Changing face

How the decline of feature RBs affects fantasy football

Remember when Denver coach Mike Shanahan was driving fantasy owners to Xanax with his backfield-by-committee style?

That was horrible, but at least he was the only one. Now we’ve got a full-fledged swine flu-esque epidemic on our hands.

Virtually every coach believes in resting his backs these days — giving them series off, spelling them on third down and having a specialized goal-line back. I thought these guys were supposed to be real men?

But it does us no good to complain about the situation. What we have to do now is adjust.

This new running game philosophy has made those few backs that are still on the field for almost every offensive play even more valuable. That’s why it’s still not optimal to take a quarterback or receiver in the first round.

There are eight backs to take before even thinking about another position — Adrian Peterson, Maurice Jones-Drew, Michael Turner, Matt Forte, LaDainian Tomlinson, Steven Jackson, DeAngelo Williams and Frank Gore. Even if you go with Larry Fitzgerald or Tom Brady with a late first-round pick, it needs to be backed up with a running back in the next round.

This new trend affects the middle rounds as well. There’s suddenly value in a running back that is in a timeshare, like Beanie Wells, Ray Rice or Ahmad Bradshaw.

But contrary to popular belief, the new NFL hasn’t bred more receiving studs.

Tight end and quarterback are deep once again this year; wait until the fifth or sixth round before filling those spots. Kicker with your last pick, and take a defense with your third-to-last pick.