Early Board on 2006 Running backs-


June Top 5-

L. Johnson
S. Alexander
L. Tomlinson
C. Portis
L. Jordan
----------------------top 10---------------------------
6. T. Barber
7. E. James
8. S. Jackson
9. R. Brown
10. C. Williams
------------------------
Top Ten Potential:
C. Taylor, R. Droughns, R. Johnson

JSM's Early Analysis---
-Stay tuned because it is still early in the summer and like all early boards my top ten is likely to change some as the summer continues. Right now, however, I think the top 10 are rock solid. I think most of the so-called draft experts would find mutual agreement in the top three with a significant drop off after that. So I will focus my attention on spots 4-10 in the list.

I have Portis as a solid #4 in my initial rankings of RBs, which falls in line with several of the early mock drafts I have seen that have him anywhere from 4th to 8th. This is the highest I have ever ranked Portis on my board. However, last season he proved that he was more than just a product of the Mike Shanahan system in Denver and emerged as an elite back with enormous upside given the opportunity. The addition of Offensive Cord, Al Saunders (who loved to run the football while in KC)is the biggest reason to expect a career year from Portis, but also the need to protect an aging QB and try to keep a quietly improved offense balanced by running it down the defenses' throat is also a supporting factor.

Rounding out my top five, I have Jordan of the Raiders, who quietly finished among the top five in all the major statistical categories among RBs last season. Playing for a bad team and on the west coast kept many from seeing how good and consistent Jordan actually was, which may explain why he is generally listed lower on a lot of early mock boards, but not on mine. I believe he will only be better now that Oakland has a more mobile QB, instead of the statuesque Kerry Collins. This will force the defenses to stay honest in defending the run. Jordan proved to be quite durable, as well for a bruising back, missing just one start all of last season.

The almost always reliable T.Barber and E.James fall in at nos.6 &7. I rate Barber slightly higher, due to his familiarity with his offense. James also plays for a team that is still built around the passing game.

Beyond these seven the picture gets a little more murky. Early on I have gone with 3 backs that (at least for now) appear to be the primary options in their backfields and faced with little competition for carries. Rumors have been rampant that the new Ram's coaching staff is determined to build the offense around the emerging Steven Jackson, which in turn means more carries.

With the suspension of Ricky Williams, Ronnie Brown will be the focal point of the offense, especially if Daunte Culpepper is not ready to start yet at the beginning of the season. With an improving Chris Simms at QB for Tampa Bay, C. Williams should have a good chance to improve on his rookie season and provide fantasy owners with more consistency in his sophomore year, provided Gruden doesn't run him into the ground by mid-season again.

As I stated earlier expect there to be a lot of fluctuation as the summer continues as there is bound to be a lot of movement in the the top ten, especially at the bottom. I will reevaluate my rankings of top RBs in July so check back. Next Week I will examine the top ten QBs. Early on it appears to be a position that presents a lot of questions and few obvious answers outside of Peyton Manning, of course.

-JSM.