Darren McFadden's Time To Shine? 2010 NFL Fantasy Rankings

As good as running back Justin Fargas has been for the Oakland Raiders, this organization probably should have cut him last offseason. Keeping Fargas around last year insured that the Raiders would continue to use all three of their talented running backs.

The problem with that was all three runners only saw around 130 carries a piece throughout the season. That is not enough touches to find out how productive talents like Darren McFadden and Michael Bush can be. With the departure of Fargas, the two talented youngsters are now going to have an opportunity to win the starting job between themselves.

While both running backs are very talented I would suspect this would be a great time for the Raiders to see if McFadden is the real deal. One could easily make a case that the 2008 class of running backs was the deepest draft class in NFL history.

Many running backs from that years' draft have already gone on and had at least one solid year of production for their team in their first two years playing. It seems that the only running back that hasn't had a successful season is the one who was drafted first, and that would be McFadden.

A top five pick at the 2008 draft, McFadden was supposed to be a big time difference-maker, and instead he hasn't received more than 113 carries in a season. This total is unacceptable and I'm sure owner Al Davis wants to see a positive return on the football field for all the money he is paying this player.

As for Bush, he is another talent, and if it wasn't for breaking his leg in his final year of college, he would have been a mid first-round pick coming into the draft. While Bush has clearly outplayed McFadden (4.8 yards per carry vs. 3.4 ypc), the coaching staff isn't happy with Bush's lackadaisical ways.

Fantasy Projection

One of these two running backs needs to establish themselves for the Raiders to have success as an offense. Both have plenty of talent to get the job done and now fantasy owners need to find out which one is going to be the main man in Oakland.

Both players shouldn't be starters for your fantasy team as the season gets under way, but it would be wise to take a late-round flair shot on one of them and see if they bust out.

NFL fantasy football player rankings writer Sean E. Douglas, fantasy-info.com