0:00It's a great day to break down my week eight fantasy football running back rankings. We'll be going from RB1 all the way to RB48 telling you why I have
0:07them ranked where they are along the way. And at the end of each tier we'll be going through some bigger picture
0:11questions. Okay, who has the best and worst matchups this week? What sort of low roster handcuffs should be looking to stash on your bench? And what running
0:18backs have simply done the most cool this season? So, with all that in mind, appreciate you guys tuning in and let's get things started with Mr. RB1
0:25Jahmyr Gibbs going against the Vikings who, to their credit, did actually hold Gibbs to his two worst fantasy performances last season. That said, if
0:33you go all the way back to week 18 of 2024, when these two teams faced off, Gibbs scored 46 PPR points. So, he
0:40currently has the sixth highest single-season mark in PPR points per game this season. Yeah, Jahmyr Gibbs RB1. RB2, I'm going with Kenneth Walker.
0:48Guys, did not like what I saw from that Chiefs offense against the Seattle Seahawks. If we continue to see Mahomes and company struggle so mightily, it
0:55could bring some concerns about Kenneth Walker's scoring upside. Then again, it was just bad, one bad game. And the last time we saw Kenneth Walker face this
1:03Broncos defense, guys, I mean just incredible. 191 yards and two touchdowns in his KC debut. So, not overthinking this one, Kenneth Walker my RB2.
1:13RB3, Bijan Robinson. Not that we were worried about Bijan, you know, the last few weeks, but it was refreshing just to
1:19see him actually go out there and gain 59 receiving yards. He only had 54 receiving yards combined in weeks two through six, all right? So, this was
1:27kind of the one thing holding him back from actually competing at the very top of the league leaderboard with Jahmyr Gibbs. Hopefully becomes something we
1:34see more and more often here. Would be a good matchup for that to take place. In past years we have seen teams more and
1:39more throw the football against Vita Vea and the Buccaneers. Now, I think this version of Tampa Bay has been better than those past editions. Like we've
1:46seen them really shut down the Packers, Cowboys, and most recently the Panthers in three of their last four games. But, in the last three matchups between Bijan
1:54and this defense, guys, seven catches, 43 yards, and a touchdown, six catches 100 yards and a touchdown, and then most recently eight catches for 82 yards. So,
2:02maybe a low reception prop over for Bijan would make sense given his talents and the matchup.
2:08RB4, I got James Cook going up against the Ravens, guys. Should be a good old-fashioned shootout here as long as Lamar Jackson is healthy enough to play
2:14football again. But, just pretty incredible for James Cook that he's dealing with a quarterback who literally is tied for the league-leading rushing
2:21touchdowns inside the 5-yard line. You know, still giving us RB7 numbers in PPR points per game. So, credit to James Cook. At this point, one of the most
2:29efficient running backs ever, okay? In the Super Bowl era, minimum 800 career rushes. Somewhat arbitrary number, but you know, that's four seasons of
2:38200-plus carries. Believe me, there's plenty of running backs that have had this in Super Bowl era. The only running backs to average north of 5 yards per
2:45carry, Jamaal Charles, Jahmyr Gibbs, Mercury Morris, Nick Chubb, Barry Sanders, Gale Sayers, and yes, James freaking Cook.
2:54So, awfully special company for an awfully special player. RB5, I'm going with Derrick Henry against the Bills. It has been tough sledding a little bit,
3:01all right? Career low 3.9 yards per carry. This Ravens O-line has been not that great and also banged up. And then,
3:06without Lamar Jackson in the picture, I just think if you kind of outlined those things for Derrick Henry fantasy managers before the season, you'd be
3:13like, "Good god, how bad is he going to be the first month and a half?" And the answer is still pretty darn good, all right? Now,
3:19it was better in the first four weeks before Lamar was out of the picture, and we just haven't seen the same scoring
3:23upside here. But, King Henry, guys, still the RB11, still averaging 17.5 PPR points per game. And winter is coming, and we have seen this dude average more
3:31and more yards per carry as each month progresses on the calendar. Would not be surprised at all if we see him fall into
3:37the end zone multiple times here again in this shootout against the Bills.
3:41RB6, I'm going with Kyren Williams against the Chargers. So, if we get situations where the Rams are either coming from behind or they're just in a
3:47good old-fashioned shootout, yeah, we just get face-melting, you know, upside RB1 numbers from Kyren here. Hasn't been the case in recent weeks and don't look
3:55now, he's actually only scored Blake outscored Blake Corum by 0.1 PPR points over the course of their last three games. So, it's obviously a little bit
4:03more split than Kyren fantasy managers would prefer when it is a situation where the Rams are able to play with a
4:08lead, which I do expect to happen here against the Chargers. That said, we're still looking at 15 to 20 fantasy points
4:14per game in those contests. Like he goes from being again this legit top three world beater to more of just a low-end
4:20RB1. So, four teams on bye in this sort of match-up, still feeling good. Kyren Williams RB6.
4:26RB7, I got for now Colts RB1, Jonathan Taylor going up against a very, very tough Jaguars defense. In fact, they have the second best defense in PPR
4:34points per game allowed at the position.
4:35And similar to Derrick Henry, man, we just haven't really seen the best version of Jonathan Taylor this year. He is currently averaging a career low 4.2
4:42yards per carry.
4:43And he's still averaging 19.6 PPR points per game. So, again, when you are just your team's complete focal point inside the 5-yard line, you can fall into the
4:51end zone multiple times even in a game where you're not playing that great. I'm looking at Javonte Williams, he's our RB8, you know, it's a similar story
4:57there. Yeah, I know he kind of broke out of that and had a great game on Monday night against the Eagles, but that's
5:02what we're dealing with some of these guys, man. Like a talented, obviously exceptionally talented, all right, real life running back looking at 20-plus
5:08touches. Would it be a lot cooler if they had more help from their friends on the O-line and a quarterback?
5:13Absolutely. Still good enough though to make them weekly RB1s.
5:17Mentioned Javonte Williams RB8. Was good to see the Cowboys offensive line actually start moving people in on that Monday night win over the Eagles. Was
5:24that more so an Eagles problem than a Cowboys, you know, feathering their cap?
5:28Remains to be seen out here, but end of the day, the volume for Javonte has been perfectly fine. NFL high 14 carries
5:34inside the 5-yard line this year. So, if we can start seeing that efficiency go up, I mean, that's going to be a
5:38difference between him being more of a low-end RB1 and being a top six world beater or world beater. So, certainly feeling very, very good about Javonte if
5:46you managed to get him in round three in fantasy drafts. RB9 though, I'm going with Josh Jacobs guys against the Panthers, all right? First game back
5:53from his exempt his time on the commissioner's exempt list, and actually ripped off 20 plus PPR points, while also dropping a potential 17-yard
6:00touchdown. So, meat left on the bone.
6:02They only had 11 carries out there on a 52% snap rate. Now, we get a Panthers team that looked completely lost trying
6:08to stuff any bucking their joint back that got the football last week. I do think we see Jacobs usage increase in a
6:14Packers offense that can put up all kinds of points. And if they want to keep throwing the football, but actually throwing it to Josh Jacobs as well,
6:20that's just going to be even better for fantasy. So, Josh Jacobs now guys has 31 touchdowns in 33 regular season games
6:27with the Packers. I think he'll keep that going here on Thursday night.
6:31RB10, I got Chuba Hubbard going against the Packers on Thursday night football.
6:35He's He's had 23, 21, and 29 touches in his three games before last week's dud.
6:42Talked about on the quarterback rankings episode. I'm just willing to give Bryce Young company the benefit of the doubt.
6:47One very bad game, I get it, and we did lose Taylor Moton for the season. That's not ideal. This is still a Packers
6:53defense that I don't necessarily think is exceptional, albeit they have been playing better. I do not think Micah Parsons is going to be returning by
6:59Thursday night. So, Chuba Hubbard, before last week, he had not finished worse than the RB12 in a single game this season. I'm giving him the benefit
7:06of the doubt here in week eight.
7:09RB11, I got D'Andre Swift going against the Seahawks on Monday night football.
7:12Contingent on Kyle Manunga remaining sidelined with that toe injury. If Manunga comes back, I wouldn't completely freefall D'Andre Swift or anything like that, but I would get him
7:23more down that RB15, RB16 range. That's a testament to how good that Seattle Seahawks defense is. But, hey, happens in basketball, happens in football, too.
7:31Sometimes great offense just beats great defense. And in D'Andre Swift's case, man, has been a great running back this season, posting RB1 numbers. And last
7:38time out, he actually had an elite 86% snap rate. So, the Roshan Johnson 1B experience, you know, definitely was short-lived, did not continue to go out
7:47there uh like we saw last week. So, De'Andre Swift without Kalen Ballage involved is someone who I think on pure volume can manage to still overcome a
7:55tough match up here against the Seahawks.
7:57RB 12, I got Jaylen Warren going against the Browns, guys. So, looking at his last five games, he's had 20, 20, 21,
8:04and then a Rico Dowdle back, 16 and 21 touches. So, I get it. We always want our fantasy running backs to have 30
8:10touches per week, 90% snap rates, and everything like that. But, particularly last week with Rico, like I think having 15 touches for 86 yards, I mean, he was
8:19kind of good in his own right. So, I think some of the outcry has been a little bit overstated. The Steelers
8:24offense as a whole is playing pretty good football, and they're winning football games. don't think that we can exactly look at Mike McCarthy, who's
8:30obviously been someone very integral to having that reality come out, and then all of a sudden say, "You freaking idiot, why don't you give the ball to
8:36Jaylen Warren more?" That said, it would be cool to get Jaylen Warren the ball more because he's the man. All right? And this ties
8:43into our question that kind of overcomes this whole tier. Who have been the best running backs in both the running and
8:47pass games this year? And the answer, guys, is pretty much Jaylen Warren. He is up there in the top right-hand corner
8:53in terms of yards per rush and yards per target. We see James Cook, Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs also up there.
8:59Also, Blake Corum, man. Him and Kyren Williams, two of the most efficient running backs in the league. I feel like anytime anyone is discussing or tweeting
9:06about these Rams running backs, it's just kind of whatever player they drafted more of is how they're going to be framing these things. But, in
9:12reality, like I do think Kyren's better than Blake Corum, but I wouldn't really consider like the touches that Corum's getting to be a waste by any stretch of
9:20the imagination because look for yourself. He is making the most out of them.
9:24Kenneth Walker, Bucky Irving, Brevyn Allen, those are guys that are better rushers than receivers. And the Brevyn Allen point is interesting because as we
9:30can see in the top left of this graph, we actually have Breece Hall standing out as one of the guys who is a better
9:34receiver than rusher. So, great problem for the New York Jets to have in real life, but I really do wonder if we saw
9:39enough from Breece Hall over the course of the last month to make that more of a 55-45, 60-40 sort of split in Breece's
9:46favor. Don't worry, we'll be ranking Breece ahead of Breylon next, but yeah, it's going to be a few more names. I do
9:51not think he's going to have that same, you know, 25-plus touch weekly upside.
9:55You know, could be wrong, of course. By the way, the worst running backs though in terms of yards per carry and yards
9:59per target this year, Kendre Miller, MarShawn Lloyd, Tyler Allgeier, Quinshon Judkins, Chase Brown, and Jeremiah Love.
10:06So, hopefully those two weeks, you know, off for Jeremiah Love gotten his ankle feeling better, and he can come out here
10:12and start looking more like the guy who obviously was drafted number three overall for a reason. Would be especially cool to get him back this
10:18week with the Cowboys up here on deck.
10:21Tier three guys, RB2 season for our RB13 through 24 class now. Starting off with RB13, Bucky Irving. This feels low cuz
10:30he has a great role in an offense that doesn't suck, and I thought Baker Mayfield's still looking relatively healthy, you know, in his first game
10:36back from that injury. I'm just trying to balance the blow-ups that we saw against two very bad defenses in the Cowboys and Panthers with the other
10:44three games in between there where we had 61 or fewer scoreless yards every time out. I swear, I'm not trying to do
10:51the annoying fantasy guy thing where it's like, "Take away his good games, and all of a sudden the guy is really
10:55bad." I just think the Falcons are closer to those other defenses than the Panthers and Cowboys, all right? This is a top-five group in havoc. I mean, they
11:03really They've been had a few times.
11:05Like, the first four or five weeks of the year they looked dominant, and they have not been doing that quite on the
11:09same level here over the past couple of games, but secondary's also getting a little bit healthier.
11:14I would not be surprised if we see Baker have to throw the football a little bit more. Maybe they can't lean quite as
11:19much on Bucky. Look, RB13 though, if you have Bucky Irving in fantasy, you should be starting him.
11:25RB14, I'm going to be a shout-out to him against the Colts, guys. Another one where I kind of wish I could bump him up
11:30higher in the ranks. I would say any sort of close start sit decision with Bijan Robinson. Like you better have an
11:35absolute dog of wide receiver to be putting this guy on your bench. Just the RB 14 for me this week. I guess mostly
11:41because despite having that fun two touchdown game in a week's in week uh was it? Yeah, week six before their week
11:48seven bye.
11:50We still didn't see Chris Rodriguez completely disappear. And in fact, he ran a little bit harder in Bijan too.
11:55That was Chris Rodriguez's best game of the season, you know, followed following his worst game with some of those gas at
12:01the goal line that we talked about. So, I know we all want Bijan to happen. He's been making the most out of his
12:07opportunities and if he continues to be the the fact that we lead back in a really good Jaguars offense, I think
12:12Etienne will probably continue to be an upside RB 2. Can we get the complete three down workhorse role? Probably needed to be a top six running back the
12:20rest of the way remains to be seen. But hey, Colts are a team that is basically quitting based on some of the moves
12:25they've made. No more DeForest Buckner, no more Quenton Nelson. Probably more guys are going to be gone by the time I'm done recording
12:31So, just again, from that factor alone, Bijan to my RB 14. If you want to go ahead and say screw you EM, what do you
12:37know? RB 10. Hey, I hear you.
12:40RB 15, I'm going to Rhamondre Stevenson going against the Dolphins, guys. So, I don't think we're going to get miraculous end of half 48-yard touchdown
12:47receptions every single week from Rhamondre, but the bigger story for me was Trayveon Henderson continuing to be a complete afterthought and the whole
12:54Corey Clement experience thing in a game that we did see the Patriots trailing for quite a bit. Just did not see Corey
13:00Clement at all. He only played six snaps in this game. So, very nice 69% snap rate for Rhamondre in that loss to the
13:06Bears. It's just a situation where he's kind of game script proof at this point.
13:11to be the guy getting most of the touches around the goal line. And if they fall behind, he's the one they
13:15trust to also be working as a receiver.
13:17So, 7 1/2 point favorites against the Dolphins defense allowing the third most PPR points game in the position. This is, I would say, the breakpoint in the
13:26ranks, all right? I know I got more guys in this tier and everything, but top 15 RBs for me, the guys are
13:32the guys I would say I'm most confident in just smashing this week. A lot of factors going their way, most importantly, the volume one.
13:39RB16, I got Saquon Barkley.
13:42He could get in the circle trust if we get a clean bill of health going into Sunday, which seems unrealistic given
13:49what we all saw with our own two eyes on Monday night football, but then again, Saquon came out afterwards says hamstring was fine, the back injury
13:56isn't something that he thinks is going to be a long-term factor. But yeah, hamstring and back injury is not exactly things I want to be worrying about with
14:02my running back, especially when we saw them so willing to actively put him out there on a clear snap count, all right?
14:09So, kudos to Saquon, made the most out of it, and he's been good. He's been great, honestly, all season, guys. 5.7
14:15yards per carry this year, second best mark of his career. He looks elusive as hell out there, didn't have the home run
14:20speed as we saw in that Cowboys game cuz of the hamstring injury, but if he can get healthy down the stretch, who knows?
14:25Maybe he can do some big things for the Eagles or someone else, perhaps. But tougher match-up, I think, against Sonny Styles and the Washington Commanders.
14:32My concern is the Sunday night football aspect of it, all right?
14:36If it's a game-time decision, they're going to see how he's doing before the game, you know, could be start and stop.
14:42Again, I keep my ranks updated all week over at rotowire.com. You guys want to check those out. If Saquon is questionable and we're getting the
14:48game-time decision stuff up until Sunday night, I would probably drop him to around RB29, RB30. I'd probably still risk it over
14:59guys like Zach Charbonnet, Tyler Allgeier, RJ Harvey, probably over Brian Robinson Allen as well. It's when you get to Rachaad White, Bam Knight going
15:07up against the Cowboys if no Jeremiah Love, Zonovan Knight going up against the Chiefs.
15:11Again, it's still close. That's about the range though where I would have Saquon if I was very concerned. Now, if he makes it through Friday, he's feeling
15:18better than ever, he's not even on the injury report and we're feeling good, then I'd be willing to get safe one up a
15:22few spots, nothing crazy, but if you want to put him at the top of this tier, go right ahead, my friend.
15:28RB 17, I'm going with Raheem Mostert, guys. Continues to play good freaking football out here. In four starts without Devon Achane now, 55, 188, and
15:36103 total yards, and he scored a touchdown each and every game. So, we have not seen the floor that will come
15:42eventually because this guy is a zero as a receiver, and when he does not get a touchdown one of these games, it's not
15:47going to be a pretty point total, but he's good, man. Third best explosive run play rate in the league, behind only
15:53Kenneth Walker and Jahmyr Gibbs out here.
15:56Great company, man.
15:59Also seeing top 10 marks in tackles avoided per carry. Like Raheem Mostert, he's passing the eye test. Sorry, Kenneth Walker and James Cook only guys
16:05more explosive than Raheem Mostert this year, but he is third. He's passing the eye test, and the Dolphins offense, I'm not saying they're juggernauts, but
16:11they've at least looked a little more passable here in recent weeks, all right? They don't look like the single worst offense in the league, or if they
16:17do, it's at least, you know, a tier of teams out there. So, Raheem Mostert, RB 17 for me, and I think it's a situation
16:23where the Dolphins could fall behind against anyone, I get it, but this Patriots game is going to be his last mainly kind of tough match up here for a
16:31minute. They get the Lions, Colts, Bills, and Jets up until week 12. Going to make Raheem Mostert a popular streamer, deservedly so.
16:38RB 18, I got a returning Breece Hall against the Raiders, okay?
16:43He is one of the lower-ranked featured running backs we have left cuz I'm just not so sure how often he's going to be
16:49getting featured. Breelon Allen, top three numbers in a lot of things we care about, man. Yards after contact per carry, he's top five, top six in tackles
16:58avoided, explosive rush rate, next gen stats, rush yards over expected. And again, you don't care about those stats, you got a life, I get it. Watch the
17:06film, this dude's pushing piles, and for a big man, similar to Raheem Mostert, he's got some pretty quick feet on him
17:11as well. So, I think this could be a real nice kind of boom and zoom two-back committee, or maybe the Jets say, "Hey,
17:17we just paid Breece Hall a lot of money.
17:19He is still our bellcow no matter what, and he's going to be the future guy."
17:22So, RB18, a little bit of a hedge for now. I'd be much more willing to move up Breece Hall in the ranks. Hey, if we do
17:28get one good game of him having that usual three-down workhorse role.
17:33RB19, I'm going Chase Brown against Tennessee Titans, guys.
17:37RB19, okay.
17:39Chase Brown, he's the RB21 in PPR points per game this year, and it feels way worse cuz unfortunately they had to
17:45sacrifice that round one, round two turn pick to acquire his services back in August. That said, last week was a net
17:52positive, all right? We got a 76% snap rate. Second best mark of the season.
17:57The Samaje Perine takeover did not happen. He did come in and get the goal line carry. That was annoying. I get it.
18:04I'd be very surprised if that becomes something that happens each and every game, all right? Sometimes, like in Tampa Bay for instance, there is a clock
18:12stoppage, all right? They get Sean Tucker from Bucky Irving. It's a very important play. They have their guy they believe is better in short yardage, but
18:20just more times than not, like there aren't that many official designated every single time goal line backs in the NFL. If anything, it's more so
18:28quarterback who's out there all the time anyway.
18:30With Chase Brown, this is not the first time we've seen a slow start. Now, we've seen him overcome slow starts in
18:39past years, in large part because of injuries to his teammates or other factors going on. In 2024 though, Chase Brown, Zack Moss, weeks 1 through 7,
18:48Chase Brown RB30, just 11.2 PPR points per game. Weeks 8 through 18, 19.6 PPR points per game, good for RB6 status.
18:57That was when Zack Moss got hurt. 2025, slow start, in large part because Joe Burrow was hurt. We also had some Samaje
19:03Perine factor in there as well. Just 10.1 PPR points per game in the first 7 weeks for Chase Brown. Weeks 8 through
19:0818 though, 21.2, good for the RB3 on the that stretch.
19:142026, guys, first 7 weeks, 12.5 PPR points per game, RB21.
19:20The Bengals, they join the Jaguars and the 49ers, only three teams with top eight scoring offenses and scoring defenses. This is a
19:28damn good football team. The offense is putting up all kinds of points, and you look at the upcoming schedule, guys.
19:35Titans this week.
19:37These aren't all layups, but they're all games that we can feasibly and I think pretty realistically imagine the Bengals either winning and having a nice lead
19:45that's going to lend itself nicely to Chase Brown getting touches, or just facing a defense that we don't think is all that good. Titans, Falcons,
19:53Steelers, Commanders, Saints, Browns, Chiefs, Panthers, Colts, Ravens down the stretch of the season.
20:02Now, got some big-name running backs out there on the trade market. I'm not saying you need to go out of your way
20:08and get Chase Brown because I do think there's some worst-case scenario risk there where it could get ugly in a hurry. But, P Ryan's not taking over
20:16this job. We've seen Chase Brown have slow starts and come on very strong at the end of the year.
20:22This is a guy that's done the 20-plus points per game thing for months and months at a time. I don't think he
20:29magically became the worst running back in the league, even if I admit it has been a very, very tough first 7 weeks.
20:36So, if you have Chase Brown, I would recommend holding. And hey, maybe just send out a lowball offer to your league
20:42manager, right? The worst thing that's going to happen is they make fun of you in the GroupMe. The best thing that
20:46happens is the GroupMe makes fun of them for accepting your offer.
20:50RB20, I got to ask you J.D. We just got one lightning rod running back after another here in this low-end RB2 range,
20:56which kind of makes sense, but the league's worst running back in rush EPA in each of the past two seasons, okay? The you've probably seen the Trent
21:03Richardson comparison graphics. They are ugly, okay? Ashton Jeanty has not looked anything close to the generational world-beater that we were promised
21:12coming out of Boise State.
21:14That part is true.
21:15He's also playing through a number of injuries that have been confirmed by Clint Kubiak in the injury report alike.
21:20He's also playing behind RotoWire's 29th ranked offensive line.
21:24It's an offense not exactly setting him up with the most fantasy friendly opportunities on the ground.
21:29Meanwhile, Asiasi leads the position in targets and he's done good things with it.
21:35Have they been trailing a lot in recent weeks? And that has that helped? Yeah, sure.
21:40It's not like Asiasi is just getting these 7-yard check-downs one after another, though.
21:44He made a sick back-shoulder catch against the Rams down the sideline last week. That was before he caught the wheel for a touchdown.
21:51Great play designs by Clint Kubiak and good balls from Kirk Cousins, but give Asiasi some credit at least for being a
21:55dynamic receiver out there.
21:58You add it all together, guys.
22:0017.4 PPR points per game for Asiasi this year. He's still been the RB 13. I get it. It's based on the volume and large
22:07part of the passing volume, but he's still getting it even with Brock Bowers back in the picture.
22:12And when we go from Cousins to Mendoza, if and when, could that change things?
22:16Sure, but it's not happening this week.
22:19For now, Asiasi ahead of this potential sneaky shootout against the Jets, look, I'm ranked RB 20 for a reason. I see the concerns here. We can't just be
22:28assuming we're going to be, you know, having the day saved by a short touchdown or him catching eight passes every single week, but
22:35if you got Asiasi, I still would recommend starting him. And if you're saying, you know what, Ian, that's all great, you're wrong, he is Trent
22:41Richardson 2.0. Trent Richardson was the RB5 in PPR points per game in his one season in Cleveland. All right? He was
22:48bad, but it didn't really matter cuz they kept force-feeding the football like the Raiders largely continue to do with Asiasi.
22:55RB 21, I got Tony Pollard going against the Bengals. 51.3 PPR points in weeks 1 through 6 combined and then he had 36.5 last week against
23:05the brownies. So, good for Pollard.
23:07Honestly, almost had a fourth touchdown on that total. You know, got stopped on the one yard line a couple times.
23:12It was a season high 28 touches. We shouldn't be expecting that each and every week, particularly if Tyjae Spears is back in the picture. And just the
23:18matchup, guys. Sexy Dexy and this Bengals defense, mentioned it before, top eight defense overall in points per game allowed. And they've also been a
23:24top four defense in PPR points per game allowed to opposing running backs.
23:29RB 22, Quishon Judkins going against the Steelers. We did it, guys. We got more than 4 yards per carry. For the first
23:36time in 16 long cold games, Quishon Judkins averaged more than 4 yards per carry. And hey, maybe him and Skowronek, who also showed off a little bit more
23:45juice last week, as the season goes on, they will be starting to feel better and more like their 100% versions of
23:49themselves as they get healthier from those injuries, you know. So, rooting for the best here. It's just again, one of these things similar to Tony Pollard,
23:56where hey, great performance last week.
23:57Love seeing the multi-touchdown games.
23:59Can we just assume that's now going to be the new norm going forward? That's where I get a little bit concerned. So,
24:04I do like the fact this Browns offense is capable flirting with scoring 30 plus points. They come against the Titans though. The two games before that were
24:12awfully problematic. So, did a good job against the Steelers the first time out.
24:15Again, Judkins, RB 22. He's been lower than this, you know, in past weeks. But, for me, still pretty much a touchdown
24:21dependent RB 2. But, a touchdown dependent RB 2, I feel more confident in scoring touchdowns than I have in past weeks and obviously years.
24:29RB 23, I got Jordan Mason going against the Lions. This is assuming Aaron Jones will play. I would move him ahead of
24:36Judkins, of Pollard if not. So, something to keep in mind there. But, the other thing is and why I wouldn't be
24:42going too crazy with this. We saw this last year, even with Aaron Jones out of the picture, the Vikings just are not a
24:47team that wants to be loading up Jordan Mason with a bunch of actual routes and targets and things like that that do
24:52help us. Because, as amazing as this Vikings defense is and as real Super contenders that the Vikings are with that defense,
25:00God, this offense sucks, man. League low, 14 red zone drives through 7 weeks of action. And I know they had the bye,
25:07but man, we are talking about one of the worst offenses in football, full stop.
25:14So, I'd like to think that more reps for Kyler Murray, still learning the offense, and all the pass-catchers being healthier, it's I
25:22would like to think that's going to help. It's a good match-up against the Lions. It's a great match-up against the Lions.
25:28It was a great match-up against the Colts last week, too, and we just couldn't get anything going. So, I think Flores and KOC, they're pretty much
25:35seeing this for what it is, and they're riding this defense to victories. And that's great, and Vikings fans should be pumped.
25:41I'm just getting more and more worried if there's anyone in this Vikings offense that we can really trust.
25:46This sample size is growing, guys. Going back to week one of last season, I know Justin Jefferson's one of the best
25:52receivers in the NFL.
25:54Blind stack comparisons, at least in fantasy land, since week one last year, would not be pretty. So, obviously been tough for Addison. Hockenson's gotten
26:01going a little bit of Kyler. Funny how that keeps working with that dude and tight ends.
26:05Jordan Mason, lower-end, touchdown-dependent RB2, and it feels crazy to me to rank him behind Keaontay Ingram, but the Browns have been a higher-scoring offense.
26:16Crazy, man. Jordan Mason, RB23.
26:20RB24, I got Blake Corum, guys. He's come alive these last 3 weeks. Scored a touchdown each game. Had two nullified by warranted penalties last week, to be
26:27fair. In addition to that, 72, 60, and 101 in total yards along the way.
26:32Kyren's been better in terms of like the tackles avoided, yards after contact, the underlying stuff that does matter.
26:36But, hey, to Corum's credit, also been very efficient with his touches. And over these last 3 weeks, he's been the RB12 in terms of total PPR points. And
26:44Kyren Williams, the RB11, just 0.1 points ahead of Mr. Corum. So, hey, both Rams running backs really doing great things. And as touchdown favorites
26:53against the Chargers, I would expect that to continue.
26:56Key question here, guys. Looking at the best running backs matchups here for this week's best and worst and then we're going to be looking at more than
27:02just yards before contact per carry, all right? Try to get better here halfway through the football season. Why not?
27:07So, going to have a handy-dandy chart here for you guys. Blue signifies a good on paper matchup. Red signifies a bad
27:13one. So, I have this sorted by the fantasy points saying, "Okay, look.
27:16Green Bay against the Panthers, second worst defense in the league of fantasy points per game." That is, again, a great on paper matchup in terms of that.
27:24But, I wanted to use combined matchup statistics for the offense and defense and yards before contact, success rate, explosive run rate, and EPA per rush.
27:32Try to see like, "Okay, you have a good matchup against the Panthers, but do you actually deserve to have this good, you
27:38know, boost because is your offense good enough to really be taking advantage of it?" We kind of did this for the
27:42quarterback one as well and I thought it was good because it was saying like, "Look, Kyler Murray, great matchup against the Lions in terms of what
27:49they've been allowing in the fantasy points." But, when you actually look at the Vikings passing game versus even a bad Lions pass defense, we just didn't
27:55see that matchup popping in the same way. So, all that said, guys, big four takeaways here.
28:01Involved number ones, involved, I'm sorry, number one RBs still ranked high due to their expected volume, but the Packers, Patriots, Ravens, and Panthers
28:10don't exactly stand out as having smash spots when you actually consider how their offensive line and run games have been doing even against teams that have
28:16been allowing a lot of fantasy points this year. Also, Jets, Rams, and Cowboys, all right? These are three teams have the most blue across the
28:23board looking very, very good in their respective matchups against the Raiders, Chargers, and Cardinals. The opposite is true for the Browns, Broncos, and
28:30Eagles. Really don't have too much going for them going up against the Steelers, Chiefs, and Commanders respectively. And then finally, the Ravens have been
28:37pretty good overall, but this Bills run game, man, absolute juggernaut this year. In fact, the most explosive rushing offense since the rookie Cam
28:44Newton 2011 Carolina Panthers, man.
28:47DeAngelo Williams doing their things out there as well. Very, very great offense that Joe Brady company have had going.
28:54So, again, just want to try to find these situations where we have a full blue line going across. That means that
29:00that's both really a good real-life, you know, matchup indication and also in fantasy land.
29:05Next here, guys, we got flex-worthy RBs, all right? Let off by RB 25. Rashaad White actually got some pretty freaking great usage there before the Commanders
29:14took their Week 6 bye. 70% of the offensive snaps. He had 54% of designed rush attempts and ran around in 55% of
29:21Jayden Daniels' dropbacks. That all amounted to just 11 touches. So, it's a bad offensive line. Rotowire ranks them 28th at this point in the season, but
29:30the Eagles looked horrendous, man, against the Cowboys. That was the 10th worst single-game mark this season in terms of RB rush yards before contact
29:38allowed per carry out there. Far and away the Eagles' worst, personally. So, again, Rashaad White, I don't think it's going to be the sexiest, you know,
29:46performance from him here, but, hey, only a couple years removed from him actually turning in low-end RB1 numbers in a similar fashion. Why can't he do at
29:53least, you know, a lesser version of that in Washington? Hence, RB 25 treatment.
29:58RB 26, I got Jamaal Williams going against the Chiefs. I was surprised to see Jamaal Williams actually take the lead in this backfield in his first game
30:05back from injury, but JK Dobbins hasn't been doing good on the ground. Sean Payton doesn't seem overly enthused with getting RJ Harvey the ball since he's
30:12been taking over as play-caller. So, here we are with Jamaal Williams. And Sean Payton even said, "Got to get him more touches definitely after the game."
30:20The problem.
30:21Can this Broncos offense get more out of them, okay? Cuz we've seen exactly basically four quarters this year against the Arizona Cardinals where this
30:27group has looked okay. Even that game, man, Bo Nix runs 62 yards untouched on a scramble and RJ Harvey takes a screen
30:3550-plus yards. It wasn't like this Broncos offense was just, you know, all of a sudden turning a new leaf. Still weren't exactly getting a bunch going
30:42through the air, and the run game as a whole still not exactly doing all that much. So, considerably tougher match-up against the Chiefs. They had 10 points
30:49and 176 total yards against these guys in week one. So, better days ahead. I think they get the Panthers in week
30:55nine. I got Coleman as my number one Broncos running back. I do expect him to be leading the way, but as we've seen in
31:01Denver over the years under Sean Payton, you know, leading the way can still be like 50% of the backfield snaps, you
31:06know.
31:07RB 27, I have Bam Knight against the Cowboys, all right. He has outscored Tyler Allgeier by 21.2 to 13.8 total PPR
31:15points over these last two weeks. If Jeremiah Love is back in the picture, and I hope he is for this match-up, I'd
31:22get him up there, man. I don't know if I could quite get to the Irvin, Akers, Rhamondre range, but I would trust
31:30Jeremiah Love coming back, full health, assurances of no limitations, I would start Jeremiah over Allgeier, Gordon, [clears throat] a potentially
31:41limited Saquon, Breece Hall, Chase Brown, Akers, D'Onta Foreman amongst others. So, Bam Knight's going to be down here. If not, just think it's a
31:47situation where even though if it is an easy match-up, the usage still has been split between him and Tyler Allgeier.
31:52Credit to Bam for running hard, man. He had another just chunk run where, you know, Broncos defenders bouncing off this dude last week. Dropped a
31:59touchdown, would have been a lot cooler if he didn't. But, yeah, Bam Knight for me. RB 27 somewhere where you want to
32:04flex him, I can get down with that.
32:06RB 28, I got Breelon Allen. In weeks one through three, guys, 11, six, and seven combined carries and targets. I would
32:12think given how well he's been playing, we can get down to the double digits here. And it is a match-up between the
32:17Jets and Raiders that I do think could surprise with the amount of points that could be flying up on the board. So, RB
32:2228 for me here. And again, just one of those things in fantasy where I think unfortunately he played too well where
32:28we're probably not going to feel overly great still about playing him, you know, on his own. But, then with Breece Hall
32:34being out there, it's also going to eat into what we can exactly expect from Breece.
32:39RB 29, mentioned Tyler Allgeier in the BAM night convo before. RB 30, Zach Charbonnet against the Bears on Monday Night Football. So, we'll see what the
32:46outsiders want to tell us this week, you know, in terms of his potential workload and if he's going to be out there or
32:50not, but I just think it's going to be pretty hard to trust him. Even if he is out there in his first game, it's a
32:55reasonable enough match up, but I wouldn't say the Seahawks offense deserves the benefit of the doubt for anything other than throwing Jackson
33:01Smith-Njigba the football and I do expect Emmanuel Wilson and George Kittle to remain involved as well. So, Zach Charbonnet, would be nice to see him go
33:08out there and hey, if I'm wrong, guess what? We'll move him up next week. I am keeping my expectations tempered though,
33:12at least in this first game back.
33:15RB 31, RJ Harvey going up against the Chiefs. Maybe they just fall behind and all of a sudden the game script works
33:20out for him, but given the way that Chiefs offense looked last week, I wouldn't be too optimistic about that either. So, just three, nine, and five
33:27touches for RJ Harvey since Sean Payton took over play calling. RB 32, I got Amari N Hampton. Maybe try to shake
33:33things up in the RB room after the bye, but you know, your guess is good as mine for who's going to take the lead with
33:38that. Cam Akers was the one kind of trending up before the bye. It seems like Mike McDaniel's had an affinity for
33:44Ke'Shawn Mitchell throughout a lot of this year. And man, personally, I think Amari N Hampton gives him the best chance. He's just constantly pushing
33:50piles and seems like the best, you know, overall athlete and talent in the backfield, but at the end of the day,
33:56we're talking about the league's single worst scoring offense going up against Aaron Donald and company. Most likely answer for what Chargers running back
34:02you want to have on your fantasy team is no.
34:05RB 33, I got Aaron Jones against the Lions.
34:08I just think it could be less of a 1A-1B situation. He just re-aggravated the MCL injury and as this Lions defense does
34:15get a little bit healthier and better, I do think we'll see more of a familiar version of them being better against the
34:20run than the past. RB 34, I got J.K.
34:22Dobbins going against the Chiefs. Career low 3.04 yards per carry. I know he kind of banged up his hamstring in week two.
34:28I do just wonder how close to 100% Dobbins even is at this point, but yeah, cannot be trusting him even though he
34:33scored three touchdowns in the last three weeks. RB 35, Rico Dowdle, fantasy football's public enemy number one.
34:40Man, he had a good week seven, 86 yards, 15 touches. Is Jaylen Warren better?
34:46100%, but I don't know. Just seems a little personal against Rico. So, anyway, he's a meh flex play. I'm not saying you should go out there and start
34:53him. He is a great handcuff though, so definitely make sure you don't cut him.
34:58RB 36, I got Samaje Perine just four touches a week after it looked like he was maybe taking over, so he's back to
35:03again being a little more than a handcuff, but a pretty decent handcuff as the clear number two running back in the NFL's fourth highest scoring
35:09offense. Key question for this tier, guys, what running backs have been doing the most cool [ __ ] this season? All
35:14right. When you do look at this made up stat, I'm looking at explosive plays, touchdowns, and tackles avoided divided by their actual total carries and
35:23targets. So, with that, full leaderboard you can find over on my old Twitter, but yes, number one running back in the most
35:28cool [ __ ] per opportunity, Kenneth Walker by a good margin to no one's surprise. Number two, R.J. Harvey. I do
35:35think this is a little bit of a flaw in this again ultimately meaningless statistic where we have someone like R.J. Harvey who's getting more of his
35:42touches as a receiver, more in the open field, he's going to be naturally creating more explosive plays and forcing more missed tackles on those
35:49sorts of plays, but on the other hand, dude busted a 50-yard screen for a touchdown last week. That was a fun
35:54time. He's been doing good things in the pass game all season long forcing a lot of missed tackles. So, shout out to R.J.
36:00Harvey. Jahmyr Gibbs number three, Breida and Tevin Coleman four, Cam Akers five, Jaylen Warren six, George Kittle number seven. Don't laugh. George
36:08Kittle, man, once or twice a game these last couple weeks been doing some cool stuff. We deservedly clowned him for the
36:13fumbles against the 49ers, but he also made Fred Warner look pretty silly diving for nothing in the open field on another one of those plays.
36:22Had the Broncos game where he had the back-to-back runs where he looked like like beast mode out there shaving off three tacklers like Lenoir
36:28Sellers on his way into the end zone.
36:30Then even last week, man, picked up that third and long just on a simple pass in the flat. So, shoutout George Iloka,
36:36man. Makes some cool [ __ ] happen this year.
36:38Rest of the top 10, Ramondre Stevenson, Saquon Barkley, and Ali Gordon. So, honestly I feel pretty good about how the eye test is matching up with that,
36:45which is always the goal with some of these stats, am I right? Tier four, honey, get the handcuffs. Don't want to
36:50be starting these guys if you can help it, but we do probably want to have at least some of them sitting on our
36:54fantasy bench. RB 37, Chris Rodriguez.
36:57Again, ran hard before the bye is a good matchup against the Colts where you could see the Jaguars getting up and
37:02getting Seattle goal line touchdown or even two. RB 38, Roschon Johnson coming off two touches. Cannot trust him. RB 39, Mike Washington. Even with Gentry's
37:11usage going down, we still only seen Washington get two, 10, and six touches.
37:15Little more than a fancy handcuff at this point. RB 40, Dillon Sampson.
37:19Looked good in his first game back, man.
37:20Nine touches for 77 yards. Don't see that efficiency persisting week over week, but you know, he'll be the next man up behind Quinshon Judkins. RB 41,
37:28Ty Johnson just for shits and giggles purposes against the Ravens. RB 42, Keaton Mitchell. RB 43, George Iloka. RB 44, MarShawn Lloyd. RB 45, Treyvion
37:37Henderson. RB 46, Kenny Gainwell. RB 47, Austin Ekeler. And RB 48, Zamir White.
37:44So, I would take the uh under, I would say, with MarShawn Lloyd seeing eight touches again with Josh Jacobs role increasing. And Treyvion Henderson,
37:52guys, I don't even know if he's just a handcuff to stash, all right? I I will do so. I don't have much [ __ ] on
37:59Henderson, I'm not going to lie, all right?
38:02And that's not me trying to ridicule any of you who drafted him in rounds five or six. We all have hits and misses, you
38:07know, it just is what it is, but I just if Ramondre got out of the picture, how confident are you that
38:14Treyvion would have that 80% role we saw last year?
38:17He doesn't look healthy. He hasn't ripped off an explosive run since that sweet one he had in week two on like his
38:22first drive of the season.
38:24I just think Corey Clement would have a lot of the early down work. He's been more effective rushing than Trayveon this year, which breaks my heart as a
38:32big-time Trayveon, you know, at least last year a truther. Longtime Ohio State fan, so sad stuff for Trayveon.
38:39Would really try to keep him, but just I even doubt some of the handcuff upside at this point, so tough tough scenes
38:45there. Last question guys though, who are the better low-owned, all right, handcuffs that we should be trying to keep on those benches? This is sub 25%
38:52roster on Yahoo, so in addition to Trayveon, we're not looking at guys like Mike Washington or Raheem Black, but do keep an eye on them, man.
38:58Especially Raheem Black with CMC having this, you know, little hamstring injury, but we know how that goes sometimes, so Jaguars running back Chris Rodriguez,
39:07he's down at 24% roster on Yahoo. I'm imagining a lot of teams let him go by the bye week. I don't think he's
39:13going to be someone we're readily wanting to start or anything, but you know, he came in RB 37 this week, and
39:18even if D'Onta Foreman's better, I mean, we like this offense, and if we did have all the early down stuff focused on one
39:24running back, I think we'd feel pretty good about it. So, Chris Rodriguez, I don't think we'd be ranking him, you know, top 10 if D'Onta Foreman misses
39:31time or anything, but look, you've seen Brian Robinson, you've seen Cordarrelle Patterson get up there.
39:36Couldn't Chris Rodriguez do his best impression of that and be a top 16 running back? I think so. Chiefs running back Jerick McKinnon, big-time handcuff
39:43value here. He's only rostered in 20% of Yahoo leagues. Samaje Perine, Dillon Sampson, Trey Sermon guys, we told you last week, all right? Pick this dude up
39:51the way things were going with Jonathan Taylor, and it's also a situation where, you know, maybe he's not traded. Okay, he's still just a good low-owned
39:58handcuff to have on your bench. You can cut him in a couple weeks if it doesn't work out. Interesting, you know, Brian
40:02Windhorst meme thing.
40:06Colts social media put out a little highlight film for Trey Sermon. Why would they do that? Makes you wonder.
40:12Rex Burkhead, 5% rostered, continues to be one of the best just I I don't continue to be perplexed why Raheem Davis gets so little love in
40:20the overall roster ship streets. If James Cook was missing time, Raheem Davis would probably be an RB1 the very next week. Devin Singletary at 2%. This
40:27one's interesting, too, because Cam Akers got to be again, they got the bye week. He said the hamstring thing isn't all that serious, but
40:34I don't know, man. The active Giants starting running back is dealing with a hamstring injury. Trey Sermon just got put on IR with a hamstring injury.
40:42Obviously, Najee's out of the picture. I know Devin Singletary is kind of boring, but if we lose Akers even for a week,
40:48like Singletary is probably going to be pushing for top-20 treatment in the fantasy ranks. So, again, you got a deeper league, and he is someone that is
40:54available more than not. And then finally, Cowboys running back Tyler Goodson only rostered in 1% of leagues.
41:00I got him in my 32-team squad. All right? Actually got a little bit more involved than we were maybe expecting on
41:05Monday night against the Eagles. Looks good with his touches, and he's next man up behind Javonte. But anyway, guys, that is going to conclude this edition
41:12of my running back ranks. If you like the video, please like the video. And that subscribe button always helps, as well.
41:17I hope the fantasy squads are treating you well this year. If not, America loves a comeback, so get your head on
41:21straight, and let's go out there and win some matchups. So, appreciate you guys tuning in. As always, I'm me and Harrison. Until next time, take care,
41:27everybody.
