Best Fantasy RB Second Half Performers

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Fantasy RB’s First Half/Second Half 2011 Breakdown

Statistics can be overkill, they can manipulate the truth and sometimes be a poor estimate of what really happened. Gridiron Experts is not going to try to convince you that these statistics are the end all be all. We are simple going to provide you with some interesting findings this summer that we hope you use during your search for fantasy football sleepers.

In this article, we see a breakdown of last year’s workhorse fantasy running backs split from the first 8 games to the last 8 games.

The main argument to the statistical relevancy of the numbers below is strength of schedule, yet truthfully that isn’t a great analysis of why or how fantasy players perform well. “Any Given Sunday” and the best running backs in the game can be shut down while the worst light up the score board -we’ve all seen it. Yet, the main reason these Fantasy statistics are so interesting and arguably useful, is the time in which they are based upon. No player that was injured for a significant portion of time is featured in the chart below, yet with enough of an average it does paint a picture of hot and cold players from the first 8 games to the last 8 games.

Running Backs	Breakdown	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Fum
Maurice Jones-Drew	Games 1-8	8	166	740	93	4.5	3	12	85	10.6	7.1	0	6
	Games 9-16	8	177	866	108	4.9	5	31	289	36.1	9.3	3	0
Arian Foster	Games 1-8	6	135	532	89	3.9	4	22	317	52.8	14	1	0
	Games 9-16	7	143	692	99	4.8	6	31	300	42.9	9.7	1	5
LeSean McCoy	Games 1-8	8	151	825	103	5.5	9	28	184	23	6.6	2	0
	Games 9-16	7	122	484	69	4	8	20	131	18.7	6.6	1	1
Ray Rice	Games 1-8	8	133	532	67	4	6	38	416	52	11	2	1
	Games 9-16	8	158	832	104	5.3	6	38	288	36	7.6	1	1
Chris Johnson	Games 1-8	8	121	366	46	3	1	31	206	25.8	6.6	0	1
	Games 9-16	8	141	681	85	4.8	3	26	212	26.5	8.2	0	2
Ryan Mathews	Games 1-8	7	111	509	73	4.6	3	30	342	48.9	11	0	2
	Games 9-16	7	111	582	83	5.2	3	20	113	16.1	5.7	0	3
Marshawn Lynch	Games 1-8	7	97	398	57	4.1	4	12	91	13	7.6	0	2
	Games 9-16	8	188	806	101	4.3	8	16	121	15.1	7.6	1	1
Steven Jackson	Games 1-8	7	113	579	83	5.1	4	17	95	13.6	5.6	1	1
	Games 9-16	8	147	566	71	3.9	1	25	238	29.8	9.5	0	1
Michael Turner	Games 1-8	8	157	692	87	4.4	7	8	105	13.1	13	0	1
	Games 9-16	8	144	648	81	4.5	4	9	63	7.9	7	0	2
Darren Sproles	Games 1-8	8	45	305	38	6.8	2	51	389	48.6	7.6	2	0
	Games 9-16	8	42	298	37	7.1	0	35	321	40.1	9.2	5	0
Ahmad Bradshaw	Games 1-8	7	111	440	63	4	5	24	210	30	8.8	1	1
	Games 9-16	5	60	219	44	3.7	4	10	57	11.4	5.7	1	0
Frank Gore	Games 1-8	8	159	782	98	4.9	5	13	78	9.8	6	0	2
	Games 9-16	8	123	429	54	3.5	3	4	36	4.5	9	0	0
BenJarvus Green-Ellis	Games 1-8	8	108	452	57	4.2	5	5	49	6.1	9.8	0	0
	Games 9-16	8	73	215	27	2.9	6	4	110	13.8	28	0	0
Reggie Bush	Games 1-8	8	88	427	53	4.9	1	24	164	20.5	6.8	1	3
	Games 9-16	7	128	659	94	5.1	5	19	132	18.9	6.9	0	1
Shonn Greene	Games 1-8	8	132	502	63	3.8	2	14	77	9.6	5.5	0	1
	Games 9-16	8	121	552	69	4.6	4	16	134	16.8	8.4	0	0
Willis McGahee	Games 1-8	7	123	623	89	5.1	3	11	49	7	4.5	1	2
	Games 9-16	8	126	576	72	4.6	1	1	2	0.3	2	0	2
DeAngelo Williams	Games 1-8	8	75	363	45	4.8	1	10	61	7.6	6.1	0	0
	Games 9-16	8	80	473	59	5.9	6	6	74	9.3	12	0	0
Michael Bush	Games 1-8	8	79	333	42	4.2	3	11	144	18	13	1	0
	Games 9-16	8	177	644	81	3.6	4	26	274	34.3	11	0	1
Jonathan Stewart	Games 1-8	8	71	327	41	4.6	2	23	220	27.5	9.6	0	1
	Games 9-16	8	71	434	54	6.1	2	24	193	24.1	8	1	0
LeGarrette Blount	Games 1-8	6	90	400	67	4.4	3	6	66	11	11	0	1
	Games 9-16	8	94	381	48	4.1	2	9	82	10.3	9.1	0	4
Donald Brown	Games 1-8	8	32	153	19	4.8	2	3	17	2.1	5.7	0	0
	Games 9-16	8	102	492	62	4.8	3	13	69	8.6	5.3	0	0

Thoughts on some of the results

• Steven Jackson’s second half drop is somewhat alarming. The team was awful all year so it’s not like their was ever a low point in which things fell apart. Age is becoming a factor, something that is important when talking about weeks 14-17 -fantasy playoff time.
• Chris Johnson seemed to pick up steam near the end of the year. Promising news for fantasy owners
• Frank Gore’s slip in stats had to do with the fact that the team had clinched the playoffs and were starting to ease him off carries. Smart coaching move but who’s to say that doesn’t happen again this year? With the army of RB’s on the roster now the 49ers could put Gore on ice if the NFC West is a walk in the park again.
• I have to commend Reggie Bush, he really did turn into an all-purpose RB last year. His second half performance made him one of the must-have players at fantasy trade deadlines.
• Could Jonathan Stewart split his stats more evenly? Same amount of carries and Touchdowns, but a big boost in YPC average second half.
• Michael Bush may be better suited in a rotation role, his numbers never really took off when given the starter role after Darren McFadden got hurt