Backfield Breakdown: Fantasy RB Rankings for 2025

We kick off our Fantasy Positional Series with an in-depth look at the top fantasy football running backs for the upcoming season. We discuss key players such as Saquon Barkley, Jamyr Gibbs, Derrick Henry, and Christian McCaffrey, evaluating their draft positions and potential fantasy impact. Plus, we cover the latest NBA Championship round between OKC and the Pacers, the NHL playoffs, and even dive into the excitement surrounding the new NCAA video game.

Chapters

• 0:00 Fantasy Football Series: RB
• 1:31 NBA Playoffs
• 3:12 NHL Playoffs
• 5:22 NCAA 25 Video Game

Transcript

0:13

Welcome, welcome to another edition of the Pine Bon Podcast. It's me, the og, as always got the fantasy OG Persian, hanging out with us. What's happening Persian. Howdy, howdy. Glad to be back in the fold. Starting our fantasy positional series. Always a favorite time of the season for me because I get to talk about all my fantasy takes. How you been friend? Good, good man. Just getting ready for the big move, you know, trying to get rid of all my things, all my belongings, so, oh man. I can only imagine. Yeah. Yeah, we've been selling a lot of stuff, so, you know, got no beds. Got beds, but no, like they're on the floor, you know, things of that nature.'cause we've sold the other, the bed frame, so, so it's kind of funny. Oh God. Nonetheless. Punk rock right there, man. Yes. Nonetheless. Here we go. Let's start a show. All right, so let's touch on the NBA. We have made it to the championship round starting in two days, June 5th. So a day from when we published this 8:30 PM OKC versus the Pacers Man, the Knicks got bounced out in this round and they fired their head coach Tom Dito. Unbelievable. They gave him an extension and then they fired him. They said, nah, this, this wasn't that good dog. That is wild to me. Yeah, man. It's like you gave the guy an extension for a good reason and then he has such a short leash after all. I mean, I just, I feel like doesn't make sense. I feel like this is the way most basketball organizations. Have become, for some reason, it's like every single coach is on the hot seat no matter what. They just got got, you know, accomplished. It's crazy. Right? Well, anyway, I mean, this, this, this series should be pretty good. These teams are pretty much identical. They're both young, scrappy teams, so I mean, it should be a good series. Like I said, we'll have to check it out. OKC is a nine and a half point favor. That's pretty wild. That's a big favor, man. That's a pretty, that's a pretty like Hef hefty like point spot there. Nine and a half. I know. That's what I'm saying. Gimme pacers on that all day. Just have to see what happens. All right, let's go ahead and check out the NHL playoffs'cause we've made it to the championship round as well. And it's sad to say the hurricanes lost the series four games to one, so the Florida Panthers have moved on and the lone Canadian team hanging in there Edmondson Oilers. So I. You got the Southern Florida team versus the cold, cold Canadian team. How about that? That's, and the, the Panthers have been playing good ass fucking hockey too. I mean, the crazy thing is, is it's like this ain't no fluke. This is legit. Like I, you know Yeah. The Florida teams come to play. They, they. They're not too bad. Yeah. You know, they got a good squad. It's wild how it's like, it feels like this past season was dominated by the Southeast United States or Canada. Everything in the middle is like, nah. Yeah. You think like, you know, they got a pretty good fan. I don't, I don't know. I don't watch Florida Panther hockey, but you gotta think they got a pretty decent fan base because of, you know, all of the. The Northern birds flocking to Florida for retirement and whatnot. You know, I mean, that's absolutely true. There's so many people from somewhere around the border that have come, you know, that retire and get that tax free stipend or however their pensions work or whatever. I know people love to retire there. I think it makes sense and also it, it doesn't hurt that they actually have had a lot of moments of actual success. Back in the nineties they beat my abs for a Stanley Cup and then they've had several great seasons, you know, leading up to now. So that probably doesn't hurt either, the fact that they've been competitive. That's very true. Very true. So some good news NCAA the video game, you know, actually listened to fans and they implemented some of the things that we wanted, and there's cross play, which is awesome. Trailer looks good. They, they did some new, they added some lighting, dynamic lighting throughout the, throughout the stadium. Then they added with the, the package of like. The, why can't I think of the name right now? The drones, you know, where they got the drones as they do the intros for the each team and they got the drones and all of that. So it seems pretty cool. And then they got some coaches in there like Lane Kiffin featured, Dabo Sweeney's in there. These, these coaches are realizing that this is a marketing tool and a recruiting tool. So the more eyeballs that have them are on, that are on them, the better. What are you stoked about this game? Are you, are you gonna be diving into it? Are you gonna be jumping into the dynasty with them? Yeah, I think I am. I think, you know, last year the results were mixed to say the least. And so I was like, wow, you, you know, I, I wanted to actually get it when it first came out. But I couldn't, I can't, I can't even remember why I, I had to wait. And then by the time I was ready, I was like, man, the reviews are so bad and the part that I wanna play the most is like, I can't play with my friends. And so it was like, man, I, I'm just not even gonna gonna pony it up. But the, the interesting thing about the reception to this one is. It feels to me like night and day now, I think you're kind of in the video game. Streets a bit more than me, but I've seen several, I guess you could say video game content creators on YouTube talking about that a lot. People are getting stoked and there actually hasn't been. As much of the haters as there usually is, because even when people get hopeful, there's, there's like a certain percentage of the crowd that's like, oh, come on guys, it's ea don't, don't forget, don't forget or whatever. But the fact that it seems from my, from what I could see, it, it seems like everybody really is hopeful about this and everyone's on board. So it's like, hmm, I get, I'll probably bite on this, try to pre-order it, try to get it. Day of this time. But I pre-order it. But I'll say though, I will say though, fucking, if they botch this launch, like people really will be disappointed because there's a lot of legitimate optimism. I think, you know, I don't, I don't think there's gonna be a botch to launch. I, I don't remember the negative that you speak of, of last year's game. I. I thought everybody was pretty high on it, loved it, glad it was back. So, and it, and that, that, that went just fine. So I don't, I don't foresee, I mean, like this game's nowhere near the level of fifa. So if they, if they can, you know, launch FIFA with no problems, it'll be fun. Plus, I mean, bad launches these days are like, what's a bad launch? You know? Yeah, I mean, that's a fair point. It's really all relative because it feels like ev everything's gonna launch with some level of problem. I guess the, the question becomes like, what's your expectations in 2025? Because we know how this works. You know, they're gonna try to hot patch all kind of stuff, you know? Yeah. It couldn't be coming out on a worst date for me, you know, July 10th, I moved July 12th, so it's like, ugh. Oh yeah, you're gonna be. The worst part about it is you can't get it on pc. So like I'm forced to buy it on my PlayStation, so I won't be able to play it on the go. So it's gonna have a, a week of not being able to play a video game, you know? Oh darn. I guess I'll have to go hang out in the jungle or something. Yeah, it's a, it's a nice trade off for not having to live under some maniacs boot. Back in the States. Yeah, boy, it's a fair trade off I'd say. Alright, so here we go. We get, we are going to talk about fantasy running backs today. Woo. Just, you know, just gonna compare, you know, what we think and what this little list I have here I found off the interwebs says. So, you know, not a whole lot of discussion on the top four or five running backs'cause they're kind of the same. Z Saquon Barkley be John Robinson, Jamir Gibbs, Derrick Henry, and Christopher MCC Kaffery. But I will say, I do think it's interesting that Saquon Barkley is the first running back off the board in this mock. Considering Jamir Gibbs actually had more fantasy points than Saquon Barkley. And plus, you gotta think that was like one of Saquon's best years ever. And, and Oh yeah, there's no way he's gonna, he's gonna top, I mean, I was head and shoulders above all his other seasons, you know. Right. So that one's interesting to me. Other than that, like I could see Bijon going third Jamir Gibbs within the top five for sure. I mean, I, I, I love the guy, so I'll probably look to draft him somewhere. And then Christian McCaffrey, I went back and forth on him as a first rounder 11th pick overall because I was like, ah, you know, that might be. Too late for him or too early. But I was thinking to myself, man, he, he could be injured. He could not be injured. And anyway, I talked to myself into just like, that's actually a great pick for him first round because he is still first round talent, but he's not worth the top five due to injury. And he's gonna be a lot of featured in this office due to Debo Samuel not being there. So. It's interesting, interesting. So with the first top five out of the way. You got anything you wanna speak on about those? That group kind of, that's your kind of your top tier. Yeah. Not, not a ton. Just, just quickly I'll say that I, I completely agree with your j Jamir Gibbs take. I actually think that he should be the first running back off the board this year. If you think about his usage last year, he actually scored the most. Every game he was in, close to an even timeshare and Ben. David Montgomery is another year older. It would, it would make all the sense in the world if the new OC is like, I wanna give a bigger piece of the pie to the, the, frankly, the better talent. And so I, I think that this guy's the limit for him. I could easily see a situation where he gets, instead of like a. He gets something like a 70 30 and that, that's gonna make a huge difference considering how much they pass the ball to him and how good that offensive line is. I mean, he's gonna eat, and, you know, one out of every dozen, 15 touches he gets, he breaks for a long touchdown because he really is that explosive and he is still on the younger side. So it's like I, I like the. Sort careers going versus David Montgomery and certainly Saquon himself. Christian McCaffrey. These guys got bigger question marks than my boy does, and so I, I completely agree with you there. And then with the Christian McCaffrey thing, I think it's just gonna come down to if he can stay healthy for something close to the full season. Be worth the first round pick. No doubt, because they love beating him. So many passes. And we know even if you're not in, in a PP league, those passes are worth more than the, and they, they will target him 8, 9, 10 times a game if he's healthy. So. It's just do you trust him to stay healthy or not? Because you, you definitely can't trust what he says publicly or his coaching staff that last year, they, all of them just lied, lied, lied their asses off, and it, it legitimately sank some people's team pants on fire. Yeah, pants. It really cost some people bad last year. So it, you wanna roll the dice? I don't think it's the craziest thing, but you should know it's pretty risky. That's right. That's right. All right, so my next guy for Yee or no, Yeet. Oh yeah. Devon. Devon. A chain, right? He, I got him as the sixth overall running back first round. 11th. 11th pick. So you're telling me that him and CMC. Are on the same level fantasy wise, and I'm looking at the depth charts and all of that, and I just like, I see a higher upside for a, a chain to me, because the likelihood of them going to a, a backup quarterback and just feeding the, running back to, to me, is super strong if I'm comparing him to CMC. So for me. At, at, at the 11th, pick in the first round for h change. That's a steal. And I would simply say no. Ye, because I could see him going sooner. I, I don't, I don't agree with this, this draft position I. Just because I, I think he's gonna be a better he, he's gonna be a better, he is gonna get the ball out, I think. Yeah. What's your thoughts on Yeah, I completely agree. I think he should be in the same tier as the first few guys that we talked about. A a lot of people don't realize that last year he had a high ankle sprain. I think it was week one. Or week two, and he straight up said he did not feel the same for the remainder of the season. Like he played through the injury every single week and he got huge workloads. The, the, the coaches did not trust Moster Jalen Wright, you know, and any of those other guys to. To handle the rock. And so they, they were feeding him 80%, 85% not just Snap shares, but opportunity shares from the backfield. I mean, he was absolutely a work coach and in a way that's honestly rare nowadays to, to get that kind of work. And so if you remember back to his rookie season, he was. Extremely explosive, and we did not see that last year. That's not, he did not lose his athleticism. He just was playing through a high ankle sprain, which historically Zaps guys explosiveness and, and all of that. You know, he, he got so much touches that he was still, you know. A top five back, I think. Something like that. Top five, top six, maybe. Something like that. Right, right. And he gets a ton of passes. Also similar to McCaffrey, they love getting him out in space in, in the passing game, the screen game. He's probably not gonna have the crazy efficiency that he had his rookie year, some nine point something yards per or whatever. But he will be more efficient than he was last year and he'll get similar workhorse. Workload and, you know, really high ceiling with this Scott again, I think he should be considered in that same tier that we talked about first. Oh yeah. I mean, for sure.'cause when you look at last year's point total, I mean, he was. Right at the 300, which is fifth overall and fantasy points running back. So yeah, it, it, we definitely should be up there. When you looked at his usage, I mean, they were not taking him off the field for short yardage goal line. They weren't taking him. He, I mean, he was getting every kind of valuable touch that you would ever want, and Well, and he did all that with, like you said, 203 caries, 78 receptions, whereas. You know Derrick Henry, who's just above him, did 325 caries. Bijon 304 Saquon 345, and then back to Jir Gibbs 250 carries And he led the league in fantasy points for running backs. Yeah, all he needs is that efficiency. Tick up just a little bit and I think it makes all the sense in the world. What he said himself is that he just didn't feel the same the entire season. He's got an off season to actually let his, his ankle heal. This time I think he's gonna come back the same explosive guy we saw that rookie year. That was frankly, really fun to watch. Yeah. Yeah. So if you, if you get him at pick number 11, then you know, that's a hell of a steal value pick for sure. But I, I think he, I think he could be top five. Anyway, so next person I got on this list, number seven, Ashton Genty. They, they're super high on him. I mean, and I can see why you know, Raiders offense is lackluster, but second round, first pick for me. I don't like it. I'm no eating that. I think that that could be too early because I am just, I don't even know what the Raiders are gonna do. And I feel like this is kind of like a Bijan Robinson situation where Bijan went super high in the first year and kinda wasn't used in the way that we expected him to be used. So I, I think this could be too high and I'd rather wait for like second half of the second round or, or third round for Genty, but he, he'd probably go higher. Yeah, I, I, I think he's close to being a eat, but I'm gonna say no eat as well, because this is one of those situations where we're just all so confident. I understand why, you know, it's got a wide open dev chart and they, they picked him in the top right, six or seven or whatever it was. And so it's like clearly they got a plan for this guy to be something like a workhorse. They're not gonna pick somebody that early and not. Try to get usage out of'em, but just because they're rolling out the red carpet for a guy that they really believe in, doesn't mean it always shakes out. There's still a lot of guys that end up being great that still struggled their rookie year, and of course a lot of guys that flat out never. The guy we expect him to be. You know, I feel like we all kind of got duped by this last year when we were taking Marvin Harrison at the top of the second round, and everyone was just so sure. They're like, dude, they're just gonna pepper him with targets and they're gonna design the passing game around him. And frankly, I think they tried and he couldn't, they salted him. He couldn't get on the same page with Kyle Murray, and, and probably he has a better second season, but. Straight up, like we're expecting so much and we haven't seen this guy play a single snap yet. So for me it's just a little bit too high. I probably would pull the trigger somewhere around the two three turn late in that second round, or early in the third. If he falls to that place, I'm much more comfortable with it. But man, you're gonna be able to get some really good players at that 12, 13 type spot, you know? Right. And it also would depend on who I took already if I already drafted it in the first round. Like, did I already draft a bonafide stud running back or, oh, yeah. Do I need one? Yeah. I don't have, I don't have the, the, you know, the length to, like, if you do, to take a flyer on this guy, if you do for instance bite on the, a chan at the, at the. Very end of the first round. There's no need to get risky with a rookie on your very next pick. You know, if you, if you got the 12 and then you got the first pick of the second round, get yourself a fucking Malik neighbors or someone solid that you know is gonna get a Jillian Targets, at least, you know, something like that, right? Yep. So my next guy is Green Bays Josh Jacobs. They got him second round, fourth pick. This is a, this is a yeet for me. This, this is a great pick and I think this is actually where he could go.'cause I think people will sleep on him as they did last year. It wasn't because what's crazy is he's right behind H and points 2 93 to 2 99. And it, you know, you didn't get, you didn't really hear a lot about Josh Jacobs, in my opinion, as much as he should have gotten. But I, I, I love this pick. Especially for the value it's second round. I mean, that could be your running back duo right there. If, if you choose to do so to shore up your running backs in the first two rounds would be, would be pretty good. So what, what are your thoughts on Josh Jacobs and his position? Yeah, I agree. This is a ye for me, this is a situation where he got so many really valuable touches. Basically every time they got within that five yard. Mark of hitting the end zone. It was like they first tried to, to let him run it in before they would try to pass it, and sometimes it just gave him 2, 2, 3 attempts in a row. It just, just let him fucking muscle his way in there. He ended up getting so many touchdowns because he is the first, second. Third fucking priority anytime they're around the gold mine. And so I, I think my perception of the way things unfolded last year was that that offense actually disappointed. I think in all likelihood has that offense playing better. Whether it's, you know, radically changing things up as a, from a play caller or just simply playing guys in more aous roles or, or whatever it is. I do have faith in Matt LaFleur as, particularly as an offensive play caller offensive designer. I. I bet that offense goes in the right direction this year, which means those touchdown opportunities are not gonna slow down. He, he may actually get more touchdowns this coming year, which basically, if you're getting double digit touchdowns, you're, you're, you're at least guaranteed not to lose it for your team. Like you, you might not, you might not go. You know, the MVP of your team, but you not gonna be a problem, you know? And so I just feel like you're, the safety is, is pretty. He should go next in that list. I would say that I would, I would actually rather have him than, than Chase Brown, because Chase Brown doesn't necessarily get all of those touchdown opportunities, those goal line short yardage things, even though he does get a pretty big chunk of, of his team's opportunities or whatever. A hundred percent couldn't agree more. Next guy, I got Bucky Irving ninth, overall running back second round, sixth pick. I don't like this pick at all. This is a no yeep for me. I wouldn't, I would probably try to wait till the third round to, I know he caught fire at the last year and I think I, I need to see more footage of him doing that on a consistent basis. And he's also got competition in the backfield still. So, you know, it, all it takes is one false move. And, and next thing you know, he's riding the Pine Pony in place of, I don't even know, I can't remember who's on, who's on Rashad White and Sean Tucker. Yeah, Rashad White. There we go. Yeah. So I, I think I would wait till like the third round maybe even if, if, if he's there, you know. So we'll, we will see what happens, but I mean, there's so many other people that I think it would and should go ahead of him. Kyron Williams, I think should be ahead of him. And the Joe Mixon, I mean, he can never, he never seems to die, so it just, he's still around him, are just getting. Fucking 350 touches every year no matter what. One way or the other. Yeah, and I mean like it, like his point differential from Joe Mixon to Bucky Irvin is four fantasy points, like four fantasy points. Joe Mixon is 245 touches. Bucky Irvin is 207. So you know, Joe makes into me his potential just because he is getting more touches is higher. So I, I don't like Bucky Irvin in this spot. What are your thoughts? I, I'm actually gonna disagree with you here, and I'm gonna say this is a eet, this is, you know, something of a light ee because the thing is, there's a bunch of dudes that I have basically in that same kind of bucket. I think I already mentioned Chase Brown. I think he should, like, what's the difference between Chase Brown and Bucky Irving? To me, not much at all. I, I'm, I'm cool with either of them and Kyron Williams, a guy that you can count on to get a huge touch load workload as well. And I think Hall is is also going get back to that. A lot of people. Kind of forgot that last year he was dealing with a lot of injuries and they got a new coaching staff there. I think he's going to be the most talented guy and he, he pass catches so well that I think he has a chance to have really just a ton of work in the passing game. And frankly, they got Garrett Wilson and nothing else in the passing game right now. So they almost need to, you know, hey man, they got lard. They do have Lazar. Hey, I feel like Lazar can't do shit unless it's Rogers. For some reason. Lazar can catch passes if it's Rogers. Otherwise, he, he, he, he can't get it done. But we'll see. Maybe Lazar will be, you know, decent, solid, but. At any rate, any, any way you wanna slice it, they could. They could use some help in the passing game. I think Bries Hall is gonna be that guy working a ton of underneath stuff and getting peppered with maybe more work than we're expecting right now. He should be in that mix. It's not that it's, it's not that I would say no yeee for Bucky, because I think this is fine, but the thing is I would rather wait till the next round just. Just grab whichever of these guys falls to the next round. Right. And just go ahead and take a, a AJ Brown or a lad McConkey or like a, a a, a really talented, wide receiver motherfucker. Loves a lad McConkey. I do, bro. He's good. That motherfucker was good. I, I believed in him before he played, and then he fucking played. Well, you gotta love it. Yeah, you gotta love that. I'm not one complain that, so we mentioned Kyra Williams. He's my next. On the list, that number 10, second round, eighth pick, as you said, kind of in that tier two potential. I think this, if you get this guy in the second round, this is a steal. So on that potential alone, this is a no ye, and I think he should be a first round pick because. Y. Yeah. He is third in the league in Carries over the last two seasons and he led the league last year and touches inside the five yards. Oh wow. He had more than Jacobs. Dang. Yes. So that is actually a pretty compelling stat. That's, that's again, I figured he would like that again, that that lets you know that the guy's going to have a really safe floor, you know, unless he gets injured, which you could say about any player, right? So it's like if he's getting that much goal line work at the touchdowns will come, which the touchdowns will come. If you're looking at this, he had. Him. Jacobs had 15 touchdowns rushing, and Kyra Williams had 14, and then he had, you know, the same amount receiving, like they, they were pretty much on par, like the same, you know, same amount of carry, same amount of receiving, same amount of touchdowns. So like, you know, you gotta watch out for these two cats. I mean, yeah, I mean, Stafford, these, these two cats are sneaky Stafford's still there he is coming back. So it's not like the offense is just gonna fall apart. They added Devonte, which certainly doesn't hurt. And so there's no expectation that his. Sort of production is gonna go anywhere. He's getting you know, as you've, as you've stated there, he's getting such a, an important opportunity share around the goal line that, I mean, I, I, I guess I'd be fine with him in that Josh Jacobs spot too. So I, I guess it's a no eat for me too, actually. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. He probably should. I mean, just because it's a no ye doesn't mean it's bad. It just means that, you know, I don't like this draft position. You know, maybe I'd like him higher to be higher. I think he should go higher. So that's why I, I know YE is just,'cause it is not like if you get him there, that's a great pick. But I have a sneaky suspicion when we get closer to the season that his draft position will move up. Yeah, and, and honestly I'm feeling more comfortable about these second and third round names than, than I thought I I was going to. Right now that we're, now that we're examining it, I, I'm thinking maybe the smart play is actually just get yourself a Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, or somebody in the first round. I know, right. Then get a couple running backs in the next two or three rounds, you know, maybe because these guys that are still available, second, third round. Sound pretty safe to me. And in fact, in, in, in some ways, they're more safe than the Christian McCafferys and the, the first round guys, you know, Genty again, he's, we haven't seen him play a single snap. We don't know how good that offense is gonna be. You know, head coach came outta retirement to come back. Does he still have his fastball? We'll see. You know, it's, all this stuff is question marks, you know? Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. Next guy I got. 11th, overall, second round, 12th pick. Jonathan Taylor. You know, I don't really know what to think of him. So I'm okay with this. So this is a y for me. I, I just, I don't know really what the Cols are gonna do. I don't, they're just, you never, you just don't know what you, they're like a box of chops. You just, you just don't know what you're gonna get. And his. His fantasy points from last year were no different than Bucky Irving or James Connor or Chase Brown. So it's like, do I really want to even think about Jonathan Taylor or would I rather like he's my la he's like the person I call last. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I think that this is like, if I have to take him, yeah. I think that this is a perfectly reasonable spot. Like RB 11 does sound about right. But the thing is, I just don't love either Daniel Jones or Anthony Richardson. And so I just don't think this offense is necessarily gonna be good. Like this offense could end up sucking, but is. He's going to get a lot of rushing touchdowns or he's probably gonna be fucking booty. You know what I mean? And so it's like, dude, I'm looking at it, man. He got 11 touchdowns rushing last year. Yeah. And he only got 18 receiving like 18 catches. Yeah. They don't him much in the past game, which makes him risky. Tho those, this screams drop, he's gonna drop those RB receptions are, you know, I, I feel like. One time I heard a stat where it was like they're worth at least two times what what a carry is worth, even if there is no like 0.5 or full PPR, right? No PPR. And so, you know, most people 2025 do play in some form of PPR. And so it's like, man, Jonathan Taylor is just risky. I don't mind him. At that spot. So I will say ye, but I, I completely understand why he's after the first couple tiers that we already kind of talked about, you know? There's like the first bucket. Yeah. Then there's kind of that second bucket and I would rather, yeah, he's definitely like a tier three to tier four. I would rather get my third round pick, be whoever falls, chase Brown, Calvin Williams, Brie Hall, whoever, those guys that are still there, I'd rather have them than him with the next pick off the, the next running back off the board. You know, he's just riskier. Right. Yeah. I mean, especially when you've got our next guy, as we already spoke about highly, about Joe Mixon at 12 third round. Fifth, fifth, pick in the third round. That, that's a ye for me. I mean you know, if you're, because if you're thinking you want to go running backs heavy. I mean. Yeah, that's all These other guys are gonna be gone. I, I don't, as we spoke about earlier, I don't mind Joe Mixon his workload. He, even though he's old, I probably would not draft him, but I could see, I've seen people do this before. Smith, friend of the front of the bot. He loves Simpson, Joe Mixon. Joe Mixon seems to end up on every single one of his fantasy teams every year. I dunno how up and down. This is just, this is just an, he's not gonna, this is just an accident. But I don't know, man. I don't know. Yeah. So what, what's your, what other thought? Well, plus, you know, he is gonna have a lot of workload this year. I mean, you gotta think of who's on their team. You know, the wide receivers are. They're good, but without tank Dell question mark. No stuff on digs. So it just, it it, he could get a lot of catches this year. Yeah. He had a, a really great workload before he got injured last year. They, they absolutely were using him as the workhorse, getting a decent amount of work in the passing game. But I actually would say, no. Ye I think he's a little too risky at that spot. Here's the thing. They overhauled that, that offense, supposedly they got a different offense there. They certainly got a new OC that. I really love, like this guy Woody Marks that they drafted in the fourth round. He's like a pass catching specialist. Frankly, he is a better route runner and pass catcher than Joe Mixon day one. And so I think he's gonna cut into Mix's really heavy workload. And this is kind of like the, the Indianapolis Colt situation where it's like, I'm not sure if that offense is actually gonna be good. I think Stroud is legit, but that offensive line is. Booty. He was running for his life last year and they actually traded away the only good offensive lineman that they had. They brought in a bunch of dudes, but they brought in a bunch of dudes that have really poor ratings and scores on on PFF and all these other sites. I mean, these guys are not necessarily going to be any upgrades. And so I'm nervous about that offense on the whole. And I'm nervous about that offensive line opening up holes for Joe Mixon. I think he's gonna lose work in the passing game and he might not be efficient on the ground either, you know? Wow. Yeah. Well, let's see. Let's see how you think.'cause they got this other guy 13th running back. Same draft position as a DP as Joe Mixon. Third round, fifth pick, Alvin Kamara. I mean, you gotta, you gotta think. Last year he, he was 265 fantasy points. He only had six touchdowns, but he had 68 receptions. You gotta think with the quarterback situation that they have, that he is going to be the safety blanket as usual. And he is going to get a ton of ton of catches. So, you know, I, this is a ye for me. I, I, you know, people are probably gonna question his abilities'cause he is getting older and the saint's offense and all of that. So he'll, he'll drop to the third round and I would totally be fine with taking Alvin Kamara. Just knowing how the Saints are and how they always do things. Yeah, I agree. This is a ye for me. I, I actually like him better than mixing because I know Yeah. That when they're down, he's the guy who's getting lots of dump offs, lots of jump offs, and they're gonna be playing from behind plenty, just like they were last year. And the thing is like. Every year, they just make him the featured back. They don't try to bring in a guy in free agency. They did draft a running back, but not until the sixth round. That's not a guy that they're expecting to compete for touches like that. This is his job. They even extended him two more seasons last year. Right. Even at age 30 or 29, at least you, the thing is like. Maybe he does lose a step eventually and he falls off that cliff. But the thing is like going later than all these other backs we've talked about, if that offense was just a little bit better, he, he has the same kind of role that McCaffrey has. The only thing is we basically expect his offense is going be shit, whereas the Niners will probably, that's though. We get shocked every year with teams being better than we thought. Last year it was the commanders we. It turned out be all right and guys that got opportunities, the corpse of Zach Ertz did fine in fantasy. So it's like you know, I think there's a potential for a higher ceiling than people realize here. I know he's on the older side, but the thing is they've made, they've made it be loan. He's their plan in the backfield. He's getting tons of work. He. Anything with him, he's, he's getting peppered early and often on dump offs. He is him. Yeah. All right. And then as you mentioned, we got Bree Hall up next 14th, third round. Eighth. Eighth pick. This is a no yee for me because I simply think that he could go higher. As you mentioned, like everyone's gonna think bounce back year this year. No, Aaron Rogers got Justin Fields. You know they're gonna be giving him the ball. No, no wide receivers to speak of unless you think Al Lazar still has it. So this is a no ye simply because I, I just, he's gonna go at least second round. So I look for hi his draft stock to, to climb the charts as we get closer to the season. Yeah, I know, I, I already said my piece on him, so I, I don't need to say any more than I completely agree with you. I'm happy to take him every time in. That's right. Yeah. And the, what they consider equal 15th running back third round eighth pick James Cook. I don't, man, I don't really know what to think about James Cook. Like, I mean, he had a good fantasy season, but I'm just, I'm just not loving him. Like, I don't feel like he's gonna do any better this season. Like I, I think he could do worse. And so I. For the pick itself, like I could see people drafting hi, the them here, but I still don't like it, so it's no heat for me. Like, like he should go further back. Yeah. Like he's a bench running back at this point. Yeah, I, I completely agree. I don't think people realized like how hot he ran last year. Like he had a ton of touchdowns and it was kind of fluky. Whereas he, I think he only had two games where he actually had over 50% share. They had a. Last year with Ty Johnson and Ray Davis in the mix every single game. And is, is the workload gonna go up? Maybe. But here's the thing is he's, he's talking about during OTAs, he's already signaling that he wants to hold out because he wants to get paid. And I'm like, bro, as Trump would say, you don't have the cards, bro. Don't have it, bro. They, they didn't even put, play you 50% of the fucking snaps last year. Do not see him as. In their backfield like that, I'm sure they're willing to resign him, but not for no 15. He's saying that he needs 15 a year, which put him in like the top three or four running backs being paid right now, they're, they don't see him that way. And, and the thing is, last year he ended up doing pretty well just because he got super lucky with touchdowns. I mean, when you're not actually getting all the red zone and you know, especially in inside. Five and the 10 yard line when you're not actually getting the majority of those, but you score that many touchdowns. I, I think that's flu and I expect. Putting on his social media that he plans to not show up when it's mandatory time. And I'm just like, bro, this is a nightmare. I, Ray Davis, he told the bills. The uninstalled. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, Ray Davis was every bit as efficient as he was when he was injured last year, and they needed Ray Davis to step up. I don't see why they wouldn't just say, okay. Don't show up, then take your fines and we'll just give a 60, 70% snap share to Ray Davis until you quit crying. Like, you know what I'm saying? I just feel like this is, this is gonna end poorly for him and, and if you draft him, it's gonna end poorly for you. So way keep an eye on Ray Davis. Way riskier than I think people realize. Yep. And that's, that's all that I had. And then, so I got some honorable mentions though. Chase Brown. I, I see, I can see why he dropped to the fourth round because they have the toughest schedule when it comes to fantasy. They play six games against top 10 defenses this year, and that's just in their division. And the only team that they play that's in the bottom 10 defensively is Jacksonville. So you know, chase Brown. You know, I, it is what it is. So I, I'm not, I'm not super stoked to draft him. Kenneth Walker ii, I, I think he could be a solid, solid edition in the fourth round. The same with James Connor, UBA, Hubbard, and potentially Aaron Jones. I'm hearing JJ McCarthy not having so hot of the time, so Aaron Jones might get a nice little workload, but yeah, that's all I got, man. What you, any other run backs you wanted to touch on? Yeah, that fantasy wise, I think all those guys are, they make sense for some consideration. Certainly after the tier we've already broken down, but, you know, at the risk of sounding like a homer here, I think there's, there's like a sneaky upside for RJ Harvey. I mean, I knew you were gonna say that. I mean, the thing is that the offensive line Overperformed last year, they're bringing everyone back except Lloyd Cushen Barry. You know, he is a loss, but for the most part, the offensive line is probably going to be good again. And the thing is that. Like made it known publicly that he was disappointed in what he got from his year. I guess maybe he's just never gonna be the same guy again. It's unfortunate. And then Audre gme, you know, he had a lot of hope for him, but he really didn't, didn't do so much. And he kept fumbling that that sucks. And the thing is that he went out on a limb and took RJ Harvey earlier than he needed to, just to make sure he got his guy. And we've seen this pattern with Peyton before, not necessarily that his guys always work out and. They always get first, second, third opportunities. I mean, he's still dragging Adam Troutman and Little Jordan Humphrey around as guys. He reached on way back in the day and we saw last year, you know, he was like, I want the bomb Bailey. Like, people were like, yo, you don't need to draft the bomb Bailey in the fourth round or whatever. He was like, nah, it's my guy. And then you see he, he put him right out there. He got work. In the, he, he tried to make him a thing. He got you know, Bo Nicks, obviously that was his guy, the entire draft process. And, and he put the ball in his hands immediately. I think RJ Harvey, at the very least is gonna get a ton of opportunity and it much like the Ashton Genti situation, it's wide open depth chart. There's no reason why he'd be splitting a ton of work. I think the offensive line is gonna be good. The offense in general was. Above average last year, which actually I wasn't expecting. I think the addition of Mark Ingram actually helps because we were, you know, using, like I said, Troutman, Nate Atkins, Lucas Kroll, you know, people don't, people don't even know who the fuck these guys are because they're bums. Evan Ingram is as someone who can actually play at the position, and so I, I think that. You know, things are looking up. Maybe Marvin Mims takes a step, maybe Troy Franklin, but even if they don't, I, thinker Harvey is gonna have some pretty good hold to run through and he's gonna get that opportunity, he's gonna have to fail in order to lose that workload. Right. Right on. Yeah. Good call out. Alright, well that's, that's all the scoops we got for you on fantasy running backs this week. Next week we'll hit up the wide receiver position and. Go through the, you know, 10, five through 16, I guess. Hell yeah. And as always, if you got anything you wanna hit us up about, holler at us on Threads, Instagram or Blue Sky at Pine Pony Podcast. Adios.