Changing of the Guard at Running Back
Ok, so for a while it looked like there was a glut of running backs and it was the wide receiver position that needed attention. Well, it looks like the RB position is not going to stop being the force that drives fantasy football anytime soon.
Three trends have converged to make having a quality fantasy back with several backup options essential to success.
The first is not really a trend but rather a norm in the NFL. Backs go down and there are always stars that end up on IR. This year is no exception with the likes of Ronnie Brown, Deuce McAllister and Cadillac Williams all gone for the year. You have a score of other starters who have had injury problems such as Steven Jackson, Rudi Johnson and Brandon Jacobs.
The second trend is the disappointing seasons for so many quality backs. Sean Alexander, Larry Johnson, Frank Gore, Steven Jackson, Travis Henry and Laurence Maroney to single some out. There are differing reasons for each one’s problems but in the end they are producing far less than what was projected on opening day.
The third trend, in my opinion is more of a reaction to the first two than a trend in general and that is of the two headed beast at RB. I don’t see a lot of great running backs I see a lot of very mediocre running backs with coaches trying to plug in whoever is running better that week.
I don’t care how a coach frames it or positions it, you run a two back system because neither one of them is good enough to step up at take the starting role. If they are both that good you flip a coin and trade the other.
We seem to be at one of those historic points in the NFL where we are approaching a changing of the guard. Every now and then the slate gets pretty much wiped clean and a new generation of talent comes to the front.
Times like these are magnified when you have a few years without a super-talent back like a Jim Brown, Walter Payton, or Barry Sanders type. Then comes Adrian Peterson and we look and realize just how mediocre even the top backs currently look in historical perspective.
Take a look at three of the top backs from the past couple years. Larry Johnson and Sean Alexander maybe haven’t had the gaping holes of years past to run through. Even though LT has righted the ship for the most part seemed to have trouble when the leads and the schemes designed to open up lanes for them were not there (IE Martyball). Without the advantages these back have looked pretty average at times.
I see Adrian Peterson and I think back to Walter Payton and Barry Sanders playing all those years on sub par teams where the defenses knew they would be getting the ball and they ran for big gains anyway. Does anyone think that Minnesota will be passing the ball up and down the field? Peterson is clearly, all by himself, the top tier of RB in the NFL.
The bottom line is you need to have the best of the that vast third tier of talent beyond all the second tier starters below Peterson. This year proves again that every available space on a roster early in the year needs to contain running backs.
If you picked up your running backs on Tuesdays then you should be winning games in November.
