Week 8 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings: Biggest Risers, Fallers & Sneaky Starts (Ep. 2299)

0:00 What's up, friends, and welcome into Fantasy Pros. This is the Week 8 Running Back Ranks episode. I'm Chris Welsh. We've got Pat Fitzmaurice and Andrew Erickson here with us, because we're going to be looking through the top 36 running backs on Fantasy Pros ECR for the week. For better or for worse, sometimes. We'll be looking through some different names, some deeper names, where these guys differ, what ECR, what crazy stuff ECR is doing. And then we've got a series of these episodes that'll be popping up to a wide receiver one, not here, of course, and quarterback and tight end. Week 8 is here, almost at the halfway marker. Bye weeks, you know, kind of going crazy.

0:37 Just everything in between. There's really nothing more to be said in that running back front than like anything outside the top 24 looks pretty scary. You got to take some big shots. And you know, Fitzy, that's why I just wanted to get maybe a heat check back. That's why I think you were also so adamant in the waiver episode about why people needed to be aggressive on Jonah Coleman, even though Jonah Coleman didn't like step into a job where it's just his and there's no other running backs. There's three other, two other guys that he's fighting, but it's like the running back situation has been really tough.

1:08 We've got to be really, really pinpoint sharpshooters on getting the right guys in. And Jonah Coleman was one of those players that's going to be in the fray of all this.

1:17 And he's really the only one who is on waivers this week, who is immediately playable. And we're getting four buys every week. So it's kind of stretching people thin at running back.

1:28 Christian McCaffrey is going to be out this week. 49ers that are going to be on buy after that embarrassing loss.

1:33 Just this week, Will?

1:35 Yeah, just this week.

1:37 I saw someone blow their entire fab on Caleb Black earlier today.

1:41 Really? Wow.

1:42 Dude, I wouldn't take any chances with this stuff, especially because it was a thigh injury and now it's actually a hamstring injury. Dude, is anyone going to be surprised if he shows up after the bye and be like, oh, DNP, Chris McCaffrey.

1:53 I mean, if we get a Wednesday DMP, it's not going to be good. But I mean, this has been the advice we've given the entire season long was like, if you have Christian McCaffrey and Kalen Black was out there, what are we doing? But the problem with letting it and him sit out there for so long now was the fight. You know, the same thing. Get Jonah Coleman before the waivers. Why is Kalen Black? Why was he only 27% out there? Because you want to kind of fight against that. It's a really weird space that we've had.

2:21 Is there been more running backs we've wanted to carry that are like handcuffs? Like it's like running back old school, but is have there been more handcuff running backs we wanted to roster this year than maybe in the last like five years? I don't know if you guys can retract that in your brains like. It's been, you know, Kalon Black and Brian Robinson has been in there. You still got to kind of pseudo consider Blake Corum in there because this is the old school approach was always keep the, you know, keep the handcuff. But I feel like we were a little bit more handcuffed this year than in previous years. Erickson, any insight thinking through that?

2:56 I don't think I felt the same way. No, I feel like it's usually been the same status quo with carrying your handcuff running back. I think it's just always tough to sometimes identify which guys are actually worth holding on to. where some of these backfields, the starter goes down and then it turns into a committee. You don't actually benefit from getting that specific handcuff. And that's always why it's when you're drafting best ball teams in May and June and July, it feels like you know what the handcuff is or what that player is going to be.

3:22 But imagine if you drafted all this Jalen Wright, knowing that, okay, well, A-chan's going to go down or if he goes down, Wright's going to be the biggest benefactor. And he was the RB2 to start the season. And then he gets hurt, loses the job to Ali Gordon. And now you're just sitting in all these LAJ rights chairs that are just collecting dust because it has amounted to absolutely nothing. So the same thing with Jordan James, right?

3:44 I was going to say Jordan James would have been the one everyone was drafting back at that time.

3:47 He was another guy that seemed like, oh, he's going to be the handcuff to McCaffrey. And then nope, because he got banged up. Kalen Black took the job and he now is the guy. So I think once we get more clarification about who these handcuffs are, they then become more attainable to want to keep on your roster because it's big time upside. And a lot of the times, especially in the way that your league is formatted, potentially, it doesn't do you a lot of good to have, oh, my sixth wide receiver that I'm never going to start unless I just really need the depth versus this high end handcuff running back where, yeah, I don't start it when the starter is obviously healthy, but if there's an injury or I know I can immediately play him as

4:23 a top 24 option.

4:24 I guess it just felt maybe a little bit loud. Like a few of the names were like a tiny bit louder. Like Fitz, we talked about on the waiver show that Travion Henderson is not a starter anymore and really shouldn't be ranked obviously unless buys are, but he's now turned into that role. He's gone from, you know, advocate to starting to, as I think you guys had put on the waiver show, he is a Kalon black.

4:45 Like if Ramondre were to go down, like Travion would be the guy. I guess I just feel like, and again, maybe I'm just off on it, is the few of the guys that we're just gripping onto, those are guys that's just louder than in previous years. Like you got to own Kalon Black, you know, and then Brian Robinson and Bijan, and then Travion Henderson is in that. But, you know, again, maybe it's just a recency thing too.

5:08 Yeah, there are a few of those essential handcuffs, but I feel like there's still only a handful of like clean handcuffs. And even Travion Henderson is, Not a completely clean handcuff because if anything happened to Ramondre Stevenson, we'd probably see Corey Kiner get some work too. So Brian Robinson, Kalen Black, those guys are obvious. If the starter in front of them goes down, those guys are hugely valuable.

5:33 They're going to be playing like 80% of the snaps, getting most of the running back touches. But there aren't that many guys like that. The guys who are like that, very valuable, and you should probably be getting them even if you– Generally, I don't believe in handcuffing until Thanksgiving. Don't occupy two roster spots with one position on one team when you can be taking other chances. But those guys are so important if anything goes down, if the starter goes down, that I think it's maybe urgent to get them before Thanksgiving when I usually start handcuffing.

6:11 That's a great piece of advice maybe to get ahead of here as we're about to step into November and into week eight is, You know, maybe you can be a little bit more aggressive on some of those handcuffs if you hadn't been before. All of this talk around, you know, like Kalon Black and he's not playing this week, but people fighting for him and dropping Fab. And, you know, Jonah Coleman was also like a pseudo version of that where I think the assumption preseason was like, hey, Jonah Coleman's a guy around week eight is going to be viable.

6:35 That ended up being absolutely correct. It just it took a couple turns and we weaved a few times before we got there. But as you can tell, Bobo West with the running backs overall, we're going to get into the RB ranks here in just a second. But as we do here in Fantasy Pros, we look at the accuracy contest every single week. We are grading out the all the rankers and we've got, you know, the top list and we've also got like an overall for the season.

6:59 But for each week, we like to give a little celebration and shout out the top three this week, our previous week's week seven rankings. Jagger May with the top spot from Football Guys. Shout out to Jagger. Zach Grubel from Gridiron Experts was number two. And Kyle Yates at number three. I believe Kyle had a three earlier in the seasons as well. Those are the top three. Jagger, Stand Up Dude. And that's a great finish at the top spot. Our shout outs. Now, these are going to be one. Fitzy doesn't want this shout out. Finished top 35.

7:30 I think that's more than respectable.

7:33 I would.

7:34 Murder for a top 35 right now so good on you but what i want to give you a shout out for was you finished ninth and running back last week so we're talking about all of this mess and all this disaster in the thick of the bye weeks and you were a top 10 rb ranker fitzy so that's a solid and then boggs boggs actually finished higher than anybody at fantasy pros this week and he had a he was 31 and he finished eighth uh at wide receiver so an eighth spot at wide receiver is good ninth At running back, Fitzy, hold back your disdain and disgust for a not top 10 celebration here. But I just want to give you guys a shout out for that. If everybody wants to follow along with us, go to fantasypros.com slash rankings. check out the rankings, half

8:15 PPR for the week, week eight. That's what we're going to be talking about and referencing here. If you guys want to check it out through the week, you'll see all the updates as more rankers start submitting their ranks. So just know that some of the stuff that we're talking about will probably, some of the numbers and stuff will change and some of the players will move up and down, but let's not waste any more time. And let's talk and look at the big board for running backs, the top 12. We've got Jameer Gibbs at the top spot this week, of course, Bijan Robinson at two, Ken Walker at three, Kyron Williams, Derrick Henry, and James Cook.

8:45 That's your top six. Followed by Javante Williams, Jonathan Taylor, Chuba Hubbard, Jalen Warren, Ashton Gentry, and there's Josh Jacobs. He's in there. So let's talk about a few differences here. This is a big one. I think we could probably piece some of the storyline together, but Jonathan Taylor, usually we don't have like a ton of conversation to have around like RB1s, especially because who has the luxury of to not be playing any of these guys. So just understand there's not necessarily like anyone sitting here, but this is a big difference. I'm not sure we've seen this big of a difference in a guy that is ECR top 10. One of you has him as a top 10 and the other has, you know, numerically double the,

9:26 the jump as far as how down they go. But Jonathan Taylor comes in at ECR eight. Fitzy, you've got him at seven, but Erickson, you've got him at 16, really bumped down. He's still going to be started, but your level of trust in him seems low. And I think that obviously speaks for the sell-off that the Colts are doing right now, trading Quentin Nelson. DeForest Buckner has gone out, so a little bit of defense, a little bit of offense. So talk to us about pushing Jonathan Taylor all the way down to 16. That's not a great spot. You probably got some squirrely names that are up in front of him.

9:56 I mean, there's a lot of running backs I like this week, but when it comes to Jonathan Taylor, I have a very low level of trust with him in this particular matchup on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars, who rank number one in the NFL in terms of fewest rushing yards allowed per game, 51.5. The next closest team is at 73. rushing yards allowed per game. Over the last two seasons, nobody has rushed for 70 or more rushing yards against them except Jonathan Taylor. So you may look at that as, okay, like he can be fine.

10:26 And yeah, I think that he can still be an RB2. Last year in the two matchups against the Jaguars and their elite run defense, JT was RB12 and RB20. So that's why I have him kind of wedged in between at RB16 because The circumstances around his role in this offense, again, the offensive line is now even worse because they just traded away one of their best offensive guards. They're playing on the road behind arguably Daniel Jones, who's playing the worst football of his career right now. He is arguably the worst quarterback in the NFL right now in terms of how he's played, in terms of all of his efficiency, how he's performed under pressure. It's been an absolute disaster for Daniel Jones after coming off of the Achilles injury.

11:06 And then you also consider the fact that is Jonathan Taylor going to be traded? I think that he's alive to end up becoming a New York giant.

11:12 Do you really think they would move on? I mean, I know they did trade Buckner and Nelson, but those were more like caveat or those were guys that were like, you know, low contract stuff. I really have a hard time believing that Taylor.

11:22 So, but then why, why show, show off Seth McGowan? Like why does Seth McGowan just randomly have this increased role? I know that some people talked about it as pass protection because it was the Vikings and they wanted more Seth McGowan. Seth McGowan is a better pass protector than Jonathan Taylor. He's a 25-year-old rookie running back. That's who they trust more. For me, it's not a coincidence that Seth McGowan has his most involved role of the entire season when all these trade rumors are swirling about Jonathan Taylor getting dealt. Now, he still played and had a big role against the Vikings, ripped off that big touchdown run, but I just have concerns about, is JT getting his normal workload? If it's a lot more like last week,

12:00 where it's more closer to like a 60-40 type of split, and McGowan is getting significant snaps in the first half against this type of defense on the road, I just think this is a terrible spot for JT to have to overcome and be a fantasy RB1 when he barely kind of scratched the surface last week with it. Again, he had the big touchdown run that's always in his range of outcomes. Not saying bench Jonathan Taylor, but I don't think he's going to be a fantasy RB1 this week.

12:22 McGowan, 7.9% rostered in Yahoo right now. Fitzy, by your token of starting to think about those handcuffs, do you think at all maybe Seth McGowan is? I know it's not on the waiver show, but just as a side note, because I want to get your take on Taylor because you're higher than ECR. But also, do you think maybe people should get ahead of this? I don't know where you are on the Jonathan Taylor trade stuff, but should people be looking at picking up McGowan just in case Jonathan Taylor does get traded? He's under 10% right now.

12:49 And he'd be at least flex-worthy, I guess, but the ceiling would probably be pretty limited for a team that is in full fire sale mode and is dealing off parts.

13:02 Of its offensive line. But yeah, I think he might be.

13:06 I know, I forget who had the report, but they said maybe Josh Downs was more likely to be traded than Jonathan Taylor at this point.

13:15 I could see it.

13:15 We'll see.

13:16 I mean, Taylor could be the last guy left. It could be the John Travolta meme walking into the empty room. But yeah, so for me, I'm one spot above consensus on Taylor for this week.

13:28 And maybe that's a mistake.

13:30 I do think the floor is less certain, less safe than usual for all the reasons Erickson laid out. But Jonathan Taylor had a tough matchup last week, too, against the Vikings. gets 95 yards and a touchdown. And yes, he had the big run that sort of made his day, but he's averaging 20 carries a game and has had at least 15 carries in every game this year. Only Derrick Henry has more rushing attempts than Jonathan Taylor this season.

13:56 And Taylor's also averaging better than two catches a game and he's had at least two receptions all but one game this season. So the workload has been pretty much everything his investors could have possibly hoped for.

14:10 I did drop Taylor one spot.

14:12 I actually had him up at RB6, but then the Colts traded Quentin Nelson and felt like I had to at least partially react to that. So this may be too high. Maybe I come down a spot or two, but I can't imagine benching Jonathan Taylor under any circumstances this year, even this week, even against a run defense as good as Jacksonville's.

14:34 Yeah, none of these ranks would work. doing here really justify saying he's a, you know, he's a bench or anything like that. But, you know, if things have not caught up, if, if, you know, ECR is still top seven or eight, and we think it's going to get, you know, the, the C's are about to get rough. Maybe Jonathan Taylor is a trade spot in the next couple of days before things start kicking off and you don't want to start dealing with it. Uh, another running back, not as dire or anything like that, but you guys have a similar situation. It's just kind of flipped Chuba Hubbard.

15:03 Chuba Hubbard comes in at ECR nine. erickson is the higher guy and then fitzy you are lower so fitzy i'm gonna just jump back to you real quick you still got him as an rb1 uh you're three spots lower than ecr chuba's going up against green bay again nothing crazy here but you guys have like a four or five spot difference between you which is significant in the rb1 territory so uh what's up with chuba for you.

15:28 Chuba harvard just Has been really good this year, no question about it. I guess my lower ranking of Hubbard is mostly about the Panthers' offensive line issues. So right tackle Taylor Moten broke his ankle last week. He's out for the year. The Panthers have to play rookie Monroe Freeling at right tackle. He's coming off a knee injury and was bad last week against the Buccaneers. Left guard Damian Lewis has a knee injury. He might not play against the Packers. And the Panthers have a Thursday night game up in Green Bay. four days after getting completely shut down by the Buccaneers. They had 266 yards of offense in that game. And I feel like the Packers might be especially fired up for this Thursday night home

16:09 game after getting completely embarrassed by the Falcons in their Thursday night home game a few weeks ago. Plus, the Packers' run defense has actually been pretty respectable. They are 10th in EPA per rush, 16th in DVOA. They keep losing key run defenders. Linebacker Adrian Cooper tore his Achilles. Linebacker Xavier Franklin has a hairline fracture of his leg. And yet the Packers did a pretty good job against Jameer Gibbs last week. Gibbs had 116 rushing yards, but he needed 29 carries to get there. He averaged four yards per carry. Holding Gibbs to that in Detroit is pretty good.

16:44 So I just wonder with the adverse conditions for Hubbard and the state of his offensive line, if he's going to be able to have another exceptional game. And he's been stringing together exceptional games. Up until he ran into the Buccaneers last week.

16:58 Don't talk about Gibbs around Erickson. It's a very sensitive subject right now, so just don't do it. Real quick, Fitzy, Chuba or Josh Jacobs? Jacobs is ranked 12th on this list. I don't know where you have him.

17:11 I've got Hubbard one spot ahead of Jacobs.

17:13 Ooh, five-star matchup against the Panthers. Only Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs are the five-star. All right, Erickson, you are higher on Chuba. You've been very pro Chuba. It's actually a four-star graded matchup according to Fantasy Pros on the rank side here. Again, this isn't like one hates and one loves or anything like that, but you are one spot higher on Chuba and ECR Erickson. So talk us through the Chuba.

17:35 He's still the full-blown bell cow for the Carolina Panthers. That didn't change last week, even though the Panthers offense laid an egg against Tampa Bay, which we acknowledge was a much tougher matchup for him versus some of the other matchups. And yeah, the Panther offensive line is banged up. I feel like it's kind of been banged up all year.

17:51 And if you look at how Hubbard has actually gotten a lot of his production, it's because he's creating yards on his own. after contact. So he's been contacted at or behind the line of scrimmage on 46% of his carries, which is one of the highest rates in the NFL. But he has gained positive yardage on 80% of those carries, which ranks highest among all running backs with at least 40 carries. So Hubbard's doing all his own. It's not the offensive line that is creating holes for him. It's Hubbard balling out. And despite the fact that the Panthers played so horribly last week on offense, Through three quarters, because Chupacabra basically didn't play in the fourth quarter, they took out the starters, he still had 11 touches for

18:24 60 total yards. Still caught four balls on five targets for 27. He still averaged 4.7 yards per carry. Seven rushes for 33 yards. And actually, one of his biggest runs got called back because of a penalty. So his true line was actually eight carries for 63 rushing yards against the Todd Bowles, a really tough Buccaneers run defense.

18:41 So I think Hubbard's going to continue to ball out here. Again, Green Bay, what they've been the worst against when it comes to rushing yards allowed is after contact. 92% of the rushing yards Green Bay has allowed has come after contact, which is the highest rate in the NFL. So even though there is going to be some penetration with this defensive line against Carolina on the road, Hubbard has shown like, dude, he's up for the task. And I think that overall, this is a good bounce back spot for Carolina. If you look at them, and this comes from like the betting side of things. They're one of the best teams to cover the spread after they lose, and then they play on the road. 7-0 against the spread on the

19:16 road after a loss. I know, shout out to Matt Peralt on the Daily Juice. He was all over the Buccaneers. destroying the Carolina Panthers last week. And he used to tease the fact that when Carolina loses against Tampa Bay, we're going to be all over them covering the spread when they go to face the Packers on Thursday night football, because the Packers are one of these teams that tends to be overrated when they play at home and when they're heavy favorites by more than a field goal. So I think this game is going to be closer. And I think that Chuba Hubbard just continue to be what he's been doing and operating at a really high level this year as a full-blown bell cow, three-down skill set.

19:49 And he's passed the eye test for sure. He looks way more explosive than he did last year. Chuba.

19:54 One more in this range is RB11, and it's Ashton Gentee. This is a spot Erickson's got him right at ECR. Fitzy, you're a little bit lower. Interestingly enough, is Gross is some of, it's felt, of a few of the games on Jinty. Jinty only has two spots where he hasn't been an RB2 this year. He's still a flex option.

20:16 He hasn't had a 5 and then a 47 or anything like that. He's got back-to-back weeks and half PPR of being a top 10 RB despite really lacking in the rush department because he only has 28 rush attempts over the last three games combined. which is a rough number. And I think that's what kind of hurts in the rank department. But he has still been able to push up some of those higher performances because of the receiving game.

20:41 And you've got him at 14. So you pushed him out of an RB2. Again, it's not like a range that you hate him, Fitzy, but just curious where you're at on Genti. Two back-to-back top 10 half PPR finishes, but he is not getting the carries right now.

20:54 Right.

20:55 It helps that he's getting all this production in the passing game. He is on pace for 758 receiving yards.

21:01 This season.

21:03 But he's outside of RB1 range and half-point PPR points per game, RB13 among running backs who played more than one game. It's because he's just not doing anything on the ground. He is averaging 3.1 yards per carry this season, 2.3 yards per carry over his last three games, and he's had under 30 rushing yards in three straight games.

21:26 He's had 10 or fewer carries in three straight games, as you know it well. It's like the rushing volume is gone. And the Jets' defense, pretty tough against the run. Eighth in EPA per rush. They've given up the seventh fewest receiving yards to running backs, too. So it's going to be maybe tough sledding for Ashton Genting. You wonder if he's totally right after that ankle injury scare we got right before the start of the regular season. Just seems like he has not been his usually explosive self.

21:57 Harrison, where are you at on Jenty? You've got him, I think, right at ECR. But what's the vibe on Jenty for you?

22:03 The vibe feels really bad for us in Jenty, just noting all of the lack of rushing efficiency. And Mike Washington has looked better as a ball carrier. But for the game that we play, fantasy football... I don't think it matters as much when you look at the receiving that he's putting up. Honestly, I didn't think it was this impressive, but you look at him compared to every other running back this year, third and routes, first and targets 44, first and catches. He's tied with Kush McCaffrey for catches. I almost kind of fell out of my chair when I was looking. He has 34 catches this season.

22:35 That's ridiculous.

22:35 And you just talked about what he has, 28 carries. It's like, who cares? I don't play in these points for carry leagues. There's got to be no points. So to me, again, There's no telling whether they're going to get this run game turned around. And again, going back to the receiving, also first in yards, 312 and third in target chair at 16.5%. So again, if you have to sacrifice one thing, would you rather him be more efficient as a rusher and not have a receiving role or have this role as a receiver and be like, screw running the ball. Let's just throw the ball with Kirk Cousins, dump off Galore to Ashton Gentry. And he's making plays with the ball in his hands in space.

23:12 So I think that Jente should be a top 12 running back. He's facing New York Jets. Yes, they've been more of a middle of the road type of defense. But in fact, they just lost the Miami Dolphins offense look good against the Jets defense last week. So clearly, Aaron Glenn and his defense has not necessarily hit the ground running in terms of year two turnarounds. And one thing to note, too, about the Jets run defense, Devondre Sweat, their big nose tackle got hurt last week. And they signed a street free agent at defensive tackle. So that at least suggests to me that he may not play in this game. So look, I'm not going to be the one that projects. This is the big game for Gentee as a rusher, because I don't know when that

23:49 will happen. I think that I'll probably miss the boat on betting the over on his rushing yards. But I think it could come at some point. And in the meantime, you have the receiving floor to kind of keep you afloat. And if anything, that's what's going to put Ashton Gentee back inside the top 10 against the defense that I think that the Raiders can score on. So that's why I have him.

24:06 What? 12 or 11.

24:07 11.

24:08 Yeah.

24:08 It's funny you mentioned that too, because two weeks ago we probably had our worst betting show on BP. The worst show was at the week six show week seven best show. We had the best combined record we could have had in touchdown calls. So what I'm saying is. Please don't bet over rushing on Gentee this week, Erickson.

24:28 Please don't put that on the card. We're coming off of our best show, so go and check that out on Betting Pros. All right, we're going to jump into the RB2s here in a second, but let's talk about our friends at Polymarket. Basketball season is here, and a new way to trade on basketball is with Polymarket. Polymarket is a prediction market. It's a stock exchange for sports.

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25:05 That's FPPOD to get $ 25 free after you deposit just $ 10. All right. The big board for RB2s coming in at 13, Bischel Tootin, followed by Bucky Irving, Chase Brown, DeAndre Swift, Ramondre Stevenson at 17, Tony Pollard. And then our back half here, you've got Brees Hall, Ollie Gordon, Saquon Barkley, Quinchon Judkins, Jordan Mason, and Blake Corum. All right, let's go take a look at Chase Brown. Chase Brown been a little bit dicey in some previous weeks. The snap shares really went back to Chase Brown this previous week.

25:41 And you guys have got, this is another instance here. I mean, you know, Chase Brown's name value is good though. I will say He has definitely come up in a lot more questions. I don't know about you, Fitzy. I know you do a lot of the AMAs on Sunday, and I do the show right before. We've been doing TikTok stuff. A lot of Chase Brown in previous weeks.

25:58 He got a big snap share, but you guys are kind of different on both of those. Fitzy's at 15 at ECR, but Erickson, you are jumping in against the Tennessee Titans. You've got him as a top 10 running back this week. So again, we're still towing the line of like, are any of these guys really not playable for people? But just we've been seeing those questions pop up.

26:17 So Erickson, what's got Chase Brown for you as a top 10 running back this week?

26:21 Well, it was reassuring that he got the snaps back from the previous week before the bye week when it looked like it was a 50-50 split with him and Samajai Pirine. It went back to the quintessential 70-30 type of split, which is typically what we've seen with Chase Brown and Samajai Pirine now. No, it was extremely tilting to see Samajai Pirine come in at the one yard line.

26:42 And score the red zone touchdown. So, again, like, that's always in the range of outcomes, but it's not like Chase Brown hasn't seen goal line carries this season. Like, he's had goal line carries the last two games that they have played, just has not found the end zone. So, for me, it's buying into a high-powered offense, playing at home as a double-digit favorite against the Tennessee Titans defense that just got run over by the Cleveland Browns rushing attack, which I don't think any of us were looking at as this extreme juggernaut. So... That's the way I see it.

27:13 He's still involved as a receiver out of the backfield. Again, out-touched Piran 15-4 last week. So I get that he has been underwhelming. If you look at running backs in terms of fantasy points scored under expectation, Chase Brown leads that pack, unfortunately, here in 2026 through the first seven weeks.

27:30 But you also, who led that category last year through the first seven weeks?

27:34 It was Chase Brown.

27:35 And he ended up finishing the season very, very strong on a high note. So I think that he'll be okay. Maybe if he's not top 10, I think he's still going to be a fantasy RB1 this week.

27:43 Very funny. In baseball, there's very much a reality of first and second half players. You know, like you look like in fantasy, there are just guys, Julio Rodriguez would be, I know football people don't really care about it, but like Julio Rodriguez is a prime example of someone that struggles in the first half and then he just balls out in the second half. It's just funny hearing you say that because there's not like a, Really big track record in fantasy football of having guys that might be, you know, first or second half or, you know, their second quarter of the season type of things. But maybe there's something trending there a little bit. Fitzy, you can relate with the baseball, but more importantly, 15, you got

28:18 him right at ECR. Is he just kind of mid for you? Is he just fine? Like, is there's no, like, excitement? Or last week, you know, the up in touches over Samadji P. Ryan, they didn't do anything for you?

28:30 I do understand Erickson's ranking.

28:33 The Bengals' offense is kind of humming along, and Chase Brown is consistently playing about 70% of the offensive snaps. I guess my issue is that it seems like something is off with the running game, or at least in regards to Chase Brown. When they try to go under center, they're not running the ball well, and that's what they kind of wanted to do more of this year. So Chase Brown is averaging 2.7 yards per carry over his last three games and has not gotten to 40 rushing yards in a game since week three. And Samaje Piran is kind of a poacher on Chase Brown's land here.

29:09 And maybe that changes this week because the Titans have given up the seventh most rushing yards to running backs.

29:14 But the Bengals have said that they like what.

29:19 Samaje Piran gives them in the running game when they're in shotgun. They think his downhill style is a good fit for them when they're in shotgun.

29:27 And Joe Burrow likes being in shotgun.

29:30 To some extent, they've kind of scrapped their plans to be under center more because Burrow is just more comfortable when he's in shotgun formation. So that's kind of what I worry about, that we're going to still see P. Ryan sort of horn in on Brown's territory at times.

29:46 Next running back, there's a big difference with you guys. It's Brees Hall. Brees Hall comes in at ECR 19. Erickson, you got him at 18. Fitz, you got him at 19. Before we get into the analysis, let me ask you both. Fitzy, real quick, is there any hedge ranking with this whatsoever? Or is this like the new norm, Braylon Allen has looked good and he gets to kind of be a part of this? Is this like there's no hedgy stuff in this rank?

30:12 So I've got Allen 29 and Hall 19. And it's just we have to, everyone who's ranking running backs has to figure out how to play this. And it's hard to tell how the work's going to be divided here. Allen's been great during Hall's four-game absence with a quad injury, so maybe it's something close to a 50-50 workload split, but I tend to think the Jets are going to favor the incumbent.

30:37 Starter and the guy they gave a three-year.

30:40 $ 43.

30:40 5 million contract extension in the offseason.

30:43 Yeah, and I think that's fair, and the question's going to lead to something else, and I'll actually start it with you then, Erickson. I was just curious if there was anything in the rank that was like, hey, still a little bit banged up, and Allen, like how we'll sometimes hedge rank or something. If it's not, what I'm curious about, and Erickson had made a comment as I was reading off the list, is who do you like more this week, Brees Hall return going against Vegas or Amandre Stevenson going up against Miami Erickson?

31:11 I'll take Brees Hall. This Raiders run defense has been terrible, allowing the most rushing yards per game to opposing running backs. Look, we saw two running backs last week both smash between Blake Corman, Kyron Williams. So I don't see why the Jets wouldn't watch that game and think, oh, we're getting Brees Hall back. Oh, we have Braylon Allen who's been playing really well. Let's feature both guys. Who cares if it's a 50-50 split? We've seen before when the matchup calls for it, you can see multiple running backs both thrive.

31:38 And I think we're going to see a decent chunk of both players in this game just based on how well Braylon Allen has played. I would agree with Fitz where I do think they go back to Brees Hall as the incumbent starter. They've been pretty adamant. I know last week leading up to the game, they talked about Brees Hall as the starter. like he's going back to his role. Braylon Allen's going to get his touches, but Brees Hall is our workhorse bell cow to kind of quote the coaches there. So that's how I see it.

32:03 I have them in a similar range, Brees Hall at 18 for me and then Braylon Allen at RB 26. So I don't think this is a scenario where you don't, you just flat out bench Braylon Allen. I think that in given there's four teams on by, I think that he's still legitimate flex play, even with Brees Hall, because there's always a chance that maybe Brees Hall doesn't come back and look a hundred percent or Braylon Allen gets going because The other thing the Jets have talked about, too, is they like a hot hand approach. And against this defense, you could see, oh, Braylon Allen's just like ripping off big runs. Like, let's just keep him going. Or Brees Hall starts out of the gates really, really hot. OK,

32:33 let's just featuring Brees Hall. So I think both guys have decent upside this week. Maybe there's obviously a cap ceiling just based on the sheer amount of volume that each player should get. But You should feel thrilled to start any running backs against the Las Vegas Raiders defense. So that's kind of the way I'm reading the situation.

32:49 Fitz, just one more quick aside. Do you have Brees above Ramondre? The reason I'm bringing this up, too, is just Ramondre is higher than Brees Hall. That's why I was kind of like, do you think there's hedge betting going on or a ranking that's happening here? Who do you like more, Brees Hall or Ramondre?

33:04 I have Ramondre ranked a little higher.

33:08 Just feel better about the pitch or its offense generally.

33:13 Okay. All right.

33:14 Remondre at 17. Brees Hall at 19. Braylon Allen actually is going to show up in the next rank at 25. So pretty interesting list. Final one we'll talk about in this grouping. How about Jordan Mason? Jordan Mason returns, gets a workload. Obviously Aaron Jones was a little bit banged up, but he's already jumped in as RB23. He's 23 up against the Lions. Five-star graded matchup here. ECR 23. You guys relatively agree. Erickson, why don't we start with you?

33:37 You've got him at 23. Fits he slightly. I mean, you guys do have the difference between an RB2 and a flex here, but... But Erickson, talk to us about Jordan Mason and your comfortability of like where he is back in that offense.

33:48 I mean, he's the RB1, right?

33:50 Is Aaron Jones going to play this week? Can they sit this guy down so he can get his knee healthy and right? I don't understand why they keep putting him out there when he's not healthy or good to go. I don't think he's left or he hasn't played a full game this year where he has not left at some point with an injury to his knee. So I don't understand why the Vikings continue to trot him out there when he's not 100%, especially when you have Jordan Mason back. in the lineup. And that's what we saw last week. I think that Jones got the start, but Jordan Mason was heavily involved from the jump as well.

34:18 And then obviously with Jones getting banged up, Mason drew the majority of opportunities out of the backfield, 64% snap share, 65% of the running back opportunities. And I thought that he looked relatively good to get 15 carries for 68 yards. He had two targets, but Kyler Murray air mailed them on both of them. So he didn't have any catches in the game, but still I thought, again, he had four missed tackles. He had a higher success rate. than Aaron Jones did. Again, 15 touches to nine touches, 68 yards to 29 yards. So I think that we continue to see Jordan Mason as at least the 1A, depending on if Aaron Jones plays or not, if they would like to involve DeMond Claiborne or something along those lines.

34:52 But there's also a chance that if Jordan Mason falls into that Aaron Jones role that we saw to start the year where he's seeing every single touch in the backfield, I think it at least gives him a TWOP 24 type of floor here. And the Lions matchup, they've been better against running backs than pass catchers, obviously, this season.

35:09 but that's because teams have just elected to throw all over the Detroit Lions, not because their run defense is like this unit that you have to avoid at all costs. They're still bottom 10 EPA per rush face this season. So I like the workload projection with Mason. I generally like the matchup against the Detroit Lions. So I think that locks him in as a top 24 back.

35:27 Fitzy, you got him at 25. You got him as a flex. Is this rank around maybe Aaron Jones still playing? Because I'm curious that like if they're, is this what it looks like if you think Aaron Jones doesn't play And then if Aaron Jones actually doesn't play, what do you think that looks like if that's not the case?

35:45 I think, well, this is definitely based on the assumption Aaron Jones plays. And I think earlier in the week, I want to say, or maybe it was right after Sunday or whatever, he was described as day to day. So which usually means to me that they're Probably going to play.

36:02 The following week.

36:03 Yeah, and that was Schefter, by the way. They said it's not considered to be significant at this time. And then a source had said, that's like the latest thing. I'm searching it as we're going here. That's like kind of the latest thing I'm seeing.

36:16 Yeah, and if he is.

36:19 If Aaron Jones is out, I would probably have Jordan Mason more like RB19, RB20. And yeah, he was pretty good. I would take issue with us having... The Lions is a five-star matchup. They haven't been great. I know their run defense is like 22nd in DVOA. Erickson mentioned their bottom 10 in EPA per rush. But they've been much better against the run at home. They're only giving up 69.7 rushing yards per game at home. So I think they're kind of a different beast when they're in forward field.

36:53 Mason's not going to give you anything as a pass catcher.

36:55 That's the thing.

36:56 And Erickson noted that he did get a couple of targets in Kyler Murray's missed him on both of those throws. But for the most part, Mason is kind of non-existent as a pass catcher.

37:06 All right, let's go take a look at our Flex RB3s, however you want to look at it, 25 through 36. The aforementioned before, Braylon Allen comes in at 25. Rashada White is 26 this week. Rico Dowdle, Emmanuel Wilson, Jonah Coleman coming in at 29. RJ Harvey at 30. Back half is a Marion Hampton, J.K. Dobbins, Jeremiah Love, Tyler Algier, Aaron Jones at 35, and Travion Henderson. Very funny. RB30 hits and it's just like, why would you want to start any of these guys? Like they are just the most non, it's the unstartables. You know what I mean?

37:38 It's the absolute unstartables. We're not going to talk about those guys because that's an easy response. How about Emmanuel Wilson? Emmanuel Wilson comes in at 28. I think there's still a little bit of, I feel like we got the rug pulled a little bit. It felt like Charbonnet was lining up maybe this past week and then it was like, nope.

37:54 So I do think that kind of aligns to this week feeling like Maybe he could, but I don't know if the ranks represent that. This is graded out on Fantasy Pros as a five-star graded matchup. He comes in at ECR 28, and you both are quite a bit higher. So very curious, Fitzy, we could start with you. You've got him at 24. Erickson's got him at 22. Is this around you assuming Charbonnet's not going to play again?

38:16 Are you starting not to care because of how Wilson plays? Talk to us through Emmanuel Wilson being in RB2 this week.

38:21 I tentatively do have Charbonnet in the rankings, but it was pretty weird that they activated him from IR last week and didn't play him. So, I mean, well, they were kind of forced to activate him, I believe, or else Charbonnet had to go to season ending IR.

38:34 I think he was like right at the, I think it was like Thursday they had to activate him because of the three week window, but they don't have to technically play him, of course.

38:42 Right.

38:42 So they activated him, but yet they deemed Charbonnet not yet ready to play. So I would have to imagine even if we see Charbonnet this week, he's probably not going to play a lot of snaps. And I know Emmanuel Wilson hasn't been great this season. He's averaging 3.6 yards per carry. But he did have 24 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown against a pretty good Chiefs run defense last week. And now he gets a home game against a Bears run defense that ranks 26th in DVOA.

39:09 And they just added Quentin Nelson. So I'm feeling actually strangely okay about Emmanuel Wilson this week.

39:16 Erickson, where are you at on Emmanuel Wilson? Same thing. Is Charbonnet pushing this down or up? I mean, I guess you're higher. You're 22. So I have to assume this is with you not really caring about the status of Charbonnet.

39:29 Yeah.

39:29 The Charbonnet thing has kind of been weird, right? It really seemed like he was going to play last week. And then when they asked Mike McDonald about whether he would play, whether Jadarian Price, who's also eligible to come off injured reserve this week for week eight, When Mike McDonald was asked if those guys could play, he's like, yes.

39:48 But then they asked, but could neither play? He also said, well, yeah. So he's really being kind of coy about how this backfield is going to be deployed. The one thing I do know is that if Emmanuel Wilson is the healthiest guy, he's the one that has the most fantasy upside. We've seen this through multiple games where he's had 20 plus carries and the team has just rode him in the second halves of these games. So for me, the question really came to because this is a Monday night game.

40:13 So this puts fantasy managers in a tough spot because it's, do I start X player on Sunday or do I wait for Emmanuel Wilson? Yeah. And I guess I'm more in the camp of, I think I want to wait for Emmanuel Wilson because this is a really good matchup against the Chicago Bears. And even if Zach Charbonnet and slash Orchidarian Price are playing and active, what is their role going to be? How confident are they going to be coming off of the injury? I thought it was also important to note that McDonald talked about how they have a plan for Zach Charbonnet. So to me, again, he's nine months removed from this torn ACL injury. So for me, it really feels like they're playing the slow game with Zach Charbonnet, but really, really kind of like

40:51 spoon feeding him back into the lineup versus, oh, he's full go. We're going to blast off because Emmanuel Wilson can, to his credit, again, the efficiency numbers aren't amazing, but when he's gotten the workload, he's got over a hundred yards and a lot of different games so far this season. So against the Chicago Bears defense, like that's a top 20 type of upside play. So I think that I'm willing to wait on Wilson versus some of these other guys where I'm like, okay, like, yeah, Rico Dowdle is one spot ahead. Like, no, I would rather just wait for Wilson. And if I ultimately sharpening comes back and like Wally Pips, Emmanuel Wilson, like, so be it. But I think the process is right with trying to wait

41:29 it out and chase that upside against this Bears defense.

41:31 Jonah Coleman is an important one to talk about. He comes in at ECR 29. Here's the problem, though. This is head ranking. You can't have Jonah Coleman at 29, RJ Harvey at 30, and J.K. Dobbins at 32. Only one. I shouldn't say only one. Coleman and Harvey is probably actually the guy that could be a little bit more fantasy relevant because of his receiving side.

41:53 But no.

41:55 That's just the answer.

41:56 But no.

41:56 You can't have all those guys there. Coleman does get the top spot. Problem is the. The matchup really stinks. It's against Kansas City. You guys are both higher than ECR. Erickson, you're at 28. Fitz, you're at 27. Erickson, why don't you talk us real quick through Jonah Coleman? And I hope you don't have a hedge ranking that looks similar to this. I think ideally the answer should be just like, I'm only starting Jonah Coleman and I'm not starting the rest of these guys.

42:21 I don't think that Harvey's the worst start though.

42:23 It's not the worst start. I do think he's manageable.

42:26 Because he gets involved in the red zone. He catches passes. If the Broncos are catching or chasing points in this game, you could see more of Harvey in the passing game and Jalen Waddle might not play. So that's taking out targets from this offense that have to go to other pass catchers. Is it going to be funneled to Cortland Sutton, Evan Ingram? Like probably not. It's probably just going to be more running back dump offs for Bo next to these trio of running backs. So That's one thing I did want to note that I think that Harvey's still a flex viable option. Jonah Coleman's obviously the guy you want to play the most in J.K.

42:56 Dobbins.

42:56 You're just hoping he scores a touchdown like he did last week on the lack of efficiency. So this one is interesting to me because when Sean Payton came out and said that we got to get more touches for Jonah Coleman, my mind immediately went to a conversation that I think it was us three two years ago. when he was talking up Audrick Estime about getting more touches for his rookie running back. And Welsh was the only guy I pushed back. He's like, no, I'm not buying this crap because he does this all the time. And you bet the under on his rushing yards. And it was a smash. It was an absolute smash.

43:24 That was a fun one. I do remember doing that.

43:27 So that's something that I'm trying to make sure I consider with the risk here. I think that, again, given the matchup, Chiefs are allowing the second fewest fantasy points per game, I think is what it is. or second fewest rushing yards per game to opposing running backs, it's not a good matchup for the Denver Broncos run game across the board. And if it is a three-headed committee, even if Jonah Coleman is the one that's leading the way, I mean, look, if you include penalties from last week, J.K.

43:52 Dobbins had eight carries to Jonah Coleman's nine carries. And Dobbins didn't touch the ball in the fourth quarter because they wanted to see more Jonah Coleman in kind of like cleanup duty, which makes sense. Like you want to be the bruiser back, and that's obviously part of Jonah Coleman's long-term fantasy appeal. But is that a scenario that happens in this game against the Kansas city chiefs defense in a game that is this going to be high scoring is the Broncos offense fixed because they beat up on the Arizona Cardinals defense that we talked about as the worst defense in, or one of the worst defenses in the NFL last week, I'm a bit skeptical. So look, I still think that Coleman is the guy that you

44:26 want to have in this backfield rest of the season, but it's also possible that may not return a top 10 or top 20 running back, right? If they decide to still use a committee with these three guys on all involved so that's kind of my spiel on it and i just had to bring up the estimate point because i just i guess when pain said that to me my mind went and like is this just this again are we gonna do this again like are we gonna get wally pipped.

44:50 Groundhog's day you put your little hand on mine fitzy um where you at uh what do you want to hit on jonah coleman here Yeah.

44:58 So I've got Coleman 27, Harvey 32, Dobbins 35. I think it'll still be a committee. And I agree with Erickson. We should not listen to a word Sean Payton says. And it could actually be that like the usage kind of pulls closer together this week. Wouldn't be surprising because last, like I'm just following how he deploys these guys. And, um, first came back from the high ankle sprain, Coleman had 30 snaps, Harvey 16, Dobbins 14 and Hobbin or.

45:24 Uh, Hobbins. Hobbins. He's become one player.

45:31 So Coleman had nine carries, 54 yards rushing, two catches, 15 yards. He led the Broncos backs in yardage, even though Harvey had a 52-yard gain on a screen pass. So Coleman's only played a couple of games, but he's been really good. He's averaging 4.9 yards per carry, whereas Dobbins is at 3.4 and Harvey is at 3.6. Coleman's rushing success rate is 52.7%, solidly above league average. And he has had 23.5% of his runs go for 10 or more yards. The league average is 10.2%. So he's giving them a bit of explosiveness in the rushing game that they were not getting from Dobbins and Harvey. I think Coleman's going to continue to lead the backfield in carries.

46:13 I just don't.

46:15 Think you're going to get rid of Dobbins and Harvey completely.

46:18 So please get.

46:18 Their names correctly. Hobbins. That's what we'll only refer to them as. All I can think of is, is, uh, Sean Payton too, has gone, he's like, my precious. And, and it's just, it's a Hobbins. It's the little two running backs that he's, uh, trying to protect and trying to steal.

46:32 So, all right.

46:33 I mean, to jump over that, but please call them correctly. Uh, Hobbins moving forward. Jonah Coleman is the play. Uh, let's do quick, two quick hitters here as we've extended our RV episode. Cardinal situation, Jeremiah Love, RB 33. You guys are all over the board. Fitz, you got him as a top 20 RB. Erickson, you do not have him ranked on this. Algier comes in at 34 here. Fitz, hit us real quick. You think, this is obviously assuming Jeremiah Love is active, that he's a top 20 back this week going up against Dallas. I guess he is ranked 33 on this, but going up against Dallas, he would be 18th for you.

47:09 Three points.

47:10 Love was the number three overall pick for a reason. He's good at football. We think of the Cardinals as being pass heavy. They're only like mid pack and pass right over expected 13th. And I don't know how pass heavy they can be now with Brissette averaging 5.7 yards per attempt. They just lost number three receiver Jalen Brooks to a season ending injury. So they're down to like Michael Wilson, Kendrick Bourne, Devin Duvernay, Simi Fahoka, Reggie Virgil at wide receiver. And the Cowboys are giving up the eighth most fantasy points per game to running backs. They're 23rd in EPA per play against the run, 27th in DVOA against the run. I mean, Saquon Barkley not fully healthy at all, and he had 62 rushing yards against

47:53 Dallas on seven carries last week.

47:56 Erickson, quick hitter. Jeremiah Love, you do not have him ranked. If he were to be active, what would be your thoughts on him for the week?

48:03 I think I'd probably put him where ACR has him in the mid RB three range worth, worth noting Deepak Chona, you know, friend of the show he talked about on JJ Zacharyson show that he didn't expect love to come back into week nine. So I'm still under the impression that even if he is suited up in week eight, how a hundred percent is he again, this is something, this ankle injury is something that had been monitoring like so closely, like taking him out of the game in the second half, because they have to make sure that his ankles.

48:31 Okay.

48:31 So in this type of game script, where if the Cowboys get up big here, is your mind love even in the game anymore? It's like, nah, he's like resting his ankle. They don't use him in passing situations nearly as much as they should be. They have this obsession with Tyler's year on third downs and Bam Knight has played well over the last two games. So even if love comes back, LaFleur was talking about how Knight is going to remain involved in the offense. So I know we talked about the Denver Broncos being kind of this ugly three-man committee. Arizona might be like, hey, hold my beer.

48:58 You want to see an uglier one? Like come check us out. So that's why I'm concerned. I just, I see how this could go south very, very quickly. I see the upside, of course. So again, if you need to take a shot here, we know the talent with love and we know that the matchup is really good. So I get that from an upside perspective, but I think the floor is like ground zero.

49:18 All right.

49:20 Uh, the final ones here, deep play. Erickson, why don't you hit us with your, uh, with your deep play for the week outside or outside of the top 36 of ECR, but you guys probably have your guys higher.

49:30 Yeah.

49:30 I'm going to go with, uh, Chris Rodriguez, continue to play everybody against the Colts defense that just traded one of their defensive linemen and That might trade away another defensive lineman by the time we actually get to Week 8. Chris Rodriguez is coming off a season high, 55 rushing yards with 11 carries. I thought he looked pretty good the last time we saw him for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Colts' defense is not good. So Chris Rodriguez could find his way into the end zone, like using him in short yardage situations. So, yeah, C-Rod.

49:57 Fitzy, deep play at RB for the week.

50:01 If you're desperate, Mike Washington... For the Raiders, I mean, we've talked about how Ashton Gentry has not been effective at all as a runner. Washington has been effective, 4.9 yards per carry. Now, Mike Washington is not a better runner than Ashton Gentry. I think Gentry's ankle injury clearly affecting him, but maybe the Raiders start to get Washington more involved in the running game on early downs since Gentry just hasn't been right for the last three weeks.

50:26 All right.

50:26 If you guys want to follow along and you want to check out all the ranks that we've been talking about on these episodes, make sure to go to fantasypros.com slash rankings. If you ever have fits with that, go to fantasypros.com slash NFL slash rankings. And you can check out half PPR, full PPR, standard. We've got dynasty in there.

50:43 You can check flex, super flex. Everything is there for you. But what we've been talking about in half PPR ranks, you guys can go and Kind of see where things evolve and move throughout the week. That is it for the RB Ranks episode. Make sure to check out wide receiver and the quarterback in tight end. Thank you guys for hanging out with us. For Mr. Andrew Erickson and Pat Fitzmaurice, I'm Chris Welsh. Talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.

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