Before your 2019 fantasy football drafts get underway, you need to listen to the Sporting News Fantasy positional preview podcasts. OK, maybe "need to" is a bit strong, but it can't hurt. In our running back preview, we break down the rankings tiers and potential RB sleepers and busts -- and a whole lot more. With all the turmoil at this position due to multiple major holdouts, this is a must listen (just ignore all the stuff about D'Onta Foreman taking Lamar Miller's job...this was recorded before Foreman was cut).
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Check out our look at this year's running backs, and if you like it, we've got more where this came from (see below).
DOMINATE YOUR DRAFT: Ultimate 2019 Fantasy Cheat Sheet
Sporting News Fantasy podcasts available on Youtube, Soundcloud and iTunes
Fantasy Football Podcast: RB preview
SEASON PREVIEW PODCASTS:
QB | WR | TE | D/ST
Timestamps:
Draft strategy at the RB position (2:45): Get (at least) one early -- sounds good, right? But what if you don't...?
Top tier of running backs (7:18): Three studs in Saquon, McCaffery and Kamara, along with two holdouts to worry about with Ezekiel Elliott and Melvin Gordon. Oh, and Le'Veon Bell.
Injury question marks with Todd Gurley (12:00): Is it good that an NFL back has an "arthritic component" to his knee?
James Conner v. David Johnson v. Joe Mixon (15:30): At the turn of the first round, these might be some of the players you have to choose between. We debate which to target.
Second and third tiers of running backs (20:40): Our rankings deviate at this point with names like Tevin Coleman and Damien Williams not aligning with the consensus.
Boom-or-bust RBs (30:30): Royce Freeman v. Phillip Lindsay and Aaron Jones v. Jamaal Williams promise some uncertainy, while Nick Chubb could be affected when Kareem Hunt returns.
Rookie running backs (42:00): Which of Josh Jacobs or David Montgomery is the "cool rookie running back"?
Sleepers (47:00): Will Ito Smith keep getting more touches than it seems like he should? Ronald Jones also has to better than last year, doesn't he? There's also a whole mess of lesser rookie running backs to pick through here (with Darrell Henderson potentially mattering since Gurley's knee is a question mark).
Do-not-draft players (56:10): Jordan Howard has to wade through a ton of RBs in the Philly meeting room, while another Georgia running back raises injury questions.
Bold predictions (1:01:00): Baltimore will run, run and run some more, and that should bode well for Mark Ingram. In Kansas City, a surprise player could lead all RBs.