Seventh Heaven: The Top Seven Fantasy Rookie RBs for 2009

An extremely tempting handcuff for any and all Addai owners as well as a worthy "roll the dice" pick in deeper leagues. This kid has the potential to be an absolute train of a workhorse RB and is also one of the best off-the-field rookie prospects there is.

This kid has his #### together and you won't have to worry about him being suspended for a few games during the season for trying to stab a taxi cab driver or something.

2009 fantasy RB potential (out of four, "Wow I am excited!" faces):


6. James Davis (CLE)

Despite the fact that Eric Mangini has gone on record to state that he plans to use Jerome Harrison frequently in a spell roll for rumbling, bumbling starting RB Jamal Lewis, we should all take this with a grain of salt since this is, in fact, Eric Mangini we're talking about here.

Seriously though, while it remains to be seen if Browns rookie RB James Davis' skill set will be more worthwhile for the Browns to use to spell Lewis this year instead of Harrison, we can take a look at the formers career stats thus far and then go from there.

Jerome Harrison's career statistics (2006-08): 77 carries for 448 yards (5.8 average), 1 TD and 23 receptions for 182 yards and 1 TD

Not bad until you take into account that he's only ran the ball an average of 25 times per year and most of these carries came near the end of games when the defense had become weakened by a constant barrage of Jamal Lewis' He-Man runs.

So what you really have to do is decide whether or not you think Harrison is going to keep up this fantastic pace when the team starts to use him more in the rushing game. Personally, I don't think he will and would be best used on third-and-long, Wildcat, or special RB/WR-reverse type plays and situations.

Davis on the other hand has solid speed, is consistent and has stayed healthy for nearly his entire career. Although he split carries in 2008 with fellow Clemson RB C.J. Spiller, Davis still managed to rack up 751 yards rushing and cross the goal line a total of 11 times despite only 171 carries. He also tacked on 14 receptions for 123 yards as well.

In 2006 and 2007 Davis had much better years as the teams feature back and nearly left school early to declare for the NFL Draft, but instead decided to go back to school and finish up his degree.

In those two years combined, Davis amassed a total of 2,251 yards on the ground from 417 carries (5.3 average) and 27 touchdowns. So while many people have been less than impressed with Davis' 2008 campaign, it seems that the young rookie does a lot better when he's the one getting the majority of the carries.

With Jamal Lewis not getting any younger—especially from his style of running that, while punishing to opposing defenders, certainly can't be good for his own body either, it's really going to come down to whether James Davis can outshine Jerome Harrison to claim the future starting role.

You also have to wonder if they'll both perform well and we'll be seeing them transition into a fearsome, two-headed RBBC once Jamal Lewis hangs up his train cleats.

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