Latest news with #runningbacks
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Iowa State football: Cyclones running backs coach Jake Landry on Carson Hansen
After a productive 2024 season, Iowa State football running backs coach Jake Landry discusses Carson Hansen's progress.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bucs' 2,520-yard RB duo a 'luxury' for Baker Mayfield in 2025 offensive attack
Bucs' 2,520-yard RB duo a 'luxury' for Baker Mayfield in 2025 offensive attack originally appeared on The Sporting News Most teams will look on with envy at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the 2025 season approaches. The Bucs boast one of the NFL's most explosive backfields, with Bucky Irving and Rachaad White combining for 2,520 yards from scrimmage last year. Their versatility as both runners and receivers provides quarterback Baker Mayfield with offensive flexibility. The Detroit Lions stand out as a rare comparable, featuring their own dynamic running back duo in Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. Sure, the Lions have their duo, but the other 30 teams? Not so much. On Thursday, after the joint practice with the Titans, Bucs reporter Brianna Dix shared her observations on Irving and White as pass catchers. "Both are proficient in the screen game and are viable options in the flat on checkdowns, providing additional weapons for Baker Mayfield," Dix wrote. This is something Baker Mayfield spoke about today, a "luxury" that only a few quarterbacks get to enjoy. "They get out of pass protection and if they do not have anybody to pick up, they become just that free outlet," Mayfield said. "Those guys, obviously, they can catch like receivers but getting the ball with them in space is ideal for us whether it is screen game, checkdowns or designed pass plays for them. ... It is a luxury for us on offense to have two guys like that." Irving burst onto the scene in his rookie 2024 campaign, rushing for 1,122 yards and eight touchdowns, while adding 47 receptions for 392 yards. White complemented him with 613 rushing yards, nine total touchdowns, and 51 receptions for 393 yards. Together, they helped Tampa Bay set franchise records, including an average of 5.3 rushing yards per attempt and a total of 2,536 team rushing yards.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fantasy football strategies to consider in 2025
Nobody plans to fail, so the story goes. They just fail to plan. Here are some different draft strategies you might employ this fantasy football season. Please consider all of these plans to be written in pencil — you want to remain flexible and fluid at the draft table, ready to pounce on surprise opportunities. Also recognize that several of these strategies could be used in concert with one another. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] And then there is the golden rule of all of this — any strategy can work if you pick the right players. Never forget that, amigos. The Three Main Running Back Strategies There are three primary paths you can choose at running back, and this area is usually the first question a planning fantasy manager attempts to tackle. Robust RB: The idea here is to get at least two monster running backs at the front of your draft, probably in the top 2-3 rounds. You might even focus on a third early running back under certain roster settings. If your league only requires two starting wide receivers, I'm more likely to consider a Robust RB shell. This was the dominant strategy when fantasy football first came into the public eye, and I suppose it's made something of a comeback recently. Outside of Christian McCaffrey, Robust RB was a very strong strategy in 2024. Hero RB: This strategy focuses on getting one strong running back you can hang your hat on (preferably in Round 1 or 2 but perhaps in Round 3) and otherwise focusing on other positions with your early selections. I often gravitate towards this build, perhaps because I like hybrid concepts and modified strategies. I like to hit a 3-wood off the tee. I'll often favor the medium size over the large size when ordering dinner. Sometimes this strategy is called Anchor RB. Zero RB: It takes a special kind of nerve to pull off Zero RB, but it's especially satisfying when it works. The idea on this is to ignore running back completely in the early rounds, but stockpile backs in the later rounds — hoping that when the expected injury chaos of the position kicks in league-wide, you'll be well equipped to benefit. One reason why I've shied away from Zero RB in recent years is the trend that most smart fantasy managers are going to stockpile their bench with high-upside running backs, which will interfere somewhat with the teams that are angling for Zero RB. I've been in leagues where everyone seemed to do this — pound RB in the second part of the draft. Nonetheless, the injury rates are usually high at running back — though they were not in 2024, an outlier season — and that's why Zero RB can often be a success. My Preferred Wide Receiver Strategy Dominate at WR: Here is the build I've usually opted for in recent years, working in concert with a Hero RB build. In leagues that require at least three starting wideouts (or more), I want a WR room that's the envy of the league. I want wideouts who essentially start themselves, no weekly tweaking required. It's important to note that unheralded producers at running back are much more likely to emerge (be it from late-round picks or the waiver wire) than they are at wide receiver. The big points at WR come from the primary players, so let's steer into them at the draft. Strategy Options at the Onesie Positions Go Big at Quarterback or Tight End: You've probably been here before as a fantasy manager, sorting through the third round and unenthused about the RB and WR options. Why not select an obvious superstar at QB or TE? The quarterbacks obviously score the most raw points in most fantasy leagues, and their weekly scoring is usually very stable. And in some seasons the difference between the elite tight ends and what you find in the TE 8-12 area — ostensibly a starter for another fantasy manager — is comically large. To be at peace with these concepts, you need to be comfortable falling one slot behind in the chase to build an impressive RB or WR room. If you feel you scout the mid-priced backs and wideouts better than your opponents, it might steer you to a vanity pick at the onesie spots. Colleague Matt Harmon spends a ton of time scouting and evaluating wide receivers — it makes sense that he feels he can sneak out hidden WR values in the middle rounds. As such, Matt might be dialing up a big-name quarterback or tight end when others are thinking about the running backs and receivers. At QB, either act first or last: If the draft falls in a way where you can't land one of the top-5 superstars, it's often prudent to back away from that board and address it much later in the draft. Remember, the Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson managers are unlikely to double back quickly for a backup QB — and they might ignore that position completely for the rest of the draft. The QB board looks rather flat from about QB9 to QB22 — there isn't that much difference from top to bottom. Often I'll be the last manager to jump into the QB pool, but the first team to select a second quarterback, so I'm getting two bites at the upside apple. Other Strategic Leans That Can Influence Draft Strategy Stacking: This is the idea of matching a quarterback and one of his pass-catchers, so you can enjoy collaborative scoring and simplify your upside path for the season. I consider stacking more important if I'm trying to win a league that has a sizable manager pool, or if I'm in a room that's highly skilled. If I find myself in a more casual setting, stacking is less pressing of a need for me. Mobile QBs for the Win: Dual-threat quarterbacks are recognized as a cheat code for fantasy — the great Rich Hribar branded them Konami Code quarterbacks many years ago. Colleague Dan Titus is one of many sharp players who considers the mobile quarterback a near-mandate at the draft table. Lean into the scoring rules. Give your fantasy players as many possible paths to production. Start Planning Upside Down: This is the idea of letting what's most likely to be available late in your draft affect how you approach the early rounds. Sometimes this information is difficult to know, but if you're in a league filled with returning competitors, the puzzle becomes more solvable. If you're in a salary cap league, try to figure out what is likely to be available for the minimum price (most likely in the endgame, though that won't always be the case). Armed with this knowledge, you can make better decisions with your heavier checks. Draft For Value, Get Balance Later: This is a concept I'm borrowing from the Fantasy Baseball world (I'm pretty sure FSWA Hall of Famer Ron Shandler popularized this concept). The idea is to take the values that the room offers you and not to be stressed about positional requirements (within reason). You can always balance out your roster later, through trading and free-agency moves. Obviously the shape of your league will significantly affect how executable this motif is; some leagues have stringent limitations on trading or pickups, while other leagues are more open to roster churn. You will always know your room better than we do; season to taste.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Can Kenneth Walker stay healthy enough to be a fantasy RB1?
Yahoo Fantasy analysts Justin Boone and Scott Pianowski look at the Seattle RBs fantasy potential and whether his a good investment at his current fourth-round ADP. Hear the full conversation on the 'Yahoo Fantasy Forecast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript I'm going with Kenneth Walker here on the Seahawks, and this coaching staff came in. Mike McDaniel came in and I just loved him. It's just nothing but positive vibes around Kenneth Walker talking about the kind of back that he can be, that he can get involved in the passing game, that they think he can be this 3 down workhorse player. And I think a lot of people in the fantasy community last year were questioning that. Right, can he actually? He deals with injuries a lot, you know, he didn't really have that pass catching profile coming out in college, but they wanted him to be the engine of this offense. And last year he comes out in week one, has over 100 yards and a score, then he gets hurt. First game back after missing a couple of games of injury, over 100 scrimmage yards, 3 touchdowns in that game, and he stayed healthy to his for 9 games before he got hurt again. But even in PPR leagues last year, he was still the RB 12 in fantasy points per game. He has that ceiling. He has that RB-1 potential, just needs to stay healthy and unfortunately I don't want to compare it to like a JK Dobbins situation, but we're getting to the point where if we have another season here where Walker gets hurt and misses time, we're going to have to start to question if he can be that guy. And I wonder if at that point the Seahawks would start to question it, but just because we haven't seen a player, you know, show that he can be healthy for a full season doesn't mean they can't do it. A lot of the injury analysts always remind us of that, and I'm hoping that Walker can put it together. Now, it doesn't help that he was dealing with a foot injury in training camp and he had to miss some games. And again, that's just stuck in your mind like, oh no, hurt again. Zach Charbonnet is waiting there. He's just waiting for that opportunity. And it's one of the rare situations where we know if Walker's out, Charbonnet steps in and he's basically a top 12 running back for fantasy. Um, but I thought it was really interesting to see last year Walker showing that he had the pass catching chops. He averaged over 4 catches per game. That was huge. If you put that average over the full year, he would have been 2nd among running backs in receptions last year. Which I don't think anybody would have thought Kenneth Walker could be that kind of player. And yet he has that in his bag. So for me, it's just a matter of whether he can stay healthy. Close
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Is Bijan Robinson a better fantasy bet than Saquon?
Yahoo Fantasy analysts Justin Boone and Scott Pianowski explain why fantasy managers should consider drafting the Atlanta Falcons running back before last season's Offensive Player of the Year. Hear the full conversation on the 'Yahoo Fantasy Forecast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. View more Video Transcript My targeted player is John Robinson, and specifically, I'm targeting him over Saquon Barkley off that 482-touch season after that, after that season where he averaged 29.4 yards per touchdown, didn't have a touchdown from the one-yard line. That's Hurts' territory. I want my players on the upswing, on the escalator. I want to draft players who haven't had their best season yet. I look at that NFC South. I see a lot of pinball scoring. Robinson can obviously play in all packages. I realize Tyler Allgeier will be on the field somewhat, but that's okay. And Zach Robinson, their offensive coordinator from the McVay tree, took him a while to get his feet wet. I realize part of that was Kirk Cousins' problems, limited player at this point in his career. Really excited what Pennick brought to the offense late last season. I know this won't be the last time we talk Falcons on this show. But Bijon Robinson, man, he's going to be a big part of my portfolio. I've seen some drafts I've been in where he's slid to the middle of the first round, maybe even the bottom half of the first fold of the first round, which I think is stealing. I would consider him as early as 2 or 3 overall. And again, I'm prepared to take him before Gibbs. I'm prepared to take him before Barkley. I'm just all in on Robinson for 25. And it's not even a projection. Like last year, the last 13 weeks of the season, he was the highest scoring fantasy running back. Like he's already done it for a very long stretch. That's not even a small sample size. He finished with 12, sorry, he finished as a top 12 back 10 times during that stretch last year, 10 out of those 13. Weeks, he was inside the top 12. He was an RB-1. Now he gets the easiest fantasy schedule of any running back this year, according to my strength of schedule matrix. So barring injury, it is almost, you know, I don't, you know, knock on some wood here. It seems almost impossible for him to fail for fantasy this year. Close
