Careful What You Read About LJ

June 5, 2008 at 7:18 am | Article by Paul Hickey |

Fantasy owners need to be very careful in how they interpret certain media reports regarding star players. For example, a source that we won’t throw under the bus recently reported that Larry Johnson’s workload will be “cut back” in 2008. When actually looking at what head coach Herm Edwards said, however, we came to a different conclusion.

“Cut back” is a relative term as it relates to a guy like Larry Johnson, who set an NFL record for most carries in a season in 2006, toting the rock an impressive 416 times. In fact, over the last three seasons, Johnson has carried the rock an average of just less than 23 times a game. It’s interesting though that Herm Edwards’ exact quote to this reporter was that LJ will not “carry the ball 30 times a game,” and will not “touch the ball 40 times a game.”

Since when has he ever really done that?

To say that rookie Jamaal Charles and second year man Kolby Smith will see “significant time” just because Edwards said LJ wouldn’t touch the ball 40 times a game, is an absolute farce. In fact, Charles has even come out and told the media that he doesn’t want to really challenge LJ for carries during his rookie season. He said he’d rather sit back and learn.

Okay, look. There’s no doubt that as Johnson gets older and more run-down, that Smith and Charles will spell him occassionally. However, Johnson is healthy heading into 2008, and will carry the full load for the Chiefs this year - no questions asked. To imply anything else is totally inaccurate. Even if his work is “cut back,” it’ll still equal that of most other NFL featured backs, putting him in position to be a solid RB1 in 2008.

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