Fantasy Football Manifesto - 2010 Fantasy Football Running Back Overall Player Ranking

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Overall Player Ranking

Overall Player Ranking in fantasy football is one of the most important tools a fantasy football owner can have at his/her disposal in preparation for the fantasy football draft. Players at each position are ranked in order of their perceived value for the upcoming season. There are a variety of factors that weigh into how each player is placed on the list. Coaching changes, offensive and defensive philosophies, player personnel changes, injuries ... each of these areas will greatly affect a player's perceived value for the upcoming season and should be factored into the development of an overall player ranking philosophy. At Fantasy Football Manifesto we consider these factors in our prediction of offensive out put for the upcoming fantasy football season. Click on the links at the left to see how we've ranked the top fifteen players for the categories of Quarterback, Running back, Wide receiver, Tight end, Team defense and Kicker.

2010 Top 15 Running Back
Overall Player Ranking

         1. Johnson, Chris - Tennessee Titans
         2. Peterson, Adrian - Minnesota Vikings
         3. Jones-Drew, Maurice - Jacksonville Jaguars
         4. Rice, Ray - Baltimore Ravens
         5. Jackson, Steven - St. Louis Rams
         6. Gore, Frank - San Francisco 49ers
         7. Turner, Michael - Atlanta Falcons
         8. Williams, DeAngelo - Carolina Panthers
         9. Greene, Shonn - New York Jets
        10. Benson, Cedric - Cincinnati Bengals
        11. Grant, Ryan - Green Bay Packers
        12. Mendenhall, Rashard - Pittsburgh Steelers
        13. McCoy, LeSean - Philadelphia Eagles
        14. Jones, Felix - Dallas Cowboys
        15. Wells, Chris - Arizona Cardinals

Quarterback Player Ranking
Running Back Player Ranking
Wide Receiver Player Ranking
Tight End Player Ranking
Team Defense Ranking
Kicker Player Ranking

The Fantasy Football Running Back

The Running Back position is the cornerstone of any great fantasy football franchise. Most fantasy football leagues require that you start two running backs, but only one quarterback is usually required to round out a typical fantasy football lineup. Outside of the quarterback position, running backs touch the ball the most out of any offensive position on the field. More touches directly relates to more fantasy football points and by advancing the ball on the ground, through the air, or in goal line situations, running backs have the most potential to score fantasy football points of any position on the field. The offensive philosophy of most NFL franchises requires teams to establish the run if they want to win games. This means that even if the ground game is ineffective, running backs will be fed the ball to try to kick start the rest of the offense.

There are 32 NFL franchises in the league and of these 32 at least half employ a running back by committee situation where multiple running backs might share the load in the ground game. So in fantasy football, it becomes a numbers game. Because there are so few single set running backs in the National Football League that are on the field for every down, this makes the stud, three-down, work horse at the running back position the most important position on your fantasy football team. If you can lock up a couple of these workhorse backs, depending on the size of your fantasy football league, you can dominate your competition. Pair two stud running backs with a solid quarterback and hit on a couple of late round wide receivers, and you, my friends, have the makings of a championship squad.

2010 Running Back Position Assessment

Fantasy Stud - Chris Johnson
Redonkulous, stupimazing, incrediculous, by the end of Chris Johnson's historic 2009 campaign, a new set of adjectives needed creation. The old ones simply didn’t do justice to what had just been unleashed on unsuspecting fantasy owners. 2,509 total scrimmage yards and 16 touchdowns, but the numbers only tell half of the story. It was the way Johnson racked up those yards and TD’s, with explosive, game changing, highlight reel making runs almost every week. Johnson had at least one run of 30 yards or more in eleven of sixteen games, scoring plays of 30, 39, 52, 57, 66, 69, 85, 89, 91 yards! To say Johnson will be in the crosshairs this upcoming season is a severe understatement. Defensive coordinators have been analyzing game film and furiously scheming up ways to slow him down and take away the big plays. Johnson will be the consensus number one ranked player in the eyes of most fantasy experts but he does carry some risk. At 5’ 11” and 200 pounds Johnson is smallish by NFL standards. A heavy workload in back to back seasons could expose him to injury. Secondly, one wonders what the odds are that he’ll be able to duplicate the obscene amount of big plays he had last season. Almost a third of his total fantasy points came from the nine scoring plays listed above. Slight trepidations aside, speed kills in football and Johnson has more of it than anyone in the NFL. Draft him as high as you like with confidence you won’t be disappointed.

Fantasy Dud - Thomas Jones
At 31 years old, the eleven year veteran running back remains one of the best conditioned players in the entire league. Last season Jones put that conditioning to good use. Behind one of the NFL’s best offensive lines, Jones bulldozed his way to 1,402 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns. With a healthy 4.2 yards per carry average, one might look at the numbers and think the Virginia native has another strong season ahead of him. Think again. The first and most damning reason why Jones won’t come close finishing fifth in fantasy scoring for running backs as he did in 2009 is his new address. As the Kansas City Chiefs newest backfield addition, Jones will have to share carries with rising star Jammal Charles and rookie scatback Dexter McCluster. Unless Charles gets injured, Jones won't get come close to the 331 carries he had last season. Secondly, just like the milk or yogurt you buy in your local supermarket, NFL running backs have a “best if used by” date. Thirty years old is the age when backs start to go sour and Jones turns 32 in August. Jones started to wear down at the end of the season and saw his understudy Shonn Greene carry the load in the playoffs. He wont be rated highly by most fantasy experts and with good reason as he’s worth drafting but only with the expectation of ten or so carries a game and the occasional short yardage touchdown.

Fantasy Sleeper - Felix Jones
Cowboys owner and GM Jerry Jones made it clear last season that he wanted the second year back to get more touches and has hinted this off-season that in his third year, the former Razorback could get a chance to start. Jones was hit hard by the injury bug in 2008, suffering quad and toe injuries which held him to only 32 touches from scrimmage. In 09’ Jones shook off early season bumps and bruises and notched 135 touches in 14 appearances. With an exciting 6.1 yards per touch average, fantasy owners would love to see the pendulum of carries swing more in Jones's direction. While it seems certain that the third year back will see a heavier workload this season, the Cowboys are deep and talented at the running back position. Marion Barber and Tashard Choice will see their fair share of carries as well, as the Boys philosophy of spreading around carries to minimize injury risk will still be in effect. If Jones can stay healthy (a big "if") the onus will be on offensive coordinator Jason Garrett to find innovative ways to utilize his big play ability. We believe Garrett will succeed and Felix Jones will be a feature component in what should be a very high octane Cowboys offense. With two seasons under his belt Jones should now be acclimated to the physicality of the NFL game. Expect career highs in touches, yards, TD’s and very solid fantasy production.