I wrote in Thursday's flex rankings blog how fantasy football owners really should have plenty of depth at this point of the bye-free season, enough that they don't need to rely so much on the replacement running backs scheduled to pick up extra work this weekend. Well, judging from the feedback I got, it appears many fantasy owners are thinking precisely about using the likes of Bernard Scott, Jason Snelling and Justin Forsett … not that there's anything wrong with that, I guess. It's your team!
While I'm certainly open to the possibility one of these guys performs like a fantasy monster, as you've probably figured out by this point of the season, I'll be conservatively relying on the veterans more often than not. One reader asked me why I would continue to trust someone like Marion Barber, who "is clearly on whatever last legs he's got left," as opposed to a young, potentially exciting player like Scott, who is likely to be filling in for Cedric Benson against the awful Oakland Raiders run defense this week. My answer is simple: Yes, Barber has not played well of late, but he has a track record, one I can trust against a familiar opponent. We know what he can do. The lure of an unproven player like Scott, who might not even be "the guy," just isn't enough to convince me. Or, as I've said in the past mostly about unproven rookie starting pitchers in fantasy baseball, they haven't been given a chance to stink yet. Scott could be fine, but I'd be digging deep if I used him.
Anyway, not that the unproven running backs aren't important to some this weekend, but let's go position by position to discuss other players I feel more fantasy owners are watching.
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Eric Karabell
