4 BOOM or BUST Running Backs | RBs to Draft or Fade (Ep. 2046)
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16 min
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Jun 5, 2026
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Fri, June 5, 2026
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Episode Transcript
0:00This is an iHeartPodcasts. Guaranteed Human. It's smart to always have a few financial goals.
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0:23See terms at discover.com slash credit card. Welcome in everybody to FantasyPros.
0:27This is the Fantasy Football Podcast. And it's me, Joe Pisapia.
0:30And today, we're going to talk BOOM or BUST.
0:33That's right. Things either go great sometimes for Fantasy Football assets, or they go horribly, horribly wrong.
0:38Nothing can go wrong on today's show though, because we got Jake Seeley from The Athletic and my boy Andrew Erickson to break it all down for you.
0:47We're going to give you some names of some guys that we think could win you a league or crush your hopes
0:53and dreams and send you sad into the holiday season.
0:56So, before we get to any of that, make sure you like this video.
1:01Make sure you subscribe to Fantasy Pros YouTube. And of course, wherever you get your podcasts as well.
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1:26Andrew Erickson, let's start with you on this one here.
1:29Let's talk about a BOOM or BUST guy that you have circled on your board.
1:33And everybody else should be very aware of the risk.
1:36Kenneth Walker running back for the Kansas City Chiefs.
1:39Scott Bogman talked about him as a BUST candidate on one of our shows that we recorded last week.
1:45So I wanted to shed some light on the BOOM potential for Ken Walker, because that's kind of the side that I settle on here.
1:53The BUST risk, I think we can all agree he has not really been able to sustain a heavy workload throughout his NFL career.
2:00It's why he's always been splitting carries with a guy like Zach Charbonnet.
2:04And the BUST risk is what happened last year.
2:07Did you draft Kenneth Walker last year? It wasn't fun.
2:10It was not a fun ride until the fantasy playoffs when it didn't even matter for you that he was scoring all these fantasy points.
2:17But that in lies the upside case for Ken Walker and why I think that he is worth buying as a BOOM,
2:24because he fits exactly what the Chiefs need in their backfield.
2:27They needed explosiveness. So despite the fact that they were eighth in rushing success rate last year, the third lowest stuff rate,
2:34I think the offensive line is still pretty solid in Kansas City.
2:38There's just no explosive juice from a banged up Isaiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt, just three yards in a cloud of dust every
2:44single time he would touch the football. That's not Ken Walker's game.
2:48We know this guy can create yards so on his own.
2:52Second explosive run rate last year. First in missed tackles force per attempt.
2:55And I think that he's underrated as a receiver.
2:58Andy Reid's talked about that. Brett Veach has talked about that, how he's underrated.
3:02Question marks are pass pro. Is he going to come off the field for Imari De Mercado, Emmitt Johnson, a rookie that
3:09they drafted this year, that Andrew Reid talked about as a comp tell Sean McCoy.
3:14Do those guys get more involved? I think that's possible.
3:17But for me, Ken Walker, I think what you're going to get by drafting him, especially early on, I think he's going
3:24to get absolutely loaded up with touches as they ease my homes back in.
3:28I don't think they want my homes to be dropping back 40, 50 times a game coming off of his ACL injury.
3:35So I think he's going to be out there, but maybe not at 100%.
3:39And I think that means Ken Walker is going to get absolutely fed.
3:43I think that makes him worth the top 10 upside type of pick and early in fantasy drafts.
3:48Jake Seeley, the guy that could be replacing Ken Walker in Seattle, is indeed Jadarian Price, rookie from Notre Dame, who certainly
3:55has a lot of upside, but he is still a rookie.
3:58And fantasy has kicked us in the nuts the last five years to remind us over and over again that sometimes it
4:05takes these rookies a little bit longer to get going.
4:08And if you get six weeks into the season and that big rookie draft pick isn't working out, your team might be
4:15on the outside of the playoffs looking in. Well, I think that's why Price deserves to be in the fringe RB2 conversation
4:22as somebody who does believe that he's going to lead this backfield from day one.
4:26I do think Wilson is still going to be involved.
4:29Let's make that clear. It's still the Seahawks even like whoever it was going to be.
4:34It's still the Seahawks that like is very opposed to ever using a bell cow, no matter who seems to be there calling the shots.
4:42And I do think that Price is situated to not be a bell cow because there's the passing game concern.
4:48I do think he can catch the ball like this isn't somebody that can't like ever catch it.
4:53But of somebody who probably taps out at 35 to 40 targets in a season, even being the lead, I could see
5:00that as a plausible scenario, which means Emmanuel Wilson will be factored in.
5:04And that being said, I could easily see Price getting 230, 240, even 250 on the ground.
5:09And especially in this offense, as somebody who I've compared to Raheem Mostert with his explosiveness, heck why he was using a
5:16return game is that's the excitement for Price in this offense, especially with some better touchdown equity than a lot of running backs.
5:23We've talked on other shows. The one thing that I would be super afraid of, we did a mock draft earlier this
5:30week and Alfredo Brown, who I still hate for this comment to this day, says, watch Alvin Kamara get cut and end
5:36up on the Seahawks and throw everything out of whack.
5:39I was like, just leave this backfield alone, because right now, Jadarian Price is worth a great cost as a fringe RB,
5:46too, because even without the passing game work, he has top 15 upside.
5:50As long as this offense keeps clicking as it has.
5:53All right, let's go to another running back here.
5:56Bashel Tootin, who certainly has a path here to take over what Travis 18 was able to do last year.
6:02And Travis 18 was a terrific fantasy running back last season.
6:05It's a big role in a Liam Cohen offense.
6:08The question is, how much of that role does he get?
6:11That's what makes him boom or bust. So are you buying the boom or are you avoiding the bust when it comes to Bashel Tootin, Erickson?
6:19I am buying the boom on Bashel Tootin because I think that Chris Rodriguez just doesn't do it for me.
6:25I'm not going to let Chris Rodriguez be the reason why I don't draft Bashel Tootin in 2026, because despite the fact
6:32that they did play together at Kentucky, that's really it for me when it comes to Chris Rodriguez's impact on this backfield.
6:39Everything that Chris Rodriguez can do... Nice pause for effect, I just want to say.
6:43Everything that he can do... What's his point? Everything that C-Rod can do, Bashel Tootin can also do, and then add some to it.
6:51He is way more explosive, but all the advanced metrics for Chris Rodriguez where he popped last year, Bashel Tootin is sitting
6:57right next to him in terms of success rate, in terms of the odds of contact per attempt.
7:03So, I think that maybe it's frustrating the first couple weeks of the year where, man, why are they using Chris Rodriguez so much?
7:10Yeah, he's Liam Cohen's boy, this is why. But what was so stark, and this is from the CoachSpeak Index, talking about
7:17the offensive coordinator, talked about Chris Rodriguez as, yeah, we love this guy because he turns second and long into second and seven.
7:24That's what they got out of Chris Rodriguez, a player that can pick up three yards on second down.
7:30Was that the real quote? Yes. But that's what I mean.
7:33That's what Chris Rodriguez brings to an offense. You turn second and long to second and seven.
7:38I think the point was being that you can count on to not lose yardage.
7:43I'm with you. Where do you have him? Sorry to ask a Joe question, but where do you have Tootin?
7:49Because I'm curious. So, I think he's right in my top 24.
7:53It's pretty close to where ECR and ADP is.
7:55Okay. I just think that as the season progresses, offseason, as we get more hype about, you know, Rodriguez, he understands the offense.
8:02Liam Cohen loves this guy. And I think beginning of the year, you'll see kind of like a split where it was Zach Moss and Chase Brown.
8:11Zach Moss is out there ahead of Chase Brown, and it's super annoying.
8:15But in the end, I think Bayshel Tootin is the way more talented running back, super explosive.
8:20Not to bring up the cliches, but Bayshel Tootin has reportedly been, the game is slowing down for him.
8:26And that's what we didn't see from him last year.
8:29He didn't have as many explosive big plays as we thought.
8:32And the other thing, too, reminded me again of Chase Brown's rookie season.
8:36Bayshel Tootin was on the field in goal line packages, taking off Travis Etienne.
8:40That was not because of an injury. They decided, hey, we think that Tootin can be a better goal line red zone running back than Etienne.
8:48So, I'm just not concerned about Chris Rodriguez. All right, let me do one more question for you, Joe.
8:54I'm going to have to pop in for another question.
8:57Honestly, I don't even know what. I mean, I'm just going to take off.
9:01That's the best one. Oh, look, the viewership just went up.
9:05That's weird. I heard that. I heard that. Is there anything in this offseason that would make you move Tootin up or down?
9:12Like, any reports where, like, this is clearly going to be a shared situation?
9:16Or anything of, like, oh my gosh, Tootin's doing everything we wanted him to do.
9:21And you're going to push him up? Like, legitimately, is there something that would make, because you have him a fringe RB2.
9:27I'm just kind of curious if there's anything that would affect your ranking.
9:31Nothing comes to mind immediately. Obviously, you want more positives than negatives.
9:35But I think that we've kind of talked about with offseason stuff, it's going to be most likely be positive no matter what.
9:42And you only move a player down if it's something really, really negative.
9:46So, I don't think anything will dramatically shift. We'll see how, like, preseason.
9:50But he's not even going to play in the preseason.
9:53I guess if he doesn't play in the preseason, that's good.
9:56Because Liam Quintosh doesn't play starter. So, if he's not out there, and it's all C-Rod, then he's going to be moving out.
10:03All right. Let's talk about a guy that I'm actually in on here quite a bit.
10:08But I recognize there's boom or bust in him.
10:11And it's Rico Dowdle now with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
10:14So, look, Jalen Warren's still there. Nothing's changed in that regard.
10:17But coaching has changed. And Rico Dowdle's performance last year, to me, was impressive enough that I'm willing to buy.
10:23I'm also willing to buy because Aaron Rodgers has returned.
10:26And he can't throw the ball more than five yards anymore.
10:30So, I like that for Rico Dowdle, too. So, Jake, talk to me about some of the boom-bust potential of Rico Dowdle in 2026.
10:37I think that's the important part, too, is the Mike McCarthy factor.
10:41Is new coach, new situation. Mike McCarthy has shown in the past as somebody that kind of likes a Tony Pollard type.
10:47And if you're looking at Dowdle and Warren, they do overlap a lot.
10:51But if you're looking at one that skews a little bit more towards Pollard, is stretching the offense a little bit more
10:58in the passing game as the guy that he shares the backfield.
11:02That being McCarthy. Let's make that clear. I don't think either one of them are getting anywhere close to 65% of the workload if they both stay healthy.
11:10But the one that skews a little bit more to how McCarthy likes his running backs as the lead option, it is Dowdle slightly over Warren.
11:18That being said, the obvious risk is this is 50-50 or Warren's the lead.
11:22I'm not saying there's a non-zero chance that Warren doesn't lead again.
11:26But whether it's been McCarthy or the previous regime, the Steelers just seem set in this world of like, we want Warren to be the complimentary piece.
11:34Like, we've seen the flashes, but maybe this is the best we get out of Warren because asking him to do more, you're going to lose that effectiveness.
11:43All that being said, they bring in Dowdle. McCarthy does that as part of this offense.
11:48That's kind of like a Sean Mivet type of offense you see at this backfield.
11:52So I think the biggest question is, what does the quarterback situation look like?
11:57Because Rodgers bounced back this year. I know they've done a ton of targets to the backfield.
12:02But again, it all comes down to McCarthy, the fit of Dowdle in this.
12:06And as you said, we've seen plenty of flashes of Rico Dowdle over the past few seasons.
12:11It's just whether or not he's able to put together a full season.
12:15And I'd rather take a full season of him hitting those like 90-yard marks than like 140 and 20 and 130 and 17.
12:22Like, let's just get that consistency across the board and we could probably get a top 20 performance out of him.
12:29Well, I mean, I don't know. I mean, I'm trying to think about Rico Dowdle's past a little bit here.
12:35And, you know, I'm just – I feel like sometimes maybe he just doesn't get enough love.
12:40I mean, for all of this like Rico Dowdle criticism or Rico Dowdle concern, he's got back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
12:46Yeah. There's a lot of guys out there floating around at the ADC.
12:50Despite not opening up – Inconsistent opportunities. Right. That's the thing.
12:53It's inconsistent opportunities and we're running into that again.
12:56And yet despite that landscape for him, could make it three in a row.
13:00What do you think? Can Rico get to 1,000 again?
13:03Drop your comments below. Like this video. Subscribe to the channel.
13:07And hopefully Jake Seeley will be back next week to do my job for me again.
13:12That'll do it for us. But the story of the game goes on.
13:16For Jake and Andrew Erickson, I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time, kids.
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