We've all seen those ESPN commercials prior to the fantasy football season. You know, the ones that tell you to find next year's Earnest Graham, Ryan Grant or Greg Jennings.
Well, we already know the likes of this year's Steve Slaton, Tim Hightower and Eddie Royal to name a few breakout fantasy players.
Slaton was taken all the way back in the 11th round with the 127th overall pick in The Fresno Bee League II draft. Hightower, now the starting RB in Arizona, went three rounds and 40 picks later and Royal was taken in Round 15 at No. 170.
Clearly if people knew how successful those three would be, they wouldn't have lasted in the double-digit rounds.
But what about when the draft's over? Then your stud goes down (Willie Parker, Brian Westbrook, Reggie Bush, etc.)? You need some help and it probably is going to come in the form of someone who went undrafted.
Since we're late in the season, we must acknowledge there has been a lot of attrition at the RB position. One way to alleviate this could be by adding someone to your roster who hasn't done anything, yet, but has the potential thanks to an injury here and there.
Pick up the decent starter right before they become a decent starter? What? Buy a few shiny rocks before you verify they're really gold?
Well let's look at Ryan Torain. The rookie RB was owned in 25% of CBS Sportsline League's for Week 8, Denver's bye, and then moved up to 46% in Week 9. He scored less than a point that week, but at least only owners in 7% of the leagues used him.
But as the Broncos headed into their Thursday night game against the Browns, Torain was named the starter and his ownership levels increased to 75%. He even was started in 40% of the leagues. He began to pan out, rushing for 68 yards and scoring a touchdown before halftime. But then a knee injury took him out for the rest of the season.
(TF Buzz aside: By the way, those darn CBS Sportsline people had listed Young as the starter so I moved him into the lineup and pulled Torain. When I realized Torain was in, it was already within 5 minutes of kickoff and I had to watch Torain score 12.8 points and Young .2 points. On the plus side, I watched Eddie Royal go off since the Broncos had to air it out, but I still would've liked the extra 12.6 points!!!)
But yeah, I had just picked up Young via trade in case something happened to Torain, which it did, and now Young could be a decent Flex option if needed -- and he comes back from his nagging groin injury.
So let's look at the dicey situation in St. Louis, where Steven Jackson is out with a quadriceps injury. If you're on top of things, and need an RB, then picking up Kenneth Darby wouldn't hurt. Maybe this isn't a good weekend against the Jets, who have the NFL's fourth-best rushing defense, but why not take a shot if there's someone you can dispose of on your roster?
I suggest you pick up Darby and keep him on your bench if you have that luxury. It never hurts to add potential RB depth. If he does well against the Jets this week, people will be jumping on the bandwagon and try to get him on waivers the following week as the Rams get set for a more favorable matchup against the 49ers. And unless you're high up the waiver list, then you better hope others above you don't need another RB.
And while I'm at it, taking Samkon Gado in case something happens to Darby and/or Jackson can't make it back wouldn't hurt, either.
Hey, Young probably wasn't worth much in a previously-crowded Broncos backfield, but he's probably worth more now that there's less horses in Denver ... if he can return.
Remember, you can't predict the future. But you can get people's backups before the starter gets hurt.
Got questions/comments for us? Drop us a line in the comments section of this blog or e-mail sports@fresnobee.com and you might find them in Sunday's edition of The Bee.
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