One Running Back to Target in Each Round of Your Fantasy Football Draft
Round 1: Le'Veon Bell, Pittsburgh Steelers
Average Draft Position: 1.02 (RB2)
If you have one of the first two picks in your draft, you're going to get a stud. Both Le'Veon Bell and David Johnson -- the guys going first and second in a vast majority of drafts -- are bad, bad dudes who should score a ton of fantasy points this year if they stay healthy.
But I have to pick one, and I'm going with Bell due to his omnipresence in the Pittsburgh Steelers' offense.
Since the start of the 2015 season, the Steelers' do-it-all backfield maestro has played in 18 games (not ideal, I know), and he has gotten at least 20 touches -- catches and carries combined -- in 16 of those games. The usage alone makes him super valuable, but when you add in what he does on a per-touch basis, things get silly.
Here are his per-game averages in those 16 contests. For the safety of yourself and those around you, please take a seat for this.
| Stat | Rushing Yards | Receptions | Receiving Yards | Total Touchdowns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | 100.3 | 5.4 | 42.8 | 0.75 |
Bell is simply amazing. Over the past two seasons, in the 16 games in which he's gotten at least 20 touches, he's averaging 143.1 total yards per game with 5.4 catches and 0.75 total touchdowns. He's PPR gold.
Down the stretch in 2016, Bell somehow took things to yet another level. Starting in Week 11 and going through the end of his season, including his two healthy playoff games, Bell played in a total of eight full contests. In those eight games, he averaged 146.5 rushing yards, 4.2 catches and 32.4 receiving yards per game while scoring a total of 9 touchdowns.
He had 1,172 rushing yards in an eight-game stretch, for goodness sake. I've created players in video games who can't touch those numbers.
If you want to select Johnson at 1.01, go right ahead. He's an absolute beast, as well, and our season-long projections have DJ and Bell basically even. If you have one of the first two picks, don't try to get cute, take one of these two and build from there.
