0:00Bunch of late injury news impacting the running back position. But if you can't set your lineup after this, well, I don't really know how to help you
0:06because I'm going to give you the answers to the test here in week seven for the running backs. Jamir Gibbs, Kenneth Walker, Bejian Robinson are your
0:12clear top tier running backs this week.
0:13I almost included Christian McAffrey in the top tier. The only reason I didn't is I am I'm like a little bit worried.
0:19Call me 7% worried that Kyle Shanahan will not be able to turn Christian Kirk, Jordan Watkins, Brandon Cooks, and these other hodgepodge of wide receivers into
0:29a functional NFL offense. I actually think there's a chance. I don't think it's like that high, but you know, teams give lip service to playing their
0:35running backs as wide receivers every so often. And I do wonder if we actually see Christian McCaffrey like legitimately function, you know, 30 45%
0:43of the snaps as a slot wide receiver this week. Kalin Black has looked pretty good as an early down running back and
0:50they are I mean it is so dark in the wide receiver room and even the even the tight end room you know their their
0:55primary backup tight end heading into the season tore his Achilles the first game of the season. The 49ers like the we we laugh about the substation stuff
1:03but the 49ers have been absolutely decimated by injuries amongst their past catchers. Derrick Henry at five against the Bengals. Kairen Williams against the
1:10Las Vegas Raiders here at six. again trending towards uh you know wide receiver injuries impacting running back performance. Kairen saw a dip in his
1:19routes last game. I expect that is actually going to pop back up here. And again, I wonder if that makesh Blake
1:25Cororm a little bit better of a low-end flex play. Not that you would want to start Blake Cororm because Kairen has
1:30been, you know, clearly the lead back for the Los Angeles Rams this year, but maybe I don't know, maybe one extra
1:35target, two extra rushes for Blake Corm's projection this week. DeAndre Swift, I added seven in that game against the Patriots. And then Jonathan
1:41Taylor down at eight. Couple things going on here. First off, terrible, terrible matchup. The Minnesota Vikings defense has been the most stingy run
1:50defense in the NFL. They have also been the highest blitz rate defense in the NFL, which has led to a lot of like
1:56quick checkown passing offenses against them. That is kind of how you mitigate the blitz. And then also, you know, I do
2:03wonder if they back off of Jonathan Taylor's work just a smidge. He has been one of the names that if you listen to
2:08the insiders, you know, if you're reading Adam Shaper tweets or Ian Rapaort tweets or Jeremy Fowler tweets, they've talked about Jonathan Taylor
2:14being traded. Now, do I think Jonathan Taylor will be traded? Honestly, no. I don't. I I feel like he's too big a part
2:21of the team's identity. Like, I feel like they would rather try and get out of Daniel Jones's contract than trade away Jonathan Taylor. I don't feel that
2:28way about Saquon Barkley. I think if a team gave like a pretty good offer for honestly not even a good offer, if they
2:34just offered to take all of Barkley's money, I think the Eagles would just like jump at that. I think they would be
2:39happy to get out of the Barkley business. My guess would be that Jonathan Taylor does not get traded.
2:44Then we have some more like much bigger questions to answer here at the Btier.
2:48Javvante Williams against the Eagles at nine. Chuba Hubard against the Tempe Buccaneers at 10. He is just like clearly an easy every week start. It's
2:56actually kind of been insane to watch Chubbert average, you know, 19.6 points per game. We are about to fall off a
3:02clip at the running back position though once we get past this tier. It's it's sort of wild how there are about 20
3:07running backs you want to start in fantasy football and then a bunch of guys who were giant question marks. I removed Brilan Allen from this tier and
3:15I put Bree Hall back in. So Bree Hall got in a questionable or got in a limited practice on Thursday and Friday.
3:21He is listed as questionable. The team has said that Adnai Mitchell is playing which to me means I do think he is
3:27legitimately questionable. Here is exactly how I would play the Bree Hall situation. If you have Bree Hall on your team and he is active for this game, you
3:35are starting him no questions asked. I think we have played this game too many times this year. So, you know, people
3:40have asked me like, "Oh, Puka's first game back. Do I play him? Brock Bower's first game back, do I play him?" And I
3:46think the answer is, you know, guys you draft the first, second, third round, even if they play slightly reduced roles, they're going to keep the
3:52efficiency. I expect Brie Hall to be very efficient against the Miami Dolphins. So even if he only gets 15 touches and Brilen Allen gets 10, I
3:59still think you're definitely starting Bree Hall. If Breezall does not play, you are for sure starting Braille Allen.
4:05I would put Brail and Allen in this same tier. I would put him at, you know, 9 10 11 right in here. And if you are dealing
4:12with a ton of by-weeks and injuries and Brie Saul plays, but you also have Brilen Allen, you can honestly do worse
4:19than Brillin Allen as like a flex play or an RB2 play. Like, uh, you know, I know in the Flock League that my guy
4:25Nathan started Roshan Johnson. That would be a situation where like I I would have Brillin Allen is a better play this Sunday with Bree Active than
4:33Roshan Johnson was on Thursday, if that makes any sense. Uh Chase Brown at running back 12 really need to see a
4:39rebound in efficiency from him very soon. He was actually someone pointed this out in the flex video this last week. But Chase Brown actually went
4:47through a stretch last year where he was worse than he had been to start this year. So we can see the efficiency
4:52rebound from him in terms of the touchdown scoring. I don't ever actually expect him to be like a real high yards
4:57per carry or yards per target guy because that's just not really who he is. He he's kind of like a league
5:02average style running back. This could be a great game. I mean, if Lamar does, and he's listed his question, if Lamar
5:07does go in this game, I actually kind of like this game to go over its posted total. Saquon Barkley in his first game
5:13back from injury. I've got at running back 13. I had him lower than this. I had him higher than this. I thought long
5:18and hard and I said, you know what, Will Shipley is out. So, Barkley's going to play more of the third downs. They don't
5:23really have a third down style back on the roster. So, this could actually be the thing that we need. You know, Tanner
5:28McKe starting, no Will Shipley, no even Carson Steel, right? Carson Steel messed up his arm and the team waved Jaden Blue. So they they don't really have a
5:36passing down style back on the roster.
5:38You could get like a five catch Barkley game here. And maybe he lips rips off a long run the way that pretty much
5:44everyone has done against the Dallas Cowboys. 32nd in the NFL and EPA per play on defense. Bucky Irving at 14.
5:51They are underdogs against the Carolina Panthers. He is getting Baker Mayfield back. The usage spiked last week while the efficiency decreased. 85% of the
6:00snaps is the greatest amount of snaps that Bucky Irving has played in an NFL game. Only give up nine total snaps to
6:06Kenny Gainwell. Could easily see him with no mecha here and Kadeton being the focus of the passing game. I could easily see like a 5, six, seven
6:14reception game from Bucky Irving. So, he seems like quite a strong start. Ashton Genty, I have down here at 15. The
6:20projection stuff that I use just has his efficiency so degraded, it's hard to get him in a better spot than this. It's a
6:27difficult matchup against the Rams. He has 2.7 and 2.2 yards per carry. In fact, in four of the six games this
6:33year, he has been below 2.9 yards per carry. He just has not been able to find any room to run. And even when he has
6:40had room to run, he hasn't been able to do anything with it because he is dealing with this planer fasciitis. I I
6:45just continue to believe that this is not, you know, Trent Richardson. I know a lot of people are disagree. A lot of
6:50people are are anti-Genty now. A lot of people just like, ah, they think this guy stinks. They think like, "Oh man, he
6:55he, you know, he he's going down a bad road." I tend to disagree with that and I think that the planer fasciitis is a
7:01big explanatory variable. Maybe it's not, you know, maybe I'm wrong. I always like to leave the the avenue open to being basian. There are a vast swath of
7:09probabilities that could apply to Ashen Genty. But again, just a guy who's too hard to bench in my personal opinion.
7:15Guy you drafted in the first round, guy you drafted in the second round who is getting the work. you know, at least 16
7:19interactions in every game this season.
7:22Even in games where he's been stifled on the ground, he's still been heavily involved in the passing game. I think they're going to need to lean on Genty
7:28in the passing game here. So, I I can't I can't bench him. And then I have Josh Jacobs as the final running back here in
7:34the B tier. I will again give you I will always try and do this because you know I play in a lot of fantasy football
7:39leagues for a lot of money and I will always try and have decisions that are met on my own rosters reflected in my
7:45rankings and I will always be honest with you guys about the decisions that I'm making that are like you know have
7:50consequences in my real life because if I lose a lot of money playing fantasy football it's very bad. If I win a lot
7:54of money playing fantasies football that's very good for me. Every league that I drafted Jacobs in, he is currently slotted in my starting lineup.
8:01Now, that's a function of the way I've drafted and by-weeks and injuries and all these other things, but there's no league where I drafted Jacobs where he's
8:08currently on my bench. I think that the most likely thing is that he comes back to a 12-6 rush role. Pier Strong becomes
8:17Chris Brooks and plays the primary third downs. The Packers do become slightly more runheavy with Josh Jacobs back in the lineup. The offensive line has been
8:26very bad run blocking. However, uh there's something you guys need to know about football, which is that offensive linemen prefer to run block as opposed
8:33to pass blocking. They also prefer to play with good running backs who kind of make their job a little bit easier. And
8:39a lot of what the Packers offensive line has had to do is they've had to pass block, which if you ask any lineman,
8:44they're like, "Yeah, dude, pass blocking sucks because we are always reacting to what the defense is doing. When we are run blocking, we get to be aggressive.
8:50We get to play downhill. It's like much more fun to run block." But run blocking for Marshon Lloyd and Caleb Johnson and
8:56Pierre Strong and Chris Brooks has to be the most thankless job on earth because those guys can't do anything even if you
9:01open up you know a a you know a Texas sized hole. There's just absolutely nothing that can be done here. So I
9:08think Jacobs is coming back. I I don't think he's going to play a ton of third downs. I don't think he'll be super
9:12involved as a pass catcher because they'll want to limit his reps. But the whole Lafleur system is all about running the ball. You know, that's a big
9:19misconception about the Shanahan, Bill Walsh, West Coast style offense. It's all built from running the ball. It's all built from that zone blocking
9:26scheme, and Jacobs just so much better at navigating that. The Packers have the worst run game in the NFL this year. You
9:32know, no one has really been worse than their collection of guys and things are are certainly about to get better. So, I
9:38have him as the final running back there in the C tier. Moving or the B tier, moving to the C tier, I have Woody Marks
9:44at 17. I would love to have Woody Marks hire with no David Montgomery. Daria Ugbal is the reserve running back. And
9:50then Jaw Jordan who was better than Marks on a per carry basis scored a rushing touchdown last week. He got injured. He's on the IR. So the running
9:58back who is now going to be active is Deuce Vaughn. You heard me correctly.
10:02The 56 Phenom from Kansas State University. That's actually what they call me. Uh Duce Vaughn and I both very short guys who both graduated from the
10:10can from Kansas State University. So, the issue with Markx is he is like literally the worst interior runner in the NFL. I I don't actually know if
10:18there's anyone worse than him at doing it. It's an elite matchup. 26 and a half point total. I kind of think the way the
10:25Texans are going to handle this though is just a lot of a lot of passes, a lot of drop backs. You know, they're just so
10:29much more efficient passing the ball than running the ball. They also have quite poor run blocking line as well.
10:35Very similar to the Green Bay Packers.
10:37But again, how fun can it be to run block for Woody Marks? can't do anything. Even if you do open a hole for
10:41him, he's not going to do anything with it. Pains me. Absolutely pains me to have Jaylen Warren at 18. And obviously,
10:48you know, you don't want to bench Jaylen Warren, but the Saints defense is, you know, I mean, they're not great, but the
10:55deal with the green with the Pittsburgh Steelers is they just love to pass the ball. They are the number one team in
11:00the National Football League and pass rate over expectation. They never ever run the ball inside the red zone. They are the number one pass rate team inside
11:08the red zone. They still have not had a rushing play inside the 5yd line which like actually seems insane to be this
11:14far into the season and that still is the case. The overall usage for Jaylen Warren obfuscates how the team you know
11:22deployed those guys last week because if you look at the box score you see he played 75% of the snaps but for the
11:27first three quarters of the game he was in a legitimate like 5545 with Rico Dowel. when the game got tight and when
11:33the game got serious, they of course turned the things over to Joan Warren.
11:36And maybe that will happen here or or maybe the coaches will have learned from last week that Rico Dattle doesn't have
11:42the juice cuz his toe is still bothering him or whatever. Uh there's also like a little bit of weird I don't know if you
11:48call this nepatism or what you would call it, but you know, Mike McCarthy went out and got Rico Dowel because he
11:54coached him in Dallas. He's like, "Hey man, come play with the Steelers. We'll give you the ball. We'll give you some
11:58money." And and I think clearly Mike McCarthy feels that he owes some allegiance to Rico Dowel to to some degree, which is like very annoying
12:05given how good Jaylen Warren has played, but I think that just kind of is the way that it is. I I wish that Jaylen Warren
12:12was in line to play 90% of the snaps and get 22 touches, but I don't think that should be the median outcome for him in
12:17a given week. Quinn Sean Judkins against the Tennessee Titans, I have at 19.
12:21Either he scores a touchdown or he doesn't. I do think Dylan Samson returning to the lineup is probably pretty bad for Judkins. The last time we
12:28saw him before he got injured, he was actually operating in the passing game.
12:31He's got seven targets against the Steelers and four targets against the Jets. I I would take the under on those numbers with Dylan Samson back and
12:40activated. Then we have Arandre Stevenson. Scored that nice touchdown.
12:43And then JK Dobbins at 21. Uh this is the highest I've ranked JK Dobbins all season. I would love to rank him lower
12:50than this moving forward because I don't think JK Dobbins really has it anymore.
12:54um outside of like two runs in in their most recent game, he he literally looked completely completely washed. But doesn't take a magician, you know, it
13:03doesn't take a a mathematician to to look at the game logs and say, "Oh yeah, I wonder when Shawn t I wonder when
13:08Shawn Peyton took over the play calling." And it's the 18 for 68 and 17 for 41 game. They feature Dobbins more
13:15in the red zone with Payton calling the plays. Very, very straightforward. But Shawn Payeyton has re-emphasized the JK Dobbins role inside of the offense. And
13:25also games that the Broncos win, those are Dobbins games. Games that the Broncos lose, those are RJ Arvey games.
13:32Very simple formula to follow there. The Dtier begins with Tony Pard. one of the better matchups or so skill level, the
13:39Browns defense is actually fine, but just in terms of spread games that theoretically the Tennessee Titans can give a running back 18 rushes, this game
13:46will be a game that they can afford to do that. Aaron Jones at 23. Ali Gordon against the Jets at 24. I do have Aaron
13:53Jones ranked ahead of Jordan Mason. I think there's a chance that Mason just gets worked in a little bit slowly.
13:58Jones will retain the passing down stuff. I also think Jones even at his age probably is a more explosive player than Jordan Mason which seems kind of
14:06crazy but that is the way that it is.
14:07Trevan Henderson at 26 is where I had him. Let me tell you this after the usage for Trevian Henderson next week he
14:14is going to be ranked much much lower. I do have Bam Knight at 27. I ranked Bam Knight ahead of Tyler Algier. The
14:22specific quote from the coaching staff I thought was sort of interesting where they said like they didn't even actually pretend like to do hot hand stuff. They
14:32really did just say Bam Knight is going to be the early down back and Algier is going to be the passing down long down
14:38distance. It it was a very um it was a very confusing thing going on there considering that Bam Knight was not a
14:44part of the rotation at all early. But if you look at the path to the Arizona Cardinals winning this game, I actually
14:49think it's very similar to the upset that the Cardinals just pulled against the Los Angeles Rams where it's basically, hey man, let's keep the ball
14:56out of the hands of Well, maybe you don't want to keep the ball out of the hands of Bo Knicks. Maybe you want to
15:00let Boon Knicks throw like a pick six or fumbler or whatever. But I I did rank Bam Knight ahead of Tyler Algier. I
15:07wonder how much higher I am on Bam Knight on the site than everyone else.
15:10So I have him at at uh I have him at 27.
15:12Cory at 29. So, I'm I'm a little bit higher than consensus on Bam Knight. I also think he's got like Well, would
15:19they bring Al Jir in for a one-yard touchdown? I guess that I don't know.
15:24But this right here, by the way, is why the running back position is so insane.
15:27It's like, dude, we're in the freaking Dtier. We're at running back 27 and we're talking about Tyler Algier versus Bam Knight. Insane situation. This was
15:35as high as I could get. Emanuel Wilson, no Zack Charbanet this week. if you were planning on starting Zack Charbanet this
15:42week, uh, I got bad news for you. You got lied to. Great, great tweet, uh, or a great, uh, segment from Ian Rapaort
15:48where he said, Charbanet is going to be back and they're going to they're going to, uh, what was the exact quote? I
15:53would expect him to play and play a lot and then three hours later, Mike McDonald ruled Zack Charbanet out of this game. So, the reason why I have him
16:02ranked so conservatively is is pretty simple. Uh, they are not going to be able to do anything against Kansas City Chiefs. I mean, maybe he scores a
16:09touchdown. I actually uh I I was stunned to learn that the Seahawks are actually favored in this game at home against
16:16Kansas City Chiefs. I can't imagine uh way I can't imagine putting my own money um on on the Seattle Seahawks in this
16:23game. This is the kind of stuff that like Andy Reid and Mahomes and Ken Walker and Kelsey like they were like
16:28born to win these national TV games. You know, maybe Wilson contributes a little bit more in the passing game. Like I I
16:34could end up I could see being wrong about this one, but in his uh in the most recent two starts against real NFL
16:40franchises, the Chargers are not a real NFL franchise. He he has two total receptions for 11 yards. He did score a
16:46touchdown against the Niners. Uh against Denver, he had 14 for 52. Again, all these guys in this tier, if none of
16:53these guys, if Paul Jones, Gordon, Mason, Knight, Wilson, if none of these guys score a touchdown, they are not going to be good starts. You're you're
17:00going to be very upset to have had them in your lineup. So, I guess maybe maybe Wilson's touchdown probability is like
17:06slightly better than than Aaron Jones is. So, maybe you could argue to get him up a little bit more there, but none of
17:11these guys are are really all that exciting. The E tier, I have Tyler Algier right there. If you're in a foxhole and you got to start Algier, you
17:18know, again, you could be worse. He could grind out eight points. RJ Harvey at 30. I I just like Harvey more in the
17:25games where the Broncos are trailing.
17:28However, they did give RJ Harvey a goal line touchdown last week. So maybe the answer is they're just taking the ball
17:34out of B night B's hands as much as possible, which is good for Harvey. So I wouldn't say Harvey's like a stone cold bench, like a stone
17:42cold sit or whatever, but not a spot where I'm trying to get him in the lineup. Kendre Miller at 31. I have him
17:49ranked the highest of any New Orleans Saints running back here. Uh I'm not even close to the highest on the site.
17:53He did come off quite a nice little game. 20 rushes for 70 yards, two two receptions for zero yards. That's a very
18:00funny stat line. I mean, the fact that Donaldson and Chimera are both playing just makes like, okay, what am I get
18:06what am I getting with the early down running back on a 20point team total Saints team? It it doesn't really feel
18:12all that exciting. Uh Roshan Johnson I had at 32, Rico Dowel at 33, Tyrone Tracy I have ranked as the absolute
18:19highest running back on the New York Giants just because he's the only one who can generate explosive plays. So, he had the rushing touchdown last week,
18:26which is whatever. More impressive to me, the receiving touchdown. You don't want to start Scatteraboo. You don't want to start Deon
18:32Singleary. We've already gotten the report that the team is going to be searching on the trade market or the free agency or whatever to add a running
18:40back. I mean, who knows what that even looks like. I I would anticipate again a very gross three-way split here. Uh, you
18:47know, probably like some wide receiver rush like it's JJ McCarthy read option type stuff. Um, it's it's also like not a great spot. I mean, they have a
18:5416-point team total, but subtext here would be again sk Well, I was about to say skin in the game answer. I don't
19:01have any team where I'm starting Cam Scataboo, but of all like my 30 or whatever uh managed fantasy football leagues, I did not draft Cam Scataboo on
19:08a single one of them, but if I did, I would not be starting him. Uh Alvin Chimera at 35. He did turn the clock
19:15back last week, man. Uh that receiving touchdown was so nice, but he only played 26% of the snaps. Uh he did get
19:22uh seven rushes in that game and four targets if you absolutely had to start Chimera. I mean I don't know maybe his
19:27touchdown odds are like the same as Algier. So how bad could it really be?
19:30Uh Brilen Allen. This is where I have him. I have Braille Allen ranked at 36.
19:34I just adjusted these right before I started doing the video. This is with the assumption that Breeze Hall plays.
19:39So still like a low-end flex starter for Braille Allen. And then Blake Corm at 37. Same deal for him. If he scores a
19:47touchdown, you're feeling good. I don't think he's all that likely to score a touchdown. Then our final tier here, the F tier, Cam Scataboo at 38. Kaylin Black
19:54at 39. Now, this is one that I did want to take a moment to talk about. He got 14 rushes in that first game against the
20:00Rams, which was a blowout win, and he got eight rushes and one target last week. Probably that is what his role
20:06looks like here. I would expect him to get between 8 to 12 rushes and one to two targets. I do I think we'll see,
20:13let's call I'm calling my shot right now. We're going to see eight plays where Christian McCaffrey is lined up as a receiver and Kaylin Black is lined up
20:20as the running back. Maybe he scores a touchdown on one of those plays. Maybe he does not. Dylan Samson at 40. This
20:26will be his first game back from injury with a 19 and a half point team total.
20:29But he's a he's a sneaky Saturday, you know, uh first come first serve waiver guy where you add him this week before
20:37your opponents are hip to it and then it turns out he actually has a rather nice role coming back from the IR. Damen
20:42Pierce at 41. Mike Washington Jr. don't think there's much room for him in this game. This will probably be a game that
20:47we actually see a little bit more Dylan Lowi than we do Mike Washington Jr., Kenny Gainwell at 43 and Jaylen Wright
20:53at 44. Make sure to ask me any questions you guys have about your fantasy football teams below. I will try to get
20:59to all of them. Make sure you like the video. Make sure you are subscribed to the Matic Fantasy Football channel and
21:04head on over to flockfanasy.com. Sign up over there using code Davis and you will get a guaranteed answer to one of your
21:10fantasy football questions. And uh I'll see you guys back tomorrow.
