Fantasy Football

In general, rookie running backs are normally considered third running back options. As they should be, you should choose veteran players who have proven themselves in your drafts. In a hypothetical cencus most people would consider Darren McFadden to be the best rookie running back this year. He may very well end up being the best running back from this years draft....over time. He is in an unfortunate cirmcumstance this year to make a significant impact in fantasy. He is sharing the backfield with three other capable runners-Lamont Jordan, Justin Fargas, and a health Micheal Bush. The raiders offense has not been a significant threat to anyone in the past couple years. Jamarcus Russell has yet to prove that he is a capable quarterback. Someone will undoubtably take McFadden early...and let them.

The two running backs I see making a splash this year are Carolina's Jonathan Stewart and Chicago's Matt Forte. The word on the street is that Stewart will eventually win the starting job sometime this year over Deangelo Williams, and until then he will be used as a RBBC and in goalline situations. He is being compared to Edgerrin James- Indy Edge not Arizona Edge. Matt Forte is my supersleeper canidate this year. He was already looking to take over the starting job in chicago and with Cedric Benson gone this year he should produce good numbers as the featured back. The best part about Forte is that most fantasy football magazines came out when Benson was still on the team, ranking Forte much lower than he should have been. Stewart will most likely go later in the middle rounds, but Forte should drop to the lower rounds. Don't get sucked into the McFadden hype unless your in a keeper league.