Fantasy Football 2011: Is San Diego Chargers RB Ryan Mathews Soft?

After years of watching LaDainian Tomlinson dominate and rack up 300-plus carries for years, Chargers fans couldn’t have been less pleased with his heir apparent.

Ryan Mathews dealt with injuries last year that limited him to 12 games and 158 carries. It wasn’t a total disaster, though, as Mathews finished with a respectable 4.3 yards per carry and seven touchdowns.

After his four-game hiatus, Mathews averaged 87 total yards and 1.25 touchdowns in the final four games of the season. His signature game came in Week 17 when he ran over Denver’s soft run defense for 120 yards and three touchdowns.

With his strong finish came optimism that he would stay healthy and deliver on that promise. Not that it can’t still happen, but when you start hearing that he’s missing time in camp and the preseason opener, the fears start to come back.

Not to mention the questioning of his toughness.

The Chargers were known for letting LaDainian Tomlinson have a light workload during the preseason, but this doesn’t have that smell.

First of all, LT was a proven superstar, so saving the beating for the regular season made sense. Second, with the time missed from the lockout, any time that teams can spend together is an opportunity that shouldn’t be squandered.

All this does is open the door for Mike Tolbert, who Norv Turner already admitted will work with Mathews in a two-back system. Tolbert only ran for 735 yards at a 4.0 YPC clip with 11 touchdowns.

Oh, and he added 25 catches for 216 more yards.

Any thoughts of minimizing his role should be quickly put to rest.

Quite simply, Tolbert is too valuable to the Chargers. He should not be considered just a handcuff. Tolbert is a decent flex option. If Mathews continues to spend more time on the shelf than running between the tackles, Tolbert could get some run as an RB2.

I’m not writing Mathews off, but he certainly lost the capital he had built up. 

Also check out

• 2011 Fantasy Football QB Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy Football RB Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy Football RB Rankings - PPR
• 2011 Fantasy Football WR Rankings

Click here to enter the 2011 LestersLegends fantasy football team name contest!