One of the secrets to successfully navigating a fantasy football draft is sorting through the noise that comes out of the various media sources and uncovering the hidden values. Every season, fantasy football pundits will sway the general consensus in a particular direction, making forgone conclusions that cause a good percentage of players to rethink what they already know, thus causing some stalwart players to become significantly underrated. Over the next couple of weeks, Fantasy FanHouse will provide a rundown of our perceived five most underrated players at the key fantasy skill positions, starting today with the five most underrated running backs.
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.
The San Diego Chargers are a hot mess. Things are kind of working out for them right now -- Darren Sproles has been franchised and there should be some sort of resolution to LaDainian Tomlinson in the near future -- but there's still a good chance that A.J. Smith screws the proverbial pooch on handling his real franchise player.
No, not Philip Rivers -- although he's really, really good, turning in an MVP caliber quarterbacking season on a relatively shoddy Charger squad. Tomlinson.
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.
John Fox and Marty Hurney headed into 2008 with their jobs on the line after an underwhelming 2007 that featured a whole lot of Mittens and not a lot of excitement in Charlotte. They decided to throw caution to the wind and play for "now" by trading their 2009 first-round pick for a chance to pick up both Jeff Otah and Jonathan Stewart in the first round of the draft.
With a healthy Jake Delhomme, Julius Peppers finally deciding to care, a road-grading offensive line and a rejuvenated Smash and Dash running game that featured DeAngelo Williams and Stewart, the Panthers surprised some people by winning the NFC South and looking like a Super Bowl-caliber squad.
Last year, Matt Forte and Leodis McKelvin opened some eyes with their Senior Bowl performances, and both would go on to have outstanding NFL rookie seasons. Andre Woodson, on the other hand, struggled in the college football showcase game, and the former Kentucky star's draft stock plummeted -- he eventually ended the 2008 season on the Giants practice squad.
While a poor Senior Bowl won't automatically torpedo a prospect's NFL aspirations (Joe Flacco stumbled through the game last year), it's a great way for players to separate themselves in a crowded field.
After the jump: a quick rundown of those who impressed and those who didn't.
The Smash and Dash war between Lendale White/Chris Johnson and DeAngelo Williams/Jonathan Stewart hasn't maxed out yet. If there's one thing you watch today, make sure it's the below clip of three of the four (Johnson was away preparing for the Pro Bowl, a fact that LenDale pointed out in a humorous fashion) on Best Damn Sports Show Period last night. Also, "swaggerjack," as I have previously mentioned, is the greatest word ever. I have no clue why the Titans don't just call themselves that.
There's no doubt that both Chris Johnson and DeAngelo Williams won a lot of money fantasy championships for owners this year. Johnson was a late round draft pick (although Snyds and I both loved him coming out of the draft) whereas DeAngelo was almost an afterthought with Jonathan Stewart coming into Charlotte (guilty on all fronts here of whiffing this one).
That being said ... who's the better bet for the long term in fantasy? Well, for starters, both appear to be locked into a tandem situation for a while; Stewart and LenDale White are both young and each do a superb job complimenting the two guys we're discussing here. Hence the hysterically overplayed 'Smash and Dash War'. (Again, guilty.)
Outside of "job security" (meaning touches and tandems), there are three other key components for a fantasy running back: big plays, environment and the feature factor. Yes, I am making these up; allow me to explain.
Let's face it, this year was all about the Rookie RB when talking about fantasy football. Depending on the scoring system for your league, three rookies most likely finished in the Top 10 RB producers. This made for arguably the single greatest rookie RB class in recent memory, not only from a realistic perspective, but also for fantasy purposes.
Is this the new trend and will we lust over the rookie class next season as we prepare for our drafts? Well, let's not jump the gun just yet. However, what we can depend on will be the spiked draft day values of the returning sophomore class. Many of these talents have already become mainstays on the fantasy football horizon.
And so today, we take a quick look back at the season that was, but more importantly gage the values of this heralded class moving forward. Follow along and in order...
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 ...
And Brad Hoover, P-Cats fullback and Davidson County (woot, woot, etc) native, thinks they probably abandoned the run a touch early. Well, duh.
"Our plan was to try to run the ball on them. That's what we've hung our hat on all year, being successful in the running game, and I still think we could have done it," Hoover said. "Not to question things but, when you start putting yourself in a hole, and we did pretty fast, it's hard to just run the ball when you've put yourself in pass situations."
And, hey, not to question a coaching staff for giving Jake Delhommemore throws or anything, but the game kind of unfolded like a Madden mismatch (me = Lions, my brother = Patriots) where one team just doesn't have the kind of firepower/gameplan to play catch-up and just ends up making more mistakes.
One of the secrets to successfully navigating a fantasy football draft is sorting through the noise that comes out of the various media sources and uncovering the hidden values. Every season, fantasy football pundits will sway the general consensus in a particular direction, making forgone conclusions that cause a good percentage of players to rethink what they already know, thus causing some stalwart players to become significantly underrated. Over the next couple of weeks, Fantasy FanHouse will provide a rundown of our perceived five most underrated players at the key fantasy skill positions, starting today with the five most underrated running backs. 
Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 
Last year, 
Let's face it, this year was all about the Rookie RB when talking about fantasy football. Depending on the scoring system for your league, three rookies most likely finished in the Top 10 RB producers. This made for arguably the single greatest rookie RB class in recent memory, not only from a realistic perspective, but also for fantasy purposes. 
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. 
The Carolina Panthers got 
