Fantasy Football 2008: Running Back Sleepers

Seven Possible Starters You Can Draft After the First Round

Last week, I wrote an article about some underrated quarterbacks who could start for your team in a pinch. In that piece, I talked about drafting your other positions early in the draft, and falling back on one of your sleeper quarterbacks after most of your opponents have already selected a passer. In some leagues, though, you may not want to pass up the big name quarterbacks. However, if you select a quarterback in the first couple of rounds, you're going to miss out on a lot of running backs. Such is the way of things. If your league awards a lot of points to quarterbacks in general, or if you just can't live without Tom Brady, you're going to need some sleeper running backs to fill out your roster later in your draft. For inexperienced fantasy footballers, this can be a daunting task, because you're going to have to settle for some players who are not guaranteed to have great stats, but with some research and luck, it's possible to find some talented players who have a chance to succeed.

Starting off the list of sleeper running backs is the best NFL running back last season- until week 7. Ronnie Brown was in the middle of a career year and looked like he could be the league's rushing leader for years to come until he tore his ACL trying to make a tackle on a New England interception return. For anyone who is unfamiliar with sports injuries, an ACL tear requires surgery and usually involves a six to twelve month recovery period. For NFL players, a big part of that recovery time is not just reconstructing the knee, but getting back into shape. A lot of players are unable to play at a high level the next year because they have not been able to train as they normally would. Brown's rehab has reportedly been going very well, however, and it was reported back in March that he had been running and lifting weights already. Both he and coach Tony Sparano have said that he should be ready to participate fully in training camp, which would go a long way toward getting him ready to start right where he left off last year.