0:00It is a great day to break down my week three fantasy football running back rankings and tiers. Going to be going
0:05RB1 through RB 48. At the end of every tier, answering some bigger picture questions. Things like which teams have the best and worst advantages in the
0:12trenches on paper. Who are some deep league waiverwire stashes? Guys who are actually outperforming their team starter despite being a backup. All that
0:20and much much more. So appreciate you guys tuning in. And with that, let's get started with Mr. RB1 Jir Gibbs. No
0:26surprise here, but it really is wild to me, guys, that we're talking about the overall PPR RB2 behind only Kenneth Walker. Yet, Jir Gibbs hasn't even
0:35ripped off a big play longer than 21 yards yet. Okay, that's a superpower.
0:39Hasn't even needed it. RB2 in fantasy football. Wheels up here against the Jets. RB2 is still going to be John Robinson for me. I want to see Michael
0:47Penn back under center and please just make this Falcons offense somewhat watchable. But hey, last week couldn't do a damn thing the entire single game.
0:55And guess what? Bejan still was the RB20. That's how good this guy that's his floor in pretty much a worst case
1:00imaginable scenario. So not expecting again necessarily huge fireworks here in terms of the Vegas implied team total.
1:07They have the Falcons is scoring just 19 points. That is tied for the fourth lowest mark here in week three. But
1:12again, Bjan Robinson and literally anything beats Cooper Rush. You listening right now, I would prefer to watch play quarterback more than Cooper
1:19Rush. Again, RB3 going to be Christian McAffrey guys. He hilariously owns the Cardinals. Okay, I was actually going through his career numbers here. CMC has
1:29averaged 29.3 PPR points per game in nine career contests against Arizona.
1:36Not even three or four, nine games and he has just gone off time and time again. He's had 335 plus performances in
1:42terms of fantasy points in his last four matchups. CMC owns this franchise and he should be out there for at least as long
1:49as this game is competitive to be able to rack up those fantasy points per the great Dwayne McFarland. You can find
1:54breaking down all the action of myself on Sunday nights here on this very channel. CMC actually had a much more familiar 77% snap rate in week two until
2:03the game was out of hand. So Kaylin Black was playing through a groin injury, but as we told you last week,
2:08CMC still very much an upside RB1. even if he's not maybe gonna be the RB1 this year. Still definitely someone you
2:14should feel pretty great about having on your fantasy squad. RB4 is going to be the man of the hour, Mr. Kenneth Walker.
2:20Looking a lot like the best running back in football right now. And he is the best running back in terms of fantasy
2:25points scored this year. So going to be talking again about just how good his performance has been here in just a few
2:30minutes. RB5 though is going to be Derrick Henry in a Brazil themed matchup here against the Cowboys. currently tied for the league league with four rushing
2:37touchdowns, averaging a familiar 5.3 rushing yards per carry. King [ __ ] from King Henry himself. RB6 is gonna be Jonathan Taylor against the Houston
2:46Texans. JT is amazing, man. He really is. I just worry a little bit if this Colts offense could fall off a little
2:54bit. All right, Alec Pierce is going to be missing some time. And now we have guys like Darius Sllayton, Ashton Doulan, old man Keenan Allen. Those are
3:00the dudes expect to take away attention from the short intermediate areas of the field where we're hoping to see guys like Jonathan Taylor, Josh DS, and Tyler
3:08Warren make their money. So O line's still good. Shane Stiken obviously knows what he's doing, but haven't exactly seen the best version of Daniel Jones
3:14out there. Yeah, just a lot to ask for for Jonathan Taylor. That said, guys, 95% snap rate last week. As long as he's
3:22playing a near every down role like this and continuing to be healthy, going to be tough to keep Jonathan Taylor outside
3:26fans top six. And last guy in this tier, RB7, is gonna be James Cook against the Chargers. It would be cooler James Cook
3:34managers if you guys got all the carries at the one yard line and Josh Allen got zero. I admit that. At the same time,
3:40don't be so freaking spoiled about it, okay? Since 2024, we're talking about a guy who was fourth in rushing touchdowns and sixth in carries from inside the 5yd
3:48line. This isn't quite like the Eagles, guys, where they literally get nothing once they're near the goal line. They still give them chances as we saw at the
3:55end of the fourth quarter there last week. So, James Cook still very much a fantasy god, even if Josh Allen, yeah,
4:01is a little bit more godlike. But guys, takes us to the key question for the tier, and that is, who has been the best
4:06individual performers at the running back position? Spoiler, it is indeed Kenneth Walker. And then everyone else.
4:12So, got a graph on the screen right now.
4:13X-axis yards after contact per carry.
4:16Y-axis, tackles avoided per carry.
4:19Again, it's running back, offensive environment, the offensive line. These things are always going to influence all the stats we try to use to measure
4:25running back performance. But I do think tackles avoided in yards after contact, but Carrie probably do the best job possible. And yeah, way up in the top
4:32right hand corner is none other than the reigning Super Bowl MVP. So great stuff from Kenneth Walker. But also guys, look
4:39at Bashaw Tuton up there [clears throat] next to Saquon Barkley. Kyle Manungai also racking up a bunch of yards after contact for carry. not exactly seeing
4:46the best, you know, foot put forward from guys like Jonah Coleman, Mike Washington, Chris Brooks, Rico Dowl, David Montgomery, Devon Achan, Quinn
4:54Sean Judkins, and Bree Hall down there in the bottom left hand corner. But yes, Kenneth Walker playing a position better than just about anyone through two
5:01weeks. Good on the Chiefs for actually getting a real run threat, guys. And this next graph that's going to pop up
5:06now is truly probably the wildest thing I found so far through two weeks of the season from the 2024 to 2025 seasons.
5:14Chiefs running backs collectively, which is, you know, mostly Isaiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt, but collectively Chiefs running backs ranked dead last in these
5:22two categories. And it really wasn't even close. But again, through two weeks of this season, we are seeing them rank easily first in both. That's a testament
5:31just how good Kenneth Walker is and how good EMTT Johnson is. That rookie has done a lot of cool [ __ ] More on him a
5:37little bit later. Tier two, guys, this is the rest of the RB1s plus, you know, some upside RB2 options. RB8. I got
5:43Saquon Barkley for right now at the Chicago Bears. We will see what happens with the Stinger. Obviously, if he's out of the picture, that is going to mean a
5:50big bump up for Tank Bsby and to a slightly lesser extent, Will Shipley in the ranks. If Saquon is out, I'm not
5:57doing the cross out his name and put Tank Bsby in their thing. We did see Will Shipley playing a lot more
6:02alongside Tank than any either of these guys do when Saquon's perfectly healthy.
6:06I would have Tank Bsby ranked around that RB20 range next to Dave Montgomery who honestly I think the Deont Woody Marks kind of parallel with what we're
6:15seeing in Philly is pretty close again without Saquon involved. So I do think we could see Shipley maybe lead the way
6:21in snaps, but in terms of carries and getting a few targets, I do think we would see it overwhelmingly in favor of
6:26Bsby. Unfortunately, the parallels in these two situations don't stop there because this Eagles offensive line cannot block anyone. Just like the
6:34Texans, bottom three offensive line guys this year, an RB rushing yards before contact per carry. It's a stat I like to
6:41use to try to help quantify run blocking. It's the Eagles, it's the Texans, and it's the Browns. Yikes.
6:47Anyway, I hope Saquon is healthy and ready to go. I just showed you guys a chart that says that he again is very
6:53much so operating as one of the best individual running backs in the league independent of his offensive line and it is a good matchup. It's like that meme,
7:01you know, where it's like hydro hydrogen bomb versus coughing baby except it's just kind of like two coughing babies.
7:07Unmovable force is meeting a stopable object here, however that goes. Yeah.
7:12Anyway, Eagles are the third worst offensive line in RV rush yards before contact for carry and the Bears are the third worst offensive line. Something's
7:19got to give here on Monday Night Football. RB9 gonna be Chase Brown going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers. 21 and 23 touches to start the season. Had
7:27the tougher match up against the Texans last week. Also had his biggest run of the day, 25 yards, wiped out by a
7:32holding penalty. So again, haven't gotten massive fireworks yet, but we still have the clear lead back in an offense we are expecting big things from
7:39throughout the course of the season. I would not be panicking. Maybe even comes this week. You know, I do have respect
7:44for Cam Hayward, TJ Watt, and that Steelers front seven, but didn't stop Chase Brown for going for 108 and 99 rushing yards in two games against them
7:51last season. RB10, I got Ashton Genty going up against the Saints, guys. Crash back to reality a little bit following his big week one. Dropped three passes
7:59out there last week. He actually leads all running backs in drops dating back to week one of last season. Of course,
8:05though, the rushing stuff, as is usually the case here, and I don't mean that as a slight. It's just literally the case
8:10for Ashen Genty, is not so much on him.
8:12Last week, we actually saw the Raiders and Texans as teams have negative RB rush yards before contact per carry. It was a rough one out there. So, Saints
8:21haven't been all that stiff against the run game, but man, I do worry about this Raiders offensive line just continuing to not exactly make life easy for Genty.
8:29Getting Brock Bowers back hopefully should help take some of the attention off the line of scrimmage, but yeah, only so much Clint Kubak could do. I'd
8:35love to get Genty up in the top five conversation. I think he has the real life talent to do so. just a situation
8:41where again given this offensive line it's gonna be tough to have him too much higher than as a low-end RB1 in more
8:46matchups than not. He is due to rip off a big run though. So I say he's due. You could also say come on man step it up.
8:53You've had enough opportunities. But in terms of running backs guys with the most touches without a 20 plus yard gain this season. Genty leads the way with
9:0054. Chase Brown is in second with 44 and then Devon Achen there at 38. So, not been too great from three guys that
9:07again you expect a big play ability from. I'm not slandering them over a two-eek sample. You can if you want to.
9:13I guess I gave you the grenade here if you want to go ahead and throw it. But yeah, Ashton Genty, RB10 for me. RB11
9:19for me is going to be Javvante Williams going up against the Ravens again in Brazilia. Cowboys are another one of these teams where we just haven't
9:25exactly seen them get much of a push at the line of scrimmage, have some injuries going on, but yeah, guys, 27th
9:30in RB rush yards before contact per carry. Week one though, we still got the two touchdowns. And although John Devonte hasn't exactly been crushing it
9:37from an efficiency standpoint, he's looked better as a receiver. Not fireworks necessarily, but again, this was brutal last year. So getting even
9:45average receiving production is a step forward in the right direction. Javvante Williams though, this season, guys, already has two games with three plus
9:52catches for 20 plus yards. That's how many he had last season for the entirety of the year. So so far so good for
9:58Javvante. Not concerned here. Very much not concerned for my RB12. Chuba Hubard now the running back y'all in Carolina with Jonathan Brooks seemingly going to
10:06miss at least this week with that groin injury going up against the Cleveland Browns. I'm expecting Chuba to have a true workhorse role again in the NFL's
10:14second ranked scoring offense right now.
10:16Okay, now we've seen this crash and burn in the past. I'm old enough to remember in 2024 when the Saints look like an
10:21absolute juggernaut in the first two weeks of the year. Then everyone got hurt and we also found out that yeah, they beat out the Panthers and Cowboys,
10:27two pretty bad defenses. would not be surprised if we're looking back on the Bears and the Falcons and saying something similar by the end of the
10:33season. But either way, Chuba been making things happen. He's a PPR RB8 even sharing work with Jonathan Brooks.
10:40Chuba Hubard has more fantasy points than Christian McCaffrey right now. How about them apples? He's my RB12 ahead of a matchup against the Browns defense
10:46that hasn't looked quite as formidable without Miles Garrett and Jim Schwarz.
10:51RB13, I'm going Bree Hall, guys. going up. I think could be a sneaky shootout here in at Ford Field in the dome. Jets
10:59Lions and don't look now, but the Jets offensive lines actually been kind of nice. 12 in yards before contact per carry, fifth in average time to
11:06pressure. Honestly, at a certain point, it goes down to Bree Hall needing to step up a little bit. He is so explosive
11:13as a receiver when they can get him out in space. And we saw that last week when he busted that screen for like 45 yards.
11:18I thought he was gone there for a second. But I did find a pretty damning stat for Bree Hall. I like yards after
11:26contact, but like many stats, it can get skewed by one or two really big plays.
11:31All right. I think like Devon Achan led the NFL in yards after contact per carry last season. Not that he's pushing the
11:36most piles, but you know, you get these monster runs where you break an arm tackle at the line of scrimmage. That's
11:40a lot of yards after contact. So, when I think of the figure, when I think of the metric, I like to think of, okay, what
11:47players are consistently moving piles, consistently getting those extra hard-fought yards after contact. So, I made up this new metric, percentage of
11:55carries where you gain at least three plus yards after contact. Okay, so again, we're kind of getting away the big long runs where you get 60 yards
12:03after contact. It's just did you or did you not get at least three yards after contact on this carry? Number one in the
12:09NFL is Kenneth Walker. Number two is Bashaw Tutin. Number three is Chase Brown. Bucky Irving, Brian Robinson or Marian Hampton, other guys that rate out
12:16really highly. Dead last among about 44 running backs. Trayvon Henderson, just 19% of his carries have included three plus yards after contact. I think that
12:26adds up with what we usually see from Trayvon. Bit of a home run hitter, right in second to dead last, Bree Hall. 21%
12:36of his carries have produced three plus yards after contact. That's pretty damning, guys. And again, the offensive line for the Jets really hasn't been
12:44much of a problem. And this is supposed to be a stat that's to the best of our ability trying to account for that. You
12:51know, not good for Breein Allen took the goal line touchdown as well last week.
12:56Let's see it, man. Got paid. We know that talent's in there. It's a talented pass catcher. Let's see it because so
13:01far hasn't been so good. RB14, another guy, man, Devon Achan going up against the Chiefs. hasn't been pretty. 3.5 yards for carry, just seven catches for
13:1049 scoreless yards. I mentioned a lack of big plays here earlier. I don't think Devon HM magically turned bad or anything. I just think it's a horrible
13:16offensive situation. They actually were moving the ball decently in the first half against San Fran last week. Just unfortunately couldn't finish off those
13:24drives once they got down into the red zone. The thing is like do we actually think the Dolphins going up against the
13:29Chiefs? D Spagnull and company that's going to be what really brings out the best in a Chan and company. I'm very
13:34dubious. Only the Commanders are implied to score fewer points than the Dolphins this week.
13:40RB 15. I go to Marian Hampton against Buffalo. I'm a little worried though, man. He's lost a fumble in each of these
13:46first two games. The last one was backbreaking. We're talking about a three-point game in the fourth quarter and they ended up losing obviously by 10
13:52plus in large part because the Raiders scored after the fumble. I don't think Hampton's been horrible. I mentioned it.
13:58He's pushing the piles up there with some of the best running backs out there. He is a big, strong, fast dude.
14:03That's why he was a first round pick in the first place. Just his charge as offense, man. It's not good. We've been
14:10over this. Said my apologies. Probably have to keep saying them and I deserve it. All right. Because I get on this
14:14microphone and I talk with big chess, you know, all throughout the off season and then things go wrong in the regular
14:19season. So, we got on up to those. So, that's all fine. We'll watch the film and get better as always. But I will say
14:25on paper, the Bills are a team that more so the Shawn McDermott years, but they haven't always been that stiff against the run
14:33for good reason. You look at the best defenses in the league. They're usually better against the pass and the run.
14:37It's 2026 after all. But it's not the most imposing on paper matchup in the world. And only Cowboys Ravens has a
14:44higher game total than Bills Chargers right now. RB15 for American Hampton.
14:50I'm worried that we do see some touches siphoned away to keep Mitchell. Maybe they actually get Kami Vidal a little bit more involved now because of those
14:59fumbles. Haven't heard anything. Just something to keep an eye on. RB 16. I got Kron Williams going up against the Broncos here on Sunday Night Football.
15:06Rams Broncos in Mile High Sunday night.
15:08Let's go. 23 carries, 126 yards, and a touchdown this year. Blake Cororum though, 22 carries, 133 yards. What saved Blake is the red zone usage, guys.
15:19You look at Cororm versus Kairen in the red zone. There's been 15 total Rams red zone snaps. Cororm has third I'm sorry.
15:28Kairen has 13. Ronnie Rivers randomly has two. I think probably like at the end of that Niners game or something like that. Blake Cororm has zero right
15:35now. All right, it's red zone and receiving five catches to one catch.
15:40Kairen over Cororm there. But man, Cororm's look good. Six yards per carry, 5.5 for Kiran. lost another freaking fumble on Monday night. Five or six more
15:50of those guys. Shawn McVey might start to do something about it. So again, not trying to put Kron down though. He's the
15:57lead back. Looking at 12 to 15, potentially more touches and one of the best offenses in the NFL. Tough matchup though. That's why he's as low as he is.
16:05But yeah, Kron Williams still very much upside RB2 at worse, Borline RB1. But man, those top five heights that we saw
16:13in the 2023 and 2024 season getting further and further away with Blake, you know, really turned this into more of a
16:1850-50 split here. RB1 17, I got Bucky Irving going up against the Vikings. I was tempted to move him even higher, but
16:25it is a Vikings defense that has been pretty nicey so far this year. Number one in Havoc, guys, which is a stat I
16:31love. Havoc actually measures the defenses on a per play basis, times that you're getting a pressure, tackle for a loss, force fumble, interception, or a
16:38pass breakup. you know, things that basically are havoc out there. So, Vikings and Brian Flores have been absolutely killing people this year. And
16:46when it's now Baker Mayfield playing a lot like one of the worst quarterbacks in football objectively, he is 30th, I believe, in the EPA per drop back this
16:53year. Yeah, I am concerned about the impact on the rest of the offense. That said, Bucky looks really good. He's had
16:5815 and 21 touches. Great underlying utilization. made a highlight cut above of him earlier this week over on the old Twitter sphere like he's back to doing
17:06his cutting back across field, you know, BS that somehow works at the NFL level.
17:10Bucky looks really good. The usage is there. We just need Baker to help drive this offense to more points. So, I don't
17:16necessarily think it's going to happen this week against the Vikings. Would be interested in try to acquire Bucky though on the fantasy squads. I don't
17:22think that you can like buy him low or anything like that, but just again someone where if you can get him as an
17:26RB2, I do think a better version of this Tampa Bay offense down the stretch of the season could make Bucky someone that
17:31we're actually ranking in the top 15 sooner rather than later. Key question for this tier, who has a true workhorse role in week two? I'm always going to
17:40give you guys this again chart that you can go ahead and look find your snaps, rushes, and targets for any applicable
17:45backfield that you want. So basically though, running backs that played at least 75% of their offensive snaps in week two, Jonathan Taylor leading the
17:53way at 95%. Kenneth Walker and Jir Gibbs, Ashton Genty at 82%, Javvante Williams at 80% again barely ever leading the leaving the field.
18:01Surprisingly without Jordan Mason, Aaron Jones with an 80% snap rate very much being used as a workhorse back in Minnesota. Devon Achan, James Cook, and
18:09yes, Bucky Irving at 77%. So would normally see Saquon up here, but he got injured. Also note that CMC was in this
18:16club, you know, club 75% plus snaps.
18:19We'll workshop that name. Uh CMC was in there before it became this again big situation where we just had the injury
18:25going on. Derrick Henry, Chase Brown, not quite the 75% but get enough touches that it doesn't really matter. But again, just shout out to Bucky and shout
18:32out to Zack Robinson, too, guys. We are seeing him do everything in his power to push these easy buttons. Man, we have
18:38the Buccaneers actually ranking near the top of the league in both pre- snap motion and play action. Now, the Chargers are also in that conversation.
18:46So, the Jimmies and Joe's certainly need to catch up to the X's nose going on there as well. That fact is not lost on
18:51me. But again, Bucky Irving, everything there is looking good for him except for the overall offensive upside, which we've seen be much better in Tampa.
19:00Hopefully that catches up here before too long. Tier three, we got solid vets and by low youngsters guys starting off with RB18. Aaron Jones again just
19:09mentioned the 80% snap rate. the issues with getting them any higher because RB18 does feel low to me for anyone that
19:15has a a snap rate north of 80%. Vervea and the Buccaneers fourth in EPA allow per rush dating back to week one of last
19:22season and Aaron Jones has yet to catch a pass in 2026. So he was still out there for the routes. I would not be
19:29surprised if he catches several passes this week as that you know sample size continue to grows and everything but you know they are using DJ Dallas and to a
19:36lesser extent Deon Claybourne. Those are passcatching backs that could be a little annoying for that. And with Kyler Murray under center, I just want to see
19:44with my two eyes that in the year 2026, Kyler is still capable of being a really good quarterback. So Aaron Jones, I'm
19:50going to be answering pretty much any reasonable start sit with Aaron versus other guys, but yeah, RB18 for me this week. RB19 is going to be David
20:00Montgomery going up against the Colts.
20:022.7 yards per carry, guys. 41st among 43 qualified running backs this year. But again, it's the Texans. All right.
20:09They're 31st in Rogers before contact period Marks hasn't been any better. So, I will say the popular storyline or at least popular fact that I heard is
20:17someone that's entirely online way too much. Yes, Montgomery only had one second half uh touch last week with the Texans trailing. Woody Marks got a few
20:27more. It still was Monty 25 snaps though versus 17 for Woody Marks. So, I would still expect Monty to be the lead back
20:35leading the way in touches. far far more weeks than that. And hey, with CJ Stout guys being top three in passing yards
20:41right now, let's get Nico Collins back and let's actually get this offense approaching something close to average and we can have more multi-touchdown
20:48days like we did in week one. So far from terrified of this Colts defense with all due respect to Forest Buckner
20:55and company, Dave Montgomery for me, RB19.
20:58This is when we get some potential by low options, guys. RB20 first of all is going to be Bashaw Tutin. Good luck
21:04finding a stat that tells you anything other than Bashaw Tutin being fantastic at football this year. Guys, mentioned that three plus yards after contact
21:11percent carry stat. Only Kenneth Walker has been better. We have Toutin right there with Saquon Barkley in terms of tackles avoided and raw yards after
21:18contact for carry. If you're done listening to my BS here with these madeup metrics, man, he looks good out there. He continues to look explosive
21:25even though we're still waiting for that first 50 plus yard run. Here's the thing, and this goes for the next two
21:32guys, too. Let's just get all out of the way. RB20 baseball altudin RB21 Camp Scatteraboo RB22 Travis Etchen. I don't listen to other fantasy football content
21:41people. I rely myself to watch freaking all the games, do all my research. I write, you know, five articles per week.
21:47I'm here talking to you guys every single day. Only so many hours. Now, I found in the past that when I do try to
21:53listen to other stuff, it just kind of clouds my own sort of mind to come up with correct opinions because then I'm
21:58like, well, I respect this guy. He said this. Why am I thinking this? Again, trying to keep it straight forward. I
22:04have found this to be my best method.
22:06Looking at Tutin, Scataboo, and Etchen.
22:09Even Jeremiah Love, he's my 23. That's the end of the tier. Okay. I don't think you can buy Jeremiah Love the same way
22:16as these other guys because everyone expected the mediocre usage coming out.
22:19It seems like a more of a matter of when, not if he takes over for Algier. I think there's a similar case to be made
22:26though that that same mindset should also apply to Tudin, Scataboo, and EtchMen. The difference is that we had our perception warped and we expected
22:35these guys to have day one big time roles. I think that's where a lot of the frustration is coming from the fantasy
22:41managers. So, no, I can't point to week two usage and say that Toutin, Scataboo, Etchen, Jeremiah Love. I can't sit here
22:51and tell you that week three or week four or week five. I don't know. I don't know when they're going to get a chance
22:55to take over. What I can tell you is Tutin is clearly working superiorly over Chris Rodriguez with his touches. Cam Scataboo is
23:05definitely healthy and the best running back the New York Football Giants have right now. Would make sense if they lean into more of a power run game. Do you
23:13guys really think Harbaugh is going to fully embrace the Jamus experience? I sure don't. Get ready to see a lot of
23:18rushes, man. Greg Roman, just give him the play sheet. You know, even Travisen, I feel like the entire community is just
23:26so obsessed with day-to-day usage and looking at the numbers and trying to come up with these takeaways.
23:34I don't know that we're doing a good enough job. At least I'm trying to do a better job here, you know, and I
23:38appreciate you listening to me to hopefully see what happens. Maybe I'll sink, maybe I'll swim. Yeah, Alvin Chimera had more touches last week. That
23:44was weird. I agree. Why would the Saints do that? I don't know. Do we really think that's going to happen for the
23:50next 15 weeks as well? Alvin Camra turned 14 touches into 22 yards in that game. He looked more washed than I ever
23:58could have thought. Maybe it was the reason the injury. He's still coming off that. He's not backed 100%. I had Travisian as a fade in this off season.
24:07All right, it's looking good right now, but who the hell knows? I'm looking at this now. Who cares what I said in August? You know,
24:14we're we're living in week three. what I said then, what you guys thought then does not matter. Let's look at things
24:19right now and try to improve the rest of the way the best we can.
24:23Do we really think the Saints, who seemingly are a pretty smart organization? We like Kell Moore. We like Tyler Shuck. We like this offense.
24:29Do we think the Saints gave Travis Etchen $48 million to not be their clear lead running back? Or did we get some
24:38weird usage in weeks one and two? It's a long season. They invested a lot in Etchen.
24:45Maybe they're ramping them up a little bit. I don't know. I'm not in the meetings. I just know that being completely out on Travis
24:54Etien moving forward because a washed old version of Alvin Chimera out touched him in one game and did nothing with it.
25:01That seems a little weird to me. CJ Donaldson, Kendrick Miller, we're not worried about these guys. And looks like the best running back there. He's gotten
25:10a little bit unlucky here. The ball was slipping through his hands in a rainy game against the Ravens. He had the
25:14touchdown at the end of the game and it got nullified because of a false start penalty.
25:19I think Toutin, Scataboo, and Etchen are three great by low options that you should try to get now, not after the
25:26inevitable usage hike comes. Maybe I'm giving too much credit to the casual fantasy football player who isn't looking at this stuff. I just feel like
25:35we're going to be here in week five and it's going to go, "Oh my gosh, the Saints all of a sudden don't want to
25:40keep feeding the least efficient running back in the NFL and Alvin Chimera." Who could have seen this coming? You know what I'm saying?
25:48I mean, boil low. All right. If you can get someone to treat Etchen, Scataboo, Tutin as RB3 types, sign me the hell up
25:56for that. All right. Sign me up for that. Jeremiah loves tougher again because I think people have seen it coming. I don't know Wayne's gonna take
26:05take over for Tyler Algier. We'll see what happens. But yeah, that's my pitch for the Bowo thing because I just think
26:09we're we're looking at the past week's usage and we're just not doing enough of a good job also looking at the
26:16performance and then saying how could this change moving forward because for me it's been clear these aren't split.
26:22It's not Tvon Henderson versus Raandre Stevenson where we're like, "Hey, I drafted Trayvon really high. This takeover better be coming." You know
26:29what I'm saying? But then we're looking at the stats and it's like, well, Raandre has been pretty damn good and everything. Tutin clearly better than
26:37Crod Scataboo clearly better than OneEyed Naji. Devin Singleary and Tyron I can't stop fumbling. Tracy and Travis, old man Chimera, Kendra is not even
26:48active. I don't think he was in week two. CJ Donaldson, I got a Buckeye hat on, but even I know that dude's nothing.
26:54All right.
26:55I like buying low on these guys a week before the rest of the fantasy community is probably gonna catch up to it. We'll
27:02see what happens. Key question though for this one guys. What offenses have the biggest on paper advantages at the line of scrimmage this week? I do a
27:08little thing on Twitter called the mismatch manifesto. I basically take metrics and I actually combine them to give us oneway streets for looking at
27:15mismatches. this is better for me in my opinion because again it's more of a thing where we can go hey look this
27:21offense has this number that takes both figures together instead of always going you know oh this offense ranks X and this this defense ranks Y if you don't
27:30understand what I'm talking about just look at this chart blue is good red is bad shout out to my uh colorblind peeps
27:35out there and yeah the best on paper matchups for week three in terms of combined RB rush yards before contact per carry Jets Titans Bills Broncos
27:44Lions and Rams I'm still leerary of trusting Tony Pard too much, but if there was a day to do it, man, it
27:50probably would be this Sunday. And we'll see what happens with this Denver backfield. I'll talk about them more here shortly. Worst on paper matchups
27:56for week three. Steelers, Falcons, Packers, Jets, and the Seahawks. Bejan Robinson, of course, is in lineups of all shapes and sizes, even if there's a
28:04fire. I would boost Jaylen Warren up the ranks if Rico D is ultimately too banged up to suit up with a toe injury.
28:10Otherwise, though, man, Packers are a bit of a mess. I'd like to get Toutin in those lineups more times than not if
28:16possible, but again, we haven't seen the best performance from that offensive line so far this season. Obviously, the Patriots not exactly slouchers on
28:23defense. And then yeah, the Seahawks right now with your Darren Price banned up with the chest. We're going to talk about him shortly, but yeah, not necess
28:30someone who needs to be in lineups, but I'd be hardressed to see too many where I don't think you can at least get him
28:35in your flex.
28:37Tier four fine to start, but there is a pretty bright red flag. RB24 DeAndre Swift going up against the Eagles with
28:43Tyson Badant maybe under center or it's going to be Case Keenum. This is not looking good fellas. So RB24 right now,
28:50but if you have a close star set decision, this is about the point in the ranks where I'm probably going to be
28:54leaning towards a wide receiver if we have reason to feel good there. RB25, I got Jaylen Warren. He's running well.
29:00The problem though, guys, is this offense absolutely sucks. All right, 31st in EPA per play, 29th in success rate, and I don't see too much reason to
29:08believe times are going to be getting better anytime soon. Here's the thing, though. If Rico Data was out with a toe
29:13injury, Jaylen Warren could be stepping into a near every down role. And the Bengals have actually allowed the 15 have allowed 15 receptions to opposing
29:20running backs this year. That's the most in the NFL. So, we need Rogers to get back to being the scared dude he was in
29:252025 and just feeding Jaylen Warren checkdowns cuz for the life of me otherwise I don't know what there is to like about this offense at the moment.
29:34RB26, RB27, I got Randre Stevenson and Trayvon Henderson. Little, you know, code for uh you guys, us alleged fantasy experts when we rank two teammates right
29:42next to each other. It's a good way of us saying I don't know. But yeah, Raandre guys had another fumble last
29:48week and he basically got benched for it. And why not? All right, 11 fumbles since 2024. That's three more than any
29:54other running back during that time span. Of course, Mike Frabel in the postgame presser said that New England still needs him. But here was my
30:00takeaway on this. All right, we saw Mandre completely snatched Trayvon's chain in the playoffs. Clear number two running back. What do he play? Four
30:08snaps in the AFC Championship or something like that. It wasn't like that though in the regular season. Even removing the games where Raandre was
30:16actively on the bench injured. Okay, together Raandre out touched Trayvon 162 to 158.
30:24We can live somewhat at least as like a flex play RB2 low-end RB2 play with Trayvon being a true 1B being in a 50-50
30:34committee. We cannot live with whatever the hell was going on during the playoffs last season. After that fumble, I am more confident in thinking that we
30:42could see more of a split regular season usage between these guys. And I don't think Arandre sucks, guys. you know, not
30:47the best two weeks in a row for the guy, obviously, but he still ripped off a nice run in the second half of that
30:52game. 2025 happened when he was one of the better, more efficient running backs in football. Okay, Trayvon though does give them some much needed
30:58explosiveness. And again, for now, I am more okay getting him back into the lineups, particularly after, again, we saw him lead the way and even show off a
31:05little bit of goodness in the past pros.
31:07Shout out to my friend Josh Norris for having a nice tweet on that. And last running back of this tier, RB28 Jaren
31:14Price. It's just this chest injury, guys. I could see moving him up to RB 24. Honestly, 23. I could get him all
31:23the way up to RB man, I don't know. It's just so tough because they're still using Emanuel Wilson, George Hani. They don't want to
31:31give Price the goal line stuff. We got AJ Barner taking pushes.
31:36It's tough. If you wanted to rank Jenarian Price as high as RB19 against the Commanders, man, I don't think it'd be nuts. Let's see how he is this week.
31:45If he's full practice participant, no designation. The chest injuries a complete thing of the past. Okay. I just man ri chest shoulder injuries for
31:56running backs. They scare me. I feel like they can be reagravated. Let's see what happens. By the way, the only reason why Price isn't in that same bo
32:03conversation for me, we got the Zack Sharp size elephant sitting in the room.
32:07Key question for this one, guys. What running backs have done the most cool this year? All right. When we're watching games, who's making the most
32:14plays? My definition for cool [ __ ] explosive plays plus touchdowns plus tackles avoided divided by total carries and targets. I do double count. Okay, so
32:23if you rip off a 50-yard touchdown run that includes three missed tackles force, you're getting five cool [ __ ] points for that. So the leaderboard
32:30among all RBs with 14 plus opportunities. Yeah, arbitrary cut off.
32:34You'll see why in a minute. Number one, Chiefs rookie running back EMTT Johnson with an 86% cool [ __ ] rate which dwarfs
32:41everyone else in the NFL right now.
32:43Shout out to Nebraska product. Chuba Hubard number two, Kenneth Walker number three, Bashalt to number four, and Amari and Hampton number five. If you want to
32:50go by raw totals, it is easily Kenneth Walker in first, and then it'll be Jamir Gibbs in second. Walker has 34. Cool
32:56counts. Gibbs has 25. Those are the only two guys above 20. Again, when we have these guys with the bigger workloads for an efficiency stat like
33:03this, it is going to naturally tend to favor some of the guys with less overall opportunities that are still making uh,
33:08you know, cool [ __ ] happen. So, anyway, shout out to the Chiefs. Shout out to Chuba Hubard, too. He should be in
33:13lineups of all shapes and sizes this week. Tier five guys, I got elite RB2s or Matt RB1s. RB29 for me. Tony Pard
33:21again, this would be the match up for him against a lowly Giants Dia. just don't even understand with all the talent they have in that front seven how
33:28bad how they can be this bad against a run. But here we are 31st in RB rush yards before contact for carry. Yeah,
33:34not great. But Tony Per wouldn't get your expectations too high. He has reached 15 PPR points just twice in his last 19 games. But hey, maybe this is
33:42the week. RB30 Quinn Judkins dead last in yards per carry this year. Yet to have a 10 plus yard rush. 3.5 or fewer
33:50yards per carry in 11 of his last 12 games. Only good thing we have is that Deshawn Watson didn't look like the
33:56worst quarterback in football last week.
33:58And also, we actually had five catches for 27 yards from Judkins without Dylan Samson involved. But man, the O line still sucks. And unlike Scatabo, man,
34:08haven't seen a ton from Quinn Sean.
34:10Quinn Sean should be a guy where in that three plus yards after contact metric, he should be someone popping up, but
34:16he's not. He's got the six worst mark in the league, even behind guys like Aaron Jones and Marshon Lloyd. You do not need
34:21to have Quinshon Juckkins in fantasy lineups sadly. RB31, I got Blake Cororm here. Kind of talked about the splits earlier, but yeah, it'd be cool if Shawn
34:29McVey eventually, you know, maybe gives it to the guy more who's not fumbling all the time or not. Whatever. Rams are
34:35still pretty good. RB32, Rashad White, his takeover, quote unquote takeover, he had more snaps and, you know, was being used more than Jaci Crosby Merritt there
34:44in week two against the Cowboys. I think it was almost entirely due to the Commanders having a lot of trailing game
34:49script in the second half against the Cowboys. Something that I also think is going to happen here as seven-point underdogs against the uh Seahawks. So,
34:55don't rush to get White in your lineup, but hey, full PPR. You could be doing a lot worse. RB33, I got Kalin Black
35:02should be in a better position to get double digit touches in the course of a blowout. I think they took him out
35:06earlyish with the starters and they had Jordan James in there last week while he was still dealing with a groin injury.
35:10So, keep an eye on the injury report for Kayn Black. remains an incredible handcuff obviously to have on your roster if at all possible. Imagine he's
35:17already taken in leagues of most shapes and sizes.
35:21Bill Crosky Merit RB34 again if they have a chance to play with the lead he'll be higher. I don't think that's
35:25going to happen this week. RB 35 36 37.
35:29It's just so tough right now as I recorded this on Tuesday afternoon to know what's happening with the Denver Broncos backfield. But yes, JK Dobbins,
35:35RJ Harvey, and Jonah Coleman for now.
35:37It's the order that we've seen when all the guys were healthy, but now Dobbins has a hamstring injury. That's not viewed as serious, but who knows?
35:44Neither was Zay Flowers or Nico Collins, and they didn't suit up in week two.
35:47R.J. Harvey coming back from his home own hamstring injury that I think he'll be back from, but who knows? If Jonah
35:53Coleman is the last man standing here, I will get him up inside the top 24 around that Baltude and DeAndre Swift range. It
36:00could be even higher, but it is a tough matchup against Aaron Donald and the Rams. If they're all healthy, they're all going to be in this RB3, RB4, throw
36:09up in your mouth range. If there's no Dobbins and if there is Harvey and Coleman, I my first instinct is giving Harvey the
36:19nod because I think that's the way it's been set up. But man, Jonah Coleman continuing to do all the little things,
36:25right? Sliding down in bounds, hit the mile high salute.
36:30I would have Harvey and Coleman right next to each other.
36:35Probably right behind Pard RB30, RB31.
36:38Key question for this tier though, what teams have the biggest discrepancy in terms of their starting running backs yards per carry and the backups? Okay, I
36:45actually found guys, let's see, seven situations where the backup running back is averaging at least a half yard per carry more than the team starter. Kyle
36:53Manungai over DeAndre Swift. That's a situation where both guys are killing it. But shout out to Manungai. He's also been pushing the piles quite well to
37:00start the year. Chris Brooks over Marshon Lloyd. Talk about Lloyd in a second. Ball security, job security, man. Blake Cororm over Kron Williams.
37:07similar Chicago. Both guys are running well, but Cororum objectively a little bit better right now. Mike Washington, 4.8 yards per carry versus just 3.4 for
37:15Ashen Genty. By the way, I did use a minimum carry threshold of 10 here. So, you know, kudos to Mike. Trayvon
37:22Henderson overandre Stevenson, Taj Spears over Tony Pard, and Rashad White over the artist known as Bill. Those are the backups that are doing better than
37:30the starters at the moment. Does yards per carry mean everything? No. You can have different situations at the end of the game. you can have different levels
37:36of loaded boxes and things of that nature. But for me, it does mean a little bit more when it's in the same
37:40offense, behind the same offensive line.
37:42So, for now, kudos to these backups.
37:44Things to keep an eye on here as we continue to progress in the season. Last tier, everyone. I like this name. Cut
37:50your fantasy team into pieces. This is your last resort. Sorry. All right.
37:54RB38, Marshon Lloyd, Falcons. I just don't even freaking know what's going to happen here. He got doghouse after he fumbled. Caleb Johnson's my RB39.
38:03If he just starts ahead of Lloyd, I would not be shocked. Going to keep an eye on this throughout the week. I'll be
38:08updating the ranks over rotoire.com. As always, as we get more information that said, guys, wouldn't be shocked if the most likely answer to what Packers
38:15running back you want while Josh Jacobs is sidelined is no. This offensive line sucks, man. RB40, EMTT Johnson, one of the best RB2s you can have in fantasy
38:25right now. And they're playing the Dolphins, so wouldn't be surprised if he sees more touches than normal. RB41, I got Taj Spears. would be a lot cooler if
38:32he didn't play for the Titans. RB42, Kyle Manungai going up against the Eagles here on Monday Night Football.
38:37Just again, not you Kyle, just your offense. RB43, Tyler Algier. Here we go. Tyler Alier is the all-time NFL career leader for most
38:48touches with 763 without a single career fumble. How about that? Tyler Agir never fumbles. This guy has never fumbled.
38:55He's never gonna fumble. Tyler Agir doesn't fumble. He's not gonna fumble. I just did hopefully the whole fantasy community a favor by jinxing Tyler Alier
39:05and the fumbling and we can finally get Jeremiah Love season keeping between us.
39:10RB44 Woody Marks. Yeah. RB45 Alvin Chimera. Maybe they actually are leaning into the FEM bit. I'd be shocked. RB46
39:19Brian Robinson good handcuff. RB47 Bon Allen. Good handcuff. Who's actually available in a lot more leagues. RB48 Chris Rodriguez 12 carries 36 yards.
39:29free Bashaw Tutin. Key question for his last tier guys is who is the who are I should say the best waiverwire pickups
39:35in deep leagues. All right, Tank Bsby, EMTT Johnson, Jonah Coleman. Yes, go get them. But I'm talking deep. I'm talking sicko leagues. Okay, sub 20% rostership
39:44on Yahoo and ESPN alike. We got Brillon Allen there. No Isaiah Davis, no problem. We've even seen him get some goal line touches. If anything happens
39:51to Bree Hall, Brilen Allen would be someone all of a sudden knocking on that RB2 door. Bill's running back Ray Davis.
39:57He's someone too where there's no standalone value, but accordingly as by-weeks come, as injuries continue to come, I do think Ray Davis is going to
40:04be more and more available. But hey, he's only on 13% of Yahoo teams, 8% of ESPN teams. Again, if we had to go
40:10through the league and just rank where these guys would be without the starter, let's say James Cook was out this week,
40:16guys, Ray Davis, like RB 13. Would you rather play Ray Davis or Bree Hall? Ray Davis or Devon
40:28Achan?
40:31Little high for you? I don't know. Ray Davis or Aaron Jones, David Montgomery.
40:35I think you could argue Ray Davis versus like Javvante Williams and Chuba Hover potentially. So again, that's what's in store if something happens to James
40:42Cook. And Ray Davis is free right now on the waiverwire. Samaja Perime, Caleb Johnson, Seth McGoan, JT's backup over in Indie or the three other guys out of
40:50this group. and he's probably going to be a lot more rostered by the time you guys are again kind of having the
40:55opportunity anyway. But yeah, Caleb Johnson would be the guy where again without an injury happening because Marshon Lloyd is already fumbling maybe
41:01could just go ahead and take that job anyway. So I would prioritize Caleb if you need someone to maybe give you flex
41:07value as soon as this week if you're looking for a pure handcuff stash. Ray Davis is your dog and you guys are my
41:13dogs for listening to another edition of this lovely show that you know we don't really have a name for but that's just
41:18YouTube so whatever. Anyway, if you like the video, please like the video and that subscribe button helps as well. I am going to buy one get one Buffalo Wild
41:26Wings. Going to have a few wild herds.
41:28Going to watch the Cleveland Guardians hopefully continue to win in September.
41:32Maybe just maybe enjoy my Tuesday evening. I hope you guys do as well. So, wide receiver and tight end tears on the
41:38way and we'll be back for injuries on Friday. So, appreciate you guys tuning in. As always, I'm Harrison. Until next time, take care everybody.
