I always wait until the end of the week to do my Running Back Rankings, but I wanted to give owners a heads up and expect a certain Cardinal to get a boost this week and move up a couple spots. Not even a week ago, it seemed Cardinals running back Beanie Wells was slowly falling into a downward spiral after rookie backup Ryan Williams showed the coaching staff that not only was he a better pass catcher than Beanie, but was also a much better pure runner than Beanie earlier in training camp.
Well, all that talk was for not after Williams' season ended prematurely after he was diagnosed with a ruptured right patellar tendon during last weekend's preseason game. The bad news is that those owners who invested a late-round pick in Williams in redraft leagues will have to throw Williams back into the free agent pool. Dynasty league owners might still get some value out of him in the future, but he is best on injured reserve if your league allows that. The good news for Williams owners is that the injury happened early in the year, so he should be up and running with plenty of time for 2012's training camp.
As for Beanie owners; rejoice!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wells' ADP value had him going around the 7th-8th round in 12-team PPR leagues, which is great value considering he is going to be the bell cow of the offense with Williams out for the year. So for those who held their drafts before Williams' injury, Beanie is solid gold fantasy value.
Wells won't catch many passes this year. He only has seventeen receptions in two seasons. And Kevin Kolb being under center won't change that either. If Kurt Warner couldn't get Wells to be a bigger part of the passing game in 2009, I doubt Kolb can. But regardless, Wells will set a career high in carries and could finally reach 1000 rushing yards, something that was supposed to happen last year. His rushing yards alone will make him a borderline RB2 as long as health doesn't become a factor. And the fact that the team announced that Wells' backup, whomever it is, will only be a compliment and not have a big role.