Week 3 RB Rankings

Guys,

Here is my take on the RB's in Week 3.

1) Frank Gore
2) Adrian Peterson
3) Marshawn Lynch
4) Brandon Jacobs
5) Clinton Portis
6) Brian Westbrook
7) LaDanian Tomlinson*
8) Marion Barber
9) Willie Parker
10) Reggie Bush
11) Joseph Addai
12) Stephen Jackson
13) Julius Jones
14) Chris Johnson
15) Maurice Jones Drew
16) Michael Turner
17) Darren McFadden*
18) Kevin Smith
19) Matt Forte
20) Thomas Jones
21) Lendale White
22) Ryan Grant*
23) Willis McGahee
24) Sammy Morris
25) Larry Johnson
26) Jonathan Stewart
27) Earnest Graham
28) Edgerrin James
29) Selvin Young
30) Fred Taylor

Tough matchups for a bunch of otherwise very good running backs (Westbrook v Pittsburgh, Forte v Tampa Bay, Stewart v Minnesota, Graham v Chicago...). Gore has a dream matchup, and should be relied on heavily to keep Detroit off the field (!?) and to wear down that already crummy defense. The asterisks on LT and McFadden and Grant mean they are serious injury risks, due to two turf toes and a bum hammy, respectively. Watch the Sunday morning shows before plugging them in. I don't like Reggie Bush as a RB, but I love him as a WR in the backfield, which he will be this week against Denver. I would have put Pierre Thomas in these rankings, but I expect New Orleans to fall behind early, and for Thomas to get no more than 10 carries. He can catch (as he proved last year in Week 17), but if you are going to have a running back out there catching passes, I think Bush is the better option, and should see many more snaps. I know Jacksonville is missing two guards, but right now, Indianapolis is looking like the Indy of old, AND Bob Sanders is on an involuntary vacation, so Steve and I could probably go for a buck fifty against these guys. I like McFadden against Buffalo, but I would like to see more 4 and 5 yard carries, rather than a stat line of 2, 1, 0, 1, -2, 19, 3, 1, 32, 0, -3. Earnest Graham and Jonathan Stewart are two talented RB's, drawing the hardest pair of run defenses in the league. I have Stewart one spot higher, because I could see Carolina jumping up 21 to 9 at the half and running the ball 30 times in the second half. One of those might get broken for a long one. Selvin Young goes against a (surprisingly) decent run defense, and I would rather move the ball in 20 yard chunks than 2-3 yard chunks. All the same, maybe HE gets the garbage goal line carries instead of Pittman this week. I think I may have Fred Taylor too low, but MJD gets the goal line carries that are the key to fantasy production.

Note that if LaDanian Tomlinson is limited, Darren Sproles becomes the #7 projected back. Sproles is obviously not the talent LT is, but if LT is starting, I still think he will only get 12-16 carries and a few looks. If LT is limited, Sproles should get something like 15-20 carries, so Sproles were turn more looks into about the same points (not counting special teams production).