Fantasy Football Rankings 2012: Best RBs to Draft After Biggest Names Are Taken

Arian Foster, Adrian Peterson, Maurice Jones-Drew and a few others will be off the board before the pizza gets cold at your fantasy football draft. I'm going to tell you who to consider after the obvious RBs have been taken.

The top eight guys figure to be: Foster, LeSean McCoy, Ray Rice, MJD, Matt Forte, Peterson, Jamal Charles and Ray Rice.

But the following players are great picks as your top RB, and/or second RB:

Fred Jackson

He doesn't get as much love as some of the bigger names, but only Foster averaged more yards from scrimmage than Jackson last season.

Before he got hurt, Jackson was averaging 137.6 yards per game. He scored an average of 17.4 fantasy points per game, per Fantasy Football Today.

Many owners will look at these same numbers and still pass on Jackson based on name recognition. Don't be one of those guys.

Jackson is a stud, you should treat him like one.

Darren McFadden

I know this is a risk because of his history of injury, but DMC is one of the best backs in the NFL.

He averaged 15.3 fantasy points per game last season (seven games).

I'm no fool, I wouldn't take him as my starting RB, but if he's still on the board after I've taken my top guy, he's an excellent choice for the second back.

I have a feeling he's going to be more durable this season, (just a fact-less based hunch). But even if he's not, while he's on the field he has a good shot to out-perform your first pick at the position.

Chris Johnson

He was once one of those guys that would have gone very early in the draft. However, after a year that saw him barely eclipse the 1000-yard mark (1047), he has come back to the rest of the pack a bit.

CJ2K will be back to his old ways in 2012.

He is going into this season without the contract dispute hanging over him, and that will help him produce at the level we've come to expect from him.

I believe that situation was a distraction, and I also believe he wasn't in the best physical shape when the season started.

Johnson will rebound to have a strong season.

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