FWP vs shaun alexander

[Azrael]

i would def take SA over parker. i think he will return to elite status.

in response to azrael....maroney over SA?? some people are a little too nuts over maroney. i keep saying this but i really hope there is someone in my league who takes maroney in the top 5 . i will laugh my head off.

Unless you are part of the "Maroney can't handle the load" crowd, there is no reason Maroney is not a top 6 or 7 back. He's in a top 5 offense where the back gets plenty of touches.

[maddog60]

For me personally I feel SA better days are behind him. Even prior to his imjury last season he was avergae @ best. Id take FWP over him, younger, faster, & the ne coach Tomlin wants to pass a lil more, so that should def open up the running game for Willie even more so.

I agree with the first statement, but the coaching change in Pitt. scares me. You could count on Cowher to pound the ball away even when teams were selling out to stop the run, which makes just about any RB a must start, and a guy with FWP's skills a bonafide #1 RB. The uncertainty surrounding all the changes to that team is my only concern about Parker, but not enough to take Alexander, who had a magnificent run, but is never going to be what he was, before him. For me, the 4-6 picks should in some order be Gore, FWP, and Westbrook, after that, probably Portis, and then its a mess to decide between unprovens like Addai, Ronnie Brown, etc, or guys with limited ceilings like Rudi and McGahee.

[sublimeandy]

i would def take SA over parker. i think he will return to elite status.

in response to azrael....maroney over SA?? some people are a little too nuts over maroney. i keep saying this but i really hope there is someone in my league who takes maroney in the top 5 . i will laugh my head off.

Unless you are part of the "Maroney can't handle the load" crowd, there is no reason Maroney is not a top 6 or 7 back. He's in a top 5 offense where the back gets plenty of touches.

that's the same argument everyone uses to justify a top 5 pick of maroney. my question to you is what did he show you last year to make you think that he can put up elite rb numbers? i remember a lot of people saying last year that tatum bell will post elite numbers simply because he is in the denver rushing scheme and how did he do? i don't buy this whole NE offense= top 7 rb.

[Knicks4ever]

i would def take SA over parker. i think he will return to elite status.

in response to azrael....maroney over SA?? some people are a little too nuts over maroney. i keep saying this but i really hope there is someone in my league who takes maroney in the top 5 . i will laugh my head off.

Unless you are part of the "Maroney can't handle the load" crowd, there is no reason Maroney is not a top 6 or 7 back. He's in a top 5 offense where the back gets plenty of touches.

that's the same argument everyone uses to justify a top 5 pick of maroney. my question to you is what did he show you last year to make you think that he can put up elite rb numbers? i remember a lot of people saying last year that tatum bell will post elite numbers simply because he is in the denver rushing scheme and how did he do? i don't buy this whole NE offense= top 7 rb.

Well dont you think hes more talented that corey dillon was the past few years? Dillon scored 12 or more TDs the last 3 years and the pats dont have a short yardage back on their roster so theres no reason to think that Maroney couldnt put up similar TD numbers. As for yardage he got over 900 yards spliting time with dillon while playing in 14 games. Hes gonna be the feature back in New England so i would think that he could get close to 1500 total yards since there is no real threat to steal carries away from him.

So 1500 yards and 12 TD are good estimates for him this year imo. That would give him 222 fantasy points which would make him a top 7 RB imo.

[sublimeandy]

maroney doesn't seem like a bruiser goal line type back. i could easily see those carries going to someone else. my most optimistic numbers for maroney would put him at 1400 total yards and 10 total tds. however, he has done nothing to show me that he is capable of putting up those numbers.

[double barrel]

I vote SA over FWP for the following reasons

NFC West vs AFC Central
New coach in Pitt
FWP can be very inconsistent
SA is a character guy that is easy to like (all other things equal, pick the guy you want to root for)

[bagobonez]

Tough one, and I haven't researched it thoroughly, but I'd say FWP over SA. The biggest factor in that decision is age. Younger guys like FWP have nowhere to go but up, older guys like SA have nowhere to go but down. SA's got alot of mileage on him, and that takes its toll especially if you're 30 or near 30. Also keep in mind that the Hawks lost Darrell Jackson, and while Deion Branch is ok as a replacement, he's never had a 1,000 yard season and the Hawks' offense may struggle more than they're used to, taking away from SA's goal line looks which are his bread and butter. The Steelers' offense on the other hand should be better than last year if Big Ben can get back on track and Santonio Holmes can improve.

[WickedSmaat]

I would go with FWP, I'm still suprised that he fell to me at 13th overall in one of my leagues last week

[Azrael]

maroney doesn't seem like a bruiser goal line type back. i could easily see those carries going to someone else. my most optimistic numbers for maroney would put him at 1400 total yards and 10 total tds. however, he has done nothing to show me that he is capable of putting up those numbers.

Obviously he hasn't shown anything because he's a 2nd year player that averaged carrying the ball 13 times a game last year. What do you expect to see from a player who only touches the ball that much? He still scored 6 rushing TDs...oh half of which were from 1yd out. So they did use him on the goal line occasionally. This year he's probably going to see a 50-60% increase in his role in the offense by being the feature back. The offense is better than it was when Dillon was making hay there 2 and 3 years ago.

Oh and Tatum Bell (who I wouldn't have used as an analogy but I'll address your point) rush 124 times for 585 yards and 2 TDs (4.7ypc) in 6 games before he got the turf toe. Not bad. I wouldn't say he has as much talent as Maroney but that production was above average. Then he got hurt and Shanahan started playing games at RB again.

I'll say the same thing I do every year. If you wait for someone to prove something then you've already lost.

[sublimeandy]

maroney doesn't seem like a bruiser goal line type back. i could easily see those carries going to someone else. my most optimistic numbers for maroney would put him at 1400 total yards and 10 total tds. however, he has done nothing to show me that he is capable of putting up those numbers.

Obviously he hasn't shown anything because he's a 2nd year player that averaged carrying the ball 13 times a game last year. What do you expect to see from a player who only touches the ball that much? He still scored 6 rushing TDs...oh half of which were from 1yd out. So they did use him on the goal line occasionally. This year he's probably going to see a 50-60% increase in his role in the offense by being the feature back. The offense is better than it was when Dillon was making hay there 2 and 3 years ago.

Oh and Tatum Bell (who I wouldn't have used as an analogy but I'll address your point) rush 124 times for 585 yards and 2 TDs (4.7ypc) in 6 games before he got the turf toe. Not bad. I wouldn't say he has as much talent as Maroney but that production was above average. Then he got hurt and Shanahan started playing games at RB again.

I'll say the same thing I do every year. If you wait for someone to prove something then you've already lost.

i wasn't saying that you talked about tatum bell. I made that analogy. i just think that taking maroney with a top 10, maybe even top 12 pick is a reach.