Broncos cut RB M.Bell

[LT Blue Colt]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d ... nfirm=true

Might have to keep my eye on Selvin Young now. Might be a good guy to have on the bench. Possible sleeper. But, I am an optimist. And a Lions fan.

[killiansjmd]

When the Broncos cut Travis Henry a month ago, people started upgrading Selvin Young. Young looks to be the 1RB going into training camp with Michael Pittman and the rookie Ryan Torrain as his backups. Although you never know what Shannahan is going to do??

[LS2throwed]

Selvin Young is a great pickup in all formats if you grab Torrian way later to handcuff...Maybe Andre Hall sees action because its Denver and we never truly know how Shanny will play it, but Torrian is pretty skilled, one injury could be all it takes before that backfield turns back into a mess like it does every year.

[Kensat30]

Torain doesn't wow me from a talent standpoint at all.

Selvin Young could easily turn out to be nothing more than a scatback. Same goes for Andre Hall. And the Denver o-line is nowhere near where it used to be. I think Denver RB is still a very risky situation to invest in and the return is not all that great anymore. Chances are I won't end up with anyone there on my redraft rosters unless Selvin falls really far or something unexpected happens in training camp to give one of them a clear edge.

[Dan Lambskin]

i've finally decided it is impossible to draft the Denver RB that will end up being good each year, you have to pick them up off waivers.

P.S. Dont forget about Michael Pittman

[pangbones]

I learned my lesson on drafting Denver RB's a LONG time ago. You will be teased, and you will be disappointed. I think Young is a decent pick, but I wouldn't be surprised one bit to see Pittman as the most productive back in Denver this year. Not gonna waste any of my picks on any of them this year, unless of course the price is right!!

[moochman]

I learned my lesson on drafting Denver RB's a LONG time ago. You will be teased, and you will be disappointed. I think Young is a decent pick, but I wouldn't be surprised one bit to see Pittman as the most productive back in Denver this year. Not gonna waste any of my picks on any of them this year, unless of course the price is right!!

And there's the rub. As it starts to look more and more that Selvin is going to be the man, he starts looking like more of a bargain. The next thing you know BAM!!! You've been Shanny'd.

[biju]

Given the sentiment here on Denver RBs, I'm now curious what the depth chart has looked like each year and what the final stats looked like. I think this is the last few after Portis left*:

2004: Quentin Griffin, Tatum Bell (Reuben Droughns: 1240 yds, 6 TDs)
2005: Mike Anderson, Tatum Bell (Mike Anderson: 1024 yds, 12 TDs; Tatum Bell: 921 yds, 8 TDs)
2006: Tatum Bell, Mike Bell (Tatum Bell: 1025, 2 TDs; Mike Bell: 677 yds, 8 TDs)
2007: Travis Henry, Selvin Young (Selvin Young: 729, 1 TD; Travis Henry: 691 yds, 4 TDs)

* - note: this is only rushing yards. I'm a little drunk and too lazy to add up the receiving yardage.

Does this look right (from a depth chart perspective)?

It's a small sample size, but the top pick from Denver's RBs has only finished the top RB on the team half the time, and only once been "the guy" from a fantasy points perspective (Anderson, 2005). Even then Tatum Bell nearly put up the same numbers. Once the favored RB wasn't even one of the top 2 coming out of preseason (Droughns, 2004).

The point is, maybe the better play is to sit on the Denver RBs and take the #2 or #3 guy with a low investment pick. Torain seems to fit the bill here. I wish we had ADPs from these drafts, but I suspect the #2 from Denver has been clearly the winner if you were to map ADP to production.

I actually have some snapshots of ADP from Antsports for the last two years:

August 19, 2006:
- Tatum Bell: 26th RB taken (high: 4.11; low: 6.05)
- Mike Bell: 37th RB taken (high: 5.05(!); low: 9.03)
- Ron Dayne: 40th RB taken (high: 8.05; low: 9.10)
August 22, 2007:
- Travis Henry: 11th RB taken (high: 1.06; low: 2.04)
- Selvin Young: Didn't register on the top 60 RBs according to this

Add to this that Reuben Droughns wasn't drafted in 2004 except in the deepest of leagues. The only data I have on 2005 drafting was from a league I was in that was 14 teams with 2 flex spots and 2 keepers where Mike Anderson was kept and Tatum Bell was drafted with the 60th overall pick (so roughly the 88th pick of that draft).

Interesting, or useless?

[SirPimpin08]

Ill take any RB that avg. 5 YPC