5 Fantasy RBs We Wouldn't Touch With A 10-foot Pole

**Josh Norris** (0:10)
Just like the wide receivers, this video is not about telling you who to draft. It is telling you who to avoid. Yes, these are five names that we have rarely drafted this summer in our fantasy football leagues, because Hayden, we know at times that is equally as important as players to target. So with that said, give us your first name. Who are you not picking at the running back spot?

**Hayden Winks** (0:32)
Let's just go right to the first round here. Ashton Jeanty is my name. There are 13 running backs that are selected after him before we get to the end of the fourth round. He outscored three of them.
So most of the players right after him last year outscored him straight up. Obviously, Ashton Jeanty will have a better football season this year than last year. He has a really high floor. I just think that James Cook, Saquon Barkley, Devon H and Derek Henry, I'll even throw out Kenneth Walker and Chase Brown. These guys I think have as good of a floor. And I think that they're a pathway to upside based off the team environment is just a little bit better. The Raiders still have a bad offensive line. They upgraded that center, but that does not make me feel better about the guard spots, the tackle spots. Kirk Cousins plus Fernando Mendoza should be better than Geno Smith. How big of an upgrade?
I don't know about that as well. And then Clint Kubiak has already said he's going to play a bunch of the snaps. We got that last year, just did not move the needle. So to me, Saquon Barkley is going to touch the football a ton. Devon H is going to touch the football a ton. Derek Henry is going to touch the football a ton. I think that those guys are a little bit more proven commodities. So I have Ashton Jeanty ranked 16th overall. It's just that he goes 11th overall in every little spot that matters in the first two rounds, I think is worth discussing.

**Josh Norris** (1:46)
That is a big discussion because if you're sitting there at the 11th pick or the 12th pick, you have to get both of those selections correct. If you're going to win your fantasy football league. And if Ashton Jeanty, which he is right now, is at the top of the stack of the eight straight running backs, then you have to have the firm belief that he is the one that is separating himself.
I think while we are both optimistic about Ashton Jeanty's future, I think I do slightly believe in his individual talent a bit more than you do. With that said, him being drafted already as the running back five is the worst part here because the running back five in points per game last year was Devon Achan, and he scored 18 fancy points per contest. So you're basically saying to yourself that that's what I'm getting no matter what with Ashton Jeanty. And then the upside is that he can become the running back one in points per game, which was Christian McCaffrey, at 21 points per contest.
Maybe I'm going to be wrong, but I just don't see that happening in like the 2026 version of this Las Vegas Raiders operation. It might, maybe for a name of dose it comes in, maybe the offensive line is totally fixed with Colton Mither coming back and adding Tyler Lenderbaum. But more so, I kind of think you're already drafting Ashton Jeanty at his ceiling aspect here.

**Hayden Winks** (3:03)
Yeah, that's where I'm kind of at with it too. And I just like, I just watched Seiko and Barclay finish as an RB one overall. Devon H in back to back seasons pretty much where he's been a rock solid player. And then I still think like the Derek Henry stuff and half PPR, I mean, Derek Henry right now is projected for 12 and a half rushing touchdowns on underdog right now, Ashton Jente is at seven and a half. Like it's not like a given just because he's younger that he's going to outscore somebody like Derek Henry just because the team environment out there. So I was just like looking at the projections on underdog versus the ADP.
And he's just coming in a little bit too hot in the best ball markets right now. And I'm not saying he's going to have a bad season. Like it would be a shock if he's not a top 10 running back in fantasy. But you're drafting him 11th overall. I think I'm just having a little bit of a disconnect there.

**Josh Norris** (3:48)