Add/Drop for Week 2: Running Back Depth

After Week 1 of the NFL season, everybody is scrambling to the waiver wire. While your fellow fantasy owners are fighting over the “hot” free agents (yeah, Mike Vick, we get it) this would be a good time to strengthen your bench depth.

Week 1 revealed that there are several backup running backs that you should know about, even if you don’t need them as a handcuff. Everybody knows about Jeff Garcia, but here are some RB2s that most people don’t know about.

Brian Leonard - Cedric Benson’s solid Week 1 (21 carries for 76 yds and 1 TD) shows that the Bengals are willing and able to run the ball this year. If something happens to Benson, Brian Leonard will be the guy that takes over. Cedric is firmly in the RB1 role right now, but we are talking about a guy once arrested for drunken boating so anything can happen. If you have the bench spot available, Leonard makes a nice Plan B.

Garrett Wolfe - Matt Forte stinks. OK, not really, but he didn’t look good (25 carries for 55 yards) against the Packers on Sunday night. He IS only in his second season in the league, so neither fantasy owners nor the Bears should expect him to be the second coming of Walter Payton. Unfortunately, fantasy owners have done exactly that, but maybe the Bears have a different plan. Wolfe only had three carries on Sunday, but his 5.0 yards per carry average means the Bears should be looking to give him work to keep Forte fresh. With RB Kevin Jones out for the season, Wolfe looks like a critical Forte handcuff who may start to get work on his own.

Rashard Mendenhall - The Steelers couldn’t do anything on the ground against Tennessee (22 rushes for 33 yards!!) and even though the Titans D is one of the best, that’s a bad sign for all Willie Parker owners. It’s an even worse sign for Rashard Mendenhall owners because when it became clear that Parker wasn’t getting it done Pittsburgh went to RB3 Mewelde Moore instead of Mendenhall. And even worse than that, Moore did well. OK, five rushes for eight yards isn’t that great, but in the fourth quarter and overtime they ONLY gave the ball to Moore. If Pittsburgh has a two-headed rushing attack, it could easily be Parker-Moore, not Parker-Mendenhall.

Earnest Graham - A lot of fantasy owners snapped up Graham thinking that he could be the TD-stealing fullback in Tampa. At worst he’d share time with Derrick Ward, right? Wrong! The Bucs unleashed Cadillac “Remember Me?” Williams on the fantasy world with a 13 carry, 97 yard, 1 TD performance. Derrick Ward helped out with 12 carries and a touchdown. Where was Graham? One carry for one yard. Abort! Barring an injury, it looks like Graham is the odd man out. Cut your losses with him now.