Marshall Faulk Dishes on Love of Fantasy Football and Running Back Comparisons

Marshall Faulk may not be playing the game anymore, but he's certainly not far away.

The former Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams running back is a Hall of Famer, All-Pro, Super Bowl champion, MVP, NFL Network analyst and fantasy football junkie. Now, he's teamed up as a "brand ambassador" for SAP and its new "Player Comparison Tool."

Faulk was kind enough to sit down with Bleacher Report to discuss his view of fantasy sports and the running back position in the NFL today.

Regarding his new role with SAP, Faulk said, "They approached me about being an SAP ambassador after coming up with this player comparison tool. It's just another one of their brilliant ideas. They've always done this in the business world, but now they're bringing this to fantasy football."

SAP is a data-processing monolith in the business world, but this product is for NFL.com's fantasy service and is completely free. Faulk said he loved the idea of a player comparison tool because it was an intuitive way of looking at matchups and "makes it easier for people who are new to the game, and veterans too."

Faulk also shared his love of fantasy football, calling it "good for the game" and saying it's "here to stay."

"If you live in a city without a football team," Faulk said, "fantasy football is going to be huge. Or, if you live in a city with a team and it's not very good, you're rooting for your fantasy football team halfway through the season."

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To see what exactly the former superstar running back knows about player comparisons, I asked him to provide comparisons for today's top fantasy running backs to some greats from his era:

• On LeSean McCoy: "Barry Sanders, easy. [He's] real elusive, has relentless effort to try and maximize a run."
• On Jamaal Charles: "He's a tricky one because he's pretty unique in how he plays. You know, maybe a guy that used to play for the Raiders: Charlie Garner."
• On Adrian Peterson: "Another unique guy. The way he plays is how I watched Walter Payton play the position. He gets the most out of every carry by running through people. McCoy will go around, Peterson will go over you."
• On Eddie Lacy: "That’s just a mauler. Pure, brute strength—a young Jerome Bettis."

The segue to the second half of our conversation is pretty important, because the running back position is still very important to fantasy football, where many players emphasize the "RB-RB" drafting strategy.

The idea is that regardless of the fact that quarterbacks and top receivers may score more than top running backs, the value of a top back in relation to an average (or replacement) back is much higher then other positions.

This sort of strategy is what gives a running back like the Denver Broncos' Montee Ball an average draft position (via Fantasy Pros) of 15th overall (eighth among backs)—far higher than players with a higher profile in "real" football like New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski (31st) or Patriots QB Tom Brady (51st).

So, from one fantasy addict to another, I asked Faulk: Is the running back position being artificially propped up by fantasy football, or is the decline of the position only a temporary NFL fad?

"The emphasis on player safety has really changed the dynamic of the game," Faulk said. "How they're protecting the QB now, how you can't touch receivers—you have to be caveman-ish to believe that we can run the ball 30 times a game and still win in this league."

In addition, Faulk pointed to the college ranks, saying that the way those programs have produced less well-rounded backs has changed what NFL teams can do with the players they've drafted and noting that very few come in with the workhorse mentality that punctuated his era.

Still, Faulk believes there may be light at the end of the tunnel, and it has to do with something the NFL cares quite a bit about: money.

"I think that teams are going to abandon this," Faulk said, "because the premium put on the quarterback has made teams pay a ton of money for guys who aren't doing much. When you look at what Tony Romo, Colin Kaepernick, Alex Smith: You haven't won a Super Bowl, but I have to pay you because you're better than what else I can get."

Finally, Faulk touched on something most fantasy players hate: running back by committee.

"What happened to just being a football player? Emmitt Smith was a guy who couldn't play all three downs," Faulk said. "Now, I'm not sure if that was because they wanted to run the heck out of him on first and second downs. You never know the reasoning, but I know that no one worried about what he couldn't do as a running back."

Faulk, one of the greatest backs in NFL history, is not done with the game just yet. He's just more interested in tearing up your favorite team digitally than on turf.

Michael Schottey is an NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. Find more of his stuff on his archive page and follow him on Twitter. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained by the author.