Here are some running back sleepers that could potentially crack the top 10 this 2020 season! The Counselor and the Bald guy are back in the studio and ready to help you dominate 2020 fantasy football!
Welcome to the show everybody, we are back on video, I’m super excited. Fantasy Football Sleepers 2020, the very, very early discussion, and we are talking about the guys that could break in the top 10 that are Sleepers at running back.
Joseph Robert: So, Tim is in the studio, what’s going on, Tim?
Tim: Hi everybody. It is great to be back.
Joseph Robert: How was your mini-vacation then?
Tim: Look at it, I grew this out, this was really down to my boobies and I had to trim it up to make it look okay.
Joseph Robert: Tim is back in action, I’m excited, man. I know it’s March 6th today, but listen, it’s never too early to talk about Fantasy Football, let’s just get right to it… Oh, actually, we should do a giveaway. So we are giving away a DeAndre Hopkins signed card, this is-
Tim: D-Hop.
Joseph Robert: A numbered one.
Tim: Signed card.
Joseph Robert: Five out of twenty-five, Tim, so it’s a beautiful card, it’s a gold platinum Panini card. We are going to give this away and to win this, very simple, like this video, comment, say I want it, and we’re going to enter you for the draw, next time we do a show where we’re together, we’re going to announce a winner for this. Our sit down shows, which are typically Mondays and Thursdays, but it’s kind of offseason, so we’re here and there right now.
Tim: Right.
Joseph Robert: Typically Mondays and Thursdays.
Tim: Easy peasy, like and comment.
Joseph Robert: That’s it. Also, what we’re going to be doing on the show is, leave a question below, all of your questions are going to be answered potentially, I get back to as many as I can, but we’re going to pick a hand-selected few that we really like and we’re going to announce them on the show as well.
Tim: If you ask us something stupid, you’re out.
Joseph Robert: Be creative, be fun, be witty, but also keep it clean. Questions for Fantasy Football below, and for the card. Let’s get into this, Tim, first of all, let’s review last year’s top 10 running backs, here’s why I hate the mainstream, why I hate the consensus rankings, it’s because what they’re going to do… I got multiple cameras here, so I’m going to be bouncing back and forth, this is exciting to me.
Tim: A new setup.
Joseph Robert: What I’m going to be doing here, Tim, is telling you that, not to listen to the rank, because copy and pasting last year’s rankings, that’s what I’m seeing already with the consensus, they’re telling you, you’ve got to draft Christian McCaffrey first, you got to have Aaron Jones in the top five as well, I don’t like that, so we’ve got to stray away. We want to talk about guys that could break into that top 10, potentially into the season, next season.
Tim: Mind you, we do have our own list of the top 20 players that the guys that we think are going to be there as well, when you and I always argue about this, you always talk about the consensus, when I’m looking at this, I’m only thinking two guys could potentially drop off this top 10 list, as far as what I’m going to give my advice to you guys for. However, there are four or five guys that I think could easily jump into the top 10, it’s not like I’m changing the list just for the sake of changing the list, I’m looking at the reasons why, so when I do that, only two guys that I think could really drop off this list.
Joseph Robert: Let’s not spend too much time on recapping last year’s guys, let’s go over it because you guys know who they are, Christian McCaffrey dominating, had such a pinnacle year, people thinking of drafting him first overall, it’s going to be different this year, I’m telling you right now.
Tim: I don’t care. He has been amazing for the last two, three years, and last year, as you said, he destroyed everybody, 160 points more than the next closest guy roughly, that’s insane.
Joseph Robert: Understand though-
Tim: How can you not take him?
Joseph Robert: Here’s why you’re not going to take him, first overall, because he had 471 points, very hard to replicate, I think Priest Holmes is the only running back that has done it in the past 15, 20 years, very hard to replicate. How is he going to have 471 points?
Tim: Even if he has 400 points that’s great.
Joseph Robert: Okay.
Tim: He’s the number one pick.
Joseph Robert: Another thing is that, they got to acquire, the Panthers have to acquire a wide receiver, but D.J. Moore is not going to do it, also the quarterback situation suspect, is he going to continue to be the focal point? 116 receptions. If I’m the new coach I say, “Okay, 160 interceptions, that’s our running back, let’s get a wide receiver that can catch that much.”
Tim: Unless they bring in someone really high caliber, you’re not going to take those touches away from CMC.
Joseph Robert: We’re going to tie this, we’re going to hold and do a top 10, we’re not going to elaborate too much more on this. Aaron Jones came in at number two, Ezekiel Elliot came at number three, solid and consistent is Ezekiel Elliot, that’s why I like him so much, Tim, he’s right in there. Austin Ekeler at four, I don’t see him being in the top 10 this year, it’s a long story unless maybe Melvin Gordon gets shipped off, and he becomes a primary back, I doubt it. Derrick Henry five, Dalvin Cook six, I don’t see them finishing this next year, there’s no way, he blew his load, that’s a whole other discussion.
Doing a separate video, make sure you guys like and subscribe, doing a separate video on why not to draft Dalvin Cook and Nick Chubb this year, they’re going to be overinflated in value. Fournette came in at seven, Nick Chubb at eight, at nine, Saquon at ten, Saquon was hurt for a bunch of games.
Tim: Yeah.
Joseph Robert: Still cracked the top 10 with a terrible old line and a suspect quarterback situation, where a rookie quarterback was coming in the first year, getting into the groove. Who is going to crack the top 10? Tim’s got a list of players here and I got a list of guys that could potentially crack the top 10, it’s going to be very interesting to see who these guys are and why.
Tim: The only two that I think could really fall out of this and could fall out fairly easily, are Derrick Henry and Nick Chubb, it’s pretty self-explanatory, right? With Chubb, he’s got Kareem Hunt now to deal with for the full season, not just [crosstalk 00:06:15] games.
Joseph Robert: He’s a free agent, Kareem.
Tim: We have to take it for what it is right now, right now, we consider them on the same team, Chubb is very low and receiving, and with Kareem Hunt there, when Kareem came in, he did the bulk of the receiving, as far as the running backs go.
Joseph Robert: Right.
Tim: He’s got that to contend with. For Henry, he had a banner year, he’s a beast, don’t get me wrong, he is an absolute beast, but it was all just high yardage and a high number of TDs, it’s very easy for him to not achieve that same number this year.
Joseph Robert: Nick Chubb, I agree with you, Derek Henry, I got to disagree, because if he becomes the main guy there, he’s not necessarily top five numbers, but I still think he’s going to stay in the top 10.
Tim: Could be, I think he’s one that could be, he doesn’t necessarily need to fall off in numbers from one of these other guys to leapfrog in front of him, that can push him down, down, down.
Joseph Robert: Who else do you got on the list here that-
Tim: Those are the guys that I think could fall out, now you said Ekeler, you thought Ekeler could fall out.
Joseph Robert: He’s not a true workhorse running back, 132 attempts last year, that’s not enough for me, 557 yards, he makes it up in the receiving.
Tim: It’s the PPR aspect of this that brings in Ekeler.
Joseph Robert: Here’s the thing, he’s always a guy that you’re going to want to compliment, similar to Alvin Kamara, great guy, yes, he makes a top-five and 10, Kamara does, but he’s special talent. Ekeler is good, but he’s not on Kamara‘s talent, I think they’re going to have to find someone to compliment Ekeler, whether it’d be Gordon staying there, or them getting a rookie to compliment Ekeler, I’m not sold him finishing top 10.
We got to look at this situation, that’s why free agency is critical, so is the NFL draft, in regards to how the depth charts line up, that’s why 16 rounds, yes, it’s available for preorder at the fantasyfootballcounselor.com, plug it in there, but you got to understand that I don’t really get deep diving into this heavily till after the NFL draft.
Tim: Of course, it makes sense.
Joseph Robert: Who else is going to fall out? Those are the only two-
Tim: That’s the only two for me, the one for you, Ekeler, you kind of threw him in there as well.
Joseph Robert: For me, who’s going to fall out, it’s going to be Cook, Chubb and Ekeler.
Tim: You always say Cook, just] because he’s injury-prone you say, even though he missed two games last year.
Joseph Robert: Completely blew his load last, he was on his last legs, he was done, he didn’t finish the two years, three years ago, sat two years ago, then this past year, couldn’t even make it to the, he fought just to get a big contract, again, he’s saying he’s going to hold out unless he gets paid big dollars, I’m not dealing with these drama queens, the hell with it, staying away from Dalvin Cook, not even worth being… If he can’t finish three years, a full season, not even one out of those three years, you’re not going to be my top 10, forget it.
Tim: You have your hate for Cookie, but even in those three years, he still finishes really well, he is a little injury-prone, he’s going to miss a game here and there, but he’s still-
Joseph Robert: A little injury-prone? He hasn’t finished a year in three seasons.
Tim: One or two games, I don’t care, that’s not
Joseph Robert: He is a cripple, move on there.
Tim: Guys that could jump into the top 10, the top on my list is going to be Josh Jacobs.
Joseph Robert: Who can crack-in, I agree with that, I currently have Josh Jacobs in my top 10, I like him, depends on what the Raiders do at the quarterback situation, how things are going to pan out, but I definitely see him cracking that top-down, I agree with you, Tim.
Tim: Playing for a mediocre team, mediocre to okay team, only 13 games, 1,150 yards, 70 Ds, he can easily increase on his numbers, especially in the receiving aspect too, he didn’t do much in receiving last year, it’d be very easy for him to get into that top 10. The next one is a guy that you hated last year, but he came in and got the job done, Kenyan Drake.
Joseph Robert: Kenyan Drake, here’s the deal now, from what I’m hearing, I posted it on my Insta, he wants eight million a year, which is big money, he’s only played three or four good games his entire season, actually, I’m going to give him a little credit, maybe six to seven games, he had four or five good games in Arizona, couple of good games in Miami, I understand Miami doesn’t help anybody in regards to the running game, maybe it was the offense he was in, either way, he did better with Arizona, not amazing but did better, from what I’m hearing, Arizona might not be able to afford him based on their cap, they may end up staying with David Johnson because they’ve invested a lot in him, we’re going to have to see how it plays out, but Detroit, a potential candidate for Drake, that could be a disaster for him because Detroit doesn’t put out and produce good running backs as well, if he stays in Arizona, David Johnson gets shipped off or stays sidelined. Kenyan Drake does have top 10 potential based on that scenario.
Tim: You’ve kind of hit on it, to me Kenyan Drake is a very up and down player, he will have some amazing weeks, then he will have several low weeks, I think he had several weeks last year where he was four to six, four to eight points, he is a DFS type player to me, but when you do look at the year-long, he’s going to put up some good numbers, overall, he’s very sporadic and he may cost you some weeks.
Joseph Robert: That’s the thing, you don’t want that volatility, especially when you’re going to invest high pick on him, I think if he stays in Arizona in that perfect kind of scenario I mentioned, you’re going to be looking at a higher draft pick, probably a second round, I think he’s going to be similarly drafted to the way Damien Williams was last year, where a lot of people were high on him, he came on stronger the end of the year, people bought, drank the Kool-Aid, they bought the hype, I’m not going to buy it, and I need to see more out of him, but definitely a guy that could crack that top 10.
Tim: Another one that I thought was maybe a little bit of a reach, but in talking to you before this, you said no, you agree and you have him on your top 10 list, Miles Sanders.
Joseph Robert: Miles Sanders is a touchy situation because we got to see if the Eagles rely on him to be their primary back, are they going to draft another back? How good is that running back? If he’s drafted, if he’s a rookie coming in, is he going to dip into the volume? How is free agency going to work? If they make Miles Sanders the focal point of that offense, let me repeat this if they make Miles Sanders, the focal point of that offense, then you’ve got something here, you’ve got something special in Miles Sanders, and he came on you the end of the season, he wasn’t fully integrated last season, but he still had 818 yards, you got to look at it three times, he finished 15th and PPR mocks running backs with only three touchdowns, imagine if they integrate him, imagine if he gets six touchdowns, even doubles that, you’re going to see a major increase in Fantasy production and increase on that 218 PPR Fantasy points that he had if they believe in him.
Tim: That’s exactly my thinking too, just to clarify, three rushing, three receiving last [crosstalk 00:12:48], there is a lot of room for increase, that’s why I put him here as one of those guys who could crack as well.
This one shouldn’t shock anybody, this is Melvin Gordon, once again you’re going to come into the Ekeler, Melvin Gordon [crosstalk 00:13:00] free agency, what’s going to happen? Everybody knows Melvin Gordon, the guy can perform, you got to put him there, if he gets the full season healthy on a good team, he’s definitely there.
Joseph Robert: I agree, it depends on where he lands, and we’ll see who else can crack the top 10s.
Tim: Those are my guys, obviously, there’s million you could say, but these are my guys that I really think have an easy shot of cracking the top 10, I’m not going to go into all the these are my guys.
Joseph Robert: You stole some of my guys, I’m going to throw some people in here, just a couple of names here that you want to keep on your radar, a lot of this is dependent on that perfect scenario, I think a lot of people are forgetting about this guy, Todd Gurley.
Tim: I don’t think we’re forgetting, I’m actually surprised that you bring him up because you were a guy that hated the whole thing.
Joseph Robert: I know, but you got to know when to hold them and when to fold them, the Rams realize that he’s a huge investment for us, we sat on him and preserved him, they’re playing preservation the first six to eight weeks and realize, “We got to make the playoffs now.” kind of came on near the end of the season, if I’m the Rams, I’d say, he’s our investment if he breaks, he breaks, so be it, but if we don’t utilize him, we’re not making the playoffs. Todd Gurley finished 14th, and he was in preservation mode the first six weeks, I would say Todd Gurley is a guy you may want to consider, his yards with 3.8, still managed to get 12 touchdowns, I’d like to see the yardage go up from 857, Todd Gurley’s a guy that could crack the top 10… I liked that, crack, I like that, so he’s one guy, do you see that or no?
Tim: Yes and no, I still think they’re going to preserve him. [crosstalk 00:14:47], I think his years of being the workhorse back are done, especially when it comes to running the ball, I don’t think those knees can handle it.
Joseph Robert: Another guy that could crack the top 10 is Devin Singletary, but, there’s a big but, I don’t know if the Buffalo Bills believe in him as this sole running back, he may be slightly undersized, catch the ball, he can do some good things, but Buffalo, they’ve got to look at the whole situation now, McCoy was there at the beginning of the season, he got shipped off, he’s got fumblitis, he’s pretty much done for, McCoy now, on a side tangent, is saying that he still wants to play, he won a Superbowl ring, but he was shelved with the chiefs, he’s just fumbling. Long story short, Devin Singletary, if he is the sole running back, they don’t acquire anybody else and they believe in him similar to the Miles Sanders situation, a bit of a long shot here, but he could do some good things. [crosstalk 00:15:45].
Tim: It will also depend on Josh Allen, Josh Allen ran a lot last year if they want to preserve him a little more, and they bring in some help, the Singletary could be a guy that really jumps forward, but Josh Allen has to stop running the ball in order to make that happen.
Joseph Robert: Speaking of cracking the top 10, you may want to crack me in the top of my head here for this one.
Tim: I always do.
Joseph Robert: You ready for this one? A guy that could crack the top 10, leave a comment below, I’m really curious to hear your feedback on this one guy. David Johnson.
Tim: It depends, right? This is a huge reach-
Joseph Robert: If he stays on Arizona, we know Kingsbury doesn’t like him, he’s done, forget it, but if he gets on a good team, maybe if he ends up on Tampa Bay, you never know, he could have a good opportunity there.
Tim: Wait, did you just call Tampa Bay a good team?
Joseph Robert: No, I meant a good opportunity, there could be a good opportunity for what happens there. That could be really exciting, Ariens and him could be a good combination, and, I genuinely want to say this because I’ve met him before, I know his work ethic, a lot of these players have good work ethic, but he just hates the haters, I think he felt he was screwed, I think he wants to redeem himself this year, that’s what I feel.
Tim: There’s a lot of question marks there, it really depends where he ends up.
Joseph Robert: Is that it for cracking the top? It’s got to be other guys.
Tim: Exactly, I was going to say, you got top name guys, even like you pulling girly out, yes these are guys that could easily do-
Joseph Robert: Joe Mixon, he’s currently conceived as top 10, Mixon is interesting, he’s shown some injuries in the past, suspect offense, they may end up getting could be a great, we got to see if A.J. Green is back, is he healthy? Joe Mixon finished 13th amongst rbs, which is very impressive considering he had a terrible old line and no receivers, he was a focal point of that offense, quarterback situation was completely sketchy, so I liked the upside of Mixon based on a new quarterback, they’re going to beef up the old line, he could be the guy, but it’s just not a guy that I get excited about, Mixon.
Tim: There’s so many guys we could pull out here, you could mention a guy like Chris Carson who finished last year of course, he could, he finished 12th, it’s not hard to crack the top 10.
Joseph Robert: It’s going to be an interesting year when you are looking at these guys, understand, you want to load up, I want to give you guys a Fantasy Football draft tip, you want to load up on running backs this season because we’re going to do a wide receiver episode, and there is a ton of depth at the wide receiver position, trust me on this one.
Tim: They say that this class for the draft is going to be heavy favors for the… I’m blowing that one, heavily favored for wide receivers like 30 of the first 100 guys are expected to be wide receivers.
Joseph Robert: There is a ton of wide receivers this season, and coming into the NFL that are good talent, that could make an immediate impact, very deep at wide receiver when you’re looking at drafts, a load up on those running backs can be very interesting to see how these mock drafts happen, for a guy like me, who really targets running backs, I could end up with, Saquon, Josh Jacobs, Miles Sanders, as my three-headed enemy, it could be very interesting, right?
Tim: Yeah, I could easily see that happen.
Joseph Robert: It’s going to be interesting, I talk all about that in that 16 round Fantasy Football draft solution, pre-orders right now at the fantasyfootballcounselor.com, also a link here below, I’m excited, Fantasy Football 2020 is here, we’re getting you guys ramped up a little bit, that’s all.
Tim: By the way, we haven’t even talked about it, but of course we’re going to be in Vegas, who wouldn’t go to Vegas? If you got some time available, get your butt to Vegas.
Joseph Robert: This is your close up, tell them to be in Vegas.
Tim: Get to Vegas.
Joseph Robert: Shave off his ugly goatee or whatever is not going there.
Tim: Maybe.
Joseph Robert: We should do that, we should let one fan shave it off.
Tim: I’ll let someone shave my head, it’s not really a prize.
Joseph Robert: All right guys, make sure you again, leave a comment for the DeAndre Hopkins card right here, comment, like, all right, we’ll be announcing the winner, let’s announce the winner. Maybe in the next show or two, we’ll figure out what show.
Tim: As we said, we’re kind of sporadic right now, normally we do a Monday, Thursday thing, but right now we’re kind of all over the map.
Joseph Robert: Yeah, we are, we’re just offseason.
Tim: You’ll get your card, okay?
Joseph Robert: All right guys, leave a thumbs up, and we are out, have a good one everybody.
The Counselor and the Bald guy are back in the studio and ready to help you dominate 2020 fantasy football!
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