2010 Fantasy Football Busts: Running Backs

As much as fantasy football owners hope to find sleepers during the middle-to-late rounds of the draft, the ultimate success of your fantasy season can boil down to how well you avoid the busts - especially among those guys that you draft in the first five rounds. Just because a player makes the bust list, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to avoid him completely on draft day (though we’ll let you know who to avoid altogether). Some, not all busts are overvalued players, while the majority have seen their situations change (e.g., new team, new coaching staff, upgrade or downgrade of players around them, injuries, etc.) or are likely to have a hard time living up to expectations. Use our 2010 Fantasy Football Busts Running Backs list as a guide to move some players down your draft board.

Brandon Jacobs, RB, New York Giants – Jacobs played through a torn meniscus in his left knee in 2009, and that led to a disappointing season despite a career-high 224 carries.  The workload seems to have hurt him, as he averaged just 3.7 yards per carry and scored just five touchdowns, after scoring 15 touchdowns and rushing for 1,089 yards in 2008.  Jacobs’ size (6’4”, 264 pounds) and bruising running style has made him injury prone throughout his career, and the fact he signed a sizable contract extension prior to last season may have affected his general assertiveness or “edge” as a runner (see Shaun Alexander, 2005-2006). 

Another reason that Jacobs could disappoint his owners in 2009 is the fact Ahmad Bradshaw, who admittedly has had his own issues staying healthy, is likely to at least split the workload with him, and Jacobs is a fairly risky fantasy football pick this year as a RB2.  Bradshaw also seems to have some potential as a pass catcher that Jacobs does not appear to have, which could relegate Jacobs to potentially being purely a goal line and short yardage specialist this season if everyone stays healthy.  He is ranked as the No.23 running back on our standard scoring cheat sheet, but drops all the way to No.34 on our PPR fantasy football cheat sheet. Bottom line, if you gamble on Jacobs make sure to do so with caution.

To find out who else made our list of 2010 Fantasy Football Busts, click here...2010 Running Back Busts. Now that you know who to watch out for on Draft Day, check out our 2010 Running Back Sleepers.