Meet the new Mike Bell
The only surprise is that Mike Shanahan waited this long to drop a bomb on fantasy leaguers. Mike Bell is out as Denver's backup running back, and Selvin Young is in.
Like most Shanny surprises, he baited us early in camp by dangling Cecil Sapp as the random Bronco to watch. But Young, Cedric Benson's old committee partner at Texans (among other players), looks to be the pick after starting Denver's game Thursday night.
Young only had one carry in the first two preseason games, but he ran for 140 yards on 29 carries in the last two contests.
Who knows how long this will last. The Rocky Mountain News plays the angle softer, not directly calling Young the new number two. Bell and Sapp both took snaps at fullback Thursday, and one might get cut. This probably won't be the last depth chart change at running back in Denver, but it's all we have to go on for now. And Young is no more improbable than Bell was in 2006, when he was a serviceable fantasy reserve.
We've redistrubuted the carries in our online draft guide, with Young moving all the way up to RB55, the same neighborhood as Najeh Davenport, Maurice Morris, and Dominic Rhodes. He's a fun flier pick, especially for Travis Henry owners. Mike Bell is worth watching, but he's now only draftable in deeper leagues. Owners who took him early should wait until the regular season to drop him if you can be patient. You never know what the depth chart will look like in a week.
Comments
I was wondering when this news would leak out of Denver. I'm surprised it wasn't brought up yet. I know its only pre season but Young looked good and Bell has been off the field. Shanny said Young looks like a step faster than everyone else on the field. They want to keep Sapp at fullback so it was going to come down to Bell or Young. But I agree, who knows how long it will last. But I don't think Shanny was ever comfortable with Bell.
Posted by: Jacyln | August 31, 2007 05:49 PM
this definitely caught me off-guard.
i had never heard of young until sunday, and in a 14 team draft of all east-coasters (sunday morning), a guy generally considered the idiot of the league drafted young in the 19th of 22.
i said, who? what the crap is ryan doing this year?
he looks pretty smart all of a sudden.
Posted by: The Dox | August 31, 2007 07:45 PM
Jaclyn, how long have the locals known about this?
aargh, i miss living in an NFL city :*(
if i haven't found a reason to move back to atlanta within the next 2 years, i'm going to be very disappointed in myself.
Posted by: The Dox | August 31, 2007 07:46 PM
We've known in Denver for about a week. Young rushed for about 91 yards and a TD splitting carries with Sapp but on the first team offense in the Cleveland game. Now we didn't know Young passed Bell on the depth chart until today but that quote from Shanny gave me a clue last week. I was surprised there wasn't mention of it last week. I know preseason is largely irrelevant and RBs shift a lot in Denver. But all the fans were impressed with how he ran and figured he'd make the team.
Posted by: Jacyln | August 31, 2007 09:39 PM
Should I take a flier on him? He has been doing well and henry is injury prone. I would have to give up james jones devery henderson or rex grossman.
Posted by: jacob kiniry | September 1, 2007 12:05 AM
Give up Grossman??? I think regardless of what you do with Young, you should follow through with that.
Posted by: Zin Tobier | September 1, 2007 10:15 AM
As of September 3rd 2007 the Denver Bronco's list Cecil Sapp as the #2 on their official depth chart.
Check Denver Bronco's.com.
Posted by: Chacer | September 4, 2007 10:07 AM