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Should You Draft Zero RB In 2026?

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

11 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Jul 13, 2026
Published
Mon, July 13, 2026
44
Player insights
35
Players mentioned
Topics
Amon-Ra St. BrownGarrett WilsonJavonte WilliamsJaylen WarrenKyren WilliamsMatthew GoldenRhamondre StevensonTee HigginsBrock BowersChris GodwinChristian McCaffreyDe'Von AchaneDrake LondonJahmyr Gibbs
Player analysis

Player insights

44

Amon-Ra St. Brown

PositiveProjection0:04

The base expectation is that Amon-Ra St. Brown would be a top five wide receiver in fantasy football.

Insight page
PositiveValue0:09

Amon-Ra St. Brown is highlighted as a top-five wide receiver option in a zero running back strategy, providing significantly better weekly consistency than lower-tier wide receiver twos and threes.

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PositiveProjection0:47

St. Brown is selected as a starting wide receiver in a zero RB build and is projected to score around 12 touchdowns in a rebound season.

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Brock Bowers

PositiveProjection0:47

Bowers is selected as the tight end in a zero RB build and is expected to be a top-tier tight end option for the team.

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Chris Godwin

NegativeRole0:04

Chris Godwin has more significant competition for targets compared to Josh Downs, making him a less attractive option.

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Christian McCaffrey

PositiveValue0:22

McCaffrey is highlighted as one of the elite running backs that is hard to pass on in 2026 drafts, indicating strong draft value and tier status.

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De'Von Achane

PositiveValue0:24

Achane is identified as one of the elite running backs that is difficult to pass on in 2026 drafts.

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Drake London

PositiveValue0:09

Drake London is highlighted as a top-five wide receiver option in a zero running back strategy, providing significantly better weekly consistency than lower-tier wide receiver twos and threes.

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Garrett Wilson

PositiveProjection0:04

Garrett Wilson could easily be a top 15 wide receiver in fantasy football.

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NegativeProjection0:08

Garrett Wilson missed time with injury and averaged 14 points per game last season, but his actual game logs (9 points, 4 points) show he was unreliable in fantasy football despite being a highly drafted wide receiver two.

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Jahmyr Gibbs

PositiveRole0:07

Jahmyr Gibbs is the running back on the computer's top-ranked team.

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Jakobi Meyers

PositiveProjection0:08

Jakobi Meyers' game logs (17, 12, 11, 15, 21, 14, 12 points) were effectively the same as highly drafted Puka Nacua, illustrating the unreliability of wide receiver twos in fantasy football.

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Jalen Coker

PositiveRole0:10

Jalen Coker is a wide receiver two/three with a lower ceiling and essentially no floor, representing the unreliable tier of receivers that zero running back teams would avoid in favor of elite wide receivers.

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Javonte Williams

PositiveRole0:10

Javonte Williams is cited as an example of a high-powered running back with a strong floor that has made the fantasy community overlook the firepower of elite wide receiver ones.

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PositiveValue0:53

Williams is mentioned as a running back option that the analyst is actively avoiding in a zero RB strategy despite his tier status.

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Jayden Price

PositiveValue0:01

Price is identified as a very good pick in fantasy football for 2026 and a target for the analyst, though avoided in this zero RB build.

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Jaylen Warren

PositiveProjection0:05

Jaylen Warren is projected to score around 13-14 fantasy points in week one, providing solid baseline production.

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PositiveProjection0:09

Warren is selected as RB1 in the zero RB build and is projected to average 13-14 fantasy points per game, with the analyst expecting a similar role to last year.

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Joe Burrow

PositiveValue0:37

Burrow was considered as an alternative quarterback option to pair with Tee Higgins, but the analyst did not expect him to fall back to that pick.

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Jordan Mason

PositiveRole0:06

Jordan Mason is available as a starting running back option in round 10 of the zero running back draft strategy.

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Josh Allen

PositiveValue0:01

Allen is considered as a quarterback option to create structural advantage in a zero RB build, though the analyst ultimately prefers Tee Higgins due to opportunity cost concerns.

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Josh Downs

PositiveProjection0:04

If things break the right way, Josh Downs could be a 13-14 fantasy points per game guy and has less target competition than Chris Godwin, making him a strong wide receiver selection.

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Kendre Miller

NegativeInjury0:44

Miller is noted as the best available running back on the board but is coming off a leg injury, which impacts his draft consideration.

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Kenneth Walker III

PositiveValue0:26

Walker is identified as one of the elite running backs that is difficult to pass on in 2026 drafts.

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Kyren Williams

PositiveRole0:10

Kyren Williams is cited as an example of a high-powered running back with a strong floor that has made the fantasy community overlook the firepower of elite wide receiver ones.

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PositiveValue0:53

Williams is mentioned as a running back option that the analyst is actively avoiding in a zero RB strategy despite his tier status.

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Lamar Jackson

PositiveValue0:24

Jackson is selected as the quarterback in the zero RB build to create a structural advantage at the position, with the goal of dominating the QB position.

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Luther Burden

PositiveRole0:07

Luther Burden is part of the computer's top-ranked team's wide receiver room alongside Rashee Rice, Nico Collins, and Terry McLaurin.

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Matthew Golden

PositiveValue0:08

Matthew Golden is available to pick up off the bench in shallower formats (10-12 team leagues with 14 roster spots), providing bench depth value.

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PositiveRole0:10

Matthew Golden is a wide receiver two/three with a lower ceiling and essentially no floor, representing the unreliable tier of receivers that zero running back teams would avoid in favor of elite wide receivers.

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Michael Pittman

PositiveRole0:04

Josh Downs will have to prove he is better than Michael Pittman Jr. was last year in order to reach his 13-14 fantasy points per game projection.

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Nico Collins

PositiveRole0:07

Nico Collins is part of the computer's top-ranked team's wide receiver room alongside Rashee Rice, Terry McLaurin, and Luther Burden.

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Puka Nacua

NegativeProjection0:08

Despite being highly drafted last season, Puka Nacua's game logs (14, 9, 19, 15, 13 points) were effectively the same as Jakobi Meyers, showing the death of the wide receiver two position in fantasy football.

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Rashee Rice

PositiveProjection0:07

Rashee Rice is a perfect target in fantasy football this year and is top five in the NFL amongst wide receivers in terms of fantasy points per game over the most recent three seasons, though there is risk based on his projection if the Chiefs run more.

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Rhamondre Stevenson

PositiveRole0:04

Rhamondre Stevenson has significant contingent upside that is undervalued in redraft fantasy football; when Henderson is not active, he becomes a top-eight running back in fantasy football, making him a better pick than Chuba Hubbard, R.J. Harvey, or Rico Dowdle.

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PositiveValue0:07

Stevenson is selected as the final running back in the zero RB build to align with the original concept of having six top-15 wide receivers.

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Ricky Pearsall

PositiveRole0:06

Ricky Pearsall is added to the zero running back build as part of the strategy to dominate at wide receiver, which is essential for this draft approach to work.

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Saquon Barkley

PositiveValue0:26

Barkley is noted as one of the elite running backs that is hard to pass on in 2026 drafts.

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Tee Higgins

PositiveProjection0:04

Tee Higgins could easily be a top 15 wide receiver in fantasy football.

Insight page
PositiveValue0:26

Higgins is selected over Josh Allen in the zero RB build due to better opportunity cost, and is projected to have one of her good years.

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Terry McLaurin

PositiveRole0:07

Terry McLaurin is part of the computer's top-ranked team's wide receiver room alongside Rashee Rice, Nico Collins, and Luther Burden.

Insight page

Travis Etienne

PositiveRole0:10

Travis Etienne (ETN) is cited as an example of a high-powered running back with a strong floor that has made the fantasy community overlook the firepower of elite wide receiver ones.

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Trey McBride

PositiveValue0:09

Trey McBride is mentioned as a potential round three addition in a zero running back strategy, providing elite tight end production to complement top-five wide receivers.

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Tyler Warren

PositiveRole0:04

Josh Downs will have to beat Tyler Warren in targets per route run for Downs to reach his projection ceiling.

Insight page
Full transcript

Episode Transcript

339
0:00Can you get away with zero running back
0:02teams in fantasy football in 2026? I
0:05mean, honestly, the answer for a lot of
0:07people is no. It's just too hard to not
0:09have a running back given the way that
0:11things have gone in the last couple
0:12years, but we're going to try and do one
0:14here, and I want you guys to weigh in
0:15down in the comments below. Is there any
0:17chance in your league that you would
0:19attempt to do zero running back this
0:21year? I mean, obviously, it's very hard
0:22to pass on Christian McCaffrey. It's
0:24hard to pass on Devon Achane. Heck, it's
0:26hard to pass on Barkley or Kenneth
0:28Walker. Obviously, one of the key things
0:30when you're doing a zero running back
0:31team is man, do you have to win the
0:33onesie positions? If you are not winning
0:35tight end, if you are not winning
0:36quarterback, you are going to be so far
0:38behind because I think the environment
0:40has become so toxic when you lose at the
0:42running back position. I mean, I've done
0:44a lot of zero running back teams in my
0:45day, but after starting this team with
0:47St. Brown and Bowers, I think the urge
0:50is to automatically go, "Well, hey, man,
0:53if you don't get Kyren Williams or
0:54Javonte Williams here, who are you even
0:56going to be starting at running back?"
0:57But, I am not going to fall victim to
0:58that, and we're actually going to try
1:00and execute this. So, instead of taking
1:02Kyren, instead of taking Javonte, I
1:04would actually think about taking Josh
1:06Allen here because like I said, you
1:08really, really want to be winning
1:09quarterback, and you really want to be
1:11winning tight end because you are
1:12thinking about how can I create
1:13structural advantages?
1:16We're definitely going to have an
1:16advantage at tight end. We are probably
1:19even going to have an advantage at flex
1:20if we get any kind of a rebound to what
1:23scoring was like in 2020 and 2021. I am
1:26going to take Tee Higgins instead of
1:28Josh Allen because I think the
1:30opportunity cost of taking Josh Allen in
1:32a home league is absolutely massive. I
1:34would maybe consider it a little bit
1:35more in best ball. Easily to me, the
1:38best pick here is going to be Garrett
1:40Wilson. We still do not have a running
1:42back. The best running back on the board
1:44would be Kendre Miller coming off of his
1:45leg injury. Probably where I would think
1:48about calling it a zero running back in
1:51most home leagues would be in round
1:52five, but I'm trying to prove a point
1:54here, right? I'm trying to show the way
1:57that this can be possibly executed. So,
1:59what we're going to do on this team is
2:01instead of taking Judkins or Toutant or
2:03Jaylen Price, all of whom I think are
2:05very good picks in fantasy football this
2:06year and would certainly be targets for
2:08me, which if you're interested
2:10in my rankings, you can head on over to
2:12flockfantasy.com. Link to that is in the
2:14description. Link to that is in the
2:17comments. You can get my ranking season
2:18pass, only 34 bucks. But, instead of
2:21going with Judkins or Toutant, what
2:23we're going to do is we are going to
2:24take Lamar Jackson and hope to create
2:27such an insane structural advantage with
2:29our quarterback and with our tight end
2:31that no one can really catch us at those
2:34positions. Now, I maybe would have
2:37considered if I thought Joe Burrow would
2:38get back to me. I maybe would have
2:40considered going Joe Burrow so I could
2:42have set up the T. Higgins-Joe Burrow
2:44situation. Instead,
2:46what I'm going to do now, and maybe this
2:49is how the Overton window has shifted
2:51with running backs, is instead of adding
2:53in Khalil Lemon, we're going to say I've
2:54got my starting wide receivers. I have
2:56St. Brown, T. Higgins, and then Garrett
2:58Wilson is going to go in the flex. There
2:59are still more wide receivers that I
3:01like, but I think that the Jaylen
3:03Warren-Chuba Hubbard-Tony Pollard is
3:05definitely the end of a tier. So,
3:07instead of that, we are going to take
3:09Jaylen Warren. Jaylen Warren is going to
3:10be our running back one. He's a running
3:12back who I think can average 13-14
3:14fantasy points per game. Obviously, he's
3:16got downside to be much worse than that.
3:18He could lose the backfield to Rico
3:20Dowdle. Do I think that is the most
3:22likely scenario? No. I mean, I think
3:24we're probably going to get a very
3:25similar role for Jaylen Warren as to
3:27what we got last year when he was, you
3:29know, a good fantasy football option.
3:3213.5 points per game is going to feel
3:34pretty good for your running back one.
3:37Assuming that Brock Bowers is who you
3:38need, assuming that Lamar Jackson is who
3:40you need, you know, if we get a
3:41quarterback one-tight end one season out
3:44of there, St. Brown scores, you know, 12
3:47touchdowns, we get a rebound season from
3:49Garrett Wilson, we get one of the good
3:50years for T. Higgins, I think we're
3:52feeling quite good about this team. Now,
3:55again, do I want to be a coward here? Do
3:57I want to take Chuba Hubbard? Do I want
3:59to take Rhamondre? Or do I want to take
4:00another wide receiver? Frankly, and
4:02maybe you guys could say this isn't even
4:04real zero
4:06running back, right? But I'm going to
4:07take Rhamondre Stevenson because the
4:09whole idea, this really was the initial
4:11idea of zero running back as introduced
4:14back in the day by Shawn Siegel, it was
4:16we want to have six top 15 wide
4:19receivers. Do I think that there is much
4:21of a difference in the odds between
4:23Chris Godwin and Josh Downs of being a
4:25top 15 wide receiver? I really don't. I
4:27think that if things break the right way
4:29for Josh Downs, Downs could be a 13-14
4:32fantasy points per game guy. He's going
4:33to have to prove that he's better than
4:35Michael Pittman Jr. was last year. He is
4:37going to have to beat Tyler Warren in
4:38targets per route run, and Daniel Jones
4:40is going to have to be healthy, but
4:42Chris Godwin has, I think, more
4:43significant competition for targets than
4:46Josh Downs does. So, Downs is going to
4:48be our selection at this pick, which
4:50makes him a very nice wide receiver
4:52four. Garrett Wilson could easily be a
4:54top 15 wide receiver. Same for T.
4:56Higgins. Our base expectation would be
4:59that St. Brown would be a top five wide
5:01receiver in fantasy football.
5:03So, looking at our starting lineup in a
5:05given week, I mean, frankly, in terms of
5:07how it is going to project, we are going
5:09to feel very good about our week one
5:11starting lineup in terms of how it's
5:13going to project. We should get like a
5:1513-14 fantasy point projection for
5:17Jaylen Warren. Could be like 10-11-12
5:19points for Rhamondre Stevenson.
5:21Rhamondre also has loads of contingent
5:23upside, which I think is
5:26still too ignored in redraft fantasy
5:29football. It's something that Best Ball
5:30Bros talk a lot about, but the value of
5:32knowing that Rhamondre Stevenson in a
5:34week when Henderson is not active is
5:36that he's going to be a top eight
5:38running back in fantasy football. I do
5:39think makes him a better pick than your
5:41Chuba Hubbards, than your R.J. Harveys,
5:43than your Rico Dowdles. Now, a mistake
5:47that a lot of people make when they're
5:48trying to do these builds is they call
5:51it a wide receiver. They would take Josh
5:53Downs and they would say, "Okay, well,
5:54I'm done. Now, I need to start taking
5:56running backs." That is honestly the
5:58exact wrong way to do it. We are going
6:00to add in Ricky Pearsall because again,
6:02the only way that zero running back
6:04teams work
6:05you cannot be scrimping and saving at
6:08wide receiver. You have to be absolutely
6:10smashing at wide receiver. You need to
6:12be winning that position in your matchup
6:14every single week. You need to have a
6:1620-point wide receiver, an 18-point wide
6:18receiver, a 14-point wide receiver. If
6:20you are getting single digits, 11 points
6:23from one of your wide receiver slots and
6:25your running back one is Jaylen Warren,
6:27you were never going to win. And look at
6:28the running backs who are available to
6:30us here in round 10. We can I mean,
6:32these are starting running backs
6:33basically. J'Quary Cross and Merritt and
6:35Jordan Mason. We are going to add in JCM
6:37on this mock draft here on the Flock
6:39Fantasy website. If you guys want to
6:41check out this website, you can, you
6:43know, sign up for the season pass and
6:45get yourself in there. Now, looking at
6:47the way that we drafted this team, the
6:49computer it's so funny, but obviously
6:51the computer is never going to love this
6:53team. It's just not the way it works. We
6:55are ranked 12th.
6:57Right? We are ranked 12th at running
6:58back as you would expect. Now, I also
7:01think it's kind of funny that we are
7:02only ranked fifth at wide receiver in
7:04terms of the cumulative rankings of
7:06these guys, but I think that you would
7:07have to put up St. Brown, Tee Higgins,
7:09Garrett Wilson, Josh Downs, Ricky
7:10Pearsall against effectively any other
7:14wide receiver room. Like, let's just go
7:15look at the the number one team here and
7:18look at the wide receiver room. Rashee
7:19Rice, Nico Collins, Terry McLaurin, and
7:21Luther Burden, but all the way down
7:23Demondre Gadston at tight end with
7:26Jahmyr Gibbs. I mean, I'm not going to
7:27lie, the Danny Bot did draft a pretty
7:29good team. You would maybe even say a
7:31better team.
7:32Rashee Rice is a perfect target in
7:34fantasy football this year. There is so
7:36much risk based on his projection. The
7:38Chiefs might play a little bit
7:39differently. They could run a little bit
7:41more, which is going to take some of the
7:43RPO, the short area target stuff for
7:45Rashy Rice away, but he is a guy who is
7:47top five in the NFL amongst wide
7:49receivers in terms of fantasy points per
7:51game over the most recent three seasons.
7:54They're also, as you guys can see here
7:56over on the board, if you were in a
7:57shallower format, you know, if you're in
7:59a 10-team league or a 12-team league
8:01that only has 14 total roster spots, you
8:03are going to be able to pick up guys
8:05like Matthew Golden, Jordan Mason,
8:06Jayden Eggins off the bench. And the
8:09reason why I think that zero running
8:11back is so interesting this year is
8:14we've talked about this a ton on this
8:15channel, but it's been basically the
8:17death of the wide receiver two in
8:19fantasy football. If you think about
8:20some of the wide receiver twos you've
8:22started, I mean, basically last year,
8:24was there any functional difference
8:26between Garrett Wilson, who missed time
8:29with injury, average 14 points per game,
8:31but if you look at his actual game logs,
8:33nine points, four points, I mean, he
8:35really was just a very unreliable guy in
8:37fantasy football, or even someone like I
8:40mean, let's look at Puka Nacua's game
8:41logs when he was active. 14 points, nine
8:44points, 19 points, 15 points, 13 points,
8:46right?
8:48That was Puka Nacua last season. Now,
8:50let's look at him compared to Jakobi
8:52Meyers. 17 points, 12 points, 11 points,
8:5415, 21, 14, 12. Basically, Puka Nacua
8:58and Jakobi Meyers, despite how highly
9:01drafted
9:02Puka Nacua was last season, they were
9:04effectively the same guy. And you can
9:06you can run that across the board with
9:08wide receiver twos. It's been the
9:09biggest difference in fantasy football
9:11year over year. It's been one of the
9:13biggest functional changes in fantasy
9:15football since I've been playing, and
9:17I've been playing, you know, for 20
9:18years. I'm actually, honestly, I'm 33,
9:20so probably longer than 20 years at this
9:22point. Obviously, this team, if it was
9:25in a real league that we were playing
9:27out, would have to do tons of work at
9:28the waiver wire position at running
9:30back. I would have to be the first guy
9:31spending on the injury replacement in
9:33week two, in week three, spending a
9:35number one waiver claim. But the
9:37structural advantage that you have with
9:39zero running back this year is if you do
9:42hit on two top five wide receivers.
9:44Let's say instead of taking Bowers, we
9:46would have done Amon-Ra St. Brown and
9:48Drake London and maybe added Trey
9:49McBride in in round three.
9:52Every single week in my matchups, I
9:54would have felt so much better than my
9:56competition because my competition is
9:59going to be starting guys like Matthew
10:01Golden, like Jalen Coker, who are I'm
10:04not even saying they're bad. Like, I
10:06like drafting Matthew Golden. I kind of
10:07like drafting Jalen Coker. But, in terms
10:09of their range of outcomes, their
10:11ceiling is lower and the floor basically
10:13doesn't exist for those guys and they
10:15fall into that morass of wide receiver
10:16twos, wide receiver threes, who are yes,
10:18starting wide receivers on their team,
10:21but I feel like we've become so enamored
10:23with the high-powered running backs in
10:25football. We've become so enamored with
10:26the floors of the Javonte Williams, of
10:28the Kyren Williams, of the ETNs that
10:30we've lost sight in terms of the
10:33firepower that having two mega mega
10:35elite wide receiver ones in fantasy
10:37football can do. And if the NFL does
10:39tilt back pass heavy, tilts back to
10:42concentrated offenses, you know, if
10:43teams are routinely having two guys
10:45accumulate, you know, 55% of the team's
10:47targets, that is where zero running back
10:50teams are going to absolutely crush this
10:52season. So, leave a comment down below.
10:54Is there any chance you would do zero
10:55running back in your home league? Check
10:58out my stuff over on flockfantasy.com.
11:00You can sign up over there using code
11:01Davis. Make sure you like the video.
11:03Make sure you are subscribed to the
11:04channel and I'll be back with you guys
11:06very soon.

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