Dominick Rhodes is the player in question.

Mr. Burns is FOR Rhodes being a valuable fantasy RB this season
TenTimes is AGAINST Rhodes being a valuable fantasy RB this season

Do your best to convince us your side is the right one.

"He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin!"
--Horace

Dominic Rhodes. Probably not the player that comes to mind when you're thinking about the upcoming fantasy football season, but that will change. You see, Rhodes has all the signs to be a break out player this year and as long as the Colts have him stick around...his opportunity will be greater then ever. Here's why:

#1 - History. You say, what has Rhodes ever done that's so impressive? You say, why should Rhodes even be considered ahead of Edge? Well, here's why: in his senior year of high school he totaled 2,193 rushing yards and 35 TD's! (yes, that was in one year!) He was a two year standout at Midwestern State University and had over 13 games of 100 yards rushing or more. He recorded a new school record for rushing over 2,500 yards and scoring 29 TD's! If you are still not convinced about Rhodes and his ability...then lets look at some other astonishing facts.

#2 - Future. That one word describes what Rhodes is to the Indianapolis Colts. Why you ask? Well, Edge has never been the same since he missed the last part of 2001 and his production show's that. Also, James was a 1999 pick that signed a six year deal with the Colts. According to my calculations...Edge's contract is up in 2005. Will the Colts re-sign a man who is past his prime? I doubt it. Instead they will give Rhodes the chance to shine this year and prove his ability to be their future back.

#3 - The third reason is the number 3 itself, also the number 2...confused yet? Rhodes was signed in 2001 as a FA and because he missed the 2002 season, this would be his 3rd year in the NFL. I don't have to tell the educated readers at Fantasy Insights what 3rd year players are capable of. The number two is also sufficient. ACL, the three letters that send chills down the spines of all fantasy owners. Rhodes tore his ACL in 2002 and missed the year. He was back last year but spent most of the season on the bench behind Edge. Everybody also knows that it generally takes two years to recover from an ACL injury, so Rhodes should be 100%. Now I'm sure you'll bring up the point that Edge also tore his ACL in 2001 but the difference is, he hasn't come back to producing the same numbers that he did before hand. Something that a more mentally tough Rhodes can accomplish.

#4 - Opportunity. When Rhodes had the chance to start for the Colts at the end of 2001, he rushed for an amazing 1100 yards and 9 TD's in just 10 games! He also added over 200 receiving yards to those totals. That's a rushing average of 4.7 yards a carry! Edge never has had that high of yards per carry. His career average is 4.1! Not only did Rhodes rush and score an overall impressive number that year but he also had 5 games over 100 yards. That would mean that you could count on Dominic to get you at least 100 yards or close to it every week. In case you still need one more reason to make Rhodes your fantasy sleeper this year...then here it is.

#5 - Player Ability. Edge and Rhodes are both similiar in the fact that they are both patient runners who will wait for a play to develop before hitting the hole. That's were the similarites end however. Rhodes is a much more explosive runner then Edge and can be a game breaker back every time he gets the ball. He became the only Colts RB in history to have runs of 70 and 80 plus yard TD's! Dominic's only 26 years old and with his 5'9 208 pound frame some may think he's too small but he has proved otherwise. His track running ability and breakaway speed make Rhodes the next starting RB for the Colts and make a fantastic sleeper RB this year. Everybody should be targeting Rhodes are there 4th or 5th RB this year and it will pay off with a #1 or 2 back next season!

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Originally posted by Mr. Burns:
Dominic Rhodes. Probably not the player that comes to mind when you're thinking about the upcoming fantasy football season, but that will change. You see, Rhodes has all the signs to be a break out player this year and as long as the Colts have him stick around...his opportunity will be greater then ever. Here's why:

#1 - History. You say, what has Rhodes ever done that's so impressive? You say, why should Rhodes even be considered ahead of Edge? Well, here's why: in his senior year of high school he totaled 2,193 rushing yards and 35 TD's! (yes, that was in one year!) He was a two year standout at Midwestern State University and had over 13 games of 100 yards rushing or more. He recorded a new school record for rushing over 2,500 yards and scoring 29 TD's! If you are still not convinced about Rhodes and his ability...then lets look at some other astonishing facts.

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I know better than to put too much stock in to high school numbers, and I would hope the rest of the FI users would as well. There was a guy recently by the name of Rashawn Mosley who went to the same high school I graduated from. He tore up the football scene as a running back, was the leading rusher in Texas (one of if not the biggest high school football state) in the biggest football conference (class 5A). Where is he now? He went to Arizona where he apparently wasn't very impressive, never got off the bench, and later transfered to Baylor. Now it's not fair to compare Rhodes to Mosley, but it's also not wise to guage how a guy will do based on how he did in high school.

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#2 - Future. That one word describes what Rhodes is to the Indianapolis Colts. Why you ask? Well, Edge has never been the same since he missed the last part of 2001 and his production show's that. Also, James was a 1999 pick that signed a six year deal with the Colts. According to my calculations...Edge's contract is up in 2005. Will the Colts re-sign a man who is past his prime? I doubt it. Instead they will give Rhodes the chance to shine this year and prove his ability to be their future back.

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I'm not so sure the Colts are as convinced as you are that Rhodes is their RB of the future. According to this ESPN article Rhodes signed a 1 year contract for the base salary for the '04 season and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. Sounds to me like he took the pay cut so he could become a free agent at the end of the year and move to somewhere where he could contend for a starting job. He knows that if he stays in Indy he'll be waiting quite a while because the only way he's getting a starting job is if Edge gets hurt, and that won't be happening anytime soon.

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#3 - The third reason is the number 3 itself, also the number 2...confused yet? Rhodes was signed in 2001 as a FA and because he missed the 2002 season, this would be his 3rd year in the NFL. I don't have to tell the educated readers at Fantasy Insights what 3rd year players are capable of. The number two is also sufficient. ACL, the three letters that send chills down the spines of all fantasy owners. Rhodes tore his ACL in 2002 and missed the year. He was back last year but spent most of the season on the bench behind Edge. Everybody also knows that it generally takes two years to recover from an ACL injury, so Rhodes should be 100%. Now I'm sure you'll bring up the point that Edge also tore his ACL in 2001 but the difference is, he hasn't come back to producing the same numbers that he did before hand. Something that a more mentally tough Rhodes can accomplish.

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I personally can't coment on the mental toughness of either Rhodes or James, and how they compare to eachother, but I do know that James is one of the most gifted athletes in the NFL. After a long, 3 hour game filled with punishing, bruising, bone crushing hits James heads to the hot tub to soak for a few hours like most NFL RBs right? Nope. He heads to the basketball court to play pick up games for a few hours. Give me a break, is the NFL that effortless to him that he has all that energy to spare? YES it is, and his numbers pre-injury speak for themselves, he went all out and still had some to spare. Now I'd suggest taking this with a grain of salt, but it appears as though James has made a full recovery. He finally gets an entire offseason consisting of un-hampered workouts which will put him back to the level he once was at. The numbers don't lie, in the final game of the regular season James rushed for 171 yards and a TD. In the 3 playoff games James had 280 yards and 3 TDs. Clearly he went strong all season long.

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#4 - Opportunity. When Rhodes had the chance to start for the Colts at the end of 2001, he rushed for an amazing 1100 yards and 9 TD's in just 10 games! He also added over 200 receiving yards to those totals. That's a rushing average of 4.7 yards a carry! Edge never has had that high of yards per carry. His career average is 4.1! Not only did Rhodes rush and score an overall impressive number that year but he also had 5 games over 100 yards. That would mean that you could count on Dominic to get you at least 100 yards or close to it every week. In case you still need one more reason to make Rhodes your fantasy sleeper this year...then here it is.

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Again, while I won't contend that Rhodes *might* be a valuable fantasy back IF he were a starter, he just isn't going to start this season, plain and simple. I've shown you that he isn't the Colts back of the future, he's nothing more than a 1 year backup until the Colts can find another one. And if you're going to draft him hoping Edge will go down with injury and he'll get the starting job then you might as well pick a kicker because you're wasting the pick. James played 14 games in 2002, 13 games in 2003, and now that he's had time to fully recover from his injury, he'll play 16 in 2004.

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#5 - Player Ability. Edge and Rhodes are both similiar in the fact that they are both patient runners who will wait for a play to develop before hitting the hole. That's were the similarites end however. Rhodes is a much more explosive runner then Edge and can be a game breaker back every time he gets the ball. He became the only Colts RB in history to have runs of 70 and 80 plus yard TD's! Dominic's only 26 years old and with his 5'9 208 pound frame some may think he's too small but he has proved otherwise. His track running ability and breakaway speed make Rhodes the next starting RB for the Colts and make a fantastic sleeper RB this year. Everybody should be targeting Rhodes are there 4th or 5th RB this year and it will pay off with a #1 or 2 back next season!

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But again, in my opinion it doesn't matter who the better back is because James is going to go 16 strong. Besides, if Rhodes was better than James like you claim he is, why did the Colts only sign him to a 1 year deal? Why are they paying him the base salary while they are giving Edge the big bucks? Why are they offering him the chance to be an UFA and get away from Indy at the end of the season? Why would they let him go...?

The answer is simple, they see Edge James on a day to day basis. They work with him after each game, test his body, see how he's feeling. They are more informed on his situation than any casual fan like you or I could ever hope to be. They KNOW that his past ACL injury is no longer a concern, and they KNOW that he is by far the more talented back of the two, he'll be their franchise back, he'll be the one earning the big bucks while Rhodes finds his way to the door.