The Biggest Remaining Running Back Battles for Fantasy Football | Should You Be Drafting These Guys?

[Music] [Music] he w [Music] [Music] [Music] what [Music] good [Music] hello and welcome to the Fantasy Life show happy freaking Friday everybody I am your host Ian hardit it is a great day to be great it's a great day to talk through one big Saga finally ending brand N is a happy man also got some notes on Rasheed rice and some Battleground backfields some muddled situations that we will be sorting through and by we I mean myself and none other than fantasy lives Finance director of analytics Dwayne the Rock McFarland what's up Dwayne happy Friday man what's up man uh triple zeros pop back up on you uh because it's time Ian you know we've been preparing but fantasy Seasons here some of you have your draft this weekend I honestly if I'm in a home league and I have the ability to wait for the draft on this weekend it is really fun um it's tough because you know it's a it's a Labor Day weekend A lot of people are traveling but you have all the news you know this next Thursday you're going to have a game so excited for all of you uh getting to partake in that I have my 32 team uh League Draft tomorrow and I'm going to be at a farmhous in the middle of nowhere in Ohio so please cell phone service Gods hold up do not want to be uh Auto in that one so again plenty of stuff coming on the way today but first guys a quick word on Fantasy Life plus Fantasy Life plus our premium product over here at Fantasy Life and again you guys have heard me talk about the draft Champion toour our consensus ranks our projections the only thing I need to apologize for is I actually finally did go to Chipotle yesterday for the first time in a while and I have really been overstating you know the price here $21 for double steak and a drink in 2024 what the heck guys that's freaking crazy Chipotle so when I say we're cheaper than Chipotle burrito I thought it was like half that so hey you know Chipotle if you guys want to sponsor us I will not be saying bad things about you but just a reminder that again under $10 per month even for our tier two package that's why I've been trying to say this whole time so not trying to break your bank you tier one package again we're talking under $40 for the entire year so again much cheaper than a Chipotle burito is our new uh motto over there so Fantasy Life plus check it out is that not insane to you Dwayne I mean a man's just trying to eat a burrito and $21 man that was uh you know freaking crazy for me to find out but regard I'm over it yeah serious TR family one day you'll be there hard it's when I go through a drivethru it's $100 period just get out of hundy fair enough my friend all right so I've got that out of my system just like the 49ers got the Brandon AOK situation out of their system as well four years 120 million with 76 million guaranteed it was rcking situation Dwayne and he had been moving down the ranks now with everything ready to go where are you drafting Brandon nuk yeah I think Brandon iuk in home League fantasy draft should be like a round four pick you know I think he goes around the same range that you're I would take him after you know Jaylen Wadd taking Nico Collins still over him taking Drake London over him all the guys that have you know well M Collins and iuk I think that's the one you could argue Ian like is is that close right you know talking about the same kind of situation really good players on offenses that we like that should throw for a lot of yards but also a lot of competition but I do give Nico the slight lean because I just think CJ strad has more upside as a passer than Brock pie I think there's also a slight chance that we could see the Texans actually just come out and throw the ball a lot versus we know the 49ers are always going to stay committed to that run game so I do give it the slight lean to Nico but right in that range so I think round four is about where I would take him I think the big question you know that I would have for you is would you be willing to take Brandon auk over Malik neighbors and for me the answer is no I'm just taking Malik neighbors feel like that could be a bad decision but that's where I'm at I mean we're talking about neighbors potentially earning 50 additional targets over what a could be seeing this year that's the problem there's no debating how good the guy is whether you want to use PFF receiving grades ESPN Advanced ratings yards per route run everything tells us that iuk was a top two wide receiver last season targets started becoming tracked in 199 two and IA just averaged the most yards per Target among any wide receiver with at least 100 targets in a season again since that date so yeah incredible real life player but dway only so much you can do when you're in an offense also feeding Christian mcaffrey also feeding Debo Samuel and also feeding George KD so I'm with you there I will be taking Malik neighbors what's this do though to dvo Samuel because again just one football to go around as much as those Rush attempts are nice we do prefer the Targets in fantasy land someone that's still in your top 15 or you you know maybe even a little bit lower yeah no deo's been cratering I I've been you know doing best ball drafts you know because we've got all these contest filling and uh you know we just love to be drafting because we're sickos but it's nice because you get the immediate Market reactions right people that are investing their money and you get to see real time what's happening to deos so in those contests he's falling about a round right now to a half a round which I think is about right Ian um I think Debo's still a fine player because he's going to get those carries that's always going to be there for him from Kyle Shanahan so you know he's going to have 300 to 400 rushing yards in his bag with three to four rushing touchdowns when you put that on top of even if he's like a 900 yard receiver and scores four you know four touchdowns well suddenly you're like oh I got a guy that just got 13400 yards gave me a shot at 10 touchdowns that always keeps Debo Samuel in in play I prefer him over auk just because I do think his role is more insulated one the NFL mostly plays Zone coverage who's their number one target against zone is dbo Samuel and you think about it guys the way it makes sense he plays The Underneath coverage stuff he's running the underneath the coverage routes he's the one getting all the screen plays the 49ers are often setting up their play and they're just dictating it you know for pery okay great you see Zone you're going to Debo you see man you're coming backside to either iuk or KD and that's why Debo continues to get fed so much the NFL plays Zone 70% of the time so once you put that together with those touches in the Run game and just the pure sweetness of you know dbo Samuel with a football in his hands the biggest thing you have with dbo Ian is because he is so good and we see this with some players like that he's so physical he's just so Twitchy has all these things about him he does have to battle some injuries typically so I know we don't like to say guys are injury-prone but whenever I look at Debo's you know projections and I put those together I do dock him an extra game like so there are players I take just a little bit more cautious approach so that's the one thing with Debo but even in a loaded offense like this it is he is a guy that could still give you a wide receiver one season because of the versatility of his role so I think fine as a round three round four fantasy pick in home League drafts Debo's almost becoming underrated at this point I get it guys he didn't have the best Super Bowl in the world but if you go back literally one game before that you can find him breaking freaking nine tackles or whatever it was against the Lions really providing that offensive spark when it couldn't get much going so I mean in the preseason Dwayne the dude makes a sick contested catch I'm like the first play of the game and all anyone wants to talk about is oh he didn't even separate out there so dvo Samuel absolute dog and Brandon H Brandon now again a happily paid man now only Justin Jefferson CD lamb AJ Brown and our one true sun god making more annually so good for aak on getting that bag and Dwayne good for our bags I've been drafting Rashid rice again and again because he is not expecting to be placed on the Commissioners exemp list Clarity from at NFL PR guy who is a PR guy in the NFL office quote we do not anticipate he'll be placed in the commissioner's exempt list unless there's a material change in the case so again Dwayne been making the educated guest out and if people have been listening to our realtime Sports you know streams they've heard us talk about rice plenty because we cannot stop drafting the man in round four but after getting this news fully 99% good on Rashid rice now yeah so Rashid rice I've still just given him 15 games in the projections Ian and he comes out as a top 16 wide receiver um I'm just still being cautious just in case you know something happens but obviously if he did get a suspension it would be larger than that but let me just tell you if I bump him up to 16 games which is what I project all wide receivers at except the ones that you know you have a little bit of injury-prone work you know worries about he's the wide receiver 10 he's the wide receiver 10 and half and full PPR league so and I'm not giving him a crazy Target share I'm assuming that Hollywood Brown is going to get his I'm assuming that Xavier Worthy's gonna get his I'm assuming that Travis Kelce is gonna get his I've only got Rashid rice with a 22% targets per route run he was way above that so I've actually taken him down for Target competition what's the common denominator all of these players have it's freaking Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid so guys we just don't need to overthink it rasid rice is my most drafted player I'm up to 270 drafts now this off season he he passed the 30% threshold I mean I've been taking the guy everywhere in round three in leagues where I know I have to you and I Ian bling over on realtime Sports we've been smashing Rashid rice and the early fourth round pretty much every single actually not pretty much every single draft where he's been there we taking him I think there's only been one or two drafts where we didn't get Rashid rice and is because somebody took him before we could get to him so he is my most drafted player I think he is the most undervalued player and if you guys are playing on Yahoo you're playing on ESPN all of those formats this guy's still going in like the 70s but what I would say is there is starting to become enough you know speak around him like where people are getting excited and we're seeing more and more analysts get on board with him so don't wait too long in your drafts if you are drafting this weekend the way I would be reading that you know you're trying to use that to your advantage but the latest in I think I'm I'm waiting is probably round five at this point I'm probably going to go ahead and pull the trigger on Rashid rice right in that range if I need to I will do it in round four if you're in like a three wide receiver full PPR Rashid rice or Malik neighbors I'm still going to take Malik just because I don't have to worry about any you know risk as far as like uh you know a suspension but it's really close it's really close like I mean I think you could easily make an argument that it should be Rashid rice Rashid rice or Jaylen WD Rashid rice Rashid rice or Nico Collins Nico yeah that's about where he is though right on that wide receiv to be fair I have Wadd right there in that same range too right right there around neighbors we really love Wadd as well he's a value right now in home leagues also but that is the range you're you're right that's the sweet spot for him we love all those players you just could have said yes and I also would have accepted that answer for it as well soice go yeah it's a great game you know you have to think yes no yeah yes because that's how you really figure out like where they should where they should tear obviously we're thinking through a lot of things and we've researched a lot of things to get to those answers but it is a game you like to play with yourself because it helps you when you're on the clock you know in your fantasy draft because uh it's good to already have those things sorted because you and I both know Ian sometimes especially when we're first doing our early drafts and we're trying to like come to an agreement on things it could be tough because you're trying to answer those questions right on the while you're on the clock it's a lot of pressure that is why I like to draft all you around even if it is lower Stakes because it forces you to kind of ask yourself those questions versus you know just mooving a name up or down a spreadsheet where you don't exactly have the same sort of money on the line so again r Rice off the exemp list and yeah guys after he got that roll full-time roll I should say in week 12 16.95 PPR points per game would have been good for wide receiver nine status throughout the regular season so good stuff there hopefully you were buying that dip throughout the off SE all right guys before we some Battle Ground backfields want to quickly roll through some additional news that we had go down on Thursday so Jamar Chase still not practicing we'll see if the I situation speeds things up there but yeah the Bengals organization maybe not quite as deep pocketed or at least not as willing to reach in there as some of these other squads to put it nicely Rams Head Coach Shan McVey did say puka nakua is practicing fully and quote unquote he'll be ready to roll good news for puka back holders ahead of week one meanwhile Jets head coach Robert Salah said that Mike Williams will be available week one but won't be 100% solid specific quote we're going to be very smart with how we use him but he's going to be plenty available to make his Mark felt as we saw last year at Brie Hall they are okay easing these guys in would expect by week four or week five though Big Mike back to his usual you know every down roll Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce on if he expects Brock Bowers to play yeah I feel really good about that to be honest match has what he's been saying throughout the preseason we do expect bers play through that foot injury in week one and Beyond also appears on his backfield and then Alex Madison Dylan all those guys air they've all kind of got a role within the offense but to be honest early Downs a lot of them are zamir white that's what I expect to see so nothing too groundbreaking but when we did again get some concerning preseason usage with the artist known as Zeus playing in the third quarter good to hear Pierce again really state that zamir is their lead rb1 also keep an eye on Cowboys why you see where Brandon Cooks not practicing with a knee injury the Saints actually ended up waving kick returner SL running back can nanu from the Vikings with a failed physical designation and finally sad day Browns released former Pro Bowl quarterback Tyler Snoop Huntley so the four quarterback room is now down to three hopefully a team will go out there and give the former pro bowl Talent another opportunity out there so that's the news guys and now a quick word on our friends over at New Era if you guys have been tuning into Dwayne and I's realtime sports videos we've been rocking the hats for whatever player we're drafting in the first round and yeah we got them and I freaking love them guys whether it's going to be you know your flat bill more traditional they have bucket hats which I love as well all the new era goodness is you know pretty freaking great so overall Fantasy Football Fanatics again there is a new era at fanty life and what better way to elevate your game than with the official cap of NFL training camp from New Era from the iconic snapbacks the classic fitted caps as the official cap of the NFL New Era offers the widest selection of licensed NFL headwear ensuring you look sharp whether you're in the stands or strategizing your next fantasy football move with new areas Precision Fit in Innovative designs every move you make is backed by unparalleled comfort and style discover your new level of style and show off your team Pride with the all new collection of New Era training camp caps click below to shop now and find your perfect fit for Glory again gotta love some new era Dwayne it's Battleground backfields day on the fantasy live show what a freaking time to be alive we got eight different situations to go through something like that maybe six who can really know for sure at this point but starting things off we got to talk about one of our favorite and my favorite mean least favorite people in the NFL Arthur Smith's backfield over in Pittsburgh we got Naji Harris we got Jaylen Warren we got maybe Cordo Patterson what did you see out of this group in the preseason and accordingly what are we expecting in 2024 yeah so Arthur Smith is a wild card I'm glad that we're just starting here um you know he's a guy that catches Strays pretty much every show when we're not talking about Arthur Smith we're talking about Arthur Smith um yeah when you look at Naji and Jaylen warham we also have cat you know we have one of your alltime faves you are the cural Patterson fan club leader after all I do think that all three guys are going to be in the mix I do think Naji Harris and Jaylen Warren are going to be the two lead guys and it's one of those situations Ian where like you look at the players and Jaylen Warren he still it just he pops in every way right whether you're talking about you know I put out my my guys article um this morning folks can check that out for free over at Fantasy Life but this is just you know one of the most officient running backs in the NFL and whenever you look at what he can do on a per touch basis it's still hard to not get excited even though we know Arthur Smith could like just be like completely unwilling to use him or he might get cat more involved than what we would think but just if you look at you know Jaylen Warren last year Ian uh PFF run grade was 85.3 and so this is a minimum of 150 attempts that was 11 out of 37 running backs that qualified Miss tackles Force per attempt 35.7% number one out of 37 backs that qualified average yards after contact 3.7 The League average is 2.9 he ranked second out of the 37 qualifiers and then targets per route run oh yeah he's also awesome in the receiving game 27% that was third out of 37 qualifying running backs so the guy has just been able to do amazing things when he gets the ball he also is is good enough that you want to prioritize him in the passing game what I'm gonna say about Jaylen Warren is if he ever gets to a stretch this year where he is the lead back in Pittsburgh he could win your fantasy league and I think that's the main thing you've got to remember when I look at Nai Harris I also think that where he's going in drafts Ian he could be very valuable to your fantasy fantasy team I don't think he would win you your league but I do think that he could be a value with where he goes now if I'm just having to chop this thing up and assuming that everyone's healthy for the entire season I've got it as a pretty close split I've got nii actually leading the way on in the rushing attempts by a little bit but giving more of the passing down work to jayen morren those two guys just kind of rotating in and out all game long and that makes it a little tough because we're not super excited about the Steelers offense but we do know they'll be committed to the run like if you look at Arthur Smith all the way back to his time in Tennessee he has been very committed to running the football that's also part of Mike tomlin's DNA whenever he doesn't have a quarterback that can just drop back and sling it all the time like Ben rothberger he's shown us since then that he's willing to lean much more into that run game we know we've got the quarterback challenges so I do think for if we look at all the teams that don't have you know an Anthony Richardson because Russell Wilson is not that level now they might end up with an Anthony Richardson with they might get Justin fields on the onto the field at some point but I think this will be one of the teams that ends up running the ball maybe like the fifth or sixth most in the league maybe fourth most like I think they're going to be one of the highest you know te Total Team attempts as far as rushing attempts go so I think there is enough to go around but I think this is really more of a split but when I'm drafting I'll I got to be honest and I mean I've drafted a ton of teams I'm like 80% Jaylen Warren and like 20% Naji like across all those drafts that I've done um just because I think his upside so much higher I think if we have certainty that both running backs are playing 17 games you could make a reasonable you know projection that Naji will score more points than Jayla Moen but it's that boom upside it's that best case scenario it's that first or last mindset that does have us you know buying more into the lottery ticket and Jaylen Warren so maybe he is the lead back Dwayne I mean last year in Atlanta we saw be on have 272 touches Tyler air 204 and then in Pittsburgh nii Harris 284 touches Jaylen Warren 210 so similar splits going on but who's to say Warren couldn't maybe be that lead dog with Arthur Smith you know potentially coming to town more outside Zone Concepts which potentially do fit Jaylen Warren a bit better so you did mention the potential problem here and that is Justin Fields as much as we would like to see him out there for our Justin Fields bags that's the only way I really see these guys not returning again some quality upside rb3 value with the potential for more should one go down because you look at the Steelers you look at the Falcons you even look at Russell Wilson's Broncos all three of those groups were top six offenses in terms of expected PPR points per game last year the Bears they were I think bottom three bottom four and we see them with the Eagles we see them with the Ravens teams with those mobile quarterbacks who are scrambling instead of checking down and again factoring to the equation near the goal line just not exactly a recipe for Fantasy success so Jaylen Warren is our preferred pick out of Pittsburgh Dwayne the only again just thing holding them back is if something happens to na or something happens to Jaylen and cpat actually does have a bigger role than expected that's the one problem man we did see signs of that in the preseason yeah and that and that wouldn't surprise us because it's Arthur Smith and and that's the one thing you've got to remember I I thought about that one and you and I have talked about it a lot on the live draft streams that we've done and folks can go check those out like we put them up they're $300 drafts you can see what's happening uh from all the different positions that we draft from but I and I really in those we talk through the players but we talk a lot about strategy as well so so be sure to check them out but we've talked about these players you know specifically and I know at one point you were pretty worried about cpat but like the more we sat there and thought about it and looked at the fact that Arthur Smith did have cpat last year right and he didn't really get him involved now we never saw a stretch of games where we were missing bejon Robinson or Tyler aler to see would he then let cpat step up but we are talking about an older player they do value him as the guy handling the kick returns right and probably doing I don't know if he'll do any of the punt work we know he's going to get all the kick return work it'll be I'm really interested in seeing him in this new format and what that looks like so I I don't I don't know I still feel like if either one of the other guys went down their roles will expand I do think cat's role expands but I think the other guys would also get a little bit more work as well and again I'm the most confident with Jaylen Warren because I think he has an every down skill set nii has an every down skill set quote unquote but like he's not electric in the passing game and the one other thing the Steelers when I think about him it's like okay you've got George pickings and then what like we don't know like you're hoping Roman Wilson who hasn't even practice right it's going to be a while before Roman Wilson would beat anything as a rookie you got van Jefferson slotted to play all those snaps outside I mean we got Pat fouth who you don't even want to put on the field like you're giving the guy like 50% route participation so I feel like Jaylen morren like is honestly like the sneakiest way to get some underneath stuff going in the passing game so but I will say that's where CAC also be a two I mean the guy was a wide receiver coming out of college and then they end up transitioning him over to running back so I I I agree with you it's not it's not enough though to scare me off of those guys but it could dampen their ceiling case scenario if they decided to give cpat 30% of the work if one of them went down cat just 59 touches and 14 games last season so shouldn't be this 1 a 1B 1C situation but yeah could potentially just lower the Handcuff ceiling just a little bit there so we're not trying to slander Nai I thought he honestly probably looked the best he has since entering the NFL or at least since his rookie season last year out there but it's more so Jayla Moen just being that freaking good really does look like he's you know na on two time speed out there when he is doing his thing so good stuff there Dwayne another backfield that has some new parties involved is residing in Nashville the Tennessee Titans Tony PA Taj Spears we've heard from Callahan we've heard from Holtz really the entire offseason constant drum beat of these running backs being essentially co-starters and interchangeable are you buying it based on what we've seen in the preseason yeah I absolutely am it's really interesting though because in drafts right now you get to see these real-time adjustments happen taji Spears is falling down draft boards and Tony PA's moving up why because he scored one touchdown when they decided to put him in in a preseason game and guess what the game before when they started them which was game one of the preseason they all rested in game two it was Taj Spears getting that carry so some of this has come down to luck of when the players have been on the field and the coaches may have just wanted to see Tony Pard in that situation because taji Spears guess what guys go back and watch it already made a sweet cut back down at the goal line where the whole right side of the offensive line was bottled up he makes a just a smooth cut to the backside smooth sailing straight into the end zone to score a touchdown so both of these guys are capable what I'm going to say though Ian is the way this preseason utilization has come down if you look at it on just like on the surface it's 58% of the snaps to Tony Pard 42% to tajy Spears that would seem like oh man Tony Pard actually the 1A and we've got you know tazy spear sitting here as a 1B maybe even like a high 2A but then once you dig into it like you see those drives that Tony par took and it's fine giving par to slide Edge is fine because he's the first back that's getting on the field but his drive with the starters was longer than the second Drive which Taj Spears took in both games with the starters all still on the field so if you look at it from that high level it looks like oh this is a Tony Pard thing but really it just comes down to how long Tony Pard Drive end up being versus Taj Spears oh by the way both players mixed in on the other players drivve so on those first drives by Tony Pard guess who got a Sprinkle of snaps Taj Spears on those second drives with Taj Spears Tony Pard was getting a little bit of a Sprinkle of snaps so I think these guys are really going to be rotating it's still going to be much closer than what people think and it makes me really like Taj Spears even more in drafts if people now are suddenly thinking that Tony paard has pulled away and I still like taking Pard but he's moved up like a around well say he's moved up a half a round Ian and Taj Spears has dropped a half a round since the last preseason game so now you have these guys going two to three rounds apart in drafts I just drafted this morning on a team and I got Tashi Spears 20 picks past a you know the average draft position so I still think they're going to be very close and you mentioned it it's not just the preseason games the coaches have told us this all along and their skill sets tell us that they are interchangeable backs both really good in the passing game both smaller backs that are explosive you know you give them a Runway we know want to run more 11 personnel they're both really good fits for what the Titans want to do this season and just like Naj and Jaylen we can be fairly confident that if anything happens to either running back here the other guy legitimately becomes an rb1 option overnight so Pard obviously saw him handle over 300 touches with the Cowboys last year and just from the eye test it does look like he has some of that juice back in the preseason which is great and then with Spears man please for the love of God take care of yourself stop trying to hurdle people out here in the preseason you know chill out man but looking at what he did as a rookie joined Tyler alir and Derrick Henry as the only three running backs with PFF grades north of 70 and rushing receiving and the ever important pass blocking so legit three down backs in Tennessee and an offense that could wind up being pretty pretty fantasy friendly should the defense continue to suck and they want to toss the ball around the yard just a little bit more all right Dwayne let's talk about the hometown squad for you at least the Dallas Cowboys we got Ezekiel Elliott we got Rico D we got du Von and we even have number 20 now dvin cook in town so got a nice note from Mike McCarthy I will read first before I throw it over to you on Rico dle yesterday he'll have a lesser role in special teams just because of workload Focus he's a complete running back plays all three Downs I think his past protection from his rookie year to now has become one of his best assets so the anti kyen Williams role on the table for Rico dle Dwayne thoughts on who winds up leading this committee and who your most comfortable drafting at cost so Rico D you know about a month ago we started talking about quite a bit and you know we put him in some sleeper articles and things like that and it was so easy at that time Ian just to click on his name because he was just going too far after after Zeke there was just probably too much assumption in the market that it's just gonna be Zeke and so you were getting this two to three round discount on a guy like d going after Zeke well then they got close together and I was like okay I'll I'll keep taking Rico D and now Rico D has like leapt past Zeke by like two or three rounds and that's where it's like I I do agree I would rather bet on the younger player but this is Rico dle Ian this is a guy I mean he's not been able to get in a starting lineup he's 26 years old it's not like he's some second-year player you know that they were just already brimming with all this hope about it's kind of like well we didn't do anything so we're going to give it to Rico now again I'm not trying to you know hate on Rico we know at the running back position volume is King and I do still think there's a really good chance that Rico is going to be the more efficient of these two backs just because Zeke you know he's got a lot of wear and tear now I think there are certain things though that Zeke is still going to do better than Rico D and this where I want your thoughts in but I I do believe that Ezekiel Elliott will get the carries inside the five yard line or the majority of them I'm not saying Rico is not going to get any of them but I could totally see the Cowboys still using him in that way because Zeke is still really good at that like he's a guy that still has all that lower body strength that you want um Zeke guys you can make fun of him for his lack of ability to hit these big long plays unless he's just in the wide open field but when it comes to power when it comes to Vision when it comes to you know getting skinny through the hole like Zeke still does all of those things really almost as good as anyone else in the NFL and so I think they're going to use that when they get down inside the five yard line I think he's going to get a lot of those carries I think there's also a chance Ian that Zeke gets on the field more on passing Downs because they they're going to trust him in pass protection we saw this in the past where we were just like how is Tony par not on the field for passing downs and it was Zeke all those years so now we have a situation in Dallas where oh we have a CD lamb like and we have J we like Ferguson as well but there's there's opportunity here for these backs to pick up some targets so what I'm gonna say is I still prefer Rico D in a vacuum but I think that now Zeke is the one that's getting underpriced and he's the guy that I've been clicking on a little more more in draft so essentially this is my me copping out of saying I'll just take the cheaper one but it is the cowboy so I I want to hear your thoughts though on Zeke and that role that I just outlined well it is just you know you look at our ADP tool which I'm checking out right now and we have ESPN sleeper and Yahoo on the left and then we have some higher you know higher Stakes sites ffpc and FFC Real Time Sports on the right and it's flipped Zeke is the you know far cheaper one in terms of I'm sorry far more expensive one on the more casual sites I mean he's going and pick 110 on ESPN Dwayne D's at 163 but meanwhile dle is the more expensive one on all the higher stake sites so I think you know I'm kind of with you it just depends where you're Drafting and when we have this uncertainty yeah just give me the cheaper guy because it does seem unlikely that we see either party just completely take control of this back field and that's not even before we consider if dvin Cook could actually come in and carve out a few carries which isn't necessarily going to happen he's on the practice squad for a reason but I'm with you man because as much as Zeke has not been good I mean 43rd and rushing yards OV expected over these past two seasons the last time we saw him in Dallas he was only averaging 3.8 yards per carry and that was with a better addition of an offensive line they more likely going to see with the Cowboys this year but when we do look at Zeke and we remove that $90 million contract he was you know working under I think it's a lot easier to appreciate his skill set what he can do is a short yardage hammer and obviously in pass Pro as well so look when I can get Rico D literally in the last round of ESPN drafts as I did in Mrs hardit's company draft last night felt good about that one yeah sign me up for it but yeah Dwayne once Zeke is the one starting to fall into the 140s or so I'm cool with that as well so I'm with you where I don't want to be a complete cop out here but at the same time it's a Cowboys offense that's ranked 10th and Ninth and expected RB PPR points per game these last two years perennial top tier scoring offense as long as Dak Prescott has been healthy maybe the answer to which cheap running back to take is just yes yeah and here's the other thing I will say because of the point you just brought up about their back field and how fruitful it's been for Fantasy if they're that spread apart there's no problem taking two there's no problem taking them both and seeing what happens week one and it might just be a complete mess where you're just forced to drop one of them and just hold on to one and hope that maybe you get some clarity but if we do somehow come out week one and it's doesn't really matter which one but one of them is the clear leader of the backfield getting 60 65% of the work you're going to want them on your fantasy team and then you can cut the other one it's not like you're having to pay a premium pick for these two players so it is one of the back fields Ian that I would be willing to take both of the players and see what happens especially if you started your you know Fantasy Draft off let's say let's say you took a wide receiver you know first and then you come back and the running backs you wanted were gone again so you took another wide receiver and then maybe you know maybe you did grab your first running back in round three but then you had to wait again because people just kept taking all the names you wanted you took value at other spots I think in those scenarios you want to start targeting in on some of these game on these on these uh teams where you know you could get both of the backs but we like the team you don't just want to do that with anyone it's it's it's the Cowboys I don't doing it with two of the Dolphins backs like moster and Jaylen Wright like I'm willing to with certain teams and the Cowboys are certainly one of those in it is a great point in terms of that really the first couple rounds of roster construction setting the basis for what running backs you want to necessarily attack later we did a draft yesterday Dwayne we went superhero RB we got Devon H and jir Gibbs with our first two picks so guess what they're locked into our rb1 and rb2 spots so when it comes time to start looking at these running backs you know going outside the top 120 picks we more willing to take you know a flyer on guys like Blake corm and Trey Benson and more pure handcuffs meanwhile if we only have one and we're actively looking for someone that we can start during the early weeks of the season that's when Rico D when chuba hubard when maybe Jerome Ford Julio mclin become a bit more in play so again let those early rounds really help you you know set the just precedent for what you're going to do in the rest of your draft and you can check out those drafts Wayne and I did on our you know Fantasy Life YouTube page so more Battlefield backfields to get through next but first guys a quick word with our friends over at Experian Experian is to your finances what fantasy life is to your fantasy league it is a tool and resource designed to make your life easier which is pretty great I mean who does not want our life to be easier the Experian app is free that's right freaking free everybody and serves as a One-Stop shop for managing your Financial Health with so many spending and subscription details to track let Experian handle it for you they'll find and cancel your unwanted or unused subscription helping you save money and focus on what really matters that's right winning your fantasy league download the Experian app today join the Bengals backfield we've talked about a little bit recently because SJ petan will not be coming back home and messing it up leaving us with just Zach moss and Chase Brown so haven't exactly gotten to see Zach moss in the preseason so we were projecting things a little bit here that said Zack Taylor literally came out yesterday and even just spoke about the two being interchangeable in all facets of the game so Chase Brown versus Zach Moss guys that we've talked about on our draft streams being fairly interchangeable Even in our fantasy ranks how do you see this shaken out once we get into week one yeah I think that's a really positive thing because the the concern with Chase Brown would be can he get out there on passing Downs because you're worried about your quarterback potentially getting killed and so to hear the head coach say that uh as much as we like Chase Brown's ability as the more explosive receiver out of the backfield cuz because you could just get it to him quickly in the flat and if he makes one guy Miss like the dude's gone okay so like there's there's things that you like about that and he is a player you want to get into space but we've seen so many guys like that over the years Ian that we see we know they have that ability but you never get to tap into it because the coaches don't trust them so hearing that is really good and this is what I'm going to say on these two I think that Zach Moss will get a little bit more of the early down work um so I've got him projected for 47% of the team's rushing attempts but I don't have Chase Brown very far behind I've got him at 41% I've got this as a pretty Consolidated situation we had trayon Williams waved the other day so Chris Evans is still kind of hanging around but I think it's just going to be these two backs I don't think we're going to see a third back mixed in very much I only have 3% of the work going to other backs and then I have a few uh have a little bit of work going to the wide receivers so when you look at the Back Field it comes down to those passing downs and before I was a little bit worried like okay like I I like Chase Brown's ability there but he might not be able to get on the field but after hearing that same quote you just talked about I really tightened those together so I've got a 40% route participation for Zach moss and I've got a 35% for Chase Brown so I'm giving a slight lean here to Zach Moss but I'm also acknowledging that chase Brown is the more explosive player of the two Ian and they project really closely in raw projections because of that efficiency Chase Brown comes out 29th overall and then I've got 34th overall for Zach Ma so I do think that it's going to be a pretty tightly split back backfield but it's an offense that we really like with the Bengals and if at any point because of performance or just because of an injury whatever the case may be either one of these guys steps into the lead role you're going to have a guy that we're probably thinking about in the running back one conversation and if they look good in that first week we're GNA suddenly be saying wow like we have the top back on a potent Bengals offense Joe Mixon man that's all you got to look at look we love we love Joe Mixon when he came out of college like as far as a prospect but like he's not the greatest running back anymore but he still did really well in this offense um as the lead back mixed in the last four years rb9 and PPR points per game rb7 rb6 and most recently rb1 so they did wind up bringing back trayon Williams these teams are cutting guys and then resigning him the practice squad the next day but again Dwayne we saw trayon last year he played more special team snaps and offensive snaps in every single game that he appeared in so certainly not expecting him to be taking Chase Brown and especially Zach Moss off the field for anything resembling you know significant snaps out there so again in the year 2024 only so many workhorses out there and they're going to cost you a pretty penny and fanasy draft we can live with two back committees and that certainly does appear to be what the Bengals are working with this year so feeling good Chase Brown Zach Moss yes draft them when you get a chance Prime zero RB targets as things stand at the moment all right Dwayne the Chargers are a team where we have some new leadership Jim Harbaugh and Greg r both guys who have quite the history with enabling some fantasy friendly rushing attacks both in terms of volume and their scheme I mean Greg Roman my God if you go back to just his last you know six seasons leading the bills and Ravens these teams have literally ranked first or second yards before contact per carry each and every time so hey saw that impact already with the Chargers leading all NFL teams in the preseason in yards before contact per carry as well so no it is just a preseason I get it and we also had Justin you know we had Rod Taylor and Lamar Jackson Justin Herbert while he is mobile maybe not you know quite as mobile as those guys but we're feeling good about the rushing you know upside of this offense Dwayne and now for the ever important question who's G to be the primary recipient between Gus Edwards JK dobins and maybe kamani Vidal well yeah and I mean just real real quickly like this team is super invested you know in the offensive line you talked about the performance you know in the preseason but ran Slater was their 2021 first round pick we've got Zion Johnson their 202 two first round pick then they had Joe alt this year in the first round many people remember because they wanted Malik neighbors to be going to play with Justin Herbert but we got Joe Al and this is just truly you know when we look at Harbaugh this is what he does you know he's gonna build up this offensive line he's setting this team up to be ready to pound the football he is going to 100% lean into the Run yeah they still have Justin Herbert he might have this team throwing a little bit more than what people expect it might not be exactly like the Colin Kaepernick experience or even maybe the Alex Smith experience I think he's probably got throw the ball a little bit more because he has Justin Herbert but is still going to be one of the more run heavy teams in the league so when I looked at this one Ian you know originally I was just kind of giving you know I was splitting this up kind of evenly across the three guys to start the preseason so we're talking like back in May when I say the three guys we're talking about ja Dobbins Gus Edwards and kamani videll who did make this roster but like as the preseason you know went along as you know we hear more and more of the training camp reports all those sorts of things the name that I just keep leaning into more and more is JK Dobbins um now he's got the injury history which has been very concerning in 2021 man need an ACL LCL and hamstring tear that I mean that just that just yeah that that just makes me I I feel pain right now sitting in my chair and then in 2023 he comes back he's actually looking good and he has the Achilles tear so it it's been it's been an unfortunate run of uh bad luck in the injury department for JK do but man he's only going to be 25 this season the dude's going to be 25 when this season starts and before the injury and those two years he looked like one of the best backs in the league this is a guy that had 16% of his carries go for 10 plus yards the NFL averages 10% Miss tackles Force 20% the NFL averages 16% and man this dude's a beast after contact yards after contact 3.3 versus 2.7 and go ask him he'll tell you he's like dude I'm good I average five yards per carry tell me who else does that we know Lamar Jackson helps out a little bit but JK dobins man at age 25 would it be unreasonable to think that he has 80% of that left and if he does I think out of the gate he's clearly the best back on this team we like Gus Edwards but he's still more of a plotter Gus is not going to make extra things happen at the next level the defense he'll he's he's a good between the tackles Runner like he can give you power but Jacob Dobbins is the most complete back coming out in week one so I have gravitated recently to Dobbins Ian and I think you're getting there too we've been drafting him more and more but he's a name that I've really been trying to click on a lot more in fantasy drafts so he's my pick to lead this backfield uh my second place honestly would not be Gus Edwards I would go if I had to pick an early season hero as JK Dobbins and if something were to happen to him I think that probably kamman videll just going back and watching like his film in college man I think there's a lot to like there and Thor nrom our our resident expert on this stuff Thor's always out there grinding the film he loves this guy in fact I took him in industry draft and Thor and Ian were there and Thor comes up you know and Pats me he's like yeah man really good pick you got kamani my whole draft could have sucked but I got kamani viell and I felt really great because Thor you know said I did a good job hey man he's got that theoretical three down ability which is all we can ask for in one of these late round Bros I mean 58 213 pounds ran a 44640 that's not too shabby and guess what 92 catches 700 yards and a touchdown during his four years at Troy so I'm with you I have soured a bit on Gus e just as we've seen the preseason progress in you know facing the reality that it is certainly 1 a 1B right now between Gus and Dobbins I mean 50k guaranteed on the Dobbins contract it wasn't a guarantee he was going to make the roster but he did and he's being called one of the team leaders right now I'm with you Dwayne give me Dobbins again especially on those you know zero or hero RB teams where when you're in that point in the draft you need to try to find someone that could feasibly be in your lineup sooner rather than later JK doin someone that based on that week one utilization could be shooting up the ranks in a hurry com week two and Beyond so two more back get going on right now on dobins has some great quotes going on on social media so you guys just go check it out sorry wasn't trying to cut you off Ian I know we gotta get to the next one but yeah just go check out his quotes this dude's on a mission like and I don't understand some of his quotes but they sound very inspiring he's got some of those uh you know wide receiver uh tweets going on for uh Denny Carter's you know always fantastic uh outlook on things so again guys quick word on DraftKings before we get to our last two Battleground backfields hey everyone with the football season kicking off it is the perfect time to dive into the action with our partners at DraftKings the number one place to bet on touchdowns and right now all new customers who bet $5 will instantly get $250 back in bonus bets and one month of NFL Plus premium on us that is something we can all celebrate download the DRFT King Sportsbook app today and sign up using our promo Cod code Fantasy Life the crown is yours stay in on the action and use your $250 in bonus bets to bet anytime touchdowns on DraftKings DraftKings is the place to bet on touchdowns and if sports betting is not yet available in your state don't worry you can still join on all the fun with DraftKings daily fantasy and have the shot to win cash prizes download the draftking Sportsbook app now new customers use our promo code Fantasy Life and betes $5 on any wager to get $250 back in bonus bets and one month of NFL Plus premium instantly as promo code Fantasy Life only at draft King Sportsbook the crown is yours Dwayne the Washington commanders New Era Jaden Daniels awesome Shout Out New Era love your guys hats Jaden Daniels we got Cliff Kingsbury running the offense we even got Anthony Lynn you know now coaching up the RBS and we have Austin Eckler a former fantasy football legit rb1 joining forces with Brian Robinson so we've seen Lynn we've seen kingsburry both using multiple running backs before how do you see this situation shaking out because as much as there might be a starter presumably Brian Robinson they do seem likely to be rotating these guys fairly frequently now we don't have a huge sample here but we do have 28 snaps and 15 dropbacks over two preseason games with Dan uh with Jaden Daniels on the field so the starters for the commanders and what we've seen in that time 57% of the snaps did go to Brian Robinson Jr 43% of the snaps went to Austin Eckler 62% of the rushing attempts to Robinson only 15% to Eckler because guess what Jaden Daniels is doing what Jaden Daniels is going to do he's also getting some of those rushing attempts but route participation squarely in Austin Eckler's Corner 53% versus 33% with a 133% Target share one of the better numbers on the team after you get past Terry McClaren so I think this one's pretty clearcut Yan I do believe that the the style of backs that we think we have here are actually going to match up with what we're going to get as far as roles go in Washington so I think Brian Robinson's going to handle most of the early down work probably likely to get most of the carries inside the five but that is a spot where Eckler's been very good over his career so I I do want to say that there is a chance that Eckler does steals some of that work we saw some of that in the preseason but it'll be Eckler primar primarily out there on passing downs and again with the pecking order that we have at the wide receiver position I mean we've got dami brown we're hoping Luke mcaffry can come some become something you got Zack her versus you know Ben sinna it's really just Terry McClaren so I think there's room here that even though we have a scrambling quarterback in Jaden Daniels that Austin Eckler could get quite a bit of work here as a receiver and the other key thing there emn that he's not just a behind the line of scrimmage guy so even though you may have a Scrambler is a guy that work can work down the field give you those nice route combinations so I think both are viable in fantasy if I had to choose though and I only get to pick one of them I'm gonna go ahead and lean to Brian Robinson Jr I think in a full PPR Austin Eckler's def definitely more appealing than in a standard League I would be avoiding Austin e looking at the last periods we had of Cliff Kingsbury and Anthony Lynn leading offenses yeah they did throw the ball despite the mobile quarterbacks kingsberry was 13th in running back targets and Lynn was second obviously with a lot of those going to Austin Eckler himself so I'm with you Dwayne I think Brian Robinson kind of in that you know Javonte Williams rb3 range you got the Titans running backs there he could be a guy where especially if Eckler is looking a bit more on the wash side as he does enter his age 29 season we could be looking back on saying yeah good running back with the potential to Breeze past 200 Rush attempts why are we not clicking on him a bit more so not saying Eckler can't get going we did see kingsberry in 2020 Kenyan Drake and Chase Evans were top 32 running backs and in 2021 James Conor rb8 and Chase eond RB 26 so we've seen them again use these two running back committees before it does seem like Brian Robinson should be the lead at least for meowo Dwayne last one and it is potentially an important one yes the overall offense might suck but that did not stop them from still having some fantasy friendly RB opportunity that's right I'm talking about the Denver Broncos so no more SJ perine that leaves us with Javonte Williams Jalil mcclocklin and then audri EST and even Blake Watson so how do you see this one shaking out Dwayne is it gonna be a Javonte Williams Show or maybe a bit more split up than just that yeah I think it's gonna be split up um you know gavon it's funny he's he's really climbing in fantasy drafts which I think he should because I think a lot of the early stuff was this guy's not going to make the r roster uh yeah well he's going to make the roster guys this is another guy kind of like uh the whole situation we just talked about with JK Dobbins right now he didn't have as BR he hasn't had as brutal of an injury run but a player that looked really great before the injuries you know missed tackles Force yards after contact all those things you want last year really showed that he could be a value in the passing game for this offense so he checks all those boxes as well he is the bigger more sturdy of the two backs so I think he's going to lead this back field and I think that he is I think that if you're looking for the Handcuff to him it's probably audri ese one of their later round picks this year out of Notre Dame he's going to be the guy that would fill in for javante if he got hurt but the name here that's really surprised throughout this offseason and honestly surprised last year with his limited work he was really good that's Jalil mclocklin and I think he is going to get a lot of that passing down work in and I think he might be in line to get a little bit more of the rushing work than what some people are thinking so if you look at that last game where we had the snaps out there where we had the starters out there for the Broncos in week two of the preseason that was really that b Nicks audition for the starting job when he won that 58% of the snaps with the Broncos on their uh really I have to say pass first mode drives because they were trying to get a look at what should B Knicks be our starter but it's very telling for us because that tells us that what they're potentially planning here is when they're going to be in a pass mode which could happen a lot they're not a very good team mclin was the guy that was out there so 58% snaps in that situation really surprised me he had a 67% route participation so I think this is a similar situation the one we just talked about I do think that javante Williams will be the guy on early Downs like we talked about with Brian Robinson but I think jillo mclam will be taking over that receiving role and honestly I think he might get more work than what we just talked about with Austin Eckler making him a super sneaky name you know late in your fantasy drafts if you guys are drafting this weekend especially full PPR do not be afraid to throw a dart at julo mclin so let think goes last week Dwayne we kind of did Rich Man middle class Man Poor Man versions of backfields and if we wanted to kind of look at the Javon Jalil split rich man the Detroit Lions with jir Gibbs and David Montgomery Middle Class man Steelers as we talked about with Na and Jaylen Warren Poorman maybe the Bengals with Zach moss and Chase Brown and the homeless man we do have Javonte Williams and jalo because again we're not expecting much from the B Nick Nick's experience in terms of just actual real life points being put on the board that said Dwayne that guess what there weren't many points being put up on the board last year didn't stop this offense from leading the NFL and running back targets and be a top four group and expected RB PPR points per game so hey samaj perine led the group in pass blocking snaps Jalil that's the concern Dwayne it's kind of similar to chase Brown hopefully he can actually get on the field because if so man if we're sitting here in week two 10 carries five or six targets that's going to be a waiver-wire priority at yeah and I mean the thing here is even if he can't block as long as he plays the two-minute offense that's where you score the points in fantasy as a running back so if you want to keep you know uh Javon Williams out there to handle the Blitz stuff on Third and long fine those those aren't that valuable of snaps I think what we've seen from mclin from mclin is that we should expect him to probably get the two minute offense in my opinion out of the gate and then you mentioned it it is Shawn pyton he is the master of getting targets to running backs and again another wide receiver room where you've got courland Sutton and what we have no clue we don't really have anything so I think the running backs will be the second most targeted group of players after courland Sutton a lot of situations to clear up and we will finally have regular season data do just that here in a short few days so want to thank you guys for joining us throughout the off season I think I speak for everyone when I say I cannot wait for week one to finally get here so we'll be back Monday through Friday helping you guys try to capture those Fantasy Football Championships 9:00 a.m. eastern here on the Fantasy Life show so for Dwayne for producer Matt for producer Kelsey I'm me and thanks again for tuning into the Fantasy Life show and until next time take care everybody [Music]