Fantasy Trader's NFL Fantasy Football Roundtable: Jamaal Charles

I’ve been invited to participate in Fantasy Trader’s fantasy football roundtable.

This week’s topic

If one were to prorate Jamaal Charles’ final eight games of 2009 to a full season, he’d handily outscore Adrian Peterson and betters all running backs not named Chris Johnson in PPR formats. What are your expectations for Charles in 2010?

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My response

I began calling him Chris Johnson Lite at the end of the year because of his ability to rip off a long run or two seemingly every game. He posted a phenomenal 5.9 yards per carry and had 1,131 total yards with eight touchdowns in the last eight weeks. That’s 141.4 yards and a score per game for half a year.

His beastly numbers impressed me enough to have him as my 11th-rated RB heading into next year. While I can’t dismiss his numbers, I do get that Steve Slaton-type vibe from Charles. I just don’t know if there’s an encore.

Kansas City has just about nothing going for it on offense outside of Charles. My guess is he’ll face a lot more eight- and nine-man fronts in 2010. Teams will dare the Chiefs to beat them with the run. I just don’t know that he can stand up to that sort of defensive pressure.

Charles is the type of player that I will most likely not own in 2010. I can’t imagine a league with an owner that doesn’t hold him in higher regard than I do, and I’m OK with that.