**All leagues vary in scoring. These ranking will be based on standard format scoring but will include receiving notes for PPR players**
1. Arian Foster HOU Bye 8 : Foster should and likely will be your leagues consensus no. 1 player selected overall and with good reason. In only 12 games he posted 1800 total yards and 12 TD averaging 141.6 total yards per start. He has 2 straight seasons of adding on 50 plus receptions and 600 plus receiving yards as well. Also, for good measure, he has a TD or 100+ rushing yards in 25 of his past 29 games.
2. Ray Rice BAL Bye 8: The 2011 season seen longtime touchdown vulture Willis McGahee move on to Denver and with it Rice took his fantasy stock to a new level seeing his TD increase from 6 to 15. Rice only scored in single digits twice during last season while posting his second 2,000 total yard season in the past 3 seasons. Rice also is the premier pass catcher for RB having 60+ receptions in each of the past 3 years while having over 70 in two.
3. LeSean McCoy PHI Bye 7: McCoy scored double digit fantasy points in his first 15 games of the 2011 season while scoring a TD or rushing for 100 yards in 14 games. He seen his touchdowns increase from 9 to 20 (17 rushing) while catching 40 plus passes for the third straight year.
4. Matt Forte CHI Bye 6 : It's hard to knock a player with 4 staright 1,400 yard seasons in a row. The Bears have added Michael Bush (top 12 in '11) to share the spot with him. Chicago has also added playmakers at WR as well, which could cut into Forte's role in the passing game as he's had over 50 catches every season. He also only has one season of 10 TD (2008)
5. Chris Johnson TEN Bye 11 : After 2,509 total yards in 2009, Johnson has only managed 3,074 total yardage in the two seasons combined off of that amazing season. He also his rushing TD total plummet to only 4 scores after 3 straight 10 plus rushing TD seasons. Johnson was also held to under 60 yards rushing 10 times last year. As awful as all that is, that season is in the past. Johnson has no threat to his job and will have entire training camp this year. He also had a career high 57 catches in 2011.
6. Darren McFadden OAK Bye 5 : On pure talent McFadden would be an easy top 5 candidate on this list, but he's missed time in all four of his NFL seasons and 13 games is the most he's ever played. He played in only 7 games in 2011 due to a right lisfranc injury. He only has 1 200 carry season bu tin his past 20 games hes averaging 121 total yards per to go with 15 TD.
7. Jamaal Charles KC Bye 7 : If Charles proves healthy there's no reason he can't move up this list. His value was never tied into Touchdowns (7 TD in '09 8 in '10) so don't sweat the addition of Peyton Hillis. In 2010 he was the no. 2 overall fantasy RB in a season he started only 6 games and had only 190 carries. That season he totaled 1900 yards and 8 TD. No worries about a time share with him as you can count on 40 catches easily from him. if he's getting in the area of 240 touches he could be a top 5 pick. Keep tabs on how he's progressing from the torn ACL he suffered in week 2. .
8. Steven Jackson STL Bye 9 : A model of consistency S Jax had his 8th consecutive 1,000 yard season in 2011 and has 1300 total yards in 6 of his 9 NFL seasons. The problem is he only has 1 double digit TD season (2006) and only has 16 total TD over the past 3 seasons. He's played 15 games in each of the past 3 seasons as well as having four 40+ catch seasons in a row.
9.Maurice Jones Drew JAX Bye 6 : Last seasons leading rusher (1606 yards) carried the ball a career high 343 times, his third straight 300 carry season on his way to his third consecutive 1300 rushing yard campaign. MJD also collected his 5th 40 plus catch season in 6 years. After scoring 10 or more times on the ground in 3 of his 4 years he falied for the second straight year to reach that number with only 8 in 2011.
10. Trent Richardson CLE Bye 10 : From Steven Jackson to what could be the new version of him. Richardson has an elite blend of stength and speed and the abiltity to be a 3 down NFL back. He's in an ideal situation with Cleveland as he will likely touch the ball 15-20 times weekly. A 1200 yd 8 TD season is not out of reach. 11. Demarco Murray DAL Bye 5 : Murray burst onto the scene in his first NFL start with 25 carries and 253 yards vs STL after the incumbent Felix Jones was injured. In his 7 starts, Murray had double digit fantasy pts. in 5, 20+ carries in 5, 4 plus receptions in 4 before missing the final 3 games with an ankle injury..
12. Michael Turner ATL Bye 7 :Turner poured in his third season of 1300 rush yards in his past four years. Also carrying the ball 300 times for the third season of the past four. Turning 30, he has 1200 of his career 1400 carries in the past 4 years. he does have four straight 10+ TD seasons under his belt but he also has never had a 20 catch season. Expect a decreased workload but the TD will still be there.
13. Fred Jackson BUF Bye 8 : In only 10 games last season Jackson has 1,376 total yards and 6 TD. before missing the final 6 games due to injury. He rushed for 100 yards in 6 games and had 5 catches in five of of the 10 games. Already 31 years old, the Bills will tak enotice that he was injured after receiving his largest workload and work in CJ Spiller more this season. Spiller himself was valuable down the stretch scoring double digits 4 times without Jackson available.
14. Ahmad Bradshaw NYG Bye 11 : Coming off a 2010 where he had 276 carries 1235 rush yards and 47 catches with 8 TD, Bradshaw played in only 12 games last season with only 659 yards. Bu the managed still to have 9 TD and 34 catches. Gone now is Brandon Jacobs and rookie David Wilson will see less time than most are expecting. That is unless Bradshaw goes down again as he's had chronic foot issues in his career.
15. Ryan Mathews SD Bye 7 : Mathews tallied 1500 total yards and 6 TD last season with 50 receptions. His 5.7 yards per touch were second in the NFL for players with 200 + touches. The loss of Mike Tolbert has opened the door wide open for Mathews to post his best statistical season coming season. . *** Broken Collarbone expected to miss first 2 weeks of regular season***
16. Marshawn Lynch SEA Bye 11 : In 2011 Lynch posted career highs in carries (285) and rush yards (1204). he had a stretch of 12 straight games with a TD and gave owners 14+ pts 8 times through a 8 game stretch weeks 9-16. All that and Lynch only had 6 100 yard games and is virtually useless in the passing game as he has only 2 career receiving TD and only one season (2008) of over 30 catches. In PPR leagues knock him down a few slots. ***Lynch is open for suspension - which could scare owners away***
17. Adrian Peterson MIN Bye 11 : On Christmas Eve Peterson suffered multiple torn ligaments in his knee and could force him to miss time to begin this season. Even if he clears camp he's still a big time risk. Befor einjury he managed to reach 12 rush TD for third year in a row, something hes done 4 of his 5 years. In his 12 games though pre-injury he only had 3 100 yard games and 5 times was held to under 60 yards rushing. The Vikings have steadily reduced Peterson's carries over the past 4 seasons (from 363, 314, 283 and was on pace for 278 in '11) but his average yards per carry has been consistent with no drop off.
18. Doug Martin TB Bye 5 : In the mold of Ray Rice, Martin can do everything even return kicks. The Boise St selection will likely take over 3 down duties from Legarrette Blount at some point this season as he totaled 1350 plus yards in each of his final 2 college seasons. Even if he doesn't work in short yardage expect Martin to compile close to 1200 total yards rushing and receiving.
19. Darren Sproles NO Bye 6 : The versatile running back had over 1300 yards season (603 rush/710 recv.) while catching 86 passes on 111 targets. He also added 9 TD. Sproles value clearly comes in PPR formats as he had 13 games of 5+ catches but only 2 games with 10+ carries. Surprisingly he also only totaled 4 games with 100 total yards.
20. Reggie Bush MIA Bye 7 : Bush enjoyed his best season ever as a rusher eclipsing the 1,000 yard mark for the first time. In fact it was the first time he ever rushed for more than 600 yards in a season. Bush topped 100 yards 5 times and did so in each of Miami's final four games. His 216 carries were easily the most in his career as he had 7 scores. Miami will have Daniel Thomas returning as well as drafting speedster Lamar Miller as well to challenge him.
21. Frank Gore SF Bye 9 : Gore is coming off his most carries (282) since 2006 and that workload showed late in the season. Through weeks 4-9 Gore ran for 100 plus yards in all 5 games but never reached that number again the rest of the season. He still managed 9 games of 10 pts or more but had only 17 receptions after totaling 40 or more for 5 seasons in a row.
22. Benjarvus Green-Ellis CIN Bye 8 : The Law Firm was underutilized in New England where he compiled 25 rushing scores and 1600 yards the past 2 seasons. Last season he scored double digits in 7 games but also having 7 games with fewer than 10 carries. Now in a run first offense expect Green Ellis to carry the ball much more but don't expect to see the field in passing situations as he's only had a 10 reception season once.
23. Beanie Wells ARI Bye 10 : Through 14 games Wells totaled 1,097 yards and 10 TD before missing the final 2 weeks and had offseason knee surgery. He managed only 2 100 yard games and has only 27 career catches in 43 games played. The Cardinals are anticipating the return of Ryan Williams to the fold to ease the work load.
24. Shonn Greene NYJ Bye 9 : Greene carried the ball 253 times for 1054 yards in 2011 with 6 scores, but he only had 5 games in double digit scoring and only two 100 yard games. He did have 30 receptions and with LaDainian Tomlinson retiring should see the entire work load. However the 6 rushing TD are exactly how many QB Mark Sanchez had rushing himself and the addition of Tim Tebow could leave Greene in the 4-6 TD range.
25. Donald Brown IND Bye 4 : Brown emerged as the best option in the Colts carousel of running backs last season notching career bests in carries (134) and yards (645) with 5 TD with only having 2 games of 80+ yards rushing. An interesting note on Brown as well is if you take away his 80 yd TD vs TEN in Week 15 his YPC drop from 4.8 to a pedestrian 4.2
26. Isaac Redman PIT Bye 4 : Redman got his chance the final week of the season when Rashard Mendehall suffered a torn ACL and he responded with 19 carries for 92 yards and TD in Week 17. he follwed that game up with a 17 carry 121 yard game in the Steelers first round loss at Denver. Redman is a more accomplished reciever than Mendenhall but may lose short yardage touches to Jonathan Dwyer.
27. Mikel LeShoure DET Bye 5 : Leshoure was expected to play a big role in the Lions offense last season but missed the entire campaign due to a torn achilles. With Best battling chronic concussion issues expect LeShoure to get back into the offense heavily. Owners will have to wait until week 3 though as he is suspended for the teams forst 2 games for a marijuana arrest.
28. Willis McGahee DEN Bye 7 : McGahee was able to slow down father time last season, rushing for over 1,000 yards (1,199) for the first time in 5 seasons with 4 TD. Now 30 years old and coming off his first 200 carry season since 2007 expect the carries to drop with McGahee but his TD total could spike back up to the 7-10 range with the change from Tim Tebow to Peyton Manning.
29. Peyton Hillis KC Bye 7 : After a 1,500 yard 13 TD season in 2010, Hillis struggled to stay healthy only reaching 800 total yards and 3 TD last season. Hillis has moved on to kansas City, reunitingwith offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and head coach Romeo Crennell to help share backfield duties with Jamaal Charles. The TD's may be there but it's worth noting that all 7 of Hillis' career 100 yard games came with him getting 20 or more carries, a number he's unlikely to reach in the time share.
32. CJ Spiller BUF Bye 8 : Spiller took over as the starter when Fred jackson was injured in week 11, gaining 10 + Fantasy points in 4 of his final 5 games,. He also added 21 catches over that time with 5 total TD. Expect Spiller to be worked in more frequently than last season as the Bills use his versatility.
33.Michael Bush CHI Bye 6 : In nine games with Darren McFadden hurt, Bush wound up totaling 740 rush yards, 307 receiving yards and five total touchdowns in those starts (he totaled 1,395 yards and eight touchdowns overall) possibly earning him a starting spot somewhere. Instead he signed with Chicago to split time with Matt Forte. Expect similar numbers to what Bush posted in 2010 in his time share with Oakland.
34. Toby Gerhart MIN Bye 11 : If Peterson is slow to start the season than Gerhart could be a nice play to open the season as the Vikings begin 2012 with games vs Jacksonville and Indianapolis. Gerhart ran for 90 or more yards in 3 of his final 5 games while catching 16 passes over the same frame.
35. Stevan Ridley NE Bye 9 : Ridley will be a popular sleeper pick after rushing for 5.1 YPC in his 87 attempts last season. Beware though, because as usual the Patriots backfield is still crowded and ove rthe past 7 seasons New England has given a RB more than 200 carries only twice. The addition of Joseph Addai could also spell trouble for his goal line chances.
36.Roy Helu WAS Bye 10 : After starter Tim Hightower went down Helu notched 3 straight 100 yard games and 4 consecutive 20 plus carry games before being injured himself. The Nebraska rookie added 49 catches including a 14 catch game vs SF Week 9. The upside is high but Washington brought Hightower back in the fold and coach Mike Shanahan has a had a knack of pulling the rug out on fantasy owners when it comes to his backfield.
Ranking the rest:
37. Ronnie Hillman DEN (7)38. Mark Ingram NO (6)
39. Jahvid Best DET (5)
40. Ben Tate HOU (8)
41. Pierre Thomas NO (6)
42. Ryan Williams ARI (10)
43. James Starks GB (10)
44. Felix Jones DAL (5)
45. Legarrette Blount TB (5)
46. Daniel Thomas MIA (7)
47. David Wilson NYG (11)
48. Bernard Scott CIN (8)
49. Isaiah Pead STL (9)
50. Rashad Jennings JAC (6)
51. Delone Carter IND (4)
52. Kevin Smith DET (5)
53. Mike Tolbert CAR (6)
54. Jacquizz Rodgers ATL (7)
55. Joseph Addai NE (9)
56. Tim Hightower WAS (10)
57. Mike Goodson OAK (5)
58. Kendall Hunter SF (9)
59. Robert Turbin SEA (11)
60. Rashard Mendenhall PIT (4)
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