0:00I hope you guys prepared for chaos because that is exactly what you're getting for these week eight running back rankings. Obviously, the S tier is
0:05Gibbs, Robinson, Walker. I do still have Walker in the S tier despite the down game. I mean, he had like 35 points in
0:10week one against Denver. If Kansas City is going to win this game, they're absolutely going to be relying on Kenneth Walker. That's obviously not
0:17where the chaos is. That's going to come a little bit more in the A tier, the Btier, and the Ctier. Moving to the A
0:21tier. I actually have Javvante Williams ranked this high against the Arizona Cardinals. 54 a half game total here.
0:27The Arizona Cardinals have given it up to everyone. Javvante Williams actually had a nice little explosive run game against the Philadelphia Eagles. 25
0:34rushes for 155 yards. I mean, maybe we get a little bit of Tyler Goodson a little bit later in this game, but 30
0:40and a half point total here for Javvante Williams. Also, I mean, this is just like another note. Make sure Tyler Goodson is owned in your league. He's
0:48like the clear handcuff running back in a very good NFL offense. And I noticed that he's owned in like less than 5% of
0:53ESPN leagues. Derrick Henry against the Buffalo Bills sitting here at running back five. The Buffalo Bills, very good team, very bad defense. They are 31st in
1:01the NFL in EPA per play and 30th against running backs in fantasy points per game. They also really struggle against explosive runs. The Baltimore Ravens are
1:09likely getting Lamar Jackson back this week. Feel really good about Henry.
1:12Kairen Williams averaging 19.6 fantasy points per game. Gets to play against the pathetic Los Angeles Chargers. I know Kairen was like a little bit
1:20disappointing uh the last two weeks.
1:22nine points and only 18 points against the Raiders. But I think you have to feel very good about being able to start
1:27Kairen Williams here. James Cook against the Ravens at seven. Obviously, you guys are smart. You're not benching James Cook. Uh DeAndre Swift. So maybe you
1:36guys are potentially thinking about benching DeAndre Swift. I personally would not be doing that. I think that one I said this in yesterday's video,
1:43but like I trust in Ben Johnson. I trust in Caleb Williams. I think they're going to be able to do I mean certainly much
1:49better than the Kansas City Chiefs did.
1:50I think if anything, you're at least going to be able to get some PPR scamming out of DeAndre Swift. I'm very
1:55interested to see how this offense kind of chops and changes without Cole KT. I don't know if that's going to mean more
2:01Sam Roush. I don't know if that's going to mean like a ton more Luther Burden.
2:04There is a chance that they kind of go like base spread offense, base 11 personnel, so a lot more snaps for
2:10Burden. We see a little bit more Xavian Thomas, a little bit more of Jay Walker.
2:14I think all those things are possible.
2:16But regardless of what they do, Kyle Manungai is still not practicing with his toe injury. Maybe there's a chance that Manungai ends up playing and he
2:23would be like a low lowend flex starter.
2:25But their other running backs are Xavier Scott who is a converted wide receiver.
2:29Played a little bit for Minnesota each of the last two years. He's basically special teams only. And Roshan Johnson barely played in the Bears most recent
2:36game against the Patriots. So I'm expecting a lot of swift here. Do not bench him. And then Chase Brown, I'm giving him like this is the ultimate get
2:44right spot. You get to play against the Tennessee Titans with a 29 and a half point total. I know Samaj Pine scored
2:49the touchdown last week, but Chase Brown's usage actually got a little bit better coming out of the buy. Went up to
2:5475% of the snaps. Is still going to get his targets in the passing game. The big deal with Chase Brown is he has just
3:00played terribly this year. He has been laughably inefficient. And as you guys have reminded me in the comments, it like doesn't even really matter how bad
3:07Chase Brown has been in the past. He was terrible last year in terms of efficiency and ended up turning it around. So, I I I just don't think you
3:14can give up on Chase Brown. I mean, maybe this is a team that ends up trading for a running back. Maybe
3:18they're the maybe maybe Tony Per just crosses sidelines, you know, and ends up getting traded to this Cincinnati Bengals. There's been persistent rumors
3:26that the Bengals are interested in a running back because Chase Brown has been really bad, but there's no way you're not starting him with a 29 and a
3:33half total here. Uh then we have Chuba Hubard who played on Thursday night. He had a fine game, had him ranked at 10. I
3:38do have Baltin all the way up at my running back 11 this week. Absolutely insane match up against the Indianapolis Colts who just traded away two of their
3:46better players on both sides of the ball, the Forest Buckner and Quinton Nelson. 28 and a half point team total here. Funnily enough, Tuton is coming
3:53off of his best fantasy football game of the year, but only played 58% of the snaps against Houston. Um or and did,
3:59you know, scored two touchdowns in that game as well. What is interesting is Chris Rodriguez's usage actually trended up in that game. But I think that was a
4:06true coaches being, you know, honest and riding the hot hand. Crod really had it going particularly in that second half against Houston. Do I think Crod will
4:15ever get it going again for the rest of the season? No, I don't because Chris Rodriguez Jr. is not a very good running
4:19back. By Shaw Tudin is a very good running back. The coaching staff overall for Jacksonville has just been very complimentary of Baltin. Grant Udinsky
4:27the offensive coordinator had a great quote over the bye-week about like hey man Tutin is just doing all the things we ask him to do. Like he is picking up
4:33the pass protections. He's learning this in the offense. He's learning that in the offense. So, I think you just have to feel very good about putting Belle
4:39Tuttin in your lineup. And I mean, if you could trade for Belle Tutin right now, it it's probably going to be hard
4:45to do because the drafter who drafted him feels very intelligent for taking him in round four or round five, but he
4:51would be one of my top trade targets in fantasy football right now. Maris, Bucky Irving, sitting at the running back 12
4:57against the Atlanta Falcons. Insane usage game for him against Pittsburgh.
5:00And the overall numbers against Carolina actually obfuscate how good Bucky Irving was. He had 10 rushes on the first drive for them against Carolina. Finished the
5:09first half with 17 rushes. 24 rushes for the game. Then Kenneth Gainwell comes in and plays. Then Kenneth Gainwell gets banged up and Shawn Tucker finishes the
5:18game in garbage time. Had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers been able to keep that game close at all, we could have seen 30
5:22touches for Bucky Irving. And Kenneth Gainwell is still a little bit banged up and he might not even play. All of that
5:28adds up to me. Absolute explosion spot for Bucky Irving. Another guy I moved way up in my rest of season rankings as
5:35well. I would consider him a trade target. The Buccaneers are now getting Baker Mayfield back. And I think most importantly, you know, that division is
5:43very winnable for all these teams. Like the Falcons are three and four, the Panthers are three and four, the Saints are two and five, and the Buccaneers are
5:50technically last place in the division at two and five. And if they win this week and win next week, they're going to
5:54be in sole first place of the division.
5:57So, the fact that basically until like week 14, any team thinks they can win this division, I think is really good
6:03for Bucky. And I think there's every chance that the team continues to load Bucky Irving up with touches. So, I really like him this week and really
6:10like him in general. Ashton Genty, I do still have at running back 13. Yeah, he is basically Trent Richardson on the
6:16ground right now. Look at these rushing totals. 10 for 27, 10 for 22, 8 for 15 as a rusher. However, as a receiver,
6:23three for 50, four for 36, 8 for 61 and a touchdown. You know Ashton Genty is right now, he's like 2024 Rashad White.
6:31He's like the worst early down rusher you've ever seen, but getting it done by hooker by crook as a result of his work
6:37in the receiving game. Now, I've been really high on Genty as a prospect, really high on him in reddraft, really high on him. You know, I had him ranked
6:45ahead of ADP this year as well. Do I feel bad about that? Do I feel stupid about ranking Ash and Genty that high?
6:51Honestly, no, I don't. I think that there are some obvious issues with the Raiders run game, with their blocking scheme, with their run fits. And and
6:58that is, you know, backed up by people way smarter than me. I'm not ever going to pretend to sit here and say like,
7:03"Hey, Davis Madak is an excellent viewer of football. He understands every assignment from every player on offense." Like, there's just no way
7:10that's true. I would be lying to you guys. But people who are much smarter than me have pointed out some obvious
7:14issues with the way that the Raiders are designing their run plays. So, I think there's a chance they fix that. There
7:20was also a really interesting quote from Genty this week where um I mean, you better be prepared to back this up,
7:25Ashton. He said, "There's a couple players on the Jets defense who are not interested in tackling him." So, hey, Genty, you better be running very hard
7:32in this game. And the Jets kind of give it up to everyone, you know? I mean, only a 22 point team total here, but
7:38you've got touchdown opportunities for Genty. You've got a ton of receiving work. Again, just would be too hard for me to bench Ashton Genty in fantasy
7:44football. I had Josh Jacobs ranked 14.
7:46cannot believe how bad he looks. I I mean, this guy looks like not prime Eddie Lacy, like subprime Eddie Lacy, and is still just like jamming in the
7:55fantasy points because they keep giving him the ball at the goal line. So, if you draft a Jacobs, you're happy. Breeze
7:59Hall, I have down at 15 and we're going to get to Braille Allen a little bit later. My guess for how the Jets are
8:06going to deploy these guys after how good Braille Allen has been and Bree's first game back from injury, my guess would be that we are not going to see
8:13Bree getting the workload that he was getting before. So, if you look at how he was playing before, I mean, he was
8:18basically like a workhorse running back.
8:20Uh, 22 rushes and two targets, 16 carries and five targets. And then in the Detroit game, he gets injured in the
8:27third quarter and he had had 13 rushes and three targets. I mean, that is like I'm frankly that is like very similar to
8:34like Ashen Genty level workload and I just don't think you're going to get that from him this week. Uh, I actually
8:40like to do this. So, I just looked at the prop markets here and Bree Hall for 59 and a half rush yards. That's the
8:46same as Ali Gordon. Um, that's the same as DeAndre Swift, which is not to say, you know, I don't think the prop markets
8:51are like the end all beall of anything.
8:53But to me, that does seem like a hair low for what the base projection for Bree Hall would be. I think generally
8:58speaking, he'd be more like 67 and a half rushing yards kind of as his base rate. So, I don't feel like super I I
9:06would not bench Bree Hall and I'm excited to get him back on the teams where I am because I could also be
9:10wrong. You know, the team could get Bree Hall and and put Brillin Allen back in the role that he was in. But I I I
9:15wouldn't consider Bree like a potential superstar breakout spot this week even though the matchup is pretty good against the Raiders just because Breil
9:24has been so good uh with in his absence.
9:27Jonathan Taylor at 16. I don't think you have any choice here. His touches and snaps got reduced. And this is an
9:32insanely tough matchup. He only played 71% of the snaps last week with 18 rushes. The Jacksonville Jaguars have the best EPA per rush defense in the
9:41NFL. They're not giving it up to absolutely anyone. The Colts just lost one of their best offensive linemen.
9:46Daniel Jones is a bottom five quarterback in the NFL and EPA per play.
9:50And there's also every chance that even before the game that Jonathan Taylor gets traded. I I mean the the rumors of
9:55him getting traded to the Vikings are really starting to heat up. Do I think that that's likely? No. I would still
10:02put it at probably less than 50% that Jonathan Taylor gets traded just because the Colts clearly attach a really high value to him. And I just it's hard for
10:10me to see a team trading a first round pick for him. They might, you know, I would never say never, but I would I
10:15would slightly lean on Jonathan Taylor not getting traded. But another reminder here that you absolutely need to make sure that Seth McGawan is owned in your
10:22league. And if he if Jonathan Taylor doesn't get traded, no harm, no foul.
10:25You go drop Seth McGawan. But definitely make sure that he is owned. Uh Jaylen Warren I have at the running back 17. He
10:31had a pretty strong game last week, but still only finishes as the running back 19 for two reasons. The first being Rico
10:37Dowel is still a big part of this offense. You know, they're throwing him the ball. They're using him. In fact, the only rush the team had inside the
10:43red zone in their game in week seven was a rush to Rico Dowel, not to Jaylen Warren. Now, there are going to be a lot
10:50of expected fantasy points available for the Steelers backfield because the team is so heavy pass rate over expectation and Aaron Rogers loves to throw to the
10:58running back. But this idea that I certainly held that Jaylen Warren should be rewarded for how good he was when Rico D was out has only been partially
11:06met. His role expanded from what it was before Dowel got injured. But the, you know, the way Mike McCarthy and Brian
11:12Angelino were talking about Warren was that he was going to be their quote unquote featured player on offense. And I don't know if they've exactly met that
11:19criteria. You know, Dowel is still getting some of the high value touches.
11:23And if Warren was really their featured player, I I would not anticipate Dowel, you know, like ever getting a snap inside the 10 yard line. But obviously,
11:30you're starting Jaylen Warren. You're very glad to have him. Would I go out and like specifically try and trade for Jaylen Warren right now? I don't really
11:37think that I would. I rank Jeremiah Love as my running back 18 this week. Um, I am the highest on Jeremiah Love of
11:44anyone on flockfanasy.com for a couple reasons. So, the first being that Tyler Algier did not practice Thursday and is legitimately questionable here. The
11:52second reason being I think part of the reason why Jeremiah loves snaps, carries, touches, why those were down before he missed time was that he very
11:59clearly was injured and he was also sustaining. I mean, he had two injuries, right? So, we saw a huge role for him
12:04against San Francisco in week three. 64% of the snaps and 21 carries in that game. Then he reinjures his ankle or
12:11sorry doesn't reinjure, injures his other ankle in this game against the Giants. Limps around for 14 rushes for 63 yards. Reinjures that same ankle like
12:19bangs it up even worse against Detroit.
12:2112 rushes for 22 yards. Then misses the game against the Rams and misses the game against Denver. But remember heading into the season for those first
12:29two weeks against the Chargers and the Seahawks, he also was coming back from a high ankle sprain to his other ankle.
12:35He's now had two weeks off. He has not played since week five against Detroit.
12:39In that time, Tyler Algier has played really poorly. So, if you look at any of the fancy metrics, you know, missed
12:45tackles force, rushing yards over expectation, and or EPA added per rush, Tyler Algier has been one of the worst running backs in the NFL to the point
12:53that Bam Knight, Bam Knight, I mean, Zonovan Knight, what are we even talking about here? Has clearly been better than Tyler Algier. What I would anticipate
13:01this week in a really good match up against the Cowboys is that we actually see a chance for Jeremiah Love to be a
13:06true lead back. I I think he and like for example Jaylen Warren could be in very similar roles where they handle,
13:11you know, between 15 and 18 rushes and between three and six targets in the passing game. Jeremiah Love, at least you know to my expectations, I think is
13:18going to perform very well. Um so I'm happy to be the highest on flockfantasy.com on Jeremiah Love. And if Tyler Algier gets ruled out, I'm
13:26expecting him not to play right now. But if he gets ruled out, I actually might move him even further ahead in my
13:31rankings and I feel very comfortable with him being in the B tier here, moving to the C tier, beginning with Quinn Sean Judkins. I know he had great
13:38results last week with the two touchdowns. However, his passing game work fell off an absolute cliff. It was this fewest targets and fewest routes
13:45run in a game this season. Only one target, one catch, one uh one reception for eight yards. Dylan Samson actually played 47% of the offensive snaps for
13:54the Cleveland Browns, that is going to be a big problem for Judkins because just relying on touchdown scoring when you're a Cleveland Brown, I don't think
14:01is particularly going to work. I mean, could he score 10 touchdowns the rest of the season? Of course he could. I think
14:06Quinshon Judkins is a pretty good player. I like his running style. He's very aggressive. He's very decisive.
14:12Dylan Samson a little bit more of a of a dancer, you know, a little and and Dylan Samson is what he is. is I mean he was
14:18the 2024 SEC offensive player of the year, but he is mostly a passing down back. However, he's very competent at that job. Much more competent, you know,
14:26than Raheem Sanders or Jul Mclaclin or any of these other guys. And so what you're looking at with Judkins is an
14:32early down grinder on a bad team against a pretty decent defense as road underdogs. So it just it's kind of hard
14:39to get super super excited about Judkins even though he is coming off of a great game. Raandre Stevenson, I would love to
14:45rank this guy higher. I actually have Arandre on a lot of my fantasy football teams. Um he did only get six rushes
14:50against Chicago, but had that crazy end of the first half touchdown play that that saved his day. Uh elite matchup here against the Miami Dolphins. Trevon
14:59Henderson was in street clothes in their Thursday practice. There's been rumors that Trevon Henderson might even be traded. I I probably doubt that, but if
15:06there's a chance that Trevian doesn't play, I think you obviously have to increase your expectation. And if Trevon is ruled out of this game, I'm going to
15:12remove Arandre from the Ctier here and move him to the Btier. The issue with Arandre is uh he's just not very good,
15:18man. There's a reason why I have him ranked at 22. I mean, he just he is just not that good of a player. Uh he's fine.
15:25He gets what's blocked. I mean, I'm not saying he's a terrible player, but your chances of him having like a huge
15:30explosion game, I mean, how anomalous was that play at the end of the half against the Bears? I still can't really
15:35believe that happened. Olly Gordon, I do have as my running back 21. I mean, he's been awesome. He scored a touchdown
15:41against the Chiefs. He scored a touchdown against the Vikings. He scored a touchdown against the Bengals. And he scored a touchdown against the Jets. He
15:46has not really been involved in the passing game, but to me, I'm honestly, is there really a difference at this point between Olly Gordon and Quinn Sean
15:53Judkins in fantasy? Like, not really.
15:55You know, if anything, Olly Gordon might be uh guaranteed to get more work because the Dolphins dislike Jaylen Wright much more than they dislike uh
16:03than the Cleveland Browns dislike Dylan Samson. I mean, who's a better quarterback right now? Malik Willis or Deshawn Watson. I guess that one is
16:11fairly close, but Olly Gordon looking like one of the absolute waiverwire pickups of the I mean, not a particularly good matchup and a low team
16:18total here for Olly Gordon, but the team totals are basically the same and the matchups are basically the same. It's kind of been crazy how good of a wire
16:24pickup Olly Gordon has been. Rashad White against the decrepit Philadelphia Eagles I have sitting here as my running back 22. Now, Rashad White is an awful
16:33runner. I would compare Rashad White as a start to Woody Marks in a given week where the guy you anticipate taking work
16:40from Rashad White or or Woody Marks like you're never going to know like just how Jaw Jordan came in and was easily better
16:46than Woody Marks two weeks ago. That's what's going to happen with like Jeremy McNichols in this game is you're going to watch Rashad White averaging 2.8
16:53yards per carry. You're going to have this game on or you're going to have it you're going to be watching it and then
16:57you're going to see out of the corner Uriah a running back have a good rush for the commanders. You're going to be
17:02like, "Oh, sick. I just got uh, you know, um, 1.2 points for that run. And then you're going to look at it and
17:06you'll be like, "Oh, that was Jeremy McNichols. Oh, that was Craig Reynolds.
17:09Oh, that was Austin Eckler." Like Rashad White really is quite bad as a rusher, but he's a very good pass catcher. And
17:15he's pretty dependable, you know, in terms of being an interior rusher. You pretty much know what you're going to get from Rashad White. So, I feel
17:20comfortable ranking him here, particularly against the Eagles, who just like have nothing to give. On the other side of that game, the way that I
17:27have things projected right now is that Saquon Barkley is not going to play for the Philadelphia Eagles and that Elijah Mitchell, who was only active for
17:34special teams, not Jaden Blue last week, is still going to be the starting running back here. Um, I have him ranked
17:40at 25, Mason has him 31. No one else has him ranked as a starter. So, if Barkley doesn't play, you are going to kind of
17:47have one of these interesting decisions to make. What is the team actually going to do if their backfield is Eli Mitchell? if it's Jaden Blue and I guess
17:56I let's go find a name right now. Who do we think is the running back potential three in this game? I mean, they don't
18:01even have another running back on their roster. Uh so I I they would maybe go into this game with two running backs.
18:06And I will say this, I'm going to rank Eli Mitchell ahead of Jaden Blue. I think if there was any chance the team
18:12liked Jaden Blue, if they were going to give him any touches, we would have seen something at this point. The C I mean
18:17the Cowboys did this last year with Jaden Blue. Uh Jaden Blue quit his high school football team. Jaden Blue was benched by Texas multiple times. He just
18:26he's got to just be one of the worst teammates of all time. I think that's really the only explanatory variable with Jaden Blue because when he has
18:32played in the NFL, I mean that week 18 game against the Giants, the preseason stuff, he's looked like a pretty good
18:36runner to me. Again, a very amateur football observer. But I I'm going to rank Eli Mitchell as like a low-end running back to a low-end flex starter.
18:44Um if I have to change my mind on Sunday, that's fine. you know, if we get a report from Jimmy Kempky or one of
18:49these Eagles beat Riders that Jaden Blue is going to get the start, that the team is, you know, excited about this
18:54opportunity for Jaden Blue. I mean, what I technically right now, Eli Mitchell is on the practice squad and they're going to have to use a call up for him. That's
19:01just a little bit of roster gymnastics and and cap mechanics and things like that. But, I mean, Eli Mitchell was active for special teams and got the
19:08call with Damen Pierce injured last week. And maybe all of this will be Bernat and Barkley will play, but I'm going to guess being listed with both a
19:15hamstring and a back injury. No practice Wednesday, no practice Thursday that we are not going to see Saquon Barkley play in this game. And then my final running
19:23back here, Tony Pard. I mean, shout out to Tony Pard. Insane game last week. 25 rushes, 129 yards, three touchdowns, three receptions in the passing game,
19:32just absolutely smoking it. Um, I certainly did not have him rank that high last week. And, uh, once you've demonstrated the ability to be this
19:39good, uh, I I guess you own that ability. I'm not even the lowest on him on the site, though. Uh, we could see
19:45Taj Spears back this week. Was Singleton and Taj Spears were both inactive last week, which led to Michael Carter playing the passing downs. Weirdly
19:52enough, Per didn't really play that many more snaps than a than a normal week. I mean, the week before he played 76. I
20:00mean, I guess he does have at least 14 rushes in six straight games. Maybe I'm disrespecting Tony Pard. Uh, it's not a
20:06particularly good matchup against the Bengals. They're like I think they're literally 11 and a half point dogs in this spot. So, not not a spot you would
20:12expect Tony Pard to be all that productive. Obviously, running back 24 you can start. And moving to the D tier, I've got Zack Charbanet and Jadarian
20:20Price ranked backtoback here. I don't really know what to do with this spot.
20:24Now, if Price is not activated from the designated for return IR, and Charbanet is, I would move Charban up. Emanuel Wilson and George Hani have been two of
20:32the worst running backs I've ever seen with my own eyes. I know Emanuel Wilson did have the nice touchdown run last
20:37week against the Chiefs, but the overall rushing yards over expectation, mist tackle, like all the fancy nerd numbers say like Emanuel Wilson is truly one of
20:45the worst to ever be placed in an early down role. And and George Hani, I mean, we'll probably never see this guy again
20:51once Price is back. There is also another scenario where Price could be activated from his chest injury and Charbanet maybe is not ready to go yet.
20:59Keep in mind, Zack Charbanet is a guy who did not have much athleticism to give. He did not have his reconstructive
21:05knee surgery until February. So, he is really like this guy's eight months removed from reconstructive knee surgery. I I'm not certain how good he
21:14is going to be. The thing that I do know is that when these guys are activated, they are immediately going to be placed
21:20ahead of Emanuel Wilson and George Shelani. This is my expectation. So, let's assume both of these guys are healthy and good to go. Activated from
21:28the designated for return IR against the Chicago Bears. I think Sharps is going to be placed in the role that he played
21:33last year and I think Jadarian Price is going to be placed in the quote unquote Kenneth Walker role. I mean maybe
21:40Charbanet picks up some more rushes than he did last year. Price is just clearly so like to my eyes and again I mean
21:48always take everything I say with a grain of salt. Like I want you guys to apply your own logic and your own
21:53thoughts and your own opinions, but just watching Jadarian Price play compared to the other running backs for Seattle. He to me clearly has the best juice even
22:02though he doesn't really understand the blocking scheme yet. He doesn't really understand what to do in short yardage.
22:07He clearly is not ready to go in terms of pass protection and things like that.
22:11But it's so hard for me to imagine a team, you know, a defending Super Bowl champion just say, "Hey, you know what
22:16we're going to do instead of playing the guy we spent our first round pick on who clearly has the juice?" like we're going
22:20to make sure to play Emanuel Wilson in this game. And hey, I could be wrong. I I've been wrong about these things
22:26before. I clearly was wrong about Jerian Price um heading into the season. You know, a guy I drafted in a lot of like
22:31big high stakes money leagues. I've been really really wrong about that. And maybe Charbanet will just hit the ground running and it'll look like he hasn't
22:38missed any time at all. But I think it's one of the biggest questions of the week and when we do the Monday video of you
22:43know I watched every snap in fantasy football what ended up mattering figuring out the difference between Charbanet and Price is going to be one
22:50of the biggest questions to ask in fantasy football because I also think Darnold has been exposed a little bit you know having to do more on the
22:57offense. You know as it stands right now Sam Darnold is uh 23rd in the NFL in EPA per play as a quarterback. You know
23:05worse than Jacobe Brassette. That's not great. If you go back to 2025, Sam Darnold was uh where was he at here? Sam
23:14Darnold was 10th in the NFL in the EPA per play last season. Better than Jared Goth, better than Lamar Jackson, better
23:19than hers, better than Lawrence. So, I I think looking at those things, you're like, man, I don't want Sam Darnold dropping back 40 times in in these
23:27games. So, I I just I don't know exactly what to make of it. I know that in leagues where I have these guys, I right
23:33now am planning on starting both of them. So, I don't have Sharps in very many leagues, but the leagues actually I
23:38have him in um an industry dynasty league and I'm I'm starting him in that spot. And then Price I have in a bunch
23:44of leagues and man, I am really hoping to get the report that he is playing because I I really would like some
23:49running back two points. Jordan Mason I do have ranked ahead of Aaron Jones.
23:53Even assuming that Aaron Jones is able to play with this knee injury, Mason's role looked a little bit better to me. I
23:58think he's going to get whatever goal line short yardage stuff there is. And Kyler just in general has not historically been a thrower to the
24:06running back. I know Aaron Jones has gotten some of that stuff, but I don't know, man. Aaron Jones, 33 years old,
24:11coming off the knee injury. Like, do I do I need to be ranking man at Jordan Mason? I I don't think so. I mean, let's
24:15look at where it's at on the site. So, Jordan Mason, I'm actually the lowest on Jordan Mason, which I didn't really
24:21anticipate. I wonder if that means that I'm the highest on Aaron Jones. Looks like I'm right in the middle on Aaron
24:25Jones. And if he doesn't play, this one's pretty easy. Jordan Mason then goes up into the C tier. I would play
24:31Jordan Mason ahead of Mitchell and Pard uh but probably not Rashad White. So I'd rank him probably about running back 23.
24:38The the issue with the Vikings is they are uh in the KOC era they are bottom five in expected points available to
24:47running backs. They just don't really throw the ball to running backs and they don't really give the ball to the running back in the red zone. Jonah
24:52Coleman I have a 28. I have him ranked the highest of any Denver running back.
24:55I have JK Dobbins absolutely nuked in my rankings in his first game back from injury last week. He played 49% of the
25:02offensive snaps. He got nine rushes, was targeted twice in the passing game. JK Dobbins unfollowed the Denver Broncos on Instagram and uh you know RJ Harvey is
25:12basically just a passing dump back in this offense. The first thing Shawn Peyton said after this game about the running game was that he wanted to get
25:18Jonah Coleman the ball even more.
25:21I mean, do we believe Shawn Peyton?
25:22There was a great moment this week. I don't know if you guys saw this where Shawn Peyton was talking about what
25:26happens if Jaylen Wadd doesn't play and the first name he mentioned was Marvin Mims and one of the Denver Beat Riders
25:31was like, "Hey man, you say you want to get the ball to Marvin Mims a lot. Why don't you just actually do that? Why
25:36don't you just actually give him the ball more?" And all Shawn Peyton could say was like, "Yeah, man. I know." It's
25:40like it's like when your girlfriend yells at you and you're like, "You know what? I'm wrong, man. I'm wrong. You sometimes sometimes you just got to wear
25:45it." And Shawn Peyton was wrong there.
25:47Blake Cororm, I have upranked at 30. Uh huge game for him last week. 17 rushes, 93 yards, and a touchdown. Should get to
25:54play downhill this entire game against the Chargers. Chargers are pathetic.
25:58Would imagine this is probably going to be Mike McDaniels the last game calling plays. I can't really imagine him surviving an 0 and7 start to the season.
26:06I mean, is Harbaugh going to be fired?
26:08What What do you What do you even do when you have a roster this expensive with this many blue chip players that
26:13starts 0 and7? I don't really know how you justify it. And uh speaking of the pathetic Los Angeles Chargers, Amarian Hampton at 31, averaging 9.6. six points
26:21per game. I am tied with Zack for the lowest on Hampton on the site. I will offer you a little bit of cope. I'll
26:27offer you a little bit of cope. If you were someone who ranked Marian Hampton or drafted a Marian Hampton in the
26:32second round, there is a chance that the Chargers just say, "Hey, we are going to get all the way back to basics. None of
26:39this like pre-nap motion, no pony personnel, no no packages for Katon Mitchell, no commani by Dell. We don't care what the score is. We're not going
26:48to let Justin get sacked a hundred times. We're not going to do any of this fancy stuff. We are going to run the
26:52ball 25 times with Amari and Hampton. I mean, that's the best hope I've got for you because I don't think the offensive
26:57line's going to be any better. I don't think Herbert's going to play any better. I don't think Mike McDaniel, you know, all of a sudden got better at his
27:03job or found a new plan. I think this team is like just losers up and down.
27:07But if you want Amari and Hampton points, uh, that's that's the best I could do for you. The E tier, Rico Dao,
27:13I think is a low-end flex starter. Kyle Manungi if he plays, same deal. Not excited about either of these guys. RJ
27:18Harvey. I mean, I don't have him as a drop yet. I'm really interested to see what his usage is here. If you do have
27:23RJ Harvey, I guess the interesting thing would be he tends to do a lot better in games the Denver Broncos lose. Uh, for
27:30example, in week one, he had four targets against the Chiefs. He had 10 targets. A nice game for him against the
27:3549ers. If you think the Chiefs actually play well in this game, I'm starting to doubt that as a Chiefs fan, uh, there
27:41would be a chance for him to rack up some work in the receiving game. Bilan Allen and I have ranked all the way up
27:45as my running back 35 this week. Uh looks like some of these rankingers are still expecting Bree Hall to play. I
27:52might move him up a little bit more in my rankings based on some of the reporting we get around the Jets. If you
27:57wanted to start Braille Allen over Blake Corum, like I wouldn't argue with you.
28:00If you want to start him over Jonah Coleman, I wouldn't argue with you. I think their touch projections are probably pretty similar. Dylan Samson
28:06I've ranked as my running back 36. I do expect him to be the primary passing down back for the rest of the season for
28:12the Browns. And I expect his role to basically be, yeah, four or five rushes, three to five targets in a given week.
28:17And if he scores a touchdown, you'll be happy to have him. If he doesn't score a touchdown, you'll be pretty bummed out.
28:22Trevian Henderson is just a running back two. Now, Keith Mitchell is probably like the running back three. You just might get an explosive play out of him.
28:28Mike Washington Jr. is getting no work in the passing game, not getting any of the goal line stuff. um you know has not
28:34topped five or really has not topped six fantasy points since week three against New Orleans when he scored. He is just a
28:40handcuff. Jaden Blue kind of hedging my bets here. Look, there is a chance that Jaden Blue is the lead rusher in this
28:46game and not Eli Mitchell. But I'm I'm barely call it call it 62% certain that if Saquon Barkley does not play that Eli Mitchell
28:54is going to get the first touch of the game. Now, maybe Eli Mitchell will just be so bad that they'll have to go to
28:59Jaden Blue. Or maybe the Eagles will just get absolutely shellacked in this game against the Commanders because their roster is so bad that Jaden Blue
29:05gets a bunch of slop work in the second half. Sage Perine super super low-end desperation play. Uh same deal for Kenny
29:13Gainwell. I mean, Gainwell is just like not if not having a good year. He did get 14 rushes last week, but that was
29:19all garbageio time. Kamani Videll at 43.
29:22Tyler Algier plays at running back 44.
29:24Manny Wilson. I mean, look, if you absolutely, I don't know, 14 team league, 16 team league, you're just like hoping for a touchdown, maybe you could
29:32play Manny Wilson. Ty Johnson down here at 46. Should be a lot of pass attempts in that game. Bam Knight at 47. Now, if
29:39Alier does not play, I will obviously remove Algier from the rankings. I would move Bam Knight up into this next tier
29:45with Dao, Manungai, Harvey, Allen, and Samson because I don't think like I do like this spot for Jeremiah Love and I
29:51have Jeremiah Love ahead of Consensus, but I would obviously think there's going to be I don't know 8 to 12 touches
29:57left on the bone for Bam Knight. Uh Jaylen Wright down here at running back 48. And then the final guys, JK Dobbins,
30:03EMTT Johnson, Chris Rodriguez Jr., Taj Spears, uh, Roshan Johnson, Marshon Lloyd, and then I had Barkley in there just because I don't want to delete him
30:11from my rankings in case I have to move him back up. So, that is week eight running back rankings. Ask me any
30:17questions you guys have down below. I will try to get to all of them. If you want to head on over to flockfantasy.com
30:22and sign up, you can ask me uh a trade question, a start sit question, a team review, whatever you want over on the
30:28advice tab. Uh, sign up over there, help me out, support me, like the video, subscribe to the Mad Fantasy Football channel, and I will be back with you
30:35guys
