The only two guys that jump immediately to mind here on offense for me are a pair of 2009 rookie backs: Chris Wells and Donald Brown.
At fantasy draft time last year, I thought each looked better than his veteran backfield mate, and I still think that each comes with more upside than his compatriot – Tim Hightower and Joseph Addai, respectively. Wells and Brown were both limited to some degree by injury as rookies, but we did finally see Wells emerge as the starter at the end of the season.
I can’t imagine that anyone will be heading into 2010 without Wells as the No. 1 back in Arizona. Brown faces a cloudier picture in Indy, but I think the Colts showed us a bit of how they feel about him by giving Brown as much work as they did – despite the time he missed. (Oh yeah, and I guess drafting him in the first round could apply there as well.) If he can stay healthy, I think we’ll see a much more even split on touches. An Addai injury could shift things for good.
Because those are pretty obvious selections, though, I want to throw in an IDP choice here, too. Darryl Tapp has spent the past two seasons playing for coaches that apparently didn’t want him to start. Despite providing just about the only outside pass rush from a guy not named Patrick Kerney, Tapp saw players such as Lawrence Jackson and Cory Redding get snaps ahead of him.
Perhaps the new Seattle regime will finally realize the value it has in Tapp and set him up with more chances to produce. I think he’ll be a 10-sack player (at least) if given the chance, and the last (only) time he started a full schedule, Tapp tied for second among defensive linemen with nine total passes defensed.
Courtsey of: Jeff Pasquino
This is a really good question. What I'm looking for here is a player that could emerge as a full-time starter in 2010 after having a disappointing 2009, which means I'm basically looking for another Willie Parker / Rashard Mendenhall situation. I need to find two backs where the first back could lose a step (and touches) in favor of a younger back with upside.
No, I'm not talking about Shonn Greene - good guess though. The name I will call out here is Donald Brown of the Indianapolis Colts. We've been discussing Brown and Addai for a few days now at DynastyGuys, and it's pretty interesting.
The Colts were one of the worst rushing teams in 2009 - check that, they were THE worst team in rushing - and it wasn't even close. Indianapolis had just 1,294 team rushing yards, more than 100 yards fewer than San Diego (ranked 31st). Joseph Addai (playing the "Wille Parker role") failed to break 80 yards rushing despite starting 15 games and fell short of the league average 4.0 yards per carry for the second consecutive season. Addai was assisted by grabbing 51 catches but his average yards per catch was a mere 6.6 after averaging over eight yards per grab in his first three seasons.
Now Brown did not top that 4.0 YPC mark either, but the rookie has to get the benefit of one season's worth of doubt. Addai is going to break down sooner rather than later, and his best season actually came when he shared the ball more with Dom Rhodes. Brown will likely be dismissed as just Addai's handcuff but he has huge upside even if Addai remains healthy. Look for the Colts to even out the workload between the two backs and if Addai starts to show signs of slowing down then Brown will have a great opportunity to be a feature back for a Top 10 offensive team.
Courtesy of: Jim Piatt
During the 2009 fantasy season I couldn’t really complain about my player’s performance. They actually did better than the coach when he set his weekly lineup. So I’m going to talk about this young running back I drafted with some fairly high expectations only to see him go down with a season ending injury before the season started.
Before the 2009 season kicked off, the Giants, through free-agency, lost running back Derrick Ward to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With only Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw holding down the running back position, I saw an opportunity for Andre Brown to receive a significant number of carries. Jacobs and Bradshaw are no strangers to injury themselves.
I drafted Brown in two leagues hoping to bolster my running back depth and maybe have the Giants future starter. Not to be! Just a little over two weeks into training camp Brown ruptured his Achilles tendon. Tom Coughlin had been impressed with Brown’s speed, size, and versatility up to that point.
I’m still high on Brown going into the 2010 season. The Giants running backs get a lot of work. If Brown gets by the injury I see him receiving around 25% - 30% of the carries, stealing from both Jacobs and Bradshaw.
His only stats come from his days at North Carolina State where he played in 44 games with 30 starts. Brown had 523 carries for 2,539 yards (a 4.8 yard average) and 22 touchdowns. Additionally he caught 70 passes for 631 yards (a 9.0 yard average) and 2 scores. Andre also worked as a part of the special team unit. He was credited with 3,511 all purpose yards.
Brown showed his ability to bounce back from injury in 2008 when he battled back from a left foot fracture in spring camp. He started all 13 games and led the Wolfpack with a career-high 767 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns on 175 carries (a 4.4 yard average). The same year he had a career-high 29 receptions for 309 yards (a 10.7 yard average) and 2 scores.
Andre Brown should be available in most keeper league free-agent pools since not many team owners kept him after the injury. In single year formats you will be able to wait until the later rounds and add him as running back depth or leave him in the free-agent pool and wait to see how he performs in preseason games.
