiah Love in this class.
63:36So also a player I want to bet on.
63:39And I think it's perfectly OK, given their large discrepancy in ADPs, that you come away with both.
63:44Yeah, I think that's fair. And like, R.J. Harvey is not going to play on the passing downs.
63:50I don't think they trust him there, but he's still a passing back.
63:54And that's kind of like a weird profile, but they are going to throw to him on early downs.
64:00Obviously, he played well around the goal line last year.
64:04But yeah, you know, like at the right cost, I would take all three of these guys.
64:09And it's really just a cost thing for me.
64:12Silva made his case for J.K. Dobbins on the Man vs.
64:15Machine show, if you want to check that out.
64:18Last one, Silva for ambiguous backfields I had with the Tennessee Titans.
64:22It's been really hard for us on the projection side to keep Tony Pollard where we want him to be.
64:29Nobody's excited about Tony Pollard. It's just hard not to give him a lot of touches here.
64:34That is the definition of dead zone and why I've been trying to avoid Tony Pollard where I can.
64:40We also talked about this some on the news show, Silva, where the snaps were in favor of Spears in that first preseason game.
64:48But then I noticed that Tony Pollard was listed with a foot injury on Monday.
64:53So I kind of want to take back what I said about some of that snap count stuff there from preseason week one.
65:00But Silva, any final thoughts here on Titans backfield?
65:03Just another really, really bad situation. Like this is maybe the worst situation.
65:07Yeah. Because we got the worst offensive line in the league.
65:11We have a multi-headed backfield. We got a, you know, an offense quarterbacked by Kim Ward who, geez, I don't know.
65:18I'm starting to get real, real worried about him.
65:20Um, I, Tony Pollard's ADP is like 80 and I have him at 81 or something like that.
65:26And even when he falls past his ADP, I'm not, it's not an exciting click.
65:31So Tony Pollard finished last season like gangbusters. I mean, he was legit like one of the best running backs in the
65:38league over the final four games of 2025. And still, uh, it's, it's an ugly one for sure.
65:44All right. Let's go to whatever he wants to hear about sleepers.
65:48And, you know, it's hard to give sleepers, especially the running back position, especially in today's fantasy football landscape.
65:54Silva mentioned one that was on my list already.
65:57Chris Rodriguez goes very, very late for a player who I think will have the goal line role in a good offense
66:04and a chance to win some more base. The other late round target that I will give is Keaton Mitchell.
66:10I don't know exactly what Keaton Mitchell's role is going to be, but if you have injuries and you have bye weeks
66:17and you tell me Keaton Mitchell is going to get nine touches or 10 touches in a game, I could do worse
66:24than putting that into my lineup, you know, and I'm more of a volume guy typically than an efficiency guy.
66:31But Keaton Mitchell is such an outlier, even on nine touches, 10 touches on a nine or 10 touch projection.
66:37I think you can start him in the right kind of deeper format.
66:42So those are the two that were on my list, Searod and Keaton as late round sleepers.
66:47I like Daigle's call of Jonah Coleman here. Also, Daigle, any other sleepers or late round guys you want to get off your chest at running back?
66:56As you said, love Keaton Mitchell. I also think it's going to be much easier to flex Keaton Mitchell, know when to
67:03flex him than a lot of other people are suggesting, given probably the choices will be wide receiver twos on bad offenses compared to Keaton Mitchell's eight touches.
67:12And I'm going to take the explosiveness and good matchups with a great offensive play caller.
67:17We just talked about the Titans backfield. I look at all the the late round handcuffs, though, that we'll discuss in a
67:24moment towards the end of the show. And I see that they all have to have an injury ahead of them to really supplant that guy.
67:32Nicholas Singleton, I would argue, is the one player who I'll probably drop in week five.
67:37But also, I would argue he doesn't have to have an injury ahead of him to suddenly win that job towards the end of the year.
67:46Given that Tony Pollard's yards per route run have decreased now for three consecutive seasons.
67:51Tajay Spears has yet to come for his job, so he's not really anyone.
67:55I'm worried about taking it. It's at least open for Singleton to do something.
68:00And he's another guy who's averaged one and a half yards per route run the last three seasons in college.
68:06So I like stashing that chance as a really last round guy.
68:10And then another one, which fits aligned with Silva, if you think Quinchon, Juck, and Zyre, they're going to struggle in returning
68:17from injury or be a dead zone back. Only three running backs averaged two yards per route run last year.
68:23Bijan Robinson is a first round pick. Jalen Warren is a strong mid-round selection.
68:28And Dylan Sampson, who you can get for free and stash in a Todd Munkin offense.
68:33So I've come around a lot more on Dylan Sampson the last month, seeing his ADP go so late.
68:39That's a player I'm really high on. Yeah, I've been out on Singleton just as the third running back and I think
68:46a return man for a really bad team. Sampson is one that is interesting to me.
68:51That was his calling card coming out and played really well in the passing game.
68:56And I think with Todd Munkin, I think Dylan Sampson is okay there.
69:00Silva, any later round guys you want to get off your chest before you move to handcuffs here?
69:06The thing is that my stuff veers right into handcuffs.
69:09Yep. So you want to just jump right to handcuff?
69:13Let's go to handcuffs. So last topic here today is handcuffing.
69:16Just a strategy point I want to make. Handcuffing to me in redraft is very different than best ball.
69:22In best ball, I like taking other people's handcuffs.
69:25In other words, if I have Bijan Robinson, I would take Tank Bigsby over Bryan Robinson.
69:30Because in these best ball tournaments, I'm trying to get a super team.
69:35But in a 12-team league, I don't need a top 1% outcome.
69:38And so more of a floor play, which I want, rather than a ceiling play in best ball.
69:44So if I have Saquon in a 12-team league, I'm going to take or at least think about taking Tank Bigsby.
69:51So just a strategy point there for me on handcuffing Silva.
69:55Go ahead with your favorite or any thoughts on handcuffs here.
69:58Yeah, and at the same time, and I agree with that, I do think that even in a redraft season long, people
70:05should be willing to just stack their bench with backup running backs, regardless of whether or not they have the starter.
70:12Yep, agreed. Because those guys provide ample, ample upside.
70:15Mike Washington is a guy who stands out to me behind Ashton Gentry with the Raiders.
70:20It seems like Mike Washington, who was a total freak athlete, sort of an underachiever in college, but a total freak athlete
70:27who the Raiders selected in the fourth round. And it seems like he has run away with the Raiders' number two running
70:34back job in an improving environment, in a situation where Gentry looks like he's going to get a ton of touches, and
70:41that will put him at risk of injury. Mike Washington is one of my favorite handcuffs slash sleepers.
70:47The Yeet Cannon, Marshawn Lloyd. I mean, there's enough buzz around him now that I'm not sure that he's a true sleeper, but he's definitely an upside handcuff.
70:56He can play in the passing game. He weighs 220 pounds when he was coming out of USC.
71:02He ran in the 4-4s. He's behind a player in Josh Jacobs who's already been banged up, and there's still some lingering
71:09risk that he could be suspended before the season.
71:12Tyler Algier behind Jeremiah Love, who already has a high ankle sprain in Arizona.
71:16We know that Tyler Algier can at least play a little bit, and that coaches can feel very comfortable giving him the ball at the goal line.
71:25Jaden Blue, we talked about him. You mentioned Tank Bigsby.
71:28Those are some of my favorites. This is going to be gross, but I was kind of into Alvin Kamara before we
71:35learned today that he has a sprained MCL. So I'm taking him off of my list.
71:40That helps Travis Etienne, though, because there were some risks that Alvin Kamara was going to get the ball in scoring position and in the passing game.
71:49Yeah. When I think about these late-round picks, I want to know in my head what is the bet that I'm making.
71:56Am I making a standalone bet, or am I making a bet where the starter has to be injured?
72:02Because when you get into spots where you might have to drop guys, I think you have to understand what you're going for.
72:10I try to keep as many of these guys that are clean handcuffs on my bench.
72:15Not all of them are clean. Like, I would not consider Jaden Blue a clean handcuff.
72:20If Javante Williams went down, I think we would see other guys, Malik Davis, Phil Maffa, whatever.
72:25The reason I think Tank Bigsby is such a clean handcuff is because if Saquon Barkley went down, he would have the Saquon Barkley role.
72:33And I just think Tank Bigsby is really good.
72:36You could say the same thing, Daigle, about Blake Corum, although you have to pay way, way more to get Blake Corum
72:43because he will have some standalone value there himself.
72:46Daigle, any more thoughts here on handcuffing? That's why when we're nitpicking, I don't mind going to my player's direct backup if
72:53that player is in fact a direct backup. Like, if I have James Cook and I go Ray Davis, that makes a
73:00lot more sense than if I go DJ Giddens or Seth McGowan instead of Ray Davis, even though I have Jonathan Taylor
73:07because we're just not sure right now. So I'm still leaning those guys.
73:12Silva mentioned a lot of them I'm high on.
73:15Marshawn Lloyd is a really sneaky one too because maybe Josh Jacobs has to get out of the way, but we don't
73:22know their role since Marshawn Lloyd has never been healthy.
73:25If he's healthy, maybe he just gets 8 to 10 touches per game.
73:29Since Jacob's efficiency has declined mightily the last couple years.
73:32Beyond that though, I would also throw in Woody Marks because we already saw the Texans give him 20 touches per game going into the playoffs.
73:41That's the kind of guy that I want given if a starter is injured.
73:45Last one that I wanted to ask you guys about is Emmitt Johnson.
73:49There has been buzz lately out of Chiefs camp that Emmitt Johnson is getting a lot of the reps directly behind Kenneth Walker.
73:57Evan and I are both really high on Kenneth Walker, so I want to try to get this one right.
74:03Evan, are you thinking or you have any optimism for Emmitt Johnson as a direct handcuff to Kenneth Walker?
74:09Yes, and I love what we've heard about him so far in training camp in the preseason.
74:15He's a guy who caught a lot of passes in college, and we know that historically, at least when Andy Reid has
74:22had a running back like that, he's going to use that.
74:25It seems like Emmitt Johnson has pulled ahead for the RB2 job in Kansas City.
74:30That really shouldn't be surprising because Amari DiMarcato just isn't very good.
74:34So, yeah, I have a to-do list, and that's to get Emmitt Johnson into my top 150 and to make him a player that I want to draft.
74:43I mean, sitting here three weeks away from the start of the season, I want to make sure that I get enough
74:50Emmitt Johnson as my RB5, RB6 going forward because I don't have a whole lot of them right now.
74:56I want to change that. Yeah, Dagle, any thoughts on that or any final guys you want to throw out before we get out of here?
75:05No thoughts, really. The second running back, but again, I think we're all, even in our projections, comfortable betting on Kenneth Walker taking the pass-catching role.
75:13So, Emmitt Johnson, strictly a direct backup there. Yeah, I think I've said it all with handcuffs.
75:18All right. This was good. I'm glad we did this.
75:22Running back remains the most important position in fantasy football.
75:25For more on strategy, be sure you're subscribed to YouTube.
75:28We will be talking about running back strategy and all other draft strategy later this week.
75:33You can also find my thoughts on strategy and every player in the player-by-player notes and the draft strategy column.
75:40Dagle and Silva continue to work on the tiers when you're drafting.
75:43Of course, you should be drafting through the tiers.
75:46And as we get set for official home league slash redraft season, remember the extension that we put out for you guys.
75:53If you have draft kit, you have access to it.
75:57If you use the extension, you will be able to see our rankings while you're doing a draft on ESPN, Yahoo, or Sleeper.
76:04And it'll cross the names off as guys get picked.
76:07So, be sure you are using that. All right.
76:10For Daigle. For Silva. Producer Ryan. Producer Luke. Guy and Adam.
76:14Good luck, everybody. Bye.
