Tiki Barber

[Guest]

Ok,

I live by the draft two RB's in Rounds #1 and #2 strategy. In both drafts, I drew the #4 and #5 picks in 12-man leagues. Both times, the draft came back around to me with Tiki Barber on the board and I snatched him both times bypassing the likes of Fred Taylor, William Green, Stephen Davis and Eddie George. Everyone I've spoke to think that Tiki is close to dropping out of the top 20 RB's because of an article that said Dorsey Levens is the new goal line back. So, question, why would NY want to take Tiki out of the offense when:

A) He is such a receiving threat.
B) Averaged 4.6 YPC
C) Drove his TD production to an all-time high with 11.
D) Had over 1,900 combined yards from scrimmage last year, ranking him 4th behind Priest, Ricky and LT

Sure, I know he ways just under 200 pounds and isn't the ideal goalline RB, but people seem to think he's going to drop back to having a 4 TD production year. This just doesn't seem realistic to me when you have Shockey forcing the LB's to focus on him and therefore not focus on Barber. Plus, Barber doesn't have a good backup in Ron Dayne, who has shown that he is too slow to the hole for the NFL.

I'm interested in what others think. Should I look to deal Tiki based on last year's production or should I just hold tight because Levens may not make an impact on Barber at all? Thanks for the comments!

[Guest]

Sorry for some of the typos :\

[beerman]

i think barber is a solid number 2 fantasy back and dorsey levens is washed up he may get a couple td's here and there but he won't affected barber that much!

[LeftyQB]

Agree with Beerman...you have a goon #2 back in Tiki. Leven's won't hurt his stats too much. He'ss get most if not all of the all around yardage out of the backfield.

[Guest]

Is Levens a change of pace to a lackluster Ron Dayne for NYG?

[tjhksig]

I think Barber's yards don't fall, but his TD's drop to around 6-7. He's a good #2 back, but he's about 16th on my list. I'd take guys who get the goaline carries over him. TD's help you more than piles of yardage, at least in leagues I'm in.

[dgroundhog_ffc]

I grabbed Tiki at pick 4 in the 3rd round.

I've been hearing Levens will get the goal line carries for over a month, so he should be done falling in status from that announcement. I'm not real big on the Giants offense, but Tiki is not a bad #2 RB, and he is not falling out of the top 20. He's somewhere in a muddled mess of the 10th to 16th best RB.

[joester]

Tiki Barber is a really good #2 RB and a good late second round pick. He should come up with like 1700 total yards and 8 Tds this year

[nick_millionaire]

I think they wanna keep him more healthy for later in the season. That's why they are pulling him at the goalline and cutting back on his carries ever so slightly.

Their schedule is a little harder because they play Miami, Philadelphia and New England in that order for consecutive weeks. Then after 2 weeks they play Atlanta, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay in that order for consecutive weeks. So their schedule is much harder than it was last season.

Barber can get 1700+ total yards, but he doesn't see the endzone alot. But he could get 11 TDs again this year or go back to 4. I don't think he really is production you can bank on.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

First of all, Im a fan of Tiki Barber. I had him last yr, and his weekly production was money in the bank. That being said, I am dropping him on my list because of the Dorsey Levens situation. Coaches could care less about fantasy stats, and the goalline back stealing carries away from the starter is nothing new, and it does hurt the value of the starter in question. Coaches use this approach for a number of reasons, but mainly it is to protect the star in situations where injuries are more common.
I dont see Tiki crossing the goalline more than 8 times this yr, but he will get 1700 yds.