0:00I'm going to be honest. I'm going to
0:01talk about some good fantasy football
0:03players in this video. I'm not going to
0:05go through and tell you to sell high on
0:07Jaylen Harris. I'm going to be talking
0:09about players you can actually trade for
0:11something that I think may be slightly
0:13worse in the future than what they have
0:15been. Starting off with Jaylen Warren.
0:17Now, I get it. Jaylen Warren's been
0:20incredible. And hell, he's projected out
0:22as a top 10 running back every single
0:26week for us over the past 3 weeks being
0:28a top 10 running back in our weekly
0:31rankings. And it's been very simple,
0:33right? In week 2, Rico Dowdle gets
0:36injured. What does that lead to
0:38happening? Oh, Jaylen Warren's snap rate
0:41from 37%
0:43in week 1 jumps up to 90% in week 3, 97%
0:49in week 4, 87% in week 5. Jaylen Warren
0:53is a phenomenal receiving back out of
0:56the backfield as well. So, it's very
0:58simple when you look at Jaylen Warren
1:00over the past 3 weeks in fantasy
1:01football. And while he was an absolute
1:04smash as a top 10 running back, he was
1:06going to see every single touch in his
1:08backfield and he was going to get used
1:10as a receiver. That makes anybody a
1:13great play in fantasy. Not to mention
1:17when they have the talent profile that
1:18Jaylen Warren does. When they have the
1:20big play upside that Jaylen Warren does.
1:24We just saw Jaylen Warren this past week
1:26have 87 receiving yards and a touchdown,
1:29101 receiving yards and a touchdown. And
1:32this coaching staff's coming out and
1:33they're saying, "Oh, Jaylen Warren's for
1:36sure our lead back. Jaylen Warren's
1:37everything to our offense right now."
1:39Which obviously those quotes are going
1:41viral. I'm sure that you have seen them.
1:43But, I do want to reset expectations
1:45that we should have for Jaylen Warren
1:47from this week onwards because Rico
1:50Dowdle was at practice last week. And on
1:52top of that, the coaching staff said
1:54that Rico Dowdle I got pretty close to
1:57playing in week five. Do I think Rico
2:00Dowdle is going to come into this
2:02backfield and turn this into a 50/50
2:04running back by committee? Of course, I
2:07don't expect that to happen. Jaylen
2:08Warren is too good of a running back.
2:10This coaching staff specifically said
2:12that won't happen for Rico Dowdle to
2:15come close to 50% of the opportunities
2:18in Pittsburgh. But, what I do expect to
2:20happen is Jaylen Warren, a running back
2:23that we've seen play four seasons in the
2:26NFL throughout the entire time, right?
2:28This is his fifth NFL season. He's 28
2:31years old. Typically, running backs
2:32don't break out at 28. When we've seen
2:35his snap rate, year one 32%, obviously
2:38as a rookie who cares. But, then year
2:40two 49%, year three 45%, year four 50%.
2:46Do I expect him to fall back down to a
2:4750% snap rate? No, I do not. But, I
2:50don't think he's going to be at 90%
2:52either. I don't think Jaylen Warren is
2:54prime Christian McCaffrey with his
2:56usage. I think he's going to fall down
2:58closer to like a 70% snap rate running
3:01back where Rico Dowdle is going to see
3:0330% of the opportunities in this
3:05backfield. So, instead of Jaylen Warren
3:08consistently projecting out as a top 10
3:10running back in fantasy football, I
3:12think he's more so going to be a
3:15high-end running back two. So, in
3:18trades, if you could price him as a
3:20running back one and ship off of him,
3:23that is something that I would look at
3:24doing. Right now, if I go over to the
3:27expert average rankings on
3:28flockfantasy.com and look at some
3:30players that are near Jaylen Warren,
3:32like right now he is in the range of
3:34wide receivers where you could
3:36legitimately go over to a wide receiver
3:39one. Like, if you could take Jaylen
3:41Warren and add a small piece and get to
3:44Drake London, get to Justin Jefferson, I
3:47think that would make a ton of sense.
3:49Or, if you wanted to move from Jaylen
3:50Warren and go like straight up or
3:53potentially get a little bit added on to
3:54like Garrett Wilson, I would really be
3:57interested in that as well. So, he's
3:59still going to be a must start running
4:00back every single week. He's still going
4:02to be the lead running back in the
4:03Pittsburgh Steelers backfield every
4:05week, but he is not going to be a 90%
4:07snap share running back.
4:10And he's not going to be a top five to
4:1110 running back in our weekly rankings.
4:13He's more so going to be that running
4:15back 13, 14, 15 range. Now, moving over
4:18to Bucky Irving. Bucky Irving just had a
4:21primetime game where he looked like the
4:22most talented running back in the NFL.
4:24Week five against the Dallas Cowboys,
4:27Bucky Irving had 165,
4:30yes, 165
4:32rushing yards.
4:34Incredible. Not only did he have that
4:37type of production, but more
4:38importantly, he looked so damn good.
4:42Hell, we had Jinx on his live stream
4:44going through and looking at the
4:45highlights saying that Bucky Irving was
4:47the most talented running back in the
4:49NFL. Now, of course, it's a Bucs fan,
4:50it's not like everybody thinks that, but
4:52still, those are the kinds of
4:53conversations that were being had been
4:55after this Dallas Cowboys game. Now, I
4:58do want to take a little step backwards
5:00and look at the underlying usage that
5:02we've had for Bucky. Over the past three
5:04weeks, Bucky Irving has averaged about
5:0655% of the opportunities in this Tampa
5:08backfield. There are two other running
5:10backs that are still somewhat getting
5:12involved with the combination of Kenneth
5:15Gainwell as well as Sean Tucker. And
5:17this was just the dream matchup that
5:19Bucky Irving had against the Dallas
5:21Cowboys. We all need to be on the same
5:23page. This is still projecting out to be
5:26one of the worst offenses in the entire
5:28NFL. So, if I move over to see what we
5:31have, say with the matchup this week and
5:35how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers project, I
5:37mean again, as somebody who has a book
5:39on their own fantasy team, I would love
5:41if this Buccaneers team all of a sudden
5:43turned the corner. They were great. They
5:44were going to be scoring a ton of points
5:45in the future. Well, they're playing at
5:48home this week and the Buccaneers only
5:50have a 44% chance of beating the
5:53Pittsburgh Steelers. And on Polymarket
5:55US, the Buccaneers project to score 19.5
5:58total points. Now, of course, if you
6:00wanted to check out any of those
6:01markets, you find the link to Polymarket
6:03US in the description as well as the
6:05comment section. If you sign up with
6:07promo code Flock, you are going to get
6:09$25 added to your account after you
6:11deposit your first 10. Available in
6:13every state outside of Nevada.
6:16But, I'm looking at Bucky as a lead back
6:19that's very talented, but ultimately in
6:21a garbage offense. And for that reason,
6:24I don't think he's a locked and loaded
6:25top 10 RB. Instead, I think very similar
6:28to Jaylen Warren, Bucky Irving is going
6:30to be more of a high-end running back
6:33two. So, if I could take Bucky and send
6:36him over in a deal where it nets me the
6:39low-end wide receiver one range of
6:41Christian Watson, Malik Neighbors, Drake
6:44London, Justin Jefferson, I think that'd
6:46be very interesting if I had the running
6:48back production. Now, going over to some
6:51lower-tier players, cuz obviously, if
6:54we're talking about Jaylen Warren Bucky
6:56Irving, these are great, great assets.
6:58Cam Akers, you may not be selling high
7:01on. Cam Akers, this may be a sell low
7:03moment. Because Akers currently is
7:06sitting here averaging about 10.2
7:09fantasy points per game. He's coming off
7:11of back-to-back weeks with fewer than
7:13eight points scored. Obviously, this is
7:15a running back that just lost the game
7:17or it was supposed to have lost the game
7:20for the New York Giants against the
7:23Washington Commanders. But, more
7:25importantly than any of that, which I
7:28will say the fumbles are a problem,
7:29right? He has fumbled a bunch so far
7:31this season and maybe that does change
7:34the usage here a bit. But, most
7:36importantly, the thing that made Cam
7:38Akers very exciting in 2025 was actually
7:41his receiving involvement and that is
7:43gone away with Jameis Winston. Jameis
7:45simply is not checking the ball down.
7:48Jameis has his eyes deep downfield
7:50trying to pick up the big plays with
7:52Isaiah Likely, as well as Malik Nabers,
7:54and that's led to Kamara Skowronek only
7:57having 2.4 targets per game. I heard in
8:00a Flock League video Sal Iacono called
8:02Kamara Skowronek a fullback. Of course,
8:04I'm not going to be taking it that far,
8:06but I'm going to be looking at Skowronek
8:07as a running back that's phenomenal at
8:10breaking tackles, but he's probably not
8:11going to have those big play rushing
8:13touchdowns. A lot of the value that he
8:15brings in fantasy is just going to be
8:17driven off of volume, especially in his
8:19rookie season where we saw the volume as
8:21a receiver, and that's currently not
8:23here right now. I don't expect that why
8:26that would change going into the future,
8:27especially knowing with the fumble
8:29problems. So, in my rankings, I would be
8:32viewing Kamara Skowronek as like a
8:34low-end running back two {slash} flex
8:36play, and very similar, like if we could
8:38pivot over to some of the interesting
8:40wide receivers, like I think Rashee Rice
8:42honestly has a higher ceiling rest of
8:44season. But, one thing that you could
8:46look at for a running back pivot, I
8:48would be interested in maybe pivoting
8:50over to Rhamondre Stevenson with the
8:52Trevion injury. Rhamondre's going to be
8:54significantly higher in my weekly
8:56rankings over the like the next month as
8:58opposed to Kamara Skowronek. Now,
9:01another lower-tier running back route,
9:03say honestly, here are like two
9:05lower-tier RBs that we can discuss. One,
9:08Aaron Jones. I know we discussed Aaron
9:10Jones last week, but I would expect that
9:13his value does take a significant dive
9:16over the next 2 weeks. First things
9:18first, let's just address the profile.
9:20This is a running back that's about to
9:22turn 32 years old. He is a 32-year-old
9:25running back that so far this season um
9:28really has not seen the same level play
9:31that what we had from him in 2021, 2022
9:35what him so special is we used to
9:37consistently see Aaron Jones be a super
9:41efficient player both as a rusher and a
9:43receiver. He used to consistently
9:45average over 5 yards per carry. He used
9:47to consistently average 5 and 1/2 or
9:50more yards per target. And this is the
9:52lowest yards per target mark that Aaron
9:54Jones has had in his entire NFL career.
9:57This is the lowest yards per carry that
10:00Aaron Jones has had in his entire NFL
10:03career. Now, of course, he has been
10:05great for fantasy purposes. He has been
10:08incredibly valuable. But where does that
10:10come from?
10:12That's come from volume, volume, volume.
10:14And why does he have this volume? Very
10:17simple. It's been the Jordan Mason
10:18injury. If we go back to week one, Aaron
10:20Jones only had 46% of the snaps for the
10:23Minnesota Vikings. Then the following um
10:27month with no Jordan Mason, he averaged
10:30over 80% of the snaps played. The
10:32Vikings are on bye this week. There's a
10:34good chance that Jordan Mason's coming
10:36back in week seven. So Aaron Jones went
10:39from being a must-start running back for
10:41four straight weeks to somebody that I
10:44don't will probably say he's a
10:46must-bench RB. He's going to be like in
10:48a 50/50 committee and he doesn't have
10:51the efficiency that he displayed early
10:53in his NFL career at 24, 25, 26 years
10:56old to now get the job done in fantasy
10:59football at 32. So
11:01he's been a great fill-in over the past
11:03like month, but in the future you're not
11:05going to be able to trust him. And then
11:07the other name that is a lower-tier
11:11asset that very similar to Aaron Jones,
11:13you're not going to be able to sell
11:15Aaron Jones straight up for anything. I
11:17don't expect that you'd be able to sell
11:19Ali Gordon straight up for anything
11:20either, but
11:22you could potentially use Ali Gordon in
11:25a deal where maybe you trade two players
11:27back and you just get an upgrade
11:29somewhere in your lineup.
11:31Ali Gordon is a running back that is a
11:33touchdown or bust player in the Miami
11:35Dolphins offense. Like looking over the
11:37past 3 weeks since the Devon Achane
11:39injury, we have seen Ali Gordon in week
11:413 score about 14 fantasy points. If you
11:44remove the touchdown, that would have
11:45been about eight points. In week 4, he
11:48scored about 18. If you would remove the
11:50touchdown, that would have been about
11:5112. In week 5, he scored about 15. If
11:54you would remove the touchdown, that
11:55would have been about nine. So, I almost
11:57want to say that Ali Gordon is very
11:59similar to Jeff Wilson and Raheem
12:01Mostert where the receiving role isn't
12:03exactly there right now. If the
12:04touchdown's not going to be there, the
12:06floor is going to be incredibly low. And
12:08even if the touchdown is there, okay,
12:11best case scenario is like a mid running
12:13back two. So, I almost just exclusively
12:16view him as like a bye week fill-in if
12:18you're playing in a deeper league. If
12:20Ali Gordon's clearly the running back
12:22four, running back five on your fantasy
12:24team, I would rather leverage him off in
12:27a two-for-one deal to try to find an
12:28upgrade elsewhere in your lineup. Like
12:31if we go through and maybe try to
12:33upgrade our wide receiver position,
12:35right? Like if you could take Jaylen
12:36Waddle, add Ali Gordon to him, and
12:39somehow get yourself up in the range of
12:41like Tutu Atwell, Mecole Hardman,
12:43Garrett Wilson, I think that would make
12:45a ton of sense for your roster.
12:48But, I think that's all I have for you.
12:50Again, I really hope I was able to help
12:52you all out in some way with this video.
12:54Obviously, these running backs, at least
12:56the very top end with Jeff Wilson and
12:57Raheem Mostert, they are very good. But,
12:59I think there are some concerns on why
13:01they may scale back their production in
13:03the future just a tad bit. But, yeah.
13:05Please, if you haven't already, make
13:06sure you subscribe to the channel. I'm
13:08going to be live streaming every single
13:09day until Christmas answering your
13:11fantasy football questions. But, that's
13:13all I got for you. Much love, and I'll
13:15see you all in the live stream later
13:16tonight.
