2008 Fantasy Football Rankings – Top 10 Running Backs

Many fantasy owners have been frustrated over the past couple of years as more and more NFL teams move away from having one feature back in their offense. The growing trend of having two backs to share the workload looks like it will continue to gain steam. Owners who don’t draft one of the top half dozen running backs will have to look deep into their crystal balls to predict which one of a shared backfield duo to choose.

Here are this year’s top of the draft crop:

1. LaDainian Tomlinson (San Diego) – An obvious choice to be the top overall pick once again. The stats say all it all: league leading 1,474 rushing yards and 15 rushing TDs. L.T. was runner-up in total yards from scrimmage with over 1,900 yards and total touchdowns with 18 TDs. There’s no reason to think 2008 will be any different, as San Diego will be a top team in the AFC and will probably have LT. ice away a lot of 4th quarter leads.

2. Adrian Peterson (Minnesota) – Rookie in 2007 who exploded for an NFL record 296 rushing yards in a single game versus San Diego. His final numbers from last year of 1,341 rushing yards and 12 TDs were outstanding, even more so when taking into consideration that he missed two games. The sky’s the limit for this young superstar.

3. Brian Westbrook (Philadelphia) – Just call him Mr. Do-It-All. Skeptics have always questioned his ability to be an every down back, but he showed great durability in 2007. He only missed a single game and led the league in total yards from scrimmage with 2,104 yards (1,333 rushing, 771 receiving). Westbrook should also benefit from having a healthy Donavan McNabb to keep defenses from stacking up to stop the run.

4. Steven Jackson (St. Louis) – Jackson should be healthy and happy in ‘08. While the health is not guaranteed, the happy should be, given the new $44 million contract he just signed. When he’s on the field, Jackson is without question an elite running back, averaging over 115 yards from scrimmage per game for his entire four-year career

5. Joseph Addai (Indianapolis) – Addai has been productive since joining the Colts in ‘06. He’s topped 1,000 yards rushing and 300 yards receiving in both his NFL seasons. There shouldn’t be any dropoff this year, as the Colts will once again have a top-5 offense.

6. Marion Barber III (Dallas) – Fantasy GMs who have owned Barber the last couple of years have been rewarded with first string results out of a backup. The starting job is all his this year, which should increase his rushing numbers. His TD numbers may not improve as much as one would expect, given that he was Dallas’ goal line back last year.

7. Clinton Portis (Washington) – Portis is a model of consistency over his six years in the league and a solid fantasy pick. During his six-year career he has averaged over 1,200 rushing yards and 10.5 rushing TDs. Count on him to have a couple more solid years before the inevitable decline for running backs hits.

8. Frank Gore (San Francisco) – No question Gore is an explosive back who can catch the ball out of the backfield as well as eat up yardage on the ground. He had over 1,500 total yards from scrimmage in ‘07. The only thing that may hold him back is the 49ers lack of a top line QB to make defenses respect the pass, but that’s no different from last year.

9. Jamal Lewis (Cleveland Browns) – Workhorse runner who raised his productivity last year to levels he had not seen since ‘04. It has been a multi-year process to show skeptics that he was not washed up after that injury-filled year. With the Browns’ passing game showing continued improvement, he should be able to match last year’s 1,500+ combined yards and 11 TDs.

10. Larry Johnson (Kansas City Chiefs) – A bit under the radar given his injury-filled ‘07, but Johnson should be back on track to put up solid fantasy numbers. The Chiefs want to run a ball control offense which means lots of carries for Johnson. They won’t work him as hard as they did in ‘06, when he set a single season record for attempts, but his carry total should allow for some good yardage numbers.

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