Marion Barber III was the team’s workhorse, but he had a hole in his leg last year. Felix Jones has got the quicks to run past everyone, is very explosive, but will this be the year he is healthy? Tashard Choice is the steady no nonsense kind of back that just gets the job done. Depending on the day and time you can find Jerry Jones and Wade Phillips telling stories of each back and their greatness. I don’t know about you, but a good dynasty player wants a low cost option or perhaps the best two low cost options to target in your fantasy leagues for not only this year, but for seasons to come.
So you want to make the right decision as to which Dallas Cowboy RB to draft for your fantasy team? Every player has their own unique upside, but instead of relying on the twitter and internet hype let’s break down the players using the statistics provided by profootballfocus.com.
Let’s start with the thumper himself, Marion Barber III. I will be using different statistics for comparing these backs. In 2007, Barber had 97 carries, averaged 4.6 yards per carry, averaged 2.5 yards after contact per carry, and had 23 missed/broken tackles. Marion in 2008 had 238 carries, averaged 3.7 yards per carry, averaged 2.4 yards after contact per carry, and had 27 missed/broken tackles. Finally in 2009, he had 214 carries, averaged 4.4 yards per carry, averaged 2.8 yards after contact per carry, and had 20 missed/broken tackles. The difference in situations each year were very distinct. In 2007, Barber was in the closer role to Julius Jones being the starter; Barber would come into games and wear the defenses down. As of 2008 and continuing into 2009, the starting running back role was Marion’s job with help from Tashard Choice and Felix Jones.
Barber has always been very effective in the passing game as well. His catching percentage of balls thrown to him have been 89.7% in 2007 with 26 receptions, 86.7% in 2008 with 52 receptions, and 78.8% in 2009 with 26 receptions. Over the past three years Marion has improved himself in the passing game increasing his yards per reception (6.1, 8.3, 8.5) and yards after the catch per reception (6.3, 8.8, 9.3). He has become a more patient runner after the catch.
How about the subject of much hype, Felix Jones? His numbers in 2008 were so limited it is hard to compare them to last year’s numbers. Jones had 30 carries, averaged 8.9 yards per carry, averaged 3.9 yards after contact per carry, and had 1 missed/broken tackle in 2008. His reception numbers were also every limited in 2008 as he caught 2 passes on the same number of targets averaging 5 yards a reception and averaging 4 yards after the catch.
Felix had some impressive numbers in 2009 with a limited workload. He had 116 carries, averaged 5.9 yards per carry, averaged 3.3 yards after contact per carry, and had 15 missed/broken tackles. Jones added some toughness and better vision to increase his missed/broken tackles, however his speed back game was controlled better by some of the defenses as his average yards per carry and yards after contact decreased. His catching percentage of balls thrown to him were 90.5% with 19 receptions. Jones improved his yards per reception to 6.3 and yards after the catch per reception to 7.6. Felix appears to be ready to get an increased workload, however as Marion Barber’s statistics have shown, a player can sometimes be more productive with limited carries.
Last, but certainly not least is Tashard Choice. Most view him as the consistent player out of the three. San Diego was supposedly trying to acquire him in the off season. In 2008, Choice had 92 carries, averaged 5.1 yards per carry, averaged 2.4 yards after contact per carry, and had 4 missed/broken tackles. While in 2009, Tashard had 64 carries, averaged 5.5 yards per carry, averaged 1.9 yards after contact per carry, and had 3 missed/broken tackles. Choice appears to be the most reliable back, however the numbers show that he is the least physical runner of the three backs. In the passing game, Choice has the least surest hands catching 72.4% of the balls thrown his way in 2008 and 71.4% in 2009. Choice does the most with the ball in his hands as he has averaged 8.8 yards per reception in 2008 and 8.9 in 2009. While his yards after the catch was impressive with 10.4 in 2008, it dipped to 8.4 in 2009 (below Barber’s 2009 average of 9.3).
All three backs do some things well. Felix is the homerun hitter. Choice is the steady back with limited wiggle. Barber does his best work in Kyra Sedgwick’s role as “The Closer,” being the punishing hammer as a part of a two or three back system. In a down year, Barber still averaged 4.4 yards per carry and he is still my choice as the running back to have in Dallas for this year. In a dynasty, I would be looking to acquire Marion cheap and then sell before the end of the season. Choice is the least explosive, but has value later in the draft. I’d let someone else pay for the hype on Felix and then trade for him half way through the season after he has disappointed. With another year of seasoning, Felix should be ready for 2011!
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