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RB situations as of August 23rd

Bandit

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So I know that as the years have gone one the running back by committee shit has gotten annoying, but this year seems to be the worst one yet. As far as I can tell, these are the only guys left that will get most of the touches in the backfield and don't have any true competition for those touches:

Jonathan Taylor
Christian McCaffery
Joe Mixon
Najee Harris
Dalvin Cook
Austin Ekeler
Derrick Henry
James Conner
David Montgomery
Alvin Kamara
Leonard Fournette
Saquon Barkley

I am really going to try and walk away with at least one of these guys in every draft this year.

The next tier is the top shelf of guys that share:

Javonte Williams (Melvin Gordon will still be annoying)
Ezekiel Elliott (Tony Pollard is lurking and probably is better at this point)
D'Andre Swift (Jamaal Williams will get plenty of early down work)
JK Dobbins (Gus Edwards or somebody else, since the Ravens never give one guy too much work regardless of who else is there)
Nick Chubb (Kareem Hunt always eats into his touchdowns and pass catching stats)
Travis Etienne (James Robinson will get a lot of early down work once he's healthy)
Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon (will probably be about a 50/50 split, but both will be very valuable in fantasy this year)
Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson (will also probably be about a 50/50 split with maybe just a touch of Ty Montgomery on passing downs but not enough to ruin their value as both will be valuable in fantasy)
Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson (neither of these guys is exactly a picture of health but if they are ever both healthy this seems like a 50/50 split also)

Backfields that are should have a main guy, but nobody has any confidence in them at this point:

Buffalo - Singletary should be the main guy, but Cook is going to take away passing and some early down work and now Moss might take goal line work and that doesn't even count that their best running back is their quarterback. Going to probably be another year of running back nightmares for fantasy owners.

Kansas City - Everything we've read says that Edwards-Helaire should still be the guy and the fight is to back him up between Jerick McKinnon and Pacheco with Jones probably going to be cut. Both Darrell Williams and McKinnon outplayed Edwards-Helaire last year playing the #1 role so I'm not sure why Andy Reid would keep beating his head against the wall but we'll see.

Las Vegas - I know that Treff has confidence in Jacobs, but I'm not sure the rest of the world including the Raiders coaching staff shares that sentiment. It looks like Drake will be cut and Treff's best friend Ammmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr will play third downs with Zamir White factoring in somewhere. The Raiders should just run him into the ground, but I honestly have no idea what the hell they are going to do.

San Francisco - So this should be Elijah Mitchell's job when he's healthy, but he had a problem with that last year and it is Kyle Shanahan. The problem is that nobody has any idea what order the four backup running backs should be in between Sermon, Hasty, Wilson, and Davis-Price. Let's hope they at least cut one of them before the season, but honestly if at the end of the year you told me that any of these five led the team in carriers I wouldn't be shocked.

The nightmare backfields

Houston - I guess Pierce is probably the favorite right now, Mack and Burkhead to back up, but Pierce doesn't catch the ball and Houston is going to suck ass again this year, which means the early down guy won't be on the field the entire second half again and they aren't going to have a ton of red zone opportunities. The only way somebody from here makes an impact is if they play all three downs like Burkhead did at the end of last year when they had no other options.

Miami - All the reports say that Chase Edmunds is going to be the main guy with Mostert as his 2nd and the other three (Sony Michel, Salvon Ahmad, and Myles Gaskin) fighting for the scraps but we will see. They certainly paid Edmunds like they wanted him to be the guy and if he can stay on the field for three downs since he will most certainly be the pass catching back then it could be true. The old coaching staff seemed to favor one guys getting touches, you just never knew who that guy was going to be, but with Mike McDaniel coming from the Kyle Shanahan lineage, who the hell knows what will happen.

New York Jets - I think the assumption after they drafted him is that Breece Hall would immediately take over the #1 spot with Michael Carter then backing him up, but there has been nothing that has happened in training camp or in the pre-season to not think that Carter is still the #1 and Hall will be the #2. Sprinkle a little Tevin Coleman, Ty Johnson, and Lamical Perine in there along with a quarterback that might miss the regular season and this just seems like a giant clusterfuck.

Atlanta - The only thing we really know is that Cordarrelle Patterson will play on passing downs and as a wide receiver in some formations, but also that his snaps will be limited because they don't want him to wear down. After him is a "fight" between Damien Williams, Tyler Allgeier, and Caleb Huntley for a running back spot that was just awful last year anyway so I'm not sure it matters who wins it. As long as Mariota is the quarterback, that's even less opportunities for the running backs because not only will he run more, but he's not going to dump it off to running backs if protection breaks down because he'd rather run it himself. Not sure anybody here is worth it.

Philadelphia - Well they keep saying that Miles Sanders is still the starter and Gainwell and Boston Scott will back him up, but when the guy himself says to not draft him in fantasy, who am I to argue with him? This backfield the last couple of years hasn't been easy to figure out and I don't think it gets any easier this year. Maybe they will let Miles Sanders score just one freaking touchdown this year though after 0 last year.

Washington - This one came out of nowhere as Antonio Gibson was a solid RB2 before the NFL draft. Then they draft Brian Robinson, then the coaching staff has nothing but praise about Robinson and Gibson fumbles in the first pre-season game. And then all of the sudden Gibson is playing special teams and Robinson is running with the first team and now who the hell knows what's going to happen when the season starts. Was this just a punishment for Gibson and he will still be the starter once the season gets here? Regardless, it certainly looks like Robinson is going to get some early down carries and the goal line carries and JD McKissick is still going to be playing third downs and two minute drills, so this whole backfield is looking more and more like a nightmare unless either Gibson or Robinson gets hurt.
 

TREFF

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Yep I have no doubts that, assuming no injuries- Jacobs has 125 more carries than anyone else on the team. Which puts him solidly into the unquestioned lead of a committee at the very worst.
Can't understand why anyone thinks otherwise, haven't seen nor heard anything from McD, or Zues, that suggests otherwise, outside of trying to read tea leaves on the 5th year option declination.
 

HaroldSeattle

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So I know that as the years have gone one the running back by committee shit has gotten annoying, but this year seems to be the worst one yet. As far as I can tell, these are the only guys left that will get most of the touches in the backfield and don't have any true competition for those touches:

Jonathan Taylor
Christian McCaffery
Joe Mixon
Najee Harris
Dalvin Cook
Austin Ekeler
Derrick Henry
James Conner
David Montgomery
Alvin Kamara
Leonard Fournette
Saquon Barkley

I am really going to try and walk away with at least one of these guys in every draft this year.

The next tier is the top shelf of guys that share:

Javonte Williams (Melvin Gordon will still be annoying)
Ezekiel Elliott (Tony Pollard is lurking and probably is better at this point)
D'Andre Swift (Jamaal Williams will get plenty of early down work)
JK Dobbins (Gus Edwards or somebody else, since the Ravens never give one guy too much work regardless of who else is there)
Nick Chubb (Kareem Hunt always eats into his touchdowns and pass catching stats)
Travis Etienne (James Robinson will get a lot of early down work once he's healthy)
Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon (will probably be about a 50/50 split, but both will be very valuable in fantasy this year)
Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson (will also probably be about a 50/50 split with maybe just a touch of Ty Montgomery on passing downs but not enough to ruin their value as both will be valuable in fantasy)
Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson (neither of these guys is exactly a picture of health but if they are ever both healthy this seems like a 50/50 split also)

Backfields that are should have a main guy, but nobody has any confidence in them at this point:

Buffalo - Singletary should be the main guy, but Cook is going to take away passing and some early down work and now Moss might take goal line work and that doesn't even count that their best running back is their quarterback. Going to probably be another year of running back nightmares for fantasy owners.

Kansas City - Everything we've read says that Edwards-Helaire should still be the guy and the fight is to back him up between Jerick McKinnon and Pacheco with Jones probably going to be cut. Both Darrell Williams and McKinnon outplayed Edwards-Helaire last year playing the #1 role so I'm not sure why Andy Reid would keep beating his head against the wall but we'll see.

Las Vegas - I know that Treff has confidence in Jacobs, but I'm not sure the rest of the world including the Raiders coaching staff shares that sentiment. It looks like Drake will be cut and Treff's best friend Ammmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr will play third downs with Zamir White factoring in somewhere. The Raiders should just run him into the ground, but I honestly have no idea what the hell they are going to do.

San Francisco - So this should be Elijah Mitchell's job when he's healthy, but he had a problem with that last year and it is Kyle Shanahan. The problem is that nobody has any idea what order the four backup running backs should be in between Sermon, Hasty, Wilson, and Davis-Price. Let's hope they at least cut one of them before the season, but honestly if at the end of the year you told me that any of these five led the team in carriers I wouldn't be shocked.

The nightmare backfields

Houston - I guess Pierce is probably the favorite right now, Mack and Burkhead to back up, but Pierce doesn't catch the ball and Houston is going to suck ass again this year, which means the early down guy won't be on the field the entire second half again and they aren't going to have a ton of red zone opportunities. The only way somebody from here makes an impact is if they play all three downs like Burkhead did at the end of last year when they had no other options.

Miami - All the reports say that Chase Edmunds is going to be the main guy with Mostert as his 2nd and the other three (Sony Michel, Salvon Ahmad, and Myles Gaskin) fighting for the scraps but we will see. They certainly paid Edmunds like they wanted him to be the guy and if he can stay on the field for three downs since he will most certainly be the pass catching back then it could be true. The old coaching staff seemed to favor one guys getting touches, you just never knew who that guy was going to be, but with Mike McDaniel coming from the Kyle Shanahan lineage, who the hell knows what will happen.

New York Jets - I think the assumption after they drafted him is that Breece Hall would immediately take over the #1 spot with Michael Carter then backing him up, but there has been nothing that has happened in training camp or in the pre-season to not think that Carter is still the #1 and Hall will be the #2. Sprinkle a little Tevin Coleman, Ty Johnson, and Lamical Perine in there along with a quarterback that might miss the regular season and this just seems like a giant clusterfuck.

Atlanta - The only thing we really know is that Cordarrelle Patterson will play on passing downs and as a wide receiver in some formations, but also that his snaps will be limited because they don't want him to wear down. After him is a "fight" between Damien Williams, Tyler Allgeier, and Caleb Huntley for a running back spot that was just awful last year anyway so I'm not sure it matters who wins it. As long as Mariota is the quarterback, that's even less opportunities for the running backs because not only will he run more, but he's not going to dump it off to running backs if protection breaks down because he'd rather run it himself. Not sure anybody here is worth it.

Philadelphia - Well they keep saying that Miles Sanders is still the starter and Gainwell and Boston Scott will back him up, but when the guy himself says to not draft him in fantasy, who am I to argue with him? This backfield the last couple of years hasn't been easy to figure out and I don't think it gets any easier this year. Maybe they will let Miles Sanders score just one freaking touchdown this year though after 0 last year.

Washington - This one came out of nowhere as Antonio Gibson was a solid RB2 before the NFL draft. Then they draft Brian Robinson, then the coaching staff has nothing but praise about Robinson and Gibson fumbles in the first pre-season game. And then all of the sudden Gibson is playing special teams and Robinson is running with the first team and now who the hell knows what's going to happen when the season starts. Was this just a punishment for Gibson and he will still be the starter once the season gets here? Regardless, it certainly looks like Robinson is going to get some early down carries and the goal line carries and JD McKissick is still going to be playing third downs and two minute drills, so this whole backfield is looking more and more like a nightmare unless either Gibson or Robinson gets hurt.
Mostly agree with what you posted, with the exception of saying Dameon Pierce can't catch the ball, he is actually a pretty good pass catcher if you watched his tape in college.
 

Barilko

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i'll just say great read Mr @Bandit and i hope you are wrong about my stupid Texans and they

shock-surprise.gifthe World
 

Bandit

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Mostly agree with what you posted, with the exception of saying Dameon Pierce can't catch the ball, he is actually a pretty good pass catcher if you watched his tape in college.
Okay so I agree with the fact that he can catch the ball because he did at Florida, but as we all know in the NFL just because he's capable of it doesn't mean the coaches will let him do it. He's not going to play 3rd downs any time soon in the NFL because they aren't going to let him, not because he can't.
 

Chef99

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As long as Jerrah insists that Zeke is the lead back, Zeke will be the lead back.

Barkley's the one that totally intrigues me. Heathy (apparently), and with a beefed up OL.
 

TKOSpikes

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Mostly agree with what you posted, with the exception of saying Dameon Pierce can't catch the ball, he is actually a pretty good pass catcher if you watched his tape in college.

Apparently a pass pro guy too. I heard 72 pass pros and zero sacks.
 

TKOSpikes

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Great summation @Bandit

I don’t really have an argument outside Pierce. I think he is far and away the leading rookie RB scorer this year.
 

Bandit

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Great summation @Bandit

I don’t really have an argument outside Pierce. I think he is far and away the leading rookie RB scorer this year.
My only problem with Pierce is the team he plays for is going to royally suck again. Last year as a team they rushed for 1422 yards on 3.4 yards per carry for the freaking season and their leading rusher (Rex Burkhead) led the team with 427. Now I'm not saying that Pierce isn't better than Burkhead, but that is absolutely brutal rushing numbers and it's not like they are projected to be any better on the offensive line this year. Sorry @Barilko.
 

MilkSpiller22

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I got a problem with your Jets analysis... this one sounded like you just hate the jets so you stock piled no named RBs to make it sound bad...

there is no way Tevin Coleman and ty Johnson will be used over Carter and Hall... and as I put those two names together I just geeked out, and wished they were Hawks....

but Carter's specialty is catching the ball... so Hall is going to clearly be the first and second down back... I found it ODD that you showed love to the Patriots backs and threw such shade on the Jets... the Jets have the better talented backs, a more pronounced roles, and much better receivers to open up the field for them....

I still have Hall as a third or 4th round value...
 

averagejoe

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Appreciate the opinions.
Food for thought.

One RB i am personally avoiding: James Conner. Wouldnt matter if he fell to the last round, i am never drafting him. Just dont trust him.
 

averagejoe

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Great summation @Bandit

I don’t really have an argument outside Pierce. I think he is far and away the leading rookie RB scorer this year.
On paper Pierce does seem like the guy to beat.
After the draft, I thought it'd be Walker hands down.
Too bad they play for struggling offenses.
Hoping Pacheco emerges as ROY.
 

Bandit

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Appreciate the opinions.
Food for thought.

One RB i am personally avoiding: James Conner. Wouldnt matter if he fell to the last round, i am never drafting him. Just dont trust him.
Damn Joe. I mean there's don't trust him and there's wouldn't draft him in the last round hatred.
 

TREFF

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I got a problem with your Jets analysis... this one sounded like you just hate the jets so you stock piled no named RBs to make it sound bad...

there is no way Tevin Coleman and ty Johnson will be used over Carter and Hall... and as I put those two names together I just geeked out, and wished they were Hawks....

but Carter's specialty is catching the ball... so Hall is going to clearly be the first and second down back... I found it ODD that you showed love to the Patriots backs and threw such shade on the Jets... the Jets have the better talented backs, a more pronounced roles, and much better receivers to open up the field for them....

I still have Hall as a third or 4th round value...
No dimension in any alternate universe, exists where Carter or Hall are better than Harris and Stevenson.
Nor are their roles in any way pronounced. Carter being rested and Hall looking pathetic really flies in the face of your theory.
And with no QB to throw it, no one will give a rats arse about the receivers
 

TREFF

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On paper Pierce does seem like the guy to beat.
After the draft, I thought it'd be Walker hands down.
Too bad they play for struggling offenses.
Hoping Pacheco emerges as ROY.
Walker (assuming his hernia deal is over week 1 or 2), Robinson, Pacheco, Pierce..wouldn't be surprised to see any of them lead rookie RB's in points.

My money is on a WR or Picket for ROY though
 
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