Darren Sproles

[Purple1]

This is from an espn article.

"3. Just how unprecedented is Darren Sproles' production so far this year? I admit I've been super-slow to get aboard the Sproles bandwagon. It's just so hard for me to get past how few touches he gets from scrimmage. But even in Week 4, the first game of '11 in which he didn't find the end zone, Sproles was vexingly great. He racked up 75 yards on just seven carries and mustered another 56 yards on five receptions. For a month, there's absolutely no doubt that he's been the Saints' best offensive weapon. It hasn't been close. I've been under-ranking him and paying for it in leagues where my own teams have played against the mighty mite.



But can this possibly keep up? I mean, Sproles has 50 fantasy points on just 41 touches from scrimmage. That's ludicrous! Even if we take away his Week 1 punt return touchdown in the name of being able to compare him to other running backs, 44 fantasy points on 41 touches still seems crazy. But is it? With a huge assist from my friend and ESPN colleague Tristan Cockcroft, I looked at data from 2000 forward to find RBs who had the highest ratio of fantasy-points-to-touches. I looked only at players with 150 touches from scrimmage or more, and here are the best such seasons over the past 11 NFL campaigns:



Most Fantasy Pts Per Touch, Since 2000
Year Fantasy Pts. Touches Pts/Touch
Marshall Faulk 2000 365 334 1.09
Marion Barber 2006 166 158 1.05
LaDainian Tomlinson 2006 410 404 1.01
Maurice Jones-Drew 2006 211 212 1.00
Marshall Faulk 2001 324 343 0.94
Priest Holmes 2002 361 383 0.94
Brian Westbrook 2003 143 154 0.93
Pierre Thomas 2008 148 160 0.93
DeAngelo Williams 2008 272 295 0.92
Shaun Alexander 2005 351 385 0.91


Sproles has 15 carries and 26 catches for 44 non-special-teams fantasy points. That makes his ratio 1.07. Do we really believe we're watching the most-efficient fantasy season for a RB in the past decade? Note also that not a single one of our historically efficient RBs had even 35 percent as many catches as carries, and that Sproles is bent in completely the opposite direction. Heck, there literally isn't a running back over the past 11 seasons who scored at least 100 fantasy points and did it with more catches than carries. Not one! The closest guy was -- surprise! -- the Saints' own Reggie Bush in '09, who had 70 carries and 47 catches. And the next-closest guy was Kevin Faulk in '08, who had 141 carries and 83 catches.


And in the end, that's who Sproles is. He's Reggie Bush, he's Kevin Faulk. He's a playmaker, but he's not this much of a playmaker. Unless he's about to set a pretty amazing precedent for point-per-touch efficiency, expect him to slow down. Of course, I'm kind of a hypocrite here, because I did rank him 21st among RBs this week, higher than Mark Ingram or Pierre Thomas. But I was still lower than my three ESPN cohorts."

I love how all these "experts" are still dismissing Sproles. I always thought this guy was under utilized in SD and as soon as I heard he signed with NO he was my #1 late round RB target. This guy is so wrong, hes' NOT Reggie Bush or Kevin Faulk he's Darren Sproles and hes better than both those guys.

[TexasBornCowboysFan]

Sproles is a quick guy who is getting the ball in more space at NO than SD could give him. I always felt Sproles was under utilized at SD. That kid is dynamite and fun to watch. I don't see any reason for Sproles' efficiency to drop short of putting a spy on him, but what defense can do that facing NO? With Payton as his HC, Sproles will show us his full potential this year. I regret only drafting him in one league.

[GoodOl'Days]

Just link or quote the damn article. No one wants to read that

[McDuff]

I OVE what Sproes is doing this year and feel he has a great chance to continue at pretty much the same pace.

I like to say that he has been waiting his whole life for this situation and opportunity. Getting out of SD has been the salvation of a few guys, like the Burner, imagine what HE woud have done if injected right into the high powered and diverse offense of the Saints!

In some ways I think Sproles may even get BETTER! The Saints are probaby still getting used to him and fitting him into more and more situations where he can produce.
At the same time he has been fortunate to be breaking in a rookie RB, and a returning post injury vet, Pierre, and the injury to Colston might have helped too as the Saints looked to find other ways to move tha ball with him out.
But as those factors are smoothed out, Ingrahm getting better, Thomas rounding back into trusted status, and Colston helping the passing game, things may open up even more for Sproles! He is a playmaker and paying with fire we don't often get to see from a player. Why the Chargers couldn't see it it hard to imagine but I imagine there is another guy let go by the Chargers who can related, Guy by the name of Drew Brees? Yeah I think he knows how Darrren feels!

God i just wish I had got him in more leagues! My fav is the league where I get return yards. Return yards! And Sproles on a team that values special teams ike the Saints? A godsend! And they laughed when I grabbed him in the 6th round.

[Sex Panther]

Sproles is everything reggie Bush was supposed to be in the Saints offense - plain and simple.

He's never going to be a guy who should get 15+ offensive touches per game - and that's fine.

Look at his production in SD when they tried to force feed him the - it didn't work.

In the Saints offense, he is absolutely the perfect fit - an exqusite receiver out of the back field & a true change of pace back.

As long as he continues to get his 10-15 touches per game on offense, I see no reason why he cannot keep up his current pace.

He has a very legitimate shot at finishing as a top 10 PPR fantasy RB.

In leagues that count return yards as well, a top 5 finish isn't out of the question IMO.

He will in all likeyhood finish the season w/ around 400 yards rushing, 80+ receptions, 800ish receveing yards, 800ish return yards, and 10 total TD... he is a dynamic weapon who is being utilized perfectly in New Orleans.

[doomedn00b]

True he may never get 15 touches a game, but that's not to say he'll get 4-5 and then another 6-7 screen passes or something out in space. The guy is quite shifty to say the least. He's been putting up highly consistent numbers for me thus far. I love watching him play, truly explosive.

[FFslacker]

He's been the only bright spot on my team this year. He is the type of player that I try to fill my teams with each year. Consistent and a high upside so your floor isn't too low but the ceiling is remarkably high.