Is Ryan Mathews a safe play in Week 17? 

December, 30, 2010
12/30/10
1:35
PM ET
So, do you like San Diego Chargers running back Ryan Mathews this week? I admit, I do, having ranked the rookie, disappointing as he has been for much of the season, not far outside my top 10 running backs for the week. Then again, I feel like it's a trap. It's almost too obvious. Duck, we're being set up! Touted player, seems healthy, relatively meaningless game, timeshare colleague Mike Tolbert is out and the Denver Broncos are pretty much brutal defensively.

Can we really trust Mathews? I mean, in the previous two weeks, the fantasy bandwagon seemed awfully fond of running backs Tim Hightower and Rashad Jennings. Those were setups, I tell ya! They also had opportunity and the right foes, and look what happened. How many times this season have you been burned by Mathews, I mean other than in August when you made him the first rookie off the board, costing you a mid-third-round pick in ESPN average live drafts? Mathews has been in double digits for standard scoring four times all season, with his Week 16, 13-point "explosion" being the high-water mark. Awesome.

To read Eric's thoughts on Ryan Mathews and Shonn Greene, among others, you must be an ESPN Insider.

Eric Karabell | email

ESPN.com Senior Writer
  • ESPN contributor on TV, radio, podcasts, blogs, Magazine
  • Charter member of FSWA Hall of Fame
  • Author of "The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments"

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Eric Karabell
Eric Karabell

Eric Karabell is an ESPN.com senior writer. He has worked at ESPN since 1997 and covered fantasy sports for ESPN since 2001, specializing in baseball and football. Eric appears several times per week on SportsCenter, NFL Live and other ESPN shows, contributes to ESPN Radio and ESPN The Magazine and is the host of the Baseball Today Podcast. He has been honored twice as fantasy sports writer of the year by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, his blog was named best fantasy baseball series for 2007 and he was inducted into the inaugural FSWA Hall of Fame class in 2010.

Eric grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, and accordingly, favors Philly teams first, his fantasy teams second. He previously served as ESPN.com's lead NBA editor, and is a former Washington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer sports writer. Eric is also the author of "The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments," published by Source Books and available in bookstores and online.

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