In Part 3 of the Zero RB Candidates Countdown, Shawn Siegele presents all of the advanced stats behind his priority running back targets for 2020.
For those of you on this ride from the beginning, we’ve arrived at our final destination. Skip down to the countdown for the five RBs who provide league-winning upside at a fraction of what it costs to draft their early-round brethren.
For everyone else, welcome. We’re eager to chat with skeptics and true believers alike. Take a brief jaunt through the next couple of paragraphs, and I think we’ll convince you to give these backs a chance, regardless of your preferred draft strategy.
Especially not a genius
Why would a reviewer make the point of saying someone’s not a genius? Do you especially think I’m not a genius? . . . You didn’t even have to think about it, did you? – Eli Cash
If that’s your take on Zero RB drafters, I can understand. There are plenty of good arguments against Zero RB. But we still think we can turn you to the dark side. Take Jack Miller’s Recency Bias and the Natural Tendency to Zag: Why Zero RB Is Set to Crush in 2020. Or perhaps, The 4 Perfect Storm Conditions Are in Place for a Zero RB Hurricane.
If you peruse those pieces and still don’t like Zero RB, we have the solution: Just draft these backs as part of your normal roster. Once you see how and why we draft these backs for our Zero RB teams, you’ll want them regardless of your choices for the rest of your lineup.
THE LIST THROUGH THE YEARS
- Our 2015 Zero RB list included the No. 1 overall RB (Devonta Freeman).
- Our 2016 list featured a breakout star and RB5 in PPG (Melvin Gordon).
- Our 2017 list included RB3 Kareem Hunt and RB4 Alvin Kamara.
- Our 2018 list featured five of the top-10 backs in Win Rate, including James White (18.7%), Tarik Cohen (16.8%), and Chris Carson (11.8%)
- Our 2019 list featured 313-point scoring Austin Ekeler and Miles Sanders.
