Red Dog

Yes. Bonuses for length of TD.

davidh777

Gotcha. That would certainly take some value away from Cobb. (Our league used to have bonuses for long TDs then we decided that they were already getting yardage points so that was like double-dipping.)

fujishig

Ok, maybe it was a bit of a stretch, but another playoff game with 100+ yards and I can see him in the RB2 range, despite his history.

Oh, is he going to be a FA next year? How ridiculous is it that CAR spent all that money on Deangelo Williams and Stewart, only to have both be injury prone the entire time.

brainee

If Stacy and Ball were drafted as RB1's this year off of their 2013 campaign, Stewart would certainly be a feasible RB2. I can't see myself drafting him in the first couple of rounds though.

CJ Anderson will be an interesting player for drafts next year. His performance down the stretch, and the changing of Denver's offensive philosophy, make him attractive. One early ranking I've seen linked from Yahoo has him in Tier 1 of RBs (right alongside Bell, Charles, Murray, Lynch, Foster, and Forte). That'll be tough for me to pull the trigger at that price. How often has the guy projected to be Denver's RB1 ended the season that way?

davidh777

I was thinking he might, but it appears he's still under contract as is Williams. Who really knows what's going to happen, but I could see him as an RB2 if he goes into the season as the starter. Maybe around the value of Ben Tate going into last year, which wasn't intended to be a cautionary tale but might as well be.

That would be tough, but think of how high Ball went this year without the record of results Anderson produced, and he wouldn't have the injury and/or mileage concerns of some of those other guys.

But thanks for reminding me of 2005, when I drafted Mike Anderson with the last pick of the first round of a two-year-keeper league.

fujishig

Heck, Gerhart was drafted as an RB2. I'm sure someone will still draft Stankey next year as an RB2 because of workload. RBs look more precarious than ever, but WR looks deeper than ever (though obviously a lot can change)

The main guy that's going to be rocketing up draft boards next year is Odell Beckham Jr. Jimmy Graham drops a bit, which makes seeing where Gronkowski goes interesting. Andre Johnson fell off a cliff. Josh Gordon is still a headcase but people will remember 2013.

brainee

Oh, I have my own history with Denver RBs. In 2006, I went along Mike Shanahan's evil ride of the unpredictable Bell backfield. In 2007, I drafted Travis Henry (passing on Brian Westbrook, who ended up as the top fantasy RB that year). In 2008, I accidentally drafted Selvin Young instead of Deangelo Williams. DeWill single-handedly won leagues that year. Does anyone remember Selvin Young? It seemed I kept drafting Knowshon Moreno with him always disappointing. The year I bailed on Moreno? 2013 of course.

davidh777

That's a real history of shit right there. Anderson was OK for a year (1000 yards, 12 TDs), but was cut in the second year, and when your keepers are for two years, dumping your first-round pick is a significant hit. I don't remember Selvin Young other than vague familiarity, but Travis Henry is pretty familiar, another speculative prospect based on talent and situation. I suppose the good part is that I've rarely landed the Denver RBs (though I did "discover" Rod Smith, Brandon Marshall, and Eric Decker in our league). They did get me peripherally, though, when I drafted new Redskin Clinton Portis instead of Shaun Alexander before Alexander's MVP season. I try to avoid emotion in fantasy, but I didn't like Alexander and that played a part in it.

brainee

Sounds like you were really fortunate to avoid the early round RB1 landmines this season (ADP, McCoy, Ball, Martin, Stacy, Bush, Bernard, Ellington). Unless you have special powers of analysis and prediction. In which case, LET US KNOW BEFORE THE SEASON AND NOT AFTER!!!

That Selvin Young pick still steams me years later ... probably why I know psychologically I could never handle playing for big money I had Deangelo in my "watch list", hoping he would drop to me that round. When my turn came up, Williams was still there! Though Young was highest ranking player remaining in the autodraft rankings. And then ... I hit the wrong f$%&ing button and drafted Young Williams went with the next pick. And if you don't remember how they stacked up for 2008: Young, 319 total yards and 1 TD; Williams, 1636 total yards and 20 TDs.

Travis Henry was really hyped up that year. At that point in his career, he had 3 seasons of 1200+ rushing yards for inferior teams. Then he was going to the mighty Broncos, who at that point seemingly could take a guy off the street and make a 1000 yard rusher out of him. And ... Henry got hurt and never played after that season.

Ugh ... Shaun Alexander I had the #1 pick in the draft in the year following his MVP season. So of course I picked him. Ladanian Tomlinson went next at #2. And you may remember how that went. One guy's career fell off the cliff. The other had a record-breaking season.

davidh777

If I'm the RB whisperer, I probably shouldn't mention that in the league in which I had Bell, my first pick (second overall) was Shady. In another, my first three picks were Lynch, Demaryius, and Jordy, which sounds really great on paper, but I went with a two-headed RB2: CJ Spiller and Toby Gerhart. Then inconsistency, bad luck, and QB/TE problems had me barely sneaking into the playoffs at 6-8 (and losing in the first round). My other league doesn't really count, since Yahoo's mobile app was down and they autodrafted me Forte first and Bernard third.

I never drafted high enough to get AP. I wanted Ball and took him in a lot of mock drafts, but then he ended up rising too quickly on draft boards (no way I was going to take him as high as sixth, and he was always gone by the turnaround). Stacy I had last year but was a little wary this year, and Martin I wasn't going to touch with a 10-foot pole.

That sucks. As long as I've played fantasy, it was always an in-person league till last year. I had some problems with Yahoo this year, and with time expiring, but haven't hit a wrong button yet. Half of the benefit of mock drafts is just learning how that particular service works.

I bet Henry was like a top-five pick that year.

I remember that well! I couldn't stand Alexander because he always was looking out for his own stats and paycheck. Not surprising that he dropped off after getting his payday, but no way you can't draft him first after a season like that.

fujishig

What's funny is that with Shanahan's name popping up for the coaching vacancies, that's the first thing I thought about, what kind of shanahanagans he's going to pull with rbs when he gets the job.