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All right. I think uh football's even closer. I think that's a fact. Preseason game, I believe is this week. It is August second. First preseason game or the Hall of Fame game. I believe it's this week. Uh if not this week, then next week. So football is football is pretty much here, guys. And you know, I had a couple pods. I did the quarterback rankings and I did the receiver rankings. So today we're gonna do the running back rankings in PPR leagues. So let's jump right into it. Again, I got four tiers. So tier one I have listed as the young alphas. Um so number one, I had B. John Robinson, number two, Jameer Gibbs, number three, Jonathan Taylor, number four, James Cook, and number five, Devin A. Chain. So all these guys outside of one are pretty young running backs. Jonathan Taylor is 27 years old, so he's on probably the last year of quote unquote young um alpha. Definitely an alpha, but you know, once you hit about 28 at the running back position in the NFL, I don't think you're considered young anymore. So he's on the very end of the young label. Uh, but he is an alpha, Bijan's an alpha, Jameer Gibbs uh is an alpha, Jonathan Taylor, James Cook, Devin A. Chain. I think these are the top five backs, PPR backs in the 2026, going into the 2026 NFL season for fantasy football. Uh every one of these guys gets the ball a lot, uh, whether that's running, whether that's catching, we all know Devin A. Chain catches the ball a lot. Uh Jameer Gibbs, Bijan uh also catch the ball a lot. Jonathan Taylor and James Cook probably don't catch the ball as much, but they do get a lot of rushing touchdowns. So that's your tier one, young alphas. Tier two, these are alphas with concern. So there's concern on every one of these guys, and this is a there's a lot of lot of guys in that tier two. Uh uh with my draft strategy, probably the best running back I'm gonna get would be a tier two guy. Most likely I'll get a couple tier three guys. Um tier four, hopefully we'll we'll get to that. Um so yeah, tier two. I got Christian McCaffrey, Genty, number seven, Hampton, number eight, Walker, number nine. That's Kenneth Walker, number ten, Derek Henry, number eleven, Kyron Williams, number twelve, Saquon Barkley, number 13, Chase Brown, number 14, Jeremiah Love, number 15, Brees Hall, number 16, Josh Jacobs, and then number 17, Javante Williams. So, first off, Christian McCaffrey. Uh he's not a young he's not young anymore, but he is an alpha. But we all know the concern with Christian McCaffrey. And there's a couple concerns, right? First concern is age. Um Christian's been doing this for a while now. Um so age is a concern, and then we all know the injury history that he has. So that that's the major concern with Christian McCaffrey. I just could not see myself drafting him in the first round. Uh he would not be my first pick, even if it was pick 12. I just don't trust the age, and I don't trust the wear and tear. Now, that's just my personal opinion. Genty, that comes down to not trusting the Raiders. Uh O'Marian Hampton, he had some injury concerns last year. Uh, didn't play a full season, so we still don't know what he is going to be. Kenneth Walker, uh, another guy that has talent, went and won the Super Bowl, won the Super Bowl MVP. Uh a great talent, great last name, if you ask me. But he also has a little bit of injuring concerns. Derrick Henry, he's just not young anymore. So he's still an alpha, but the age concern is there. Kyron Williams. He kind of is a young alpha, but his team, they do like to get uh the backup running back involved. And maybe that's to to prolong Kyron's career. Kyron is one of those running backs that's he's young. I mean, he's what is it, he's been playing, he's played four years or going into his fourth year, one or the other. Um, so he's still kind of young, but he's gotten a lot of touches, a lot of wear and tear out of those last three to four years. Saquon Barkley, uh, I don't view him as young anymore. Uh, and then, you know, I just have the concern with the wear and tear that he's had over the years. Chase Brown, only concern there. Uh I'm not really concerned about injury, not really concerned about his age, but Chase Brown, um, just not high volume in a sense. I don't think he catches the ball a lot. Uh, and I don't think he rushes for a lot of touchdowns, but he is a starting running back on a team that likes to score. Uh obviously all teams like to score, but a team that does score and a team that predicates their identity on the offensive side of the ball. Jeremiah Love. I really want Jeremiah Love. Uh, I have some bias here because he uh he's a Notre Dame guy, but also he he he literally is probably the best running back I've seen come out of Notre Dame in my 20-something years of being a Notre Dame fan. And there's been some really good backs to come out in the last 20 years. So Jeremiah Love is a great talent, but here's my concern. Nathaniel Hackett. Nathaniel Hackett, I don't know how he keeps getting jobs. Uh I was so bought into him when the Broncos brought him over to be the head coach. And then quickly I realized he is not a very good offensive head coach or offensive coach. Uh wasn't a good head coach. Aaron Rodgers made him look good because Nathaniel Hackett was with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay when Aaron Rodgers was winning MVP after MVP. Uh but he it was a disaster in Denver for Nathaniel Hackett. There'd be a lot of third and ones, fourth and ones, and it would be a shotgun um running back draw up the middle. You got one yard to go, you either pass it or maybe get behind center and hand the ball off. Let's run one yard and not four yards when the shotgun. And then Nathaniel Hackett went on to another team. I think it was the Jets. And we all know the Jets' offensive struggles with and without Aaron Rodgers. So Jeremiah Love is a great talent, and I think he's going to do great things in the NFL. Uh, and he almost was going to be a sleeper pick for me this year in fantasy football, but I am so concerned that Nathaniel Hackett is their offensive coordinator. There could be struggles for the Cardinals to just stay on the field to avoid three and outs. They might be a team that has more three and outs than majority of teams, you know. So, with that being said, that's my concern with Jeremiah Love. Had he been on another team with a different offensive coordinator, I think I would have him four or five slots higher. That's how high I am on Jeremiah Love. Brees Hall, the concern there is the Jets' offense, right? They they have Geno Smith coming back. Geno Smith had 19 touchdowns, 17 interceptions last year. We can blame a lot of that on the Raiders, but also how long has Geno been a really good quarterback in the NFL? Maybe two years out of his 10 plus year career. So I'm not putting my chips in on the Jets having a strong offense. And because of that, fantasy production down a little bit for Brees Hall. Josh Jacobs' concern there is a couple things. Age. Uh a few things. Age, wear and tear. He's gotten the ball. He's a bruiser a lot over the last five years. And then he has off-the-field issues, um, legal issues that still have to settle. So, you know, there's a chance, I guess, there that he might miss some time if the off-the-field issues legally become an issue. And then Javante Williams, I have at 17. Uh, really the concern there, uh definitely not wear and tear, because, you know, he he last year was the first year he really got the ball at a high clip. Um there's a little bit of injury concern there, though, right? So he was injured a lot in Denver, toward his ACL, and last year was the first year it really looked like he bounced back from that ACL tear. It took him a good two full years to bounce back from that. Now, I do think a lot of it was the Broncos didn't give him enough touches to do what he does. You know, Dallas gave him that opportunity. They gave him the ball 20 times a game, and we saw how good of a running back Javante Williams can be. So a good starter for you, uh, but there is a little bit of injury injury concern just with his previous time before Dallas. Now, if he comes and plays in Dallas this year and plays pretty much a full season, and the Cowboys um have a nice offense, his stats will look good, and then you know, maybe next year the injury concern might not be there. Um age really isn't a concern either for Javante Williams at this point because he hasn't had a lot of rushes. Okay, now we're going to tier three. This is the boom or bust tier. So in this tier, uh, you know, these guys in my draft strategy, these are the type of running backs I I like to go for. For instance, last year I won my fantasy football league. Um, and I had guys like this. I had Ramondre Stevenson and Tony Poller. Okay, so it was every week, it was a uh a scratch uh it was a fight to have good fantasy put out out of both of my running backs. But I knew going into the season that was my strategy. Uh I live in this tier. I live in the boomer bust tier for my running backs. I like to get really good receivers and a really good quarterback and just make the playoffs and we'll go from there. Um you can get good production out of this tier three. Uh a lot of guys here. I got positioned from 18 all the way down to 30. Now we're gonna do 40 total players here after 40 running backs. Uh, if you don't have two guys in the top 40 running backs, you're really doing a disservice to your team. Um so number 18, I have Travis Etienne. ETN uh definitely gonna be Boomer Bus. Number 19, Bucky Irvin. Uh number 20, David Montgomery, 21, Jutkins, 22, Scattabow, 23, DeAndre Swift, 24, Travion Henderson, 25, Darien Price, 26, Tony Pollard, 27, J.K. Dobbins, 28, Krosky Merritt out of Washington, Commanders, 29, Jonathan Brooks, and then 30, Aaron Jones. So I'm gonna highlight a couple guys from this 18 to 30 range that are boomer busts that are favorites of mine, guys that I'm actually trying to target um in this boomer bust section tier three that I think could be uh league winners for me, that I can get a lot of value out. You know, say I draft one of these guys, and they're only getting a a few less points per games per game than you know, maybe uh um you know a Devin A chain or uh uh Derrick Henry. So the the first is David Montgomery. I I got my eyes on David Montgomery. Woody Marks, the um other running back for the Houston Texans, didn't do a lot with his opportunity last year. They brought over David Montgomery to be their number one guy, and David Montgomery is a bruiser uh and he can handle the load. So David Montgomery's a guy in this boomer bust tier that I think can really help your team out, and you can get him later in your draft. Uh and then the other one is Jadarian Price. Jadarian Price, uh 25th best overall running back, in my opinion, in the in the rankings, but his upside is very high. We know Seattle does like to uh they mix it up, they like to pass, but they also like to run the ball. And Jadarian Price is gonna be their number one running back, uh, and he has the the ability, the home run ability, um, you know, to break 40, 50 yard runs off. Uh, and you'll see that. You're gonna see him hit a hole or two this this this season and just be gone. Whereas Kenneth Walker might have been caught. Um he he has home run ability, he's young, he's fresh. He was the second running back for Notre Dame behind Jeremiah Love. He was one B to one A, uh, so he got less carries, but every time he came in in the game, uh he was productive with his carries. So I got Jadarian Price as my other boomer bust sleeper. Um and that's those are the two that I I would like to highlight. I I kind of have my eyes on Travion Henderson, but with Ramondre Stevenson there, I know Ramandre had his fumbling issues last year. It seemed the start of the season, he got the bulk of the carries. The mid middle part of the season, it was a split, and then towards the very end, going into the playoffs, Ramondre got the ball more. So uh you just don't know what's going to go on with the Patriots. Um it's basically between Ramondre and Trevion, it could come down to just who is running the ball better at that current moment in time. Uh so a little bit of worried about Trevion, but I think if Ramondre does have these fumble problems again this this season, I do think that Trevion could really take over and just be the lead back, you know, and get get the bulk of the carries week in, week out. So that is tier three. That's my boomer bust tier. And then tier four, this is positions 31 through 40, and I have this labeled as hopefully these aren't your starters. So uh just a couple guys to mention, you know, maybe they could end up having a great year. Maybe they can have a thousand uh rushing yards and ten touchdowns, but I wouldn't bet on this. I wouldn't uh these wouldn't be my starters, these would be my backup guys, and if you know my backups end up being really good players, that's great. I got I got a nice bench. Uh but here's tier four. Hopefully these these aren't your starters. 31, Kyle Manungay, 32, Ramondre Stevenson. I just went on, uh just talked about Ramondre. 33, Rico Dowdle with the Steelers now. 34, Tuba Hubbard, 35, Blake Coram, 36, RJ Harvey, 37, Kenneth Gainwell, 38, Rashad Rashad White, uh 39, Mason for the Vikings, and then 40 Alvin Kamara for the Saints. So, you know, in this list, I think Dow uh Dowdle and Chuba are like the only starters, true starters. Uh the rest of the guys are are backups, and Dowdle and Chuba really aren't true starters because Jonathan Brooks is probably going to take that job, and that is what the Carolina Panthers want. You know, Chuba's really only had one good year in his entire NFL career, sir, so I know he got paid, but um I just don't think Chuba is going to be the guy at the end of the year. And then Dowdle, um, yes, he's on the Steelers, and he's a pretty good running back, but I think they're gonna also uh put in their second running back there, and he's gonna the Warren, I think Warren's gonna get a lot of touches as well. So tier tier four, 31 through 40. Uh these guys pretty much aren't starters, but maybe they will be starters if the starter ends up getting hurt. So those are my four tiers. Those are my rankings for the running back position. Uh good luck. Good luck in your draft this year and you and drafting. Uh personally, I uh I shoot for maybe one tier two guy, and then, you know, I live, like I said, I live in that tier three boomer bust. Um, I'm willing to play that game if I have a really good receivers, a really good tight end, and then uh a good good quarterback, a great quarterback. So um, yeah. Next we will do I think I'm gonna do tight end rankings and QB rankings in the same pod because there's really only a few tight ends that I really want to mention. Uh if if you don't get a couple of the if you don't get like the top five, one of the top five tight ends, you really it's really just a crapshoot anyway. Um so we'll we'll throw that in with the quarterback rankings, and then um that'll be it. I'm not gonna rank defense or kickers. So getting close. We are getting close to fantasy football and football in general. Uh we're in August now, August 2nd, so I think our fantasy football draft is slated for September 6th. So just outside a month away. Can't believe it. Stay blessed, take care. Deuces.