March 7, 2025 • 47 mins
In the deepest running back class in memory, Thor Nystrom breaks down his top six rookie running backs.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and
whatever stupid stuff they decide to drop into the show. Now,
here's your host, Paul Chargian.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. I am Paul Charchie, and
my guest for this show and most of the shows
between now and the draft is Thor Nice Drum.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Hey, buddy, Yeah, Hey, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Oh god, I'm so excited for the first awesome running
back draft we have had in many, many years. There's
a very real chance that this goes down as the
deepest best running back draft in like decades.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I've been doing draft work for
a decade now. This is the best running back class
during that time for sure, you know, and you'd have
to go back earlier than that. But yeah, this is
just a nasty, nasty running back class.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
God, I love it. There's so many running backs that
we're we're actually gonna break this concept down. We're gonna
break down running backs. We're gonna break it into two
shows because there's just so many guys to talk about.
You like, last year, we're gonna do six running backs
deep dive on six running backs today. Last year there
were only about six guys worth even talking about. And
you know we're gonna cover between the two shows. We're
gonna do six today, We're gonna do like twelve next week.
(01:31):
It's crazy how many guys there are worth talking about
this year.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Thor Yeah, this is the year where if you have
multiple spots in your running back room, you probably want
to take two running backs in the draft if you're
an organization. But yeah, for dynasty owners out there, this
is the year to get your running backs load up.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
It is. And you know, from a dynasty standpoint, thor Well,
I would love to have pick one overall, right, ashon Jety,
we'll talk about them with plenty. But you know, if
you got to make you need a running back, and
you got to make do it pick five, at picks six,
at pick seven, you're gonna get way better prospects in
the middle rounds of your dynasty draft than you would
(02:09):
have in most years.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Right, definitely, Yeah, I mean you you squeeze these two
classes together, the last running back class in this one,
you might have six or seven guys from this class
that would have gone before Jonathan Brooks last last April.
So yeah, it's it's just a totally different animal. We're
dealing with the running back class this year.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yeah, it really is. I thought that we would. I
would start here, for there's a lot of running back
and needy teams, and I've broken into two groups, and
you can feel free to disagree with me, into like
Tier one teams that really need a running back and
then Tier two teams that I think could spend equity
on a running back, especially in this deeper class, that
(02:52):
maybe just don't quite have exactly the backfield that they
want yet. So let me start here. I think Cleveland
is in business. Nick Chubbs got plenty of question marks
and free agency, and so I think Cleveland is in
business here, although they've got addressed quarterback. First, how about Pittsburgh.
Najie Harris is an unrestricted free agent. Houston to me,
(03:14):
I think is a sneaky running back destination. Joe Mixon
petered out hard after he remember remember thor when he
started the season so well and then in the middle
end of the season, it just didn't come together for
Joe Mixon and he looked old. Yeah, Denver Javonte Williams
does not look like the answer. Nobody on that roster
(03:34):
right now looks like the guys that are ultimately the
answer for Sean Payton Las Vegas. Right now, the leading
running back under contract for this coming season of Las
Vegas is Sincere McCormick. That tells you plenty uh. And
then what do you think about the What do you
think about the Chargers what they had? You know, they
tried the Dobbins Edwards thing, the recycled Ravens, and while
(03:56):
it Dobbins looked good at the beginning of the season,
he wasn't able to get anything done. And you know
Jim Harbaugh wants to run the ball.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, you're you're not going to be able to prevent
Jim Harbaugh from taking a running back in the best
running back class. So we've seen the decades in the NFL,
so you can count on that, right.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yes, Dallas is the team everybody points at, and I
think it's it's totally valid. And if there was one
team where you go, yeah, you know, Ashton genty will
never slip by that team, it's got to be Dallas, right.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Agreed, Yeah, his Ashton Genz's floor is picked twelve. Will
he get to pick twelve? That is the debate.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Yeah, I don't think it will. The Bears, I think
are a sneaky running back destination. You look at the
improvements they made on their offensive line. I know they
have to get more productivity out of their running back room.
I think DeAndre Swift is just a guy in Chicago's
a destination. And then the Vikings Aaron Jones, unrestricted free agent,
Cam Akers unrestricted free agent ty Chandler doesn't look like
(04:53):
anything close to a reliable back. So I think the
Vikings are also a Tier one team that could take
that it needs running back help.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I agree with both of those, I think at ten,
depending on the way that the board falls. For Chicago,
I absolutely think that there are scenarios where they would
take genty And do they feel like they have to
take a tackle They obviously just recently traded for two guards.
You probably could use a tackle across from Darnell, right,
But what if a tackle isn't there that you like? Yeah?
(05:24):
I mean Ben Johnson comes from the organization that shocked
everybody by taking Jamier Gibbs three years ago at twelve
or so. So yeah, I mean he wanted to build
up the offensive line. Do they feel like they have
built it up enough with the acquisition of those guards.
What's their feeling of Braxton Jones the new coaching staff.
But yeah, I think Gent's in play for them for sure,
(05:44):
certainly in play for Las Vegas. And if he gets
through the wickets, that's where Dallas comes in.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
All right, I'm gonna give you some Tier two teams.
I think New England's in player, even though you know
Thor I love Ramondre Stevenson, and I think in a
different unit where he hadn't been stuck playing behind this
terrible offensive line and terrible quarterbacking for his entire career,
Romandi would be just like a great a stud playing
somewhere else. But the reality is that he hasn't been
(06:12):
as productive as as the Patriots would want, and they
may put some of that blame on him. So I
think Patriots are in play. I think Kansas City could
be sneaky in play because Isaiah Pacheco. The fact that
they refused to use him in the in the playoffs
was just so telling, and maybe this injury that he suffered,
even though he came back from it. You know, maybe
(06:33):
he's just not the same guy in Kansas City, could
have some question marks at running back and might be
able to find somebody that you know, they just for
whatever reason. What you know, if they're worried about Pacheco
that I think that's a possible destination for running back.
Do you think that's accurate. Do you think they just
go right back to Pacheco this year?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
No, I think it's accurate. And I think this where
we'll get into the depth of the running back class
with these Tier two teams, because both of those teams
could use a mix and match back and different kinds,
right like the Patriots. You could use an airback, I think,
an explosive back to pair with Remandre And we know
that the Patriots new head coach fetishizes running the ball.
(07:14):
He had that silly stat he put out of if
you run forty or more times, your record is this
and if you like that that Vrabel just loves it.
So yeah, I would expect New England to dip their
toes in at some point with the complimentary back, and
then I think the complimentary back to Kansas City is
looking for. It's sort of the opposite where you're looking
for the meat and potatoes efficiency guy that you could
(07:36):
pair with Pachecko, And yeah, I mean, and then if
that guy ends up really really flashing, maybe you have
your starter of the future, but a guy where you
wouldn't have to give big time draft equity there and
you would get a viable, immediate guy that could mix
a match with Pachecko.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, and seeing Patrick Mahomes getting getting hit more than
ever last year, and you know you want if they don't,
if they don't end up trying to diversify their offense
a little bit more, the running game going Washington, to
me is a team that's in play. I've never I'm
not a Brian Robinson guy. I just I think he
takes whatever his offensive line gives you a little more.
(08:13):
Austin Eckler obviously at the very end of his career.
So this is a that's an opportunity for Washington. See
as the Pollard Spears thing and it was okay, I
thought Pollard was a little better than I expected last year.
That might be an opportunity. New Orleans needs to start
thinking about the succession plan. To Alvin Kamara, I think
they're in play, and then I'll give you one sneaky
one and tell me you think San Francisco Christian McCaffrey
(08:39):
plenty of question marks. Thoor. We you know, we saw
them have to go deep into their roster. Maybe San
Francisco is a is A is a not not like
the first round, second round. But I think San Francisco
might make a move at running back at some point
in the in the middle part of this draft. What
do you think?
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, San Francisco, they sort of have the remember back
in the day with Green Bay with Ron Wolf where
he had that thing off he wanted to take developmental
quarterback every year in the draft and they take the
one in the sixth or seventh round. San Francisco started
like that with running backs and and Kyle Shanahan. He
has his flavor of running back that he likes for
that that zone system there were you know, just like
(09:20):
we were talking about with those other teams to mix
and match kind of guys. There will be his zone
back available that that I think that they'll be attracted
to fifth, sixth, seventh round. There's there's going to be
attractive UDFA running backs in this class. But yeah, I
would expect San Francisco to dip their toe in and
the only other team from that group but Washington. I
think Washington fans would would advocate for you bumping them
(09:42):
to the Tier one. When I've been on the Washington
radio shows, every single time they're asking me about the
running back class. They are not looking for a complimentary
back for Brian Robbinson. The fans of that organization, they
are looking for someone to replace. Yeah, totally, Yeah, I
think Washington's in play potent one of the teams that
could take a running back.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
On day two, I am moving Washington into my Tier
one spark part of my notes of this show not
and you know what, nobody will ever see it again
except me, But I'm with you on that. I am
absolutely with you. All right. So let's we got six
guys to talk to, talk through in the show, Let's
dive in. I almost feel like the guy we should
spend the least amount of time on is Ashton Genty
(10:22):
because he's so popular and he's so good that I
think that people know the most about him, and he's
depending on the landing spot we could be talking about.
Ashton Genty is the first overall player taken in redraft leagues,
so let's talk about the guy who had more yards
after contact than any other running back had in total.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yeah, Ashton Genty is insaying that comp that some people
had for him in college was was Michael Myers from
the Halloween movies, because he's a killer, and and the
way he stands in the backfield, like right before the snap,
it kind of looks like Michael Myer's standing. So it's
kind of funny if we have to keep it to
a football camp minus Ladanian Tomlinson gent five eight, two
(11:10):
hundred eleven pounds. He is impossible to tackle. He's the
hardest guy to tackle. Since I've been doing the draft
work over the last decade. You mentioned the broken tackle numbers,
the yards after contact numbers. They they're like video game numbers.
That the next closest guy in misstackles forest was forty
nine away. That was Cam Skatabu. It was forty nine
(11:30):
broken tackles away from what Ashon Genty did last year
and nine only forty nine. And he proved it against
the better teams, right like against Oregon. Initially, Oregon was
the only power for a team that finished the regular
season undefeated. In twenty twenty four, the Boise State came
as close as anybody to knocking them off. They only
lost by a field goal because Ashton Genty was doing
(11:52):
his thing against Oregon, against Penn State and the College
Football Playoff. Penn State had that nasty, nasty defense and
they loaded the box up against gen T and Genty
was still getting his yards there. There was one run
in that game where he either broke six or seven
tackle attempts, like you're talking about, just absolutely ridiculous stuff.
(12:12):
And then the other thing with him, you know, in
addition to this stuff, it's a guy who is a
tremendous receiver, and I think that's the aspect of his
game that people sleep on, people that are just getting
exposure to him off twenty twenty four because Boise they
changed his usage in twenty twenty four where they wanted
to funnel the touches he was getting as a receiver
all into rushing because they wanted him to make a
(12:34):
run at Barry Sanders's record. It was a part of
their pitch for Genty to return to Boise State as
a true junior, you know, which they ended up doing.
I think Gents's going to be the last G five
first round pick at the skills that we ever see
stay his entire career in the G five. So this
is sort of a dinosaur, But in twenty twenty three
he was a killer as a receiver. They motioned him
(12:57):
out into the slot to the boundary I think he took.
It was something like ten percent eleven twelve percent of
his snaps were taken out wide, and he was awesome
with that. He was awesome with his his routes out
of the backfield. And it's no surprise that he is
a really, really good receiver because as a junior in
high school he took over Marvin Mims's job on his
(13:17):
high school in Frisco, Texas as the slot receiver on
that team. Yes, it was only it was only Genti's
second year back in America. This is a guy who
learned to play the sport in Italy. He was living
on an Italian naval base and he played there through
ninth grade and his team entered in ninth grade. They
ended up winning like the euro title, you know, like
(13:39):
they went around to other naval bases and we're playing
those teams they you know, Germany and like all these
other different ones. They ended up winning it. Or whatever,
But yeah he was. He goes to America Frisco and
as I'm sorry, as a junior, he shifted out to
the slot, replaced Mims, like I said, because that team
had a guy who ended up signing a scholarship to
(14:00):
P four at running back, this kid named jad and
Nixon who went to Okahoma State and then Western Michigan.
But Genty was All conference in Texas high school football's
highest level as a receiver as a junior, and then
he ends up as a senior just went utterly ballistic
replacing Nixon as the running back there. That's what you know,
between living in Italy before that, between having to play
(14:21):
receiver as a junior, which is your most important recruiting
season in high school, that's why he was under recruited.
Boise got an early Boise the team that had developed
the last star running back from Frisco, Texas, a guy
named Jay a Jai and so Geny, yeah, I mean
Jaya Jay's picture is hanging all over the facilities there
in Frisco at high school whatever. So Genty, it was
(14:43):
a dream come true. That's how he ended up at Boise,
and and and the rest was history. But yeah, this
is the best running back prospect entered the NFL. Sin
Saquon Barkley.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I love it. You in people can see follow your
work at at fantasylife dot com. And you've got a
rookie running back article, A gravy trained, a bunch of
a bunch of stuff from But you mentioned that last
year at Boise State, Uh, when he was when he
was asked to go as a receiver, he cut forty
(15:14):
four or forty eight targets. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's
why I mean, yeah, year before, two seasons ago. I
guess I should say. So he's going to help out
it through the air, you know, potentially depending on his
landing spot a lot more than maybe people realize. And
he's the obvious first pick in dynasty leagues and might
be the first pick and redraft as well.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Agreed.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
All right, Now, let's go to a player that that
you and I might disagree a little bit more on.
Amarian Hampton is your number two running back right now?
And your comp here is a guy who I loved
in during his playing days. Deuce McAllister, Yeah, talk to
me about Omarian Hampton?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yeah? Him? And do is they they have the same
frame and they have the same running style. Like it
sort of eerie watching them, you know, and thinking back
to Deuce McCalister because it's it's the upright type runner
in the in the well fortified frame. McCalister was six
one two twenty two coming out. Hampton was five to
eleven two twenty one. McAlister ran a four to four
(16:16):
to one with the thirty seven and a half vertical
and Hampton was four four six thirty eight inch vertical.
But with Hampton, it's a bullet trained guy. Once he
gets into the open field, you're you're talking about legitimate
sprinter wheels on, you know, at two hundred twenty one
pounds or he can get up to two hundred twenty
five the playing weight. He's good between the tackles. You're
(16:38):
not going to get him with an off angle attempt
or an arm tackle attempt, So you get sort of
the meat and potatoes efficiency with him, with the possibility
for dingers. As a receiver, He's not going to run
any you know, super impressive routes beyond the line of scrimmage,
but he will give you value between checkdowns, screens and
swings running with the ball apt for the catch. That
(17:01):
the idea basically on those latter two things is just
get him the ball in space with the convoy in
front of him, and then let him do the hit.
You know, his thing of good luck trying to tackle
me in space defensive bat. So that's that's the thing
with the Marian Hampton.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I was really impressed with his balance at the point
of contact and his his his hips and thighs are gigantic,
and he is so strong lower body that he is
a he is a really really tough tackle.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Yeah, he sure has. This is someone who is has
you could say, maniacal work ethic. You could also just
say he was obsessed with the weight room, like from
a really early age. If you go into the weight
room of his high school, you'll see Omar. They have
like a record board or whatever Omar and Hampton's name
is all over it. For every single lift that they
had there, they had to get him to stop lifting
(17:55):
some of the thing because he with the squad rack.
I think it was he had gotten up enough with
it in high school where it was starting to bend
the bars and they were like, oh, Marion, you need
to stop putting weight on there or it's going to break,
so so he he could lift more than than their
weight room could handle. But yeah, you know, he's just
been maniacal with that forever and charge to your point
(18:16):
that the lower leg drive is crazy, right, and you're
going to have to get him on the ground for
those legs to to stop churning. And you're talking about
a speed to power conversion thing there, and I think
that goes in with the contact balance. It's that bullet
train thing that I'm talking to, the locomotive thing. Once
he gets on that straight line, he's got the acceleration
or you know, and starts to build up to that speed.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
It is.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
It's really really difficult he gets on his path because
you have to be you know, it's the thing of
you got to step on the train tracks and the
train's coming through. To get him on the ground, you're
going to need multiple guys. You need to make sure
that you have Omari and Hampton dead to rights are
on the line of scrimmage or it's it's a problem.
It's it's the Trannosaurus Rex breaking containment at Jurassic Park
(18:58):
and all the sirens are going off. What he gets
into the second level, you got a problem.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Now here's the only thing I saw, and I watched
through every snap of two or three games of his
I didn't see the long speed and I didn't you know,
he had some long runs, but he would get tracked
down a lot on the in the least in the
games that I watched. And so do you feel like
a Marion Hampton has got the explosive big playability or
is he more of the guy that I saw where
(19:25):
he's breaking a tackle or two and then gets pulled down,
you know, eight yards downfield rather than making those you know,
long stretch runs.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Yeah, I think the speed that we saw more or
less plays on the field, like where he I saw
him got tracked. I mean, famously he was tracked down
by Nate Wiggins the Clemson corner the burner, right like,
and Nate Wiggins came from I don't know, twelve fifteen
yards behind him and ended up catching up doing the
length of the field. But Nate Wagans, of course was
(19:52):
what something like that. Yeah, just an absolute burner. But yeah,
I mean, like you know, anyone four or five or less,
certainly he's gonna be out running and the power element
with him allows him to access that speed, right, like
getting through the line and stuff like that. You're, like
I said, you're gonna need the flush tackle at time.
You're you're probably gonna need multiple guys. But yeah, I
(20:14):
mean it's it's he's not he's certainly not four to
three speed. And the other nitpick on him with the
running style is the hips in the lower half while
they're pistons, right, I mean, the strength it speaks for itself.
There is some stiffness there and that goes you know,
it's the thing we talk about with like you know,
in the UFC with bodybuilders, the guys with all the muscles,
(20:37):
it's you know, you can punch yourself out a little bit,
you can get a little bit tight. That's his lower
half is a little bit tight where you don't get
certainly not the joystick agility. This is not someone who
is trying to evade. You will get the one cut
with him, but you're not getting many more direction changes
than that. Yeah, he's trying to he's trying to blast
through and then like I said, get into the open
(20:58):
field and get on a straight line and then you know,
good luck. But yeah, that's you're not getting a ton
of evasion with Omri and Hampton, and Hampton.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
To me looks as a receiver. He he can catch.
He doesn't look like a naturally gifted fluid pass catcher
to me.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Yeah, I think that that's right. Yeah, I mean, you know,
certainly the route running is not there, right, Like it's
just the leak out to check down the screen, the
swing that he has. But yeah, the ball it's not
the most natural ball skills either. He is clearly most
comfortable getting that ball from the quarterback and then he
can pick the attack plan after that and start rumbling
(21:38):
downhill or whatever. But yeah, there's guys in this class
where they have that extremely smooth it's not just the
good hands, but like the extremely smooth conversion from receiver
to runner, you know where you don't lose a beat
in there and you can just go upfield and fluidly
and now you're starting to chew up the yards. Like Hampton,
there is a click with it right where okay, we
(21:59):
got to make sure that balls and okay, we got it.
Now we're looking upfield. So yeah, it's it's it's limited. Ish.
I think he probably gets a little bit more credit
for a receiver than he actually is without the context
being explained. He is the yards after the catch threat
every single time. But yeah, there there are contextual things
you have to keep in mind there.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Okay, let's that's what Mari and Hampton. Let's go to
your number three running back and somebody who honestly I
like more than Hampton from a fantasy standpoint, it's Travion Henderson.
We're gonna talk about Ohio state backs today in this show.
Let's talk. Let's talk about Travon Henderson. And your comp
for him.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Is Clinton Portis.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah, baby, Yeah, we're a monster for most of his career.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
We're hopping in the time machine for some of these comps.
But yeah, Travion was a tough guy to comp because
he has sort of a unique game where at the
NFL combine and he waited at two h two, but
in college he was playing closer to the threshold size
two twelve, two thirteen, which basically, like we used to
consider two fifteen threshold for running backs, it's come down
(23:04):
a little bit, you know now it's it's sort of
two twelve. So Trevion Henderson is a threshold size back,
but he has the ridiculous explosion. So you're talking more
athletic than your typical threshold size back. And for the
game that he has with the the the athletic explosion,
the outside the tackle stuff that receiving utility, Generally those
(23:27):
guys are more dancers or their their game. It's more
you have more agility there. Henderson is unique where it's
the straight line bullet thing he is. He he is
not looking to evade. I mean even between the tackles,
it's the shout out of a cannon thing. And and
he has a unique game between the tackles because this
kid is not afraid of contact whatsoever. It's gotten him
(23:50):
in trouble a couple of times. But there are there's
a whole bunch of backs in this class. I could
point you to where they don't even try with pass
pro or they just kind of ten and then they
play paddy Cake and they stink at it. Tradyon Henderson
loves to scrap that guy like when he gets an
upper the free blitzer coming through a gap. That that's
one of the guys in this class who was licking
(24:11):
his jobs and he gets down in his stands and
he is looking to blast people and he did his
his That tape is fun. He had some fun run
blocking tape as well, getting up in front of Will
Howell on quarterback around the edge. Yeah, I saw him
blast a few guys with with that as well. But
it's it's a more physical game than you're accustomed to
(24:31):
from from a back like this. But the athletic explosion
plays at that size four four three At the combine,
he had the nine to four to three ras. All
that stuff was good. The the acceleration speaks for itself.
The question ish with Trevion Henderson is as a true freshman,
he was a five star recruit coming out of Virginia.
He was the belcoyw back for Ohio State as a
(24:52):
true freshman, and he was great as a sophomore and junior.
They wanted him to be the same. Both years were
injury ravage. It was stopping started is one nagging injury
after another. So they went out and they got Quinjohn
Jenkins and the transfer port Ohio State did about a
year ago to pair with him, and it turned out
to be perfect on the national title winning Ohio State Buckeyes.
(25:13):
Judkins took the meat and potatoes type work and then
it freed Henderson to do his thing. And Henderson he
averaged it was like eleven touches per game, so it
was greatly cut down from a couple of years before
that when he was on the field. However, he played
sixteen games during that national title run and he was
not injured one time, so that was really good for
(25:35):
the evaluation. I think it's also instructive thinking about the
way that his NFL team should think about him. I
think Trevion Henderson also in the NFL, should be paired
with in early down sort of meat and potatoes type guy,
where you save Trevion Henderson the wreckage of his you know,
straight ahead bullet game and all the punishment that he takes,
(25:56):
try to prevent him from getting the nagging injuries that
we saw his the middle two years in college, and
leave him healthy for the end of the season. Where
for instance, Church, you remember the semi game against Texas
where it was really close. Right before halftime, Texas had
just scored a touchdown and it appeared as though Ohio
State was going to kill the clock and then get
(26:16):
into halftime. They decided to run a delayed screen to
Travon Henderson, and Travian Henderson took it seventy five yards
for a touch. It was all him. He caught that
ball behind the line of scrimmagers, all Travion Henderson, and
flipped that entire game Texas instead of going into halftime
where the game it's you're right there and you know
you have the momentum. Now you go into halftime year down.
(26:38):
I think it was by ten points at that point,
just utterly demoralized in Ohio State obviously pulled away. You
know after that, if you're the NFL team at Travion Henderson,
you have to take some of that between the tackles
work from him. He would love to do it. He
would love to beat the bell callet there. The whole time.
You have to protect him from himself so that you
have access to him later on in the season and
in the playoffs to create those game flipping plays like
(27:01):
he did against Texas.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
So I want to highlight a couple of things that
I noticed about tre Von Henderson that that I'm really
interested in. First, he's this upright track star runner. Usually
those guys have our long striders, and long strides are
a mixed bag in the NFL. What I loved about
him is he's got choppy footwork that lets him instantly
(27:25):
cut hard because when he needs to cut, he's not
in the middle of some loping stretch, right, He's got
a foot on the ground and he can make that
cut really quickly. And then, as you already mentioned, the
acceleration is just remarkable for him, and they Ohio State
used him on a lot of stretch plays. And the
other thing that I noticed, in addition to his ability
(27:46):
to cut hard and accelerate on the stretch play, when
he sees his whole he almost never chooses the wrong
lane thor he knows instinctively where where to go on
those stretch plays. And that's not an automatic in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Yes, yeah, and this is you know, a lot. We
don't go off the field a lot with some of
these evaluations. But I think it's important to bring up
Trevion Henderson. That kid could have gotten academic scholarships almost
to anywhere that he wanted to go. He was a
straight A student in high school. There's a funny story
where his mom wanted him and his brothers to you know,
(28:20):
get out of have a key to get out of town,
you know, after their high school graduation. So she offered them.
It was like one hundred bucks for straight A report cards.
Trevion Henderson never gave her anything less than a straight
A report card, and I believe in Ohio State he
finished with a four point three. This is an extremely
extremely bright young man and you can tell that to
(28:41):
your point charts that he sees the game slower than
other people. He gets the information quicker and he synthesizes
it quicker. And that has to do. You know, you're
talking about the thing of we con track the movement
of the second level defenders while we simultaneously paying attention
to the flow of the line of scrimmage right and
what's going on there and the opening of the holes
(29:02):
and stuff like that. And he can do that well,
paying attention, like I said, to the flow of the
second level guys and start doing interesting things as far
as setting them up. But you see this as well
with the pass blocking, where there's some guys where even
if they try, the guys that give effort, they don't
denote the danger right away. You know, It's like they're
like a sparkle. They'll they're like a butterfly and they'll
get distracted by that and they take a couple steps forward,
(29:24):
and all of a sudden, they're not a depth to
complete the block of the most present danger. There's a
guy who's looped around that you know, the right tackle
who's coming in now, but you don't have the depth
to make that block. Henderson has a really good sense
of all that stuff, of where every piece is on
the chess board, you know, no matter if he's the runner,
if he's the blocker, whatever it is. And the other
(29:44):
thing that you said charge that I wanted to hit
on really quick, that thing you're talking about with the
sprinter thing, with the way that he runs, you know,
you were talking about those shorter, choppier steps with the
guy who is sort of the angular runner. I thought
of him. It's like springy, right, like that, you know,
like the guy who got in trouble for others stuff.
(30:05):
But that sprinter that had the you know, the the
what do you call it, like the springs for legs
or whatever. And there was like a Pastoris there.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
There was like that oh yeah, yeah, yeah, killing a guy.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Who ended up killing a guy. Yeah, So I almost
didn't bring him up, but it was like this. There
was a debate in the sprinting community for a while
of like, oh, the springs are those unfair, But that's
like how Treyvon Henderson runs like. His legs are absolutely
like that. You have to upbraak torso and then you
have the bent knees and it's just super springy. And
that's how he can just shoot off, you know, speaking
(30:37):
to the acceleration. You have all that lower body strength
and and just push off really quick and and and
access his top speed really quickly.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I can't wait to talk about an next runner. It's
Caleb Johnson. And when we take a quick break, when
we come back, we're going to talk about what I
think is one of the best fantasy prospects for this
coming season. When we return to Fantasy Football Weekly, Welcome
(31:06):
back Fantasy Football Weekly, Paul Charchie and throw An Eystrom
with you. We are breaking down the rookie running back class.
It's so deep, it's filled with so many people. We're
doing deep dives on six different runners. We've already done three.
I want to turn my attention thor to the guy
who carried the entire Iowa offense, Caleb Johnson. Yes, your
(31:26):
comp for Caleb Johnson is drool worthy and accurate. Tell
people who it.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Is it's Larry Johnson from Penn State back in the day.
And for people that meet you know, and then the
chiefs of course in the NFL, like people that don't
remember Larry Johnson. It was the tall, well built kind
of zone runner who want He ripped off a whole
bunch of explosive runs, you know, the ability to get
through the line, that good vision, the good patients, and
(31:54):
then once he got up to top speed, that's where
he became the locomotive. And Caleb Johnson is very very
similar six to one two twenty four pure zone runner
Iowa Tim Lester, their new offensive coordinator twenty twenty four.
He had come from the Packers and the Iowa rushing offense.
The concepts they use between the inside zone, the middle zone,
(32:16):
and then the stretch outside zone type concepts. Those were
ial to what the Packers run, which is very very
similar to what the Rams run with the forty nine
Ers run a couple other teams in the NFL. So
there's gonna be plenty of shooters that are interested in
Caleb Johnson and the outside zone system. He will evoke
for you a lev On Bell type with the patients
(32:39):
picking down the line his ability to force linebackers to
declare their gap before he does, which is the thing
that allows him to get through more open holes than
I think other analogous type zone backs, and it's the
thing that allows him to get the runway to access
the high end top speed. Now, Caleb Johnson only ran
(33:01):
a four to five to seven at the NFL Combine.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
And surprised me because he plays faster than that.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
Well, let's break this thing down because it actually makes
sense and in a way that shouldn't kill his evaluation
for folks where it jives with his profile on the field,
even though he had the ninety eight percent i'll breakaway
rate in college, et cetera. Yeah, the four to five
to seven on that run, Caleb Johnson actually hit twenty
(33:27):
two miles per hour max speed, which was high end
for the running back clad the entirety of it. The
interesting thing is IOWA was GPS. They clocked him at
twenty two point two miles per hour max speed on
one of his runs last year, so it was actually
equivalent to that, and you're wondering if you hit that
top speed And also he had it was something like
(33:48):
the sixth of the seventh fastest max acceleration on that
run as well, so it's like counter then he finished
with a four or five seven he fished doesn't add
up exactly. It's because he had a one six two
ten yards split, which was seventh percentile at the NFL combine,
you know, going back twenty five years or so. He
needs the three, four or five steps to get too
(34:10):
top speed. And that's the thing on those stretched one
concepts when he has given himself that gaping hole because
he has sucked the linebackers into the false doors and
now they're caught up in the muck of humanity there
where he then threw there. Once he is into the
second level, and certainly when he is approaching the third,
he has now gotten up to his top speed, which
(34:31):
again is high high end. It's that stuff initially, but
the zone concepts itself and how good he is, the
decisions he makes, and the manipulation of the second level defenders,
it's what allows him to access that high end speed
more than I think.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
You know, some people might think, but we're not drafting
Caleb Johnson in my mind for his speed. It's the
big thing here is he's so hard to tackle. His
balance is so good, so powerful, he breaks so many tackles.
You noted that Caleb Johnson ninety fourth and percentile in
(35:08):
yards after contact per attempt. Yep, Yes, this is what
he's got. He is a true power back. He's a
goal line back, and I feel like he's just built
for fantasy points.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Yeah, it's This is another similarity with with Larry Penn
State's Larry Johnson, where Larry Johnson ran upright even though
he was tall, but he broke a ton of tackles
and it was the contact balance and then the power thing.
It's the same thing with Caleb Johnson, and it's really
deceiving because he runs so upright, So it would seem
like it would be pretty easy to get a guy
(35:44):
like that down. It's not. It's I think I compared
him to a light pole caked in grease, like when yes,
it's great phrase, Yeah, they just can't. Like there was
this one explosive reception that he had against Nebraska last year.
There was like three guys who had their arms wrapped
around him something like five yards upfield, and none of
(36:05):
them could impede his forward progress, Like they just kept
flipping off of him like he was this enormous banana
peel and all of a sudden, you think the play's over,
and all of a sudden, he's now running in the
secondary and it's like, oh my god, no one's gonna
catch him, right, and then he just runs the rest
of the way. And that's what it is. You're not
gonna It's the same thing where you're not gonna get
him with an arm tackle attempt or an off angle attempt.
(36:27):
So you got to get him. And this is this
is a you know, I was mentioning this with Hampton,
it's all the more true with Caleb Johnson. You need
to get this guy around the line of scrimmage. You
cannot allow him to access that top speed that is
where he is a true, true problem. But because of
how good he is in his zone concept with the
patients and the vision, that's what makes it really difficult
(36:48):
to be able to confront him with linebackers or descending
defenders around the line of scrimmage, you know, especially on
those outside zone concepts.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
All right, let's move to your your next running back.
We've mentioned earlier with Travon Henderson that he would not
be the last Ohio State running back. We would talk
about in this show. Your number five ranked running back
is quinch On Judkins from Ohio State, who posted that
his RASS score was a nine point eight nine crazy y.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
I certainly was not expecting it, although I started get
a hint from it when the day before this was
last Friday in Indianapolis, the day before the running backs test,
that I asked Quinn John Jenkins at his podium session.
I said, you know, you are known for having such
good bursts and acceleration, but people have questioned your long speed.
(37:39):
Is that is that? Because he had already said he
was going to test do all the tests, and I said,
is that something you're looking forward to going out? A
question that you're looking forward to going out and answering
and and and he just smiled at me, you know,
and and you know, was like absolutely, you know. And
and he goes out and test better than we thought.
You mentioned that the nine to eight nine RASS five
(38:00):
eleven two twenty one is extremely impressive. That ridiculous burst
of his that he is famous for. That that was
a parent out there. He had a one to five
to one ten yard split, which was number two among
running backs four foot eight forty yard dash was was
really good at his size, thirty eight and a half
vertical inch was top five for the running backs, and
(38:20):
as eleven foot broad jump led the group right and
that goes into the explosion on the first couple steps,
you know, and and the acceleration there. I love him
as a as a natural runner. I mean, that's like
the thing that all of his coaches you talk to
Lane Keffen, Ryan Day, that they just in his high
school coach, that they go nuts about. It's his vision.
(38:41):
He just has really really good vision and feel, and
then he naturally toggles the tempo and then the clean footwork,
you know, depending on what he is perceiving and the
planning has at that time. It's just really really natural.
The thing that you ding him for it's on the
passing downs. He does have good hands, he doesn't drop
the ball, but it's another thing where he's not great
(39:03):
running the routes and he is not a great pass
blocker either. I think the thing that Ohio State had
going last year that we were talking about with that platoon,
that's what you're looking for for Judkins at the next level.
He can handle a heavy workload, especially the first two
years at Ole Miss when he was the bellcout back,
and it was they run the hyper tempo offense that
you know at Ole Miss, So be like, you know,
(39:25):
six yard run for drunkins, sprint back to the line,
immediately handle the ball again. You know, now five yard runs,
sprint back to the line. So he the the carry
numbers just accelerated there. We know that he can handle
that without getting nicked up. So a team that could
use a bellcout back but like you know, can give
him is the quote unquote rests on obvious passing downs
(39:46):
because you have that air back. That's what he should
should be going to in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Yeah, it's I I saw a lot of things I like.
By the way, I didn't give you a chance to
mention your comp for Judkins, it is Joe Joe Mixon,
and I can I can see it originally when you
when I was when I was watching Judkins' play, I
was like, I didn't see it at first, But the
(40:12):
more I looked at him, the more the more I
can see it. Especially uh this, especially because of how
sort of light on his feet he can be despite
the fact that he's carrying two hundred and twenty one pounds.
I mean, with everything that you just described, he should
not be able to do that at two hundred and
twenty one pounds. You know, these are the these are
the traits of somebody who's carrying like fifteen fewer pounds.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Yeah. The feet there on that kid, Yeah, it definitely
you don't think you're dealing with a back that bag with. Yeah,
how light on his feet he is, and how precise
and sudden the footwork is. And you forget this guy.
He's in the same sort of size phylum as Omari
and Hanton and Caleb Johnson, just a little bit shorter
but than Caleb. But yeah, at the two hundred and
(40:57):
twenty one pounds and then testing as well as he
did that size, I just thought it was super impressive.
That tape speaks for itself. With Judkins, he's gonna be
He's gonna get a lot of carries in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
And right from the get all right, our final guy,
it's time to rock Chuck.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
You ready, Yes, Yes, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Devin Neil. Now, I think he's better than the sixth
the best back in this class, And I worry that
you're so concerned about a perceived personal bias for your
alma mater, that you've overcompensated and you're actually underappreciating Neil.
I love how shifty he is. Tacklers have got Devin
(41:35):
Neil dead to rights and they don't get a hand
on him. They they they completely whiff on him. His
footwork is so good, and I love that he's a
good pass catcher. And I'll let you expand on all
of that. You know way more about it than I do.
But I love this kid and I feel like he
is he is a three down back who's going to
(41:56):
be a big fantasy factor in the right spot.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Yeah, I definitely agree with all that. It's it's at
his size, the footwork, because he was two hundred and
twenty pounds at the Senior Bowl. He at the combine
two hundred and thirteen. He cuts seven pounds for the testing,
but you're talking about a two hundred and twenty pound
back and just absolutely ludicrous footwork, you know, and and
the thing of making people miss. He does that in
(42:19):
the second level and out in space. But the footwork,
it also plays between the tackles and around the line
of scrimmage with sort of these micro cuts that he
does that where it just sort of it's hard to
tell where he is going. Because of that, he can
change the direction so quickly and so fluidly, like and
sometimes behind the line. You'll see it a couple of
(42:40):
different times where it's like is he gonna go outside, No,
he's going inside. No, actually he's it's going between the
gard and the tackle, like just because of these these
contortions of his footwork and his upper body. It's you know,
behind the line is just changing where the direction where
he's had his pointed. It's really really cool watching that
guy run. You have that, and then the receiving utility.
He was a good receiver at Kansas. They used him,
(43:01):
they didn't use him enough. I'll say that, like as
a receiver, they had three Kansas did three veteran seniors
starting receivers and a starting senior tight end. They used
their passing concepts to go to those guys. And then
Neil was always the checkdown too, so he would get
the checkdowns where you know, typically it was you know,
the quarterbacks under duress and then you know you don't
(43:22):
have a lot to work with there once you end
up getting the ball. The times where we have seen
Devin Neil allowed to run routes down the field. It's
the footwork. You can't stay with the guy's footwork, right,
So it's like, by definition he is a good route
runner because but he's going to create the separation every
time you literally cannot stay with his footwork. So he
got to do more of that stuff. At the senior ball,
(43:44):
the routes five, seven, ten yards downfield and he was
always open. Again, a linebacker or a strong safety, you're
not staying with the footwork. So I think at the
NFL level you were gonna see a much better receiver
than you saw Kansas, where it was sort of the
part back type concepts and he got the ball.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
What I liked about seeing seeing Devin Neil's a receiver
or he's just so natural and fluid as a receiver.
It looks like he was born to catch the ball,
and I love I love to see running backs who
look that way. And I think that's ultimately going to
unlock a lot more productivity than what Kansas had with
(44:23):
Devin Neil and some team. You know, I'm not do
you have a do you have a rough estimate for
the round Devin Neil is going to go in is
he trending to round two? Round three?
Speaker 3 (44:33):
I think he's going to go in round three.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Okay, round three, some team Minnesota is going to find
a three down back in the third round. That it
can be. Absolutely, he's just NFL traits and I I love,
I'm really really optimistic on Devin Neil.
Speaker 3 (44:51):
Yeah, and you don't have to you know, you mentioned
a three down thing, you don't You don't ever have
to take him off the field because he can now
pass block as well. That's an area of his game
that's getting better. His Initially in Lawrence, he was not
a good pass blocker. He told us at the Senior Bowl, like,
heading into last season, he knew, He's like because I
know in the NFL, like you have to pass block
(45:12):
to stay on the field. And he got a whole
lot better at it. And with the frame, the footwork,
the strongholder half, you can project additional improvement after what
you saw last year. So I think that that's a
guy who, if nothing else, is going to be passable
in that phase in the NFL, if not develop into
a solid one. The receiving we're talking about that really
(45:33):
really good and pretends well to the NFL and such
a natural and fluid runner.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Yeah, your comp for Devin Neil is durable.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Ja the aforementioned j guy, he's out there. He's like
man in my second shout out of Fantasy Football Weekly
this week, but you know, recalled j Jaii coming out
of Boise State. I love that kid's game. It was
just a thing of like he didn't have cartilage and
his knees. Knew that there was a you know, like
a sand timer on his time in the NFL. Think
(46:04):
about if Jay Jay coming to the NFL with perfectly
healthy knees without durability concerns. I think that's what Devin
Neil is. It's it's the big guy with the really
really really smooth feet.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
Great work on part one of our running back breakdown.
We're gonna hit even more players next week on next
week's Fantasy Football Weekly, and more running backs in particular.
I mean, so a deeper dive on more guys. And
just because we've got like the what's the draftable pool
here of playoff running backs store for this draft class?
(46:39):
What are we talking about guys who have like a
draftable great? How many oh.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
Man around thirty?
Speaker 1 (46:49):
That's insane pretty potentially draftable running backs. We're not gonna
hit We've done six, we're not gonna hit twenty four
next week, but we will have a lot of fun
hitting maybe like a dozen guys. How does that sound
for now?
Speaker 3 (47:05):
That sounds great to me. We have to it's this
historic running back class we got to.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
Yeah, it sounds great, and I will try to hit
you with what I think is the best running back
class of like the last thirty years. When we talk
next week to great job thor thanks for listening, everybody,
Please stay tuned next week more Fantasy Football Weekly coming up.
Then in part two of our rookie running back draft
class coming up,
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Time now for Fantasy Football Weekly from iHeartRadio, your weekly
source for the nation's best fantasy football advice, speculation, and
whatever stupid stuff they decide to drop into the show. Now,
here's your host, Paul Chargian.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Welcome to Fantasy Football Weekly. I am Paul Charchie, and
my guest for this show and most of the shows
between now and the draft is Thor Nice Drum.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Hey, buddy, Yeah, Hey, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Oh god, I'm so excited for the first awesome running
back draft we have had in many, many years. There's
a very real chance that this goes down as the
deepest best running back draft in like decades.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I've been doing draft work for
a decade now. This is the best running back class
during that time for sure, you know, and you'd have
to go back earlier than that. But yeah, this is
just a nasty, nasty running back class.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
God, I love it. There's so many running backs that
we're we're actually gonna break this concept down. We're gonna
break down running backs. We're gonna break it into two
shows because there's just so many guys to talk about.
You like, last year, we're gonna do six running backs
deep dive on six running backs today. Last year there
were only about six guys worth even talking about. And
you know we're gonna cover between the two shows. We're
gonna do six today, We're gonna do like twelve next week.
(01:31):
It's crazy how many guys there are worth talking about
this year.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Thor Yeah, this is the year where if you have
multiple spots in your running back room, you probably want
to take two running backs in the draft if you're
an organization. But yeah, for dynasty owners out there, this
is the year to get your running backs load up.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
It is. And you know, from a dynasty standpoint, thor Well,
I would love to have pick one overall, right, ashon Jety,
we'll talk about them with plenty. But you know, if
you got to make you need a running back, and
you got to make do it pick five, at picks six,
at pick seven, you're gonna get way better prospects in
the middle rounds of your dynasty draft than you would
(02:09):
have in most years.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Right, definitely, Yeah, I mean you you squeeze these two
classes together, the last running back class in this one,
you might have six or seven guys from this class
that would have gone before Jonathan Brooks last last April.
So yeah, it's it's just a totally different animal. We're
dealing with the running back class this year.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yeah, it really is. I thought that we would. I
would start here, for there's a lot of running back
and needy teams, and I've broken into two groups, and
you can feel free to disagree with me, into like
Tier one teams that really need a running back and
then Tier two teams that I think could spend equity
on a running back, especially in this deeper class, that
(02:52):
maybe just don't quite have exactly the backfield that they
want yet. So let me start here. I think Cleveland
is in business. Nick Chubbs got plenty of question marks
and free agency, and so I think Cleveland is in
business here, although they've got addressed quarterback. First, how about Pittsburgh.
Najie Harris is an unrestricted free agent. Houston to me,
(03:14):
I think is a sneaky running back destination. Joe Mixon
petered out hard after he remember remember thor when he
started the season so well and then in the middle
end of the season, it just didn't come together for
Joe Mixon and he looked old. Yeah, Denver Javonte Williams
does not look like the answer. Nobody on that roster
(03:34):
right now looks like the guys that are ultimately the
answer for Sean Payton Las Vegas. Right now, the leading
running back under contract for this coming season of Las
Vegas is Sincere McCormick. That tells you plenty uh. And
then what do you think about the What do you
think about the Chargers what they had? You know, they
tried the Dobbins Edwards thing, the recycled Ravens, and while
(03:56):
it Dobbins looked good at the beginning of the season,
he wasn't able to get anything done. And you know
Jim Harbaugh wants to run the ball.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, you're you're not going to be able to prevent
Jim Harbaugh from taking a running back in the best
running back class. So we've seen the decades in the NFL,
so you can count on that, right.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yes, Dallas is the team everybody points at, and I
think it's it's totally valid. And if there was one
team where you go, yeah, you know, Ashton genty will
never slip by that team, it's got to be Dallas, right.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Agreed, Yeah, his Ashton Genz's floor is picked twelve. Will
he get to pick twelve? That is the debate.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Yeah, I don't think it will. The Bears, I think
are a sneaky running back destination. You look at the
improvements they made on their offensive line. I know they
have to get more productivity out of their running back room.
I think DeAndre Swift is just a guy in Chicago's
a destination. And then the Vikings Aaron Jones, unrestricted free agent,
Cam Akers unrestricted free agent ty Chandler doesn't look like
(04:53):
anything close to a reliable back. So I think the
Vikings are also a Tier one team that could take
that it needs running back help.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I agree with both of those, I think at ten,
depending on the way that the board falls. For Chicago,
I absolutely think that there are scenarios where they would
take genty And do they feel like they have to
take a tackle They obviously just recently traded for two guards.
You probably could use a tackle across from Darnell, right,
But what if a tackle isn't there that you like? Yeah?
(05:24):
I mean Ben Johnson comes from the organization that shocked
everybody by taking Jamier Gibbs three years ago at twelve
or so. So yeah, I mean he wanted to build
up the offensive line. Do they feel like they have
built it up enough with the acquisition of those guards.
What's their feeling of Braxton Jones the new coaching staff.
But yeah, I think Gent's in play for them for sure,
(05:44):
certainly in play for Las Vegas. And if he gets
through the wickets, that's where Dallas comes in.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
All right, I'm gonna give you some Tier two teams.
I think New England's in player, even though you know
Thor I love Ramondre Stevenson, and I think in a
different unit where he hadn't been stuck playing behind this
terrible offensive line and terrible quarterbacking for his entire career,
Romandi would be just like a great a stud playing
somewhere else. But the reality is that he hasn't been
(06:12):
as productive as as the Patriots would want, and they
may put some of that blame on him. So I
think Patriots are in play. I think Kansas City could
be sneaky in play because Isaiah Pacheco. The fact that
they refused to use him in the in the playoffs
was just so telling, and maybe this injury that he suffered,
even though he came back from it. You know, maybe
(06:33):
he's just not the same guy in Kansas City, could
have some question marks at running back and might be
able to find somebody that you know, they just for
whatever reason. What you know, if they're worried about Pacheco
that I think that's a possible destination for running back.
Do you think that's accurate. Do you think they just
go right back to Pacheco this year?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
No, I think it's accurate. And I think this where
we'll get into the depth of the running back class
with these Tier two teams, because both of those teams
could use a mix and match back and different kinds,
right like the Patriots. You could use an airback, I think,
an explosive back to pair with Remandre And we know
that the Patriots new head coach fetishizes running the ball.
(07:14):
He had that silly stat he put out of if
you run forty or more times, your record is this
and if you like that that Vrabel just loves it.
So yeah, I would expect New England to dip their
toes in at some point with the complimentary back, and
then I think the complimentary back to Kansas City is
looking for. It's sort of the opposite where you're looking
for the meat and potatoes efficiency guy that you could
(07:36):
pair with Pachecko, And yeah, I mean, and then if
that guy ends up really really flashing, maybe you have
your starter of the future, but a guy where you
wouldn't have to give big time draft equity there and
you would get a viable, immediate guy that could mix
a match with Pachecko.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, and seeing Patrick Mahomes getting getting hit more than
ever last year, and you know you want if they don't,
if they don't end up trying to diversify their offense
a little bit more, the running game going Washington, to
me is a team that's in play. I've never I'm
not a Brian Robinson guy. I just I think he
takes whatever his offensive line gives you a little more.
(08:13):
Austin Eckler obviously at the very end of his career.
So this is a that's an opportunity for Washington. See
as the Pollard Spears thing and it was okay, I
thought Pollard was a little better than I expected last year.
That might be an opportunity. New Orleans needs to start
thinking about the succession plan. To Alvin Kamara, I think
they're in play, and then I'll give you one sneaky
one and tell me you think San Francisco Christian McCaffrey
(08:39):
plenty of question marks. Thoor. We you know, we saw
them have to go deep into their roster. Maybe San
Francisco is a is A is a not not like
the first round, second round. But I think San Francisco
might make a move at running back at some point
in the in the middle part of this draft. What
do you think?
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, San Francisco, they sort of have the remember back
in the day with Green Bay with Ron Wolf where
he had that thing off he wanted to take developmental
quarterback every year in the draft and they take the
one in the sixth or seventh round. San Francisco started
like that with running backs and and Kyle Shanahan. He
has his flavor of running back that he likes for
that that zone system there were you know, just like
(09:20):
we were talking about with those other teams to mix
and match kind of guys. There will be his zone
back available that that I think that they'll be attracted
to fifth, sixth, seventh round. There's there's going to be
attractive UDFA running backs in this class. But yeah, I
would expect San Francisco to dip their toe in and
the only other team from that group but Washington. I
think Washington fans would would advocate for you bumping them
(09:42):
to the Tier one. When I've been on the Washington
radio shows, every single time they're asking me about the
running back class. They are not looking for a complimentary
back for Brian Robbinson. The fans of that organization, they
are looking for someone to replace. Yeah, totally, Yeah, I
think Washington's in play potent one of the teams that
could take a running back.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
On day two, I am moving Washington into my Tier
one spark part of my notes of this show not
and you know what, nobody will ever see it again
except me, But I'm with you on that. I am
absolutely with you. All right. So let's we got six
guys to talk to, talk through in the show, Let's
dive in. I almost feel like the guy we should
spend the least amount of time on is Ashton Genty
(10:22):
because he's so popular and he's so good that I
think that people know the most about him, and he's
depending on the landing spot we could be talking about.
Ashton Genty is the first overall player taken in redraft leagues,
so let's talk about the guy who had more yards
after contact than any other running back had in total.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yeah, Ashton Genty is insaying that comp that some people
had for him in college was was Michael Myers from
the Halloween movies, because he's a killer, and and the
way he stands in the backfield, like right before the snap,
it kind of looks like Michael Myer's standing. So it's
kind of funny if we have to keep it to
a football camp minus Ladanian Tomlinson gent five eight, two
(11:10):
hundred eleven pounds. He is impossible to tackle. He's the
hardest guy to tackle. Since I've been doing the draft
work over the last decade. You mentioned the broken tackle numbers,
the yards after contact numbers. They they're like video game numbers.
That the next closest guy in misstackles forest was forty
nine away. That was Cam Skatabu. It was forty nine
(11:30):
broken tackles away from what Ashon Genty did last year
and nine only forty nine. And he proved it against
the better teams, right like against Oregon. Initially, Oregon was
the only power for a team that finished the regular
season undefeated. In twenty twenty four, the Boise State came
as close as anybody to knocking them off. They only
lost by a field goal because Ashton Genty was doing
(11:52):
his thing against Oregon, against Penn State and the College
Football Playoff. Penn State had that nasty, nasty defense and
they loaded the box up against gen T and Genty
was still getting his yards there. There was one run
in that game where he either broke six or seven
tackle attempts, like you're talking about, just absolutely ridiculous stuff.
(12:12):
And then the other thing with him, you know, in
addition to this stuff, it's a guy who is a
tremendous receiver, and I think that's the aspect of his
game that people sleep on, people that are just getting
exposure to him off twenty twenty four because Boise they
changed his usage in twenty twenty four where they wanted
to funnel the touches he was getting as a receiver
all into rushing because they wanted him to make a
(12:34):
run at Barry Sanders's record. It was a part of
their pitch for Genty to return to Boise State as
a true junior, you know, which they ended up doing.
I think Gents's going to be the last G five
first round pick at the skills that we ever see
stay his entire career in the G five. So this
is sort of a dinosaur, But in twenty twenty three
he was a killer as a receiver. They motioned him
(12:57):
out into the slot to the boundary I think he took.
It was something like ten percent eleven twelve percent of
his snaps were taken out wide, and he was awesome
with that. He was awesome with his his routes out
of the backfield. And it's no surprise that he is
a really, really good receiver because as a junior in
high school he took over Marvin Mims's job on his
(13:17):
high school in Frisco, Texas as the slot receiver on
that team. Yes, it was only it was only Genti's
second year back in America. This is a guy who
learned to play the sport in Italy. He was living
on an Italian naval base and he played there through
ninth grade and his team entered in ninth grade. They
ended up winning like the euro title, you know, like
(13:39):
they went around to other naval bases and we're playing
those teams they you know, Germany and like all these
other different ones. They ended up winning it. Or whatever,
But yeah he was. He goes to America Frisco and
as I'm sorry, as a junior, he shifted out to
the slot, replaced Mims, like I said, because that team
had a guy who ended up signing a scholarship to
(14:00):
P four at running back, this kid named jad and
Nixon who went to Okahoma State and then Western Michigan.
But Genty was All conference in Texas high school football's
highest level as a receiver as a junior, and then
he ends up as a senior just went utterly ballistic
replacing Nixon as the running back there. That's what you know,
between living in Italy before that, between having to play
(14:21):
receiver as a junior, which is your most important recruiting
season in high school, that's why he was under recruited.
Boise got an early Boise the team that had developed
the last star running back from Frisco, Texas, a guy
named Jay a Jai and so Geny, yeah, I mean
Jaya Jay's picture is hanging all over the facilities there
in Frisco at high school whatever. So Genty, it was
(14:43):
a dream come true. That's how he ended up at Boise,
and and and the rest was history. But yeah, this
is the best running back prospect entered the NFL. Sin
Saquon Barkley.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I love it. You in people can see follow your
work at at fantasylife dot com. And you've got a
rookie running back article, A gravy trained, a bunch of
a bunch of stuff from But you mentioned that last
year at Boise State, Uh, when he was when he
was asked to go as a receiver, he cut forty
(15:14):
four or forty eight targets. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's
why I mean, yeah, year before, two seasons ago. I
guess I should say. So he's going to help out
it through the air, you know, potentially depending on his
landing spot a lot more than maybe people realize. And
he's the obvious first pick in dynasty leagues and might
be the first pick and redraft as well.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Agreed.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
All right, Now, let's go to a player that that
you and I might disagree a little bit more on.
Amarian Hampton is your number two running back right now?
And your comp here is a guy who I loved
in during his playing days. Deuce McAllister, Yeah, talk to
me about Omarian Hampton?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yeah? Him? And do is they they have the same
frame and they have the same running style. Like it
sort of eerie watching them, you know, and thinking back
to Deuce McCalister because it's it's the upright type runner
in the in the well fortified frame. McCalister was six
one two twenty two coming out. Hampton was five to
eleven two twenty one. McAlister ran a four to four
(16:16):
to one with the thirty seven and a half vertical
and Hampton was four four six thirty eight inch vertical.
But with Hampton, it's a bullet trained guy. Once he
gets into the open field, you're you're talking about legitimate
sprinter wheels on, you know, at two hundred twenty one
pounds or he can get up to two hundred twenty
five the playing weight. He's good between the tackles. You're
(16:38):
not going to get him with an off angle attempt
or an arm tackle attempt, So you get sort of
the meat and potatoes efficiency with him, with the possibility
for dingers. As a receiver, He's not going to run
any you know, super impressive routes beyond the line of scrimmage,
but he will give you value between checkdowns, screens and
swings running with the ball apt for the catch. That
(17:01):
the idea basically on those latter two things is just
get him the ball in space with the convoy in
front of him, and then let him do the hit.
You know, his thing of good luck trying to tackle
me in space defensive bat. So that's that's the thing
with the Marian Hampton.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I was really impressed with his balance at the point
of contact and his his his hips and thighs are gigantic,
and he is so strong lower body that he is
a he is a really really tough tackle.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Yeah, he sure has. This is someone who is has
you could say, maniacal work ethic. You could also just
say he was obsessed with the weight room, like from
a really early age. If you go into the weight
room of his high school, you'll see Omar. They have
like a record board or whatever Omar and Hampton's name
is all over it. For every single lift that they
had there, they had to get him to stop lifting
(17:55):
some of the thing because he with the squad rack.
I think it was he had gotten up enough with
it in high school where it was starting to bend
the bars and they were like, oh, Marion, you need
to stop putting weight on there or it's going to break,
so so he he could lift more than than their
weight room could handle. But yeah, you know, he's just
been maniacal with that forever and charge to your point
(18:16):
that the lower leg drive is crazy, right, and you're
going to have to get him on the ground for
those legs to to stop churning. And you're talking about
a speed to power conversion thing there, and I think
that goes in with the contact balance. It's that bullet
train thing that I'm talking to, the locomotive thing. Once
he gets on that straight line, he's got the acceleration
or you know, and starts to build up to that speed.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
It is.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
It's really really difficult he gets on his path because
you have to be you know, it's the thing of
you got to step on the train tracks and the
train's coming through. To get him on the ground, you're
going to need multiple guys. You need to make sure
that you have Omari and Hampton dead to rights are
on the line of scrimmage or it's it's a problem.
It's it's the Trannosaurus Rex breaking containment at Jurassic Park
(18:58):
and all the sirens are going off. What he gets
into the second level, you got a problem.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Now here's the only thing I saw, and I watched
through every snap of two or three games of his
I didn't see the long speed and I didn't you know,
he had some long runs, but he would get tracked
down a lot on the in the least in the
games that I watched. And so do you feel like
a Marion Hampton has got the explosive big playability or
is he more of the guy that I saw where
(19:25):
he's breaking a tackle or two and then gets pulled down,
you know, eight yards downfield rather than making those you know,
long stretch runs.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Yeah, I think the speed that we saw more or
less plays on the field, like where he I saw
him got tracked. I mean, famously he was tracked down
by Nate Wiggins the Clemson corner the burner, right like,
and Nate Wiggins came from I don't know, twelve fifteen
yards behind him and ended up catching up doing the
length of the field. But Nate Wagans, of course was
(19:52):
what something like that. Yeah, just an absolute burner. But yeah,
I mean, like you know, anyone four or five or less,
certainly he's gonna be out running and the power element
with him allows him to access that speed, right, like
getting through the line and stuff like that. You're, like
I said, you're gonna need the flush tackle at time.
You're you're probably gonna need multiple guys. But yeah, I
(20:14):
mean it's it's he's not he's certainly not four to
three speed. And the other nitpick on him with the
running style is the hips in the lower half while
they're pistons, right, I mean, the strength it speaks for itself.
There is some stiffness there and that goes you know,
it's the thing we talk about with like you know,
in the UFC with bodybuilders, the guys with all the muscles,
(20:37):
it's you know, you can punch yourself out a little bit,
you can get a little bit tight. That's his lower
half is a little bit tight where you don't get
certainly not the joystick agility. This is not someone who
is trying to evade. You will get the one cut
with him, but you're not getting many more direction changes
than that. Yeah, he's trying to he's trying to blast
through and then like I said, get into the open
(20:58):
field and get on a straight line and then you know,
good luck. But yeah, that's you're not getting a ton
of evasion with Omri and Hampton, and Hampton.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
To me looks as a receiver. He he can catch.
He doesn't look like a naturally gifted fluid pass catcher
to me.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Yeah, I think that that's right. Yeah, I mean, you know,
certainly the route running is not there, right, Like it's
just the leak out to check down the screen, the
swing that he has. But yeah, the ball it's not
the most natural ball skills either. He is clearly most
comfortable getting that ball from the quarterback and then he
can pick the attack plan after that and start rumbling
(21:38):
downhill or whatever. But yeah, there's guys in this class
where they have that extremely smooth it's not just the
good hands, but like the extremely smooth conversion from receiver
to runner, you know where you don't lose a beat
in there and you can just go upfield and fluidly
and now you're starting to chew up the yards. Like Hampton,
there is a click with it right where okay, we
(21:59):
got to make sure that balls and okay, we got it.
Now we're looking upfield. So yeah, it's it's it's limited. Ish.
I think he probably gets a little bit more credit
for a receiver than he actually is without the context
being explained. He is the yards after the catch threat
every single time. But yeah, there there are contextual things
you have to keep in mind there.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Okay, let's that's what Mari and Hampton. Let's go to
your number three running back and somebody who honestly I
like more than Hampton from a fantasy standpoint, it's Travion Henderson.
We're gonna talk about Ohio state backs today in this show.
Let's talk. Let's talk about Travon Henderson. And your comp
for him.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Is Clinton Portis.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah, baby, Yeah, we're a monster for most of his career.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
We're hopping in the time machine for some of these comps.
But yeah, Travion was a tough guy to comp because
he has sort of a unique game where at the
NFL combine and he waited at two h two, but
in college he was playing closer to the threshold size
two twelve, two thirteen, which basically, like we used to
consider two fifteen threshold for running backs, it's come down
(23:04):
a little bit, you know now it's it's sort of
two twelve. So Trevion Henderson is a threshold size back,
but he has the ridiculous explosion. So you're talking more
athletic than your typical threshold size back. And for the
game that he has with the the the athletic explosion,
the outside the tackle stuff that receiving utility, Generally those
(23:27):
guys are more dancers or their their game. It's more
you have more agility there. Henderson is unique where it's
the straight line bullet thing he is. He he is
not looking to evade. I mean even between the tackles,
it's the shout out of a cannon thing. And and
he has a unique game between the tackles because this
kid is not afraid of contact whatsoever. It's gotten him
(23:50):
in trouble a couple of times. But there are there's
a whole bunch of backs in this class. I could
point you to where they don't even try with pass
pro or they just kind of ten and then they
play paddy Cake and they stink at it. Tradyon Henderson
loves to scrap that guy like when he gets an
upper the free blitzer coming through a gap. That that's
one of the guys in this class who was licking
(24:11):
his jobs and he gets down in his stands and
he is looking to blast people and he did his
his That tape is fun. He had some fun run
blocking tape as well, getting up in front of Will
Howell on quarterback around the edge. Yeah, I saw him
blast a few guys with with that as well. But
it's it's a more physical game than you're accustomed to
(24:31):
from from a back like this. But the athletic explosion
plays at that size four four three At the combine,
he had the nine to four to three ras. All
that stuff was good. The the acceleration speaks for itself.
The question ish with Trevion Henderson is as a true freshman,
he was a five star recruit coming out of Virginia.
He was the belcoyw back for Ohio State as a
(24:52):
true freshman, and he was great as a sophomore and junior.
They wanted him to be the same. Both years were
injury ravage. It was stopping started is one nagging injury
after another. So they went out and they got Quinjohn
Jenkins and the transfer port Ohio State did about a
year ago to pair with him, and it turned out
to be perfect on the national title winning Ohio State Buckeyes.
(25:13):
Judkins took the meat and potatoes type work and then
it freed Henderson to do his thing. And Henderson he
averaged it was like eleven touches per game, so it
was greatly cut down from a couple of years before
that when he was on the field. However, he played
sixteen games during that national title run and he was
not injured one time, so that was really good for
(25:35):
the evaluation. I think it's also instructive thinking about the
way that his NFL team should think about him. I
think Trevion Henderson also in the NFL, should be paired
with in early down sort of meat and potatoes type guy,
where you save Trevion Henderson the wreckage of his you know,
straight ahead bullet game and all the punishment that he takes,
(25:56):
try to prevent him from getting the nagging injuries that
we saw his the middle two years in college, and
leave him healthy for the end of the season. Where
for instance, Church, you remember the semi game against Texas
where it was really close. Right before halftime, Texas had
just scored a touchdown and it appeared as though Ohio
State was going to kill the clock and then get
(26:16):
into halftime. They decided to run a delayed screen to
Travon Henderson, and Travian Henderson took it seventy five yards
for a touch. It was all him. He caught that
ball behind the line of scrimmagers, all Travion Henderson, and
flipped that entire game Texas instead of going into halftime
where the game it's you're right there and you know
you have the momentum. Now you go into halftime year down.
(26:38):
I think it was by ten points at that point,
just utterly demoralized in Ohio State obviously pulled away. You
know after that, if you're the NFL team at Travion Henderson,
you have to take some of that between the tackles
work from him. He would love to do it. He
would love to beat the bell callet there. The whole time.
You have to protect him from himself so that you
have access to him later on in the season and
in the playoffs to create those game flipping plays like
(27:01):
he did against Texas.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
So I want to highlight a couple of things that
I noticed about tre Von Henderson that that I'm really
interested in. First, he's this upright track star runner. Usually
those guys have our long striders, and long strides are
a mixed bag in the NFL. What I loved about
him is he's got choppy footwork that lets him instantly
(27:25):
cut hard because when he needs to cut, he's not
in the middle of some loping stretch, right, He's got
a foot on the ground and he can make that
cut really quickly. And then, as you already mentioned, the
acceleration is just remarkable for him, and they Ohio State
used him on a lot of stretch plays. And the
other thing that I noticed, in addition to his ability
(27:46):
to cut hard and accelerate on the stretch play, when
he sees his whole he almost never chooses the wrong
lane thor he knows instinctively where where to go on
those stretch plays. And that's not an automatic in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Yes, yeah, and this is you know, a lot. We
don't go off the field a lot with some of
these evaluations. But I think it's important to bring up
Trevion Henderson. That kid could have gotten academic scholarships almost
to anywhere that he wanted to go. He was a
straight A student in high school. There's a funny story
where his mom wanted him and his brothers to you know,
(28:20):
get out of have a key to get out of town,
you know, after their high school graduation. So she offered them.
It was like one hundred bucks for straight A report cards.
Trevion Henderson never gave her anything less than a straight
A report card, and I believe in Ohio State he
finished with a four point three. This is an extremely
extremely bright young man and you can tell that to
(28:41):
your point charts that he sees the game slower than
other people. He gets the information quicker and he synthesizes
it quicker. And that has to do. You know, you're
talking about the thing of we con track the movement
of the second level defenders while we simultaneously paying attention
to the flow of the line of scrimmage right and
what's going on there and the opening of the holes
(29:02):
and stuff like that. And he can do that well,
paying attention, like I said, to the flow of the
second level guys and start doing interesting things as far
as setting them up. But you see this as well
with the pass blocking, where there's some guys where even
if they try, the guys that give effort, they don't
denote the danger right away. You know, It's like they're
like a sparkle. They'll they're like a butterfly and they'll
get distracted by that and they take a couple steps forward,
(29:24):
and all of a sudden, they're not a depth to
complete the block of the most present danger. There's a
guy who's looped around that you know, the right tackle
who's coming in now, but you don't have the depth
to make that block. Henderson has a really good sense
of all that stuff, of where every piece is on
the chess board, you know, no matter if he's the runner,
if he's the blocker, whatever it is. And the other
(29:44):
thing that you said charge that I wanted to hit
on really quick, that thing you're talking about with the
sprinter thing, with the way that he runs, you know,
you were talking about those shorter, choppier steps with the
guy who is sort of the angular runner. I thought
of him. It's like springy, right, like that, you know,
like the guy who got in trouble for others stuff.
(30:05):
But that sprinter that had the you know, the the
what do you call it, like the springs for legs
or whatever. And there was like a Pastoris there.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
There was like that oh yeah, yeah, yeah, killing a guy.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Who ended up killing a guy. Yeah, So I almost
didn't bring him up, but it was like this. There
was a debate in the sprinting community for a while
of like, oh, the springs are those unfair, But that's
like how Treyvon Henderson runs like. His legs are absolutely
like that. You have to upbraak torso and then you
have the bent knees and it's just super springy. And
that's how he can just shoot off, you know, speaking
(30:37):
to the acceleration. You have all that lower body strength
and and just push off really quick and and and
access his top speed really quickly.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I can't wait to talk about an next runner. It's
Caleb Johnson. And when we take a quick break, when
we come back, we're going to talk about what I
think is one of the best fantasy prospects for this
coming season. When we return to Fantasy Football Weekly, Welcome
(31:06):
back Fantasy Football Weekly, Paul Charchie and throw An Eystrom
with you. We are breaking down the rookie running back class.
It's so deep, it's filled with so many people. We're
doing deep dives on six different runners. We've already done three.
I want to turn my attention thor to the guy
who carried the entire Iowa offense, Caleb Johnson. Yes, your
(31:26):
comp for Caleb Johnson is drool worthy and accurate. Tell
people who it.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Is it's Larry Johnson from Penn State back in the day.
And for people that meet you know, and then the
chiefs of course in the NFL, like people that don't
remember Larry Johnson. It was the tall, well built kind
of zone runner who want He ripped off a whole
bunch of explosive runs, you know, the ability to get
through the line, that good vision, the good patients, and
(31:54):
then once he got up to top speed, that's where
he became the locomotive. And Caleb Johnson is very very
similar six to one two twenty four pure zone runner
Iowa Tim Lester, their new offensive coordinator twenty twenty four.
He had come from the Packers and the Iowa rushing offense.
The concepts they use between the inside zone, the middle zone,
(32:16):
and then the stretch outside zone type concepts. Those were
ial to what the Packers run, which is very very
similar to what the Rams run with the forty nine
Ers run a couple other teams in the NFL. So
there's gonna be plenty of shooters that are interested in
Caleb Johnson and the outside zone system. He will evoke
for you a lev On Bell type with the patients
(32:39):
picking down the line his ability to force linebackers to
declare their gap before he does, which is the thing
that allows him to get through more open holes than
I think other analogous type zone backs, and it's the
thing that allows him to get the runway to access
the high end top speed. Now, Caleb Johnson only ran
(33:01):
a four to five to seven at the NFL Combine.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
And surprised me because he plays faster than that.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
Well, let's break this thing down because it actually makes
sense and in a way that shouldn't kill his evaluation
for folks where it jives with his profile on the field,
even though he had the ninety eight percent i'll breakaway
rate in college, et cetera. Yeah, the four to five
to seven on that run, Caleb Johnson actually hit twenty
(33:27):
two miles per hour max speed, which was high end
for the running back clad the entirety of it. The
interesting thing is IOWA was GPS. They clocked him at
twenty two point two miles per hour max speed on
one of his runs last year, so it was actually
equivalent to that, and you're wondering if you hit that
top speed And also he had it was something like
(33:48):
the sixth of the seventh fastest max acceleration on that
run as well, so it's like counter then he finished
with a four or five seven he fished doesn't add
up exactly. It's because he had a one six two
ten yards split, which was seventh percentile at the NFL combine,
you know, going back twenty five years or so. He
needs the three, four or five steps to get too
(34:10):
top speed. And that's the thing on those stretched one
concepts when he has given himself that gaping hole because
he has sucked the linebackers into the false doors and
now they're caught up in the muck of humanity there
where he then threw there. Once he is into the
second level, and certainly when he is approaching the third,
he has now gotten up to his top speed, which
(34:31):
again is high high end. It's that stuff initially, but
the zone concepts itself and how good he is, the
decisions he makes, and the manipulation of the second level defenders,
it's what allows him to access that high end speed
more than I think.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
You know, some people might think, but we're not drafting
Caleb Johnson in my mind for his speed. It's the
big thing here is he's so hard to tackle. His
balance is so good, so powerful, he breaks so many tackles.
You noted that Caleb Johnson ninety fourth and percentile in
(35:08):
yards after contact per attempt. Yep, Yes, this is what
he's got. He is a true power back. He's a
goal line back, and I feel like he's just built
for fantasy points.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Yeah, it's This is another similarity with with Larry Penn
State's Larry Johnson, where Larry Johnson ran upright even though
he was tall, but he broke a ton of tackles
and it was the contact balance and then the power thing.
It's the same thing with Caleb Johnson, and it's really
deceiving because he runs so upright, So it would seem
like it would be pretty easy to get a guy
(35:44):
like that down. It's not. It's I think I compared
him to a light pole caked in grease, like when yes,
it's great phrase, Yeah, they just can't. Like there was
this one explosive reception that he had against Nebraska last year.
There was like three guys who had their arms wrapped
around him something like five yards upfield, and none of
(36:05):
them could impede his forward progress, Like they just kept
flipping off of him like he was this enormous banana
peel and all of a sudden, you think the play's over,
and all of a sudden, he's now running in the
secondary and it's like, oh my god, no one's gonna
catch him, right, and then he just runs the rest
of the way. And that's what it is. You're not
gonna It's the same thing where you're not gonna get
him with an arm tackle attempt or an off angle attempt.
(36:27):
So you got to get him. And this is this
is a you know, I was mentioning this with Hampton,
it's all the more true with Caleb Johnson. You need
to get this guy around the line of scrimmage. You
cannot allow him to access that top speed that is
where he is a true, true problem. But because of
how good he is in his zone concept with the
patients and the vision, that's what makes it really difficult
(36:48):
to be able to confront him with linebackers or descending
defenders around the line of scrimmage, you know, especially on
those outside zone concepts.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
All right, let's move to your your next running back.
We've mentioned earlier with Travon Henderson that he would not
be the last Ohio State running back. We would talk
about in this show. Your number five ranked running back
is quinch On Judkins from Ohio State, who posted that
his RASS score was a nine point eight nine crazy y.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
I certainly was not expecting it, although I started get
a hint from it when the day before this was
last Friday in Indianapolis, the day before the running backs test,
that I asked Quinn John Jenkins at his podium session.
I said, you know, you are known for having such
good bursts and acceleration, but people have questioned your long speed.
(37:39):
Is that is that? Because he had already said he
was going to test do all the tests, and I said,
is that something you're looking forward to going out? A
question that you're looking forward to going out and answering
and and and he just smiled at me, you know,
and and you know, was like absolutely, you know. And
and he goes out and test better than we thought.
You mentioned that the nine to eight nine RASS five
(38:00):
eleven two twenty one is extremely impressive. That ridiculous burst
of his that he is famous for. That that was
a parent out there. He had a one to five
to one ten yard split, which was number two among
running backs four foot eight forty yard dash was was
really good at his size, thirty eight and a half
vertical inch was top five for the running backs, and
(38:20):
as eleven foot broad jump led the group right and
that goes into the explosion on the first couple steps,
you know, and and the acceleration there. I love him
as a as a natural runner. I mean, that's like
the thing that all of his coaches you talk to
Lane Keffen, Ryan Day, that they just in his high
school coach, that they go nuts about. It's his vision.
(38:41):
He just has really really good vision and feel, and
then he naturally toggles the tempo and then the clean footwork,
you know, depending on what he is perceiving and the
planning has at that time. It's just really really natural.
The thing that you ding him for it's on the
passing downs. He does have good hands, he doesn't drop
the ball, but it's another thing where he's not great
(39:03):
running the routes and he is not a great pass
blocker either. I think the thing that Ohio State had
going last year that we were talking about with that platoon,
that's what you're looking for for Judkins at the next level.
He can handle a heavy workload, especially the first two
years at Ole Miss when he was the bellcout back,
and it was they run the hyper tempo offense that
you know at Ole Miss, So be like, you know,
(39:25):
six yard run for drunkins, sprint back to the line,
immediately handle the ball again. You know, now five yard runs,
sprint back to the line. So he the the carry
numbers just accelerated there. We know that he can handle
that without getting nicked up. So a team that could
use a bellcout back but like you know, can give
him is the quote unquote rests on obvious passing downs
(39:46):
because you have that air back. That's what he should
should be going to in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Yeah, it's I I saw a lot of things I like.
By the way, I didn't give you a chance to
mention your comp for Judkins, it is Joe Joe Mixon,
and I can I can see it originally when you
when I was when I was watching Judkins' play, I
was like, I didn't see it at first, But the
(40:12):
more I looked at him, the more the more I
can see it. Especially uh this, especially because of how
sort of light on his feet he can be despite
the fact that he's carrying two hundred and twenty one pounds.
I mean, with everything that you just described, he should
not be able to do that at two hundred and
twenty one pounds. You know, these are the these are
the traits of somebody who's carrying like fifteen fewer pounds.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Yeah. The feet there on that kid, Yeah, it definitely
you don't think you're dealing with a back that bag with. Yeah,
how light on his feet he is, and how precise
and sudden the footwork is. And you forget this guy.
He's in the same sort of size phylum as Omari
and Hanton and Caleb Johnson, just a little bit shorter
but than Caleb. But yeah, at the two hundred and
(40:57):
twenty one pounds and then testing as well as he
did that size, I just thought it was super impressive.
That tape speaks for itself. With Judkins, he's gonna be
He's gonna get a lot of carries in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
And right from the get all right, our final guy,
it's time to rock Chuck.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
You ready, Yes, Yes, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Devin Neil. Now, I think he's better than the sixth
the best back in this class, And I worry that
you're so concerned about a perceived personal bias for your
alma mater, that you've overcompensated and you're actually underappreciating Neil.
I love how shifty he is. Tacklers have got Devin
(41:35):
Neil dead to rights and they don't get a hand
on him. They they they completely whiff on him. His
footwork is so good, and I love that he's a
good pass catcher. And I'll let you expand on all
of that. You know way more about it than I do.
But I love this kid and I feel like he
is he is a three down back who's going to
(41:56):
be a big fantasy factor in the right spot.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
Yeah, I definitely agree with all that. It's it's at
his size, the footwork, because he was two hundred and
twenty pounds at the Senior Bowl. He at the combine
two hundred and thirteen. He cuts seven pounds for the testing,
but you're talking about a two hundred and twenty pound
back and just absolutely ludicrous footwork, you know, and and
the thing of making people miss. He does that in
(42:19):
the second level and out in space. But the footwork,
it also plays between the tackles and around the line
of scrimmage with sort of these micro cuts that he
does that where it just sort of it's hard to
tell where he is going. Because of that, he can
change the direction so quickly and so fluidly, like and
sometimes behind the line. You'll see it a couple of
(42:40):
different times where it's like is he gonna go outside, No,
he's going inside. No, actually he's it's going between the
gard and the tackle, like just because of these these
contortions of his footwork and his upper body. It's you know,
behind the line is just changing where the direction where
he's had his pointed. It's really really cool watching that
guy run. You have that, and then the receiving utility.
He was a good receiver at Kansas. They used him,
(43:01):
they didn't use him enough. I'll say that, like as
a receiver, they had three Kansas did three veteran seniors
starting receivers and a starting senior tight end. They used
their passing concepts to go to those guys. And then
Neil was always the checkdown too, so he would get
the checkdowns where you know, typically it was you know,
the quarterbacks under duress and then you know you don't
(43:22):
have a lot to work with there once you end
up getting the ball. The times where we have seen
Devin Neil allowed to run routes down the field. It's
the footwork. You can't stay with the guy's footwork, right,
So it's like, by definition he is a good route
runner because but he's going to create the separation every
time you literally cannot stay with his footwork. So he
got to do more of that stuff. At the senior ball,
(43:44):
the routes five, seven, ten yards downfield and he was
always open. Again, a linebacker or a strong safety, you're
not staying with the footwork. So I think at the
NFL level you were gonna see a much better receiver
than you saw Kansas, where it was sort of the
part back type concepts and he got the ball.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
What I liked about seeing seeing Devin Neil's a receiver
or he's just so natural and fluid as a receiver.
It looks like he was born to catch the ball,
and I love I love to see running backs who
look that way. And I think that's ultimately going to
unlock a lot more productivity than what Kansas had with
(44:23):
Devin Neil and some team. You know, I'm not do
you have a do you have a rough estimate for
the round Devin Neil is going to go in is
he trending to round two? Round three?
Speaker 3 (44:33):
I think he's going to go in round three.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Okay, round three, some team Minnesota is going to find
a three down back in the third round. That it
can be. Absolutely, he's just NFL traits and I I love,
I'm really really optimistic on Devin Neil.
Speaker 3 (44:51):
Yeah, and you don't have to you know, you mentioned
a three down thing, you don't You don't ever have
to take him off the field because he can now
pass block as well. That's an area of his game
that's getting better. His Initially in Lawrence, he was not
a good pass blocker. He told us at the Senior Bowl, like,
heading into last season, he knew, He's like because I
know in the NFL, like you have to pass block
(45:12):
to stay on the field. And he got a whole
lot better at it. And with the frame, the footwork,
the strongholder half, you can project additional improvement after what
you saw last year. So I think that that's a
guy who, if nothing else, is going to be passable
in that phase in the NFL, if not develop into
a solid one. The receiving we're talking about that really
(45:33):
really good and pretends well to the NFL and such
a natural and fluid runner.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Yeah, your comp for Devin Neil is durable.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Ja the aforementioned j guy, he's out there. He's like
man in my second shout out of Fantasy Football Weekly
this week, but you know, recalled j Jaii coming out
of Boise State. I love that kid's game. It was
just a thing of like he didn't have cartilage and
his knees. Knew that there was a you know, like
a sand timer on his time in the NFL. Think
(46:04):
about if Jay Jay coming to the NFL with perfectly
healthy knees without durability concerns. I think that's what Devin
Neil is. It's it's the big guy with the really
really really smooth feet.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
Great work on part one of our running back breakdown.
We're gonna hit even more players next week on next
week's Fantasy Football Weekly, and more running backs in particular.
I mean, so a deeper dive on more guys. And
just because we've got like the what's the draftable pool
here of playoff running backs store for this draft class?
(46:39):
What are we talking about guys who have like a
draftable great? How many oh.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
Man around thirty?
Speaker 1 (46:49):
That's insane pretty potentially draftable running backs. We're not gonna
hit We've done six, we're not gonna hit twenty four
next week, but we will have a lot of fun
hitting maybe like a dozen guys. How does that sound
for now?
Speaker 3 (47:05):
That sounds great to me. We have to it's this
historic running back class we got to.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
Yeah, it sounds great, and I will try to hit
you with what I think is the best running back
class of like the last thirty years. When we talk
next week to great job thor thanks for listening, everybody,
Please stay tuned next week more Fantasy Football Weekly coming up.
Then in part two of our rookie running back draft
class coming up,
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