Remember that time (a thread)...

Remember that time:

The Bills selected CJ Spiller with the 9th overall pick and then continued feeding UDFA Fred Jackson. In years 1 and 2, Spiller had 74 & 107 carries respectively.

Remember that time:

The Packers selected Brandon Jackson in the 2nd round in 2007 - he was a healthy scratch for many games & saw 75 carries all season... while they fed Ryan Grant (who never played a snap before 2007), and DeShawn Wynn (2007 7th Rd pick)

Remember that time:

The Jaguars selected MJD in the 2nd Rd but continued using Fred Taylor (30+ yrs old) as the lead back for THREE seasons. MJD didn't get a workhorse role until year 4.

Remember that time:

The Chiefs selected Larry Johnson in the 1st Round, and he still had to wait until the middle of his 2nd season & for Preist Holmes to get injured before he saw any real touches or playing time.

Remember that time:

The Seahawks drafted Shaun Alexander in the 1st Rd in '00, just to give him 64 carries, & continued feeding 31-yr-old, Ricky Watters.

Then drafted Maurice Morris in the 2nd Rd in '02, & he never saw any significant playing time (because Alexander was elite)

Oh... and remember that time when they drafted Rashaad Penny in the 1st, to leave him on the bench for 7th Round pick Chris Carson.

Do I even need to mention 2nd Round pick, Christine Michael?

Remember that time:

The Broncos drafted Royce Freeman in the early 3rd, just to give the lead job to UDFA Philip Lindsay.

Remember that time:

The Bucs drafted Ronald Jones in the 2nd round, just to give the lead job to Peyton Barber - who had been on the team for 2 seasons before this (and was not used much during those 2 seasons).

Remember that time:

The Carolina Panthers selected CMC with the 8th overall pick, and for some reason thought it was a good idea to give more carries to 30 yr old Jonathan Stewert (averaging 3.4 y/c).

(CMC was nice for fantasy, but still, come on Carolina!!)

Remember that time:

The Bengals drafted Gio Bernard in the 2nd Round in 2013, then drafted Jeremy Hill in the 2nd Round in 2014... and played them both in a 50/50 split for 2 seasons.

Remember that time:

The Titans selected Derrick Henry in the 2nd Round... and just refused to feed him for 2 1/2 seasons, and then he turned out to be an absolute monster and game-changer.

Remember that time:

The Lions drafted Ameer Abdullah in the 2nd round, just to create a 3 headed monster (or grossness) between Abdullah, Joique Bell, and Theo Riddick.

Remember that time:

The Falcons selected Tevin Coleman in the early 3rd, just to make Devonta Freeman the workhorse back. *Freeman was selected in the 4th Rd the year before and only had 60 carries in his rookie season*

Remember that time:

The 49ers drafted Carlos Hyde in the 2nd Rd... just to continue using 31 yr old (what we thought was old), Frank Gore as a workhorse back.

I could go on, and on, and on...

Stop saying "they selected this RB for a reason, and WILL use this RB as a workhorse"... there is too much history to show us that coaches don't care about draft capital - especially at the RB position. You gotta win the job.

Of course, there are a lot of situations where the rookie RB won the job very fast (or even immediately). But, so many times a rookie RB does not see much playing time year 1 (or ever).

2017 spoiled us because those RBs stole jobs immediately... but that was a very unusual class.

Just before careful with where you are valuing these RBs in startups... and especially in redraft. They could turn into the next big thing IMMEDIATELY... but most probably won't.