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Ranking Every Week 2 Running Back as a Sit or Start

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this video and kept the full transcript here for context.

35 min

Duration

Estimated from transcript

Sep 16, 2026

Published

Wed, September 16, 2026

42

Player insights

41

Players mentioned

Topics

Keaton MitchellAaron JonesAlvin KamaraAmeer AbdullahBlake CorumBucky IrvingCam AkersChase BrownChris RodriguezChristian McCaffreyChuba HubbardCJ DonaldsonD'Andre SwiftDavid Montgomery

Player analysis

Player insights

42

Aaron Jones

NegativeRole8:19

Aaron Jones is in a split backfield with Jordan Mason, with both players seeing equal snaps in Week 1. The source classifies Jones as a 'shaky flex' option for Week 2 and ranks Rico Dowdle ahead of him in the current fantasy landscape.

Alvin Kamara

NegativeInjury4:31

Alvin Kamara is considered 50/50 to suit up for Week 2. The source notes that if he returns, it is unclear if he will reclaim a primary role or if the backfield will become a three-headed committee.

Ameer Abdullah

NegativeUsage22:31

Ameer Abdullah and Laquon Treadwell saw minimal usage, combining for only six snaps and two total routes, which the source views as a positive sign that Jacksonville is operating a two-headed backfield rather than utilizing a dedicated pass-catching specialist.

Blake Corum

NegativeRole31:26

The source views Blake Corum as a shaky flex option, noting that while he splits carries with Kyren Williams, he lacks the same level of pass-catching and goal-line security.

Bucky Irving

PositiveUsage17:47

Bucky Irving is a 'feels good' start following a 20-point Week 1 performance with strong passing-down involvement. The source notes he could command 65-70% of goal-line work, suggesting he was undervalued entering the season and possesses high-ceiling potential.

Cam Akers

PositiveRole32:06

The source identifies Cam Akers as the clear lead back for his team, despite a slight route-running discrepancy with Devin Singletary. The source dismisses the route-share difference as noise and expects Akers to maintain his lead role.

Chase Brown

PositiveUsage11:13

Chase Brown is a 'feels good' start for Week 2. Despite splitting time with Samaje Perine, the source projects Brown to handle the majority of valuable touches, including targets and goal-line work.

Chris Rodriguez

NegativeUsage21:22

Chris Rodriguez is a 'very shaky flex' after being outproduced by Basham Toutin in Week 1. The source notes his usage is unclear regarding goal-line duties and uses him as a baseline for low flex-level value.

Christian McCaffrey

PositiveProjection29:26

Christian McCaffrey remains a must-start despite the Week 1 snap split with Jordan Mason. The limited usage was attributed to cramps and a blowout game script rather than a permanent role change, and the team has no incentive to overwork him in favorable matchups.

Chuba Hubbard

PositiveRole4:06

Chuba Hubbard is a solid flex play who is trusted to lead the backfield, having dominated snaps and scored two touchdowns in Week 1. The source has moved him up from a 'dub flex' to the 'feels good' category, grouping him with reliable backfield leaders expected to see consistent scoring opportunities and passing game involvement.

CJ Donaldson

NegativeUsage4:46

CJ Donaldson was utilized on some third-down snaps in Week 1, raising questions about his potential role if the backfield becomes a three-headed committee.

D'Andre Swift

PositiveUsage7:12

DeAndre Swift is a must-start for Week 2 following a huge Week 1 performance. While the source expects his snap share to normalize from the 65-70% range down to approximately 58/42, he remains a high-capacity back in a strong offense. He is described as looking 'awesome,' with an anytime touchdown line of -155 indicating high scoring potential.

David Montgomery

PositiveUsage11:48

David Montgomery is a lock for nearly 20 touches per game. Despite low efficiency on the ground in Week 1, his role as the primary goal-line back makes him a strong start for Week 2.

De'Von Achane

PositiveProjection30:46

Despite a rough Week 1 performance against the Raiders, De'Von Achane is a must-start every week due to his expected heavy involvement in the passing game when the Dolphins are trailing.

Derrick Henry

PositiveUsage4:15

Derrick Henry is a must-start, with the source projecting he could see at least 25 carries if Zay Flowers is unable to play due to his hamstring injury.

Devin Singletary

NegativeUsage32:24

The source notes that Devin Singletary ran slightly more routes than Cam Akers, but characterizes this as noise rather than a sign of a shift in the backfield hierarchy. Singletary is not recommended for fantasy lineups and should be avoided.

Emanuel Wilson

NegativeUsage27:02

Emanuel Wilson was utilized by Seattle specifically for short-yardage and distance situations, though his overall role remains limited.

George Holani

NegativeRole26:56

George Holani is splitting snaps nearly evenly with Jarian Price in the Seattle backfield, making it difficult to determine who will serve as the primary goal-line back.

J.K. Dobbins

NegativeRole22:08

J.K. Dobbins is a 'shaky flex' despite being the clear early-down back for Denver. The source cites the offense's poor performance and a tough upcoming matchup against Jacksonville as reasons for concern.

Jadarian Price

PositiveBreakout26:16

Jadarian Price is viewed as significantly more explosive than George Holani. Despite a snap split in Week 1 due to August injuries, the source expects his role to grow as he gets healthier, placing him in the 'dub flex' category.

James Cook

PositiveRole2:23

James Cook remains a must-start fantasy option despite a tough matchup against the Lions' run defense and potential competition for passing-down snaps from Frank Gore Jr.

Javonte Williams

PositiveRole28:21

Javvante Williams is in an 'unbelievable role' due to injuries across the rest of the backfield, making him a clear start.

Jonah Coleman

NegativeUsage22:08

Jonah Coleman saw very limited involvement in the Denver backfield, playing only three snaps even during a blowout game, indicating he is not currently a fantasy factor.

Jonathon Brooks

NegativeRole3:47

Jonathan Brooks should not be in fantasy lineups currently. The source advises he is not even in the 'shaky flex' category and needs to prove his health and regain control of the backfield before becoming a viable option.

Jordan Mason

NegativeUsage8:19

Jordan Mason is splitting snaps equally with Aaron Jones. While the source considers Mason the superior runner, the lack of target volume and the split backfield make him a low-end 'dub flex' play for Week 2. He is viewed as a high-end handcuff who could see significant involvement if the 49ers build a large lead, potentially outperforming players like Tyler Allgeier or Chris Rodriguez Jr.

Keaton Mitchell

NegativeUsage25:25

Keaton Mitchell split significant time with the starter, playing about 30-33% of the snaps; while the source sees bigger days ahead for him, he is not currently a recommended start.

NegativeUsage25:25

Katon Mitchell split snaps with Hampton in Week 1, accounting for approximately 30-33% of the team's snaps.

Kenneth Gainwell

NegativeRole18:35

Kenneth Gainwell is a 'shaky flex' following a disappointing Week 1. The source advises waiting for a clear role change before trusting him, noting he has not yet secured the role expected when he signed his current contract.

Kyren Williams

PositiveRole31:26

The source feels confident in Kyren Williams as the primary back for the Rams, noting he is more likely to be used in the passing game and at the goal line compared to Blake Corum.

Laquon Treadwell

NegativeUsage22:31

Laquon Treadwell and Ameer Abdullah saw minimal usage, combining for only six snaps and two total routes, which the source views as a positive sign that Jacksonville is operating a two-headed backfield rather than utilizing a dedicated pass-catching specialist.

Malik Davis

NegativeInjury29:09

Malik Davis is confirmed to be out for the season due to injury.

MarShawn Lloyd

PositiveValue16:11

MarShawn Lloyd is a 'dub flex' option for Week 2. The source attributes his Week 1 struggles to an unusually high blitz rate from Minnesota that forced pass-blocking specialist Christopher Brooks onto the field. The source expects the team to establish the run more against the Jets and compares his upside to Jaylen Warren.

Najee Harris

NegativeInjury32:52

The source expresses uncertainty regarding Najee Harris's availability for the upcoming game, noting he was a surprise inactive previously and questioning if he will have a meaningful role if he returns, potentially acting as a nuisance to the current backfield workload.

Quinshon Judkins

NegativeRole19:00

Quinshon Judkins is a 'shaky flex' due to the Browns' poor offensive line, limited time of possession, and offensive struggles. His upside is further capped by Raheem Sanders taking over the passing-down role.

Rico Dowdle

NegativeUsage13:54

Despite dominating snaps in Week 1, Rico Dowdle is a 'shaky flex' option due to a tough matchup against New England's defensive line and a clear 50/50 split workload with Jaylen Warren. The source prefers Jaylen Warren as a start over Dowdle.

RJ Harvey

NegativeRole22:08

RJ Harvey is the clear passing-down back for Denver, leading the team in routes and targets, but the source views him as a shaky flex who relies on explosive plays or checkdowns to be fantasy-relevant.

Saquon Barkley

PositiveProjection20:06

Saquon Barkley is a 'must-start' for Week 2. Despite concerns regarding the Eagles' offensive line and the injury to Landon Dickerson, the source projects a high volume of carries (35+) for him in this matchup.

Tank Bigsby

NegativeRole22:25

The source notes that Tank Bigsby looks like the guy in the Jacksonville backfield, but until snaps disperse more clearly and the goal-line situation is defined, he remains a shaky flex play.

Travis Etienne

NegativeUsage5:08

Travis Etienne split carries with Kendre Miller in Week 1 but dominated the pass-catching work with nine targets. The source warns against overreacting to the split, suggesting it may have been a one-week adjustment, and groups him with reliable backfield leaders expected to lead their backfields.

Tyler Allgeier

NegativeValue30:28

Tyler Allgeier is used as a baseline comparison for flex-level running back value, suggesting that Jordan Mason may have a better outlook in his specific matchup than Allgeier does.

Woody Marks

PositiveUsage17:13

Woody Marks saw nearly as many snaps as David Montgomery in Week 1. The source suggests he is a viable flex option for Week 2, projecting him for close to 10 touches per game in a pass-catching role.

Zay Flowers

NegativeInjury4:15

Zay Flowers is dealing with a hamstring injury, and his status for the upcoming game is uncertain.

Full transcript

Episode Transcript

356

0:00Good morning friends and enemies and welcome into the week 2 running back preview where we go game by game. We rank and we tier every single running

0:09back that's relevant for fantasy football. We go through injury updates and statuses. We go through the weather of the games. We go through their player

0:16props in Vegas. We go through everything you need to know about before you make your start sit decisions. We do the

0:22exact same thing for wide receivers tomorrow. So if you want to hear that after you hear this, make sure you subscribe to the channel. As always, all

0:28of our rankings are available on bdge.co for fantasy members. First game up on the slate, we have got the Detroit Lions

0:36at the Buffalo Bills. Uh, I mean, highest total on the slate here, 54 and a half. The Lions are 5 and a half point

0:44underdogs. And I I think a lot of people will ask why that spread is so big.

0:49There's a lot of data, at least going around right now, about, you know, uh, teams coming off of overtime games on

0:55short weeks. That would really be the premise behind the spread here. The Lions obviously played into overtime against the Saints in week one and now

1:02they're traveling to Buffalo on Thursday Night Football. So, it's quick turnaround. You played an extra 25% of a game. It all makes sense. So, does the

1:09spread 54 and a half. I mean, based on how Josh Allen and the Bills looked against the Houston Texans, can only

1:15imagine what they're going to do against the Detroit Lions banged up secondary who are not going to have Kirby Joseph or Brian Branch in this one. Again, no

1:22Taran Arnold. Either way, this is a running back preview. So, Jamir Gibbs is going right into the must start category. Of course, should be mentioned

1:29that two of the uh Lions offensive linemen were DMPS [clears throat] on Monday, Blake Miller and Christian Mahogany. Uh does sound like Miller is

1:37going to play, but we do have to see those reports getting back. Regardless, it's not really a talking point given the fact that you're never not going to

1:43put Gibbs in the must-ar category. James Cook on the other hand, I'm throwing him back into the mustard category again.

1:47It's it's a relatively tough match up against the Detroit Lions run defense, which I think is eventually going to show out as being a pretty good one. And

1:54James Cook obviously had a down game, but listen, Josh Allen just completely took control and we're going to see games like that when he's when he rushes

2:00for two touchdowns, that's going to be at the detriment of James Cook, and that's going to happen. But we've seen multiple years in a row now where both

2:06of them can eat uh on the ground. I will say one of the like overarching concerns here is like this was a game where Tai

2:13Johnson did not play in. Ty Johnson did get back to a limited practice on Monday, so it's trending towards him playing. not a guaranteed thing, but to

2:20get back to a limited practice, you know, 3 days before the game does end up, you know, putting him in a good

2:25direction. And in the second half of the Detroit or the uh Houston Buffalo game, James Cook really wasn't playing too many of the passing down snaps. It was

2:34actually Frank or Jr. Um so regardless, it's James Cook. We're not going to overthink this one. Putting him in there and move on to the next game. We have

2:43Carolina at Atlanta 1 p.m. slate. Bean of course going into the mustart category. Then we have this uh duo of Chuba Hubard and Jonathan Brooks. And it

2:51it became pretty clear I feel like by the end of the summer that it was going to be like Chuba Hubard to start things

2:55off very very hot and Jonathan Brooks was like missing practice and it just felt like they were going to ease him

3:01in. The vibes shifted completely once Chuba Hubard, you know, had his hamstring early in August, the hamstring injury. Then everything started pushing

3:06towards Jonathan Brooks and my sentiment felt like this is too high. There's too much risk. Like once you healthy, they're still going to use him in in a

3:131A 1B situation at worse. And it was a clear like shift towards Chuba being the dude in week one and he dominated snaps.

3:21He scored two touchdowns. They get a pretty good match up against the Atlanta Falcons who now lost another interior defensive lineman who is likely going to

3:27be out for the year. Uh so right now until we see Jonathan Brooks like regain that form or regain more control of the

3:34backfield, which I do still think is going to happen over the course of the year, but this first month is going to

3:38be Chuba because they trust him so much.

3:40Now, every matchup is not going to be like the Chicago Bears where you can just do whatever you want on offense,

3:45but I would say Chuba is a dub flex.

3:47Jonathan Brooks is I wouldn't even put him in the shaky flex category. He's one of those. We want to see it go through

3:52the hoop before he's back into our lineups in any capacity right now. New Orleans at Baltimore King, you are my goat and we are going to start you.

4:02Shocking. On the flip side, the Saints, we do have a bit of a concerning uh runout here. And uh you know, going over

4:09the game situation, etc. It's a 47 and a half point total. So, a pretty high scoring total on the slate here. The

4:15Ravens are 7 and 12 point favorites. And the other thing to call out with Derrick Henry is Zay Flowers, he's got the

4:19hamstring injury. We don't know if he's going to play or not. If he doesn't suit up, I'd imagine Derrick Henry gets

4:23another 25 carries at minimum in this game. Jacobe Lane also going to be out for this one. Uh yeah, but on the flip

4:29side, we have Travis ETN and Kendre Miller and possibly Alvin Kamar. It seemed like Alvin Kamar was like trending towards playing and then they

4:36didn't end up playing him. So I would say he's, you know, 50/50 to suit up in week two. And that does beg the question

4:43like if ETN and Kendra Miller were already splitting snaps and then you had this guy CJ Donaldson playing on some third down snaps, does Kamara take that

4:51role and then is this a true three-headed backfield? I'm like conflicted cuz ETN was a dude that I was high on in the summer for sure. And I'm

4:58sure a lot of you guys if you followed my rankings and stuff, you ended up with some Travis ETN at the like the four or

5:02five turn, but you probably ended up with a lot of Kenneth Walker. So, shout out y'all that drafted him. But ETN, my

5:08read on the ETN situation is like, yeah, it it's definitely it definitely wasn't a positive outcome for sure. He split carries with Kendrick Miller. I think

5:15they both had eight or nine carries. Uh Kendra Miller did score from inside the 10 yard line. ETN obviously dominated the pass catching work. ended up seeing

5:22nine targets cuz they ran so many plays and Chuck attempted so many passes. Will that be sticky when Alvin Kamar comes

5:27back? Does he play more of a passcatching role? Overall, I don't want to overemphasize this split in week one right now. I think they struggled so

5:34much early on that maybe it was one of those situations where Kell Moore was like, we got to try something else.

5:40Like, let's get some other faces on the field and see if we can get something going there. So, again, don't want to

5:44overreact. Uh, I'm going to put ETN back into the dub flex category. - 105 as an anytime touchdown score here. Uh I'm not

5:52going to start obviously Alan Kamar if he plays. I'm not going to start Kendry Miller if he plays either. But Travis

5:56ETN, you know, he he's on he's on alert for sure. He's on alert. Next match up, we've got the Minnesota Vikings at the

6:02Chicago Bears. Uh 47 12 point total here and a 5 1/2 point spread in favor of Chicago. Also should be worth shouting

6:12out to you guys if any of you guys are fantasy members and you're using the rankings going forward. obvious to know

6:18that these matchup bubbles, which if you're new here, they represent fantasy points allowed to uh the opponent's running back here. So, like Carolina has

6:27allowed the single most fantasy points to opposing running backs. This is EPA per rush. This is success rate per rush, and this is explosive uh rush rate

6:35allowed. So, a lot of green obviously means easy matchups. However, it's an extremely small sample size. When we did week one rankings, they were based on

6:43all of 2025. as we get into 2026, like these are based on just week one rankings of 2026. So, obviously, they

6:50are not sticky in any capacity. So, just kind of use your brain a little bit when you're looking at the rankings uh on the

6:55front end in terms of matchups and opponents. So, week one is going to be a very small sample size. As we get

7:01towards like week three and four, we're going to start to see like the actual success of these teams or lack of

7:06success of these teams for their defensive matchups develop more. So, DeAndre Swift, Colin Nungai, huge week one against the Carolina Panthers

7:14defense. I think this is just going to be a team that has a ton of success obviously uh on the ground throughout

7:20the course of the year. Ben Johnson is a mastermind. Their offensive line is very, very good. Like running behind Darnell Wright is basically just a

7:26cheat code at this point.

7:27DeAndre Swift definitely had a huge favor over Kyle Nungai in terms of snaps. I do think we likely see that come back to a little bit closer to what

7:36we saw last year. Not a pure 50/50, maybe like a 5842 in favor of DeAndre Swift rather than like the 6570 we saw

7:44in favor of him in week one. Kong guys coming back from like a month-long injury that he sat out most of August

7:50for. Uh he did break away a 60 yard touchdown run which is crazy. I didn't even think he had that in him, but good

7:54to see he's like very very fully healthy. They both will be used at a very high capacity in this one. Tough

8:00matchup against the Minnesota Vikings obviously. But DeAndre Swift looks awesome. His anytime touchdown line is minus 155, which is, you know, pure

8:08insanity there. He's going into the feels good category. Obviously, if you have him, you're putting him into your lineup. Kung guy, I'm going to throw him

8:14into the shaky flex category. Like, he will get 10 carries likely in this one.

8:17If he doesn't score a touchdown, though, he's not really going to do much for you. The other side of the ball is more

8:21confusing. Jordan Mason, Aaron Jones, they played about equal snaps last week.

8:25They both got into the end zone. Jordan Mason did get the carry from the one yard line, but Aaron Jones scored from

8:30within the 10 yard line as well. And this was kind of like the concern with this backfield going in. Everybody was

8:34like, "Yeah, Aaron Jones is washed.

8:35Aaron Jones is old. Aaron Jones sucks and it's Mason's backfield." And I started to buy into that a little bit, but it's very clear that if they're both

8:41healthy, they're both going to be used in a split backfield capacity. Do I think Jordan Mason's the better runner on the ground? Yes. They combined for

8:48one target last game. So, it doesn't seem like they're going to be a very high running back target offense. And obviously, one game is not sticky. But

8:56either way, Mason's not a very volumebased passcatching running back to begin with. That being said, they are playing against the Chicago Bears. So,

9:05if Chuba Hubard could do it, Jordan Mason can probably do it. So, he's going to go into the dub flex category, but

9:10he's going to go towards the bottom of it because I just don't feel secure with the roles here. Aaron Jones can go into

9:16the shaky flex category and we can move upwards and onwards. Cincinnati at Houston. 46 and a half point total here.

9:25They are playing in Houston. So, they are in the dome. Houston is favored by three points. David Montgomery coming off of a three touchdown game. Don't

9:33know how many three touchdown games he's had in his career prior to that, but I can't imagine that that was not at worst

9:38his second, maybe his first. I don't know. Uh 20 carries for about 60 yards.

9:42So, zero efficiency on the ground there against a Buffalo Bills run defense.

9:46That's not going to be very good, I don't think. Uh but they get the Bengals next. And the Bengals defense looked

9:52improved last week for sure. I think a lot of that was aided by, you know, four forced fumbles. Not going to be the case

9:57all the time. They did allow, you know, 25, 27 points, whatever it was. So, like, you allow 27 points and you had

10:04four force fumbles and recoveries there.

10:06You know, I I don't want to get over my skis about how the Bengals defense is like incredibly improved. They're definitely going to be better. They're

10:11definitely going to be better against the run, especially with Dexter Lawrence in there, but I don't think we should like over dramatize what they did in

10:17week one as if that's projectable for the rest of the season. At this point though, like David Montgomery feels like a lock for nearly 20 touches cuz they

10:24want to run the offensive. That's why they signed him. Now, I doubt there was anything that they saw in week one after

10:29three touchdowns that wasn't like, you know, we made the right move here. On the flip side, though, Woody Marks had nearly as many snaps as David Montgomery

10:36did. I don't think a lot of people really take notice of that given the fact that David Montgomery obviously had the huge fantasy day. He'll get all the

10:44goal line work, but Woody Marks was on the field a lot. And I actually think because of that and based on the

10:48matchup, you can flex him if you need to. He's not, you know, he's not someone that I think you need to leave for dead.

10:53I think he will get, you know, close to 10 touches per game, especially in a a game script where I could see them

10:58needing to score points. A game script where, you know, they'll be in the game here and and need some pass catching

11:02ability out of the back field. I I don't think Woody Marks is the worst start this week. Chase Brown, tough matchup.

11:08You know, obviously we did see Buffalo put up 36 points, but James Cook didn't have a huge game. Chase Brown is

11:13splitting time with Saja Pron. I don't think that was ever really like a question that that was going to happen, but Chase Brown's going to get a lot of

11:19the valuable touches. Obviously, he's going to get a lot of the targets. he will get a decent amount of goal line

11:23work there. So, he's going to go into the feels good category. Um I think this is like the the appropriate tier to have

11:28him in here. The DeAndre Swift, the Chase Browns, the David Montgomery, like they're they're all going to be in your lineup this week, but I wouldn't put

11:32them in the elite tier of guys. The offensive line for the Bengals and Chase Brown did look good though, and I would

11:38be very optimistic about this offense moving forward. And, you know, we're throwing them into tiers, you know, the mustards, the feels good, etc.

11:44Obviously, if you want my exact rankings, which will be live on the website by the time you guys actually watch this video in terms of like, you

11:50know, flex and running back positional, so you could actually make your start decisions. Yeah, those will be live on the site for any fantasy members.

11:58Pittsburgh at New England here. This is a low overunder total, 41 12 points. New England 5 12 point favorites after a

12:07disastrous week one uh where they scored 10 points against the Seattle Seahawks.

12:12Could be a get-right game though. I think the biggest news here for New England is whether or not Trayvon Henderson plays. He did return to

12:17practice earlier this week. Uh so it does feel like it's trending towards him returning. What does that really do for Andre Stevenson? What does it do for

12:24Trayvon Henderson? I mean, they badly need explosive players on that field obviously given the fact that AJ Brown's now going to be out for four to six

12:30weeks. So, I think Trayvon Henderson will definitely be in there for a share of snaps. How many snaps does that really end up totaling? Probably in like

12:37the 30 35% range. I think they might have to ease him in a little bit. And I think that was likely going to be the

12:43rate honestly to start things off in the season. Even if he wasn't hurt, it seemed like Raandre was the guy. And I'm

12:48definitely not overindexing on everyone's original take on like, oh, Raandre just looks slow in week one.

12:54They played against Seattle's run defense. That's going to be one of, if not the best run defenses in the entire NFL. Everyone's probably going to look

12:59pretty bad at the running back position against them. So, let's not be like, "Oh, this guy had one bad game with a

13:04low yards per carry, therefore he is bad and washing everything." Raandre has been a dude who's kind of proven people wrong for five straight seasons. So,

13:10with the return of Trayvon, I'm going to put Raandre into the dub flex. He's definitely going to go more towards the

13:15top of the category with the ETNs, the Chuba. Like, definitely expect them to lead their backfields. Definitely expect them to get the scoring opportunities.

13:21Definitely expect them to be relatively involved in the passing game, but we don't have a secure read on how the game

13:27script is going to flow or how the backfield split is actually going to be.

13:30Trayvon's definitely a shaky flex and towards the bottom of that for sure. the Steelers side of things. Last week, in a

13:36game where the Steelers kind of dominated the Falcons, at least the second half, they were never in, you know, in danger of losing the game at

13:43all. They were never in like a passing game script mode, they still ended up throwing the ball 40 times. Uh, compared

13:49to like 20 running back carries or fewer than that, I think maybe 18 running back carries. Uh, Rico Dattle did dominate

13:55snaps, but touches. Jaylen Warren still got a ton of touches. It's like a clear 50/50 split there. I I don't think that

14:01was that surprising to anybody and I think that's what we're going to see going forward. As you can see from a lot

14:05of the red across the board, this one does feel a little bit stickier than just the oneweek sample size. The New

14:10England Patriots is a very tough run defense uh with Milton Williams and Christian Barmore in the middle there.

14:15So, this is going to be a tough matchup especially for Rico Dowel. Um so, I'm going to throw him into the shaky flex

14:21category. I do think he's you know probably above the guys like Manungai and Woody Marks and Aaron Jones because he probably sees between 12 and 14

14:29touches. Uh Jaylen Warren. I think he's a better player than Rico Dael, but also a little bit of a tough cell. I would

14:35play Jaylen Warren over Rico Dael because I think the talent is there, but I don't feel overly confident in either of these guys in this matchup,

14:42especially with how we saw uh Mike McCarthy kind of operate in week one. I I think we were expecting them to be

14:48pretty pass heavy, but like that was another level of it. And I should mention this is the first yellow weather that this is a major oversight on my

14:55part. First yellow weather update of the entire season here. Shout out US.

15:00Wyatt's caution moderate rain. So we have a 50% chance of rain with uh 10 mile per hour wind. So nothing crazy

15:07here. Um you know these will update in real time as we are getting closer and closer to kickoff. So something to

15:14monitor. This this weather for sure is not like you know yellow is caution but it's not actually something that you're changing your lineup for in my opinion.

15:20Once it gets like orange or red again all this stuff is available on the front end of the website as well if you are uh

15:26a member. But just something to note as we get closer to the games. We're obviously like 6 days out right now. So,

15:31uh, a lot of this stuff is not super sticky at the moment, but just something to caution yourself with. Next game up,

15:37Green Bay at New York Jets. Green on the weather. We love to see it. So, Green Bay 4 and a half point favorites here.

15:4344 and a half point total. The Jets coming off of a good win against Tennessee, but that's important to, you know, not only preface, but overstate

15:51Tennessee. Tennessee. Bruce Hall looked really good. over 20 carries, over 100 rushing yards, scored a rushing touchdown. How sticky is that going to

15:58be in games where they are not playing against the Tennessee Titans? I don't have a ton of confidence. Uh though I

16:03don't really feel like the Green Bay Packers defense is is uh worth a lot of confidence either. Reese Hall's anytime touchdown line at minus 130 feels

16:11extremely aggressive. Marshon Lloyds is at minus 115. He did struggle in week one, but I kind of think in in hindsight

16:18I was a little bit too aggressive on him and it felt like maybe it was a little more obvious that uh we should have

16:23calculated Christopher Brooks being on the field more given the blitz rate by Minnesota. Brian Flores sent a blitz at Jordan Love on like 78% of their plays

16:34or something like that. And because Green Bay's offensive line is quite poor, that was going to be the case. And Christopher Brooks is their main pass

16:40blocking back. So he probably played a lot more snaps than he would in a normal game. But I do think against the Jets,

16:45they will try to establish the run a little bit more than they did last week, which does give me relative faith in

16:50Marshon Lloyd. And I'll probably get some push back on this, but Marshon Lloyd for me in this matchup this week, not going against Brian Flores and the

16:57blitzing defense that he has, is going to go into the uh dub flex category. You know, you can compare Marshon Lloyd to

17:04Jaylen Warren, you know, and I think people might think that's crazy, but the matchup is significantly better. The NA time touchdown line is significantly

17:10better. The over under the game 44 and a half. I just think on paper at least a lot of things favor, you know, Green Bay

17:16winning this game. The spread is in their favor for running backs. So, I will give Marshon Lloyd one more chance in a better overarching opportunity. And

17:24then Bree Hall is going to go into the feels good category. I think until he proves to us that he shouldn't be there,

17:29we're going to put him there. Balon Allen got enough work that I'm going to throw him into the shaky flex category.

17:33We going to move along to Cleveland at Tampa Bay. So, we've got a Florida game here in Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay 8 and a

17:40half point favorites here. 41 12 point total. Uh really all we have to decipher is the Bucks side of things. So Bucky

17:48Irving good game last week about 20 fantasy points was really involved on passing downs which was good to see. We don't have any practice reports yet for

17:55Sunday games unfortunately. So we don't know the status of Shawn Tucker and I do think that matters. Uh not that I think

18:01Shawn Tucker is going to have a major role but I do think there's a world where like when Shawn Tucker returns do

18:06Bucky and Shawn Tucker like split goal line work 50/50? If not, maybe it's, you know, 65 70% in favor of Bucky, and that

18:13means we were probably a little bit too low on him entering the season. But the Browns got ripped apart by the

18:19Jacksonville Jaguars. I don't think the Bucks will have too much trouble having success against them, uh, just generally speaking on the offensive side of the

18:26ball. You know, I think if the Bucks could have held on to the ball and and stopped fumbling away, like we could

18:30have seen an even higher ceiling game for a guy like Bucky Irving. So, for me, he's definitely going into the feels

18:35good category. Kenneth Gainwell really disappointing in week one and I think until we see like a role change he's definitely going into the shaky flex

18:42category even in a matchup where they are expected to win by eight and a half points. Don't want to write him off for

18:46dead. Definitely not. I think they signed him to a good money deal to have a role in this offense. We just didn't

18:51really see it come to fruition in week one unfortunately. On the flip side, I mean the Browns offense is exactly who

18:57we thought they were and that makes pretty much everybody else unplayable.

19:00Quan Judkins is going to the shaky flex category cuz we basically saw I mean listen the Jacksonville run defense very very good and we saw like the thesis of

19:09why Judkins felt like a tough pick in week one where the Browns have no offensive success very little time of possession a bad offensive line and it

19:17led to you know basically doubledigit meaningless carries for Quinn Shaw Judkin. So unless he scores a touchdown and even has the goal line back his

19:25anytime touchdown line is at 155 here plus 155. So he's a heavy underdog. uh to score a touchdown here. And even with

19:32the Dylan Samson injury, he's going to be out for a long period of time. Raheem Sanders actually kind of like got

19:38promoted to the passing down role. So, it doesn't look like Judkins is going to catch many passes there either. And it's

19:44not like Deshun Watson is delivering accurate passes to anybody who is on the field for the Cleveland Browns. So, tough run out for Quinshaw Judkins

19:50drafters. Last 1 PM game, we have the Philadelphia Eagles at the Tennessee Titans. Philly is a seven-point favorite in a 39 12 point total. Now, I think the

20:00story of the week one game for Philly was like obviously, you know, they're implementing a brand new offense, but their offensive line unfortunately did

20:06not look much better. Didn't provide a lot of running room for Saquon Barkley.

20:10Ripped off a big play, but Landon Dickerson is clearly like he's just not it anymore. And uh he's going to be out

20:14now for the foreseeable future, which begs the question if the Philadelphia Eagles offensive line can return to anywhere near the status of 2024. And if

20:22week one is any indicator, doesn't really look like it, especially against a Washington Commander front seven there, which, you know, while slightly

20:29improved, like it's still the Washington Commander. So, you know, they're playing the Tennessee Titans. So, for Saquon, like he's still going to go into the

20:36Mustar category, they're likely going to run the ball, you know, upwards of 35 plus times in this game. So, we're just

20:43going to have Saquon in our lineups until we need to take him out, which won't be at least in this matchup. On

20:48the flip side of things, I don't know how you can like I'm not no just nope.

20:52Nope. Nope. Per stains. Jacksonville at Denver. First 4 PM slate game. We've got a 45 and a half point total.

20:59Jacksonville 2 and a half point underdogs. They are in Denver. We are in Mile High. And you know this is one of

21:04those situations where you see the green dots and you're like, "Hell yeah, great matchup." No, of course not. Kenneth Walker just dogged them on Monday Night

21:11Football and put them into the green.

21:13That is Kenneth Walker put them into the green. That's the way that we will um categorize them. These are a couple of

21:20tough tough backfields to figure out.

21:22For Jacksonville, Bashaw Tuton obviously severely outplayed Chris Rodriguez in terms of yardage and production and everything like that, but the usage was

21:30pretty split. Um 27 snaps for Bashaw Tuton, 23 for Chris Rodriguez. He had 15 carries to Rodriguez's six, which is really encouraging considering like if

21:39we were going to see a split where it was like concerning. It was more like Chris Rodriguez would get, you know, the

21:44uh the carries more so than two. And we didn't see any rushes inside the 5yd line cuz Trevor was just throwing dots

21:50from 30 yards out and they were just scoring at will from wherever they wanted to on the field. So, we didn't

21:55really get any clarity on that. Weirdly enough though, they had the same amount of routes run. So, Bashalt Tutin ran eight routes, Chris Rodriguez ran eight

22:02routes. But like we're still a little bit uncertain about how this backfield is going to split up. If there's any actual rhyme or reason to their roles or

22:08if it's just like, "Hey, Toutin, go do your thing until you're tired. Come out.

22:12Rodriguez, do your thing until you're tired. Toot will go in there." Uh, short down and distance snaps, five for Rodriguez, three for Toutin. Long down

22:18and distance, two for Tuton, one for Rodriguez. So, I think we all kind of saw with our eyes Tootton looks like a

22:24guy. He looks like the guy. But until we see the snaps really disperse more, until we have more clarity on what the

22:31actual goal line situation is, I find it a little bit difficult to put him anywhere above a dub flex, especially in

22:37a matchup against Denver, who of course they struggled against Kenneth Walker, but like they will be a very very minus matchup for running backs for the

22:45remainder of the season. Rodriguez, on the other hand, definitely a very very shaky flex. Should also be noted, uh, while there was a lot of talk about like

22:52a pure pass catching specialist Jacksonville running back, Amir Abdullah and Laquinn Allen both played in this game, they only combined for six snaps

23:01and ran two total routes. Amir Abdullah had four carries to zero for Laquin Allen. And again, another part of this game script last week that made things a

23:10little bit difficult to decipher is that Jacksonville got up so big and were up so big for so long in the game, they

23:15actually benched the starters by the fourth quarter. So like those numbers for air Abdullah Quinn Allen in my opinion are very very positive for Tutin

23:21Rodriguez because it does seem like a pure two-headed backfield as opposed to having like a pure pass catching specialist. On the flip side of things,

23:28we've got Dobbins, we've got RJ Harvey, and and a little bit of the same could be said cuz we weren't really sure like

23:33what Jonah Coleman's involvement was going to be in this game. And this is another one where the game kind of got

23:37away from Denver. They were down so big that like do we have a real sample size of like something that we could take

23:43away that's harder or more concrete from the backfield? Probably not. But we do know that Jonah Coleman barely played even in a blowout. He only had three

23:49snaps while R.J. Harvey had 25. Dobbins eight carries to RJ Harvey's three. In terms of routes run though, RJ Harvey obviously ran 15 of them while Dobbins

23:57only ran six. So I just think we have a very very clear vision of what this team wants to do. Like Dobbins is the clear

24:04early downback. He's the guy who's going to lead the team in carries. RJ Harvey is the clear passing down back. He's

24:08going to lead the team in routes, run, and targets. The offense looked miserable in week one. We'll have to see how long Champa allows Davis Webb to

24:15call plays for. I know that's a big storyline heading into week two, week three. If they continually struggle, I wouldn't be surprised if Shawn Peyton

24:21just pulled the plug very quickly. I will say it's pretty hard to have confidence in either of these running backs right now given what we saw from

24:28the offense in week one. It's still one of the top offensive lines, but they don't get an easy matchup here in week

24:32two. It's not like a get-right matchup.

24:34They're playing against Jacksonville Jaguars, so makes them both a little spooky. Like again, I I think the Broncos offense will be way better, of

24:41course, than they were on Monday Night Football. But that being said, not the best matchup right now. If they were playing an easier defense, I think I'd

24:48feel a lot more confidence in Dobbins.

24:49His anytime touchdown line at plus 125, obviously significantly higher than RJ.

24:53Harvey's at plus 205. So RJ Harvey's going to need a big explosive play. He's going to need a ton of checkdowns, but

24:58this is still an offense that spreads the ball around a lot. And JK Dobbins is obviously going to need a touchdown to

25:02come through. So they're both going to go into the shaky flex category for me.

25:05And there's no one else to start in this game. Moving to the Vegas Raiders and the Los Angeles Chargers. Genty looks

25:11like the GOAT. He's going right into the mustart category. Of course, the Chargers are 6 and 12 point favorites.

25:16This is a 43 and a half point total.

25:18They are playing in LA. They're in the dome here. This is a weird run out for the Chargers, man, because they look so

25:23so so bad against the Arizona Cardinals.

25:25They lost Tyler Bottish in the summer.

25:27So, the interior of their offensive line looks like it is once again going to be a problem for them. And uh Mike McDaniel

25:33scheme just did not look very good in week one. Hon did get home with a touchdown. This is, you know, on paper

25:41still a pretty good matchup. So, we're putting Hampton into our lineup again.

25:45Of course, in week two, we're not writing off the Chargers right away. He did split some serious time with Katon Mitchell, though. Uh Katon had about

25:5230ish 33% of the snaps there. Bigger days ahead for him, but right now, of course, he's not going to actually go

25:59into your lineup. Neither is anyone else in this game. Seattle at Arizona. So, Seattle's playing in Arizona in the dome. 40 and a half point total here.

26:07three and a half point spread. Uh obviously that is because of Drew Lockach playing at quarterback instead of Sam Darnold. Now I think this is good

26:16for the running backs in Seattle. Jarian Price obviously split snaps with George Hani. They were like pretty near even.

26:22We did see Emanuel Wilson come in for some short down and distance stuff. We don't really have a read on who's going

26:27to be the actual goal line back here yet cuz we didn't get those opportunities in week one, but I do think with Drew

26:31Lockout against the Arizona Cardinals, we should see the running backs featured pretty heavily for Seattle. So, I actually I'm going to throw Jadarian

26:39Price, who looks just so much better than George Hani, so explosive. I can't imagine that, you know, it's the first game. He had injuries he was dealing

26:45with throughout August. Like, there was no way they're going to go into week one and just give him a bellcow role here.

26:50So, with Jaden Price, I think we're going to continue. Same with Jeremiah Love, another rookie, first round rookie uh in this game being featured. We're

26:57going to see both of these guys get more and more playtime because they are so good and so much better than their

27:01counterparts in their respective backfields. So, I would I would be increasingly optimistic as the weeks goes by, as the weeks go by, as they

27:09prove more and more of themselves, as they get healthier and healthier and health healthier. So, Darren Price is going to go into the dub flex category.

27:15On the flip side, hard to be super optimistic about anybody in the Arizona backfield because right now Love and Algier are really, really splitting the

27:22role. I think Love is probably, you know, less than 100% coming off of the ankle injury. They're also not just going to shove carries into his belly

27:29when they have a guy like Tyler Algier who's like a battering ram at this point. Algier had far more carries than

27:33Jeremiah Love did. Love looked awesome obviously and I think they will continue to pepper him with targets over and over again, but this is just such a difficult

27:40matchup against the uh Seattle Seahawks run defense. And so Algier is going into the shaky flex category. Jeremiah Love, I'm kind of torn on him right now. Like

27:49I don't think I want to start him in this matchup. He looks so good, but I do think he's deserved. Like if I'm going

27:54to throw Marshon Lloyd, Bash 2, and Jordan Mason into the Dub Flex category, I think Jeremiah Love probably deserves to be in here. And I think again, as the

28:01weeks progress, we'll see him take more and more of that snapshare. Is it a huge jump in week two against Seattle? Maybe

28:08not. But that's kind of where I'm landing on these tricky backfield situations. Dallas at home against the Washington Commanders. Four and a half

28:15point favorites here. 50 and a half point total here. Uh they are expecting Dallas to kind of get right on offense.

28:21Makes sense. Really good match up against the Washington Commanders. Uh Javvante Williams is just in an unbelievable role there with everybody

28:27in that backfield hurt. So we can kind of just move past the Dallas Cowboys. On the flip side of things, we have Jakori

28:32Krosky Morett who was clearly like the guy in this backfield in week one. His Vegas lines for this week are are pretty

28:38encouraging. 13 and 1/2 rushing attempts, 56 and a half rushing yards, plus 120 is an anytime touchdown score.

28:43He did fumble late in that game and Kron Allen came in, but I don't think they're going to hold him out or like punish him

28:49long-term for that. So, I don't hate Jaory Crosky Morett, especially against his Dallas defense. It just got torn up by the Giants and Cam Scaboo. So, we're

28:57going to throw him into the dub flex category. I think he's very, very startable. Rashad White, he is who we thought he was. Um, you're not going to

29:03put him in your lineup. Kron Allen feels like the handcuff to Cororey Crossing Morett obviously not in the lineup either. And Malik Davis, sorry buddy,

29:10but you're out for the season, so we're going to have to hide you behind that wall. Miami at San Francisco. Next game

29:15up, they are in San Francisco. We got good weather across the board here. 45 and a half point total. San Francisco 13

29:2212 point favorites here, you know, not surprisingly against the Miami Dolphins.

29:26Uh what's tricky here is we have that split between Kalon Black and Christian McAffrey last week when they were playing in Melbourne. That was kind of

29:33like the talk of fantasy on waiverwires.

29:35Now, my take on it was like, all right, you know, CMAC dealing with some injuries throughout August. They're playing a weird game in Melbourne. Like,

29:42they also get up pretty big uh against the Rams. Christian McCaffrey had cramps throughout the game. Way more indicative of just like we don't need to push this

29:50guy right now than what I think we're going to see out of Christian McCaffrey.

29:52But again, this is another one where we might have a similar game script. We might have a similar notion with Kayon

29:58Black being very involved this week. So, while in our Waverwire video yesterday, I was like, I don't think Kayn Black is

30:03really much more than the highest end of handcuffs. I still believe that over the course of the season, but this is one of

30:08those matchups where he could actually end up being, you know, obviously CMAX going to the top of the list of the must

30:12starts, but this is one of those games where we could definitely see Kalon Black be just as involved as he was last

30:17week. There's no reason to give Christian McCaffrey 20 touches up the middle against a team that you should beat by multiple touchdown scores here.

30:24So, I'm not putting him in the dub flex category. He doesn't catch passes and he needs a touchdown to get there. But I do

30:28think you could probably do worse if you're going to put guys like, you know, Algier or Chris Rodriguez in this category. I wouldn't be surprised if he

30:34had the same amount of work in a better matchup than those guys. And his anytime touchdown line plus 130, like they are

30:40expecting a real garbage time here for the San Francisco 49ers. And Kayon Black could absolutely clean up here. Devon Han, yeah, rough week against the

30:46Raiders. I think our like take on him throughout the summer kind of played out in week one, but he's still Devon Chan.

30:51Uh they're going to be trailing in this one. They're going to throw a ton of passes. So like regardless, you drafted

30:55him early. He's in your lineup every single week. Sunday Night Football, we've got Indie at KC. This one's just making my life easy. JT must start,

31:02Kenneth Walker must start. Let us move onwards. Giants at the LA Rams for Monday Night Football. The Rams obviously coming off of that

31:11embarrassing loss in Melbourne here.

31:13They are seven-point favorites. They are at home, so New York has to travel cross country. Two prime time games in a row

31:19for both teams. 47 and a half point total. Absolutely a get-right spot for the Los Angeles Rams. Um, feel really good about Kairen. I know he's splitting

31:27carries, you know, very very straightforward with Blake Horm. I think the Vegas Lions are like pretty dead on here. 10 and a half carries for Blake

31:33Horm, 45 and a half rushing yards, plus 175 for the anytime touchdown, uh, minus 150 for the anytime touchdown for Kairen

31:40Williams. It's simply, you know, the fact that Kron Williams catches passes, Kairen Williams is more likely to be on in on the goal line than Blake Quum. I

31:46don't think there's a world where it's like one guy is the pure goal lineback, but I do think in a situation where

31:51Shawn McY wants to make a decision on who's going to be the guy in there, it's definitely going to be Kairen Williams.

31:56So until we see a little bit more pass catching work, until we see a little bit more goal line work, I do think Blake

32:01Horm needs to be considered a shaky flex. But the higher part of it, on the flip side, we've got Cam Scatteroo

32:07coming off of uh, you know, a touchdown performance, a pretty big yardage performance on the ground, was not involved in the passing game,

32:13unfortunately, but Jackson Dart was just taking advantage completely of the the Cowboys linebacker group and their secondary and was just peppering, you

32:20know, the corners of the field and stuff like that. uh he ran a few less routes than Devin Singleary which is kind of

32:25annoying and a little bit concerning. It was 18 to 14 I believe in terms of routes run and Singleary got a lot of

32:30targets but that discrepancy to me uh is way more noise than it is like oh four four targets for Deon Singleary they ran

32:36almost the same amount of routes. So if next week it's 18 to 14 in favor of Cam Scatabo and he gets four targets people

32:42are going to be like holy [ __ ] Cam Scatabo 17 carries plus four or five targets you know we're feeling good

32:46about that. So Cam clearly the lead back here. I will say the one thing that concerns me a little bit is like when

32:52Naji Harris returns, does he have a little bit of a role here? Is he annoying? Is he a thorn in the side?

32:57Like of course we're not starting any of these guys, but it is just something to think about. Little food for thought

33:02here with guys behind Cam Scout. I also don't know if Najaras is going to be active for this one. He was kind of a

33:07surprise and active, but Tyrone Tracy did fumble, which unfortunately is likely going to fumble away any more future opportunity he has for the New

33:14York Giants. He will be very good elsewhere in a different jersey color come either this season or 2027, but unfortunately Tyrone Tracy will not make

33:24these lists for the foreseeable future.

33:25Devin Singleary, yeah, he's a rather not. And Naji, we don't even know if he's going to be active. So, that is

33:30going to wrap things up for the running back rankings video for this week. Like I said, the full rankings, all the

33:36positions, their exact rankings, flex rankings, all that kind of stuff for week 2 is available to our fantasy members on bdge.co. We'll hit you with a

33:43quick poster mode here. Ah, this is not I'm I'm gonna go real small for you so you guys can see the the full picture

33:49hopefully. Yeah, that's about right.

33:53Go through slowly here. Pretty self-explanatory. To me, this is just like the easiest way to think through rankings in my mind. Like, this is how I

34:01think through the guys going into my lineup. So, I put them in these tiers just based off of like my intuition of

34:06like, of course, you're starting, this feels good, dub flex, I think, relative to other options that you're probably going to have. and then I'll find comb

34:13him because you know a lot of these times I'm just kind of talking through them in real time. Like even looking now

34:17like Chuba Hover as a dub flex, he probably deserves to be in the feels good category. So these are changes that

34:21I'll make in real time as we get the injury reports coming out as we get more practice reports as we get more

34:26information throughout the week.

34:27Obviously all all of these rankings will be updated in real time for you.

34:30Cheapest way to get the membership which has our rankings in it for three months is if you are a new betm user, brand

34:37new, you go up there, sign up with code BDGE and play any slip of $10 or more.

34:42They are going to send you a promo code in app that you can use on our website for 3 months free of everything that we

34:48have to offer you productwise for both fantasy and our trivia side of things.

34:52So that will basically take you through the end of the season. All right, bet new users code BDG when you deposit $10

34:58or more, play any slip, get three months free. All right. Love y'all. See you tomorrow for wide receivers. Big smoochies.

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