Where To Draft: Cedric Benson

Now here's a real head scratcher of a football player. Came out of Texas with a chip on his shoulder ready to prove to the world he was the best RB in the 2005 draft. His first 4 years in the league were anything but stellar. Averaging 585 yards and 3TD's a season until last year. He ran for over 1200 yards and 6 rushing touchdowns in his career year. He also tossed in 111 receiving yards last season. So what does that all mean for this season?



The enigmatic Benson has had legal trouble in the past as well as this last off season. He says he was sucker punched in a bar, but that doesn't mean the league will look well upon his actions. He seems to put himself in the wrong situations. His coach doesn't think he'll be suspended for this latest incident, but if the league does take action it knocks his fantasy value down some.



The upside of Benson is actually pretty big. He's the solo featured running back in the Bengals offense, a premium in this day and age, and has a large frame which says he can carry the workload. Plus he hasn't had 250+ touches every year for the past 5, on the contrary, he's only had that once, last season. And you saw what he did when given the opportunity. So you have to take into consideration that he'll be fresh and ready to roll again this season.



The Nerd has him ranked as the 12th back in this years draft. It's actually hard for me to argue with that. I want to drop him lower because he's only done it for one year, he's a head case by all accounts, and he is a Bengal after all. But I can't. He's grouped in with other 1 year proven backs like Jamal Charles and Beanie Wells. The only thing I disagree with is I'd take Ryan Grant who's done it for several years over Benson. Grant is ranked one spot lower then Benson and has done it for a longer stretch and is in a better offense, but it feels like I am nitpicking at this point.



I will discount him a little for the legal troubles though so I say he's still a number #2 back, just slides down a little on my draft chart.



Draft position: top 20 back, mid third rounder



A solid #2 RB option in most formats (I can't believe I just wrote that)



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This is a guest post from Andrew Deehr. Andrew has written for FFN before and is one of the brightest fantasy footballers I know consistently winning the majority of his leagues each year.

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