The NY Daily News’ Gary Myers does a nice job of quantifying the dismal state of last year’s top NFL running backs. It’s safe to say that most fantasy football draft tip sheets ranked Ladanian Tomlinson, Steven Jackson, Larry Johnson and Frank Gore in some order in the top five RBs.
Tomlinson, last year’s MVP, is not the only elite back struggling. He led the league with 1,815 yards in ‘06, but has only 130 yards, No. 33 overall, after three games. He’s gone from averaging 113 yards per game and 5.2 yards per carry to 43.3 yards per game and 2.3 per carry. Kansas City’s Larry Johnson, who finished second last year with 1,789 yards, has 140 and is tied for 30th. San Francisco’s Frank Gore was third with 1,695 last year and is No. 24 with 177. Tiki Barber, who finished fourth last year, is the only one with a valid excuse for invisible numbers - he retired. St. Louis’ Steven Jackson, No. 5 last year with 1,528 yards, is No. 16 with 233.
So how many rebounds do we expect?
1 Comment until now
I dunno, but I think Tiki has rebounded with NBC quite nicely. While $3M/per is less than he made as a Giant (including endorsements), he’s not working nearly as hard. And the beatings he has to take from Cris Collinsworth and Bob Costas aren’t anywhere near as bad as what Takeo Spikes and London Fletcher can dish out on a weekly basis.
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