Week 7 Fantasy Football RB Rankings: Breakout Picks, Sneaky Sleepers & Tough Start/Sit Calls (Ep. 2281)

0:00 What's up, friends, and welcome to Fantasy Pros Week 7 Running Back Ranks.

0:05 We, who is we?

0:07 Pat Fitzmaurice, Andrew Erickson, I'm Chris Welsh. We're going to be going through your Week 7 Running Back Ranks. We'll have a couple other episodes as well if you're looking for all your positional ranks. Top 36, who are the backs that you want to start? What does the expert consensus rank look like for those running backs? All the big discussions because there are some of them to be had.

0:27 We're going to be going through it. And you guys, we'll get you guys all set. You guys can check out the Fantasy Pros ranks through all of this greatness here. This greatness, speaking of, I see this great hat.

0:38 Mr.

0:38 Pat Fitzmaurice, we won't spend any time on it, but congratulations as you celebrate your Milwaukee Brewers going to the World Series. For football people, the World Series, it's like a Super Bowl, but of seven games for you football people that hate baseball.

0:50 Thank you for your congratulations. And we better move on because people will get mad if we talk baseball for more than five seconds.

0:57 Okay, we're out. We're out.

0:58 No more.

0:59 Erickson, running back ranks kind of locked in. There are some questions. There's even some questions in on the RB1s based around injuries, but the position with some of the bye weeks, it's going to be a little bit wonky. We're going to lock into this and hopefully have a big, accurate rank run, not just on RBs, but we need it from a total from this crew here, Erickson.

1:22 Yeah, I woke up feeling this week really good and that we're going to get a top 10, if not top five performance from one of us here on the show in the week seven ranking. So I felt good putting the final touches on the early portion of the rankings here on a Wednesday when we're recording. So look, someone's got to step up here, just like in the Giants backfield. Who's going to grab it, guys? Who's going to be the RB1 when we're talking ranks in week eight?

1:47 LFJ.

1:48 I mean, maybe not the best example of the backfield that we want. I was like, okay, great. Well, which one of us is Devin Singletary? Which one is Tyrone Tracy? And I'm probably Najee Harris right now at this point. And there's a Cam Scadabra out there.

2:01 Free agent Najee Harris.

2:02 Yeah, let's maybe find a different backfield that we can compare ourselves to that has real RB1s.

2:07 The rink?

2:08 Contest, it's a bunch of fun. We obviously, you know, kind of balance ourselves against that. And we also try to celebrate it every single week. So as we do on the RB episode, we will jump in and give shout outs to the top three in the ranks contest every single week. You guys can check it out on Fantasy Pros, who is rocking the full year and then each singular week. And this week in week six, Paul Brenton from Points Over Hype finishing with the top number one spot. Congratulations, Paul. Pat Thorman from Establish the Run.

2:38 number two, and Jared Smola from DraftSharks, number three. Those are your top three most accurate rankers from last week. Great job with a shout out to, unfortunately not Erickson, not Fitzy, not me, Mike Mayer. Mike Mayer almost cracking the top 10 with a 12th overall finish, and he was six at wide receiver, which I thought was pretty impressive of his high ranks on positional stuff. So Fitzy, we've got to knock Wonky and Mike Mayer off their pedestals of just like they're just sharing each week. They're finishing so high in rank. So I want to jump in with Erickson here, Fitzy. I want us to get– we need to knock these guys down and we need to get a really high finish.

3:19 Agreed. Please.

3:19 Yeah, this group collectively overdue. All right.

3:22 Well, we're going to jump into it. We're going to get it. If you guys want to follow along, fantasypros.com slash rankings, you can check out. We're going to obviously be talking like half PPR. You can change the formats. You can look at Superflex rankings, Dynasty. It's all there for you. What we'll be doing here, though, is looking at the top 12 as we go through each of these for half PPR at running back. So let's go do it. Let's take a look at that. Jump up the big board for the RB ranks for week seven.

3:49 We've got Jameer Gibbs at the top spot coming off of the bye. Erickson, we're going to be rolling over our touchdown calls again. Bijan Robinson at two. Ken Walker at three. Christian McCaffrey, Kyron Williams, and Derek Henry. That's your top six. The bottom half, Jonathan Taylor, Javante Williams, DeAndre Swift, Jalen Warren, Chuba Hubbard, and Braylon Allen. Bunch of your core guys, bunch of the things that don't ask big questions. What do you guys think about Chuba Hubbard this week, though, as we look at the... I think there's a pretty chalk set of players that don't really require a lot of conversation in here. Maybe the conversation starts at Jalen Warren, but he's just been really good.

4:25 But Chuba Hubbard comes in at ECR 11. You guys are kind of in lockstep. Fitzy, why don't you kick us off with what you want to hit with Chuba Hubbard as an RB1 this week?

4:34 I may have underestimated Chuba Hubbard coming into the season, and he's now gone over 120 rushing yards in two straight games, six touchdowns in five games this season. And I was looking at his numbers yesterday. in 2026 versus 2025 the other day, he was pretty squarely below average in all the advanced metrics last year, yards after contact per carry success rates, rushing yards over expected. And now he is solidly above average in all of those categories. Um, I still don't think he's an unconditional top 10 running back every week. And he's got a pretty tough matchup this week against the Buccaneers. We've given up the second fewest fantasy points and fourth fewest rushing yards to running

5:18 backs this season. Buccaneers are always tough against the run under Todd Balls. So I think you're starting Hubbard no matter what. I just can't quite squeeze him into the top 10.

5:29 You feel compelled at all that maybe you want to put, I mean, again, like I think it's probably arbitrary, but Did you feel compelled at all that you want to push him down? Or do you think he's maybe in a tier that is a collection of some of the RB2s we're going to talk about in the next section?

5:43 Yeah. I mean, I think he's, I still have him inside top, you know, top 12. He's my RB12. I think he's an RB1 this week.

5:52 I just meant like the guys that are like 13, 14, 15. Do you think there is a tier that he exists with those guys? Or is there a clear break and then it goes to those next guys?

6:02 I think, I think he's pretty solidly above the guys who are right. I don't know. You could make a case that the guys who are basically RB10 through RB15 are all pretty close.

6:17 That's kind of what I was getting at. Erickson, do you feel compelled at all when you look? You have him at RB11, so I think you're right on step with his rank. But are you worried at all about that defensive matchup? Do you feel compelled at all to make any type of change? Or do you feel like there's just, like we said, like, you know, it's not like the greatest matchup. He's been kind of a beast, but he's just kind of lockstep into this range above the next set of players.

6:42 I think kind of a beast is not giving him enough credit, honestly. He has been a monster. He's been a top 12 running back every single game this season. I don't know how many fantasy running backs have actually been a fantasy RB1 every single week. Guys, he had 30 of 31 running back opportunities for the Panthers last week.

6:58 How many running backs are we seeing see almost 100% of their backfields total touches? 74 of 79 snaps played.

7:07 94%.

7:08 There's an opportunity and chance here where we're too low on Juba Hubbard because of the matchup against the Buccaneers. when his workload looks like top three, if not the number one workload potentially for a running back that's not Jameer Gibbs, B.J.

7:21 Robinson, or Ken Walker.

7:23 So I think that the matchup is definitely accounting for him being lower as a back-end fantasy RB1. But I mean, the floor with him is really, really high. And the Panthers are playing at home here. So the Buccaneers maybe are not in a big of a defensive spot. They're also coming off an overtime loss. So again, maybe the defense isn't as buttoned up after being a little bit more tired in last week's game. It's a divisional matchup.

7:47 So again, I don't think that this is a spot where the Panthers blow out the Buccaneers. So it's back and forth. I think Chuba is going to get his normal workload above 20 touches. And I think it's at least worth mentioning that the two times the Buccaneers have given up points to running backs. It's been in their two road games against Javante Williams on the Cowboys and Chase Brown in week one against the Bengals. Those guys both finished as top 20 running backs on the year.

8:09 But I would argue Hubbard's probably playing better than both. Javante and Chase Brown, just from an eyeball test in terms of how he is as a rusher behind this Panthers offensive line. So I think that you're feeling great about starting him. And I've been wearing egg on my face with Chuba Hubbard this year, man. Like, he has just been a friggin' monster. And he's making everybody that was on Jonathan Brooks just eat it every single week.

8:31 So credit to him.

8:33 Yeah, everyone's like, raise your hand, what's up? None of them, Brooke. Sorry, I got that question wrong on the test. The other running back I want to talk about is Braylon Allen. He's ECR RB 12. You guys are both higher, but there is a report out that Aaron Glenn said he's not practicing on Wednesday, but they're not ruling him out, Brees Hall, for week seven. So obviously that would put a wrench into this. Erickson, why don't you kick this one off? No Brees Hall. This, I think, is relative to what you're putting out in your rank. But if there is a Brees Hall, what does this do? This is going against Miami. This is a four star. On our Fantasy Bros ranks page, you can see from one to five star matchup grades. This is a four star.

9:19 This is a good matchup. He's given an A grade overall, A minus. If Brees Hall is active, you'd expect it's going to be some type of limitation, but that would take away from him. So what change happens if Brees Hall does become active?

9:30 Obviously move Braylon Allen down, but I just don't think Brees Hall is going to play. I think that they're facing the Miami Dolphins this week. I think that the Jets don't need Brees Hall to run an effective ground attack against the Dolphins defense. And Braylon Allen without Brees Hall is a locked and loaded top 10 running back play this week. He's been a top 20 running back the last two games, taking on the majority of snaps and touches in the Jets backfield. Even last week, he was still around north of 86% of the snaps. even though they did involve Isaiah Davis a little bit more, still above a 70% opportunity share in the Jets' backfield.

10:06 And the guys also looked the test, right? Again, watching that Jets-Patriots game really closely. Dude, I don't want to compare Brandon Allen to Derrick Henry, but like This big running back that's just running over dudes left and right as an absolute bulldozer. It's hard not to make the comparison because how many 240-pound running backs are there, right?

10:23 There are not that many of them. So Braylon Allen, to me, in a great matchup here against the Miami Dolphins who have allowed the second most fantasy points to opposing running backs this season. I mean, he is a slam dunk play. And he's also been good, right? Seventh in rush yards over expectation per attempt. Eleventh in yards after contact per attempt. top 15 in rushing success rate.

10:45 The Jets, please do not rush Brees Hall back coming off of this injury.

10:48 You don't need him.

10:49 Just ride with Braylon Allen for one more week, and then you can get Brees Hall back into the fold.

10:54 Okay, but if they do, you just said you'll move him down. What does that look like for Braylon Allen? Is Braylon Allen still, are you saying, oh, I'll go from 10 to 13? Are you saying 10 to 18? And is Brees Hall in any world, any multiverse startable under those, just so those two points.

11:16 I'd probably have to think more about it, to be honest. I think that getting some more intel from the coaching staff about, well, is Brees Hall going to be on a pitch count or not?

11:23 Is he going to be 100%? Is he full go?

11:26 And even taking those coaching narratives and statements to heart doesn't always even pan out because sometimes coaches just don't tell us the right things. So I'd have to think more about it. I just don't have an answer for you right now.

11:36 I'll take a crack at it.

11:38 Yeah, give it to me, Fitzy. What do you do with Braylon Allen inactive and active Brees Hall?

11:43 All right, so I've got him RB11 right now. And in a minute, I'll talk about it. I agree with Erickson that Hall is probably not going to play this week. But were Brees Hall to come back this week, I would probably drop Braylon Allen. Right now, I've got Rico Dowdle at RB33, and I would put Braylon Allen directly ahead of him. ahead of Rico Dowdle behind Cam Scadaboo. And, um, I, so then where does Brees go? I would have Brees a little higher. I'd probably have Brees like RB 24, RB 25, right around the, where I have Josh Jacobs, Tyler Algier, probably right behind those guys.

12:24 Okay. Very interesting.

12:25 All right.

12:26 I'm not even sure I would rank, see like now I'm so, I'm not even sure I'd rank Brees all ahead of Braylon Allen.

12:31 Just, coming off of his injury.

12:33 Yeah. That's actually where I was going is like, I think, uh, like I would probably put Braylon more in the, like, like just jumping ahead. Blake quorum is in like the twenties and JK Dobbins. I feel like I would have Alan, like in the early twenties and briefs, I would probably put in the low twenties.

12:47 I think, I think I'd probably put Braylon Allen somewhere in the Kendra Miller, Blake quorum, Damian Pierce tier.

12:55 Yeah.

12:55 Low end fantasy RB.

12:58 I don't think they would bring him back to be a backup to Braylon Allen. They either bring him back and put him right back as the starter or they keep him out another week. That's generally how these things work, I think.

13:10 Yeah, that's fair. And then obviously you're all in in the space where there is no Brees Hall. It's one more week for Braylon Allen to rock. I think, Fitzy, what did you say? You had him at 11. So all comfortable with Braylon Allen as the feature dog.

13:22 Yeah, he's had 16, 25, and 19 touches the last three weeks. And Erickson mentioned the matchup. It's not necessarily that the Dolphins have been terrible against the run. I think they're giving up like four yards per carry, which is even a little below league average. And Jacob Rodriguez, man, that guy's a tackling machine. Love him so far. But because the Dolphins play behind... from behind so much, they have faced an average of 25 rushing attempts per game from opposing running backs. So if Braylon Allen is the lead back and there's no Brees Hall, you have to figure the rushing volume is going to be there for him.

13:59 I'm pretty pumped to see those Jacob Rodriguez versus Braylon Allen collisions. That's popcorn ready-worthy. Those guys going at it all four quarters.

14:10 All right, RB2s we're going to talk about here in just a second, 13 through 24. But before we do, I want to talk to you guys about Polymarket. It's a stock exchange for sports, buying in and selling out on your terms. When your team goes down to 20%, you can buy in and sell it off at 40% when they come back to double your money. They're so confident you're never going to go back to the other guys that are giving you a free $ 25 on your first trade when you deposit just $ 10. They've also got this great new feature called Squads. It's a group chat where you can see what everyone is trading on. So download the Polymarket app today and use code FPPOD when you sign up. That's FPPOD to get $ 25 free after

14:48 you deposit just $ 10. All right, let's go and look at our RB2s on the big board here. We've got Ashton Gentry coming in at 13, Bucky Irving at 14, Chase Brown at 15, Josh Jacobs makes his first appearance at 16, followed by Damian Pierce, Ramondre Stevenson, Aaron Jones, 20-24 is Woody Marks, Ollie Gordon, Tony Pollard, Blake Corum, J.K. Dobbins. Gentlemen, there are quite a few names to talk about in here, so we'll try to jump through all of these. But let's start with Bucky Irving because it's one of those things where kind of what I was poking at when you see like a Braylon Allen coming in there and then you look at these RB2s. It's a litany of names.

15:25 Jenty and Bucky Irving and Chase Brown, guys that feel like RB1s. You guys do have a little bit of a split here, and it is between Erickson and Fitzy Fitzy. You are closer to ECR at 13. Erickson, you've got him at eight. So Erickson, let me just jump back to you on this because you are the high guy on Bucky Irving here. Top eight running back for you this week when he's coming in at 14. Hit us with some Bucky Irving sales.

15:51 85% snap share last week. 88% of the backfield opportunities. We got full-blown bell cow Bucky last week for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and not efficient. But it was a much tougher matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers who have been really tough on running backs back-to-back weeks that they've stifled guys like Jonathan Taylor, like Bucky Irving. So 19 carries for just 46 yards. He had two catches for three yards.

16:14 And Kenny Gainwell had three opportunities. So for me, it's you have a bell cow workhorse running back that we know is in a much better matchup here facing the Carolina Panthers. There is always a chance that the offense bottoms out if it's another Jalen Daniels start. But to his credit, man, like he's kept them in games like Tampa Bay, despite being one in five. All their games have been one score games. They are one in five and close games. So I don't expect this to be a total annihilation by the Carolina Panthers against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So if it is close, I continue to see Bucky Irving as the featured running back. The only thing that I would knock him down a peg or two is if Sean Tucker ends up playing because I

16:49 know they'd like to mix him in in the red zone. But if he doesn't play again, it's just going to be more Bucky Irving. So I'm expecting a bounce back performance again last year against Carolina. 70 plus rushing yards in both games. Carolina ranks dead last in rushing yards allowed after contact this season.

17:04 Fitzy, any hesitation? I mean, you got to make a sense. Yeah, I think you're actually one spot higher than ECR. So you guys are both higher than ECR. You just got a five spot gap. You don't have Bucky Irving as an RB1. So talk to us about your vibe on Bucky Irving and the usage versus the Carolina Panthers.

17:22 Bucky's terrific, and the matchup against the Panthers is above average for sure. In fact, Fantasy Pros has it as a five-star matchup. I guess I worry about the overall potency of the Buccaneers' offense with Jalen Daniels at quarterback. And it feels like watching the Buccaneers with Daniels, they're constricted offensively. like the average depth of target for the receivers is way down. It just seems like defenders, opposing safeties are playing closer to the line of scrimmage. And yes, Bucky had that great game against the Cowboys with Jalen Daniels, a quarterback, 165 rushing yards, two touchdowns. But the Dallas defense has been a mess. In the other two starts that Jalen Daniels has made against the Packers and the Steelers,

18:07 Bucky has averaged 3.1 yards per carry and didn't have a touchdown in either of those games. So that's my fear that with Jalen Daniels at quarterback. It's just harder to get things going and the touchdown odds are reduced. All right.

18:21 Elephant in the room. Josh Jacobs. Just like I said, just like you guys were, we were going to get a tweet. I just, I think I had said, I don't know what show I set it on, but I said, you're just going to get a tweet that just says he's off the exempt list. He's active and that's it. And there's just going to be no lead up to it.

18:37 And that is exactly what happened on Sunday. He is off the exempt list eligible for everything this week. Active and ranked. He is ranked at 16 on this list. You guys have a pretty big split. Fitzy, let's start with you. This is your Green Bay Packers. Not really like a shock or anything like that, that he's active.

18:57 It did feel like in a couple of weeks leading up where it was like, oh boy, like there was a full out like invest. It felt like a Netflix documentary investigation into trying to get this tape released. Didn't happen. exempt list. Something could happen later, but none of that really matters because he is active. He is out there and you have him at RB23. So you are quite a bit lower based off of what ECR is looking like.

19:20 Does that have to do with all of the missed time? Do you think they're going to go into some split? Talk to us about your thoughts on Josh Jacobs.

19:26 Yeah, is Josh Jacobs bringing back any of the old Packers offensive linemen from the past with him from the suspension? Are we getting Mike Wall or Chad Clifton coming back to block for this offensive line? It's just the offensive line is still bad. And I can't imagine that Josh Jacobs is getting 20 carries in his first game back.

19:48 The Detroit defense has been a pass funnel. Opponents are throwing in the Lions on 64.9% of their offensive snaps. Second highest rate in the league. Only the Falcons have been a bigger pass funnel. So I would imagine, especially the way Jordan Love has been clicking lately, they're going to be pass heavy this week. Yeah, Josh Jacobs probably gets double-digit carries, but it's easier to pass on the lines than it is to run on them, although the run defense hasn't been great either. I just don't think it's going to be Josh Jacobs looking like vintage Josh Jacobs in his first game back.

20:24 The only thing is, if any of those running backs are beneficial in the passing game, it's actually Josh Jacobs more than Lloyd or anybody. So that could work. Erickson, I don't know if that's going to play any role into your thoughts. You are much higher than Fitzy, but you're like one spot lower than ECR. So you guys are proceeding with a little bit of caution. So what's your vibe around Josh Jacobs this week? Is it essentially the same kind of thing as Fitzy, but you just are putting a little bit more on it based on the other names that are floating out there? What do you think?

20:54 I think so. I think that LaFleur is going to be stubborn. with his approach and says, looking through some of the things that he has said regarding Josh Jacobs, him and the offensive coordinator have talked about, they need a spark in this backfield. And that's not earth breaking news or earth shattering news based on what we've seen from this Packers running backs over the last six weeks.

21:14 It's been really underwhelming. So for me, it's, they don't know how long they're going to have Josh Jacobs for number one, because if this video ever drops, he's gone, right? We all kind of feel that way where he would get suspended for the rest of the season. And we don't know what happened after that, but, I think it's one of these situations where it's like, dude, churn and burn.

21:31 Like he has been on the exempt list, which means he has not been able to practice with the team, but he has been able to still go to meetings, still lift with the team. So they know what kind of shape he is in. Now, maybe it's not football shape, but I think that they're ready to just unload with Josh Jacobs and just say, we don't care. We want to run the football because that's what the floor is traditionally done. It's been really fun for this Packers offense the last couple of weeks to start the year because they've been throwing the ball all over the field. But Before I even said this week, we got to keep hammering it in regards to the run game because it's critical, I think, in today's football to be able to run

22:00 the football. It's just hard in the past game when you're totally reliant on that. That's the head coach saying that we're too reliant on the past game. We need to run the ball more.

22:08 How do you do that?

22:09 You get Josh Jacobs back and you run him up the middle 20 times. Now, that's not saying, I mean, I wouldn't do that. I like how the offense is operating now when they're throwing the ball and Jordan Love and Watson, all these guys, Matthew Golden breaking out. But I just think that with Jacobs, they're going to be teased back into featuring him as a 20 plus type of carry guy when he's fresh, right? What was his big issue last year was he was battling through all these injuries, right? He should be good to go. So I guess I'm looking at it from the other perspective, not that he's going to come in rusty. I think it's a little bit different with like a running back versus a receiver or a tight end or a quarterback where,

22:42 I mean, Caleb Williams came off his injury and looked awesome. AJ Brown did not look awesome. So I think it really can depend on what your situation you're thrown into. And I just think in this situation, they're like, Josh Jacobs, saddle up, dude. Like you're getting a ton of workload this week.

22:57 Yeah.

22:58 I don't, this isn't like a guy going into like a new offense. Like he knows the offense he's worked with them. He just got a six, seven week reprieve, whatever it was. I think I kind of agree with you. I think they're going to go ham and they're just going to give him all that, you know, he possibly can, but we'll see. And we'll see what effectiveness is there. Former, uh, Packer, another running back to talk about. Aaron Jones. Aaron Jones coming in at ECR 18, or actually 19 on the updated list here. You guys are a little bit split. Fitzy, you've got him at 16. Erickson, you've got him at 21. Fitzy, let's jump back to you. You got the positive note on Aaron Jones here. Aaron Jones going up against the

23:35 Indianapolis Colts. Five-star graded matchup here. Talk to us about Aaron Jones this week. And I guess you have him over Josh Jacobs, so if you want to wrinkle that in at all, please do.

23:46 Yeah, love the matchup against the Colts, who rank 31st in DVOA against the run. I think only the Saints are lower, but man, I have not seen a worse run defense this year than the Colts. I kind of suspect that in Jordan Mason's first game back, Aaron Jones still operates as the lead back, and Mason plays kind of a complementary role. I could be wrong about that, and maybe you guys are right that it is a run-heavy approach for the Packers, and Maybe Josh Jacobs is the better bet to come close to 20 carries than Aaron Jones. But I do think Aaron Jones is going to be better in this matchup. Yeah, it's mostly about the matchup and the presumption that it does not go back to being a 50-50 right away or that Jordan

24:35 Mason like out touches Aaron Jones. I think it's still going to be Jones backfield for at least a week.

24:40 Erickson, you are three spots lower than ECR. You got him at 21, still in RB2. I would have to imagine this just has to do with Jordan Mason here. So talk to us about Aaron Jones playing him this week.

24:51 Yeah, I have Jordan Mason ranked two spots or just one spot ahead of Aaron Jones at RB20. So I just think that he's going to get the majority of touches in the backfield. That is really kind of what the coaches have been talking about. Kevin O'Connell has mentioned last week or two weeks ago after their last game, just like talking about how, yeah, we can't wait to get Jordan Mason back after the bye week. We're really excited of him playing a really big role in this backfield.

25:14 So that's what I'm going to be really buying into. And when we're talking about the week eight rankings, I think it's going to be clear that Jordan Mason will be ranked ahead of Aaron Jones, barring any type of injury, because if you just go back to week one, the last time these guys both played, the snaps were basically an even split, but Jordan Mason out touched and out carried Aaron Jones. 15 to 12, I believe. So that's what I expect to be the status quo for this backfield moving forward. I mean, the Vikings are an interesting situation this week because the Colts defense is basically bad all over the place. So Kevin O'Connell can kind of just like pick his spots of, okay, who do I want to have like this monster game this week? And

25:49 I think for me, it's let's get Jordan Mason going, right? Like this is the guy that we were expecting to lead our team in carries entering the year. Aaron Jones has been awesome with the massive workload that we've given him, but we want him to last for the rest of the season. Aaron Jones entering his bi-week ranked sixth in the NFL in touches at 109. He was on pace for 370 touches. So again, not to say that Jones can't still be a suitable RB2 this week, because again, it could still be a 50-50 committee. And again, you may not need that many touches to be productive against how bad the Colts, I know, well, if you want it, buns, cheeks, this Colts defense is. So again, it's a scenario where you really feel good about starting anybody that plays for

26:30 Minnesota just because of how bad Indianapolis has been.

26:32 All right.

26:32 Another fun name that jumps in here. Ollie Gordon. Ollie Gordon comes in as RB21 going up against the Jets. Not actually graded out as a super great matchup. Erickson, you've got him at 22. Fitz, you've got him at 19. You guys are kind of floating around. Erickson, comfort level, you know, as we get to the 20s, now we're starting to really get to some question marks about like how and who people are starting. Comfort level with Ollie Gordon for you for this week.

26:58 I felt pretty comfortable with him as a fantasy RB2. He's been really solid given the opportunities he's had in the last three games that he has played in the absence of Devon Achan. You look at his season highs, he's gotten better basically every single week. Season highs, the last time we saw him in terms of rushing yards over expectations, his success rate, missed tackles forced against the Cincinnati Bengals. 75% opportunity share the last time we saw him play against the Bengals. 18 carries for 88 yards, scored a one-yard touchdown. Again, the receiving usage has kind of been up and down, but we also got reports about Jalen Wright having like a setback in the last game that the Dolphins played. So is it Katron Allen

27:35 that they get more involved, who was cut by the Washington Commanders, picked up by Miami? Does he eat into Ollie Gordon's work share after being with the team for just a couple of weeks? They had their bye week, but I don't really see that being the scenario. So he's still in Miami. So I do think that there is a capped ceiling with him. They're on the road this week against the New York Jets. The Jets have actually been kind of solid against running backs this year.

27:55 If you look at them in terms of EPA per rush attempt faced, they are third in the NFL. So right up there with these elite defenses that we look at Vikings, 49ers, Seahawks, and Buccaneers, we don't want to start running backs against those teams for the most part. And the Jets are in that same type of category with the big guys they have up front. So I'm not sure this is like a, such a great matchup for him, but if the volume continues, been a top 17 running back the last three weeks, I think that he's definitely in that fantasy RB2 territory. I think you feel pretty good about starting him with that floor, unless we see something kind of really dramatic in terms of the backfield shifting.

28:29 And Fitzy, you've got him a couple spots higher. You got him at 19, so that's higher than Erickson and ECR. But again, not to keep belaboring this, but for perspective, you've got him higher than Josh Jacobs for this week. So talk to us about Ollie Gordon.

28:44 He's averaged 16.3 touches a game over the last three weeks. 5.2 yards per carry over that stretch. And he's had a rushing touchdown in all three of those games. So Jets defense doesn't stink, but I think it's mostly, I think they're maybe a little easier to run on. I think they have a lot of the fourth most rushing yards to running backs and giving up like 4.8 yards per carry. So maybe EPA likes them a little more than the surface stats. But to me, the improvement in the Jets' defense is mostly about David Bailey trying to make the Jets the New York sack exchange again. So I think it makes sense. As much as Malik Willis has been sacked this year and as improved as the Jets' pass rush is, I think the Dolphins are going to

29:30 be run heavy this week. So I think Ali Gordon has a pretty good chance to get something close to 20 touches.

29:37 Let's do one more in this area. We can be a little bit quick hitting on this. one, but JK Dobbins comes in at 24 and you guys are split. One of you's got him at Erickson. You've got him as an RB2. Fitzy, you've got him as kind of more of a flex outside of that range. So Erickson, top 18 running back, JK Dobbins. Give us the sales pitch on his start this week against the Arizona Cardinals.

29:59 J.K. Dobbins has not been good this year. He's basically posting career lows across the board, but he has 20 opportunities in back-to-back games. He's in the RB16 and back-to-back games. So for me, it's like, I mean, if he's going to get 20 more opportunities, can he not be a fantasy RB2? I was actually torn the most between him and Josh Jacobs, where I'm forecasting Jacobs to get these 20 touches in his first game back. But Dobbins, it's like, tell me why he's not going to get 20 opportunities.

30:29 They're playing the Arizona Cardinals. Third worst in terms of rushing success rate allowed. So I get the Broncos offense is not fun. It hasn't been fun since the start of the season. And Dobbins has been good the last two weeks. So I don't know. Where do you guys stand with Dobbins and Jacobs, right? Am I just like, am I just kind of going out on a limb, just assuming that Jacobs will get these opportunities when it's like, well, Dobbins is probably more likely. Like who's more likely to actually get that 20 opportunities, Dobbins or Jacobs? Because if it is Dobbins, because we've seen it the last two weeks since John Payton took over the play calling duties, Wouldn't he be the obvious play over a player like

31:02 a Josh Jacobs? Because we don't also know like Jacobs efficiency. That's kind of like you're kind of throwing it up there because like how effective is he going to be behind this offensive line? Probably not super efficient.

31:14 I almost would say there's like a slight lean to with how ineffective they are that maybe Peyton, they do need to give a strong look. I know we said this the week prior, but it's like. Should they look at RJ Harvey a little bit more? You know, they've got a compliment of a couple different players. They've been so unsuccessful that maybe trying something out different and having Harvey.

31:33 So like.

31:35 I want to actually just say Jacobs, but I know the logic of what you're saying is Dobbins because he had done it. There's just still, I just don't, I don't trust.

31:42 I think you bring up, you bring up a point where it's like, he has been efficient. And then what happens is when guys are inefficient, usually like take away their opportunities.

31:49 Yeah.

31:50 So, so that's not an angle I was looking at. To me, it was like, is it just going to remain status quo?

31:55 Right.

31:55 Just 20 more opportunities for JK Dobbins. The office is going to be gross as it is for the Broncos, but it's the Arizona Cardinals. So, I was kind of going back and forth with Dobbins versus Jacob because I don't want to come on here and be like, Dobbins, such a smash. He is just totally being propped up by the volume that he's gotten over the last two games.

32:12 And I like the point you brought up, Bush, where maybe that is more on a expiration.

32:17 Date, right? It's not going to be as much Dobbins because it hasn't been that great.

32:21 And it's speculative. It's tough. Like, I think you're doing, like, it's the science. Like, he's gotten the 20. Like, why would you? It's just more speculative that they've been so bad. Something's got to change. They've got Harvey sitting out there, and that makes the big question. Fitzy, what's your take on this Dobbins situation? Because you have pushed him into the flex range of running backs. You've got him at 26, so you have a lot less interest in starting him.

32:45 Where do you sit on him maybe taking a little bit more of a backseat to a guy like Harvey because they've been so bad or just they're so bad?

32:52 Well, the wild card here is Jonah Coleman, who is eligible to come off IR this week. And I am ranking Dobbins as if Coleman is going to come off IR. So Coleman had a high ankle sprain, typically a four- to six-week injury. It's been five weeks. So maybe it's 50-50. Maybe they leave him on IR for another week. But if Coleman comes back this week, the Broncos' backfield could get real messy because Coleman might be the best running back the Broncos have. And he looked good right before he got hurt. Going up against the Jaguars, the best run defense in the league, had 10 carries for 39 yards and a touchdown. Back in week two, and we had that, like everyone wanted a bid on Jonah Coleman.

33:36 It seemed like, I think that was when everyone thought Dobbins and Harvey had hamstring injuries and Jonah Coleman might be their lead back in week three. And then it turned out Coleman was hurt and those other guys played in week three. So everyone got swerved and wasted a lot of fab money on Coleman. But it's coming back.

33:54 Dobbins is averaging 3.3 yards per carry. He's a complete zero in the passing game. eight catches for 27 yards this year. And yeah, the matchup against the Cardinals is favorable, but the Broncos offense has been stuck in the mud. I just, I could not get excited about starting J.K. Dobbins this week, even if Coleman stays on IR.

34:14 I do agree that it makes it way easier to move Dobbins down if Coleman is playing, because I agree with you. That would be the perfect segue to like, let's take away carries from J.K. Dobbins and give it to our rookie that we're really excited about in Jonah Coleman. So I think that's a really good point to bring up.

34:27 So monitor Coleman status. If I will give the Broncos offense just a little bit of saving grace. Again, it's really hard to just based on what they put on the field the last couple of weeks, they have faced pretty tough schedule of opposing teams. Chiefs, Jaguars, Rams, 49ers, Chargers was their one layup and then the Seahawks. So again, we saw a lot. We've seen a lot of teams play Seattle and look horrid, absolutely atrocious teams. and then bounce back when they have a much favorable matchup. There's an argument to me the Cardinals might be the worst defense that the Broncos have faced this season.

35:03 So what I'm hearing is Erickson promising that Bo Nix is going to look like John Elway.

35:07 Oh, is he back? Is Bo Nix back? Say it. I guess that's for the quarterback episode. All right, we're going to save that for the quarterback. Stay tuned.

35:17 Here's the trailer.

35:18 Bo Nix, top five quarterback. Erickson says, tune in at the quarterback episode.

35:23 All right.

35:24 Good stuff. RB2s dominate the conversation, but there are some, you know, flex RB, RB3s. Let's go through the ranks here. Coming in at 25 is the aforementioned RJ Harvey. Kendrick Miller at 26. Jordan Mason at 27. Tyler Algier at 28. We've got Alvin Kamara, Emmanuel Wilson, 31 through 36 is Rico Dowdle, Roshan Johnson, Brian Robinson Jr., Cam Skadu, Tyrone Tracy, and Mike Washington.

35:49 Oh, yeah.

35:50 Back half is a yuck. Very yuck. There's two five-star matchups. Guys we aren't necessarily going to hit. We have kind of mentioned Jordan Mason at 27. I think he's kind of flex-worthy. You've got Rico Dowdle in there. I kind of don't think is flex-worthy with how Jalen Warren's been used. Two guys to hit in this range, though. Kendra Miller.

36:11 Kendra Miller, that high usage. Kamara's been banged up. ECR 26. You guys kind of agree. Fitzy, you've got him at 25. Erickson, you've got him at 26. Fitz, talk to us about Kendra Miller and your comfortability of starting him this week going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

36:26 I don't want anyone to confuse an RB25 ranking with genuine enthusiasm for Kendra Miller. You do have.

36:33 Him higher than J.K. Dobbins, I just want to point out. One spot higher.

36:37 Yeah. I don't have genuine enthusiasm for J.K. Davids either.

36:40 You did not. You did not.

36:41 Yeah, I don't know if Kendra is getting another 20 carries this week like he did last week. And the matchup against the Steelers is pretty tough. But man, Alvin Kamara has been through the ringer this season. He's had a knee issue. He's having back issues. He landed hard on his hip Sunday against the Giants and was in obvious pain. I tend to think Miller is going to lead the Saints backfield in touches again. So maybe based on volume... He can give you something close to a usable week in a week where the running back position is pretty disgusting after the top 20 guys or so.

37:15 Erickson, any more enthusiasm for Dobbins? Can you share us a little bit on Kendrick Miller? You got him one spot lower, so I guess that's not necessarily the case. But Kamara's also ranked. Do you buy that where you see Kamara ranked at 29th? And then Kendrick Miller close to each other. Is it a pure hedge rank? How are you sparsing out this whole New Orleans running back situation?

37:38 I think a lot of it just depends on how much they feel they can use Kamara. Maybe this is a spot where they have the international game this week in Paris and they're on a bye week, right? So is this an opportunity for them to let's just rest Kamara, get him fully ready to go after their bye week and really feature Kendrick Miller? Again, you got to keep in mind, they're going to get H-hand back too. So- maybe this is where you can really lean into Kendrick Miller, who I think has been the best rusher over the last couple of games. If you look at what he's done, he has 32 touches in the last two games. Last week, he had 20 carries for 70 yards, two catches for zero yards. He didn't score any touchdowns last week, but

38:14 it was not for a lack of opportunities, right? He had a lot of red zone opportunities. He had four red zone carries, two of them from inside the five, and he got stopped at the one yard line twice. So he ran really unlucky when it came to finding the end zone. And look, There's been a couple of weeks that we've had where we've had these replacement level running backs step in in brutal matchups and still deliver because they scored a touchdown. Right. Will Shipley against the Jaguars stepped up. Woody Marks, I think, was fine last week against the Jacksonville Jaguars in a full time role.

38:41 We don't love the fact that he's facing the Pittsburgh Steelers who have stopped running backs like Bucky Irving and Jonathan Taylor the last two weeks. But this is also an international game. Weird things happen. And I always kind of give a slight edge to the team that's already there. the saints versus the team that's traveling later in the week like the pittsburgh steelers do they come out a little bit flat and give an opportunity for the saints run game to really get going so i think that kendra miller has a good chance of scoring in this game so i think that if you're looking for a rb2 flex play i think kendra miller is one of the first guys i'm like sliding into my lineup versus like like a laundry list of fringe receivers was like

39:19 ah like maybe this guy could like kendra miller like confident he's gonna lead the ball lead the team and carries the matchup sucks but touchdown equity. I think that he is a good play.

39:29 Number one question we got on the Sunday morning live stream, Tara and I. Cam Scadaboo. What to do with Cam Scadaboo? It doesn't always work out. Luckily, this time we were fading. We faded across the board. Now, and that obviously was the thing. He played six snaps. Now you see him post 30. He comes in at 34. You guys are both slightly higher, but the rank does not, don't get it twisted. The you guys being higher doesn't really show a lot of optimism in here. Erickson, is there anything, do you think this can play out in a really weird way where that was a pure punishment play? They released Najee Harris and this, I mean, obviously your rank doesn't say that. So I'm just kind of like narrative

40:11 basing storytelling here. But like, is there a scenario where he gets out of his fumble jail and And then they say, okay, you took your punishment like a man. You took responsibility for it. You didn't cry about it. And then Harbaugh goes and gives him 20-plus carries, and he goes out and balls out. Your rank does not represent that. So the answer probably is no. We all got to be too scared of him. But I just wanted to present that when talking about Cam Scadaboo. Because you got him at 32. That's not much of a starter this week.

40:41 No.

40:41 No.

40:41 I don't think it makes a lot of sense to recommend starting Cam Skadbu in any.

40:45 Way, shape, or form. And I agree.

40:48 I think that he is going to get more work. He got nowhere to go but up, right? Najee Harris is no longer on the team. He had zero touches last week. But even if he does get back to a quote-unquote normal workload, just look at his body of work this season. He's been outside the top 30 running backs in three of his last five games where he actually was seeing the football. So more often than not, even when he had actually been playing, he was a fantasy RB three. So I think now also adding in all of the risks associated with, well, what is the workload actually going to be like?

41:18 I think at best, it's still.

41:19 Going to be a three headed committee between scataboo and Tyrone Tracy getting involved and Devin Singletary getting involved. So even though scataboo may lead that type of backfield committee, it's also not a great matchup against the Houston Texans, right? You have JJ McCarthy now entered in as the starting quarterback.

41:36 what's this all going to look like? What's this offense going to look like? So I think for me, it's, if you have Cam Scadabo, you're just hoping that he gets back into good graces. The usage is good for him. He leads the team and carries, touches, snaps, et cetera. And then you just figure out what to do with them after the Giants and their bye week in week eight.

41:52 And then you go from there. But I can't tell anybody. If anyone asks me, he's like, are you going to start Cam Scadabo?

41:58 I'm like, no.

41:59 It's like really hard to have any faith, even though I do think that there is a opportunity for him to bounce back in terms of his usage. I really do think that it was really a one-week thing. Just given all the aspects and the risk associated with him, he has to be a stay-away for the most part.

42:15 Fitzy, you co-sign on kind of everything there. It's messy. I didn't even mention, yeah, J.J. McCarthy starting. Just everything about this just feels like, ugh, and the whole situation here. But is Cam Scadaboo a lost cause?

42:29 Not a lost cause. We just... No way of knowing right now whether he is still in fumble jail, paroled and fully exonerated from fumble jail or paroled and sent to a halfway house this week and sharing work with Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary. So I just when I was deciding where to slot him in the rankings, I just went down the list till I finally got to a running back who I would start Cam Scadaboo over.

42:56 And it was Rico Dowdle. And so that is 32. And it's possible that we look dumb if they decide, you know what, we need our best early down back in there in the week that we're making this quarterback transition to J.J. McCarthy. We're going to play Scadaboo and give him 15 to 20 carries. And maybe he plays with his hair on fire after the punishment, but it is hard to feel confident playing him knowing he might get five carries instead of 15. Yeah.

43:30 All right. Final thing, late running back, late RB that you guys are targeting. Fitzy, why don't you hit us with a late RB that you're kind of comfortable getting into, or loosely say comfortable getting into lineups this week.

43:42 If Quinn Sean Judkins isn't back, Jaleel McLaughlin had nine carries and four catches last week against the Ravens, and he gets a pretty decent matchup against the Titans this week.

43:52 I like it. What do you got for us, Erickson?

43:55 Mike Washington for the Las Vegas Raiders. Galaxy braining a little bit here. We saw Mike Washington get a little bit more involved last week when the Seattle Seahawks played the Los Angeles Rams in their two matchups last year with Clint Kubiak as the offensive coordinator. Those were two matchups where Ken Walker actually had more touches than Zach Charbonnet, which was not usually the case when these guys were both healthy on the field last year. Walker had 27 carries last for 167 yards. Charbonnet had 20 carries for 69 yards in those two matchups combined. I don't think it's that out of the range of outcomes where Kubiak looks at Mike Washington and what he's been able to do as a rusher this season, especially with more explosive

44:34 plays than Ashton Genting, who continues to underwhelm because of the ankle or whatever. Maybe they get Washington a little bit more, especially when you look at the Rams defensive line. Dude, they're dealing with a lot of injuries, right? They lost Kobe Turner, Puna Ford. Those I think that the Raiders might try to establish to run here a little bit more.

44:51 And so far over the last couple of weeks, Washington has looked a little bit better than Ashton Genting. And I think that Kubiak might lean into that a little bit more, especially with the explosiveness on Washington's side, because we've seen him attack this defense before in a similar way with Seattle last year.

45:06 Some deep plays, top 36 and more. We got you guys locked in. Go to fantasypros.com slash ranks. If you guys want to check out or just, you know, type in great way to do it. You just type in fantasy pros football ranks. You'll see the weekly ranks in there. You can check the positional stuff and follow along as this updates throughout the week because that is what it does.

45:24 As more rankers submit their ranks, you're going to see some flipping and changing some of the things that we've talked about. You actually might see, I don't want to call it an influence or anything like that, but you're going to see some of the guys move up and down throughout the week. Let us help you get started and get rocking for your week seven. Thank you for hanging out with us. For Andrew Erickson and Pat Fitzmaurice, I'm Chris Welsh. Good luck in week seven, and we'll talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros.

45:45 Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts at fantasypros.com slash review or on Spotify. Follow us on X, Instagram, and TikTok at Fantasy Pros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash fantasypros.