The year 2008 saw yours truly capture their second league championship in 10 years using a 12 team head to head format. My starters were: Peyton Manning, Chris Johnson, Larry Johnson, Matt Forte, Calvin Johnson, Jericho Cotchery, Jason Witten, John Casey and the Eagles defense. In my opinion, there are many fantasy owners who are in denial about certain changes that have been completed in recent years. Being a lifelong Raider fan, I know all too well what happens when you have people who are unable to adapt to change. Obviously I’m referring to Al Davis here. Mr. Davis is undoubtedly one of the true trailblazers of not just the NFL, but all of professional football history dating back to his early years in the AFL and even before that. However, Mr. Davis, like any true Raiders fan, is stuck in the ’70s and ’80s when it comes to his football philosophies and doesn’t realize that most of the X’s and O’s of the era past are no longer as effective as they once were. Joe Gibbs also struggled a lot with this and countless fantasy owners are following his lead. Based on what I can see on my draft and also the number of mock drafts I did last summer, I realize there are a ton of fantasy owners who are STILL determined to take RBs with their first 2 and sometimes, the first 3 selections. and who, in my opinion, greatly exaggerates the value of the position in writing. A prime example of this is found with an owner in my league we call Tuna Eyes for reasons we won’t get into here. Regardless, Tuna Eyes always goes RB, RB, RB with his first 3 picks and not coincidentally, he hasn’t made the playoffs in the last 3 years.

Now, before everyone starts ridiculing me and calling me friendly names, listen to my argument. I am NOT saying that RBs are not important. Conversely, if you don’t have a good RB stable, your chances of winning your league are slim at best. However, times have changed people and my main point is that with the way the NFL is played these days (i.e. rake backs) there are plenty of ball carriers that can be had later in the draft. They produce numbers similar to or greater than high-profile brokers. selected before them. Those owners who don’t adapt to the changing times (ie Tuna Eyes) will be left behind and not as successful as their counterparts, who are more open-minded about how they will be drafted at the end of August.

To be honest, I took Larry Johnson in the second round of my draft last summer. I had the fifth pick where I took Peyton Manning and I thought LJ coming back in the second was a great asset. Needless to say, he was wrong. All LJ did last year was slap a woman in the face at various Kansas City nightclubs while providing little to no help to owners like me who have been sucked into his past accomplishments. Several other backs met similar fates. Well, similar except for the woman-bashing Kansas City nightclubs part. In contrast, the 2 riders I DID ride to the title were:

Chris Johnson (rookie selected in round 14 of 17 rounds)

Matt Forte (Rookie. Traded Aaron Rogers for Forte, whom I drafted in round 16)

So the power backs on my team came from rounds 14 and 16 respectively. Both of them, plus several others including DeAngelo Williams, Steve Slaton, Michael Turner, and Lendale White, vastly outperformed LT, Steven Jackson, LJ, Brian Westbrook, Marshawn Lynch, Frank Gore, and Joseph Addai. You can’t make a mistake with your first two picks and with that being said, you’re much better off going with a franchise QB and big game WR like Calvin Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald with your first 2 picks and then racking up RBs later in the draft. . They contribute more points and are much less prone to injury. Also, RBs are much easier to predict break games against poor defenses than WRs, and therefore playing matchup-based RBs is simpler than other positions. It just makes sense. Ask yourself, how many teams use a one-back system now? Almost none, if any. Maybe St. Louis’ drunken Jackson is hurt all the time anyway. Also, these tandems are spread more evenly every year. The “main” guy will get 20 carries and the “backup” will see 12-15 OR the main guy will get the carries and the yards, but then the vulcher will come in and steal all the TDs. The bottom line is that this is just math folks. There are WAY more RBs producing quality fantasy points today than there were 5 years ago because all teams now implement multiple back systems to preserve their “trait” from taking an excessive amount of punishment.

This year will be no different, and someone will undoubtedly draft D. Williams in the top 5. A couple of questions regarding Williams going into 2009. (1) Do you REALLY think he’ll rush for 1,700 yards and 20 TDs this season? (2) How many other good seasons has Williams had? (3) What was the name of that guy Carolina just recruited? Oh yeah, Jonathan Stewart, who I also had on my bench last season, by the way. Ask me right now who I’d rather have this year, Williams or Calvin Johnson, and I’ll take Megatron again no questions asked. Now, I will say that if I secure the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, I’ll use him in AP. Peterson is the new LT as long as he stays healthy. I also think MJD is going to have a great year as well with Fred Taylor gone. Those are the ONLY 2 top rated backs that I am fully convinced will go in 2009 and if my #1 pick is none of them my first pick will not be a RB and if I get one of them my second pick will be absolutely not a RB. a RB. In short, try something new on draft day this summer for a change. Obviously what you are doing is not working. Until next time.

cheers and beers