2009 Fantasy Football: A Revolutionary RB Draft Theory

(Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

I was doing my due diligent fantasy football research this past summer and I wanted to share with everyone that I may have uncovered the elusive Holy Grail in drafting strategy for running backs.

In looking at running back stats over the past 10 years I found a few consistencies in those stats that some people may not be aware of that can provide a radical new approach to drafting running backs in fantasy drafts for years to come. 

Here is a list of players and where they finished in RB fantasy points (non ppr) at seasons end in the year mentioned.  See if you can find what all these backs have in common.

            1999 – Marshall Faulk – Rams – 2nd

            2000 – Ahman Green – Packers – 5th

            2001 – Priest Holmes – Chiefs – 2nd

            2002 – Ricky Williams – Dolphins – 2nd

            2003 - Clinton Portis – Redskins – 5th

            2004- Corey Dillon – Patriots – 7th

            2005- Lamont Jordan – Raiders – 7th

            2006- Chester Taylor – Vikings – 12th

            2007- Jamal Lewis – Browns – 6th

            2008- Michael Turner – Falcons – 2nd

The commonality among all of these players was the fact that they switched teams during the offseason either through trade or free agency. Ten of the 10 seasons this type of player finished in the top 12 ranked RB’s and nine of the 10 seasons these players finished seventh or above.

How does this impact drafting strategy for the 2009 season?  Derrick Ward and Fred Taylor were the only running backs of significant importance to change teams this season. 

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