For the third straight year, we have a different winner of fantasy football's Most Valuable Running Back (MVRB) award. This year's recipient is Baltimore's Ray Rice.
Rice led all running backs with 283 fantasy football points, which placed him at No. 6 overall in scoring, He ran for 1,364 yards and scored 12 rushing touchdowns plus caught 76 passes for 704 yards and three touchdowns.
Darren Spoles of the New Orleans Saints was the "Biggest Surprise" at running back and Cleveland's Peyton Hillis was the "Biggest Disappointment."
Rice's combined total of 2,068 yards rushing and receiving and 15 touchdowns put him well ahead of runner-up LeSean McCoy of Philadelphia and Jacksonville's Maurice Jones-Drew, who led all rushers with 1,606 yards.
Houston's Arian Foster, who won last year's MVRB, finished at No. 4 with 238 fantasy football points. Chris Johnson of Tennessee, who won the award in 2009, finished a disappointing No. 16 among running backs.
The Examiner's preseason running back ratings had Darren Sproles at No. 45, but New Orleans' all-purpose back finished No. 8 with 176 fantasy football points. He led all running backs in receiving yardage with 711 and also ran for 603 yards.
Here are the top five "Biggest Surprise" running backs of 2011 and potential high fantasy football picks for the 2012 season:
- Darren Sproles, New Orleans Saints - No. 45 in preseason poll/finished at No. 8
- Beanie Wells, Arizona Cardinals - No. 50 in preseason poll/finished at No. 15
- Reggie Bush, Miami Dolphins - No. 44 in preseason poll/finished at No. 12
- Ben Tate, Houston Texans - No. 60 in preseason poll/finished at No. 28
- Marshawn Lynch, Seattle Seahawks - No. 31 in preseason poll/finished at No. 5
Peyton Hillis finished at No. 40 among running backs this season. He was considered the No. 15 running back in the Examiner's preseason ratings.
Here are the top five running backs that fall into the "Biggest Disappointment" category for 2011. You may want to take a long look at them before making your fantasy football picks for the 2012 season:
- Peyton Hillis, Cleveland Browns - No.15 in preseason poll/finished at No. 40
- LeGarrette Blount, Tampa Bay Buccaneers - No. 14 in preseason poll/finished at No. 33
- Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans - No. 3 in preseason poll/finished at No 16
- Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh Steelers - No. 10 in preseason poll/finished at No. 18
- BenJarvus Green-Ellis, New England Patriots - No. 17 in preaseason poll/finished at No. 22
Next season should be better for Adrian Peterson and Oakland's Darren McFadden if they bounce back from serious injuries.
Here are the top 10 scorers at running back in fantasy football in 2011:
- Ray Rice, Baltimore Ravens - 283 points
- LeSean McCoy, Philadelpha Eagles - 270
- Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville Jaguars - 244
- Arian Foster, Houston Texans - 238
- Michael Turner, Atlanta Falcnos - 203
- Marshawn Lynch, Seattle Seahawks- 203
- Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings - 181
- Darren Sproles, New Orleans Saints - 176
- Ryan Mathews, San Diego Chargers - 173
- Steven Jackson, St. Louis Rams - 170
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