0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Grainger.com, or stop by.
0:04Grainger, for the ones who get it done. Hello everybody, welcome into the FantasyPros - Fantasy Football Podcast.
0:10I'm Ryan Wormeli, joined today by Tara Roberts, who has been on the show many times.
0:15Of course, today we are talking running back position battles to know for fantasy drafts.
0:19Before we get into it, Tara, how are you doing?
0:23I have not really done any off-season shows with you.
0:26I've been doing good, yeah. This is our happy reunion.
0:29So I'm the first of many to come, but yeah, I'm doing good.
0:33How about you? I'm good. I was just telling you a little bit about some of the HVAC stuff that our audience has already heard many times.
0:41I won't bore them with the details, but it is nice to actually be sitting in a cool house now.
0:47I know you can relate to some very hot weather living where you do as well.
0:52So you know what it's like and sometimes you don't really have a choice but to just do whatever it takes to get that cool air.
1:00So thankfully we're doing a little bit better here today.
1:03Yeah, we should be back for our Monday shows this season, I think.
1:07So you'll see more of us together when we get into the regular season.
1:12So hope everybody enjoys the show. Like I said, we're talking running back position battles to know for your fantasy drafts.
1:18Reminder for everybody, all of our 2026 consensus rankings and tiers can be found at fantasypros.com slash rankings.
1:24No real order here, Tara. So we'll just go kind of in the order that I wrote down the names into the show sheet.
1:31We'll start with the New England Patriots kind of a main two, obviously, right?
1:35Some of these backfields you can get three names deep, maybe even four names deep if you really want.
1:41The Patriots, it's just really the big two, right?
1:44Ramondre Stevenson and Travion Henderson. One of the more fascinating situations to watch play out last year, just given that Henderson was
1:51a player a lot of people liked. Henderson was, you know, providing these explosives and Stevenson had that fumbling issue.
1:57And we kept talking about when is Mike Vrabel going to bench this guy and give Travion Henderson an opportunity.
2:03Eventually with an injury, Henderson got an opportunity, looked pretty good, but that didn't end very strong.
2:08It was pretty non-existent in the playoffs. So going into 2026, do you view this as something close to a 50-50 split?
2:15Do you view this as a backfield with one guy ahead of the other?
2:20Do you view this as a passing of the torch where Henderson takes the mantle from Stevenson?
2:25What is your kind of macro level view on the Patriots backfield?
2:28My macro level view on the Patriots backfield is that it, on the surface, feels like it's one of the least dramatic ones.
2:36Because as you mentioned, there's so many others where we've got to factor in three backs and trying to figure out who's good at what.
2:43And we know exactly what this is. It's just extremely scary because at the end of the day, there's a lot of
2:50volatility in not knowing just how low that floor could potentially be for Travion Henderson.
2:55Because on the surface, if you look at the season as a whole, like if this were any other second year running
3:01back and we're looking at them with nearly a thousand yards, you know, 5.1 yards per carry, 10 total touchdowns, the receiving
3:08upside that he has, a solid finish last year as an RB2.
3:12You would be looking at this and saying, OK, we're looking for a breakout season.
3:17We are all in. We'd be moving him massively up the rankings.
3:20And yet we're not doing that because we're kind of petrified of trying to figure out how Travion Henderson fits with Ramondre Stevenson in terms of trust level.
3:29And that's the key here, because this is not a quantifiable like looking and trying to figure out, OK, well, I think
3:36he's going to have this specific role. The problem is, is that as you mentioned, the production was kind of volatile, unfortunately,
3:43throughout the season because they went back and forth a little bit.
3:46And then it settled in and we got a fairly good baseline from Travion Henderson.
3:51But the floor still dipped down a little bit to where you could get single digit fantasy point performances, even though he was getting a fairly decent workload.
4:00And then you get into the playoffs and it was a complete disaster.
4:04So the concern for me here in terms of how I'm looking at this backfield is the fact that we have a
4:10Patriots schedule that is going to be a lot tougher compared to last year.
4:15One that as a whole is going to look, you know, not exactly like the playoff run, but a lot more similar
4:21to it than the regular season did last year.
4:24So if that's the case and we know the trust level that Josh McDaniels has in Ramondre Stevenson, who's to say that
4:31we're not going to get into these more critical situations where the game is closer and they want to lean on Ramondre
4:38Stevenson as the back that they trust in pass protection, the reliable back who apparently fumbles and it's not a big deal.
4:45So it's a confusing situation because we're having to spend that top 24 draft capital on Henderson.
4:50But theoretically, he is kind of in this 50-50 situation where he could potentially be categorized as even a backup running back.
4:57So it's kind of like how much do you want to risk the potential ceiling here?
5:02Because Henderson is going to constantly have Stevenson as a factor.
5:05That's not going to go away. I know everyone wants to say Ramondre Stevenson.
5:09We're not scared of him. He's not a threat.
5:12He's nothing. It doesn't matter what we think as much as what the coach thinks.
5:17And they see him as a very reliable, trustworthy back.
5:20So it's incredibly risky in such a weird situation.
5:23At the end of the day, I think the ADP has dropped far enough back.
5:27If we were having to draft him as a top 20 back, I would have a problem with that taking him next
5:34to guys who I know have solidified three down rolls.
5:37But because it has at least pushed back into the lower end of RB2, I think it's a fine stab.
5:43Just I wouldn't utilize him as somebody that maybe you're waiting and you're investing on with wide receivers early.
5:49And then you turn around thinking that Travion Henderson is going to be your RB1.
5:54I would not go that route. I would trust him as an RB2 and know that you probably need to get a
6:01little safer backup option as well just in case there's volatility.
6:04It is funny to the point you made earlier that like you really don't hear people talk about him as a guy
6:11who's coming off of a rookie season where he, you know, rushing and receiving combined was over 1,100 yards and had 10 total touchdowns as a rookie.
6:19Like that that is not the way the conversation has been shaped, at least that I've heard around Travion Henderson this offseason.
6:26That's a really good rookie season, even with the up and down kind of roller coaster nature of it.
6:32And if you think there's any kind of step forward, then yeah, I get why there's excitement.
6:37But he's, you know, he was RB21 last year.
6:40He's not going as RB21. He's going as RB23.
6:42So he's going a little bit lower than even what that volatile year gave us.
6:47He's RB23 for Ramondre Stevenson, RB29. Does that feel right to you, that gap, RB23 to RB29 between these two?
6:53Do you think it should be closer or wider?
6:56It feels right, but I think you could maybe make the argument that Stevenson might need to go back a little bit
7:03further, maybe just a tiny bit and be more appropriately ranked.
7:06And it's kind of squabbling there, but maybe more appropriately within that kind of Blake Corom, Kyle, Manungay area versus being closer
7:13to a Chuba Hubbard kind of area or the Pittsburgh running backs.
7:17I think maybe you could make that argument, but I feel like the gap is appropriate.
7:22Maybe you could just push it back a tiny bit there.
7:25Is there anything that you think Trayvon Henderson, like you want to see out of him or that you think the coaching
7:32staff wants to see that could get him more of an opportunity, but that doesn't require an injury or anything like that?
7:39Like, you know, he came into the league. I think there was a lot of expectation.
7:44He was going to be a really strong pass blocking, you know, running back on third downs.
7:49It didn't totally pan out that way. You know, do you think he needs to take a step forward there?
7:55Is it just a matter of like knowing the playbook a little bit better in year two?
8:00Like, is there anything like not strictly on the field that you think could make a difference for him just in terms of getting more opportunity?
8:08Yeah, I think it does come down to the pass protection because we know he's an explosive back.
8:14He can break off runs just at any given moment, but you have to have that reliability, especially when, and here comes
8:21the other factor is that the reliability. And again, why it might've turned out this way in the playoffs, the reliability of
8:27that Patriots offensive line kind of falling apart there as we got towards the end of the season into tougher competition.
8:34So if you, if you know that we might need that extra boost, yeah, we need to see that extra boost in pass protection from Travion Henderson.
8:42So he can compete on that same level with Stevenson.
8:45The only weird thing is that, you know, as we go through these running backs, you get little tidbits here and there
8:52from training camp about he's working on this or that.
8:55And I haven't seen a whole bunch of Travion Henderson is working on kind of things that little, that scares me a little bit here.
9:03Just kind of hoping that, Hey, this is something that I'm genuinely hoping you paid attention to and we're working on during the off season.
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9:41All right, Tara, let's go to the Steelers. You just mentioned there a bunch of different names in this one.
9:48Where do you want to start with Pittsburgh? This is a, this is a fun one.
9:53Let's, let's start off with Caleb Johnson and nick him out, nix him out of the conversation.
9:58Like I think I did, I did write him in the show sheet for everybody to know with a bunch of question marks.
10:05I was like, are we even going to mention this guy?
10:08Yeah, I hate it for him, but I do.
10:11I mean, it's, it's probably, I mean, honestly, if they had brought anyone else in other than Rico Dowdle, maybe.
10:17But the fact that Rico already has that built-in trust with the coach, I mean, it just makes it such an uphill battle for Caleb Johnson.
10:25So, and we already saw last year, now obviously new coaching staff, but we already saw last year that when it came
10:32down to it, even when Jalen Warren went down with that injury, Kenneth Gainwell got the vast murder.
10:38We didn't see that transition of a, let's keep a committee and push Caleb Johnson in there.
10:43Um, so yeah, I just, I feel bad for him, but I do think it boils down to Jalen Warren and Rico Dowdle.
10:50And I feel like this one is a more fun committee because, um, we've got this new coaching staff.
10:56So, uh, fresh perspective here, but the coaching staff does have, in terms of Mike McCarthy, does have that previous connection with Rico Dowdle in Dallas.
11:04And we've got Jalen Warren as the incumbent running back, and this was operating as a committee last year with Kenneth Gainwell,
11:11but it doesn't necessarily have to operate as a committee this year.
11:14Um, but I like to evaluate it from the perspective of if it were to operate as a committee again, because it's
11:21not as if Mike McCarthy has been averse to using that in the past.
11:26We saw Rico Dowdle utilized alongside other running backs, and we saw, um, that previously with Mike McCarthy as well.
11:32So it's possible that this could go as a committee.
11:35So, I mean, let's look at it from a, from a broad perspective in Pittsburgh and kind of look at the changes
11:42that they'll see in their offense as a whole.
11:44With Mike McCarthy in there, the addition of new receivers in there as well is going to make some changes in this offense.
11:51Because the one thing that I do want to lead off with when I talk about the Pittsburgh running backs is that
11:58I would not expect the same level of checkdowns that I saw last year from them.
12:03Because the amount of receptions, I mean, Kenneth Gainwell led the team in receptions.
12:07It was egregious, right? That is going to come down because we've got more reliable wide receivers in there.
12:13Obviously, Aaron Rodgers is very checkdown friendly, but it was amped up to a level, um, that was more of an outlier
12:20just because outside of DK Metcalf, there was really trust in the receivers there.
12:24We know that Michael Pittman is one of the more reliable possession receivers in the league.
12:29We've heard so many positive things about Jeremy Bernard.
12:32So, I would assume that we are going to have an increase in pass volume going to the receivers and a little
12:39decrease in all of those checkdowns that we were getting to Kenneth Gainwell last year.
12:44But looking at Gainwell, or looking at Rico Dowdle versus Jalen Warren, the one thing that I do notice is that we
12:50do have a more clearly defined skill set between those two.
12:54Like with Gainwell and Warren last year, they were good at the same stuff, right?
12:58And Gainwell's a smaller back, so Warren took the lead stuff, right?
13:02But, um, they were both very good in pass protection and receiving.
13:06Rico Dowdle has operated as a three down back under Mike McCarthy.
13:10He can, he's not the best pass protector in the world, but he can do it and he can handle checkdowns.
13:16But Warren is considerably better on that end, like by far over Rico Dowdle.
13:20So, if this were to split to a committee, my assumption would be that it would be Rico Dowdle early down in
13:27goal line with Jalen Warren as receiving work change of pace and blocking, right?
13:31But I was doing a Twitch live yesterday with Scott Bogman, and he made a really good point, right?
13:37Because I was like, well, you know, I think it might end up with Mike McCarthy going back to Rico Dowdle here.
13:44And the amount of times, Scott's point was, is the amount of times that we have counted out Jalen Warren for it
13:51to end up just being Jalen Warren is kind of ridiculous.
13:54At what point do we just accept that Jalen Warren might just straight up be the better back in this offense, period?
14:01I think it's a great point that you bring up there.
14:04I think this one is really tough for me because some of the other position battles that we're looking at, there is
14:11a gap in where these guys are ranked. And with this one, there's really not.
14:16I think they're like a round apart in ADP, and it's Jalen Warren's RB27, Rico Dowdle's RB31.
14:21So, there's not like some huge discount on set.
14:24Like sometimes you get into these uncertain situations at different positions too during fantasy draft season, and I find myself saying, I'll
14:31just take whoever's going latest, and that way I don't have to be the one to make the choice.
14:37I'll just take this one. It's like, okay, you can wait around and take Dowdle instead of Warren, but it's not that much of a difference.
14:45Do you think one of these two – I think they have fairly similar outlooks even though they're different stylistically.
14:51Do you think one of them has a higher ceiling?
14:54Like, hey, barring an injury to the other one obviously in which both cases their ceiling goes up.
14:59But barring something like that, do you think one of them has like – the upside is just different here.
15:06I mean, we saw some of those games, you know, those individual weeks of crazy upside from Rico Dowdle last year.
15:12You know, Jalen Warren, like you said, is maybe just ends up being the better guy.
15:17But is there like an overall season-long upside that you see is higher for one of these guys than the other?
15:23I think if I were to say which one has the higher upside, I think that Jalen Warren can do more with reception.
15:31So, if it would boil down to it, I would say maybe him.
15:35And also just looking at the skill set there, do I believe that Rico Dowdle would be the clear and defined three down back over Jalen Warren?
15:43No, I think it would end up being a split there.
15:46But can I fathom a world where Jalen Warren is the clear and defined three down back in all aspects over Rico Dowdle?
15:53Yeah, I could buy that as a scenario. So, I mean, when you look at the Vegas odds, they're projecting that Rico
16:00Dowdle has the more rushing yards over Jalen Warren.
16:03Neither one is really prolific. It's kind of like everyone is thinking this is just going to end up being a committee.
16:10But if I did have to pin point one that in the context of those two together would have the three down
16:17opportunity, I do think it would be Warren. But again, I'm 100% with you.
16:21It's such a narrow gap. There's no clear defined breakout here for either one of these guys.
16:26So, it's a tough one and a weird one to handle here.
16:30Would you rather draft either of those two or Ramondre Stevenson, who we just talked about, who was ranked right between the two?
16:37I think I would rather draft one of those two.
16:40Just because I can fathom a world where Travion Henderson 100% takes over for Ramondre Stevenson.
16:45So, I can see him disappearing completely in value just into a handcuff.
16:49At least with these two running backs in Pittsburgh, I feel like one will consistently have a value there.
16:55So, neither one is really my favorite. But I would lean towards one of the Pittsburgh running backs.
17:00Let's go to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jaguars. Basial Tootin, obviously sort of the up-and-coming name that people are seeing as an ascendant
17:07running back and who can step into a nice role with Travis Echengon.
17:11Chris Rodriguez Jr., a player who – there are some people who I actually do like at cost quite a bit.
17:18Rodriguez, just kind of like what I was just saying.
17:21There is a gap between these two. So, it's kind of taking the swing on the later guy in case there's more of an opportunity there.
17:29And Rodriguez, sorry if you were going to bring this up too, has a real background with Liam Cohen at Kentucky when they were in college together.
17:37So, there's some familiarity there. And then I wrote LaQuint Allen's name down.
17:41Just a player that I kind of liked last year.
17:44And, you know, it does some things okay. I'm not sure what kind of opportunity he'll get.
17:49But there's no sure thing in this backfield, right, Tara?
17:53Like, Tootin, we can dream on what a great season might look like from him.
17:57We haven't seen it yet, right? We've only seen flashes.
18:00Chris Rodriguez, like, kind of maybe a little more steady Eddie.
18:04Like, you know what he is. So, I threw in the third name here and the show sheet just to say, like,
18:10hey, this is a little bit more of a gray area, muddled sort of backfield, even though he is obviously a step
18:17behind Tootin and Rodriguez in terms of what our expectations would be.
18:21But Tootin, just to let everybody know, RB25 in those half PPR expert consensus rankings.
18:26And then Chris Rodriguez is RB43. So, a larger gap than the first couple of backfields we discussed.
18:31What do you think about the Jaguars? Yeah, I'm a dreamer on this one, Ryan.
18:36I am the dreamer for Basial Tootin on this one.
18:39And it's funny because when we were just talking about, like, the Patriots versus Pittsburgh, and I was saying, you know, Pittsburgh,
18:46it's tough to see which one of them can come out of that one.
18:50And you're looking at the Patriots. You feel, hey, if someone is going to come out with the biggest upside in this one, it's Travion Henderson.
18:58With Jacksonville, I feel more similarly to the Patriots situation, where if one person comes out of this backfield with big three
19:05down back upside, to me, it has to be Basial Tootin.
19:08Because when we're looking at what everybody does, right, we look at Chris Rodriguez, we know that he is an excellent early down back and goal line back.
19:17When we look at LaQuint Allen Jr., he was in that system last year.
19:21He did not have the work on the ground over Basial Tootin or Travis Etienne, but he did show very well in terms of pass protection.
19:29So I know that that is his area of specialty.
19:32So we've got Chris Rodriguez and LaQuint Allen Jr., who both have two different areas of specialties there.
19:38And then you have Basial Tootin, who is the only one between them who could theoretically do it all.
19:44So when I'm looking at him, that's the one that I prefer to take a chance on, right?
19:49Especially because the ADP, if we were pumping this ADP up, right, but you're drafting him as a high-end RB3, the risk isn't inherently that much right now.
19:58And I don't know if we're going to get enough camp hype, especially considering that the Jacksonville isn't exactly the most trustworthy
20:05in terms of camp hype based off of what we saw last year with Travis Etienne, Tank Bigsby, and Basial Tootin.
20:11The thing that I tell people is, like, one, the camp, like, just knowing what we know from last year, just be
20:18assured that first team reps and whatnot might look a little bit wonky because they're trying to figure out who fits in
20:25where and give everyone the opportunity to shine. So if you see someone getting first team reps, don't overreact and run away
20:32with it because that person, now I don't think anyone's getting shipped out, but as we have seen, you can, in fact,
20:38just get shipped out even though you're sitting there getting first team reps anyway.
20:43But looking at this situation, I feel like the thing that stands out for me with Basial Tootin is that we know
20:49that Chris Rodriguez has the connection in college with Liam Cohen, but Tootin was a guy that Liam Cohen drafted last year.
20:56He was a guy that Liam Cohen showed extreme amount of trust, odd amount of trust for a rookie who was operating
21:03as a backup because Travis Etienne was the clear lead back, but there was very keen situational usage for Basial Tootin.
21:09He had a lot of, considering that he was a certified backup, right?
21:13This was not any kind of committee kind of situation.
21:17He had an odd amount of usage in the red zone there.
21:2023 attempts inside the red zone, converted four of those into touchdowns.
21:24All four of those were inside the five, so he was shown to have trust at the goal line.
21:30He also had two red zone receptions that were converted into touchdowns as well.
21:34So I think there, I think that's kind of like a nice little caveat of something for us to look at and
21:41say, there is inherent trust that Liam Cohen showed last year with Basial Tootin.
21:45And we have gotten some little camp notes and whatnot.
21:48Some coach speak is always fun there. Liam Cohen has been recently speaking on Basial Tootin and just, you know, saying stuff
21:55that, you know, it's funny, people can interpret it any way they want, but saying like, hey, we want you to do
22:02the things that you can do, be the best that you are, and then saying, we definitely expect Tootin to have a big year for us.
22:10Take that as you will, but I'm happy to see positive reinforcement from Liam Cohen regarding Basial Tootin.
22:16And if there is one player in this backfield who could theoretically handle all three downs, obviously with some work in from
22:22the others, this change of pace, it would be Basial Tootin for me.
22:26Are you interested in Chris Rodriguez at his cost, even if you also are like kind of being the dreamer on Tootin
22:33and want to be investing in him? Because, I mean, if Tootin's going in, you know, round six and Rodriguez is going
22:40around 11, you could very easily get both of them on your roster and invest in both.
22:45Does that interest you? Or are you sort of pushing all of your chips in on Tootin only?
22:51It's not the worst thing in the world, but my problem with that is that we know that he will never have that receiving word.
22:58That's just something that he doesn't do. And Liam Cohen knows that about him, right?
23:03He didn't catch passes in college either. So if we know that, let's say, Basial Tootin were to go down or anything
23:10like that, and he's out of the picture, whatever, and we know that more than likely that would come down to early
23:17down in goal line for Chris Rodriguez, and then probably LaQuint Allen Jr.
23:21you're factoring in from the receiving and blocking perspective.
23:23So from that perspective, like the ADP isn't bad.
23:26It's not the worst thing in the world because if it ends up being a committee, maybe you can get a guy
23:33who can give you a solid 10 points maybe a week, that 8 to 10 kind of baseline of a guy getting some yardage and touchdown potential.
23:41But he also goes back in a range where you start to look at potential handcuffs that could have a lot higher
23:48value where they do step into starter roles, right?
23:51Three down, high upside, league winning upside. And that's the difference for me is that I can't say that I would see
23:58league winning upside from Chris Rodriguez, safe upside, like safe, cool.
24:01We could get a nice flex option. But at that point, I see a lot of guys where I'm like, okay, I
24:08could see this as a three down back happening there and giving me an ample amount of fantasy points on a weekly basis.
24:15So I'd rather go that direction. These backfields are exactly the kinds of situations you should test with the draft simulator.
24:21Run realistic mocks, see where each running back is coming off the board, and compare how your roster looks when you chase the upside.
24:29Take the safer role or fade the entire backfield.
24:32Go to fantasypros.com slash mock or download the Fantasy Pros app.
24:35Use the draft simulator and practice these tough calls before draft day.
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26:40Limitations, terms, and conditions apply. All right. One of the toughest backfields, in my opinion, Denver Broncos.
26:45J.K. Dobbins, R.J. Harvey, and the rookie who I liked a lot coming into the draft in Jonah Coleman.
26:51I think there's a real role for him in the NFL.
26:54Three really interesting names for kind of different reasons.
26:57You know, Dobbins has always been talented but has never been even close to healthy throughout his NFL career.
27:03You know, R.J. Harvey scored fantasy points last year once Dobbins went down but didn't necessarily look like the best running back doing it.
27:10So I'm not sure how much of a believer you are in Harvey the player.
27:15I know Fitz, when we talk about Harvey on the Dynasty show, is pretty interested in fading R.J.
27:20Harvey. And then Jonah Coleman, a limited, I don't want to say flawed, I'll say limited running back.
27:26But a guy who can do some things pretty well, who's really productive at Washington at times in college, and who was drafted here.
27:33So three names that I could see this backfield going in any direction given various inefficiencies, various injuries.
27:39It feels like maybe Dobbins will certainly get the first crack at it, I would think.
27:44But, you know, if he gets hurt again or if they just want to take it easy on him and make sure
27:51they have him around for the playoffs, which they didn't last year, then I could see this going in a few different directions fantasy-wise.
27:58How are you approaching the Broncos' backfield? It has got to be the weirdest running back group as a whole, because you
28:05nailed the reason that makes it the weirdest running back group.
28:08Last year, once R.J. Harvey became the lead back, the problem was, is like from a fantasy perspective, if you look at
28:15those weeks, you see the points, you're like, okay, good.
28:18No, I was all happy. Yeah. But unfortunately, the efficiency on the ground was a problem, right?
28:23And I think that, you know, Sean Payton knows that.
28:27That's why we had all of the off-season fodder around them potentially dipping into the free agency market for a running back.
28:33Why they drafted Jonah Coleman as well. We've also got R.J.
28:37Harvey saying that he's, you know, been watching tapes of different backs.
28:40Like, I think Kenneth Walker was one that he mentioned.
28:44So I think he is also clearly, and probably Sean Payton, who does not mince words, has made it very clear as
28:50well, that the work on the ground wasn't good enough.
28:53So the fear that you have there is, you know, we know for an unfortunate fact that the odds of J.K.
29:00Dobbins making it through an entire season are slim.
29:03So you're drafting R.J. Harvey with the understanding that the backfield will more than likely look the way that it did, if
29:09we're just not even addressing Jonah Coleman right now, the backfield, if it's just Dobbins and Harvey will look the way it
29:16did in the early half of the season before Dobbins went down, which was the vast majority of the carries going to J.K.
29:23Dobbins. But he was not exactly the most usable back in the world because the red zone usage, oddly enough, for the
29:30efficiency on the ground issues, we had a lot of usage for R.J.
29:34Harvey in the red zone in particular. The receiving touchdowns were there as well.
29:38So it's a weird one where you've got a volatile potential production from Harvey at the beginning of the season because you
29:45know he's not going to have a certain level of workload on the ground and then a mediocre production from J.K.
29:52Dobbins. And then we hear all these camp rumors about Jonah Coleman looking excellent, potentially factoring in earlier than we would see even once a J.K.
30:00Dobbins injury were to happen. So then we've got to address it from a three headed monster approach there.
30:06So what happens if J.K. Dobbins goes down and then Jonah Coleman comes in and just fulfills that J.K.
30:11Dobbins role. And here you have drafted R.J. Harvey for inevitable three down work that never comes because Sean Payton has collected
30:18all of the players that he needs to ensure that this stays into a perma committee through the end of time.
30:25So it just makes it very unappealing. Now, if you as a drafter don't believe in Coleman, then for sure, you know,
30:32invest in Harvey because at some point J.K. Dobbins will go down.
30:35But if we're sitting here in camp and we're getting nothing but positives out of Jonah Coleman, you have to be aware
30:42of the possibility there that this may never exclusively be R.J.
30:45Harvey's backfield. And then there's one more weird caveat that I don't know is being addressed.
30:50The addition of Jalen Waddell could actually affect R.J.
30:53Harvey as well. Because when we're looking at that first half of the season production last year for R.J.
30:59Harvey, that was a lot of receiving work, right?
31:02So what happens if we still get those checkdowns of receiving work, right?
31:06But what if those touchdowns go away? What if we get the addition of Jalen Waddell adds a different dynamic weapon, which
31:13is good because physically he's a lot different than Cortland Sutton and Pat Bryant who are all big towering receivers, right?
31:19We've got Waddell that can play a more underneath role here potentially once they get into the red zone and give them
31:26some versatility in terms of how they're getting these touchdowns.
31:29So it doesn't have to be Harvey. We could see the effect of touchdowns shifting to the wide receivers a little bit more there.
31:36So there's a lot of factors that go in here in terms of Harvey's floor potentially being a lot lower than people might expect it to be.
31:45So it's not my favorite pick in the world to invest in anyone in this backfield because the most logical outcome for
31:51me is a true permanent committee here. Not only, you know, the possibility of Waddell mixing up this offense, but also Sean
31:58Payton, you know, stepping down from play calling duties.
32:01Who knows if that'll last the whole season, right?
32:04I think there's definitely a chance that we get a month and a half in and it's not going well and he
32:11takes play calling duties back over from Davis Webb.
32:13But that was like a big deal, especially for one of these sort of like seminal foundational offensive minds of this century
32:20of NFL football and Sean Payton is now not going to be calling plays and he has a real deserved reputation for not caring about your fantasy team.
32:29So now that it's somebody else, maybe there turns into a little more certainty in this backfield.
32:34I don't know. Very much remains to be seen.
32:37I think you, I think you put it best when you said that this is the weirdest backfield to try to navigate here.
32:44They're, they're very close RJ Harvey and JK Dobbins in the expert consensus rankings.
32:48They are RB 32, RB 34, Jonah Coleman further down at RB 54, obviously.
32:53I, I don't know. I was going to say that I'm surprised that Harvey is ahead of Dobbins.
32:58Excuse me. But at the end of the day, I do think like the injury history just plays such a big role
33:05in that ranking that like you, you cannot really assume anything close to a full season from Dobbins, which, which is a
33:12bummer because I really liked the player, but you just, you just can't assume it.
33:16He's, he played 15 games back in 2020 and then eight, one, 13, 10.
33:21And those 13 and 10, like we're not, you know, good finishes.
33:24It's just, it's just, you have to bake it in.
33:27So I guess that, that probably, I guess for that reason, I'm not as surprised, but I do think when both are
33:34healthy, that like Dobbins is the guy that'll rank higher on a week to week basis.
33:39Yeah. Just not season long. Yeah. You know, it's funny.
33:42I, I, cause I've seen some people saying that, you know, Harvey is the better back and that JK Dobbins is just the plotter.
33:50I don't think the stats show that. But I think that in terms of who was more successful on the ground, JK Dobbins was the one.
33:58So again, I just hesitate for people to think that right off the bat, we are going to see significant uptick in volume on the ground from Harvey.
34:06So just, just be aware that Dobbins is still present and does have that favorite with Sean Payton.
34:12In the same backfield, JK Dobbins just averaged five yards per attempt last season.
34:16RJ Harvey was 3.7 yards per attempt. Harvey gave you more as a pass catcher for sure.
34:21And obviously played the full season, which made many finished a lot higher in the season long rankings.
34:27But Dobbins was the better runner last year. I thought that was like pretty clear in my opinion, at least strictly as a rusher.
34:34Same. Let's go to another backfield with three names.
34:37Maybe not as weird as the Broncos, but probably murkier.
34:40At least maybe you disagree, but the Washington commanders, Rashad White, Ja'Cory Krosky, Merritt, and Katron Allen are the three names that I put down.
34:48Obviously White coming from Tampa. Bill Krosky, Merritt, just everybody's favorite sleeper in August to the point where he really wasn't a
34:55sleeper anymore and then doesn't have that great of a year.
34:58And then Katron Allen, who maybe not the athlete that Nick Singleton was in the same backfield at Penn State, but sort of the better, just pure runner.
35:07It felt like to a lot of people who would watch the games and, you know, better, better use of his blocking
35:14and better vision and that sort of thing. So an interesting player coming out of Penn State, one of the most prolific running backs Penn State's ever had.
35:22Interestingly enough, just given that he played a full four years there.
35:26But between these three, do you have a favorite?
35:29I mean, this is the one of all the backfields we're talking about today.
35:33This is the one where there is no one guy who is going all that high in drafts.
35:39Rashad White is RB 37. Ja'Cory Krosky, Merritt is RB 40.
35:42And Katron Allen is RB 66. So one guy inside the top 40 and he's not even inside the top 36.
35:49So feels more wide open or at least as wide open as any of those other position battles we're talking about today.
35:55Maybe with less upside, at least if you go based on the rankings.
35:59Yeah, this is this is one that you know what everyone theoretically does.
36:03So it's not super murky in terms of skill sets, but it is super murky in terms of what Washington actually wants to do.
36:11We've got to change an offensive coordinator. So again, in this where we're not privy to any kind of preferences here in
36:18terms of who would have the more upside between these backs with the offensive coordinator.
36:22So when you're looking at this one, though, I will say, as you mentioned, the rankings are, you know, so much further back for these guys.
36:30So I don't actually think that any one of them is a negative to invest in because none of them are going to break the bank for you.
36:39You know, I've gotten comments of people saying, no, it's Katron Allen that you want.
36:43I'm like, hey, if you feel that that is a very last round pick, absolutely take that stab.
36:49It is not going to hurt you in any way, shape or form.
36:53So get your guy on this one. If you really, truly do have a belief that one is going to come out.
37:00There's a lot of JCM truth. There's a lot of oddly enough, a lot of Rashad White truth.
37:05There's as well. But it's funny because when you break down the skill sets, I think we know who's good at what, right?
37:12We know that Rashad White is very good when it comes to blocking and receiving.
37:17We know that JCM does not have that skill set and did not have that skill set last year.
37:23And that was something that held him back. But on a positive note, compared to some of the other previous guys we've
37:30talked about, it seems very clear that he understands this and has reportedly definitely been working on it in the offseason.
37:36So this is one of those ones where a training camp is actually going to be very beneficial for us because we
37:43can actually look at the footage and say, I want to see Ja'Kory Krosky merit in action.
37:48Like put up, put up or see, you know, is this something that you actually improved on?
37:54Is it possible for you to be a contributor when it comes to third down work here?
37:59Because while I don't think you're, you would over the course of a year improve to the level where you're going to
38:06get as good as Rashad White, can you be good enough to where Washington doesn't have to have a setback here and
38:12they can kind of mix and match and make the offense a little less predictable on that level.
38:18So that one's the key there for me. And then trying to figure out if Katron Allen could in any way, shape
38:25or form be better at the goal line than Ja'Kory Krosky merit, because that was a secondary issue that came in with him last year.
38:32Whenever JCM got carries, he was successful with them for the most part.
38:36But the problem was, is we got into this weird back half of the season situation where Chris Rodriguez was getting the
38:43preferred goal line work and he was good at it and successful at it.
38:48And I get it, but it gives you pause and sitting there and saying, is it possible that JCM is just not the best in that aspect?
38:56And maybe Katron Allen, who you mentioned was very reliable in college.
39:00Could he sneak in there and get that goal line work and make this a weird, nasty three-headed committee where nothing is effective?
39:07So it's, it's, it's, this one is peculiar, right?
39:09And I did go back and look, um, because that probably leads you to saying, okay, since Rashad White would have the
39:16receiving upside, is he the most reliable option in this backfield?
39:20Well, let's go back and look at Jaden Daniels and his rookie season, because last year we can't really use that as
39:26a comp and try to figure out what this would look like in terms of checkdowns for him because, uh, Washington has
39:33utilized the committee through multiple regimes here. And back in 2024, during the, during the rookie season there for Jaden Daniels, it was Brian Robinson and Austin Eckler.
39:42Um, Eckler missed some time, but his 17 game pace in terms of receptions was about three per game.
39:48So, uh, 17 game pace would be about 50 total there.
39:51So there is some potential there for Rashad White to have the most reliable floor in this backfield, just based off the receiving work.
39:59If we were to take it back and see what the check down rate was for Jaden Daniels in his rookie season.
40:05So if I were going to look at this backfield and parse everyone out there, Rashad White is the safer pick because of that receiving upside.
40:13Ja'Kory Krosky-Merritt would be your boom high upside pick because he would potentially have the ability to have the early down work and the goal line work.
40:22And maybe he creeps in there and gets a little bit of that receiving work if he's really improved on that end.
40:28So I would approach it from that end, as long as we get the confirmation that we're not going to have Katron Allen sniping at the goal line.
40:37Is there like, is this an offense that you want to be investing in, especially when you can do it for cheap like this?
40:45Like what, what are your expectations for year three of Jaden Daniels?
40:48Obviously an excellent year one, injury riddled year two.
40:51You know, we do have the, the new young hotshot coordinator play caller.
40:55You mentioned getting the new offense in there. Um, in general, because we know roughly what Jaden Daniels is going to cost in drafts.
41:02We know roughly what Terry McLaurin is going to cost in drafts.
41:06There's a lot of uncertainty beyond that. Is this just an offensive general that you think, Hey, there's some real upside here.
41:13I think there's gonna be a lot of scoring opportunities.
41:16I want to take some swings or is it generally speaking in offense that you're more like, I'll let somebody else try
41:23to play these mind games and figure it out.
41:26I'm willing to take swings on it. I mean, we don't get any discount on Jaden Daniels.
41:31So if you're investing in that, you know, you're investing in it, right?
41:35But everybody else, I mean, we're even getting a discount on Terry McLaurin, who we mentioned is really the only primary pass catcher in this offense.
41:43Now there are still other guys out there in free agency.
41:46Whether or not any of those pan out, my thought process is maybe you eventually see a Stefan Diggs wind up there.
41:53But for right now, we've got Terry McLaurin as the primary pass catcher that is not going inside the top 20 there.
42:00So we're getting a little bit of a decent discount on that.
42:04And we know that all things equal in a full healthy season.
42:07Jaden Daniels brought Terry McLaurin to life in terms of production that we just hadn't seen because of the poor quarterback situation previously.
42:14So I'm interested in Terry McLaurin as a low end wide receiver too.
42:18That's of good value. And then outside of that, Chico Conquo, I think is the little sleepy or sneaky sleeper pick there for us as well.
42:26Sliding in as a starting receiver. Again, you know, go back to we know that Zach Ertz was actually, you know, a
42:33fairly solid streaming option for what it was worth in terms of garnering a decent amount of receptions.
42:39He was second in receptions previously. So with no clear and discernible wide receiver to step up here, we could see Chig
42:45step up, take advantage of that opportunity and really make something of the volume.
42:50So people looking to do any kind of late round streaming options or maybe some little sneaky options and tie it in premium.
42:57That's one that's very interesting. Listeners of the show have heard me talk about Chico Conquo enough.
43:02Otherwise, I would start talking about him even more again.
43:05Let's go to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers backfield. Bucky Irving, RB 21 in ECR.
43:10Kenny Gainwell is down at RB 36. So a bit of a gap there.
43:14Ironically, Gainwell is one spot ahead of Rashad White, who he replaces in this backfield.
43:19And I threw out Sean Tucker as well. He's had some flashes before for sure, but he is a bit further down in the rankings.
43:26I'm not even sure. Yeah, he's RB 58. So a little bit further down as well.
43:31I kind of view this as Bucky Irving's backfield, but with interest in Gainwell, given some of the injury stuff last year
43:38for Bucky and just the fact that Gainwell is a good player.
43:42But I do think the rankings kind of reflect my thought on the backfield, which is there is definitely a lean towards Bucky right now.
43:49I know, again, I mentioned him already, but Pat Fitzmaurice on some of the Dynasty shows has really been talking up Bucky.
43:56And that's definitely seeped into my 2026 ranking of him.
43:59But what do you make of this backfield? Is this Bucky's backfield to lose?
44:04Do you see it as more of a split than the rankings would suggest?
44:08Let me try and negatively influence you there, Ryan.
44:11I'm Bucky. No, it won't be that bad. It won't be that bad.
44:15I agree. He is the lead back. I'm not disputing that.
44:18I agree with that. My problem here is that he is the lead back in an offense where when we saw last
44:25season, the one thing that if you kind of look at the stats and point out his usage in the red zone,
44:32and he was a bell cow running back, right?
44:34With when in games that he played, you know, sans the injury.
44:38Once he came back, volume was there in terms of touches.
44:42But what was missing was the red zone work there.
44:45And once you get inside the tin, his usage drops so far below everyone else in terms of the guys that had
44:51those true bell cow level of touches there. That's the concern for me.
44:55So we're talking about a situation where we trust in theory.
44:59If you, you know, injury issue was definitely traumatizing on that one.
45:03But we trust that he is the lead back.
45:05But if we've got two guys in Kenneth Gainwell and Sean Tucker that are chipping away at the workload, Kenneth Gainwell, who
45:12has been described, let's talk Camp Hype, has been described by his coaching staff as, you know, very positively talking about he and Bucky Irving are very similar.
45:21They can mirror each other. These are very interesting language that they are using in reference to Kenneth Gainwell and Bucky Irving.
45:28And we know that he is an upgraded version of Rashad White.
45:31For every positive thing that I said about Rashad White, it's, you know, a little bit up further for Kenneth Gainwell.
45:38And I think the money kind of does. It's not massive money, but the money does kind of indicate that they view
45:45that as well, that he is worth really being that 1B.
45:48So if we've got Gainwell chipping away at the receptions, right?
45:51And then we've got Sean Tucker chipping away at the goal line.
45:55And I'm worried that with Bucky Irving, we get into a situation where he is perpetually in that RB, maybe 18 to
46:0224 range, where there's a certain level to where you're not busting and it's a complete like, oh no, he got me two fantasy points this week.
46:10But you're never getting that level of upside that you were hoping that you could see that we've seen from him previously though.
46:17And then we've got the change in offensive coordinator here.
46:20So the one thing I do, I like the Tampa Bay Bucs offense as a whole for a bounce back here because
46:27we had poor offensive coordinator work last season. Baker Mayfield was injured, right?
46:31And playing through it throughout a lot of the season, receiving core was dealing with injuries as well.
46:37So I like Tampa Bay for a bounce back here, especially under new coordinator Zach Robinson, who by the way, was the
46:43guy in Atlanta that was giving goal line touches to Tyler Algier at an egregious clip over Bajon Robinson.
46:49So if we've got an offense that was already doing this, and then we got Zach Robinson who had this tendency in
46:56Atlanta, I'm very concerned that there's just a certain ceiling that Bucky Irving unfortunately can't have in this offense.
47:02Where, sorry, did you say, where is he ranked for you?
47:05Because he's, like I said, RB 21 in consensus.
47:08Where do you have him? He is my RB 21.
47:11Yeah. Okay, so right there. He's two spots ahead of Henderson.
47:15Based on the way you've talked about it, would you rather have Henderson or do you see a gap there?
47:21I've got a two gap between those two. I mean, I would rather have Bucky just for the fact that I think there's a more stable floor there.
47:29Again, I would expect him to have the most touches between him and the other backs there and the most stable touches between him and Travion Henderson.
47:38So if you're looking for the ceiling play, Travion Henderson.
47:41I don't know that in the context of the Bucky Irving offense that we see with Tampa Bay that we're going to
47:48get those massive 30-point games that we got out of Travion Henderson last year.
47:52But the floor is a lot safer with Bucky Irving for sure.
47:56We've got one more backfield. But first, today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook.
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49:54All right, last backfield here, Tara. Seattle Seahawks. This one, I'm kind of curious what you have to say on it.
50:00I am something of a vegetarian price truther. I'm not saying that he's the best running back to enter the NFL in
50:07quite some time or anything like that. I'm not crazy, but I do think the runway here is just so clear with Charbonnet's injury and the timeline there.
50:16I'm very convinced that Seattle will, even when Charbonnet is ready to play again, which will be several weeks into the season
50:22at best, that they will want to kind of slow play him and make sure he's ready and fully kind of geared up for the playoffs.
50:30This is a team with obviously Super Bowl aspirations trying to repeat as opposed to caring about what Charbonnet does in November or anything like that.
50:38So just given how late the surgery was in late February, general timeline for how serious an injury this was, and the
50:45fact that they just spent a first round pick on Price, like I'm very bought into Price in 2026 drafts.
50:51How do you see this backfield? Why did it make the list for you?
50:56I have come around to the idea of Jadari and Price because I too, on the majority of the offseason was very
51:02much so looking at this timeline for Charbonnet like there is no way.
51:06It doesn't make logical sense for him to be ready week one.
51:10You would think exactly like you're saying that we'd be looking at them not taking too aggressive of an approach.
51:16We know they're a Super Bowl team. They want to make that push.
51:20You have the pieces in place to be able to just wait, not rush him along and then hold him for your playoff push towards the Super Bowl.
51:29And then they started using all of the could be ready for week one.
51:33And it did kind of spook me a little bit, but it does seem at least now.
51:39Now I will say this going on the pup and training camp doesn't necessarily guarantee that you will be on the pup in regular season.
51:46We've seen multiple players do that, come off and be ready week one, but it does seem more inclined that they were
51:53just kind of hyping him up and that we should be on a more relaxed timeline in terms of him not being
52:00ready at the beginning of the season. And with that said, as long as we don't have an aggressive shift in ADP,
52:07I'm good with Jadari and Price because my fear was is that we would have the rookie hype around him, right?
52:13The first round pick, you're getting very excited and you push him up into the rankings to where you're taking an extreme
52:20amount of risk because at the end of the day, we do know that this is a very high volume run offense
52:27where theoretically you have to have multiple backs involved.
52:29The amount of touches in general that Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker had last season is physically not possible for one back to handle.
52:37So operating with the assumption that we would always have an additional back involved.
52:41But if Jadari and Price's ADP stays in that high end RB3 range, I think we're getting a very nice discount on
52:48somebody who could be operating as a lead back for the majority of the season.
52:53The only issue we might run into is what if Zach Charbonnet comes back into the fantasy playoffs and then you have
52:59this situation of the ceiling is capped and cut down, right?
53:03But that's a risk that you have to take care.
53:06As long as we don't shoot up in the ADP, it's perfectly fine.
53:10I find it funny that when we talk about Travion Henderson, people will tell you, you don't need to be scared of Ramondre Stevenson.
53:17You don't need to be scared. But when it comes to Jadari and Price, somehow we're supposed to see George Helani as a threat.
53:25That one doesn't congruently make sense to me because we have factually seen Stevenson operate as an RB1.
53:30We have not seen any kind of significant usage out of George Helani.
53:34So we can hear all the positives of they love him.
53:38They believe in him. But at the end of the day, we've not seen that man operate as anything.
53:44And even when he had to step in the playoffs after the injury to Zach Charbonnet, it was not in any kind
53:50of role other than coming in on passing downs and having some kind of check down work, right?
53:56Not significant workload on the ground. So while, again, Price is a rookie and they've tried to be, you know, very cautious in their wording.
54:04We're not going to overload him. You know, we'll have him on some special teams and this, this and that.
54:10At the end of the day, the most talented back on that roster that is going to be healthy in week one is Jadari and Price.
54:18So I would expect it to be a fairly safe pick in terms of the early season usage.
54:23So as long as we don't get Camp Hype pushing it up, I'm okay with investing in him.
54:29You beat me to what I was going to ask about George Helani here.
54:33So you already got that one covered. Yeah, I'm kind of operating as far as the whole notion of Charbonnet coming in
54:40during the fantasy playoffs and being a problem. I'm kind of viewing it as like, I'll worry about that when we get to December.
54:47Like for now, if I think Price has this great runway and I know Charbonnet is not going to be there for
54:54a handful of weeks, maybe even longer than I'm like, I'm very willing to say like, we'll worry about that when the time gets here.
55:02Let's let Price get me to the playoffs and get me to that time when I can start worrying about it, which I think is really possible.
55:10And I also think we don't know how good of a player he is.
55:15I mean, he was behind this awesome player in Jeremiah Love in college.
55:19And so he didn't get the opportunity to show what he can do with the bigger workload.
55:24Um, I tend to think he'll be more on the scale of, um, you know, not as good as Jameer Gibbs, but
55:31like an early career Jameer Gibbs, where it's more, we're hoping for efficiency in a smaller workload as opposed to, um, you
55:37know, a guy who's a true bell cow. But I mean, if let's say Charbonnet is out for two months to start
55:44the year and Helani's not that good, like they're going to have to give the ball to Price a lot.
55:50I think I just don't see any way around it.
55:53So, um, that really excites me and what, what that possibility could be.
55:57If he was going like RB 17, I'd feel a lot different.
56:01RB 26. I love it. I'm very in on that.
56:04Um, at that price. I do think it's interesting that three of the names we've talked about today, a lot of these
56:11guys are in similar range, but three of them are back to back to back.
56:16That's Basial Tootin is RB 25. Jadarian Price, RB 26.
56:19Jalen Warren, RB 27. Does that feel like the right order to you or would you shake that up at all?
56:25Nope. That's the exact order I have. I've got Basial Tootin 25, Price 26, and then one person gap of Chiba Hubbard and then Warren at 28.
56:34Warren at 28. Yeah. So right. All in the same range for them, for you.
56:38Um, yeah, I, I like price. I think price is fascinating in dynasty.
56:42Honestly, that's the one where I'm like, I don't really know what to do.
56:47Cause I don't know. Like is Charbonnet there longterm or is he leave?
56:51And then they, they love spending day two picks on these guys.
56:54Maybe they draft somebody else next year. Like what does price look like here?
56:59Even if he has a great year with this, you know, opportunity, do you sell high?
57:04Like to me, dynasty is really interesting, but redraft I at current cost could change, but at current cost, I definitely like price.
57:11Um, Charbonnet is RB 46, by the way, just for what it's worth.
57:15Like to me, I just like injuries are going to find your team anyway.
57:19It's obviously not that it's that expensive. I'm just not that interested in wasting a pick on him and then just having
57:26them take up an IR spot for the first two months of the season, knowing that other guys are going to need to take those spots eventually.
57:34And how much are they going to use when he comes back?
57:38Just in the hope that you have a guy for the fantasy playoffs.
57:42I would let somebody else draft him. And then maybe if you get to October and he's been dropped, then maybe you
57:49pick them up off waivers or something like that later in the year.
57:53If your team's looking good, I don't really want to start the year with Charbonnet on my team.
57:58He'd have to be like, like I even, even if he was like the last pick of the draft, I still feel
58:05like I'm going to value that IR slot unless you're in a league with a ton of them, just a little bit
58:12more than the potential upside for a guy who might not even be better than price.
58:17I mean, there's a world where he is, but like, there's also a world where price comes in and it's, Oh wow.
58:23Now that we see him with a full opportunity to lead the backfield, this guy's actually awesome.
58:29That could happen. It just feels too risky for me to, to use a draft spot on, on Charbonnet.
58:35I'd much rather leave the IR spot open for somebody else who gets hurt on my team.
58:40Yeah. It's funny. You mentioned that I was sitting here looking at my rankings and thinking about, um, we talked about Chris Rodriguez earlier.
58:47Would you prefer Chris Rodriguez or Zach Charbonnet? Cause Rodriguez, you have a little bit more stability, but Charbonnet, you see the
58:54upside that could like, especially when you get to December be good in the playoffs.
58:59I think for me, I'd honestly probably just take Rodriguez knowing that, Hey, maybe he can help me kind of stay afloat
59:05during some bi-weeks in the middle of the year, you know, survive other injuries.
59:10It's just, if I felt like Charbonnet was going to miss a month, then yeah, I, I, I could definitely make a strong case for him.
59:18Just how late in the off season, his surgery was and, and the timeline and the fact that there's no rush for Seattle to get him back.
59:26Like they're going to win a lot of games with this defense, regardless of whether or not Charbonnet Charbonnet is on the field.
59:33Like I, for all of those reasons, I think I would go with Rodriguez and say, maybe he runs hot on touchdowns
59:40this year and it ends up working out well.
59:43But like, they are very close in the rankings.
59:46To your point, Rodriguez is RB 43 Charbonnet RB 46.
59:49I just think like knowing me, I'd rather have the IR spot available.
59:53Yeah. I think that makes sense. Cause I said earlier with Rodriguez, you know, capped upside because of the lack of receiving,
59:59but honestly you get that same kind of, you know, Charbonnet can catch, but we don't have prolific pass catching going on
60:06there in terms of check downs for him. So yeah, I think kind of, yeah, when you get into that range and
60:13you start looking at those guys, I think a Charbonnet getting pushed back makes a lot of sense in what you're saying.
60:20So I agree with that. I like that take.
60:23Let's end on some agreement. We'll go ahead and wrap things up there.
60:27Thanks everybody for checking out our running back position battles to know for your fantasy drafts for Tara.
60:32I'm Ryan warmly. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you again next time.
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