NFC running back depth charts: Buccaneers' plans, 49ers' changes, Giants' backups and more

what are the nfc running back depth charts looking like after the early wave of nfl free agency time to break down here as we start another week of lockdown fantasy football our locked on fantasy your daily nfl fantasy podcast part of the locked on podcast network your team every day [Music] greetings everyone and welcome to another initially locked on fantasy football podcast as usual i'm your host vinnie iron man i'm not doing this i'm writing about nfl and fantasy football for sportingnews.com check it out we have our latest mock graph there first rounder after the big trades devante adams and deshawn watson we had reaction to those trades here on sporting news so we thought the browns as we broke it down for you before the move happened that we thought that was a pretty good fit for sean watson's fantasy football value with mark cooper then we broke it all down with devante adams going to the raiders and what that means for his new team las vegas and his old team green bay so going in depth on all those moves but we were interrupted by those moves because we were talking depth charts and we were doing running back updates and we were done with the afc that means we're going to focus on the nfc we're going to return to that series this week programming reminder we will take the final two days of this week off here thursday and friday a little recharge here for the network after all the crazy stuff for me this past couple weeks with free agency so keep that in mind so we'll next a look at the tight end depth charts there see what the teams have done at that position so we'll go afc nfc there tuesday wednesday the rest of this week and of course we'll be monitoring any breaking news to break that up for you so we're always going to chime in with that here in lockdown fantasy football the hottest topics but we also want to get in depth and break down some things for you and i think uh the depth charts are a good thing to look at now especially after running back is really slow on the market right now so let's examine where teams stand overall and what they still might do here in the end of free agency and the draft to upgrade their depth charts in the nfc we'll do that again this episode of lockdown fantasy football is brought to you by that online bet online as you covered the season with more props odds and lines than ever before bet online where the game starts all right let's uh go now quick over what we'll do we'll hit five teams in our first segment then we'll hit six in our second and then we'll round it out with our last five the 16 nfc teams here where they stand a running back let's start in arizona we know a big part of their depth chart is gone chase edmonds will not be returning he's now a member of the miami dolphins so he's the lead of that team james connor got a three-year deal to return so he's in good position here because right now backups are familiar eno benjamin and jonathan ward but they also added that former steelers hybrid jalen samuels kind of full back wide receiver tight end type so not really a threat to conor right now he's uh kind of a versatile cog that they can put in cliff kingsbury's offense add the tight ends that they already have there and max williams and zach hurts we'll talk about that depth chart to there for you uh with the next time we break it down for the cardinals but yeah running back james connor this he is a winner in free agency for sure edmunds was a thorn in the side year with the production they were pretty split connor took over as a better fantasy back because of his scoring and that's what you're seeing right now that conor gets the commitment here because he's more traditional 20 to 25 touch back so he's going to be in the rb1 conversation for sure when we look at fantasy football again given edmonds is gone and benjamin ward we've seen them they're more swing back up situational and samuels is a bit of a hybrid uh flyer here that may not make the team in time when we get to training camp all right let's look at the atlanta falcons and uh corduro patterson came back on the deal kind of flew under the radar there with all the talk about acquiring deshaun watson and then you had the calvin ridley year-long suspension there so not a lot of falcons news getting attention beyond that but they keep matt ryan right now obviously with no watson deal they keep patterson he was their most indispensable offensive player in the first year for offensive minded coach uh arthur smith there so yeah patterson's gonna have a role it's still mike davis they did acquire daryl williams by the way the former bears dolphins and chiefs running back he's a backup so daryl williams in this mix he's probably good or damien williams i should say all the williams is from the chiefs now going on so we don't have that d williams problem anymore in kansas city and we won't have it in chicago there with the williams uh leaving behind what we have with david montgomery and khalil herbert so he's a good threat to take away davis's job here as being the reliable guy that you put in he's also good passing situation down backward mike davis has that capacity too but he's just disappointed in the first year this often so it rounds out you know pretty favorably here in patterson and keeping that job in a key role here especially with no ridley he's going to have to be pretty on point here as an offensive weapon by far and they also moved on from hayden hurst so really patterson is a key player they wanted to keep fortis offense and almost out of necessity it happened here in 2022. all right we'll stick to nfc south and look at the carolina panthers interesting move they made christian mccaffrey still on top of the jeff carter assuming he's healthy and he's good to go that's always a question mark shuba hubbard still listed second here spencer brown is fourth here's the interesting third name on the list donta foreman signed from the titans he was a very strong backup there working with dr l hilliard they didn't keep him in tennessee behind derek henry they uh run trent and cannon they brought back dontrell hilliard but foreman they move on from even though he finished really strong in that henry power role last year so let's look at it so foreman could be a threat for hubbard's touches i think they realize they need a little bit better insurance in those committee approaches there when mccaffrey is on the shelf so good for foreman he kind of had to work his way back into relevance in the nfl got that opportunity of titans so interesting that we had mike davis he was the former backup a couple years ago he went to atlanta because of what he did there surprisingly as a mccaffrey's backup and same thing i think happened with foreman behind henry in tennessee we talked about the bears their depth chart has shrunk a little bit we know without damien williams they did replace him david montgomery is still clear feature back number one in this offense here as they go forward with a new scheme it's a packers-like scheme we know that so we know also the packers uh partly had aaron jones be a feature back but incorporated on the back that was talented and young and could do a lot of things and aj dillon so you figure that's going to be good potential here for khalil herbert behind dave montgomery especially the way herbert ran when montgomery was on the shelf last season he started out behind williams and williams got the key touches there damian that is but herbert ended up being so valuable to the point where williams was expendable here in the off-season they didn't feel like they needed a veteran so to speak i mean herbert is technically a veteran going into year two but not an older back the third back confirms that he's darrington evans and we talked about the titans trying to find a backup plan that was our afc depth chart look here that could be reliable if the derek henry's not available evan just was not there he had some promise coming out appalachian state coming into the league with the receiving back and all that but he just couldn't stay healthy so the bears take a flier on him as they swing back up for montgomery and herbert i think that's a pretty good place for them to target the last team we'll talk about this segment is the dallas cowboys and uh they're pretty much intact let's watch out for rico rico dowdle he's their third back they really like this kid here but it's still ezekiel elliott tony pollard not too much changes there except we could see it more going into an even split as we go forward with elliot's workload and his age so pollard elliott they're happy with that combination for sure in detroit under or dallas under kell moore getting my head on myself detroit is where kell moore used to play and that's the next team we'll talk about here as we break down the nfc running back depth charts look it's uh march and sometimes it can be tough to stick to our resolution of eating healthy 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your first listen every day make sure you're listening and following lockdown nfl lockdown experts covering the biggest stories around the nfl every monday through friday in less than 30 minutes it's free and available wherever you get your podcast all right the lions yeah we've teased them a little bit here haven't we uh so lions uh deandre swift is still the lead back here he's in a good position here as the number one jamal williams is a pretty good valuable veteran swing backup formerly of the packers behind eric jones he's still in the mix and last year when they needed it and swift was on the shelf and williams can play and they covered 19 protocols craig reynolds they really liked him as a versatile running back he had a big game then we also saw god when he would be having a big game so that is the depth chart right now for lions i don't think they really need to change it here reynolds is a pretty good all-around player iguoda is a good situational runner williams has a lot of experience and can handle himself in pass protection so it's a pretty good group behind swift but i will say given the combined skill set of williams reynolds and eagle bk but swift is in really good position here to get a nice ball if he can stay healthy deandre swift is going to have a massive season he's such a good pass catcher on top of running well and the georgia bats i mean that's what we know these georgia backs if they've got the blocking which swift does with those lines offensive line pretty sturdy very good running team that's why they were able to plug and play these guys and get some really good production from the last season the front it was pretty good it's going to support these guys i think the passing game is a little bit more dangerous now with dj shark joining aim on rossignol brown so a little bit more threat there to stretch the field so swift can have a big big gear and again like james connor another young back in the strong rb1 conversation here in 2022. aaron jones is still an rb1 here for the packers aj dylan is still behind him so yeah we're a little concerned because it was pretty close with dylan and jones last year dylan kept eating into jones's workload stealing the red zone and power lux a lot and dylan has improved as a receiver as well to make it more interchangeable between him and jones so there's careful wearing down drones as it gets older dylan has still got those tree trunks for legs a lot of durability there that can help so i think you're seeing still a good 60 40 situation here between jones and dylan i don't think it's going to change too much i don't think there's any reason for the packers to invest too much more running back they have a kailan hill and patrick taylor is the depth guys behind them and taylor flashed a little bit in that final game when the packers arrested all the players at the end of last season so i think they're pretty much set there just much uh like the detroit lions are with the their four backs here going into 2022. let's go to los angeles rams uh cam akers is still holding on the job but couldn't finish healthy came back a little too rushed i think at the end of the season to try to help them but daryl henderson was also hurt there so that maybe prompted cam akers but sonny michelle who ran really well came over in the trade from the patriots of the contingency for acres and the off injured henderson he's a free agent they haven't thought about bringing him back at all right now and now part of it is uh remember their other backs were here too xavier jones jake funk these guys around these are some young backs that sean mcvay and his coaching staff like here so that's how it looks right now acres henderson funk and jones is how you see it's a michelle it would be shocking if they brought it back i think it would take another pretty significant injury which is possible with all these four guys but namely acres and henderson for the rams to say okay sonny michelle needs to be back in the fold his insurance here this season all right let's look at the vikings and then dalvin cook still firm lead in the featured back duties he's a surefire rb1 in the top half of that round and drafts in the first round alexander madison still holding on to number two but i think kenny to wong wu very good return man they drafted him there for the third back spot but he really came through in the special teams area so he's gonna get some more opportunities i think to run the ball madison has been rather disappointing i mean there's been some good games where he's sad filling him for dalvin cook but he's not that automatic plug and play with the big numbers so i think he's going to need some help there he should cook on the shelf and we'll cook mrs games every year he'll fight through he's rather durable to come back and play he plays sometimes when he's hurt but we know that dalvin cook has some volatility and some durability issues so it's important to watch out what happens here aj rose is the fourth vikings running back so we'll see there's potential for them to draft uh back here that to compete with madison a little bit more the wongwoo again has those duties on special teams and rose we'll see if he can make the team over another addition here in 2022 all right let's break it down now for the new orleans saints uh this backfield sounds familiar it's throwing it back to what they had uh several years ago with drew brees alvin kamara and mark ingram ingram back in the mix see he was released by the ravens landing with the texans the texas let him go the saints need some depth with tony jones hurt tony jones still in the depth chart here's number three and the former eagles uh notre dame player he's also there briefly with the jets uh josh adams is your number four back so i think the saints there the notable thing there is the saints moved on from ty montgomery their hybrid running back wide receiver he's now in the patriots backfield to create some confusion there with the roles of uh james white reminder stevenson and david harris so at least one person's out of the mix but my money's on jones rising to that two spot ingram is just kind of fading here he's had the injuries and the other side of 30. he's been around for a while so tony jones we know was about to have a big role but then he got hurt last year so i think they'll look more at him to ease the burden on kamara than ingram when it's all said and done as we look into camp the final team we'll get to in this segment is the new york giants saquon barkley there was a lot of talk about this new coaching staff led by brian babel and gm joe shane would they move on from sacramento barclay try to dump that contract before they have to pay him again which they don't want to do here high market rates we've seen it happen uh mccaffrey and that extension was a mistake by the panthers they're just not getting the return on investment there the jaguars we know pretty much moved on for that in a similar situation so giant's trying to avoid barclay as a first-round payment second contract deal here for him so they're going to explore their options right now it's not all that exciting it's matt rita who did play for dabo with the bills last year he was a depth guy with devin singletary and zach moss so he comes over swing guy that people like i think coaches just like breeda because he does all the little fundamental things right and that's why he keeps getting chances here but right now he'll be the number two ahead of gary brightwell he's the young running back they like they're not antonio williams is their fourth back so not a lot of competition here for barclay right now and where it stands with breida knowing that he's there to play a variety of roles if the starter can't go here so yeah we'll see i think juan could get some competition in the draft we're going to watch it carefully again new coaching staff new offensive mindset not tied to any of this previous personnel as much i think they'll work on the offensive line as well to improve barclays chances when he's on the field to produce but i think they have to give themselves a little bit more of an option at running back if they don't want barclay's contract and they still want to get back to get 20 touches game because we know brenda as good as he is he can't hold up for that we've seen that throughout his career going back to when he was a revelation for the 49ers here and an option for that team that again he does the fundamental things right but he can't be on the field a lot here so they need someone who can actually threaten barclay and barkley we know has injury issues of his own so this is going to be pretty important for the giants as they go forward and something we want to watch for sure they have a bona fide number two behind cyclone barkley because we've seen in the past where davonte booker has been very valuable in that role all right we will break down the final five teams in our last segment here on the locked on fantasy football it's that time of year again college basketball's tournament is finally here and it's into the sweet 16 here so we know all the actions are gonna get revved up from all the latest odds contests and player props bet online.net is the number one source for all your sports betting needs and information but online remains the best spot for all your sports scores podcast music season it's not just basketball whether it's college or nba battlemind is your continued source for all your sporting wagering information needs including live betting and your favorite vegas casino games head to the website there use a mobile drive to learn more about the trends in action only at betonline.net then online where the game starts okay we have looked at now 11 depth charts in the nfc and running back and see where all these teams stand that's what we're doing updating you and we'll do this again of course uh once we get done with the draft and go into the summer time just to see where all these teams are at and kind of do a roster assessment so we're just doing a preliminary one we're in advanced scouting mode here in lockdown fantasy football all off season long let's continue looking at the eagles and what they have and running back right now miles sanders we know he's the lead guy here the jordan howard as a free agent they haven't really uh pushed forward there too much in bringing him back and boston scott was brought back however so boston scott is in there initially didn't keep him but a part of it i think was a contract affinity with what they needed but boston scott can do everything at this point than miles sanders can so scott is a real threat to sanders value kennedy gained well good change of pace back flashed early there as a rookie from memphis last season he should get some more opportunities as well so it was a kind of a mystery why they stuck with howard last year i think part of it is just seeing him as the traditional power back but again scott can do some of those things gainwell can do the receiving aspect so it could get to a messy committee point again here because i don't think this coaching stats would make siriani see sanders as what jonathan taylor is as indianapolis to get the workload i think they look at it as we got to have rolls for all three back sanders will still maybe get the most touches here but i can see a situation where it's a 40 40 20 developing between sanders scott and gainwell in 2022. all right let's uh go to the 49ers and um the 49ers have kind of cleaned things up a little bit there's uh no more raheem mostert he went to the dolphins as well with chase edmunds so they had to move on from him jeff wilson jr is a free agent so both of those guys have been around to help in this backfield but now we see them start today you have elijah mitchell here he's the fifth round pick second year player they're available at the top of their dump chart we know that he was lead back whenever healthy last season once most dirt went down they also kept michael hasty right now he's trump that trey sermon there's the number two so hasty they like him he plays a lot of uh positions well can help on special teams as needed so that's why they brought him back so right now mitchell and hasty one two and trey sermon recovering from his uh short season last year he was disappointing as a rookie i just think he got off to a bad start in training camp and not establishing himself and working as hard as needed and then mitchell in comparison looked a lot more appealing to what this coaching staff wanted to accomplish in the zone blocking running game that's classic and is going to help all these later on backs produce with kyle shanahan so that's worth leading with mitchell so sermon has some work to do to get fully healthy get back in the good graces of this uh offensive staff to get those opportunities but right now elijah mitchell's the one you're going to target and just because of the durability issues and mitchell had some of those last year and the fact that the 49ers can be fickle with shanahan and this is a problem you don't always have room for two backs it's kind of the hot hand that gets the ball most one week or another so you're not going to get like some type of traditional committee approach here so right now you have to go with elijah mitchell more as an rb2 in 2022. all right let's talk about the seattle seahawks here they brought back rashad penny chris carson coming off a major injury so we'll see how much they want to lead this backfield toward penny after his big finish to the 2021 season that really showed why he was a first round pick he had the explosiveness long running ability some workhorse skills here in this offense but he's not the best receiver i think that can be an expanded part of his game chris carson has actually been underrated in that capacity when needed this team in general doesn't throw to the back but now you're away from russell wilson so you have rookie running back checking down a little bit we'll see the offensive line they're still thinking about bringing back dwayne brown but he's also looking at other teams here so the offensive line the balance of the passing game and just being able to stretch the field with a long ball of russell wilson those may take hits if it's a rookie quarterback so we're gonna have to watch this situation but i'm already still feeling it here with carson and penny and still dj dallas and travis humber the seahawks are going to continue to be one of the more frustrating backfields in this league also complicated by their guys not being able to stay healthy on a regular basis so watch that but yeah downgrade i think in trying to attach ourselves to the seahawks running game and back specifically in fantasy football this season the next team we'll talk about is the tampa bay buccaneers at this moment when we're talking about them leonard fournette has not been resigned giover bernard has not been resigned they're not going to bring back le'veon bell they're not going to bring back ronald jones we know that because we already know bruce and it's been lukewarm on him for much of it this had to play out the contract so right now the buccaneers one two punch and these are the backs that they have left keyshawn vaughn and kenyon so we'll see kenyon barnard remember he just doesn't go away he seems to find different jobs and spots i mean whether it's panthers or eagles or buccaneers he's just a guy that you sign just in case you don't have a lot of other options so he's on the list here after keyshawn bond but vaughn is sitting really nicely here remember how we felt as a rookie said where they're going to get competition and then they added fournette which threw things off and then they got back into thinking about ronald jones more so vaughn became an afterbug and he got hurt and didn't quite get up to speed quickly enough in the first year under brazilian so what you're seeing here with bond is willie got the opportunity they trust him we did see that some explosive burst if you remember he had a long run against the panthers last year that kind of showed what kind of complete runner you can be but keyshawn vaughn guy they really like they've been waiting to put it all together and be adorable and learn all the nuances of playing running back but right now we'll see fournette doesn't run return vaughn is going to have a lot of appeal as an rb2 this time around so again it could get complicated with some veteran editions and draft picks but i don't think the bucks are going to invest too much in this position when they know vaughn is pretty good here they just need to have a little bit of compliment and i think they can get that here in this backfield so somebody watch for sure now fournette is going to try his best to come back to tampa it's more in their court if they want to bring them back i think they can wait it out here for a while and you know he's staying in shape to be ready for any team so you could drag out a little bit here and they could end up with a fournette situation here and of course fournette would be the target over bond in that case all right last thing we'll talk about is the washington commanders they're real now they have a team name breaking news from a couple months ago but no longer the football team but let's look at this football team depth charge shall we the commanders still have antonio gibson he's the lead back we know and he came on strong at the end of last season we thought jd mckissick the thorn in his side was receiving production was going to be gone we said he's going to the bills oh no devin singletar is in trouble signed that deal with the bills we thought no he agreed upon it then he renamed it went back to the commander so mckissick is in this mix and that's going to curb gibson's value a little bit because of his role in the passing game they cannot quit jd mckissick here as a key part of what they want to do so you can't blame them they're really weak on receiving options here we got cam sims back in the mix with tara mclaurin i think they really look at wide receiver a little bit more i think one thing with mckissick you also look at curtis samuel being healthy that's going to cut into mechistic and unfortunately more into gibson so we want to unleash gibson as a 20-25 touch back it's hard to expect that again with mckissick and dedicated passion game situation it is notable that he jumped back to number two in the depth chart over jared patterson who think i think profiles a little bit more like gibson being a complete back and then rounding things out here as a fight through uh the other parts of this time of year audrey's jonathan williams there at the commander's fourth running back spot as of right now so a lot of running backs are set in the nfc but there's these little things that you worry about and want to see what happens the rest of the offseason especially the draft with a lot of good middle round values at this position as they usually are so that's going to displace a few more of these veterans uh create some competition either for future back jobs or lead jobs or just uh number one the backups here the number twos on all these teams so we're gonna watch all that for sure this off scene but we want to set the table that's what we're doing with these depth chart updates so check it out if you missed the afc one we did that uh we have nfc here today that will turn our attention tomorrow to the afc tight end webcards they've actually changed quite a bit here in free agency so we'll see how these teams are looking and if there's a different impact guys or additional impact guys that we're not thinking about here for 2022 thanks so much for making lockdown fantasy football your verses and every day and we'll do those tight end shows and then we'll close the week again we'll monitor there's the breaking news that we need to chime in in on that has big fantasy football in fact i make your second lesson lock down nfl draft ryan tracy and former nfl quarterback eric crocker bring the nfl draft to life every day with insight analysis on college football prospects and nfl front offices it's free and available wherever you get your podcast for lockdown fantasy football this has been really higher have a great day and see you tomorrow as we continue talking depth art updates here for fantasy football 20 20