Kenny Irons Injury Impact
Can Rudi fail now?
The Bengals were concerned enough about their sagging rushing game to invest a second-round pick in Kenny Irons. Now they are back at square one. Let's look at the fantasy impact of Irons' ACL tear.
First, it's a devastating blow to Irons' dynasty owners, who rightly saw him as a high-ceiling long-term prospect and as Rudi Johnson's likely successor. The Bengals don't know what they have in him now.
Rudi Johnson may be starting his decline, but this injury cements his top-ten grade. As we've written about all summer, the Bengals were planning to take carries away from Rudi Johnson if he didn't improve his efficiency. Irons was set to take third-down snaps from Kenny Watson, and probably more early down snaps from Johnson than Rudi's owners expected. Now Johnson should get to his 330 carries by default.
Kenny Watson is somewhat of an unknown for a sixth-year veteran. He has only 51 carries in three years with the Bengals, although he has 48 catches. He's always proved efficient when given the chance. On a loaded offense like the Bengals, he can be one of the best handcuffs in fantasy football. I just re-did my projections, with Rudi getting a modest boost.
Watson took a huge leap to the RB50 spot, right around Brian Leonard, DeDe Dorsey, and Lorenzo Booker. Watson has enough value to be taken as a RB5 even if you don't own Rudi.
The unknown in this situation: Will Cincinnati look to add a veteran running back to the mix. Untested Quincy Wilson is currently third on the depth chart, and they haven't trusted Watson fully in the past. Too bad Corey Dillon burned that bridge. Right?
Comments
Rudi Johnson will have another ho-hum 1200+ yds 12 td year, noticed only by the fantasy football nation. It seems that the only impact that the Iron's injury will have is to dynasty leaguers and the Bengals coaching staff. You know Johnson might get more coverage as a solid running back if he played in the NFC. God knows that Joe Buck's opinion is all that matters. Gregg you have some football pull, right? Get Buck out of the booth and have Fox put Chris Myers in there. He may also get more coverage if he starts averaging more yds per carry than T.J Duckett.
Posted by: Brendan | August 11, 2007 02:52 PM