Fantasy Football Rankings 2012: Sleeper RBs Who Will Dominate This Season

It is never too early to start preparing for fantasy football, and the key to winning is picking the right sleepers.

The life of an NFL running back is short. Every year it seems a few productive players come out of nowhere to replace the ones who have been established for years.

These players will not only step into the spotlight this season, but they should thrive despite being projected to go in the middle rounds of fantasy drafts.

Stevan Ridley, New England Patriots

With BenJarvus Green-Ellis gone to the Cincinnati Bengals, Stevan Ridley is now the man in the Patriots backfield.

His stats were not great last season, but in limited playing time, Ridley did average 5.1 yards per carry. An increased workload could project the running back to top 1,000 yards on the year.

While the Patriots have never relied on the running game, they do score plenty of touchdowns on the ground. Ridley can pick up where Green-Ellis left off and get himself plenty of fantasy points.

Shonn Greene, New York Jets

It seems like Shonn Greene has been considered a sleeper for the past couple of years, but this time around should be different.

The New York Jets now have not one, but two mediocre quarterbacks, both of which will see the field throughout the season. This will force the team to rely more on Greene than ever before, especially without LaDainian Tomlinson on the team.

Last year, Willis McGahee had close to a career high in rushing yards with Tim Tebow at the helm, as defenses had to account for the mobile quarterback. Greene can take advantage of this and have a big year.

Isaac Redman, Pittsburgh Steelers

Starting running back Rashard Mendenhall says that his knee "healed wonderfully," but it is still unlikely he will be ready to play at the beginning of the season after tearing his ACL at the end of last year. 

This leaves Redman as the go-to guy, and he showed last year he is worthy of that role. If he can come close to replacing Mendenhall's 22 rushing touchdowns from the last two seasons, he will be a very valuable fantasy player. 

Follow @TheRobGoldberg