Davis Mattek artwork

Give Up. Draft Running Backs.

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this video and kept the full transcript here for context.

26 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
May 16, 2026
Published
Sat, May 16, 2026
46
Player insights
46
Players mentioned
Topics
Adam RandallAlvin KamaraBijan RobinsonBrock BowersBucky IrvingCalvin RidleyCam SkatteboCeeDee LambChristian McCaffreyColston LovelandD.J. MooreDak PrescottDavante AdamsDe'Von Achane
Player analysis

Player insights

46

Adam Randall

NegativeValue6:18

Davis Mattek identifies Adam Randall as a potential late-round running back target alongside De'Von Achane and Keaton Mitchell, suggesting he may take one more running back after his initial four-back strategy. Mattek also presents Randall as a viable late-round option alongside DJ Giddens, noting the pick carries 'big zero risk' despite limited NFL roster certainty.

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Alvin Kamara

PositiveProjection6:00

Davis Mattek references Alvin Kamara's six-touchdown performance in Best Ball Mania 1 as evidence of how running backs can generate massive fantasy points in best ball formats, supporting the strategy of drafting multiple running backs early. Mattek also identifies Kamara as a potential fifth running back option if he wanted to further build on his Dak Prescott stack, indicating Kamara is available at a later draft position in this scenario.

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Bijan Robinson

PositiveProjection0:39

Davis Mattek ranks Bijan Robinson as one of the clear two best players in fantasy football this year, alongside Jahmyr Gibbs, and believes they will score the most points. He is willing to take Robinson at 1.01 ADP and views him as a foundational pick for robust running back-heavy teams. Robinson is characterized as having a very high ceiling in best ball, positioned as a cornerstone piece in a roster that emphasizes depth at the running back position.

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Brock Bowers

PositiveValue2:20

Davis Mattek expresses strong conviction in Brock Bowers as a premium tight end value, stating he would not skip on him even while building a robust running back-heavy team with his own money. Mattek regrets not getting Bowers in his draft and views him as a must-have tight end option.

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Bucky Irving

NegativeBust15:00

Bucky Irving was an excellent fantasy player his rookie season but declined significantly last season even when healthy. Davis Mattek cites poor athletic profile as a concern: 2.28 RAS, 192 lb, 29-inch vert, 4.58 40-time. Mattek holds the opinion that lower RAS scores correlate with higher injury risk. In best ball, Irving is characterized as high ceiling, low floor, indicating significant upside with corresponding downside risk depending on opportunity and health.

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Calvin Ridley

NegativeProjection19:18

Davis Mattek identifies Calvin Ridley as a very obviously good wide receiver pick, with projections strongly favoring him. Mike Clay consensus projects Ridley for 94 targets, 49 receptions, 769 yards, and four touchdowns despite being drafted at WR70. Mattek estimates Ridley has approximately 25% probability of mattering for fantasy, with roughly 20% chance of health and 5% chance of earning 5.5 targets per game if on field. The primary risk is physical decline post-injury, but if healthy, earning targets is very likely. Ridley was a fourth-to-fifth round pick last year and had 36 targets through six games despite scoring zero touchdowns.

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Cam Skattebo

PositiveRole11:06

Davis Mattek drafted Cam Skattebo as part of a running-back-heavy roster construction strategy. Mattek views Skattebo as having a high ceiling but lower floor due to injury concerns, positioning him as a secondary running back option in a balanced room that includes Bijan Robinson (very high ceiling), Jeremiah Love (very high floor from touches), and Bucky Irving (high ceiling, low floor).

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CeeDee Lamb

NegativeProjection5:24

Davis Mattek uses CeeDee Lamb as a comparison point for George Pickens' upside, stating that Pickens can outscore Lamb in a season, positioning Lamb as a benchmark elite wide receiver.

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Christian McCaffrey

PositiveProjection0:05

Davis Mattek cites Christian McCaffrey as a story of the season, highlighting him as a successful running back in the context of the year of the running back narrative.

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Colston Loveland

PositiveValue4:52

Davis Mattek identifies Colston Loveland as one of three premium tight end options (alongside Brock Bowers and Travis McBride) that he prioritizes in his robust running back-heavy draft strategy. Mattek states: 'I find teams where I do not have Bowers, uh, McBride, or Kholston Loveland, I I kind of end up hating my tight end rooms.' Loveland's draft slot is resolved ('Loveland goes, so we don't even have to sweat that'), indicating Mattek is satisfied with his positioning and does not need to actively target him in this particular draft scenario.

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D.J. Moore

NegativeProjection4:39

Davis Mattek expresses real concerns about DJ Moore's ceiling, questioning whether he can reach 15-16 points per game. Moore is grouped among third and fourth round wide receivers (alongside Ladd McConkey, Davante Adams, Luther Burden, Garrett Wilson, Zay Flowers, and Teit) with significant ceiling concerns. Mattek states: 'I have real concerns that any of these guys can be a 15-16 points per game player.'

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Dak Prescott

PositiveRole8:38

Davis Mattek selected Dak Prescott as his starting quarterback to anchor a George Pickens-centric wide receiver strategy. Mattek describes Prescott as "obviously a very good fantasy quarterback" and uses him as a cornerstone for stacking strategies with tight ends like Jake Ferguson. Mattek drafted Prescott in best ball alongside Tyler Shuck and Daniel Jones, projecting this trio to provide top-quartile quarterback points with complementary ceilings and floors.

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Davante Adams

NegativeProjection4:39

Davis Mattek expresses real concerns about Davante Adams' ceiling, questioning whether he can reach 15-16 points per game. Adams is grouped among third and fourth round wide receivers with significant ceiling concerns alongside DJ Moore, Ladd McConkey, Luther Burden, Garrett Wilson, Zay Flowers, and Teit.

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De'Von Achane

PositiveValue6:18

Davis Mattek identifies De'Von Achane as a potential late-round running back target alongside Adam Randall and Keaton Mitchell, suggesting he may take one more running back after his initial four-back strategy.

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Demond Claiborne

PositiveValue24:06

Davis Mattek recommends Demond Claiborne as a good late-round running back selection for a team built around early-round running back investments like Bijan Robinson and Jeremiah Love.

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Derrick Henry

PositiveProjection0:05

Davis Mattek cites Derrick Henry as a story of the season, highlighting him as a successful running back in the context of the year of the running back narrative.

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DeVonta Smith

NegativeRole5:38

Davis Mattek notes that Zingy 05 has Devonta Smith in a zero running back draft strategy alongside JSN and Rashee Rice, indicating Smith is being used as a wide receiver anchor in alternative team constructions.

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DJ Giddens

PositiveValue24:18

Davis Mattek leans toward DJ Giddens over Adam Randall as a late-round running back pick, citing correlation with Daniel Jones at quarterback as a strategic advantage for this draft team.

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DK Metcalf

NegativeProjection9:00

Mike Clay projects DK Metcalf for 195 PPR points, ranking him as WR32. Mattek uses this projection as a comparison point when arguing there is no meaningful difference between premium wide receivers and mid-tier options like Ricky Pearsall and Xavier Worthy.

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Garrett Wilson

NegativeProjection4:39

Davis Mattek expresses real concerns about Garrett Wilson's ceiling, questioning whether he can reach 15-16 points per game. Wilson is grouped among third and fourth round receivers with ceiling concerns alongside DJ Moore, Ladd McConkey, Davante Adams, Luther Burden, Zay Flowers, and Teit.

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George Pickens

PositiveProjection3:28

Davis Mattek projects George Pickens for 17 points per game and believes he can outscore CeeDee Lamb in a season, viewing him as a tremendous touchdown producer. Mattek anchors his wide receiver group with Pickens despite concerns about his effort levels and off-season Dallas Cowboys franchise tag uncertainty. The entire roster construction is predicated on Pickens finishing as a top-four wide receiver.

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Gunnar Helm

PositiveValue17:37

Davis Mattek has 25% ownership of Gunner Helm and selected him as the second tight end in the draft. Mattek likes late-round tight ends and views Helm as a draftable option in this tier, part of a three-tight-end room with Jake Ferguson and Pat Freiermuth.

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Jahmyr Gibbs

PositiveProjection0:48

Davis Mattek ranks Jahmyr Gibbs as one of the clear two best players in fantasy football this year, alongside Bijan Robinson, and believes they will score the most points. He is willing to take Gibbs at 1.01 ADP.

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Jake Ferguson

PositiveRole13:33

Davis Mattek drafted Jake Ferguson as a tight end who stacks with Dak Prescott, leveraging the quarterback-receiver connection for ceiling upside. Ferguson is part of Mattek's three-tight-end room alongside Gunner Helm and Pat Freiermuth.

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Javonte Williams

PositiveProjection0:05

Davis Mattek cites Javonte Williams as a story of the 2025 season, highlighting him as a successful running back in the context of the year of the running back narrative.

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Jayden Reed

NegativeValue10:45

Jayden Reed has experienced significant ADP inflation, rising from WR49-54 to pick 74 with no corresponding change in situation or production. Davis Mattek views this as an example of nonsensical ADP ordering where players are forced into distinct draft positions despite similar projected value.

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Jeremiyah Love

NegativeProjection3:20

Davis Mattek expects Jeremiah Love's rookie season to resemble Anthony Gentry's trajectory: limited by offensive line play, game script, and quarterback play, but capable of spike weeks with 30-35 point performances. Mattek acknowledges Love is very good but will be constrained by team context. However, Mattek also characterizes Love as having a very high floor in best ball due to his touch volume, making him a reliable contributor in the running back room alongside Bijan Robinson (high ceiling), Cam Skattebo (high ceiling, lower floor), and Bucky Irving (high ceiling, low floor).

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Joe Mixon

PositiveProjection0:05

Davis Mattek cites Joe Mixon as a story of the 2024 season, highlighting him as a successful running back in the context of the year of the running back narrative.

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Josh Downs

PositiveRole11:06

Davis Mattek selected Josh Downs as the perfect wide receiver fit for his draft team, citing Downs' track record of strong fantasy production on limited routes. Downs is viewed as a high-efficiency option despite limited volume and is included in Mattek's best ball roster as part of a seven-wide-receiver room.

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Juwan Johnson

NegativeValue17:29

Davis Mattek passed on Juwan Johnson as a second tight end in favor of Daniel Jones at quarterback, believing Johnson might fall back to him later in the draft. However, Slappy White drafted Johnson before Mattek's next pick, denying Mattek his preferred tight end pick for a team Mattek viewed as custom-made for an older veteran tight end.

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Keaton Mitchell

PositiveValue6:18

Davis Mattek identifies Keaton Mitchell as a potential late-round running back target alongside Adam Randall and De'Von Achane, suggesting he may take one more running back after his initial four-back strategy.

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Kyren Williams

PositiveProjection8:12

Davis Mattek references Kyren Williams' 2024 performance as an example of a breakout running back that could make a zero running back strategy dangerous if hit early; Williams exemplifies the upside potential of late-round or overlooked running backs in a robust running back-heavy draft strategy.

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Ladd McConkey

NegativeProjection4:39

Davis Mattek expresses real concerns about Ladd McConkey's ceiling, questioning whether he can reach 15-16 points per game. McConkey is grouped among third and fourth round wide receivers (alongside DJ Moore, Davante Adams, Luther Burden, Garrett Wilson, Zay Flowers, and Teit) with significant ceiling concerns. Mattek states: 'I have real concerns that any of these guys can be a 15-16 points per game player.'

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Luther Burden

NegativeProjection4:39

Davis Mattek expresses real concerns about Luther Burden's ceiling, questioning whether he can reach 15-16 points per game. Burden is grouped among third and fourth round receivers with ceiling concerns alongside DJ Moore, Ladd McConkey, Davante Adams, Garrett Wilson, Zay Flowers, and Teit.

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Makai Lemon

PositiveRole8:24

Davis Mattek states he definitely needs to take Makai Lemon, indicating Lemon is a must-have player in his draft strategy to support the running back-heavy roster construction.

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Matthew Golden

PositiveValue11:15

Davis Mattek drafted Matthew Golden and noted he needs to move him up in his rankings. Mike Clay projects Golden for 186 PPR points (WR38) with 67 catches, 874 yards, and 5 touchdowns. Mattek believes Golden will be on the field consistently and would be surprised if Malik Keith earns draft rounds over him.

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Najee Harris

PositiveProjection0:05

Davis Mattek cites Najee Harris as a story of the 2024 season, highlighting him as a successful running back in the context of the year of the running back narrative.

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Pat Freiermuth

PositiveValue18:18

Davis Mattek's interest in Pat Freiermuth increases with each day the Steelers do not add another tight end. Mattek describes Freiermuth as undramatic but increasingly appealing as the team's depth chart solidifies. Mattek selected Freiermuth as his third tight end, describing him as a nice comfortable veteran option.

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Rashee Rice

NegativeRole5:38

Davis Mattek notes that Zingy 05 has Rashee Rice in a zero running back draft strategy alongside JSN and Devonta Smith, indicating Rice is being used as a wide receiver anchor in alternative team constructions.

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Ricky Pearsall

PositiveValue9:00

Davis Mattek argues there is no meaningful difference between DK Metcalf (195 PPR, WR32) and Ricky Pearsall, suggesting Pearsall offers similar value at a lower draft cost. Mattek considered Pearsall but ultimately passed to take Josh Downs instead, prioritizing roster construction fit.

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Saquon Barkley

PositiveProjection0:05

Davis Mattek cites Saquon Barkley as a story of the 2024 season, highlighting him as a successful running back in the context of the year of the running back narrative.

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Tyler Shough

PositiveProjection13:33

Davis Mattek drafted Tyler Shough as a quarterback with significant fantasy ceiling. Mattek notes that Shough is drafted slightly after ADP and that "we all kind of universally acknowledge has a ton of fantasy football ceiling and just interest this year." Mattek plans to stack Shough later in the draft.

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Tyler Warren

NegativeRole8:24

Davis Mattek considers Tyler Warren as a tight end option but ultimately decides against him in favor of Dak Prescott, suggesting Warren is not a priority in this particular draft construction focused on running backs and wide receivers.

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Wan'Dale Robinson

PositiveValue9:45

Mike Clay projects Wan'Dale Robinson for 174 PPR points. Davis Mattek notes this is "basically the exact same thing" as Xavier Worthy's 171 points, supporting his argument that there is no meaningful difference between premium and mid-tier wide receivers at this tier.

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Xavier Worthy

PositiveValue9:15

Mike Clay projects Xavier Worthy for 171 PPR points (WR43). Davis Mattek uses Worthy as an example of a mid-tier wide receiver with similar projection value to premium options like DK Metcalf (195 PPR, WR32), supporting his argument that there is no meaningful difference between premium and mid-tier wide receivers.

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Zay Flowers

NegativeProjection4:39

Davis Mattek expresses real concerns about Zay Flowers' ceiling, questioning whether he can reach 15-16 points per game. Flowers is grouped among third and fourth round receivers with ceiling concerns alongside DJ Moore, Ladd McConkey, Davante Adams, Luther Burden, Garrett Wilson, and Teit.

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Full transcript

Episode Transcript

228
0:00This is going to be the year of the running back. Then we need to be drafting some robust running back teams
0:05inside a Best Ball Mania $2 million to first place in 2024 and 2025. The story of the season, Saquon Barkley, Christian
0:13McCaffrey, Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon in 2024, Najee Harris in 2024, Javonte Williams in 2025. So we are here today to answer the question,
0:24do we like our robust running back teams more than our zero running back teams?
0:28The last time I was with all of you for a pre-recorded draft, we did a true zero running back team and I said, "You know
0:33what? I can squint and I can see these teams coming through. We are drafting out of the one hole here in this Best
0:39Ball Mania draft. We are going to begin with Bijan Robinson. I will say just by the way as it pertains to the 1.1,
0:48I'm just going to take whoever is there by ADP. If Jahmyr Gibbs ends up being 101, I will be happy to take Jahmyr
0:53Gibbs 101. I will be happy to take Bijan Robinson 101. I think they are the clear two best players in fantasy football
1:01this year. I think the fact that they are going to score the most points is also aided by the fact that they are
1:06running backs and we want to keep pace and be ahead of the field at running back. Now, because we are picking at the 1.1, that
1:142-3 turn might get a little bit tricky in terms of true robust running back.
1:17But we are going to be drafting like it's 1977 again. I I'm drafting like the biggest boomer you've ever met in this Best Ball Mania draft and let's
1:27see if you guys like this one better at the end of the video. Comment down below. Do you like these robust
1:32extremely running back early heavy teams in fantasy football in 2026? So this is going to be the part of the robust
1:40running back draft where I actually am more tempted by other positions. If Brock Bowers is here, even for the concept of this video, I mean look, I'm
1:47drafting this Best Ball Mania team with my own money right now. I'm not skipping on Bowers. Um I won't take McBride
1:53though just for the concept of the video. Uh okay. Well, Bowers went. Um so, what I'm going to do is I'm going to
2:00take Jeremiah Love.
2:03And I actually am probably going to like the running backs at the next turn better. So, what I'm going to do is I'm
2:08going to anchor our room down with George Pickens. And then at the 4-5 turn, we are going to be looking at
2:16Skatterbo, Montgomery, Swift, Judkins, Price, Toutant. Um I I would take Toutant there. I know that is an unpopular opinion these days. I really
2:25would have liked to have gotten Brock Bowers. And I think having George Pickens as your anchor is completely fine. I know that a lot of people are
2:32concerned about his effort levels. There was the weirdness this off-season with the Dallas Cowboys. Will he won't he play on the franchise tag? Will they
2:40trade him? I mean, honestly, even if he does get traded, I don't really care in this particular instance. And there is
2:46one key thing that I do need to remind you guys about drafting these robust running back teams is that you are going
2:52to be way, way, way behind with these heavy running back starts. I mean, we've talked about this a lot on Ship Chasing and ADP Chasing. But,
3:01unless you do get a true outlier, you know, smash wide receiver performance, you are still going to lose. You know, JSN was also an extremely high advance
3:09rate player coming out of the third round last year. Like, you have needed wide receiver spike weeks. You are not going to win Best Ball Mania 7. You are
3:17not going to win $7 million with 12.7 points per game out of your wide receiver one. Do I think George Pickens
3:24has a 17 points per game season? I I do. I I really I'm not even I feel no compunction about saying that
3:32George Pickens can do that. I mean, in my mind, George Pickens can outscore CeeDee Lamb in a season. I think he is
3:38going to be a tremendous touchdown producer. You'll notice in this draft Zingy 05 has JSN, Rashee Rice, and Devonta Smith. So, he's doing the prompt
3:47from last weekend's video where he's doing the true zero running back. Where I might find myself in trouble actually with a lot of these crazy heavy running
3:55back starts is at tight end.
3:58I find teams where I do not have Bowers, uh, McBride, or Kholston Loveland, I I kind of end up hating my tight end
4:05rooms. And and ultimately this will probably end up being like a 3-5-7-3, three quarterbacks, five running backs, seven wide receivers, and three tight
4:16ends because when you go running back so early you you kind of hate all your other positional groups. I would definitely agree with the idea that at
4:25this point in fantasy football and in best ball, the running back position is the most important. I I think it certainly used to be the wide receiver
4:32position was the most important. It's just not really the case anymore. You know, I mean, look at the guys who are
4:39going in the third and fourth round right now. These are guys who you have real concerns about I mean, I have real
4:45concerns about all of these players' ceilings. DJ Moore, Ladd McConkey, Davante Adams, Luther Burden, Garrett Wilson, Zay Flowers, Teit. Like I I have
4:52real concerns that any of these guys can be a 15-16 points per game player. All right, so Loveland goes, so we don't
4:59even have to sweat that. Um, looks like this is probably going to be some combination of a Bucky I mean, Scataboo,
5:06who I do need to move up in my rankings a little bit over on flockfantasy.com.
5:12And then honestly, after these guys, all right, so let's just do it. Let's just do let's do Scat and let's do Bucky, and we
5:19have got our robust running back start.
5:21I mean, go do some push-ups right now, boys. Go go flex on them right now.
5:24Brian Bijan Robinson, rather, Jeremiah Love, Cam Scataboo, Bucky Irving, and George Pickens. We have got our robust room locked in together. We have got
5:34George Pickens as our top wide receiver.
5:37Um we actually did this, um, we did [clears throat] this experiment over on ship chasing this last week where everyone was asked what their
5:47ideal roster construction would be in the sense of like what roster construction do you think might win Best Ball Mania? And Overzet did the hyper
5:56fragile. And if you've been playing Best Ball for a long time, you remember the hyper fragile running back strategy from way, way back in the day. Our guy Justin
6:04Herzig won Best Ball Mania 1 with only four running backs on his team. With those four running backs, he had the
6:11crazy Alvin Kamara uh six touchdown performance. And then for Best Ball Mania 2, everyone was drafting four running back teams saying, "This is the
6:19wave. You go hyper fragile. We're done at running back here." We probably can be done at running back here. My guess
6:25is we will take one more. We will take an Adam Randall or a De'Von Achane or a Keaton Mitchell or a Keaton Mitchell or
6:32someone like that a little bit later.
6:34Because in half PPR, running backs can generate so many fantasy points without being good. It's It's honestly running backs being able to generate all these
6:43fantasy points without being good is kind of why I still think zero running back can work even on Underdog. You know, if if the right ankles turn in
6:52this upcoming off season or in this upcoming season, then zero running back is still going to be a dominant strategy. When I look at the Flock
6:59Fantasy Construction Tool though, I'm going to guess. So, first off, I'm already in a very weird part of the game tree. So, historically in a 2 million
7:07team data set, only roughly 15,000 teams have started four running backs through five rounds. None of them have been particularly good advance rate. In fact,
7:18all of them have been below average advance rate teams. What you do notice though when you look at the semi-final and the finals is that a decent chunk of
7:27those teams actually like way above average for five running back and six running back. Those end up being semi-finals teams, which is very
7:35interesting to me because it It kind of tells you that's actually kind of the entire story right there, which is that
7:40often times these teams do not project for enough points. They do not have enough wide receiver firepower, but when they do,
7:48when George Pickens finishes as the wide receiver four, when these teams hit on a sleeper tight end, when these teams I
7:54mean, I'm going way back in the annals here, but like when you get a Do you guys remember Robbie Anderson's final
8:00Panther season? It was like he did I want to say this was maybe 2021, where he was like the wide receiver 25 after
8:06like barely being drafted. Um those are some great examples like if you hit on that with this permutation of players, this is a far more dangerous set of
8:16teams. I Well, maybe it's not. What do you guys think is a more dangerous set of teams? Uh a zero running back team
8:22that hits on a 2024 Kyren Williams or a zero a robust running back team that hits on a a JSN or hits on a sleeper
8:31wide receiver. I guess I guess both are probably kind of equally dangerous. Um if I want to take Dak, I probably have
8:39to do it here.
8:41I definitely need to take Makai Lemon.
8:44The question would be do I want to take Tyler Warren? And you know what? Let's just take Dak. I I've got this Dak. This
8:50whole team is bet on George Pickens anyway. So, we have Bijan Robinson, Jeremiah Love, George Pickens, Kem Gatabu, Marquise Bucky Irving, Makai
8:59Lemon, and Dak Prescott. I think I mean, maybe you could argue that it would have been better to just, you know, kind of kind of take my medicine
9:08there, take a DK Metcalf, take a Jordan Addison and get a stable third wide receiver. One of the things that I've
9:13argued for the entirety of this best ball drafting season though is that there is no difference between DK Metcalf and Ricky Pearsall or or Xavier
9:21Worthy. Um I mean, I don't actually know how true that is, but let's just for example, uh let's just pull up the Mike
9:28Clay projections and see what he's got.
9:31So, DK Metcalf, Mr. Clay has for 195 PPR points. That is the wide receiver 32. And then let's go look at what he's
9:41got. For example, let's go Zayvir Wothy.
9:44Zayvir Wothy, he has for 171 points at wide receiver 43. Now, of course, you guys are at home watching or listening
9:52to this saying, "Of course, Davis goes for the Zayvir Wothy example. Why wouldn't he go for the Zayvir Wothy example?"
9:58You make it anyone else you want. I mean, who goes who goes next to Wothy?
10:02Let's go look at Let's go What What does he got Wan'Dale for? So, Wan'Dale Robinson, he has for 174 points. Basically, the exact same
10:11thing, right?
10:13To wit, what that means is the quarterback is the less replaceable option there. The most replaceable thing here is the wide
10:21receiver.
10:23I've said this several times in live streams over the last couple weeks, but just like these wide receivers are just kind of an all-time these players have
10:31to go in some order. I mean, that's just the way snake drafts work. Players have to go in a distinct order. So,
10:37therefore, they are going to be aligned by ADP, but we've seen huge jumps in ADP with nothing happening because the players
10:45are almost nonsensically ordered. So, like Jayden Reed, I mean, Jayden Reed was wide receiver 54 or like wide receiver 49 not that long ago. He's all
10:54the way up to going up pick 74 now with nothing happening. No I mean, Dontayvion Wicks was traded, but like who cares?
10:59Like what does Dontayvion Wicks really do for the situation? And I think my plan is is going to work here because we
11:06are going to get Ricky Pearsall. Oh, actually, no, we're going to take Josh Downs. Downs is the perfect wide receiver for this team. And we are going
11:15to commit to a fully We're We're going to kind of punt tight end cuz what I'm going to do is I'm going to take Matthew Golden
11:22here, who I need to move up in my rankings a little bit. The reason why I took Golden is I think there's a chance
11:27that I'm able to get Jordan Love at my next pick. And if I took Ricky Pearsall, there was no chance of getting Brock
11:32Purdy, so we have Dak, Bijan, Jeremiah Love, Cam Skattebo, Bucky Irving, George Pickens, Mekhi Leven, Josh Downs, and Matthew Golden.
11:40Honestly, for how good these running backs are, I don't really feel that that is that poor of a wide receiver room at all. I kind of feel
11:48that that wide receiver room is actually pretty good. You've got potential breakout guy in Mekhi Leven. You've got a guy who has been very good in fantasy
11:57football on limited routes in Josh Downs. And then you've got your your sort of well, this guy's going to be on the
12:03field.
12:05Matthew Golden's going to be on the field. I mean, I would be very surprised if if Malik Keith is is earning rounds
12:10over Matthew Golden. I mean, I wonder I wonder what Mr. Clay has Golden for right now. I mean, it's probably not
12:16great, but he liked he he was higher on him. Yeah, Matthew Golden, 186 PPR points, wide receiver 38, 67 catches, 874 yards, and five touchdowns. Not that
12:27the not that these projections are are the end-all, be-all, that you know, like that is everything that exists about fantasy football, but I do think that
12:36kind of hewing and just understanding that these guys are so close in terms of tiers, and then looking at what you are
12:42being asked to paid can be pretty interesting directionally.
12:47Now, another interesting situation would be at this next pick, do we actually spend more at running back and do our final
12:56running back selection here, and then plan on kind of having three of like likely Godert, Saadiq Chig Okonkwo as our as our three tight ends or something
13:06like that. I mean, Ferguson I think obviously makes sense when you've got Dak, but in well, Baker and Bucky is an okay stack. We do
13:16have Dimes later.
13:19Maybe I maybe I even take Shock and Juwan Johnson or something like that on on this team cuz the wide receivers here
13:25again, like the wide receivers are they're completely immaterial.
13:30So, that's actually I I'm going to maybe kind of zig here a little bit based on what you might expect. I'm going to take
13:35Tyler Shough, who is stacked um or who is not stacked yet, but we're going to stack him later. And then I'm
13:41going to take Jake Ferguson, who stacks with Dak. I'm going to hope to get Juwan Johnson later. Alvin Kamara could be our
13:48fifth running back here if we wanted to build on top of that stack there. You got to Honestly, I got to kind of hand
13:55it to the robust running back drafters right here.
13:57To me, this team feels quite nice.
14:00You've got Dak, who is like obviously a very good fantasy quarterback. You've got Tyler Shough a little after ADP, who we all kind of universally acknowledge
14:08has a ton of fantasy football uh ceiling and just interest this year.
14:12>> [snorts] >> Bijan Robinson, Jeremiah Love, who weirdly I actually expect to not be particularly awesome in terms of what I expect from him on a
14:22weekly basis. Like, I think that his rookie season will probably end up not being that dissimilar to Gentry, where you can tell that Jeremiah Love is very
14:32good, but he's clearly being limited by the team that he plays on both in terms of offensive line play and game script
14:38and quarterback play.
14:40But, what that will entail will be a couple crazy spike weeks, right? A couple 30-pointers, a couple 35-pointers. I think we will certainly
14:46get from Jeremiah Love. It certainly could happen in the right money weeks.
14:49Although, I do think Carson Beck I do think we are going to sadly see Carson Beck play.
14:56I'm not I'm really much not very much looking forward to that. But, then in our running back room, we have Scat
15:01Aboob, who was a 14 and 1/2 points per game player last year. Bucky Irving, who was an awesome awesome fantasy football
15:08player his rookie season. Not nearly as good last season, even when he was on the field. I'm I'm kind of a noted Bucky
15:16Irving hater. I mean, a hater? Do I like Bucky Irving? Yes. Do I like profiles of day three running backs who catch passes
15:23and are efficient? Yes. You guys know that I'm a big relative athletic score guy though. I'm a big RAS guy. Bucky, I
15:30believe was a 3.2 RAS. Let me Let me look this up so I can actually get it. No, sorry.
15:36I even even higher. Bucky Irving was a 2.28 RAS. He weighed 192 lb with a 29-in vert. He He had a What a
15:4790 What does 907 broad mean? With a 4.58 40. I I'm sorry. I don't know how to convert whatever that is right now. But
15:55Bucky was not a good athlete. And And an opinion that I might mean that Or an opinion that I have that you guys will
16:03probably disagree with would be that I think if you have a lower RAS, you are more likely to be injured.
16:09Again, I I understand that might be an unpopular opinion, but it is one that I hold. So again, there's really not
16:17anyone that we need to take here. I don't I don't really think at all in terms of the wide receiver Well,
16:23actually, you know what? A zero a zero wide receiver team always has to have Travis Homer. That is absolutely required. And then we're going to take
16:33Daniel Jones as our third quarterback instead of taking Juwan Johnson as our second tight end. We're going to do that for two reasons.
16:42The first being I do think that if you are feeling light at one positional group, which I think obviously we do
16:50feel light at wide receiver and we're probably going to feel light at tight end as well. I think And I would love your guys' thoughts on
16:57this if you want to comment down below on this as well. I think that winning at quarterback is one of the most important
17:04things you can do in terms of advancing.
17:06Like with Daniel Jones, Tyler Shuck, and Dak Prescott, I'm going to feel pretty strongly about being in the top quartile at quarterback points probably. Like I
17:16think those ceilings and those floors work together quite nicely. Um it's obviously like some quarterback injuries are going to happen this upcoming
17:24season. If they don't happen to me, that will be great. But even if they do happen to me, it's going to help kind of
17:29carry me over the hump. But so I certainly think when you're when you do these unbalanced builds, I kind of like
17:35having three of each, three quarterbacks, three tight ends, three of the onesies. I I like having the unbalanced builds um a little bit a
17:44little bit more. Uh again, maybe maybe an unpopular opinion, but it's one that I like. And then the second reason why
17:49we did that is there's probably a chance that Juwan Johnson does not get drafted until he comes back around to me. And then the
17:57other is I I really like some of these late tight ends. I I mean, I have 25% of Gunner Helm. Uh I probably could stand
18:06to take a little bit more of Barner.
18:08Every day that the Steelers do not bring in another tight end, I like Pat Freiermuth more, who's a very undavis-matic player. Um
18:16we've got uh David Njoku, who I think is draftable now. Greg Dulcich, by the way, uh very draftable now to me. I mean, a lot of
18:24the free agent tight ends did not sign.
18:26There I have been arguing kind of like the last like three shows I've been on with Corrine and Jacob and Pete and
18:33stuff. I've been saying, "Guys, like why are we not taking Malik Willis more?"
18:37What what is the deal? Like we we took Trey Lance high all those times. And so like downstream of that, I've kind of
18:42talked myself in to Dulcich. But this is a team that is custom-made for one older veteran tight end. And looks like Juwan
18:50Johnson did go. Who took Who took Juwan Johnson? Who's going to get the wrath of my ire? Oh, my guy My guy Slappy White,
18:57who is in the Discord. Uh he's in the Sloppy Centra Discord. He's a member. He took Juwan Johnson from me. Very very
19:03unfortunate to eat that one there. So what we could do here is we could take one tight end, and then we could take our final
19:12No, we're going to keep waiting on running back cuz I do think I'm probably going to take Kamara. So, let's Oh, I
19:18tell you who is a very obviously good wide receiver pick on this team is Calvin Ridley. You want to talk about a guy who the projections
19:25really like? Calvin Ridley is going to go there, and then for our second tight end um Yeah, you know what? Let's take Gunner
19:34Helm, and then let's see what comes back to us. So, we've got Ferguson and Helm in our tight end room, George Pickens,
19:40Makai Lemon, Josh Downs, Matthew Golden, Travis Hunter, and Calvin Ridley. If you view things through a kind of analytical bent, it's very hard for me to imagine
19:49that even a disappointing season from Calvin Ridley does not end up way out producing a wide receiver 70 draft slot.
19:56He was a fourth, fifth round pick last year. Uh just for example, the Mike Clay projections, which I I again I got I
20:04basically I whenever I reference Mike Clay projections, I mean I would basically just in your mind translate that is, "Well, this is just kind of
20:11like the average consensus of what you might expect." Like from someone who's really paying attention to football, this is how the playing time and the
20:18targets are about to be distributed. He has him for third on the team in targets, 94 targets, 49 receptions, 769 yd, and four touchdowns. And if we look
20:28at what Calvin Ridley did the last time he was on the football field, I mean he he barely played, but he would have been
20:35better than this. Uh you know, I mean he had 36 targets through six games last year. Didn't score any touchdowns, was
20:41like awful, but that kind of pace at wide receiver 70 is fine.
20:47The only reason to be um the only reason to be totally out on Calvin Ridley would be as if you think
20:53he's just like physically past it and is not going to be able to play this upcoming season, which is totally possible, right? Uh I mean I generally
21:02have been a I like to throw the milk out before it gets bad as opposed to drinking sour milk style guy in my best
21:11ball fantasy football career. I I've actively gone away from older players.
21:15But in this environment where he is being drafted next to and and I hope Kareem is not watching this. He He
21:22isn't. But like I know I intuitively understand that Isaac TeSlaa is a bad bet. I know that DeShawn Strickland is a
21:30bad bet. I know that Antonio Williams is a bad bet. I know that Jaylen Nailor and Trey Tucker are terrible bets. There are
21:36a lot of these guys here who just have no chance. Like they they are just not going to matter for fantasy football
21:42this upcoming season. Or or they're like 2% to matter or something, but they're being drafted like it's 10%. Calvin Ridley is probably like 25% to matter.
21:51And hitting that 25% is not much. It's 20 It's like 7% or 20% that he's healthy and then 5% that he's able to earn five
21:59and a half targets per game, which feels to me uh very very likely. Very I would argue maybe even probable that he is able to earn targets if he is
22:09on the field. It's just a matter of, you know, what is fracturing your leg do to a man. All right, our last running back
22:16on this team I'm trying to think, does does it make sense for it to be an old guy?
22:23No. No. I I think we want some ceiling.
22:26So, let's do Freiermuth as our third tight end. He's just a nice comfortable veteran. And then for our final wide receiver, we don't have any rookie wide
22:33receivers yet. Let's take my guy Zachariah Branch. So, with one pick left to go, we have three quarterbacks, four running backs, seven wide receivers,
22:41three tight ends, Dak Prescott, Tyler Shuck, Daniel Jones, Bijan Robinson, Jeremiah Love, Cam Skattebo, Bucky Irving, George Pickens, Mekhi Leven,
22:51Josh Downs, Matthew Golden, Travis Homer, Calvin Ridley, Zachariah Branch, Jake Ferguson, Gunner Helm, and Pat Freiermuth. Honestly, to me, I It's It's
23:01hard for me to be It's It's hard for me to admit that my zero running back roots do not have, you know, enough uh
23:11richness and denseness and nutrients in their soil to continue to nourish me as I age. But, this is just a good team.
23:20This is just a really good best ball team, right? It's It's kind of got all its bases covered. It's got a wide array
23:26of guys who are going to be on the field at tight end. It's got extremely high ceilings and floors at running back. I
23:32mean, I think Bijan is a very high ceiling. Love is a very high floor cuz of the touches. Scat who I think is a
23:38high ceiling, kind of a lower floor because of the injury. And then, Bucky Irving is high ceiling, low floor. Uh and then, whatever running back I mean,
23:45obviously whatever running back we take in the 18th round is going to be absolutely no floor. But, that's okay.
23:51Like if this team needs uh an 18th round running back score, it's either a Kyren Williams or a guy or like my team is
23:59totally busted anyways. So, I think if we're if we're drafting like we're right. It's been a long time since we've talked about that in an off season. That
24:06used to be kind of one of the adages of an off season. But, if we are drafting like we are right,
24:13then yeah, we're we're just I mean, this is like a good team to take Demond Claiborne. Uh this is a good team to
24:18take Jaden Blue. This is a good team to take DJ Giddens or or Adam Randall. Um I I think I'm probably leaning towards
24:25Giddens on this one.
24:27I mean, it would obviously be nice to have someone who's going to be on a roster. Ja- James Conner, by the way,
24:31could certainly be uh a member of the Dallas Cowboys. But, uh you know, obviously there's there's big zero risk with a lot of these guys. Big zero risk
24:41uh with Jaden Blue. Big zero risk with Adam Randall. But, this this team kind of doesn't care. I mean, I I would think
24:47there's some mathematical argument to just take another wide receiver and just say, "Hey, man. You made your bed with Bijan Robinson, Jeremiah Love, Ka'imi
24:54Fairbairn, and Bucky Irving. So, why don't you just go ahead and lie uh in in that bed? But our our final pick on this
25:00team is going to be do do do. You know what? It's going to be DJ Giddens cuz we've got a little bit
25:09of correlation there with Daniel Jones.
25:13So that is a robust running back team.
25:16Frankly, I got to keep it real. That's a very good team. I'd like you guys to comment down below. Do you think
25:22robust running back is better than zero running back? If you want to use these tools, this overlay that I've got set up
25:28in this video, head on over to flockfantasy.com.
25:31Sign yourself up over there using code Davis. Link to that is in the description and down in the comments.
25:36Like the video, subscribe to the channel, and I'll be back with all of you guys later on.

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