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Examiner debate: Draft Michael Turner over Thomas Jones
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When it's draft time in your fantasy football league, you have precious few seconds to make critical decisions that you will have to live with for the entire season (and sometimes longer). The time to figure out where you stand on some of the tough decisions is right now.
That's why Fantasy Sports Examiner Dave Del Grande and I are bringing you a series of debates on some of the close calls you may have to face in your draft.
In this installment, we debate Michael Turner vs. Thomas Jones.
Let's get one thing straight right off the bat--there is no shame in backing up LaDainian Tomlinson. The only running back in the league who wouldn't back up LT if he were on their team is LT. So don't hold Michael Turner's previous status as a backup against him. He is the real deal.
Need proof? These statistics will be happy to oblige: a career 5.5 yards per carry in 228 totes for the Chargers. That's better than LT's average. This preseason Turner has been 18-169 for a crazy average of over 9 yards a carry. Take out his big 63-yard run and he still averaged over 6 yards a carry on the other 17 rushes. But why would you not want to count that big run? Fantasy leagues sure count them, and it's exactly that type of run that makes Turner special.
Thomas Jones is special, too. He just hit that special birthday that starts with a 3--often not such a good thing for running backs.
Thanks to Brett Favre keeping defenses from stacking against the run, Thomas Jones is almost certain to improve over last year's fantasy numbers, but he won't do for your fantasy team what Michael Turner will.
Turner has that big-play ability that will rack up the yards in no time. Each of the past three seasons he busted one loose for over 70 yards. Jones has never had a run that long. In fact, he's only had a single run over 50 yards in the past four seasons. If you have the choice between Turner and Jones, you have to take "The Burner" over the burnout.
Click here for Dave Del Grande's argument for drafting Jones ahead of Turner.
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