Chris brown in averaging like 6 yards a carry for my fantasy team and the Titans would rather run a reverese flee flicker throw to the third string TE before they give him a TD. Ugghhhh. I also have Michael Bennet. Mega bust. I also have Julius Jones who has been shafted on Td's. And to top it off I have Clinton Portis who isn't a stud anymore. But I'm still 2-4.
Same...Carr and Roy Williams haven't been as reliable as I predicted either. Luckily, I'm starting Peyton Manning and I have Torry Holt, Darrell Jackson, and decent backups at WR.
Everyone else drafted by name recognition (Moss, Culpepper, Manning etc) The flip side is that my 2 best receivers (Jackson from Seattle and Walker from GB) are both out.
Completely agree. I was being somewhat inflammatory with the intial post in this thread. I think playing with Vince Young helped Ced out last year but most people only think of it the other way around. Ced was definitely not a worthy top 5 pick, but he has a future in the NFL. I suppose when the Bears give up on the playoffs he will get more time. Even though they are tied for first place (at 2-3) it's hard to imagine the Bears in the playoffs.
Not every franchise back is going to have the explosiveness that Barry Sanders or Eric Dickerson, or Marshall Faulk, or O.J. had. Not everyone is going to be completely physically dominant like Earl and Jim Brown. What the Bears hope they get from Benson is a slightly quicker version of Emmitt Smith, a guy who had the same question marks coming into the league and a guy who produced like Ced in High School and College and was durable and dependable and productive. Just like Smith, they are going on track record.
I'm in a league with 16 teams and I got LT, Priest, and Hines Ward. Needless to say, I have the best team by a wide margin.
Benson was one of the best, if not the best RB in Texas high school football history. I watched the Class 5-A Championship game in 2000, Eisenhower vs Midland Lee, and Benson ran for almost 300 yards and 5 TD's. He was incredible, very fast, hit the hole and he was gone. No one could catch him. Ike had one of the best defensive teams in the state that year. He was on a different level. Then he went to University of Texas and hit the weight room, big time. Put on 20-30 lbs and lost a lot of the speed he had in high school. He could have been a GREAT one, but that will never happen now. You are right in that he will be like a Stephen Davis, but I saw potential in High School that he could be a Walter Payton. It's a shame to see wasted talent.
before you call a guy a bust at least let him get some playing time! thomas jones has been MUCH better than expected and if benson would have gotten his ass to camp in time he would at least be getting more carries. he held out too long and isn't in good enough shape or know the playbook enough to start. it's his own fault, but he has all the talent to be an All-Pro back. he started off on the wrong foot with chicago and if he doesn't get time come next season he'll have to be traded for anyone to know how good he is.
Lee won 3 straight State Championships his sophomore, junior, and senior years respectively. That should tell you all you need to know about Ced in high school. To this day, the people in Odessa still call Midland "Bensonville."
A rookie can only make an immediate impact if he gets to carry the ball. Cadillac Williams-99 carries Ronnie Brown-87 carries Cedric Benson-27 carries. Thomas Jones is playing very well this season, no point yanking him out when you already have a rookie at QB.
Yeah I get that. Personally I look for the explosiveness primarily in a rb, and then whether or not he can take the punishment. After that comes the guys that can just flat out pound the ball. But there are guys who break the mold. Curtis Martin is that kind of a player. He's never really been about speed. He's never really been considered a punishing runner. But you can't get him off the field because he does everything so well and has a natural feel for the game. If Benson does play like Stephen Davis for most of his career then the pick will be fine. But I don't think Benson will be a stud at the NFL level. I think he'll be a servicable starting back, and a servicable back can put up numbers in the right situation. I've certainly been wrong before and it's fun to wait and see.
bs. Thomas jones was kicking ass last year until the qb situation went in the crapper. Then the d was able to key in on the run. No passing game + crappy OL = very little opportunity for a rb unless you're LT. Thomas Jones has explosiveness that Benson doesn't have, and he's a bigger threat in the passing game to boot.
Thx for the info Finn. I've only seen a little over a handful of Longhorn games of him. He was a great college rb. No ricky williams, but great nonetheless. But he ain't going to have the same holes and athletic advantage in the pros. We'll see to what degree he adapts.
Haha. Do you think Benson was the only RB to go into college, hit the weight room and lose some speed? You can be fastest back in the world, but you're not gonna last a game if you don't put on weight and muscle. And you're acting like he lost all his speed and will never amount to anything. You're talking about the #6 all time rusher in NCAA HISTORY who's in his first year in the NFL, playing behind a legit starter in T.Jones
You're reading things in Finn's post that aren't there. He never said he wouldn't amount to anything. He said he didn't think he'd be great. There's a big difference between Stephen Davis and Walter Payton. Doesn't make Stephen Davis a bad back.
Jamaal Charles is much better than Cedric Benson. Benson was a straight ahead runner with almost no moves. He was durable and could get you the 5's and maybe 20 in the open field but that was it. And until his senior year, anyone who put a finger on him could take him down. Charles is a fantastic runner in between the tackles and is incredibly shifty. He's hard to take down and can spin and turn in very tight spaces. He doesn't have the pure power of Ricky Williams but is a much better runner in the open field and can also catch passes out of the backfield.
I just don't like how he's basing his assumptions on how Benson played in high school. Saying he could have been great but won't be because he lost some speed when he gained weight for college doesn't make a whole lot sense to me. Every college player needs to put on weight if they want to survive the season and possibly the NFL season.
