Are you buying Jonathan Taylor or D'Andre Swift in 2021?

Matt Harmon is joined by Josh Norris from Underdog Fantasy to discuss Detroit Lions RB D'Andre Swift & Indianapolis Colts RB Jonathan Taylor. Both are the lead back in crowded running back committees and both will be starting the year with a new QB under center. Which one should you target in your drafts this summer? Hear the full conversation on the Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Video transcript

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MATT HARMON: I want to talk about one, couple, these two running backs that I kind of have on my radar as potential very small losers here.

JOSH NORRIS: Oh.

MATT HARMON: We can end on this note. And maybe you can help me be positive, even though I'm feeling negative about these guys. D'Andre Swift and Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan Taylor, they bring back Marlon Mack to the Colts, should I be worried about that? D'Andre Swift, they bring in Jamaal Williams. I am a little concerned about that, because number one, I think what free agency has showed us, is that the Lions can talk about biting kneecaps all they want, and I like Dan, by the way, I'm in on, I'm so in on Dan Campbell.

JOSH NORRIS: Of course you are.

MATT HARMON: Do I want to draft the running back on that team, number one? And number two, do I want to draft that running back when he, there's a reason Aaron Jones has never been 100-target player, despite having like a, you know, 90% Alvin Kamara skill set is what some people call it. It's because Jamaal Williams commands passing game or he commands work. I think that was an underrated kind of negative signing for D'Andre Swift. Not that I think Swift is going to stink, but there's a lot of negative factors there in Detroit with him right now.

JOSH NORRIS: I would say with both of these names in D'Andre Swift and Jonathan Taylor, while they were rookies and while the investments were very high on both, both teams did not fully invest in them throughout the entire season. It took development for each to gain that respect, to gain that responsibility. Now obviously, the Lions are totally different. A completely new regime in the head coach and in the general manager.

The Colts, that is not the case. And while I was kind of taking Marlon Mack, before he got injured obviously, where he was going in drafts last year, because I thought it was a value, that's not the only name we have to forget, like remember. And Nyheim Hines. Nyheim Hines can be--

MATT HARMON: A friend of the show, Nyheim Hines.

JOSH NORRIS: Oh, that's awesome.

MATT HARMON: Just on like last week's podcast. Friend of the show.

JOSH NORRIS: That's awesome. I'll follow that up with positivity. He is a difference maker when on the field. There were points last year where Nyheim Hines was the best running back on the Colts. Now, at least for Jonathan Taylor's part, he put in the work and then like the final eight weeks, six weeks of the season, was one of the best running backs in the NFL. And I loved him coming out of the draft. And I would expect that to continue and that positivity to ride forward. And if you're going to ask me which of these two players I would take first, it would be JT over D'Andre Swift.

MATT HARMON: Oh, yeah, yeah.

JOSH NORRIS: Let me ask you about D'Andre Swift, because these are, he's going right after Antonio Gibson on underdog right now. He's going right before JK Dobbins, Joe Mixon, Miles Sanders and James Robinson. There's an argument to be made I think with four of those names. Three, a handful of them, a couple of them, of the Dobbins mix and Sanders, Robinsons to take over the DeAndre Swifts.

MATT HARMON: I would take all of them. Sanders was the only one that gave me like a little pause.

JOSH NORRIS: Yeah.

MATT HARMON: The others, I'd firmly rather, Gibson, 100%. JK Dobbins, 100% I'd rather have over Swift. Mixon, yeah. I'd probably rather 100% have him. And Robinson too at this point. Like Robinson kind of a sneaky winner coming out of this free agency period. They only added like Carlos Hyde.

JOSH NORRIS: Right.

MATT HARMON: Like as long as they don't draft a running back in the third round, I think all of the, like, there's been some legit hand-wringing over James Robinson because the team didn't come out and say like, he's the best running, like Urban Meyer didn't come out and say he's the best running back in the world. But like, he could be the guy. I talked, we just talked this offense being much better. Like James Robinson is going to be the feature back of this offense and was awesome as a rookie. If he makes it out of the NFL draft, he could be like one of the biggest winners of the off season there. So he's a guy we'd rather have over DeAndre Swift right now.