Order. ORDER IN THE COURTROOM! The Law Firm of BenJarvus Green-Ellis, here unto and forthwith known as the plodding plaintiff, is charging Giovani Bernard – who will from henceforth be known as the electric defendant – as a younger, more versatile player with the intent of taking away the starting role of running back on the Cincinnati Bengals. This heinous crime leaves fantasy owners in a state of limbo as to who to draft for the Bengals at running back and will lead to a year of anguish for them whoever drafts either guy. How do you plead, electric defendant? Guilty as charged, your honor. Wow, didn’t realize my years of watching Law & Order reruns would help me write an intro paragraph about a running back by committee shituation…or did it? That decision might have to be taken to Civil court to find out but the reason we are talking Gio and BJGE is due to what offensive coordinator Jay Gruden said. And I quote ‘He’s a three-down back…who upgrades the Cincinnati passing game with an exciting sizzle.’ I don’t think I’ve seen ‘sizzle’ used in a sentence like that in a long while. Is that word making a comeback or was he speaking Snoop? In either case, you gotta read between the lines with this type of stuff. Like grout in a bathroom stall covered with grout puns – ‘Sometimes a Grout Notion’ and ‘Grout Fishing’ are two of my faves – the message is clear: do not be drafting either guy too high. To take this a little further, let’s see what BJGE did last year. On 278 carries, The Law Firm had 1094 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns while chipping in 22 receptions for 104 yards. The yards per carry there is 3.9 and the yards per reception are 4.7. Ugh, belch, and flatulence with a side of hurl. And yet, he finished as an RB2 by the end of the year in our Final Rankings. The key thing to realize is there is that BJGE finished 19th and Shonn Greene finished 15th. What does that teach us, children and grown adults who play this children’s game? Exactly, having a starting role and guaranteed carries means you may finish the year higher than some other people but it doesn’t mean you actually want those players on your team. And now with Gio in the mix, there’s no way BJGE gets to carry the ball over 275 times. So here’s my draft plan this year if I’m gonna be dipping my toes in the Bengals backfield. I’m passing on BJGE and I’m picking up Gio, especially in PPR leagues. By the end of the year, I think we see BenJarvus relegated to short down situations and Gio’s role expanding over that time frame. It won’t be instant but I think we’ll see a sliding scale of 60/30/10 in terms of carry distribution where BJGE and Gio are the 60/30 to the opposite. If you have the bench space to deal with that kind of headache, Gio’s your man. We good? Good, now I’ll stop banging my gavel. Was that a euphemism? Let’s hope not. Play me off, Mike Post…psyche! We’re back to remind you of Monday. Yes, I know it’s been a while but couldja please take a look at our post about Marshawn Lynch? And while you look at it, actually read it? And by that I mean the very end where we’re asking for Razzball Fantasy Football Glossary help? Yes, we’re turning our sad puppy dog eyes your way asking if you could chime in on some ideas. It takes a village to raise a child and apparently an entire internet population to create a fantasy football glossary page. So let us know what you’d call these fantasy football situations and we might, just might make you a superstar by posting you up here as the contributor for the idea. Or we might steal it if we’re feeling frisky…nah, we’re not cats, we’ll give you full contribution rights. Anywho, please do and we’ll see you Friday.
