diff --git a/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/consensus.rs b/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/consensus.rs
index 3b666228..9ea4dcf1 100644
--- a/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/consensus.rs
+++ b/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/consensus.rs
@@ -129,16 +129,24 @@ pub struct RpcsForRequest {
 }
 
 impl RankedRpcs {
-    pub fn from_rpcs(rpcs: Vec<Arc<Web3Rpc>>, head_block: Web3ProxyBlock) -> Option<Self> {
+    pub fn from_rpcs(rpcs: Vec<Arc<Web3Rpc>>, head_block: Option<Web3ProxyBlock>) -> Option<Self> {
         // we don't need to sort the rpcs now. we will sort them when a request neds them
         // TODO: the shame about this is that we lose just being able to compare 2 random servers
 
+        let head_block = head_block?;
+
         let backups_needed = rpcs.iter().any(|x| x.backup);
 
         let num_synced = rpcs.len();
 
         // TODO: do we need real data in  here? if we are calling from_rpcs, we probably don't even track their block
-        let rpc_data = Default::default();
+        let mut rpc_data = HashMap::<Arc<Web3Rpc>, ConsensusRpcData>::with_capacity(num_synced);
+
+        for rpc in rpcs.iter().cloned() {
+            let data = ConsensusRpcData::new(&rpc, &head_block);
+
+            rpc_data.insert(rpc, data);
+        }
 
         let sort_mode = SortMethod::Shuffle;
 
diff --git a/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/many.rs b/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/many.rs
index 844aa82b..2bfefcbc 100644
--- a/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/many.rs
+++ b/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/many.rs
@@ -445,20 +445,21 @@ impl Web3Rpcs {
         let ranked_rpcs: Arc<RankedRpcs> =
             if let Some(ranked_rpcs) = self.watch_ranked_rpcs.borrow().clone() {
                 ranked_rpcs
-            } else if let Some(head_block) = web3_request.head_block.clone() {
-                // if we are here, self isn't watching head blocks but some other Web3Rpcs is. Return all the rpcs
+            } else if self.watch_head_block.is_some() {
+                // if we are here, this set of rpcs is subscribed to newHeads. But we didn't get a RankedRpcs. that means something is wrong
+                return Err(Web3ProxyError::NoServersSynced);
+            } else {
+                // no RankedRpcs, but also no newHeads subscription. This is probably a set of "protected" rpcs or similar
+                // TODO: return a future that resolves once we do have something?
                 let rpcs = self.by_name.read().values().cloned().collect();
 
-                if let Some(x) = RankedRpcs::from_rpcs(rpcs, head_block) {
+                if let Some(x) = RankedRpcs::from_rpcs(rpcs, web3_request.head_block.clone()) {
                     Arc::new(x)
                 } else {
                     // i doubt we will ever get here
                     // TODO: return a future that resolves once we do have something?
                     return Err(Web3ProxyError::NoServersSynced);
                 }
-            } else {
-                // TODO: return a future that resolves once we do have something?
-                return Err(Web3ProxyError::NoServersSynced);
             };
 
         match ranked_rpcs.for_request(web3_request) {