Why getting the running back position right in fantasy is so important
Yahoo Fantasy's Matt Harmon and Justin Boone discuss the running backs Justin was high on entering the season. Hear the full conversation on the "Yahoo Fantasy Forecast" podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
CMC, running back one.
TreVeyon Henderson you had in the top 20 as a He is a must-draft player.
He was Running Back 19.
Chase Brown, RB8 on the season, and as, by the end of the year, He was not just a household name; he was one of the guys you needed in that last second to Third-round range.
So I-I would say, Boone, That was like five...
I guess, uh, the Henderson one maybe people Will quibble with it, but to me, that was five straight, just, Like, perfectly accurate statements.
I appreciate that.
We do get some things right once in a while.
For all the Kenneth Walker, J.J. McCarthy things that we get wrong.
Um, yeah.
I think I was most happy about... 'Cause I didn't think the CMC thing was, like, that much of a hot take, Though, as I got into more drafts in the summer, I realized that I guess it was, Because he was calling me a lot, like Yeah.
The mid-to-even, almost, like, late first round in some drafts.
I thought...
The calls on the rookies really stood out.
Because for, like, the first half of the season, even I was getting some pushback from people.
Oh, these were terrible calls.
Why did I draft these guys?
"Should I drop these guys?"
Those sorts of questions.
And the idea was always, like, no.
And I did think that Henderson, in particular, I thought he would come on sooner.
It really took a while, Like a Stevenson injury in order for him to be unlocked.
But both these guys ended up having meaningful second halves of the season.
And when you're drafting these rookie running backs, that's really what you're looking for.
Right?
And the Harvey one, as sad as it is, as Unfortunate as it is for J.K. Dobbins, it just almost feels inevitable at this point that he's gonna get hurt at some point during the year.
We've seen it happen every season, No matter how well he's playing, we saw the whole thing happen with the Chargers.
Last year, right?
And it was almost like a, a one-for-one carbon Copi this season, where he was playing pretty well, and then he goes down, And all of a sudden, you see another backstep up, and this time it was Harvey.
So, it was great to see those guys come on and have some big games.
Um, you know, especially for Henderson in the second half of the season.
And we're counting that point when Stevenson was out for a few games there as well.
But in the second half- Right.
Of the season, from Week 9 on, Henderson was actually the RB10 in fantasy points per game.
So that puts him even closer to that Jahmyr Gibbs comparison that I made.
And then, yeah, the Chase Brown one.
Another one where it feels like you got it right and wrong.
Even though the part that we got wrong was a little bit out of our control, With Joe Burrow getting hurt and a very tough schedule at that point, And him kind of struggling for a month or so there.
And then you get Joe Flacco under center, and then eventually Burrow back.
And he just goes off in the second half of the year.
So, yeah.
I did quite well with the running.
Back in the rankings this year.
I'm pretty happy with those.
