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You're Drafting The Wrong Running Backs (Take These 5 Instead)

Sal Vetri23:52

Transcription

Most people are drafting the wrong running backs in fantasy football this year, but you don't have to. In this video, we're going to be breaking down the five running backs you should be taking instead so you could actually win your league and dominate your draft.

Now, let's start in the second round of fantasy drafts where a lot of running backs are going this year as opposed to last year where a lot of wide receivers went, and I want to talk about two players. Number one, Saquon Barkley who goes on average 13th overall. And number two, Devon Achane who goes on average 16th overall. They both go in this early part of the second round, but I'm here to tell you that you need to be taking Saquon Barkley here. About 40 to 50% of the time people take Devon Achane instead, and that's a mistake. Let me break it down.

Look, we all know Saquon Barkley wasn't great last year if you consider the fact that he went top five and definitely top seven in most fantasy drafts. Like, over 1,100 rushing yards, top 10 in that regard last year, 273 receiving yards. Like, overall the guy had 1,400 total yards. He scored nine touchdowns. For many people that would be considered a successful year. But when the year before that he had over 2,000 total yards, he was the best running back in all of football. People thought he was an MVP candidate, so he went in the top four picks in probably your fantasy draft. That's not going to pay off, just 1,400 yards. But in my opinion, this all had to do with Kevin Patullo and also an injured offensive line. Kevin Patullo, the offensive coordinator, was not good. I mean, he went The Eagles offense went from in 2024 being top 10 in points per game to barely being in the top 20 in 2025. In that 2024 season, Saquon Barkley had over 2,000 rushing yards. The craziest part, on a massive workload, he still averaged six yards per touch. So, despite the workload going up, usually you'll see the efficiency go down. Not the case for Saquon Barkley cuz he's an absolute freak. And in my opinion, he's still in like that end part of the peak of his career, the prime of his career.

He now gets a new offensive coordinator, Sean McVay. He's never been a coordinator before at the NFL level or a head coach. So, we don't really know what to expect fully, but there have been some hints based on some of the past coaching staffs he's either um been involved with as like an advisor or he's been actually on as a quarterback, as a former quarterback. Used to be with the Rams, kind of in that McVay tree to some extent. So, what can we expect here? Well, here's a tweet from Brendan Dean. He says, "Saquon Barkley's yards before contact per rush. In 2024, he was first in the NFL and almost cut in half in 2025, where he was 24th overall, not great. Sean McVay's top priority is probably going to be to fish fix the rushing attack and get Saquon more space. That's like the easiest and most obvious thing to do, especially when A.J. Brown is now out of this offense. Makes sense to prioritize even more in the run game and Saquon Barkley. We've seen some quotes out of Saquon Barkley saying he talked to Todd Gurley and like it kind of getting an idea for what the scheme could be when he was with the Rams and Sean McVay was once on the Rams as a quarterback. So, that's the case, you're probably going to get even more Saquon Barkley pass catches and targets. And we already know Saquon is the clear-cut workhorse in this backfield. Nothing really changed up this offseason. Last year, despite a down year, he had an 80% target opportunity share. That's his backfield carries and targets and opportunities. That was the fourth overall in the NFL. So, I'm expecting another big year out of Saquon Barkley. You could see right here, Burm, a reporter from Philadelphia, believes it's not a stretch to speculate that Saquon Barkley could have a greater role as a pass catcher this season. We talked about this earlier. As a rookie, Barkley finished with 91 catches on 121 targets. Todd Gurley averaged 84 targets in 2017 and 2018 in a similar offensive scheme. Now, that's assuming that this offensive scheme will rival Sean McVay, since Sean All right.

So, now, that's kind of the background of Saquon Barkley. I think the fact that he goes now in the second round and he's not a top-five overall pick, you're getting like that discount on him that you kind of got from Saquon two years ago when he broke out, that you got from Jonathan Taylor at the end of round two last year when he broke out, or I should say re-broke out. But, now let's compare that to Devon Achane, who I do have some really serious concerns for Devon Achane this year. First off, he has a new quarterback, Malik Willis, mobile quarterback, probably not going to check it down as much, going to steal some touchdowns in the red zone as well. So, that's a concern, right? You also have a situation for Devon Achane, if we pull up the team changes tracker in the fantasy blueprint, like Malik Willis, you see that right here. He's in at the quarterback position. The things that are leaving this offense, Tyreek Hill still a free agent as of this recording, Jaylen Waddle traded for a first-round pick to the Denver Broncos and some other pieces of that deal. So, like your biggest playmakers from past seasons, Tyreek Hill are gone, uh Waddle's gone, your coach Mike McDaniel's gone, Tua Tagovailoa who would check it down all the time to you is gone right here. He's now on the Atlanta Falcons fighting for a starting quarterback job. So, like what was brought in? Jaylen Tolbert, Tutu Atwell. Like are we supposed to be scared of these guys compared to the Tyreeks and the Jaylen Waddles of the world? And now probably a worse quarterback situation or a coaching situation. Uh maybe a worse quarterback situation yet to be seen with Malik Willis versus Tua. But the whole point here is like all defenses are going to have to do is just load the box against Devon Achane and he's naturally probably not going to see as many targets and touchdowns. Because of what we mentioned that, you know, Malik Willis is his quarterback. Look at this right here. The last three seasons, 12, 12, 11 total touchdowns. That's with Tua as his quarterback. That's with Mike McDaniel as his coach. 67 catches, 78 catches in the last 2 years with 488, 592 receiving yards. I would be shocked if he catches 60-plus balls and has 500-plus receiving yards this year assuming Malik Willis is going out there and starting the majority if not all 17 games for the Dolphins. So, because of these reasons, Saquon Barkley for sure has to be that early second-round running back over Devon Achane. But right now like 40% to almost 50% of the time, it's flipped.

The next situation we have to talk about is in the third round of drafts where I think there's actually a strong third round running back range as well and it has to do right here. Breece Hall and Travis Oh, nope. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Travis Etienne actually. Apologies. And Josh Jacobs. Travis Etienne goes ahead of Josh Jacobs right now as the 30th overall player. Jacobs goes almost a round later in the fourth round of fantasy drafts as the 41st overall player. I think this should be flipped. I think Jacobs should be the third round pick and I think that Travis Etienne should be the fourth round pick. So, right now to me Jacobs is the way better value in drafts.

Now, there's the obvious point that as of this recording at the end of June, beginning of July that, uh you know, we don't really have an update on what Josh Jacobs' situation is. Like he was arrested for several domestic violence charges. They were dropped shortly after that and then there's like an ongoing investigation in the background for both the NFL and the actual authorities. So, we don't really know where this is at right now. But as of this recording and I record this, it's business as usual according to head coach Matt LaFleur for the Packers. Josh Jacobs was with the team and was at practice in OTAs, in minicamp and it seems like he's going to be at training camp. He's going to be out there week one unless something new comes out. There's a chance that there's just a settlement, there's a chance that this is just dismissed, or there's a chance that it's prolonged because the wheels of the legal system, whatever the saying is, they take a while, so this could be prolonged to the winter, so he doesn't get suspended all year. It could be prolonged to next year, or he might not ever get suspended. But as of right now, he's starting week one. And that's very important to call out because as a member of the Green Bay Packers, he's been a stud, a top 10 running back in back-to-back seasons, 16 and 14 touchdowns. The guy's averaging 15 touchdowns a year the last 2 years. When he's actually out there and healthy, all he does is go out there and average 20 opportunities per game. We saw this last year despite him being banged up between his three targets per game and his 15.6 carries per game. The guy's averaging 19 opportunities per game, and that factors in games where he left early or was banged up and not seeing a full workload and Emanuel Wilson took on more work. But this year, Emanuel Wilson is not going to be there. We pull up the team changes tracker from the Fantasy Blueprint, check it out at jointheblueprint.com. The Packers did nothing this off season really on either side of the ball, like some more stuff on defense, you could say. Javon Hargrave they signed, they signed a linebacker from the Colts as well. But for the most part, offense, nothing. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor a backup, Skyy Moore maybe a special teamer, like wide receiver five or six at best on this team. For the most part, nothing. Like NFL draft, just a kicker in the sixth round on offense. So you're looking at a situation now for Josh Jacobs where Emanuel Wilson was gone the running back. Nobody was brought in in free agency or the draft, so the backfield competition is Chris Brooks, he was the third the the number three running back last year, and MarShawn Lloyd who maybe their saying is like looking like the RB2. He's been banged up for each of his first two seasons in the NFL. We'll see if he can actually get out there this year, but all this is reading to you is that Josh Jacobs is once again expected, assuming he actually plays and he doesn't get suspended or anything, he's expected to be the workhorse of this team again.

Now we compare that to Travis Etienne where I just can't say the same things about Travis Etienne. I can't go out there and tell you like, "Yeah, he's expected to be the workhorse of this offense." Like sure, he's now a member of the New Orleans Saints, the New Orleans Saints who went out there and gave him a bag in free agency, so like based on incentives and contracts and where they put their money, he should be their primary back. But this is still a Saints offense that ranked bottom five in the NFL in rushing yards last year, just barely over 1,600, right? And now part of that is because of the running back situation they had, part of that is because of their offensive line and the fact that they fell behind in games, especially in the first half of the season. So, that all factors in, but still not a good rushing attack last season. And now you're looking at a situation, as of this recording, Alvin Kamara is still on the team. Now, he's not Alvin Kamara from 5 years ago in his prime, but he's still going to be the best pass-catching running back in my opinion on this team or most trusted in those situations, maybe even on third downs in the two-and-four-minute offense, assuming he doesn't retire, which it doesn't seem like that. Assuming he isn't released, which as of right now there's no indication of that. So, if this is the case, that's a little bit of a limitation for Travis Etienne, especially compared to Josh Jacobs when we saw that his current backup RB2 is like Chris Brooks or MarShawn Lloyd. Obviously, even at this stage in his career, Alvin Kamara is a much bigger threat than a Chris Brooks or MarShawn Lloyd, in my opinion. You could say MarShawn Lloyd, if he stays healthy, he could be great. Yeah, sure, he could be great. We know what Alvin Kamara is, even at this stage in his career, solid three-down back or third-down back. So, the obvious risks are there for Josh Jacobs, just keep a track of his off-field issues, but for me right now, I want him, especially in round four or a round later than Travis Etienne, a massive steal at that point. I'd be taking him there.

Now, I mentioned earlier, or just moments ago, the Fantasy Blueprint. What is this? It is my proven system to help you win your fantasy league. Over 10,000 people have used it to win more leagues over the past couple of years alone, and you could use it as well. I use it in all my leagues. I won 75% of my home leagues last year using it, including the Flock League. It was an experts league, the most watched league in the world. You can check it out, it's on YouTube, the Flock League. It was $10,000 to first one. That was able to fly my dad first class to Italy for a two-week trip. It was amazing, it was great. All thanks to fantasy football. But if you want to learn more about the Fantasy Blueprint, you can check it out with the link in the description below. There's a video I kind of talk through everything you need to know, frequently asked questions. And then there's also some information on exactly what you would be getting, how it will help you, how I built it, and a bunch of testimonials from people who have used it. You know, each of the last three, four, some some people have been using this for four years, have won three championships, whatever it is. Pretty damn good. And the biggest stat of all of this that I can kind of share with you is the fact that year over year, over 90% of people, uh close to 95% are re-upping. Like they sign up for the year and and re-up once again, which in my opinion is the best indication that people are getting use out of the product and find it helpful. If you want to learn more about the Fantasy Blueprint to help you actually win more in fantasy, you can check it out at jointheblueprint.com. It is linked in the description, or you can just type in jointheblueprint.com to learn more. All right, let's get back into it. Now, I should also mention there are limited spots available for the Fantasy Blueprint this year, so make sure to get in while there is time.

Now, I want to talk about some running backs who go in like that fourth, uh kind of fifth round of fantasy drafts, back-to-back in in the range, Bucky Irving and Ke'Shawn Jenkins. 50/50 on who goes before who right now, but I think it should clearly easily, not even close, be Bucky Irving right now over Ke'Shawn Jenkins. Now, let me break it down. Obviously, last year for Bucky was a massive disappointment. He only plays in 10 games. Out of those 10 games, how many is he actually healthy starting and finishing? Like, maybe seven, maybe six of them in terms of injury reports. His yards per carry goes from as a rookie 5.4 to just 3.4. Part of that is losing Liam Coen, your offensive coordinator, who obviously did great things with the Jaguars last year. But, also part of that is going to be the fact that Bucky Irving last year was just dealing with an injury, dealing with a shoulder and a foot sprain. So, multiple different injuries. Then, reports came out that he was dealing with some health mental health issues as well towards the second half of the season. So, all this factors into Bucky Irving. The good news for Bucky Irving is as of right now, like based on reports, he was already out there in OTAs and mini camp. He's cutting. He's moving. It's obviously non-contact, but he's looking good out there. That's great news. The other thing that's good in his rookie season, when he was actually healthy over the final 12 games, and this is why he was a second round pick in most fantasy drafts last year, Bucky was averaging 18.3 fantasy points per game, 90 rushing yards per game, doesn't even factor in his receiving work. In that season, he was unbelievable. I mean, on less than 50% of the snaps, he was putting up like over 1,500 total yards. He was lights out. It's good that we're going to get as of right now a healthy Bucky to start year three for him, 2026. In terms of his backfield competition, Rashad White is gone. Kenneth Gainwell comes in. I would say they're they're like equal backfield competition. Like, maybe Kenneth Gainwell's a little bit better, but they're both pass-catching running backs. And Sean Tucker is still there. So, it's not easy backfield competition. In my opinion, this is why Bucky Irving is not going in round two like he was last year. You can now get him a lot of the times in round five of fantasy drafts because Sean Tucker will probably take some goal line work. Kenneth Gainwell probably take some passing down work at least on paper. So, that's kind of already baked into the price point.

Now, we go over to Quintin Johnston. Good rookie year, but to end the year when the touchdowns started evaporating, not the best. He's only averaging 45 rushing yards per game, nine fantasy points per game. He does not catch passes at all. Like this is a guy that's going to go out there and maybe catch one pass in a game for you. So, if he's not scoring touchdowns, he's probably not worth it at all in fantasy in your lineups. He's like a flex option at best, but for some reason he goes in round five despite his offense and quarterback situation still being terrible. As of right now, his top two quarterbacks on his roster and this should be the case heading into the season are Deshaun Watson who based on the betting odds right now is expected to be the starter and Shaddur Sanders. And like if it gets to a third option, you're looking at Dylan Gabriel. Like no proven guys here at all. So, I'm a little bit concerned. Like if I need Quintin Johnston to basically go out there every week and have 70 to 80 rushing yards in a bad offense where they're going to probably stack the box and you're not going to get to the red zone all that much at least on paper for this Browns offense based on their projected totals per game right now. Like where are the touchdowns coming from? Where are the consistent fantasy points coming from? As you can see from a really helpful tweet right here from Jared Smola, Quintin Johnston's percentage of backfield expected fantasy points last season. When When his team was leading, 74% of the time, he was just getting expected fantasy points left and right. He was getting a lot of production. When they're trailing, just 56% of his backfield expected fantasy points. Meaning that when the Browns ended up trailing last year, Quintin Johnston came off the field. Why? Because he does not catch passes. They put the rookie Dylan Sampson on the field instead. That is a concern for an offense that is not the greatest, for a defense that just lost Myles Garrett and there's going to be some questions there. Like they're probably going to be trailing in games this year, meaning Johnston is coming off the field. That's what you want out of your fifth round pick.

Now, if there was some good news for Quintin, it would be the fact that like he doesn't really have much more backfield competition. Jerome Ford is now gone and the NFL draft they had a bunch of picks that they spent on offense, eight different offensive picks, none on the running back position, in free agency, none on the running back position. Instead, they they bolstered the offensive line. Zion Johnson, Titus Howard, Elkin Jenkins, a first round pick Spencer Fino in the NFL draft, maybe getting four new starters this off season in free agency in the draft. So, that's the good news for Quinshon. The good news continues when you look at the fact that the backfield competition, like I said, will be the same as last year in Dylan Sampson, but I just can't get over the bad news. There's no upgrade to the quarterback. There's no significant upgrade uh to the overall offense. Like, sure, I will give you the the fact that this offense did add, let me pull it back up here in the team changes tracker, in the fantasy blueprint. We just got to find the Cleveland Browns. Here we go. They did add Casey Conception in the first round, Denzel Boston in the second round. Those are wide receivers. Boston could have easily been a first-round talent as well. I wouldn't have been shocked if he went at the end of the first. So, the wide receiver should be good. Jerry Jeudy still there as of right now. Uh David Njoku is gone, but the pass catchers, there's some youth there. They potentially could be good, but it really just all comes down to this overall offensive situation with the quarterbacks. Like, you might be saying Deshaun Watson was once good with with the Texans and he showed some hope for like a short stretch with the Browns. Yeah, that was before he tore his Achilles and then retore his Achilles years ago, right? Like, this is not the same Deshaun Watson. So, I am concerned. And just to keep things in mind, the Browns last year on offense ranked third dead uh third to last in the NFL in terms of total yards. Not great.

Next situation that we need to talk about is going to be Bijan Robinson and I want to talk about who goes down here as the 57th overall player in drafts and Trayveon Henderson who goes as the 51st. So, he goes about a half a round earlier, Henderson, but I think this should be flipped. I think Bijan Robinson should be the guy that you want, the guy who at the NFL combine was one of the fastest running backs we've ever seen, a 4.32 40 time at like 214 lb, elite burst, top 10% burst as well, 97% burst score uh burst score according to the PlayerProfiler stats. Had a good final year of college as well with like over 1,000 total yards. So, like, all this was good, but the question is, well, what did he do in his rookie year? As a fourth-round pick, early fourth-round pick in the NFL draft last year, a favorite of new general manager with the Jaguars, uh James Gladwell. Uh he loved him. He like talked about him in his interview process and then they ended up drafting him. Well, the truth is, as a middle-round rookie running back, he didn't do all that much, right? Like, the guy only had 83 carries as a rookie, dealt with some injuries. He had 14 targets. Travis Etienne was having a good season, who was the proven veteran. So, it makes sense that he wasn't getting a lot of work. But, where Liam Cohen did trust by shout two and was the red zone. Despite him only having 83 carries, 14 targets, so like 90 total touches as a rookie, 27 of his touches, so like 30% of the overall opportunities ended up coming in the red zone for this guy. So, they trusted him despite being a rookie, bigger athletic back who could break tackles in the red zone. And it should be worth mentioning in the three games where he saw at least double-digit touches last year, he was averaging 12.3 fantasy points per game and over one fantasy point per touch. That's very solid. Also, in the playoffs in the game that the Jaguars played, we did see 51 yards on just four carries, broke off an explosive play. So, like this is a guy who can go out there and kind of just produce on his own, yards after contact, explosive plays. As you can see a tweet from Ian Rapoport right here, he says, "Bijan Robinson propaganda. Among 55 running backs with 75 plus carries last year including the playoffs, Tu ranked third in success rate, top 10 in tackles avoided per carry, and 12th overall out of 55 in yards after contact per carry." So, he was a very efficient player. He was an explosive player. He could break tackles as well. He was explosive when he actually got opportunities. He just didn't get a lot because it makes sense he was a rookie and Travis Etienne, a proven veteran, was there playing very well. But now, Travis Etienne is gone and they did not add any other guys in the NFL draft. They did bring on Amir Abdullah, probably a special teams or just a locker room guy if he even makes the team. He's like 33 at this point. And Chris Rodriguez was the big free agency add in the offseason that, in my opinion, it makes sense like that people are considering Chris Rodriguez a legitimate threat. The guy does average like 4.7 yards per carry in his NFL career. That is solid. However, he's super limited. In my opinion, this is Bijan Robinson's job to lose. If Tu does not beat out Chris Rodriguez in second year player when the same draft as Tu, Laquon Allen, like that's a concern for Tu. It means he's not good anyways and he's not going to do anything for your fantasy team. But, if you can't beat out Chris Rodriguez, who does not have explosive plays, who does not break a lot of tackles, who basically will just fall forward and get 2.5 yards per carry in his career, which is obviously valuable, but he's not a pass catcher, he doesn't break off home runs, like Tu is the guy who can do all of those things. Tu can go out there and get you 4.4 yards per carry like a Chris Rodriguez, but he could also break carries or break tackles, have explosive plays, catch passes as well, goal line work, right? Second gets to the second level on his own without his offensive line. So that's two in like I don't think he has that much backfield competition even though Rodriguez is there. And now you compare that to Trayveon Henderson who I do think has a lot more backfield competition. The biggest red flag is the fact that Rhamondre Stevenson is in this backfield and they kept giving him the ball despite Rhamondre fumbling last year. And in the post season despite Trayveon Henderson balling out when Rhamondre was injured towards the end of the year, Rhamondre came back healthy in the post season in those four games on the way to the Super Bowl, they trusted Trayveon for 58 carries and only Rhamondre for 30 or they trusted Rhamondre for 58 carries and Trayveon for just 30. Trayveon only averaging barely two yards per carry in the post season which didn't help his cause either. So to me To'a has a clear runway in an offense with Liam Cochat Liam Coen as his head coach who obviously gave breakout RB1 seasons last year to Travis Etienne who finished 13th overall basically an RB1. And Bucky Irving towards the end of his rookie year was a dynamite player, one of the best running backs in football. Now maybe we have To'a in for that opportunity. So I think To'a is going to be the guy that I want over Trayveon Henderson. Think they're both talented, but I'll take To'a in for six picks later, a half a round later in fantasy drafts.

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Okay, next up, let's go back to round two, where Amari on Hampton is the 14th overall player, almost a first round pick. I mean, I like Amari on Hampton. I think he's talented. I liked him a lot more when he was going as like the 20th overall pick in drafts earlier this summer. 14th overall, barely a first round pick, a first round pick if you're in a 14 team league as of right now. And then there's Chase Brown, he goes 17th overall, so a middle of the second round pick. I like Chase Brown a lot more here. I think he should be going over Amari on Hampton. I mean, this is a guy who has been proven in back-to-back seasons as a top 10 running back, really the last 18 weeks of the last two seasons. Um, this is a guy last year who had a 72% opportunity share, sixth most in the NFL, just no backfield competition last year. And oh yeah, the Bengals brought in nobody this year. Uh, just still Samaje Perine, just still Taj Brooks as of right now. We'll see if they add anybody or if they trade for somebody or if James Conner or somebody was to get cut and the Bengals add in them. But I don't see why they would. Chase Brown is still in his prime, and the guy has just been dominant. Chase Brown has improved as a pass protector, we saw that last year. He's definitely a solid pass catcher, and he can go out there and get you a bucket on his own. He can get you an explosive play of 15 to 20 plus yards. But the other guys in his backfield, Taj Brooks, that's yet to be seen. And Samaje Perine, at this stage in his career, basically just like a four-minute offense, maybe a two-minute offense back at best. The biggest thing for Chase Brown over the years, and it's obvious for like most running backs, like you need your starting quarterback, especially you need Joe Burrow. We saw big differences in play last year for Chase Brown, where he looked like one of the biggest busts in fantasy as a second or third round pick in last year's drafts when Joe Burrow was not playing well and not healthy for the first month of the season. But then they traded for Flacco, and then they ended up getting Joe Burrow back, and everything was fine. It was peaches and cream, and Chase Brown was once again a top 10 running back in fantasy. As you can see right here, Chase Brown last year saw stack boxes on 45% of his rush attempts from weeks one through six versus 36% from seven through 18. What happened in weeks one through six? Well, Joe Burrow got hurt. Uh, they had Jake Browning starting, and it was pretty ugly. Seven through 18, Joe Flacco and Joe Burrow come back. And then it dropped, if you can see right here, to just 31% when Joe Burrow came back and took over for Flacco from weeks 13 to 18. So that is likely why he's kind of answering a question here as Jared Small says like I don't know why Chase Brown was much better runner over the final two thirds of the season. The basic answer is and if you like would pay attention um last year to like the way that the season went or just injuries, it's the fact that defenses weren't loading the box because they was actually scared of Joe Flacco and Chase and and Joe Burrow getting the ball to Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase. They weren't worried about that when Jake Browning was starting.

Now, let's compare that to Amari and Hampton who I've made videos on as somebody that I really like this year in the second round. I liked him a lot more when he was a 20th overall pick last the 14th overall pick, but obviously a second year player, former first round pick, just 23 years old. There's a lot of upside for Amari and Hampton here. He's now in an offense where Mike McDaniel is going to be taking over as his head coach and Mike McDaniel in just the last 3 years alone as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins had four different running backs in just 3 years finishing the top 10. Raheem Mostert once and Devon Achane each of the last 3 years, which happened to be Devon Achane's first 3 years in the NFL. So, that's what you're getting for Amari and Hampton. You're getting a offensive coordinator now in Mike McDaniel who knows how to call a run game, who has the personnel to do it. They got it this off season. And you're getting Hampton despite dealing with injuries last year, right? And not really being 100% uh when he came back, he was still averaging 4.7 yards per touch. Like these are the good things. I still like Amari and Hampton. I'm not going to come on here and slander the second year player who has a lot of upside and is in a good situation, but if we're comparing him as a 14th overall player to Chase Brown who goes picks later than him, I actually like Chase Brown better just straight up. Let alone you get him cheaper. It should also be worth mentioning that Amari and Hampton in my opinion has more backfield competition than a Chase Brown. Now, both of them don't have crazy competition, but Keays Mitchell was signed by the Chargers and specifically Mike McDaniel pointed Keays Mitchell out for somebody who has a lot of speed. He reminds me as like a poor man's um Devon Achane in some ways as well. The way that these guys are built, they had very similar first years of their career until Keays Mitchell got hurt. Both were averaging like the top two most yards per touch ever in the NFL for a rookie season. And then there's Kamani Vidal who we saw him step in last year and have really big games, break tackles, have 100 yard performances when Hampton was injured, some in primetime. Maybe one was on Thanksgiving or Black Friday, I can't remember. But like Kamani Vidal can get the job done as well. So, like it's not a world where Hampton is just like a clear cut going to get all 20 opportunities in the game. I think Ke'Shawn Mitchell can come in and see four to six. I think Ronald could see one or two, and all that matters over the course of a season. Where Chase Brown I think is really only seeding a couple of four-minute offense snaps here and there, maybe the two-minute offense snaps here and there to Samaje, nothing else. No short yardage. So, for me, that is a big reason why I lean Chase Brown over Marlon Mack. Again, both are really good picks in the second round still, but if you're getting Chase Brown later, and I like him just straight up, well, that means he's a pretty solid value.

So, there you go. Most people are drafting their running running backs, but as of right now, these are the guys you should be taking instead if you actually want to win your fantasy league and smack around your league mates.

Now, earlier I mentioned I won a $10,000 first experts league last year, the most watched fantasy league. Now, if you want to check out the seven reasons why I was able to win that league, the strategies that I took into it, executed, and ultimately won the league, went 14 and 2, scored the most points, it was kind of a cakewalk, you can check out a video I made on how I won $10,000 playing fantasy football right here. I think you could take these tips and apply them directly to your leagues to win more.