by John Scanlan
It used to be, in Fantasy Football, you could rely on there being an unquestioned #1 player that you’d take if you somehow landed the top spot. Marshall Faulk and LaDanian Tomlinson were foregone conclusions.
With Tomlinson in the decline phase of his career, who ascends to the throne of #1? It’s not as clear cut as it used to be.
Adrian Peterson in Vikingville can stake a claim to #1, but he doesn’t catch passes and score receiving TDs like Faulk and LT did. Plus, there are always concerns about his durability.
Maurice Jones-Drew will finally have the job all to himself this year with Jacksonville shedding Fred Taylor. MJD gets a lot of receptions but coaches are wary of using him too much due to his size, so he loses carries. At the goal line, though, he’s going to be in, so his touchdowns will be there.
Michael Turner broke through in Atlanta last year, but he’s not a threat to catch the ball and comes out on some 3rd downs for Jerious Norwood. He needs higher rushing touchdown numbers to offset this and he did that last year. The question is whether he can handle another 400 carries this season, as history shows players don’t bounce back well after eclipsing that threshold.
Philly’s Brian Westbrook would be the natural heir if this was 3 years ago. However, it isn’t and he will likely come crashing down to Earth this year. He’ll put up nice reception numbers, but he’s always been fragile.
DeAngelo Williams of Carolina had a spectacular season in 2008 and, if not for the presence of Jonathan Stewart, would challenge Peterson for the right to be called #1. However, Williams owners will have to worry about losing touches to Stewart, but he should still be a first rounder.
In Chicago, Matt Forte is an intriguing option. He catches the ball out of the backfield and is the unquestioned feature back for the Bears. He gets tough yards, but his yards per carry were a somewhat average 3.9 last season. He may get to the top 3 someday, but it won’t be this year.
So do you take a quarterback? The problem with that is that the difference between the #1 QB and the #10 QB isn’t so great that you can afford to take the hit of taking a lower tier running back and making them your #1 back. So while it might be fun to watch Brady and Manning throwing TDs for you, Donovan McNabb is doing slightly less and could be had a few rounds later. Or, if you scoured the waiver wire last year, you could have picked up Kurt Warner and got better production than Brady or Manning.
So do you take a chance and go with a wide receiver? As with QBs, you can’t afford to take the hit at running back and there isn’t a huge difference between receivers 1-15.
Who do you take then? It’s not so clear cut and you might be better off just getting a mid-round pick. There should be better value in those spots than at the top and bottom of the snake draft.
Quick Scans gets stuffed at the goal line every Monday-Thursday at midvalleysports.com
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