When one prepares to draft a fantasy football team, myriad criterion should be considered in evaluating who to target, and, likewise, who to avoid. One word bouncing around just as frequently as anything else during said evaluation? Injury. Maybe a guy was injured for several games last season, maybe he suffered a season-ending injury or maybe he's just an injury-prone guy. This affects the value of players on draft day.
Let's check out the value of 10 guys with injury concerns, and judge whether or not they are up to the task for 2009.
On Second Thought is Matt Snyder's look back at the initial FanHouse staff rankings, which were compiled nearly a month ago. As we all know, fantasy players' value changes frequently, even when no games are being played. Today, we look at running backs.
As teams continue to use two-backs systems, running back has become an increasingly deep and unpredictable position. Thus, you don't have the predictable first two rounds of years past. Injuries and the progress of young backs will shuffle backfields throughout the preseason. As that happens, the fantasy values of the running backs continually shift. Let's take a look.
FanHouse's crack squad of savvy fantasy football personnel put our five heads together and amassed consensus rankings for non-keeper, standard scoring leagues. We'll update as the season gets closer, but this is our "incredibly early yet still fun" version.
In an otherwise jumbled mess, there is one thing we know about the running backs when it comes to fantasy football drafts: Adrian Peterson is easily the class of the position. After that, there appears to be a large clump of running backs who have a good chance to excel this season. If you think the old school fantasy football "running back-running back" draft strategy (drafting a running back in each of the first two rounds) is truly antiquated, ask yourself the difference between a Frank Gore and Marion Barber tandem in your backfield as opposed to Ronnie Brown and Jamal Lewis. Is it worth taking a wide receiver, then, before a Barber type?
Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.
Earlier this offseason Donovan McNabb said he wanted to see how the Eagles upgraded the roster before he would talk about a contract extension. After last fall, when things got so bad that Andy Reid benched McNabb for Kevin Kolb, it looked as if neither head coach nor starting quarterback would be in Philly another year, much less long term.
We've already given a single post to each of the seemingly most relevant fantasy football impact players from the NFL Draft -- we say seemingly because bust-hood is always a possibility in this business -- but those are by no means the only players who might matter in this coming season. With that in mind, here are the rest of the guys who's impact will be felt:
LeSean McCoy, RB, Eagles (Round 2): If you end up with Brian Westbrook, you absolutely must have McCoy. The shifty stud from Pittsburgh is exactly the type of back Westbrook is, which means he can thrive in this offense.
With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.
The Eagles' perfect draft dream scenario actually played out last week: after opting not to re-sign 34-year-old Tra Thomas, the organization swung a deal for Jason Peters, one of the league's best young left tackles (or, if you're Andy Reid and into hyperbole, the best left tackle.) It cost Philadelphia the 28th pick, but given Peters' track record (even after an uneven 2008 season) -- as well as the uncertainty that comes with drafting a player to step into a starting role -- it was worth it.
ESPN made big news out of Sal Paolantonio's report earlier in the week that Brian Westbrook reinjured his knee in the Eagles win over the Giants at the Meadowlands, but as our own Ryan Wilson surmised, the tweak was just another day at the office for No. 36. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the ESPN report later changed the word "reinjured" to "tweaked."
Westbrook participated in practice on Friday at the NovaCare complex in South Philadelphia before flying to Arizona later in the day and said the knee "feels good," even better than it did last week. This could be bad news for Cardinals fans.
The two biggest underdogs of the postseason will square off in Arizona this weekend, with one of them emerging from the desert as NFC Champion. They've taken drastically different paths in order to arrive at the same point in this 2008 season, but they meet at the same place.
The Cardinals -- beneficiaries of the NFC's weakling division -- had the playoff spot wrapped up for weeks, while the Eagles had to fight tooth and nail -- in addition to needing Bears and Bucs losses in Week 17 -- just to make the dance. The Cards scuffled down the stretch and were nothing but an afterthought as the playoffs began.
As opposed to quarterbacks, I'm definitely in favor of keeping running backs. In fact, I highly recommend keeping two runners instead of a quarterback, if you have two of my top 20. Running backs are the life-blood of your fantasy team, much like the oil in your car. Two consistent runners on your fantasy team make life so much easier, which is why it's your starting point.
As I said, I'm recommending you keep two from the list, which is why I'm ranking more than I did for quarterbacks or wide receivers.
Ladies and Gents, your top 20 keeper running backs ...
Pretty sure this isn't breaking news, and, frankly, unless we all get in a time machine and go back to Sept. 2008, it barely qualifies as news. But ESPN's Sal Paolantonio just reported it on SportsCenter, so it must be ... something.
Eagles all-everything running back Brian Westbrook re-injured his already injured left knee during Sunday's 21-11 victory over the Giants, but just like the 16 other times this season, he plans on playing this weekend. Via Mr. Paolantonio:
FanHouse's crack squad of savvy fantasy football personnel put our five heads together and amassed consensus rankings for non-keeper, standard scoring leagues. We'll update as the season gets closer, but this is our "incredibly early yet still fun" version. 
Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 
We've already given a 
With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call 
ESPN made big news out of Sal Paolantonio's report earlier in the week that 
The two biggest underdogs of the postseason will square off in Arizona this weekend, with one of them emerging from the desert as NFC Champion. They've taken drastically different paths in order to arrive at the same point in this 2008 season, but they meet at the same place.
As opposed to quarterbacks, I'm definitely in favor of keeping running backs. In fact, I highly recommend keeping two runners instead of a quarterback, if you have two of my top 20. Running backs are the life-blood of your fantasy team, much like the oil in your car. Two consistent runners on your fantasy team make life so much easier, which is why it's your starting point. 
