8 Running Backs You Are Drafting with Insane Confidence

[MUSIC] Yesterday we covered the wide receivers. Today it's the running backs that you all are drafting with extreme confidence. Yes, 17 games were played last year. Either these names gave you joy or plenty of grief. They were on your roster and now we have a draft and frequency in our back pockets and they are being selected in a much different draft slot than where they finished last season. That's what's all about. Names drafted much earlier or later than they finished the 2025 season. Speaking of earlier Hayden, the prices on running backs this year are higher than ever. Are they even high enough? I think that's a question worth asking. >> Yeah, I looked into this. So what I did here on this crazy chart here is I looked at where they finished last year in fantasy points over placement per game. So that's my favorite metric to look across fantasy positions. And then it compared it to the underdog ADP. So this is both half-ppr on the scoring and on the ADP here. And it took the top 25 biggest differences on each side. So players getting drafted way earlier or way later. And you see on the running backs chart, almost all of the 25 guys being drafted after where they finished last year are running backs. So even though the prices are up right now, if you're looking at what happened last season versus the price tags, the running backs as a whole have not moved high up enough, which is pretty crazy. And that goes from the top end guys, you know, your Derek Henry's Devon H.A. and Skyron Williams all the way to the next year like the Ramondri Stevenson's, Tyrone Tracy's, Woody Marks, those type of guys are being drafted way, way later. There's only a couple exceptions where running backs are now being drafted a lot earlier than where they finished last year. And they're pretty obvious like Bayeshell Tutton going into a bigger role. But just in general, running back prices are up. And I would argue not high enough. Well, we'll talk about that as we go along in this episode. And obviously this summer when we talk about draft strategies, well, let's dive into some specific names. We'll talk about the much earlier ones to open. And this goes to the top of the draft. I mean, sake one, Barkley is drafted as the running back seven. He finished last year as the running back 15 in points per game. Hey, I think there is an argument to make that sake one Barkley, despite being at the one two turn, which is an high pick for all of you, it's still potentially one of the most undervalued assets in face of all this season. I got him ranked 11 though. Overall, he's my RB five. So I'm with you. This is an and half PPR here. There's just a lot of positive updates for this year's Eagles versus last year's one offence, a coordinator. We're expecting that to get better offence. The line health should get better with Lane Johnson and Dickerson. And those guys missing time are playing through injuries. And then sake one, Berkeley, Barkley only converted one of his 11 goal line carries for touchdowns last year. That's just going to get better as the entire environment around him gets a little bit better. So yeah, I'm not expecting this to be the 2024 version, but could I sandwich, you know, 2024 versus last year and come up with a win I certainly can. So I didn't come down to the offensive line health plus offense, a coordinator. And I thought sake one Barkley largely looked about the same as he did the year prior when he was one of the best running backs in the league. I think maybe slight decrease is 29 years old now, but for the most part, he's going to get the rock a ton. And if they ever got away from the push push stuff, like you can add a couple more touchdowns to that. I think there's a possibility that they do that. Jaylen Hersh just doesn't want to run as much as he used to and get put in those situations as much as he used to just overall top down view of the Philadelphia Eagles. The most important part for them is about getting this running game right. You know, so much of the conversation this summer is going to be about what Sean Manion is going to do with Jaylen Hertz and Devonthay Smith and take this passing game, you know, to the next iteration of it. But to me, none of that matters unless they can get this running game back to closer to where it was in 2024 because that is what changes the math. That is what changes the defense and the coverage more often than what Jaylen Hertz is going to be as a pure pocket passer and pick apart a defense. I mean, even last year in a down season, again, as they're running back 15 in points per game, he still was the running back seven and expected fantasy points per contest. So the workload was really still there that we needed. Yet they averaged and were 16th in rushing yards before contact per attempt that Eagles running backs were compared that to 2024. They ranked second. They were seventh in explosive runs this past season with 58, which is still a nice number. But compare that to 2024, that was at 77, the second most. And yeah, I mean, I was one of the people that said, of course, we can take take one Barclay early in drafts last year, despite him getting what 400 touches the previous year and, you know, all of the permutations that typically fall from that and they're all negative. I, this is just my eye test. I did not see like a major drop off. But in the numbers, there were major drop offs. I mean, again, two years ago, he had touched on runs of 72, 70, 68, 65, 39, 25 and 23 yards. And then last season, only two touched on runs longer than 13 yards. So if he really hasn't changed overall as a player, if he's still 90% of the player that he was back in 2024, all that we need is just a cohesive and solid offensive line and running game. And then we are getting much closer to that running back to three finish than we are to me as the absolute floor of that running back 15 finish that we got last year. Yeah, to put some numbers on that Lane Johnson played nine games, Lane and Dickerson, 14 games, Camjurgen, 14 games, but those, those players were playing through injuries even when they were out there. So hopefully there's a little bit healthier. I think they are going to miss Jeff Stoutland, like maybe the, the, the offensive line coach ever, but at the same time, the new OC coming to town comes from the Packers who had, you know, Josh Jacobs in a very, very fantasy from the role here. So, I mean, even last year, everything hit the fan and he was still, you know, like a round two, round three type of guy. So I would be wanting to draft it at the one to turn. I'd rather have him than ask Gen T. At some point this summer, we will basically reorder how we think the top 15 picks should go in fancy football. Sequan Barclay has already in the last month climbed ahead of another running back in the second round. And so he hasn't always been at this one to turn. I would rank him even higher than this. I am very, very pro. Sequan Barclay this season. And yeah, I mean, the offensive lines of could go one way or the other. You can easily make the case that without just Stoutland that it's going to get worse. At the same time, it should be between the lines. There's a lot of positivity and optimism that this is like the new wave of the future here for the Philadelphia Eagles and only things can go up versus where it was in 2025. Okay, next name. Kenneth Walker the third. Yep, we're doing it again this summer. Drafted as the running back 10 this year, finished last year, as we all know, as the running back 28 and points per game. So where we at with Ken Walker on a new team and the Kansas to the Chiefs. I'm buying this price tag. I got him running 13th overalls 80 P's at 16th on underdog. He signed a $28 million guaranteed contract. This running back group for the Chiefs has just been horrific for a very long time since 2022. Their success rate has been higher than what the Seahawks have had with with Kenneth Walker. But the explosive play rate is like light years different. And that's crazy because the Seahawks offensive line has not even been good. And you can make an argument that the Chiefs into your offensive line is pretty damn impressive here. So I think you can argue that this is the best offensive line Kenneth Walker has ever played behind with Andy Reed who has it's been a little bit. But if you go all the way back, there's been some crazy fantasy seasons due Staley, Brian Westbrook, Jamar Charles, Leshan McCoy and I think Leshan McCoy and Kenneth Walker, who's a lot of actual similarities between those players. Those guys would absolutely nuts. And just to put that into perspective here, Leshan McCoy's final three seasons with Andy Reed, his 17 game pace was 1800 scrimmjards. So I think there is a huge ceiling with Kenneth Walker. I think he's shown that he can at least catch the football. He's not like super reliable and pass protection, but he's competing with like, it's a Mari Dima Kado. Emmett Johnson for Shard Smith. I mean, it's absolutely nobody's out there. I think the entire off season plan has been Kenneth Walker is going to change the entire formula. We don't have to really worry about wide receivers. So I want to buy. And that's it. We always say that teams are honest with their wallets and with their draft picks. The only substantial move that Chiefs made in this off season in offense was bringing in Ken Walker III. And why is that? Well, we talked about it on a weekly basis last year that the Chiefs running game had a high success rate that they were hitting singles with, you know, whatever cream hunt was and even patch from homes scrambling and whoever else went through out there. Now with their wallets, they told you that that's not enough. That that didn't matter that much in the win lost column and that only gets you so far that you have to now in this version of the NFL with how coverages and defenses are set up. You have to generate explosives in the running game, especially if you can't create them in the passing game, which the Chiefs have struggled to do over the last couple seasons. And they can do that. I mean, they just need a talent like Ken Walker III because they ranked last year 10th in rush shards before contact per attempt, but then we're 30 second in rush shards after contact per attempt. So Ken Walker, we just baited it and we discussed it last off season as an individual talent. Sure, he's going to have some stuff rates. He's going to have some negative runs, but very few players create the game changing moments that he does. And as we saw that when Zach Sharman went down, he has three down talent. He has workhorse talent. And that goes back to him averaging 17 and a half fancy points over the last two seasons. 26 games that he's played 60 plus percent of the steps. He should play 65, 70 percent of the steps this season. And I cannot wait to see it because I am certain we would have gotten and maybe not healthy for 17 games, but we would have gotten magical numbers from K9 last year if he was given this type of opportunity. And now it gets it on the Kansas to choose. Yeah. I think it's a top three top five outcome here for Kenneth Walker, everything kind of breaks his way. Just the history of the Andy Reid and how good Kenneth Walker is and how desperate they are for this type of player. It's all kind of a line. I just looked real quick on Yahoo is ADP is at 21. So I think some of our redraf leagues, they have not got up to exactly where we are in Bestball. And I want to be just doubling down. If he's like a late round to pick, he's like somebody that we will just be not talking or we can't stop talking about them as we get closer to redraf time. And there's one more name you brought up a bunch of Philadelphia Eagles running backs. I'll also throw in cream hunt during Andy Reid's time and his rookie season with the Kansas he achieves were a rookie cream hunt finished as the running back five and points per game. That's season. I mean, this is special stuff with yes, can walk there's more numbers here. Okay. Last season the chiefs were 20th and explosive carries just overall. And they had just 29 explosive plays in 2024 of 25 plus yards, only five teams had less, only five teams had less. Now that did jump up to 37 last year, but you get new package like the frustrations that I have had when watching the chiefs over the last two seasons. Kenneth Walker is the difference in all that he is the investment to change all of that. It's, you know, not the first round pick and Xavier worthy. It's not all these similar types to rushy rice and lesser, lesser thens. Unless you know, Tyke one Thornton becomes the best deep threat in the NFL. Like this offense is going to the next level. And if it does, it is Kenneth Walker the third doing it. That's for sure. Yeah, I can't believe the rushing lines at 950 yards. I mean, like that, that just seems like that seems like hundreds of yards off to me, but maybe maybe I'm crazy. All right. Before we only further again, this is a great grouping of episodes that we have here. If you hadn't gone and watched the wide receiver version of that, do it right after this episode. And while you're there, hit that subscribe button. It's totally free to all of you. And we've got content throughout the summer helping you get ready for your fancy football league, your fancy football draft. And just to beat up on your buddies. That's it. So hit subscribe. Next, a channel favorite for a very long time. And one, I just don't know where I'm at this off season. This is David Montgomery. He's being drafted right now as running back 20 on his new team going from the Detroit Lions over to Houston Texans last year, he finished as the running back 31 and points for games. So let me know where and if I should be drafting Dave Montgomery in this spot. I got him ranked RB 2564th overall as 80 P's at 50. So I am slightly behind on David Montgomery long story short, I just don't think he profiles that much different than Tony Paul or Chuba Hubbard, Ramondra Stevenson, Jalen Warren. And those guys just get drafted a lot later. I think that the history of the Texans is fascinating. So since 2023, that's when Demica Ryan's and CG shroud both showed up that 2023 season. It was not that pretty. That was the Devon Singletary versus Damien Pierce battle. Devon Singletary was the RB 35. They traded for Joe Mixin. They signed him to a $27 million contract. He was the RB 9 and RB 5 usage. And then last year was Woody Marx as the running back 35. So two of the three seasons have been horrific. One season was awesome. But that was also Joe Mixin after trading for him and extending to a big contract. David Montgomery, they traded for him. His contract is two years $16 million with only $10 million guaranteed. It's like nowhere near the Joe Mixin stuff. And then I also just have to wonder how good is David Montgomery at this point? He's had nine straight seasons with at least 180 touches that's going back to Iowa State. He's going to be 29. That's just like a lot of wear and tear here. And then I wasn't a huge fan of Woody Marx. But Woody Marx is going to play the passing situations here. So it's like, okay, I've probably got an early down role for David Montgomery here. And the offensive line's been 31st and EP per carry, 22nd and rush yards per game since 2023 because the offensive line has been so bad. So I would be pretty surprised. Like David Montgomery was like a true difference maker. I think that he can ride this workload because they want to be pretty balanced to a flex, you know, maybe a low end RB 2 range. I just don't see the pathway to kind of pay off like compared to some of the upside picks around him. So I'd rather park him right next to, you know, Chuba Hubbard, who will get to in a second. The upside picks just right now on underdog. Terracor and Colson Lovelin, Jalen Waddle, James and Williams are the four picks ahead of him. Then right after it's Devonte Adams, and then, you know, this cluster of running backs that it truly might take me all summer to figure out how I really want to stack them in Trevian DeAndre Swift, Bucky, Quintran Judkins, and then Bayshore Tune. Still remember Swift. I want that. Yeah. That's where I'm at right now. We'll see where we are in a couple of weeks. Look, specifically in David Montgomery, like the pro and cons side is the same. It's all about volume. And that always scares me when both sides make the same case for their outcomes. Again, for the positive, you can say that he's the only one in the backfield with really 14 plus touch chops on any given week that he has the workload that we want for a running back to, which is exactly what you're drafting him as running back 20. For the downside, he's 29, as you said, and it's all about workload. And the Texans are in year two of trying to fix their offensive line. So it turns into, you know, a viable fantasy backfield. I mean, this is the profile that is typically destined for, you know, running back dead zone stuff. I'll be it now. This is like the fifth round versus the third or fourth round, for example. But like, you know, we can look at Chuba Hubbard last year or Isaiah Bacheco or James Conner, or Shod White was even the running back 14 in 2024 in drafts that September. And then even Mike Davis a few years back. So like, if this hits, I can tell you exactly how it hits. It's Dave Montgomery lasting for 17 weeks, getting 14 plus touches on any given week and Houston improving their red zone drives and red zone efficiency in the offense, just being a tick up, tick up. But if it fails, then again, I think the outcome is just as obvious. And maybe unfortunately, we've seen that negative outcome happen in this archetype a bit too often. I think there's like a chance that Woody Marx makes this like pretty close to even by the end of the season as well. I think it'll be for sure, David Montgomery, to start this thing. Miss tackles per touch. There's a rate stat from PFF last year was at 18%. The previous year is 27, 21, 24%. So slight slight drop in forcing Miss tackles last year. And yeah, he just been playing behind a really good offensive line. And now he's got one of the worst in the league. Last note I have Nick Kaylee, the offensive coordinator. Last year, couldn't say I was like super optimistic from what I was seeing out there. He ended up choosing a committee backfield. And then he also just grew up watching the Patriots who were always chopping this backfield into two. Sometimes even into threes here. So I think my baseline case is he's going to be the early down guy. Woody Marx is going to handle a lot of the past game work. And then you're talking about, you know, you're signing up for the Texans offensive line and whatnot. So I think he's got a good somewhat of a realistic floor here. I just like the first pick in the fifth round. Like I want to like, I want to live a little like I feel like you want to drop someone with the first pick of the fifth round that has a chance of returning value as a second or third round pick. Yeah, I can see him being a three, four round guy like a slight win here. I just, I'm just like not buying into a huge ceiling anymore. So just talking about the offensive line real quick again, they have chopped and changed it year over year. We know, Earth's re is going into a second season that left tackle. They brought in brain Smith to play the right tackle spot. And then some combo of Evan Brown and Wyatt Teller at left guard. Then they spent a first round pick on Keelan Rattleds. You didn't have, you know, a ton of college reps at center, but he is going to play center here. And then they gave a contract to Ed Ingram to extend him this off season. And that's the group. And so you hope that they, you know, can a really good and solid unit. And, you know, there were some numbers last year that were fine. Again, they were 18th and red zone drives per game. The Texans were, but then 29th and red zone touchdown success rate. They were 11th in yards before contact. Her attempt. That was a big Nick Chubb stat, but then tied for 32nd in yards after contact. Her attempt, which is also what Nick Chubb and Woody marks were last season. So I just don't like, I would love for this to be 26 year old Dave Montgomery instead of 29 year old Dave Montgomery. Right. And I mean, a rookie center changing positions. Like, does that not just like reek? Like, I mean, that's, that makes me a rookie center in general is make me nervous when he is also changing positions to do it. Like, that's, that's a lot. I could not say that, uh, Kaylee and Stroud were lights out in terms of setting protections and those type of things, uh, this last. Yeah. I mean, CJ Shard, you said never in college, excuse me, in the NFL set protections with Bobby slow. Like, this is now in year two of it basically. Chubbah Hubbard is next drafted as running back 27 right now, despite finishing as running back 39 end points per game. So simple question. Are you in or out at this price tag? I'm slightly in on Chubbah Hubbard. I have him and David Montgomery like right next to each other and they're nowhere next to each other in terms of ADP. I just wanted to like hit on this like timeline. Uh, back in 2024, played 77% of the snaps. That was the first year with this current coaching staff. He was the RB 12 on RB 7 usage. His rush yards over expected was the RB 4. Like, that was a fantastic season. Uh, and that would be a fantastic, uh, outcome at this ADP. Then last year, he said, start to head of Rico Doudal. He was the RB 19 for the first four weeks of the season. Then he picks up an injury. His return from injury was horrific. He only had 50 total yards just one regular season after Rico Doudal went crazy. His rush yards over-expected was now at negative 21% after being a positive 24% back in 2024. And then they get to the playoffs and then she behobbered the Alpha. 17 Opportunities scores to touchdowns. Now what? So now that we've moved on from Rico Doudal, we've had the pros and cons of this Chubahubber profile. And the guy behind them has torn his ace heel a couple times in a row. He's out there. They're ramping him up. It sounds like he's on pace to play. But I've seen Chubahubbered for a huge part of the calendar, be a fringe RB 1 in fantasy. And now I'm just kind of waiting for John and Brooks to kind of steal his job. This is kind of the profile that I think the projections sometimes undersell because the next year back up is going to take his job. There's only so many backfills where it's a complete flippening because of the coaching staff. And John then Brooks, like if he had a setback, nobody would be surprised in response to that. So I really like all these running backs in this range. These guys used to be priced in the fourth and fifth round. Right. These guys used to be in the Dave Montgomery territory. And now we're getting them to rounds later. And you look at their projections versus DK Metcalf and fantasy points. Who's going to be in your flex? It's going to be all of these running backs versus all of these wider receivers. So I'm gravitating to all these guys. And I think that Chubahubbered for the most part has been a totally fine starting running back in the NFL except when he's injured. Right. It's like when he loses five to 15% of his ability, then he's extremely replaceable. Yes. You know? I think that's why it's always difficult for me to talk about Chubahubbered because I get the positives of it, even dating back to his time at Oklahoma State. Like he's a grinder out there. He can take the volume. He can pick up the yards that are blocked for him. And the coaching staff freaking loves him. They make him the poster player for what they want the organization to be. At the same time, as you saw last year, when Chubah wasn't healthy and Rico was, then you got 200 plus rushing yard games and total yard gains and like explosive plays, mistack was force, twisting turning all this game changing stuff that I'm not sure Chubah really has in his bag as frequently. So I mean, in order for this to happen, he needs to say healthy. And the offensive line needs to say healthy. This was shocking to me and Reeves posted this that the Panthers most used offensive line combination last year only played 20% of the snaps together. That was the fourth lowest percentage across the league after Robert Hunt and Brady Christensen at right guard. I mean, that was a complete disaster when the other guys had to step in there. When those two players were in, it was quite good. We know now they have tons of tackle depth, much less guard depth. But again, if you have a solid five stars, which they do plus some, again, backups at tackle, then this thing can work. And if the offensive line is good, then that's going to make Chubah Hubbard better. But I love Jonathan Brooks. I want Jonathan Brooks to be healthy. I know he's still super young when we talk about running backs across the board. But he really has to string together a handful of games, like even more than Rico did last year for the Panthers to just totally replace Chubah Hubbard. Because again, even with Rico's monstrous performances, they just immediately wanted to turn back to Chubah Hubbard once they were both equally healthy. Yeah. Chubah has been an honorary captain for points of his career that he's really trusted by this coaching staff and stuff. So I don't think it's going to be as easy as Jonathan Brooks into a bell cow roll. Like if you're the coaching staff, his first year back from his second knee-tayer, you're going to really try to them out there for 70% of the snaps. I just find that unlikely. I feel like the first half of the year, it'll be Chubah Hubbard as the lead back. And then if Jonathan Brooks is as good as we think, then he starts kind of taking over. I think some of the signs will be there where we can possibly trade him if you're in the redraf league and whatnot. So Chubah, not the sexiest pick, but sometimes the unsexy picks that running back in Bestball and Half-Prior, those have been home run picks in general. So I really like this price tag. OK. On the Running Back Breakouts video, the thumbnail is actually Basel Tutten. And he is the one with the largest gap of where he finished last year and where he's being drafted this year among all running backs. So I did just want to bring up his name and see if you wanted to say anything about him. He finished last year. He was running back 54 in points per game. And this year he's being drafted as running back 25. Again, an extended conversation in that Running Back Breakouts video. Anything you want to add here onto this video? I mean, one of these two backs between Chris Rodriguez and Tutten are like just way underpriced. I mean, Travis H. Chan was the RB 11 on RB 14 usage. Liam Cohen went absolutely crazy with Bucky Irving and Rashad White, the previous seasons. This is a really great offense. It's just divvying up the touches. We're going to learn more. It sounds like Chris Rodriguez is getting back to healthy. I didn't trust Basel Tutten. I'm watching it. I don't think that Liam Cohen did. But the athletic difference between Tutten and C. Rod are substantial. So no one should be very confident in their Tutten projection. I think this is about the right range to take a dart throw. But I do still find Chris Rodriguez to be pretty interesting, at least in standard and half PPR. And I think once we get back to training campings out there in week one, I think that his price tag will start to go up. I do think there's going to be-- there he is, he's first in the order of the drills. There's going to be those tweets. Chiply is going to say, hey, he might lead this team in carries. So I do think that this ADP could end up kind of tightening. And I think that should be C. Rod going back up, not to necessarily falling backwards. Yeah, I don't want to totally rehash this conversation. I think my Basel Tutten exposure is going to be far, far, far higher than my Chris Rodriguez exposure. Now, the only thing standing between that being even higher are the names that Basel Tutten is being drafted around. I mean, this five, six turn is freaking loaded. And this is kind of the J.A.R.M. Price conversation too, where it's Christian Watson, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Jane Daniels, and Tyler Warren. And like, I just want all those guys. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. I still like that Tutten is after, again, this cluster that we brought up of D.Mod, Trevion, Swift, Irving, and Quinchon. I think there's a chance, as we get close to the season, that Basel Tutten jumps if not one, two, or three of those names. The longer that Chris Rodriguez is out, the more and more love that Tutten is going to get in that regard. So I would get all my shares as much as possible right now. Yeah, Tutten, the RB25 and ADP, he's more likely to be the RB15 or RB35 than the RB25 by the season ends. We just don't know which one. I like that a lot. OK, let's flip this on its head. Then let's talk about players and running back specifically. They're being drafted and selected much later than where they finished among backs last year. And once again, for basically the third straight season, we start with Kyron Williams. Yes, he finished last year as the running back eight and points for game. He's drafted as the running back 16 right now. You know, Hayden, just a cool 1,300 total yards and double-digit touchdowns in each of the past three seasons still does not make you a top 15 score and drafted running back in the eyes of the public heading into the next season. Yeah, I mean, this is tough because I like all the running backs in this range. And I'm one of the guys. I'm drafting him as the RB16 in my rankings right now. So I can't say that the public has this one wrong. I think he's a totally strong third round pick here. He did that last year when the Rams were first in points for game, yards for game, and success rate. They're rushing success rate as a team last year was one of the best of all time. All time. They're left to tackle right now. Might be going to jail. There's been a lot of allegations. We'll see if he's even going to be eligible. And they do not have any tackle depth right now. And I think the Rams offense, I would project them to be top three. It's also just extremely fragile. And it's like how everything is built up there aside from obviously having Sean McVeigh. So if anything changes there, if Blake Korn mixes in a little bit, I think this Blake Korn, Kyron Williams, 1,2 punch, I think it's here to stay Kyron 2/3, Blake Korn, 1/3. They're interchangeable. I think they're going to keep it that way. So yeah, I think that we should be discounting what he did last year because it's unlikely the Rams run nearly as hot as he did the season prior. But that makes him a totally fine third round pick versus being what is second round of last year. Yeah, this is always tough. Because Kyron always stays healthy. And then he always outlast the ones that don't say healthy for the entire season. And then he's on a really good team and environment. And that just lends itself to like really quality fantasy output. And even what the difference between 2024 and 2025 is that Blake Korn was involved. And it still didn't really matter in terms of a fantasy outcome and fantasy output. It was still very good from Kyron Williams. Now, some games, it was like you said, 2-1 drives. Some games like in Blowouts, it was 1-1. He did have 10 reds and touchdowns compared to Blake Korn's 5 as well. But Kyron only had 59% of the backfield touches over the last 12 games, the final 12 games of last season. And that's like the running back 18. But as we always talk about, just because you're running back 18 in touches doesn't mean that you're going to finish the running back 18 overall because you're on a better team that scores more points. And that's what projects you and overestimates compared to just what the averages are out there. But you brought up like the alert jacks and stuff at left tack was a big thing. Because this is what the second time he's popped up for something like this and the NFL can lay the hammer. when that's the case. And you look at their tackle depth, and I think it's Quesson Berry, who's their backup left tackle, and they didn't spend the 16th overall pick on the left tackle spot. So yeah, I mean, that changes the math, and then you hope for offensive line health outside of that to stay in the same spot. So yeah, I mean, I'm drafting Kyron of where he's at, but just when you stack all the names, despite 1300 total yards and double digit touchdowns in three straight seasons, I still do have a tough time of ranking him higher than like running back 15. Yeah, as the last year, like even in the playoffs, look, final four games of the year he played between 50 and 63% of the snaps back in 2024. His lowest snap rate in games at 68% and most of his games were actually above 85%. So I mean, that's a huge difference going from year over years of the Rams, you are somehow like seventh and scoring this year, tenth and scoring if injuries kind of pop up, then I do think he's going to slide more so because I don't think they're just going to remove Blake Korn from all of the sudden. So yeah, it is a fine pick. I think like there is some low end outcomes here if you know, some injuries pile up with the Rams. Possible, super question here, but I'll ask it. We didn't see Blake Korn really touch the field until his second season, and then he did and he took like a third of the touches a little bit more in some games. Now we're in Jarquets Hunters second season. Does he exist? I'm not sure. I saw some Ronnie Rivers, high tweets from this off season that he's still ahead of Hunter. I really liked Hunter. So I'm hoping for him. I don't like his chances. So I will say that. Yeah, I just remember because I go back and watch those behind the scenes diaries that these teams put up on YouTube. And Charlotte Vay was like the only player that I want on day three is Jarquets Hunter and he's the only one that matters. And then you never know. You never know if even it's going to be in this roster heading into this year. Okay, we already said his name before, but now he's on a different team. Let's talk Rico Dattle now of the Pittsburgh Steelers. We know last year with the Panthers, he finished as the running back 20 in points per game, including some top five overall weeks. Now he's drafted as the running back 32. Is that fair because he reunites with his former head coach back in 2024 and Mike McCarthy when they're both run the Cowboys. Is it a fascinating one? I would say that this is one of the most even competitions going into training camp one that we have to get right because last year the Steelers were fourth in running back fantasy usage can can you gain well and Jalen Warren were both top 26 players on a per game basis. That's in half PPR and obviously gain well did a lot better in full PPR. This offensive line, I think is pretty dang good. Their interior especially is really strong and they at least have some upside players at tackle than one of them's already fantastic. It's just figuring out the other one Aaron Rogers history of targeting his running backs is positive Mike McCarthy plays with a lot of pace. Now McCarthy is going to be bringing a totally different style to often look back at this. He's had 24 seasons as a O C your head coach, which is like first off is like that's remarkable 24 of them. His teams on average have finished 11th and pass attempts 18th and rush attempts a lot of that three wide receiver sets throw the ball everywhere. I think it might be a little bit more even here. So I think in general there is volume to be had what is the split between them. I am leaning more towards Jalen Warren because I think that he kind of fits this like past first three wide receivers set offense. One that obviously when you trade for Michael Pittman and draft a second round wide receiver like I feel like that's what they're going to be gravitating to more so than last years. Tied in heavy nonsense. Rico Dattles going to be like close the game out type but I do think that Jalen Warren is the slightly better player in general and he's the incumbent he's paid paid more money and he's been a rock star in a committee role. So between the two I definitely like Jalen Warren and actually in that cohort next to Ramondray and Chuba Hubbard like I think another one of these really strong selections. Right McCarthy again their history with Rico Dattles gave him the ball 275 times back in 2024. However that 275 touches only made Rico finishes like the running back 26 end points for game which was much better than when he was being drafted as like the running back 40-ish. So even getting that many touches here might not equal a big win and then the contract didn't give me a ton of warm fuzzies that he's going to immediately step in and be a giant workhorse role. Basically a one year six million dollar deal that's right between Kenny Gainwell and what Tyler Alger. So to me that didn't list a huge confidence again though like certain games when they had really good blocking it was extraordinary stuff and it was all in a row like the Miami Doffens game he was running back one that week following game Dallas Cowboys running back one later on at the Green Bay Packers running back two. I mean that was 206 183 and 130 rushing yards and sure he ran out of steam in those games with cramps and was seen on the sideline you would too if you were getting the ball 30 times in those contests. So yeah I want to monitor the Steathers beat riders a lot as we go along and then I also think like Aaron Rodgers has some say in this as we saw with what Kenny Gainwell did at the end of last season in terms of like how his role changed and how his usage changed and how we got all of his fancy points because that's basically the exact opposite of how Rico Dotto accumulates his fancy points. Yeah I think it's that makes us so fascinated. I still think that Jalen Warren is more of the Aaron Rodgers type of back and I think same thing with Mike McCarthy. So Rico Dotto is going to have a role like I think in like four minute drill situations they're running out the clock. It's for sure going to be Rico Dotto. I think at the goal line it might lean a little bit towards Rico Dotto but I think on like first and 10s in passing situations I think more often than not it's going to be Jalen Warren. That Rico Dotto season with McCarthy his competition was Deuce Vaughan and Zeke Elliott like the ghost Zeke Elliott. The year before that Tony Pollard was coming off of that dislocated ankle his efficiency was horrific and Tony Pollard was absolutely smashing in touches and Rico Dotto barely played that season. So I do like this offensive line. I think I would rather just pay the premium on Jalen Warren and actually move Rico Dotto down in my rankings. I think in full PPR it's going to be hard for him to get there and I also have seen Jalen Warren like if he actually gets the ball a lot. He's a pretty solid player where I think I would get pretty excited if he was like the clear cut starter and they don't have a running back three. So that's there's plenty of contingent value between both of these guys. Yeah there's a lot of picks in between 13 between Jalen Warren and Rico Dotto but just three running back spots because Dotto goes to the running back 32 Jalen Warren goes as the running back 29 and he could have qualified for this conversation too because if you go back to last season he was the running back 19 in points per game and then being drafted as the running back 29. One more backfield. It's talk Aaron Jones in the Minnesota Vikings. He finished as the running back 34 last year. He's drafted as the running back 39 this year. I understand that's a small gap but I really want to shoehorn this conversation into the show because it truly might be the only time we talk about the Vikings backfield all summer long. I mean again we poke and prod and debate these 31 backfields across the league for months. One A1B success rate stuff rate goal line touches versus passing down all that type of stuff and then there's the Vikings backfield and we like simply do not care. So Hayden should be care about the Vikings backfield this year. Not that much from 2022 to 2024. That's when they had you know Kurt Cousin Sam Darnell you picked your quarterback over that range. They were fourth in past yards 26 and rush yards. They were top five in neutral pass rate. It's just what Kevin O'Connell wants to do. It's what they should do if you're looking at their wider sewers versus the talent that they have at running back Aaron Jones is 31 years old. He's got an injury history. He isn't like a massive guy either. So I do think the age cliff is for sure here last year was his lowest yards per carry season and it was actually a career low by by 0.3 yards which is a pretty big drop down. So yeah even like when they are like really good as an offense the fantasy point so at running back really doesn't get there so there's not that much of a ceiling and I do think that Jordan Mason who's obviously a lot younger more powerfully built. I do think of one of these guys was going to all of a sudden explode for like 10 touchdowns. I think he would actually be Jordan Mason not Aaron Jones. Unfortunately for Jordan Mason he just such a zero as a pass catcher that even if Aaron Jones goes down he'll get all of the carries but he's not going to have that much receiving juice on top of it. So it's kind of one of these back fields where like there's some projected points here that could absolutely hit your flex line up. Is there like a breakaway star out of these two guys? I'm really not convinced especially if Kyla Murray gets in there and he's running around at the five yard line himself. Yeah I guess if I was to make a pro case it's that the Vikings totally rebound like they did in 2024 where they you know score the ninth most points in the NFL and in that season Aaron Jones ranked as the running back 20 in points per game. So that would be you know a small ish win and would be like a running back two for you on any given week. It's just like when I look at this I mean he and Jordan Mason and I understand that like this often suck last year and a lot of it came down the quarterback right but he and Jordan Mason combined for eight attempts inside the five yard line last year and if you zoom out to the 10 yard line they combine for 15 carries that 15 would have ranked 30th among all individual ball carriers in the NFL last year. Yikes. That's just like not enough touchdown opportunities. And as you said, Aaron Jones 31 now, five games missed due to hip, shoulder toe, hamstring, knees and toes. And then all of his per season, per touch numbers were worse. And man, what we talk about all the time is once you start hitting that, the cliff is here. And the cliff has arrived. And sometimes it's already here when the decline has already hit. And I'm kind of worried we're at that point here. It is fascinating to me. Maybe telling that this team made zero zero investment at the running back spot, other than demand clay born. And do I even need to ask you what your thoughts are of demand clay born like carving out a significant role in this offense? We got 12 minutes on this channel if you need those. I don't like the chances. And just going back to that RB 20 season in 2024. Remember that Vikings team was 14 and three. They were top 10 and scoring. Aaron Jones competition for touches in the backfield was a champ acres and tied Chandler. And he's still with all that was the RB 20. So I think Aaron Jones is like one of the easiest fades out there. And I think Jordan Mason, like possibly can like goal line himself into like eight touchdowns this season. But even then it's like really not going to be enough to like totally make a difference. I would rather have Jordan Mason straight up. I haven't that in my rankings. And full PPR gets a little bit closer. But I just think that his efficiency is just going to be a little bit better. Rush yards over expected plus 12% versus Aaron Jones. Aaron Jones is negative 4%. I thought he runs just a little bit harder on film as well. So yeah, I just don't see it in this backfield. I think I would just rather have Kyla Murray. Kyla Murray goes right in this range. Like I think Kyla Murray would be a better pick in bestball. I think there's a chance Kyla Murray could be a top 10 fantasy quarterback this year. I don't see the upside with these backs. And just to separate those 15 carries inside the 10 Mason had 10 of them. And Aaron Jones at five. I got a message from Brad Beats 84 when saying that we're going to talk about this Vikings backfield. He said, I'm a Jordan Mason bowl this year. Simply because I believe a more efficient offense means more goal to go to attempts, which should be handled by Mason 8 plus touchdown upside, which is basically exactly what you said. The interesting part is like as bad as we've talked about the quarter back situation last year, the Vikings were still top 20 in red zone drives and red zone touchdown success rate. So you know, it's not like they were bottom six bottom 10. It was kind of league average ish area quickly and demand Claiborne because I do think with how bored everyone is of the Mason and Jones combo. He's very slight. He has explosiveness when he gets in the open field. My big issue with the Mont Claiborne is the dude was horrific in passing situations. So bad. Offal hands, even on swing and flat routes and then horrific when it came to pass protection. And so typically you want those 185 ish pound running backs if even he was that heavy to have some air back to them. And man, he has to really improve in that area in order to like carve out a role. And so while I felt he had chances of pure explosive plays and pure straight line and even make you miss and tight space stuff, that like total liability and passing down role might just minimize what he can do early and even later in the season. Yeah, we need we need to ain't make pride to get back in here. Remember him. I mean, I did again want to bring this up because this truly might be the only time we talk about the Vikings backfield. Aaron Jones is the last quote unquote starting running back to be drafted out there in fancy. And in fact, there are five or six running back to select ahead of the Vikings running back one at this point. There's a reason not like that. Good call by everybody. Okay, last one. And again, in the breakouts video, we talked about Trevor on Henderson. We also need to bring in Ramondra Stevenson in this conversation because he's on the opposite end of this. He's drafted his running back 28 despite finishing last year's running back 21 in points per game. Again, an extended conversation in that show last week. And he want to add and close up this episode with Ramondra. Yeah, I mean, he's the biggest boy in the backfield who's going to get the goal line work and he was really good between the tackles and catching the ball last year in this offense is going to be pretty sweet. And he just did it this past season. What's so crazy? It wasn't like front-weighted production, production from week 16 through the Super Bowl. If you pull up the chart on Ramondra Stevenson, like he was just lighting it up. So I think there's a lot of pressure on Traveey on Henderson versus Ramondra Stevenson. I understand taking swings on both of these guys, but I do think that Ramondra Stevenson is not some pushover back. And I do actually like his film this past season was better in past protection and it had some big wheel route type of stuff was running hard between the tackles hopefully the offensive lines a little bit better lots of moving parts there for a reason. Yeah, there's this entire kind of tier of running backs like they just look so good in your flex in half PPR and full PPR. It's going to be a little bit different of a conversation because the wide receiver start to factor in a lot more there. But in half PPR, I mean these are just price tags just they feel so good to me. Like these seventh round running backs in Chuba, Ramondra, Jaylenmore and Tony Pollard. And then you drop down to the next row and it's Blake Corm commonung guy and Rico Dattel. Like that is a very different feeling having one of those guys in your flex spot versus you know someone that's on your bench in week one. It's really that simple. I got a lot of these guys. Ramondra was actually one of our running backs sleepers last year and he qualified. He was going I believe outside of the top 120 overall. Now he's going as 74th overall player. I say that to suggest that next week is our sleepers episodes for all positions. He doesn't qualify this year, but we'll find another one for you. That's for sure. I don't know, man. Finding running backs sleepers in this economy is it's tough out there. We'll come up with some good names. Well, but once they're new right in the face and don't cross you merit at 122 overall. Maybe. Maybe. Are we just going to skip the running back sleeper episode? Is that what you're saying here? We'll come up with some names. I'm less confident this year in the sleepers episode. It feels like once I get to around 13 in my drafts, I'm looking at these guys and what the hell has happened here. I hear you. I hear you. Well, we'll figure it out. We'll do that next week. Thank you all for watching our episodes this week. I think you're off for subscribing and hitting a thumbs up. A like goes a long way. I mean, it helps more and more people find this video. So we can reach out to 1200 likes on this video. That would be freaking fantastic. All right, Everyone catch you next week. See you.