Ultimate 2024 Fantasy Football RB Rankings (Top 50)

FINAL Rankings for 2024 Fantasy Football running backs change fantasy football seasons whether they are the constant beat of your fantasy league like Chris mcaffry is every single year or a late round League winner who comes out of nowhere like Kiren Williams to score the second most points of the position or a pair of explosive backs in rahee moer and Devon Anan who thrive in a perfect offense that fit their skills and drop 30-point bombs on your competition we are here today to find those very players in our 2024 running back tiers and rankings for the season we got 50 of them they come in all shapes and sizes that was the lesson I learned last year is players like Devon Anan if you in the right offense you are now able to be a fantasy rb1 the league go into a couple more committees then we saw like five years ago but the guys at the top they stand alone and I think that's why in the first round I wanted one of these top three guys and if you want these rankings for every single position it is now easier than ever all you have to do is sign up for under fantasy using promo code the show or just click the link in McCaffrey, Bijan, and Breece the description and it's a three for one special you also get a Bree Hall special for week one all you have to do is hit one yard and we're matching 50% of your deposit up to $1,000 again the way to get these rankings and a PDF in your hands to take to your draft is use promo code the show click Link in the description and play on Underdog fantasy they'll be emailed directly to you okay here we go like these tiers and these names hayen let's start off with the Legends tier just three names and the first one is obviously Chris mcaffry 22.4 half PPR fantasy points last year know the running back cross 20 I think it's pretty safe to say he's the running back one overall and then it gets interesting Hayden pick three pick four pick five pick six if people have seen in our cheat code videos it's up to you if you want to select as a running back too Bree hall or bejon Robinson which direction are you leaning I have Bree Hall ranked ahead last five games of the Season 22 37 23 and 26 fantasy points and that week 18 game did not matter at all for the Jets they gave him 37 carries somebody that's able to get that workload is the guys that you want the very top of this and on top of that the Jets they got major upgrades on the offensive line it's not just Aaron Rogers Tyron Smith left tackle Morgan Moses right tackle their swing tackles a first-rounder Olu fanu who I think is awesome so if one of those veterans go down with an injury they have one of the best swing tackles in the game John Simpson left guard that's new uh Right Guard Elijah ver Tucker he's back from an injury even their Center Joe titman he's going into the second year so the entire picture for Bree Hall is way different than it was last year when he was coming off that Tor ACL and guess what by the end of the year he was still it was Christian mcaffrey in bree Hall then everybody else I just can't get out of my mind how much of an asset Bree Hall is in the passing game and how much Aaron Rogers has used running backs in the past in the passing game the connection just makes so much sense with that said I'm leading Bean Robinson as the running back to overall and this one's pretty simple on a per touch basis he just needs to do what he did last year and this team just needs to be better in terms of giving him touchdown opportunities he had along with Tyler aler six carries combined inside the five yard line Deontay Foreman had that on his own okay and when you consider when you consider that only five running backs had more total yards than bejan Robinson had a year ago he did that on 50.6% of his backfield touches the other guys were up to 69% 72% 76% 76% and 62% again we know he's awesome already and explosive on a singular touch basis this team is going to elevate everyone that is operating in the offense in terms of scoring touchdowns and I think bejan Robinson is going to be close to a bcow a feature back on this team there's pretty much a big tier uh break after these three compared to the wide receivers which one which one of these wide receivers do you take ahead of Breeze Hall bejan Robinson like to me it's cidd lamb Tyreek Hill Justin Jefferson would be in this conversation whether you're in full PPR or half PPR depending on where your running backs go that's kind of the tier to me I want Bree Hall as much as I can I've actually moved him third overall in my rankings just because I think like this is the season where he's goingon to go nuts but I do think that CD lamb Tyreek Hill and Jefferson you can make the case for you can make the case for them as again we outlined on everyone's home League Draft platforms starting off with one of these three guys and then loading up on the wide receiver values in rounds two round three round four just feels like the cheat code this year year it feels so much simpler and so yes CD Lam just got paid and we're going to talk about our wide receiver rankings and tiers tomorrow so again subscribe to the channel be part of the 39% that watch because we appreciate you and hit that subscribe button um Tyreek Hill does what he does and then Justin Jefferson even with maybe more questionable quarterback play than usual I agree but in these home leagues man getting one of these three you just feel so good about it okay let's jump to that next year because there's so many conversations here to have our running back four and T2 - Kyren Williams this is very different than everyone else there who Underdog has him as a running back eight in redraft leagues he's running back seven for me it's kyen Williams Hayden and we had Mike Clay on the show this summer who works for ESPN does so many great things for them including their projections um we know that Kiren Williams was top six and Carries and targets and really everything that matters for the running back position that gave him 260 touches last year despite missing four games everyone seems so concerned about Blake Corum coming in here and disrupting the goodness that we got last year when it came to kyen Williams but guess what all of the Rams running backs already combined for 202 touches last year like there was enough to go around for Blake km to get 150 plus touches and for kyen Williams to do exactly what he did last year so I I'm I think people have gone a bit too far in dropping Kiren Williams down a little bit and I think some of it's just based on being a late rounder uring the league not doing anything his rookie year when really we're blessed with this kind of of a player in this kind of an offense his vision is so perfect and that's exactly what sea McBay values right now he can convert at the goal line can play on passing situations Shawn mcfay doesn't like to rotate his players on and off the field in general so he can play with a lot of tempo that's going to help kyen Williams I thought fantas football is about upside and seems like every single time other podcasts bring up kirn Williams they just start naming the downside of course but in the second round of your drafts you have a potential League winner he was already the second overall player on a per game basis last season so I want to play for the upside there need the Rams injuries to kind of iron themselves out here but kir he's been healthy and that's the most important thing so I'm with you upside case Kyon Williams is the best of this tier does he have risk yes but so does everybody else yeah there are some offensive line injuries during training camp for this team Kiren has some history of foot injuries to himself but I don't get dropping Kiren Williams as much as people have for play Corum and then not dropping the likes of jir Gibbs who has a shared backfield or Jonathan Taylor who has a shared backfield near the goal line with Anthony Richardson or saquon Barkley who has a shared backfield with Jaylen Herz again yet kyen William is is the one who's getting drafted after all of those names in home leagues okay next and that's not to put down any of these guys we love all these running backs that we are ranking highly that brings us to jir Gibbs Hayden I loved how much this team Jahmyr Gibbs trusted him once he did fill in for an injured Dave Montgomery in like week four week five and week six and I think we can take a step back and see how his season can improve this year since he is being drafted out there as like the running back five or running back four overall it's just more of an Effectiveness and usefulness in the passing game this year yeah that's exactly right because he dropped some passes last year he didn't like look fully comfortable but we know that the best of jir Gibbs could definitely play on passing situations more than he did as a rookie the Lions last year number one in running back usage as a team if David Montgomery misses time Jamir Gibbs goes into the top tier and even if they do split it up there's enough volume to go around because this team when they get down to the 5 yard line they only do one thing that's to run the damn ball next our running back six and this is De'Von Achane another Divergence from consensus we love upside it's Miami Dolphins running back Devon aan this comes from the great Ron Stewart who joined me for fittingly an upside uh Fantasy Football chat earlier this summer the six best rookie running backs and fantasy points overe expected since the year 2009 they all hit 20 plus fantasy points points per game in their second season those names Alvin chimra eeko Elliott Arian Foster Kareem hunt David Johnson and Jonathan Taylor Devon Hans on that list too running back four or running back three depending on you're scoring per game last year and yes is he a different body type than all of those totally but the Dolphins running game is totally different than those because they turn carries into kick returns so I firmly believe that people out there get a bit nervous about a split backfield this high and that he missed some some games last year and he's just a different kind of feature back than again the other guys ranked around him I don't want the little wins I want the types that can score 50 plus points in our opponents every single week and he did that last year so give me the upside give me the big win and I think Devon hen honestly has the running back one overall in his range of outc he's going to need to catch a lot more passes for that to happen but I do think that's going to be the difference between last year's backfield and the 2024 version I'm expecting devvon H to line up outside on occasion they don't even have to do that they're going to throw him some screen passes they're going to give him on some swing passes and just get him the ball more often there and there's obviously an opportunity at down at the goal line if Raheem moer ever misses some time too so I have some notes on Raheem moer later on the show because he's still a Target but yeah devvon hen right here uh you and I split between Jonathan Taylor and Devon Anan at six and seven but we both agree that this is a second round pick in a lot of Home leagues he gets drafted in the third round let's go to Jonathan Taylor Jonathan Taylor because he is your sixth overall running back he just not going to leave the field you know Trey sur's going to be the rb2 this year so yeah we have concerns on how often anthy D is going to steal stuff at the goal line how often they're going to throw the ball to the running back but at the end of the day if you're going to get a back that's going to be on the field for 75% of the snaps maybe even higher at stretches of time it's basically impossible for Jonathan Taylor to fail in the second round yeah he's been a really popular end of round one redraft pick and we are slightly lower than that compared to consensus he is Young he's going to get a ton of volume volume as you said but to me when you go back to the 2021 season his running back one overall year was built on just ridiculous Red Zone volume he had 85 carries inside the red zone that that year the next closest Ball Carrier had 46 yeah 46 okay he had 26 carries inside the 5 yard line the next closest ball carry had 16 so I don't think that that would be repeatable if he had just a normal pocket quarterback let alone Anthony Richardson back there inside the red zone so love Jonathan Taylor for the volume I just don't know if he's going to be able to walk down the same street that he did previously to hit that running back one overall season speaking of saquin Barkley is next as our running Saquon Barkley back eight saquan can't wait to see him in a great offense behind awesome offensive line feels like we've never said that about saquon Barkley and on some level Hayden he just has to be like a couple yards better than DeAndre Swift was last year and if that's the case he's going to get more rushing touchdowns than Andre Swift did a year ago because Swift had more volume Than People realize inside the 10 and inside the five yeah he just kept getting tackled at the one yard line uh which was super frustrating um I think this year they're going to continue with the tush push but I think they're going to give uh saquon Barkley a chance to finish off those touchdown drives it's pretty much the same argument that we just made with Jonathan Taylor he's going to be out on the field a ton because the running back depth is pretty bad over there but at the same time Jaylen Herz is not going to throw the ball to the running back as often he's gonna steal some goal line work too so there this is a classic mid-range rb1 I think for Jonathan Taylor and saquan it's a little bit harder to reach the total ceiling potential of the top three uh but these are basically as safe as they get next your guy who is being Josh Jacobs drafted as running back 12 on all platforms I am slightly ahead of that as running back 11 but he's your running back eight this is Josh Jacobs of now the Green Bay Packers I think there's a chance that he can even finish higher than eth we're talking about somebody that has 20.6 opportunities per game over his entire career people act like he's like 29 approaching the age Cliff the dude is 26 years old like can we pretend that the age Cliff is not at 26 years old he signed what basically was a two-year $23 million contract this uh off season and the Packers did not have to get rid of Aaron Jones in fact when they released Aaron Jones that came with 12 million in dead money this team wanted a player like Josh Jacobs because they want to be able to run the ball right at you and at the goal line that's what Josh Jacobs does I'm willing to throw away last year's efficiency numbers because he didn't have a normal training camp he played for the Las Vegas Raiders we're now on the Packers by the way the Packers from week 10 on they were second in EPA Jordan love was balling out laflor is one of the best coaches in the league every single time laflor gets in front of a Mike he keeps saying Josh Jacob's gonna catch way more passes in this offense that he ever has before that's what we want here and the good news is Marshon Lloyd he was the threat earlier on the offseason he has not done enough this training camp to earn a role there's a chance that he starts the the season on the pup list or IR there's a chance he's just going to be the rb3 and AJ dyan's rb2 AJ Dylan's not playing a passing situation so Josh Jacobs about to ball out this year uh the fud has been incredible on Underdog he goes in the fifth round I think it's be one of the best values in all fantasy football I mean this is the guy who led the NFL in rushing two years ago and then had the nightmare that was Josh McDaniels last year and that did not last very long uh as you can tell we are not afraid of being controversial with these rankings it kind of makes sense because at the end of the year those who scor the most fantasy points weren't necessarily ranked in the same exact order that everyone had them prior to the season so again if you like this type of content we're here the rest of the week with our positional rankings Friday we have a rookie show putting in perspective where all those guys are in their current depth charts and most importantly once the season begins this is kicking off for us next week we have you locked and loaded for the information you need to win your league so hit that subscribe button and join us on this journey next another awesome running back on a whole new team it is Derrick Henry Dereck Henry now of the Baltimore Ravens uh Lamar and I don't think people realize this had just five carries inside the five yard line last year like he won MVP without having many rushing scores which is very unar like than we think so I believe Derek Henry could get a ton of work there maybe we are underrating that a little bit because Gus Edwards tied for the NFL lead with 19 carries inside the 5 yard line last season he'll just have so many more opportunities for long runs in this offense now the Ravens offensive line and the reason why I'm not super bullish is they're they're flipping a lot of players on this offensive line that used to be a strength I would I not sure if I'm going to call it a weakness because the Ravens always seem to figure things out uh but yeah if you refresh the season and he has 16 rushing touchdowns are you surprised hell no so yeah no next Isaiah Pacho kind of a new name in Isiah Pacheco this tier of these players but as we have rankings episodes each and every week in season his name kept popping up around in this range why are we confirming him this early on in this range week 12 through the Super Bowl so that's a pretty big sample size because you know they won the Super Bowl Isaiah Peko averaged 17.6 half PPR points that would have been the rb3 last year on 18 expected half PPR points which would have also been the running back three the reason why is because Jerick McKinnon was not playing on pass situations as of right now Jerick McKinnon is still basically retired C he hasn't practiced much this Camp Carson steel a UCLA Bruin an undrafted free agent he's kind of projected as the rb2 right now preseason deep deep sleeper uh file that name away but yeah to me the the Chiefs are going to go absolutely nuts this year like if you guys have been paying attention to what Xavier worthy and rased rice the offense just so much more well-rounded even their right or their left tackle Kingsley Su Matia a rookie he looks good in the preseason so I don't see any weak is for Isaiah P right now except that maybe they get kind of weird in the red zone at times but they're going to be in the Red Zone a ton okay let's close out this tier that was isaah beo as running back 11 a running back 12 is Travis eten who Travis Etienne accounted for 76% of the Jaguars backfield touches last year which is actually the second highest Mark in the league behind Joe Mixon even with that ridiculous oneman workload he finishes the running back six in points per game 15 points per game so that was nowhere close to that beloved 20o threshold That We crave with our running back ones who have potential to do that so as awful as tank bsby was last year and his seven targets was like the worst film you can ever see for a professional athlete he's had a really good offseason a really good training camp follow the drum beat of what Doug Peterson and Company have said that this volume sponge that Travis has kind of turned into I think some of that volume is going to go away and so that's why I want to put him at the end of this group as running back 12 all yeah he just really needs the Jaguars to like take that leap finally like this cannot be an average offense anymore so we'll see okay start of tier three we're going to turn this the running back twos kicks off with running back 13 that is Tier 3 - Joe Mixon Joe Mixon of now the Houston Texans uh Joe Mixon has just 20 20 career runs with another running back on the field that can be a second running back or that can be a fullback guess what Houston last year was fifth in the NFL with runs with a fullback on the field 198 so that probably going to change a little bit now that they have you know tankal niik Collins and Stefon Diggs on the field but I think that just accentuates how much better of a situation this could be for Joe Mixon from a drivein drive out efficiency basis where under Center runs which by the way the Texans were the fourth highest Mark in that last year too just fits the skill set versus running behind that Bengal uh swiss cheese offensive line at times that he was getting tackled so often and getting contact so often in the back field and I think the underrated part with Joe Mixon the Texans offensive line last year was really bad run blocking because they were all injured they have a lot of Talent on the offensive line they just have to stay healthy right now that's what they have so Joe mixon's offensive line can go uh meaningfully up this year those stats were from the great Richie bar we've had him on the channel on the show go check out his work over at sharp football analysis cannot recommend it enough okay that brings us to running back 14 and you want to talk about Rashad white the Tamp Buccaneers it's Rachaad White like the first time in this entire offseason a fantasy analyst has like gone to bat for Rashad white here's why last year 24th overall in fantasy points over replacement per game he was a running back 14 in usage he only had 15 fewer yards receiving than Christian mcaffrey he had way more receiving yards than bejon Robinson what the problem was for Rashad white is he was super inefficient running the ball particularly up the middle here's the solve you draft first round Center Graham Barton who basically has not missed a block this entire preseason I wasn't even going out of my way to watch grah Barton but I had to make a cut up of him just because absolutely obliterating everybody last year the Buccaneers dead last in rud and block win rate per ESPN analytics this year they get OC Liam Cohen here's his history of using running backs Ray Davis at Kentucky last year 18 touches per game cam ACR down the stretch when he was the Rams offensive coordinator he had 19 touches per game that's Cam acres by the way and then even Chris Rodriguez back at Kentucky three seasons ago average 18 touches per game this is the the McVey tree that we talked about with kyn Williams they want to keep one running back on the field to me third rounder Rashad white is has that type of profile and I think that the efficiency up the middle is going look way better because of Graham Barton and although we like Bucky Irving yeah the reality is he's a smaller back he was a a day three pick they really trusted Rashad white last year especially in the past game and I think people are kind of sleeping on this Buccaneers team they're actually my favorite to win the NFC South I think people are wanting to overwrite them I don't know man their offensive line looks pretty good and last year that was not the case okay well if you're going to pluck someone from this tier that you Kenneth Walker want to plant a flag on I'll do that with our next name and that is Kenneth Walker the third of the Seattle Seahawks he checks in as our running back 15 all because of my ranking he's my running back 13 overall first from a structural standpoint I think Ryan grub coming from the University of Washington now to the NFL is going to be just an awesome awesome play caller for the Seattle Seahawks and what we have learned in the last few months is that Ryan grub is literally obsessed with Kenneth Walker the third quote really talented powerful back quote three- Tool Guy quote can run the ball every run you got he's GNA be able to pass protect quote he's electric out of the backfield as a pass catcher I could go on and on and on this is a guy in Kenneth Walker that because he played for some different offenses in college people thought he just didn't have hands he shown that he's at least average in the passing game at the NFL level and now he is the backing of this play caller who thrives on creating explosive place and guess what Hayden you just talked about inefficient runs and negative runs and you know rushing yards under expected and all that type of stuff whatever the Nerds want to talk about their spreadsheets I love you but how about we just drift towards one of the most electric explosive pure runners in the game in Kenneth Walker who can not only change your fantasy week with one run he can change the win and the loss column with one one run and so while this kind of felt like maybe heading into this offseason it could be a one-w punch with Zack shbnet who was a second round pick last year it certainly sounds like and the drum break grows louder every single day that this is Kenneth Walker the third's backfield yeah he's the one1 pick in the offseason coach quotes uh League that's that's for damn sure okay next running back 16 this James Cook and More is James Cook who will kind of come back to a little bit later on with with his running back running mate I should say uh to me this lower ranking because he typically goes around running back 13 on platforms is all about touchdowns like I don't mind James Cook as a talent I really like him he's in a great situation with the Buffalo Bills but think about how good he was last year and how featured he was last year and he still finished as the running back 19 in points per game so unless they want to give him the goal line work the inside the 10 yard line work even the Red Zone work this isn't going to change into a top 10 running back yeah I just I it's hard for me to see the the total ceiling see the same notes as you have okay running back 17 our guy from last year that we flag planted on this very show David Montgomery uh Hayden all he did was score 13 touchdowns in 14 games finishes the running back 12 overall and now you're able to draft him as a running back 17 in the same offense yeah and there's the contingent upside where if something ever happened to jier Gibbs who's had some hamstring injuries in Camp and that's kind of been lingering uh all of a sudden he shoots into the rb1 tier and I don't I think there backs in this like the James Cook who just don't have the same upside there so the floor is lower yes but in half PPR with touchdowns in terms of contingent upside I think that he is worth the dice roll here I should mention that these rankings that we are posting right now are the averages of Hayden and myself again you've been able to notice that on some we greatly differ you can find that PDF in the description if you use promo Cod the show or sign up on Underdog okay James Connor another one of our favorites as running back 18 uh while the offseason kind of started in a similar way with Kenneth Walker where oh Trey Benson coming in as a day two draft pick is he gonna disrupt his backfield with an aging James Connor uh after this preseason I don't think that's an issue for as long as James Connor is going to stay healthy and we also can look back to last season on a somewhat struggling Arizona Cardinal team at times James Conor averaged 5.1 yards per touch his highest rate since the 2018 season I mean James Conor is still playing some of the best football of his career right now last year number one in yards after contact per carry and I think that Dre petzing is one of the more underrated offensive coordinators especially designing the this ground game so when you get Kyler Murray out there uh that's going to take some attention away too so Trey Benson just did not like really compete with James Conor based off the preseason usage or the training camp reports over there so I think we have one more year of James Conor age 29 season a little bit of risk but this Cardinals offense is just going one Direction that's up I'll speed this up a little bit next our running back 19 that is Naji Harris he's going much later in your home manage leagues around running back 25 we will call that the Arthur Smith discount uh I mean he is going from a miserable situation last year with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kenny picket and Matt Canada to now Arthur Smith who actually draws up a great running game and is going to be top three top five in running back usage so I'm okay taking Naji Harris and we'll get to to Jaylen R Warren here in a moment of uh two players ahead of their ADP and then we'll go to Alvin chra as our running back 20 Hayden who finishes the running back five in points perur game last season uh and obviously we don't think a repeat is possible the uh new Orland saints were top eight in touchdown scored last year and I would more like the wager they going to be bottom eight in touchdown scored this year I see the same thing maybe the worst offensive tackle duo in the league as well and Derek card doesn't play well under pressure I will say in a full PP R he is going to scam so I would move him up in full PPR we we're doing these on half PPR rankings if you wanted to put Alvin Kamar next to James Cook uh in full PPR I I I am not I don't have a problem with that well let's go to a team that did score a whole bunch of touchdowns and one guy who scored I think 20 plus of them that is Raheem oer as our running back 21 yeah last year fifth overall on fantasy points over placement per game this is the lowest in the draft a player that's finished top five the previous season has gone in fantasy football history last year four and inside the five y five yard line opportunities per game even when devvon hen was out there he was still the goal line back he was also fifth in EPA per carry 12th in success rate I know that he's uh going into his age 32 season but this is not like a back that has had thousands and thousands of carries uh on on his body I think that he's going to be able to last a little bit longer and we're aiming for upside and Rahe moer to me is still going to be the favorite for the goal line back last year Devon aany came back after his injury for five games Raheem moer was still the running back 19 so that's kind of where I have him ranked right here but I think there's still a lot more upside than what the market uh is seeing yeah wi in doubt take good players on uh extremely good offenses and Raheem Moser is one of those and that could be no more different than to our running back 202 and that closes this tier with r Andre Stevenson who by the way Hayden I think a couple years ago maybe was on the verge of a top 10 Talent at the position uh but this situation is just miserable I mean he's big he's Nimble he can catch passes he can do just about everything but this team has so many offensive line concerns they're going to almost certainly be bottom five in offense as much as I love for monre I've had a difficult time smashing this button and he's being selected as running back 22 overall D Mayo is saying that their guard and tackles might not currently be on the roster well it's it's August 26 that's not a good sign might be us who knows okay let's go to the top of tier four this is what I have deemed the running back twos but have some Tier 4 - RB2s with Upside questions attached to them we talked about Jaylen Warren he's our running back 23 you can copy paste with Naji Harris it does sound like Jaylen Warren's at least self admittedly going to be healthy for week one and he's a different styling of running back but it's been pretty cool to see him almost break the mold Hayden and he's somewhat on like an Austin Eckler career path not saying he's gonna be like the number two running back pick in your fantasy leagues but it's cool when someone does break stereotypes like he has in the position he's super efficient in both phases uh of the pass game and the Run game there so really it's just coming down to the usage I think it's going to be still probably 6040 in front in favor of Naji Harris but if there's a stint where Naji misses time I think that we be ranking Jaylen Warren as a fringe top 12 guy and let's not forget that bejon Robinson was second in the NFL among all running backs in Targets in his direction that could be a lot of what Jaylen Warren Gets this season okay Zach Moss is our running back 24 uh he's going as running back 32 on underdog running back 29 in your home leagues and I would say this is all because of you Hayden because you have him as running back 23 you have him pretty high up too so don't throw me completely under the bust here I I have access to your rankings because I've uh used promo code the show and downloaded them this one's pretty simple to me pick a Cincinnati Bengals running back like you just have to they've been Sixth and 16th in running back usage over the last two years the offensive line has a chance to look a little bit better because theyve made some Investments uh to it to me Zach Moss is just a little bit it's easier for me to Envision him playing on passing situations because he has pass protection experience he's also clearly to me the better short yardage running back uh he was good at it last year Chase Brown was dead last in rushing success rate I think that he has some vision and some like physicality concerns like based off of my uh evaluations so I'm on team Zach Moss if you want to be on team Chase Brown go for it but I think that Zach Moss is just like the more classic running back and in this offense that's what Joe Mixon has provided and I think that that Zack Moss is closer to Joe Mixon than what Chase Brown is yeah we always try to think about coaching staffs and see how they've utilized running backs in the past I mean Joe Mixon was tied for excuse me just second overall in car's inside the 5 yard line at 18 last year he had 38 carries which led the NFL in car's inside the 10 yard line some of that was because they didn't have Joe burrow and it was with Jake Browning but in all those situations again when we discussed Mixon it was that he didn't thrive in shotgun runs uh Zack Moss has in the past especially last year with the Indianapolis Colts okay another one that is a flag plant of uh maybe a player you're avoiding Hayden this time is Aaron Jones he is our running back 25 so we don't hate him but in your home leagues he's being drafted as running back 18 on Underdog he's being drafted as running back 21 I think you mentioned the stat earlier that Matt laflor has never given a running back over like 60% of the work during his time as a play caller that's being used as a Josh Jacob stat to me it's really an Aaron Jones stat I think he's really good even when healthy last year in between the 20s once it got inside the 20s and especially inside the Red Zone it was not good he converted a career low 4.6% of his Red Zone opportunities for touchdowns prior to that it was another career low at 133% uh this is just going to be a split backfield with yep Ty Chandler who you can draft way later on a team that's going to be very much throw first even with Sam darnold at the helm I hav't ranked as my running back 31 I don't recall drafting him a single time that thre like 150 drafts this off season he's approaching the age cliff and like that's a lot of carries for a smaller back uh his previous team got rid of him even though it was pretty costly to do so and the Vikings last year dead last and expected fantasy points to the running back group as a whole so I see committee and I don't see a lot of volume just in general running back 26 Jonathan Brooks who during the draft process which we also post Prospect tape breakdowns so hit that subscribe button uh we loved him we Lov Jonathan Brooks the issue is almost certainly we're not going to see him until October like maybe he gets activated in the month of September then you have like this ramp up period because he hasn't taken a single snap in practice so far so this is more of a middle to back half player that you have to pick at this position on an offense that at best is going to be League average this year so Jonathan Brooks I can't even call him a value at this point to me he's more of a 2025 play than he is a 2024 play I think he's a dart throw the good news like in your season long leagues you can stash Jonathan Brooks on your IR spot and then be able to pick somebody else up just be patient with him if you do draft him I think that by the time December rolls around this team's going to be in 2025 evaluation mode and to me that starts with Jonathan Brooks and and Bryce young so so I think he's going to get the rock a ton down the stretch and in the meantime it'll be chuba hubard we'll talk about chuba hubard a little bit later on so stick with this video uh next is a player maybe we disagree with the most now looking at our rankings right now it's our running back 27 in Brian Robinson Jr now we got to that point because he's my running back 25 and he's your running back 34 so my side of this is I just look at who the Washington commanders are right now it's a quarterback who during preseason thus far has been throwing super quick 1.9 seconds uh with a very low a dot but we have seen some downfield throws and obviously at LSU Jaden Daniels was an awesome vertical thrower I think that kind of drives with questions along their offensive line you can look at the depth chart and do that and you can see how Cliff kingsberry is calling the offense so to not ruin Jaden Daniels rookie season which by the way the big question for him is his reaction to pressure if he scrambles takes bad hits throws Under Pressure so on and so forth is to insulate him and to insulate him I think that means they're just going to be running a lot and with how Cliff likes to spread the field to me that could be a lot of light boxes that someone like Brian Robinson seeds now might the efficiency not be there because of said offensive line Talent sure but I also think that Brian Robinson's again going to get a whole bunch of volume and and he's also been an underrated receiver in my eyes for a few years now I just see committee back with Austin Eckler playing passing situations on an offense I want no part of and I know that the commander is going to be really high in screens but don't think screens as in running back screens like the little slip screens a lot of this is like pre- Snap determining we're throwing a bubble or a tunnel screen to a wide receiver and a tight end so just because Cliff kingberry is going to be calling screens don't expect that to go to the running backs very often so I see upside cases elsewhere in the draft okay let's get negative and then we'll get positive our running back 28 is deandrew Swift the first signing of this free agent cycle uh to me I see committee back despite that priority signing uh I don't believe that DeAndre Swift is going to be an every down player that some see him as and some draft him as as running back 23 out there I mean he has never succeeded in short yardage situation it was that way with the Detroit Lions guess what Jamal Williamson leads the league in rushing touchdowns it was this way last year with the Philadelphia Eagles people just remember the tush push it's also because just a pure volume standpoint dandre sft got a heck of a lot of opportunities inside the 10 and inside the five and he just falls down he simply falls down so I need someone who scores touchdowns at the running back position and uh I'm not there with the Andrew sit right now because this is a loaded backfield there's been reports that my kicks keep six running backs on the roster yeah vus Jones is going to get some uh designed running back touches which is not a good thing and then Roshan Johnson is going to be playing the passing situations because he can pass protect that's the other part that about the DeAndre Swift profile people Overlook is he doesn't even play that many passing Downs because coaches just don't trust him so you we're starting to divvy up this Chicago Bears backfield into three or four ways no thank you to me the the Swift signing was hey we only have DJ Moore on our roster right now and we have to create explosive plays somehow so let's get a guy like we saw with that screen pass during the preseason that can make a play for 40 plus yards the other side of that is they've also added Keenan Allen and Romo dun since then so who you gonna throw the football to those guys or uh DeAndre Swift he's gonna have some spike weeks but again just consistent okay now to a player that we're much higher on and man he's our running back 29 that is Rico dle those who have attended training camp cover the Dallas Cowboys say that datle stands out among a group of ezek Elliot and other nobodies uh Hayden I think the thing keeping him back is just name brand recognition and the like looming threat that oh they just have Rico D and eeko Elliott so they're going to bring in someone else you could say that about a whole bunch of other backfields so if this hits I think we could be getting a top 16 running back at a very discount price and if people are using our rankings I want them to exit their draft with Rico datle and so that's why why I have this aggressive rank just like the Bengals approach draft one Dallas Cowboy running back as well and make it recole just because the explosiveness is so evident I think you can look at the Cowboys offseason they had every opportunity in free agency to go after a running back there's a lot of big name free agents chose not to the draft everyone kept mocking them uh Jonathan Brooks or Blake corm didn't draft the running back either what if they just like r d more than us and this is a Back Field that you know we've drafted High we've drafted Tony par at high I think Mike McCarthy has moved on from really zeroing in on just one of those names and writing them to that degree but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be drafting this dude as running back 48 or for us even running back 29 zamir white is up next there's this term the The Dead Zone running back where it's a guy that you just perceive to have a whole bunch of volume and that can be taken away or it can't be successful because of a bad team and a bad offense I think zamir white might be the headliner for a potential Dead Zone running back this year even though Antonio Pierce uh wants to run the heck out of the ball and that be their identity I think zamir White's going to survive the season as being the very clear early down back but he's not going to play Passing Downs there's two guys that are mixing in throughout the preseason and I don't think the Raiders is going to be very good on offense so call it what you what you want to be it can be dead zone it's it's not for me in general you do surprise me me sometimes we've been doing shows together for like 5 years at this point but you surprise me and you wanted to discuss our running back 32 excuse me 31 who you have as running back 25 and that is Devon single yeah this one I was kind of late to the party with but I went back and looked at what happened with Devon Singletary with Brian dble when he was with the bills he averaged 68 yards per game nothing crazy but down the stretch with Brian De he played 82 93 68 80 76% of the snaps in the playoff games 86% 100% of the snaps so there's history with Deon single and de ball and then this preseason they get one half with the starters he plays 87% of of the snaps I mean this is as late as a guy that can possibly see 75% of the snaps or higher out there and then last year the last 12 games with the Texans he stole that running back job and he had had 84 yards per game and then look back at the Giants in 2022 they were third in EPA per carry they were eighth in carries per game they have a second round Center coming along as well so I was just like how do I get access to this Giants team not being as bad as some people think draft Malik D Malik neighbors then draft dein single ter next we'll close out this tier with our running back 32 and that's mainly due to me and I'm going to go with Taj Spears this is 100% a split backfield we've heard from Brian Callahan all offseason that it's 1 a versus 1B and even in some preseason games they would rotate on the same series and heck the same drive that's inside the 20 yard line and the 10 yard line I'm just kind of obsessed with the way that Tai Spears plays football he makes people Miss he's so good in the passing game and I simple take I think it's fair to wonder if we've already seen The Best of Tony Pard as professional and we haven't seen the best of Taj Spears as professional and everybody Nate Ty has been posting some clips this morning of Peter scony and JC leam carving open running Lanes on the left side of the line and if those two guys say healthy we know that Spears and proba are going to be heavily featuring The Passing game but some running production might be there too you want see a lot of cut UPS of the right side of the offensive line though that's that's for sure okay we've done two running backs four tiers hopefully by Tier 5 - Sleepers Tier this point you have at least two running backs on your roster so we're going to do these kind of in chunks and and bulks moving forward so let's say the next five names okay our running back 30 3 is Javonte Williams 34 Chase Brown 35 the aforementioned Tony Pard 36 in Blake korm 37 in Gus Edwards which one of those names do you want to discuss real quickly I think javante Williams is going to be the lead backback to start the season so if you're looking for early season production he wouldd be my favorite of the bunch long terms in terms of upside I want Blake Korn for like the reasons we mentioned with Kiren Williams if if something happens to Kiren Williams Blake korm my comp before the draft before I knew where he was going was Kyon Williams uh he's this is second year coming back from that Toren miniscus he faced eight plus defenders in the Box a ton and they didn't care they just wanted to run right at him his vision is fantastic in fact in the NFL draft last year he was the only running back to average over one yard overexp expected on Gap runs Gap polling runs and Zone runs this guy can run every single type of scheme there is and he was handpicked to be the kir Williams replacement if something happens he's the best handcuff in fantasy football uh so if you drafted KY Williams or not to me he's like the obvious Target if something happens we'll be ranking Blake corm as a potential top five top seven fantasy running back I can't even remember the other running backs on the LA Rams roster last year other than like Ronnie rivers and again those guys got 202 backfield touches like Blake korm is probably going to get at least 150 touches this year and they were just fed up with cycling through the the camp makers and darl Henderson the Zack Evans the Ronnie rivers of the group and now they have two guys that do the exact same things and I'm a big fan of Blake korm as well I cly do want to mention Chase Brown since you talked about Zach Moss we are lower than consensus on Chase Brown well you are I'm I'm actually above where he's going in home leagues as running back 38 if him as running back 27 and in fact he's going so late in home leagues that you're ahead of the market on him too I am totally with you that during his rookie year he had like no short yardage work he had no pass Protection work but it is notable to me that during preseason they've basically been trying him out in all of those opportunities just to see if he has it in him so I kind of think they want him to do that it's just up to if he can do that as well yeah that's where my concerns come in yeah and you know Gus Edward scored a whole bunch of touchdowns last year uh Gus Edward would probably score a good amount of touchdowns this year with the LA Chargers too but maybe not much else okay next five Jerome Ford chuba hubard then we have Austin Eckler as our Running Back 40 Zack shanet and we'll close out this tier with Tai Chandler anything you want to say about any of these names I think I like shanet and chuba hubard the best of this group just because you can mix in chuba hubard early on the season depending on how your running back uh group Works in I think that Zach shanet is the best of those players just based off their individual Talent uh will need an injury to Kenneth Walker so to me like you labeled this correctly squint and C you really have to start squinting for these guys you mentioned the top list here javante Williams who you know coming out of North Carolina was one of the most fun backs you can watch he was explosive he broke so many tackles that might be a bit more difficult after the injuries he's sustained and that he's more of like a early season production guy that maybe audri es and some others takes some as the season goes along I could say the same thing about chuba hubard who's go you know 18 running backs different on Underdog uh 14 in your home leagues because Juba Hub is going to dominate this backfield in the opening four games of the season now then he'll start to lose some work once Jonathan Brooks comes back but he's such a fascinating pairing to me versus some of these guys that maybe in rookies or others that are going to be late season exposures for you that if you need some early season work I mean that's why I'm so much higher than the market on juah Hub again he's going to see so much volume in those opening four or five games like perfect zero RB guy yeah and you know we just got word and this is not unexpected to us if you've watched our videos on the players that we're awarding every single round that Nick chub is going to open the season on the pup list that means he cannot play in the opening four games of the season so on some level Jerome Ford is opening the similar season as Chupa hubard albeit we believe that the Cleveland Browns are now more of a pass first offense and the Panthers going to run the football a lot to Dr Ford's credit that is where he's better Y at you know so he he might be able to be like a PPR guy that we should move up if you're just honing in on like a PPR League let's close that with the Flyers tier uh this is going to include a whole bunch of running back handcuffs which by THE REST the way we're basically ranking Blake Korum and Zack shanet near the top of that list uh coming up first is Trey Benson as running back 43 Tyler aler Ray Davis as running back 45 Ezekiel Elliott and JK Dobbins I mean this is a pretty hilarious list you have two rookies then Arthur Smith's favorite player in Tyler Alger yeah and then two guys that are like on the honey not the honeymoon the opposite the winding down period of their careers in Zeke and in JK I'm gonna go Young from from this grouping give me Tyler aler first of all if he's on the field that means the the team that drafted bejon is probably eliminated and I like playing the little leverage game there I was think that Tyler alger's like a pretty solid player 21st in yards after contact 21st in elusiveness rating 22nd in PFF Rush grade last year he had five top 20 running back finishes even though bejon Robinson was out there he had six top 13 finishes as a rookie so there's some contingent value as well I think that Tyler Alger is like good enough to have a rooll does that mean Standalone value I think it's going to be pretty hard to predict I think he'll have some Standalone value at some point of the season but I also just think he he would be the Bellow if something happened to bejan Robinson I can't say that about a lot of guys even in the squint SE tier uh from above we watch all these preseason games every single year we fall in love with one name for me this year this is 25-year-old rookie Ray Davis again I mentioned it during the James Cook conversation that as good of a player he is and how much the bills like him they still had brought in Damen Harris and latavius Murray and Leonard forette for car's ins inside the 10 and inside the five guess what there are no washed veterans anymore on this team it's James Cook and it's basically Ray Davis unless you want to count Tai Johnson but I I firmly do believe that Ray Davis has earned this with his play and I think the people out there are undervaluing what his role and his impact can be on this team that by the way is probably going to be top five top six in point scored this year and at some point the Josh Allen rushing production in inside that 5 yard line is going to regress to some level closer to average and if that's the case one of these running backs is going to eat up some of those rushing touchdowns and I'm trying to leave like every single draft with Ray Davis at the moment now I got a question for you you have JK Dobbins ranked as your running back 40 well ahead of the market you don't think I'm gonna let this one slide and you're just going to name drop him the reason why he's up this high is not because of my ranking it's because of yours it's it's it's because of mine man I just get good vibes from JK doin at this point like first of all I think this Chargers team is going to be better than people expect I expect them to have a winning record this year the major focus of that is their Foundation of three firstr offensive linemen that are just ass kickers okay JK Dobbins has a history with his offense with Greg Roman I know that JK Dobbins is just massive injury after massive injury barely got paid this offseason people are expecting this team to to play an offense like Army and only run the football I think they'll pass a little bit more than expected but if that's the case it's like this mystery box of kamani vidall which is kind of to me this mid to late season package and JK Dobbins fits in there as early season work and I think it's going to be him and and Gus Edwards open the season I think you're right I just don't think that's going to matter enough and I think we start listing some other players like in this tier I think Kanani Vidal is the perfect player just because later on in the season when everything actually starts to matter people are handing out money cuz you're playing in first and second and third place games that's when Kanani Vidal I think has an opportunity to really run away with this so I with you I see the charters offensive line and I want somebody do I want Gus Edwards JK Dobbins uh Castaways from the Ravens I'm not sure if I do I think I'm gonna take the chance on the sixth round rookie who's by the way didn't even have to play the last preseason game that's how locked in he is as the rb3 okay we'll close out this tier with KH who to me is still one of the more underrated Runners of the football across the league so he makes that bears backfield spicy uh jilo mclaughin with an extra C in his name Nick chub audri Ese and the aforementioned kammani Vidal I mean Jal mclin's one like the funnest players to watch across the league he is a Keaton Mitchell Dolphins esque running back who takes one pass or one play out in space and can reel off a 40 or 50 yard we know that Shawn pyton throughout his history has kind of featured a player like this at every single one of his stops and so why we might get early season production and mid-season production from javante and then aldri esime who's a boulder with legs and arms uh fits in and maybe takes some of that as we go along I don't think either of them kind of touch the ski the skill set that Jalil mclin brings to the table yeah he's so unique just because he is so much faster I I do have some interest in audri estim he's going to be somebody to keep him on your bench for a long time because I think they're going to let Javon Williams be the guy early on but man he was lighting dudes up in pass protection this preseason that was kind of the question mark based off of his college tape he was one of the most efficient backs in the in all of college football last year uh Power based scheme as well run right at you if they do cut some ajp run which I'm expecting any moment I am wondering if audri EST is going to play some passing situations and if gavonte goes down who's going to be the goal line back it's going to be about 235 pounder AUD estimate so there are some young players we did not include here in our top 52 running backs likes of Bucky Irving brayan Allen Jordan Mason tank bsby Jaylen Wright one of my favorites is Tyrone Tracy yep uh who is Paul Pierce Kevin Nash Wolverine however you want to put him where uh he was CED off a field with an aircast and then was back in meetings the next night he seems totally fine and locked into this giant second team running back position I don't think Deon singer if you line up like all the running backs across the league is the biggest hurdle to clear both physically if you want to talk about that too and just Tyron Trac is one of my favorite prospects in this past draft his athleticism his rushing metrics despite not playing the position for very long I was stunned he lasted for so long but when a player that you believe in also has like earned this position this quickly uh that gives me a lot of optimism now he has to do it this year because he's a bit older but I think he can be a help especially in the passing game too yeah he was the rb2 in Giants camp like immediately which is pretty hard to do for someone that got drafted as late as he has we do all these draft videos and you guys should go there's a playlist on YouTube you should go watch them Josh and I don't compare notes until we start streaming the show both of us came to the table with a lot of positive notes around Tyrone Tracy so yeah definitely agree with him and you know bran Allen's been really fun he was the youngest player in this NFL draft y uh almost growing into that frame a little bit with running style it seems like he already has done that during Jets camp so he's the obvious handcuff for that team and then Bucky Irving is almost the exact opposite who is a much smaller back but plays with power and forces Miss tackles he's an electric one too and then we talked about tank bsby with Travis etn uh it's not a big bar to clear but I would expect a better pink bsby season this year than the one that we got last year yeah yeah my my last notes Here we have not named an rb2 for the chief or the 49ers or the Packers three of the best teams out there that's because we don't know who exactly who it's going to be once we know who the rb2 of those teams are those guys definitely in the mix uh I always like to sort by points scored uh on a team basis for my my Dart throws and we have not named uh those three teams yeah and look I think Jaylen Wright is an awesome Dart throw too just for how his uh skills fit in that offense where again they turn carries into kick returns yep and another team we haven't named a backup for is the Houston Texans uh they're going to be top 10 scorers as well all right that does it again this entire week is our ultimate positional rankings and tiers that means if you are still watching this video right now you need to hit that subscribe button thank you thank you thank you to the 39% of you who watch And subscribe cannot tell you how much that means to us tell a friend we know it's a big week for all of you and your drafts but before you go you need our rankings that means you need to subscribe to and play on Underdog fantasy use promo code the show click the link in the description we're also offering different promos on Underdog every single week right now and Hayden it's also the best way that they can prepare for their home leag go and draft best ball teams 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