Sports Illustrated's fantasy analysts Michael Fabiano and Jen Piacenti are breaking down how team managers should be approaching their draft boards when considering Jonathan Taylor and Josh Jacobs.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Okay Fabiano, how are you treating Jonathan Taylor and Josh Jacobs when it comes to drafting
00:04 your fantasy football teams right now?
00:07 With kid gloves.
00:09 I am trying to err on the side of caution with both of these players, especially Taylor,
00:14 because that situation in Indianapolis is not good.
00:17 In fact, now the Colts have given him permission to seek a trade.
00:21 Whether or not he's ultimately traded or not, we're going to find out.
00:24 The same thing happened to Austin Eckler in the offseason and they could not come to an
00:28 agreement on a trade and ultimately the Chargers ended up giving him some more incentives.
00:33 I'm not sure where Taylor is going to play.
00:35 He's also dealing with the ankle.
00:37 I will say this, I've been in leagues where he has lasted until the fourth round and even
00:42 at that point, he scares me a little bit.
00:45 He's a very much a risk reward proposition.
00:48 And another problem with JT, Jen, is that if he does stay with the Colts, who's his
00:53 handcuff?
00:54 We just don't know.
00:55 I guess they're all injured, but I want to kind of talk to you about upside because you
01:00 said in the fourth round isn't enough for you.
01:03 For me, that feels like about the right moment.
01:06 Fourth round, fifth round, this guy had the rushing title two seasons ago.
01:09 He was the number one overall draft pick.
01:11 Now of course it's dangerous, but if you really, really want to win, fourth round, Jonathan
01:16 Taylor, what if he does go to Miami for instance, or even if he stays with the Colts?
01:20 As far as the injury, I'm not so sure I buy it.
01:24 I feel like that's all part of the situation here.
01:27 So I'm not too worried about the injury.
01:29 I am willing to take that shot when it comes around round four, round five, and certainly
01:35 in high stakes leagues, I'm taking it every time.
01:37 And in sharp leagues, I'm taking it too.
01:39 I just did a draft this morning where I was able to get Cam Akers two rounds later.
01:42 James Conner was also there.
01:44 There's a lot of people you could get to be the artificial handcuff for Jonathan Taylor,
01:49 because I would rather have someone like a Cam Akers or a James Cook even than the actual
01:54 handcuff in Indianapolis, because I'm just concerned about that organization in general.
01:59 What about Josh Jacobs though, Febs?
02:02 I'm less worried about Jacobs because I think ultimately he's going to be back with the
02:05 Raiders in week one.
02:07 Does he have a slow start to the season?
02:08 I mean, that's possible because he hasn't been in training camp.
02:12 Do you have to bake in regression after he led the league in rushing yards?
02:15 I think you do.
02:16 And Jacobs has always been a good fantasy back.
02:18 He's just only been elite once and that was last year.
02:21 So when you do draft Jacobs, I don't think you can expect a top five finish.
02:26 I think probably more of a low RB1, high RB2 finish.
02:30 That's probably more in the cards for Josh Jacobs.
02:33 But I have not hesitated to draft him if he's fallen to me in say the third round or maybe
02:39 even the end of round two.
02:41 Yeah.
02:42 And I think that's a smart strategy because as you mentioned about Jonathan Taylor, we
02:44 don't know his handcuff.
02:45 Well, we're pretty sure who it is in Las Vegas and it's Zemir White.
02:49 And you can just grab Zemir White later.
02:51 So that's pretty safe for taking Josh Jacobs where he is.
02:54 I want to follow up on your point.
02:56 Of all the running backs in the past 10 years who have led the league in touches, only one
03:01 has finished as a top 10 fantasy running back the year after.
03:05 And that was of course, Zeke Elliott, who's finished as the RB3.
03:08 So yeah, there's a lot of reasons for regression for Josh Jacobs.
03:11 In fact, he made my bus list over at SI.
03:14 But round three or round four, yeah, that still feels like good value, especially because
03:21 you can get that handcuff.
03:22 And again, Vin Hammer, James Conner, Cam Akers, there's a lot of players late that you can
03:28 get to kind of also be another handcuff for Josh Jacobs.
03:32 So overall, what are we saying?
03:35 Round four, round five is worth a shot for both these guys?
03:38 Jonathan Taylor is probably more of a fourth or fifth rounder at this point.
03:42 The information that we have right now is that his people are looking for a trade.
03:47 We don't know where he'll be in 2023.
03:49 And as for Jacobs, second round, third round, I've seen him fall into the fourth round if
03:53 you're maybe in a 10 team league.
03:56 But somewhere probably between the end of round two and the beginning of round four
04:00 is where Jacobs will ultimately go.
04:02 Also keep in mind, bigger influence of wide receivers in the first three rounds are naturally
04:08 going to push running backs like Jacobs and even Taylor back a little bit.
04:14 Certainly in PPR leagues.
04:15 Before we wrap up, I want to ask you one more question.
04:18 What would be your ideal fantasy landing spot if there's a trade for Jonathan Taylor?
04:25 The one team that could use him and boy, that offense would be unbelievable is Miami.
04:30 They don't have a true number one.
04:32 They've got Raheem Mostert.
04:33 They've got Jeff Wilson Jr.
04:34 They drafted Devon A-Chain.
04:36 You bring Taylor into that mix and you put him in a backfield with Tua, with Jalen Waddell
04:41 and Tyreek Hill outside.
04:43 Wow.
04:44 That would be a lot of fun.
04:45 But the answer is there's not many teams in the league where Jonathan Taylor would go
04:52 and remain a true featured back considering the talent a team has already on the roster.
04:58 And if you're going to give up draft capital for Jonathan Taylor and then have to sign
05:03 him to an extension, you're going to be acquiring him to be a true featured back.
05:09 It's so late in preseason.
05:12 Most NFL teams are already pretty set up in their backfield and aren't willing to give
05:16 up a lot of competition even for a Jonathan Taylor.
05:19 If he did go to Miami, would that suddenly make the AFC East the most tough division
05:25 in NFL?
05:26 Would it be better than the AFC West?
05:28 I mean, it would be pretty exciting.
05:30 I have ideas of where I would love for him to go.
05:33 I'd also love for him to maybe go to Minnesota or Cincinnati.
05:37 I think he'd be interested in Los Angeles.
05:38 But again, as you said, those places do have more competent backs that you can count on.
05:43 So you do have to bake that in when you are drafting Jonathan Taylor.
05:47 But man, the talent that kid has, it's hard to pass it up.
05:51 When it gets around four or five for me, that's where I'm pulling the trigger.
05:54 Of course, you guys should make your own decisions.
05:57 Michael Fabiano has his rankings and his tiers now at SI.com/fantasy.
06:02 So check out our fantasy football draft kit to crush your fantasy football drafts.