Hello friends, and welcome into Fantasy pros. This is the Fantasy Football Podcast Week fifteen running Back Ranks. I am Chris Welsh joining me as always. Of course, it's Top Fit's morries. We've got Scott Pianowski in the house. It's just Scott Pianowski. This is the final rank show of
the season with you. You have been along with us more than anybody in any singular guest, one of our favorites across the land, just I guess at the top one to thank you for joining us all season long, and what a great and important time you're going to be finishing off the season with us for the first week of the Fantasy Football playoffs.
Thanks so much for having me. This has been one of my favorite media hits to do. We were saying before the show started. Yeah, look, anytime I could talk to smart guys who I enjoy, have some fun and bounce idea. This is a sounding board show for me. Right, I'm going to make my ranks better. I'm going to compare notes with two guys I like and respect. I mean, it just makes everybody better. It elevates all the boats.
So it's been great to be in this chair. Periodically during the season, and I supposeally than so much for having me.
Yeah, I mean it's and I want to echo what you're saying, because though I'm not gonna shine in the Ranks Contest, FITZI, this will be the best I'm ever going to be in the Ranks Contest and it is no doubtedly because of this show and being on with you every single week, our great guests like Scott and kind of running through it and challenging each other, and that's kind of what we do with it. So FITZI thank you so much as you have been killing the Ranks Contest and leveling us all up.
I don't know about that. I'm hitting a lot of singles. I think I've crept into the top twenty overall. But Scott was mentioning that the smart people he's doing the show with him, I'm kind of looking around, like, who's he talking about. No, So, yeah, it's been great, Scott. We really do appreciate you coming on with us every week in the odd weeks, and you know, having these discussions.
It's always fun to talk to you, and I am a faithful listener to you and Michael Sophino on the Breakfast Table podcast, as you well know, and you know, I feel like I'm by having you on this show like shoehorning my way into those conversations.
I appreciate that. Yeah. Thanks, Back back with the Rectorst Table this year after a year hiatus, so I hope people check that out. And of course we're having a lot of fun over Yahoo doing the Yahoo newsletter this year with with Andy Barrons. I'm on a couple times a week on that, so a lot to go with. But hey, people, they you know, they could listen to us talk about our mutual admiration all day, but these people they want ranks. They got playoff games. We're in
a bunch of playoffs. We're in leagues together where you know, when you were shamelessly trying to get advice, trying to figure out the kind of Murray matrix. But will save that for a different episode of this pod. But let's give the people what they want, you know, the kinks and some championship ranks.
That's right, Yeah, we are. We actually all do this industry league called the Pentathlon. One of us on this panel is in first place right now. I'm not going to say who or anything like that. But just know that someone is in the first place. But you are right, Yeah, they don't want to hear about our leagues. They want to hear about the stuff. Speaking of the ranks, real quick,
let's give a shout out on the ranks contest. Every sing week here and Fantasy Pros, we have weekly ranked contests across the industry, one hundred and sixty one hundred and seventy to two hundred people ranking every single week from all across the land, and each week we get a top ten. You know, we got everybody ranked out here.
Coming in at number one this week is shout out to Kevin English from Draft Sharks with the number one most accurate rank across the board, number two, Jeff Ratcliffe and Joe Beldner from the Footballers coming in two and three. So that's your top three Kevin English, Jeff Ratcliffe, and Joe Beldner as your big old top three crazy good rankers. With a shout out to our bro Debro Derek Brown,
who I've been texting with. I've been maddenly texting with this week because he was just so upset with Joe Piece of PF for making the worst bet of all time with me going against me, ericson going against me with Kyle Pitts and me and Debro have just been back and forth together Ladder betting, and he finished fourteenth in the rank this past week. So one of the hardest work in men in fantasy football. Debro with the primary every single week, fourteenth on this on this rank contest.
And FITZI just real quick, are you number one here at Fantasy pros as far as rank goes?
Or is it Debro?
No, it's Mike mahyor Mike Maryor He's number eleven overall, just outside the top ten.
Please fix that.
Don't let we cannot let Mayor beat all of us. If Scott, if you knew Mayor, you would you would agree.
Yeah, I don't even know him, and I agree. But well, you mentioned Kyle Pitts talk about the easiest player to project in fantasy football. He is he gonna have one catch this week? Or two catches? I joked on Twitter on Sunday, I said, you know, the public like, oh, you know, nobody likes betting unders And I said, well, have you ever met Kyle Pits.
His reception under two and a half was plus one seventy this past week. I don't know why I didn't bet it because I had a bet with ericson it was Juwan Johnson on my side versus his Kyle Pitts, and I was like, come on, come on, buddy, we're going.
Great cash homie. And not to mention Kirk Cousins, I mean, zero touchdowns, eight interceptions the last four weeks. What would Kirk Cousins have to do to get benched? I know there's no right answer because they're gonna eat a bunch of money if they cut them. And you know, they signed him to this contract, but they also took Michael Pennix with what number eight pick in the draft. This is why no other team spends their quarterback resources the
way the Falcons did. Cousins his fastball right now could not get stopped for speeding in the school zone. I mean, he just looks so terrible. And for some reason, Darnell Mooney has still been productive. I think London's been a little bit of a disappointment. But man, I am ready. I always say you like the Jets early in the season, like, how do I unsubscribe to the Jets? Right now, I'm trying to figure out how do I unsubscribe for Kirk Cousins,
and I can't unsubscribe this week. They're on a Monday night football game that and I'm thankfully it's another Monday night game. So I guess I can always look to the left rather than look to the right on Monday night with my two screens. But Kirk Cousins looks done cooked. Call him a cab. He doesn't look like a capable NFL starter anymore.
Well, if they lose this week, then maybe it'll be the Pennix time. But Kyle pits unders are Creamy. Cash rules everything around me. Cream get the money.
You don't give up scratch tickets. Your scratch tickets lose most of the time. Give o Kyle pits under props. Those things hit most of the time. Nobody will regift those things at Christmas time.
Two things are forever Kyle Pitts, disappointment and Wu tang. So there you go, all right.
So now the pit's eight, the pits eight for one seventy seven and two has been locked in. So yeah, you need Kyle Pitts and he goes Sananas. You can thank all of us especially.
All right, Well, if that is going to disappoint. We will not disappoint, and we will celebrate, and we're going to give something away before we start the RB ranks up here. You guys got a chance right now to not win a Kyle Pitts. We're going to really really bring a Christmas present. It won't be a Kyle Pitts autograph helmet. It's going to be a Jackson Smith in JIGBA Seahawks autograph helmet. You can get for free courtesy
of our friends over at Pristineauction dot com. All you've got to do is go to Fantasypros dot com slash contest. We got to form there, fill that bad boy out. Then you gotta do a couple things, but those things are going to help you out. Download the my playbook app, leave a review for the podcast, follow us on ex Instagram at TikTok all ats are at Fantasy Pros.
Now.
The more things that you do, the more entries you receive. We'll be announcing a winner right here on the pod. So if you're watching on YouTube, just make sure your subscribe turn on notifications. You'll be alerted new episodes and maybe you will be taking home that really really awesome autograph. Jackson Smith in Jigba helmet. Let's talk about the running
backs here and let's get into the big board. We're going to see where you guys have got some of these guys and what the big questions for week fifteen on a very important Fantasy playoff run as it starts up here the big board for our running backs coming in at number one, say Kwon Barkley. Of course he does have a tougher matchup against Pittsburgh. Two is Derreck, Henry Bijon, Joe Mixon and Devon a Chan. That's your
top five. Josh Jacobs, Jamier Gibbs, Chase Brown, Kiroen Williams, Alvin Kamara, James Connor, and Tony Pollard.
That is your top twelve.
That's the chalk little questions. Not a whole lot of do I sit any of these guys. You're playing your guys, except there is a little bit of a discrepancy that you two find gentlemen have with an RB with a top RB guy here, Alvin Kamara. I thought Alvin Kamara last week was going to go ballistic. I thought it was going to be somewhere in the vicinity of thirty five and eighty six touches, and it would just be he would be throwing the ball to himself. I thought
all that was going to happen. It didn't happen. He comes in at RB ten. Pinowski, you got him at eleven. We're gonna start with you, Fitz, because you've got him at fifteen. And I wonder does this have to do with the matchup or does this have to do with Kendre Miller, who I think is going to even be more involved. He only had eighteen snaps last week, but ten touches, so over fifty percent when he's in there, he's touching the ball ten touches on those eighteen snaps.
Is this matchup or is this Kendre Miller taking some of that shine off of Alvin Kamer?
Less about matchup, more about Kendra Miller and Jay Hayner. When Derek carmissed three games earlier this season, from Week six to Week eight, Alvin Kamara averaged thirty nine rushing yards a game over those three weeks and thirty one receiving yards, So he got to seventy scrimmage yards a game, not bad, only one touchdown over those three games.
And I think without Derek Carr.
His touchdown outlook is greatly diminished here, and I don't think the Saints really have any incentive to load up on work for this recently re signed twenty nine year old running back in a lost season, and so I do think they're going to give a healthy dose of work to Kendra Miller, who's finally getting his long awaited audition after being out of Dennis Allen's doghouse. Dennis Allen no longer around, of course, So yeah, I mean like the Saints want to find out just how good Kendra
Miller is. We saw him get double digit carries last week. I think there's a pretty good chance he cuts into Kamara's workload again this week.
Even at fifteen, it's probably not someone you're taking out of the lineups, but ranking him at fifteen you are probably enabling where like someone could have three legitimate backs, like a guy like Charbona, who are going to talk about who ranks up this week? Or you know, there might be some decision making, but most likely he doesn't leave your roster. You're just a little bit more down on Kamara fit.
Yeah, we know people who play in eight and ten team leagues and might have a really stacked lineup, in which case maybe this becomes a decision. But for most people, I think you're riding with Alvin Kamara.
Scott.
When you look at this at Kamara, you've got him essentially, He's got him eleven. He is ten there. Do you think some of that like I should have phrased it too when we started up. It wasn't just about Kendre Miller. The quarterback play has people really worried. The only caveat to that is and it balances if they can't throw the ball deep, it's going to be checked down city
and Alvin Kamara should get ten catches. But the problem is is if they're not defending deep, they're gonna play short stuff and Kamara is going to just catch a bunch of two yard passes and it's going to be all for not. So you know, obviously the quarterback play plays a big role in that. How do you see this playing out with Alvin Kamara?
Yeah, for sure. You worry about the boyancy of the offense. I mean, this is a guy who hasn't scored a touchdown seven games, who hasn't been inside the running back one cut line in eight of his last nine games. So it was a really hot start for Kamara. He hasn't played well in the second half of the year. It's been pieces around him, and I realized Taysom Hill was taking a lot of his touchdowns. That can't happen anymore because Hill's out for the season. But just an
offense I want to avoid. I have him outside my top ten, but it's conceivable with the right flow of injury news and maybe just some re examining some things that he may be in that thirteen to sixteen range where it sounds like fits. He hasn't right now, so you're probably playing Kamara. This is Here's the thing that always drives me crazy, okay, is somebody will pound the table this time of year and say, you know, always start your studs, always start your studs. And I say, fine,
but how flexible are we with the definition of a stud? Right? Alvin Kamara was studded for the first month of the season right running back, six, running back, one running back, fifteen running back six the first four weeks of the year and half point PPR scoring He is not. He has been a useful player, mostly propped up by volume, no touchdowns type of guy for two months now, he's
not a stud anymore. If you have if maybe Sharboney has a clear runway this week, maybe you feel really good about Cuba Hubbard now that Brooks is out of the way. Again, I don't mean that in a glib way, but just you know, examining what's going on in Carolina. I do have Hubbard ranked in my current rankings higher than Kamara. It's conceivable you could have a roster. He doesn't have to play. So I think people say always start their studs because they don't want to make decisions.
And again, you know, yeah, who needs help starting Barkley or Henry or you know, Devin ah Chan or something like that. But I think Alvin Kamar is just a guy you could start. Maybe you might have to start. I don't feel great about it right now. And if I ended up benching him for a guy like Sharboney who had no value you until like fifteen minutes ago, our guy like Cuba Hubbard, who was had little expectations on him than Kamara. But I have a prop on
Hubbard winning the rushing title in that division. They're really close together. So I hope the Saints pulled back on Kamara and I hope maybe Dave Canalis wants to get that accolade for Chuba Hubbard. I don't know if coaches even think about, oh, you're going to be the leading rusher in the NFC South, but so be it. Obviously, b John Robinson will have say in that as well.
I don't think you have to start Kamara. I think there'd be a lot of teams with league setups, roster setups where he doesn't play for them this week.
Interesting and I with you and hope Tuba goes off this week. I am a very team Chuba Hubbard did that in the Prediction Show. It's a good matchup for him. Let's move on to the next set of running backs here. Let's go to the RB thirteen through twenty fours RB twos here sharbon Ay zach Scharbonay actually starts us off here with RB thirteen. Shout out to Fitz last week on the very aggressive sharbon A ranking Cuba as we
just mentioned as well. Fourteen Dave Montgomery, Brian Robinson, Rico Dowdell, James Cook, Jonathan Taylor, and Jones. That your top twenty Rashad White, Naji Harris, Ramandre Stevenson and Tyrone Tracy. What I want to kick with quick Fits is you don't have to go crazy into this. But Charbonay this week without ken Walker is what for you? He's thirteen for the expert consensus ranks, but for Pat fitz Morris.
Is what running back twelve.
I'm pretty much right in line with ECR and I think I had him running back ten last week. Maybe it's just the difference of not having six teams on buy this week. You know, the matchup at home against green Bay, the Packers run defense has been better, Like we know it has been a sieve for like the last ten years, but it's actually played pretty well. We saw that against Detroit last week. They didn't get wrecked
by the junior Gibbs David Montgomery super tandem. So yeah, I mean, like, I think he is a very attractive play again, just because of the amount of work, Like he has that backfield to himself basically, and he catches passes. So it's sort of usage we want to see in a running back.
So sharbon Ay, is is a scenario where you would start him over Alvin Kamara. I'm speaking forfeits, so that would work Scott's same thing. Sharbon Ay without ken Walker in week fifteen is ranked what for you?
Yeah? Right now? I have him at fourteen. I'm not sure if that's high enough. He's had double digit carries in three different games this year, basically when ken Walker hasn't been available for a partial or full game running back twelve, running back six, and of course running back one last week where he basically blew up the slate along with Josh Allen, Jamar Chase and some other people.
And Walker has not looked explosive since September. So even when Walker gets back on the field, Seattle the surging team since their by week, looks like they're going to win what was at one point a very jumbled NFC West. You gonna play your best players, right, I mean they've leaned into you mentioned the JSN helmet that you can win. I mean he's become their primary receiver. I know him in Metcalf run different routes, but JSN is the featured guy,
much like Juwan Jennings the feature KAIND San Francisco. Go figure that one out. But you have to play your best players. In SHARBONEAUE, I think Zach Scharbona is the better running back. I don't know if it's because Walker's not healthy or if he's lost his confidence. He's not hitting the hole quickly enough, but he's looked like a
diminished player Walker has for several weeks. So even if Walker were to play this week, if miracle see the news changed, or he gets back on the field, I think this could be the Zach Charbonay show either way. And I have a few shares. The Charviony teams I have aren't my best teams pretty much. This week, I'm afraid I'm gonna be up against Zach Sharbonay, so I'm hoping that my opponents don't have him. And this is one of these things. I don't really sweat my opponents
in September and October. I'm just trying to score points and build my beast and all that. Now it's like, okay, you have to win this week. Year eliminated, you know. Now I start to sweat opponents and maybe second guess myself with decisions a little bit more than usual, which is par for the course. I like you, guys. I get text messages from people who don't talk to me all year and then September say, hey, how you doing small talk? Small talk, small tech? Okay, I need to running backs in a flex.
But Zach Sharpe, what's the lineup question?
Xactly? How much? Get to it? Yeah? I've had plenty of agnog My dog is great. Yeah, what do you need to know? Well, what do you need to know is Zach Charbone is in your lineup this week?
One more off handed, one real quick? Charboney or Cuba for you, Scott.
I'd like to play both of them. Just Cuba has more of a resume that makes him and Dallas is a good draw for him. Carolina favorite for once. And they can they just finish a game. They had the Chiefs all but beat They should have beaten the Eagles if can make that catch. And as a Lions fan, I'm hoping somebody can beat Philadelphia. Maybe Philadelphia can beat themselves because they're not getting along right now despite a nine game winning streak. But I get a lean Hubbard there.
But I think they're both excellent plays.
FITZI Cuba or Charboney.
I've got Tuba inside the top ten RB nine.
Okay, that was the big thing I wanted to get to because ecr Charboney over Tuba this week, and I also will be tubeover, so the three of us are tube overs.
Yep.
Well, and this would be just another reminder for everybody always check out the updated rings is the week goes on more, as you know, we get closer to the game starting, more people submit their ranks, so you're going to see adjustment things we're talking about here. The board might change a little bit. Don't be shocked when Cuba moves above. It's a really good matchup. On the inverse of that matchup, let's talk about Rico Dowdell, who comes in at RB seventeen. It's also a good spot running
against Carolina. Don't be shocked if you know Cuba and Rico combined for over two hundred rushing yards. But we have a rank discrepancy. Again, You've got Pianowski, you've got him at nineteen, FITZI you've got him at eleven. So you guys are really really on the opposite sides. So Scott, let's just start with you real quick. On the negative semi negative, you're not that much lower, but he has
a couple spots higher. This is an incredible matchup. Rico volume is maybe sometimes the question, but you know, where are you and why are you so down? Quote unquote on Rico Dowdele.
Yeah, I think it's maybe just the market is up on Daddle and I get it. I mean they finally leaned into him as their featured He's got double digit carries in six straight weeks and he's been pushing twenty carries in three straight games. Just not as much touchdown equity as the buoyancy of the offense. I know Carolina is a defense we want to attack, but I just don't.
This is more of a Cooper Rush reluctance. I have moved Donndal above Jonathan Taylor and James Cook in my recent ranking, So he's running back seventeen For me, it doesn't match the optimism that fits has. But Rico Dodd I think is a very legitimate running back to this week. I just have to be a little bit careful. How many touchdowns is Dallas going to score? How many points are they going to score? Even with a plus matchup.
I have to feel like that's a modest total, and they will throw him the ball in the passing game. He's not doing a lot with it. He's not a dynamic pass catcher by any means. But and I don't really trust the play calling in Dallas. It just seems like everything goes wrong with what they try to scheme up. Sometimes. I like Rico Donald. I guess the market maybe likes him a little bit more than I do. I think he's a lower floor but solid running back to this week.
FITZI, based on your ranks that you've told us, you have Rico Daddle over Sharbone here. You've got him at eleven. You're the high guy. Talk to us about Rico Dwell.
Yeah, And I do understand Scott's hesitation because of the quarterback situation. Although Dallas I think has been a little more functional with their offense after losing a starter quarterback than, for instance, the Giants, whose offense is just kind of doa right now or what I expect the Saints to be this week. But Rico has had two straight one hundred yard rushing games. He's had no fewer than eighteen carries in any of his last three games. He's also
had seven catches over those three games. And he's going up against this Carolina defense that ranks dead last in DVOA has given up the most fantasy points to running backs, also the most rushing yards and rushing touchdowns to running backs. It's just such a good spot that Cooper Rush can't really diminish my enthusiasm that much.
You almost did the like, can Cooper Rush really mess this up? And you're like they did? But yeah, maybe, but it is the Panthers and it's in play one more in this range. Romandre Stevenson, He's RB twenty three going up against the Arizona Cardinals. We've got a little bit of a rank difference here that Scott is right on ECR at twenty three.
But FITZI, you've got.
Remindre outside of the top two rbs, so top twenty four for the week at RB twenty six. So why don't you kick it off just real quick, Romandre Stevenson. Is there actual negativity towards him based on your rank?
Yeah?
And I like the player, I mean, I like the big guys with the quick feat and Remondre is certainly that. But I can't ignore the sort of downward trajectory he's been on. Over his last seven games, He's averaged three point one yards per carry. He's had fewer than twenty rushing yards in three of his last seven games, and the decent games he's had over that stretch all against
bad run defenses. Seventy four rushing yards against the Bears in Week ten, seventy three rushing yards against the Rams in Week eleven, seventy three rushing yards against the Colts in Week fourteen. He's gone four straight games without a touchdown. And the Erdinals run defense really isn't that terrible. They're thirteenth in DVOA against the run, so not a smash matchup, and just a guy who hasn't really shown us much over the last couple of months.
You know, Scott, when I look at these running backs, I see like a line. That line sits right about at Remandre where I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, Because you know, we've seen Antonio Gibson kind of takes some of the quality carries away at times. We've seen the volume move away from Ramondre Stevenson. There just seems to be a very dramatic line when I look at those RB twos, and then you get to Remonder and you're like, he is not like the guy above him.
Yeah, there is a line of demarcation here. Well, so I think you make a great point with that, and it's funny as a Patriots fan over the moon for Drake may You can't stand the receiver room. I like Stevenson. Offensive line has been one of the five worst in the league. The coaching staff is a group I don't believe, and I have no idea why they promised Jonathan Mayo before Basically it was time to do so, and then Mike Vrabel was available. How do you not interview him?
I think the Patriots have their next ten year quarterback. I don't know that they have their next ten year coaching staff. And I'm afraid that may could end up in a Caleb Williams situation where it's like, Okay, we like the player, but who are the guys around him? Is the coaching staff He's going to have like a third or fourth offensive coordinator next year and stuff like that. So Stevenson, it's just you know, Arizona. I realized Sharbonney
tore them up last week. As pat mentioned, Arizona was doing a fine job against the run before last week. I think that's probably more of a blip than anything else. And whenever you look at a running back where there Patriots are six point underdog, so you worry about the game script getting out of hand. Gibson does cut in. There isn't a ton of touchdown equity here. Stevenson, to me, is more reactive than proactive. Pick in Week fifteen.
Yeah, a type of guy where not saying you do it. And I'm dangerous about saying this because we got the Thursday night game and it would be better if not. But like you could have justified if Patrick Taylor we're given the go that he's going to be the main back, you could be like, I think I might start him over Romandre giving an example. It's a little dicey because when you guys are listening to this, we're close up
to Thursday night football. But that's the type of idea and that's the line that he presents going to the RB threes. But first let's talk about our boys over a DraftKings. The NBA season is rolling along. Playing Pick six from DraftKings, an official partner of the NBA, is a way to get even more into the action following
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When you're playing pick six on DraftKings, can you prop on how many pick six as Jameis Winston is going to throw? Hmmm.
See that's a whole other game. That's a whole net. What a great thing that would be too. By the way, just like by the way, thank you.
For Jamis for just making the season so much more fun after we had to suffer through the de Shaun Watson experience. Right, Jamis doesn't always play well, but he throws the ball downfield. He does something that helps somebody in fantasy. Sometimes it's his guys, sometimes it's the other guys. There's a wackiness to him. There's a joy to him,
you know all. I'm all for it. You know. Baker Mayfield, I think he's a little bit of that type of player too, where he throws some balls to the other guys, he throws some balls to his guys. They're probably going to go to the playoffs with the Browns obviously aren't going anywhere, but at least those teams are fun and those teams are playable. You know, that's all we want with fantasy, right, we want offenses to be playable, right.
All we want with Cooper Rush is just be good enough that we can play Rigo Donald and Ceedee Lamb maybe one of the tight ends something like that, Right, And you know, James wins is just plugged back in that that Cleveland offense. And you know that Denver Cleveland game will go down as one of the five best Fantasy games of the year, I think. And you know, also a great moment if you're a gambler or anything like that, just all the stuff that happened at the
end of this game. So yeah, I hope my shout out to the draftings guys. The pick six game, I'm sure is great, but you know, somehow get some James Winston there, it'll be even greater.
Also, hard knocks. We don't need hard knocks like division. We just need hard knocks Jameis Winston. Just follow him around And I would watch that reality show all right, RB's twenty five through thirty six, kind of the flex play RBS. You would start to talk about them as coming in at twenty five is Isaiah Pacheco going up against Cleveland, who we just talked about, DeAndre Swift at twenty six, Braylan Allen, Sincere McCormick, Travis etn Jalen Warren.
That's your top thirty Tank bigsby Gus Edwards, Nick Chubb, Isaiah Davis, Davonte Williams, and Justice Hill at thirty six. Remember that line I talked about, boy, those lines in the sand get deeper and deeper at running back when you keep going through here. Let's talk about my Utsa boy, Sincere McCormick.
I love it.
I've been mentioning him just because I've bet on him so much playing at Utsa Like He's one of those college guys that's imprinted in my brain. And I know if it's a year the Dynasty guy here, So you got to just have some love for since And he is getting volume. Believes that Mere White was just put on the ir. They're never going to play Madison again. And it doesn't matter about Abdullah because Sincere gets the volume, and I think people are following through now twenty eight.
This week a decent spot Atlanta, A decent matchup ECR twenty eight. Both of you guys, at twenty nine, you're kind of in lockstep fitsy, why don't you kick it off with sincere McCormick in your trust of putting him in a flex spot this week?
Yeah, I mean I have trust to put him in a flex spot, and I'll probably move him up a couple of spots if Alexander Madison is officially ruled out.
I haven't seen whether he has ben Yetta. I think there's.
Still maybe a possibility that he comes back by I.
Kind of doubt it. It's not the easiest matchup.
The Falcons have allowed the seventh fewest fantasy points to running backs, But I love McCormick's Week sixteen and seventeen matchups against the Jaguars and Saints.
He could be a.
Sneaky title closer there for people. I hate the term league winner, but he could be a nice hammer for people those last two weeks. I am never again going to be skeptical of small, somewhat slow running backs without substantial draft capital, because I got burned on Kyron Williams and Bucky Irvin and like fading those guys when they ran bad forty times, and you know those guys were drafted late McCormick wasn't drafted at all. But he's a smaller guy who ran a four to six and he
looks good though. I mean, like that's what matters. He is looks like he could be a quality runner for a team that really hadn't given us any running back value all year, and all of a sudden, we're starting to get a little bit of running back value from Sincere McCormick. You know, like, I don't want to go all in on him, but is he flexworthy in week fifteen?
Absolutely?
Yeah.
I mean you're gonna start having decisions like I'm just gonna throw this out to you. Here's the problems like you get into like those late wide receiver threes. Wide Receiver thirty six this week is DeAndre Hopkins. We'll talk about that in the Wide Receiver Show versus RB twenty eight. Not quite built the same, But if you're starting three wide receivers, two running backs and a flex, then you might be making tougher decisions of wide receivers that are
much further down that Sincere McCormick can get in. Scott your take on Sincere McCormick, because the one thing it seems that we have when he is out there is we do have volume. We just maybe don't know the quality of what that volume is going to be.
Yeah, for sure we have volume. Really impressed by that sixty two point five percent success rate running the ball per Pro Football Reference. I know there's different ways to measure that, but I feel like he gets what's blocked right. I mean, he hits the hole, he makes a positive run. And I've always been more of don't take this as a direct comp but I've always been more of like the Terrell Davis Emmitt Smith three five, seven eleven, maybe break a long run as opposed to like the boom
or bust type of runner that Barry Sanders was. I think Sae Kwon Barkley is that type of runner. In fact, Barkley's success rate is very similar this year to what it was last year with the Giants. It's been so many home runs and we love those. But maybe snap the snap, It isn't quite as good as you may
be led to believe. I know he's challenging some NFL records and he's trying to get in the MVP conversation, but Antonio Pierce is going to play the guys that he believes in and they're trying to scout out what's worth keeping for twenty twenty five. Alexander Madison was on a one year deal anyway, so I don't think he's coming back. We may be done with Madison for the season.
Nobody will miss Alexander Madison, and the Raiders are a little bit more of a competitive lot now that they have a healthy Max Crossby on the other side of the football. I think this game will stay close. I know McCormick isn't anything special as a receiver, but I feel like he already has fifteen carries in his back pocket, and if history tells us anything, you know about two thirds of those will be successful runs.
Another running back that has theoretical volume, but maybe that's going to be in question this week is Gus Edwards. Gus Edwards doesn't really do anything special at any time. You can almost lock him for ten carries and thirty two yards every single week and it's going to be like three to three point two yards per carry. But it's the touchdown equity that makes him kind of a force at least if they get there. Of course, he comes in at RB thirty two. Both of you guys
have him quite a bit lower. You've got him outside the top thirty six running backs. And I think there's also a school of thought that Kamani Vidal could get more involved. He's a much better pass game option, and you know, just frankly, you're starting to give him more touches in that JK. Dobbins role, so Gus Edwards doesn't have to have, you know, twelve more carries for two point eight yards per Pinowski. Let's start with you on
Gus Edwards. He's not as exciting, but he's still being ranked as a top thirty six here, but not for you.
Yeah, you're welcome to start Gus Edwards against me. He needs a touchdown, I'd say, to pay off, but he's somebody could score a touchdown and even miss his projection. He's only caught three passes all season. He hasn't made it to sixty rushing yards in any game this season, and that's with Dobbin's missing time. I think back to that great Kenny Maine bit where he did a segment once about Jerome Bettis at the end of his career, where Bettis would get on the bus and drive the
bus forward about two feet and then get out. And that was what Jerome Bettess was doing at the end of his screer, just scoring the one yard touchdowns. Right, you're doing what jitlam Hurts does in Philadelphia, what Saquon Barkley never does. That's what you need. I mean. Edwards is almost like a tight end at this point, right, he's touchdown or bust. He needs that deodorant, And even with the touchdown deodorant, I think the smell is still
a little bit foul. I don't think there's any ceiling here. I don't think there's any floor here. And if you don't get that touchdown, you're getting like three point two points. You mentioned ten for thirty two. That sounds like a good place to start your projection. I welcome everybody to play Gus Edwards against me, and Tampa Bay will be They're not a pushover by any means, especially against the run.
They have some decent beef in their front seven. So I think it's gonna be a frustrating game for Edwards and only a touchdown will save him.
Fitzi Erickson on the Prediction Show had a prediction on Vidal. So if you guys want to go and watch that, make sure you do that. On the YouTube the Week fifteen Prediction Show saying that that videl would be a better start than Gus Edwards this week. Do you think that's the case or everything is a huge fade for the Chargers.
No, I agree, Kamani Videll had more snaps. He played more snaps than Gus Edwards last week, six more snaps. He's got considerably more juice. Scott framed it well, like you need him to get into the end zone or you're going to get a very disappointing result from Gus Edwards because he's averaging three point five yards per carry, he doesn't catch passes, and his longest run this year has gone for twelve yards. So there's just not a lot of upsides. Got mentioned it like you're running into
a Todd Bowles defense. Like Todd Bowles teams are always pretty good against the run. The Buccaneers have allowed the ninth fewest rushing yards to running backs this season, and they've only allowed six.
Rushing touchdowns to running back.
So it's just it's not a good spot for Gus Edwards, and it's really never a good spot for Gus Edwards.
And if he's going to score a touchdown, it has to be basically from the one yard line, the two yard line, maybe the three yard line. Gus Edwards does not have a touchdown over seven yards since twenty twenty. I mean, there's no juice at all. There's no second level explosion here. He needs pass interference on, you know, on a charger receiver at the goal line. It's first and goal with the one, and he might need a couple of cracks at it after that.
Gus Edwards, Well, here is a running back. Maybe you didn't expect that we were going to talk about. Maybe you wouldn't expect that this running back is also going to be a start over Gus Edwards. For both of these fine gentlemen, we're doing a price check outside of the RB thirty six's Jalil McLoughlin with the Denver Broncos. My advice always don't start a Bronco running back ever, just don't even be cute about it, especially when there's not buy. So that's like where I'm going to sit
with it. But you both have McLoughlin as a top thirty six RB this weekend over Gus Edwards. Fits you specifically have him at thirty two. Scott, You've got him at thirty six. Fits thirty two. I mean it's kind of aggressive for I don't know, just any Denver Bronco running back. But he does get involved in the passing game, which that's what makes it exciting. Bo Nick's high completion percentage. So McLoughlin, how did he? How did we get here?
Yeah, that's a good question.
Sean Payton's running back, you, which has been wildly unpredictable this season. I'm not so sure he doesn't just spin a wheel in the locker room before the game to decide who his lead running back is going to be. But last we saw the Broncos before their Week fourteen by it was Julia McLoughlin as their lead running back. Fourteen carries for eighty four yards against the Browns, and
he looked really good in that game. Like, I don't think there's much question that McLoughlin is the quickest, shiftiest running back the Broncos have on the roster, more so than Javonte Williams or Audrick Estime. And he's good as a pass catcher. And I like the matchup against the Colts, who have allowed these second most rushing yards to running backs.
Scott's same thing. You're a little bit lower on him, but you still got him as a top thirty six RB this week. Do you kind of share the same thoughts as fits, just maybe with slightly less enthusiasm.
Yeah. I mean, if you have to play one of the Denver guys, he's the only one I could. Williams is such a plotter. At least McLoughlin has some burst. He's a slider back of builds, so you never really give him a heavy workload, and Sean Payton doesn't want to do that anyway. Peyton has been open about this.
It's a hot hand situation. Everybody's going to play. I just feel more confident that mcgloughlin can bust off a second level run and maybe nobody shoves anybody out of the way in that backfield, but maybe he can nudge the other guys out of the way. I also don't think they completely believe in Estimate yet, so I'd be kind of flabbergasset if Estimate pushed into double digit carries.
Maybe Williams could do that. But it's a case where if I had to play one of these guys, it's mcgloughlin, and if I had a really bad injury runout, maybe he's somebody I could use in a pinch. It's a reactive play all the way. It's not proactive because Peyton won't allow us to do that. Also, take a little bit of heart in the fact that bo Nix's running game has pretty much evaporated over the last month or so, so at least there may be the three Denver running backs.
The pie they're fighting over might be a little bit bigger right now.
Well, although we might have to throw Marvin Mimms into the mix because Sean Payton has been talking about regretting not using Marvin Mimms more out of the backfield early in the season.
Well, and the key here too with this entire thing coming off of a buye, so anything is possible. Anything gonna Odrick Estimate could get twenty carries, it could go back to Javonte, Marvin Mims could start. We just don't quite know if they're gonna make some big altered offensive change in the backfield. This would be the theoretical week. So that's my only other slight hesitation is just we kind of don't know what we're in for. Coming off
of the buy where a change would happen. But as you guys mentioned, if you are reacting to a situation, you've got some type of injury. McLaughlin is the type of guy that you would end up leaning on.
You mentioned Marvin mims By the way, you know, maybe get some backfield carries fits. So Marvin mims is number nineteen. Maybe they want him to emulate the player that Deebo Samuel used to be. And I'm convinced if Deebo Samuel would just go back to wearing nineteen, he'd be more productive. I don't know why he switched to one. He doesn't look right. I got used to him as a nineteen. I'm not really a big fan of the receivers wearing one anyway. I know, obviously it looks really good on
Jamar Chase these days. There's some other guys, but I have no problem with the mission receivers wearing one. But yeah, Deebo Samuel, go back to nineteen. We need you, We miss you. Please.
Yeah, represent your yards per carry on your jersey, not one, but nineteen. Do whatever you can please?
Hey nineteen.
Yeah, you guys might have more running back questions that are sitting out there for this week because obviously it's playoffs. It's important, so don't forget. We got our weekly start and Sit live stream right here on YouTube where you guys can come and ask your specific start and sit questions every Thursday.
Three pm Eastern.
Still going on in the playoffs, So for those listening on the podcast YouTube dot com slash Fantasy pro subscribe, click the bell, get in the live streams, get all of your questions answered. We're talking about all the guys for Pat Pits, Morrison, Scott pan Awscam, Chris Welsh. Those are your running back ranks for week fifteen. Thank you guys so much for hanging out with us. We'll talk to you next time right here on Fantasy Pros.
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