Joseph Addai Injury: Is Donald Brown a Viable Option for Fantasy Owners?

As if the Indianapolis Colts needed any more bad news in a season that has gone from circling the drain to hurtling down it, starting running back Joseph Addai left today's matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs with a hamstring injury, striking yet another blow to an offense that already ranks among the worst in the NFL due to the absence of quarterback Peyton Manning.

Addai was replaced in the lineup by Delone Carter, but after Carter was ineffective in a handful of carries the Colts turned to third year pro Donald Brown, begging the question as to whether it's Brown that could prove to be the more viable fantasy option should Addai miss significant time.

Today marked the first carries Brown has seen to this point in the season, and the former Connecticut standout has done very little to this point in his professional career, never topping 500 rushing yards in a season and rushing for a meager 3.8 yards a carry.

Furthermore, Brown just hasn't shown himself to be a decisive runner in the NFL, spending far too much time dancing around in the backfield searching for a hole and not nearly enough time hitting those holes with any sort of authority.

Being a running back for the Indianapolis Colts certainly hasn't helped in that regard, as the Colts haven't had a capable ground game since the days of Edgerrin James, and in all honesty over the past couple of years Indianapolis hasn't seemed to have any real ambition to develop a ground game, instead allowing Peyton Manning to utilize short passes as a de facto rushing attack.

Starting running backs are worth their weight in gold in fantasy football, but running behind a shaky offensive line on an offense led by Curtis Painter (who isn't striking fear into the hearts of many defenses) it's hard to imagine that either Donald Brown or Delone Carter would have value as anything other than a desperation option, so fantasy owners would likely be best served by just avoiding the situation entirely.