Who is the next Michael Turner?

If you play fantasy football it pays to watch the talented RBs that come through at the college level, especially if you are playing in a keeper league or dynasty league. Personally, I wouldn’t play fantasy football unless it was one of those two formats. The game is way too luck based to play in a one year format. You can win a league by doing little or no research. It is not rewarding at all to me if I win a league. But in dynasty I get to bring my passion into it which is evaluating talent and how a player projects at the next level.

I was a big believer in LT (Tomlinson) two years before he went pro. I was a huge Marshall Faulk fan while he was still playing at San Diego State. I was also a big fan of Michael Turner every since I saw him play for two seasons at Northern Illinois. Last year, I was a big believer that Adrian Peterson was going to be the best back in the NFL long before he ever took his first carry for the Vikings. It may sound like bragging but I take a lot of pride in being able to do that. It’s the reason I have this blog. It’s the reason I love playing fantasy sports. I love scouting players and being right about them. That is my passion. With this blog I get to go on record (and you can too!) about it.

My point that I’m trying to make if you are going to play a dynasty fantasy football league it pays to be right on the rookies before they make it big. I was disappointed when Michael Turner was drafted by the Chargers because I knew he wasn’t going to get the carries. But I was sure he was going to be a very good RB if he ever became a free agent. So he finally got the call last year and I made sure that I drafted him. I took him around a round earlier than he had been going in most drafts. After one season on a young Atlanta team Turner is more than likely going to finish as the number 1 scoring RB in fantasy football. I waited some 5 years to put that scouting to good use. It paid off for me last year by way of Peterson and it paid off this year by way of Turner.

There are two RBs who I still hold in high regard like that. One is 3rd year RB out of Minnesota, Laurence Maroney and the other is rookie RB out of Illinois, Rashard Mendenhall. If you followed my blog neither of those names would be a surprise to you. In the case of Maroney, he will have to leave the Patriots in order to amount to anything. Bill Bellicheat is murder to RBs like Mike Shanahan. As long as Maroney plays for him I am not expecting much. Plus, Maroney is going to have to get that bothersome shoulder 100% healthy too. If he ever goes the Michael Turner route I will again be ready to pounce and take a chance on him.

In the case of Mendenhall, he is out for the year and forgotten because of the season ending knee injury he had early this year. He’s behind Willie Parker on the depth chart but I still believe in a year or two he’ll be the primary back for the Steelers. He was higher on my draft list at RB than super rookie RB Chris Johnson. I still believe in the long run, Mendenhall will be a better fantasy RB than Chris Johnson. It’s just going to take some patience for it to happen. The lesson here is Michael Turner. If you believe and you are patient you can reap the rewards. It’s easy to go after talent after you see the stats but it’s something special to actually have the foresight to go after or stash away talent before it happens. And just for the sake of being on the record, Ray Rice is also a RB I hold in high regard. If he ever gets 15-20 carries a game in Baltimore the kid will be good.

One last note on RBs in the NFL, It seems that more and more teams are taking the 2 RB system that most teams are using now to a 3 RB system. It’s a disturbing pattern and it’s only a more maddening thing to add to fantasy football owners. The Giants use it. The Ravens use it. I bet the Cowboys do it next year now that Choice has emerged.