Fred Taylor is the player in question.

Sportz Genius is FOR Taylor being a valuable fantasy RB this season
skipscrew is AGAINST Taylor 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

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TenTimes,

Taylor is a stud RB and after 32 consecutive games over 2 full seasons I think it's safe to say you can throw out all inj concerns.

At 28 years old he's coming off his most productive season ever. He rushed for 1572 yrds with 4.6 ypc and an additional 370 through the air. That's just shy of being a 2,000 yrd back.

Jacksonville should have an improved offense this year with Leftwich and a very solid defense. That should help bring Taylors TD totals back into double figures like he did earlier in his career and land him in the 10 RBs this year if not one of the elite.

Let me catch up on this after the weekend. I told you in the original thread I wouldn't be back until Wednesday this week. And I am just now back on a computer...I am heading out of town again in about 3 hours and no chance to catch up here...

Yeah, I think Fred Taylor is finally coming into his own. I look for him to have another strong season. IMO, he's a top 5 RB. Try not to flame me too bad for that remark.

Ah, just back from a very long week...so here we go...

This is a man we've seen referred to as "Fragile Fred", "Fraud Taylor", and I am guessing a couple of others... Is this belief justified? Very likely - on all points. And I will start by looking at the man's numbers.

Fred Taylor broke onto the scene as a rookie in 1998 when an injury opened up an opportunity to start. Taylor was nothing short of amazing. In just 12 starts he managed over 1600 total yards and 17 TDs. At the time, the unquestioned #1 back in the NFL was Terrell Davis. Head and shoulders above every other player. A detailed look at averages and game by game scoring revealed that Taylor was a MORE productive back than Davis - on the verge of superstar.

Then came 1999, when Taylor missed half the season. But the most frustrating part was he was rarely ever demoted below the "questionable" status and was a weekly game time decision. He forged out about a half season's worth of play and comparable stats. 800+ yards and 6 TDs, but when we're talking fantasy play those numbers are not good.

In 2000, he was mostly healthy and again put up some fantastic numbers - over 1600 combined and 14 TDs in 13 starts. Much like 1999, there were a handful of starts when he was listed questionable on injury reports - frustrating owners even with his final numbers.

2001 was really the final blow for most fantasy players. Taylor made just 2 starts and the numbers were just downright horrible. He was forever blacklisted by all but the hopeful few.

Taylor has now remained healthy for two full seasons. His yardage numbers have been tremendous, 1700+ and 190+, but the TDs are far from where they were in his big seasons in his early career. Just 8 and 7, not what you want out of a starting back. And it is suspect that those numbers could even get better. With his injury-speckled past, the team tries to keep him out of the goal line situations - yielding fewer scoring opportunities.

Now we add into this equation Byron Leftwich. In 13 starts last season he tossed just 14 TDs, about 1 per game - while throwing a higher number of picks (16). While he was just a rookie, the numbers so far have been unimpressive. A 57% completion rate and these other numbers are not going to scare defenses - leaving them able to play run stop defense first.

And it gets worse. The staring pair for the club is Jimmy Smith and Troy Edwards at wideout. I will give Smith his props. When he's healthy he can put up some decent numbers, but they are not premier numbers. What you should be able to expect is 1100-1300 yards and 6 to 8 TDs. Again, not awe-striking. He makes a good WR, but not enough to draw piles of coverage - and without a solid compliment on the other side...yikes. The move to add Kevin Johnson last season was a great one and they should have stuck with him. Instead, they are getting Troy "I was a bust the day the Steelers drafted me" Edwards. Edwards was over-hyped since day 1. I recall that draft and Edwards was anticipated to go high but I got a good chuckle out of it. I am not a believer in WRs that early. Too much risk. And Edwards lived up to those expectations. To be fair, he hasn't had too many starts over the course of his career, so looking at those numbers would not make sense. But he did get 11 starts last season for the Jags. He racked up 483 yards and 3 TDs. Wow! And the scary part is he had one catch for 84 yards.

You're saying, "But wait! They do have Kyle Brady." Yes, they do. In 5 seasons with the Jags, he has 2203 yards and 11 TDs. Last season was his worst year with them. In 15 starts, he had 283 yards and 1 TD. That maybe made him the worst receving TE in the league.

The bottom line here is that this is not an offense with a whole lot of talent outside of Fred Taylor. We'll hear "8-in-the-box" all day long, and that may be fair. There are just not the weapons in the passing game to take the pressure away from the running game. And the team knows it. Even with his injury history, Taylor had 345 carries last season - the most in his career and 5th most in the NFL. That is not likely to change with the poor passing game. He will likely approach if not exceed those numbers this season. But given his injury history, that kind of beating will shorten his season - and yielding another year when he burns his hopeful owners.

skip. With that same liability, he was still able to post excellent numbers on the ground. With a year of seasoning, it isn't a stretch to believe that Leftwich will improve his numbers and possibly open things up a bit for Taylor.

With only 4 more TDs next year and similar rushing yards, he definately falls into the stud category. To say he isn't a "valuable RB" is a mistake IMO.

K - You have missed the point of these threads. I am not saying whether I agree or disagree with what I have written. This is a threaded debate for SG and myself to debate the merits of a player. I am assigned the position of debating that Taylor is not a useful fantasy back.

Sorry skip. I tend to miss the point to alot of things. lol

*boing*

This debate got a bit lost in the shuffle. Skip was gone for a while and when he returned I wasn't able to respond right away.

I can't say much else about Taylor than I already have withoug starting to debate the quality of Jacksonvilles team. But that's another topic.