The year 2008 saw your server capture its 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 deny certain changes that have come full circle 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. I’m obviously referring to Al Davis here. Mr. Davis is without a doubt one of the true pioneers not only of the NFL, but of the entire history of professional football going back to his early years in the AFL and even before that. However, Mr. Davis, as any true Raiders fan can attest, 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 bygone era are no longer as effective as they once were. Joe Gibbs also struggled with this a lot and countless fantasy owners are following his lead. Based on what I can see from my draft and also the number of mock drafts I did last summer, I realize there are a lot of stick-in-the-mud fantasy owners who are STILL determined to take RB with their first 2 and, sometimes the first 3 selections. and who, in my opinion, greatly exaggerates the value of position when writing. An excellent example of this is found with an owner in my league who we call Tuna Eyes for reasons we won’t go into here. Regardless, Tuna Eyes always goes RB, RB, and RB with his top 3 picks and it’s no coincidence that he has failed to make the playoffs in each of the last 3 years.

Now, before everyone starts ridiculing me and calling me friendly names, listen to my argument. I’m NOT saying RBs aren’t important. Conversely, if one doesn’t have a good RB stable, their chances of winning their 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 (ie running back by committee) there are plenty of ball carriers to be had later in the draft who produce numbers similar to or greater than high-profile brokers. selected before them. Owners who don’t adapt to the changing times (ie Tuna Eyes) will be left behind and won’t be 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 value. Needless to say, he was wrong. All LJ did last year was slap a woman across various Kansas City nightclubs while providing little or no help to owners like me who were sucked into his past accomplishments. Several other backs met similar fates. Well, similar except for the woman-hitting part of Kansas City nightclubs. In contrast, the 2 riders I DID ride to the title were:

Chris Johnson (Rookie drafted in round 14 of 17 rounds)

Matt Forte (Rookie. Traded Aaron Rogers for Forte who I had drafted in round 16)

So the power backups 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 outclassed 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 quarterback and big game WR like Calvin Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald with your first 2 picks and then racking up RBs later in the game. the draft. They provide 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? Hardly any, if any. Maybe drunk Jackson from St. Louis is hurt all the time anyway. In addition, these tandems are more evenly distributed each year. The “main” guy will get 20 carries and the “backup” will see 12-15 OR the main guy will get the carries and yards, but then the vulcher will come in and steal all the TDs. The bottom line is that this is simple math folks. There are WAY more RBs producing quality fantasy points today than there were 5 years ago because all teams now implement multiple backup systems to preserve their return “characteristic” from taking an inordinate amount of punishment.

This year will be no different and someone will undoubtedly draft D. Williams in the top 5. A couple of questions related to Williams heading 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 it on 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 completely convinced will come into 2009 and if my #1 pick isn’t any of them my 1st pick won’t be a RB and if I get one of them my 2nd pick will absolutely not be a RB. In short, try something new on draft day this summer for a change. Obviously what you’re doing isn’t working. Until next time.

cheers and beers