Give RBs a Little Credit for Toting the Ball

*THIS RULE HAS PASSED*

 

I’ve been busy updating the doings of Unrestricted Free Agency, but I wanted to make sure that I offered up this scoring change for the upcoming season.

Proposal: Give players 0.1 points for each rushing attempt.

Rationale: There’s nothing more frustrating than having your RB

Jerome "3-point" Bettis
Jerome “3-point” Bettis

carry the ball a lot in a game but not score. If he doesn’t catch the ball, it’s almost as if he didn’t play. This happened a lot back in the old days to Jerome Bettis, so much so that his official nickname was Jerome “3-point” Bettis. Even though he helped his team by grinding out the clock and wearing down the defense, 20 carries for 69 yards didn’t amount to many points (3.45 points in the current scoring model.)

It is my belief that rushing attempts help the offense. It is also my belief that players should be rewarded for each thing that they do in a game. Even if that reward is just a tenth of a point.

So, in my fantasy world, a grindy day counts for a little bit more. If we were to change the scoring system, 20 carries for 69 yards would amount to 5.45 points. This would reward bell-cow backs but also ease the frustration that fantasy owners feel when their RB gets the ball but doesn’t do much with it.

So, what do you guys think? It’s a solid idea, right?

 

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

© 2015, Josh Hammond. All rights reserved.

About Josh Hammond 223 Articles
Commissioner. Three-time champion (2011, 2016, 2018.) Keeper of spreadsheets.

12 Comments

  1. I fully support the rule, but do not support the timing. If we had done this prior to the UFA auction, I may have bid differently on the RBs – guys like Rashad Jennings or LeGarrette Blount will be more valuable. I’ll probab

  2. Fair enough. Though, to be honest, it shouldn’t make that much of a difference. How many more dollars is Blount worth to you because he gets 5 more carries (0.5 points) than the next guy?

  3. I’ll echo Adam’s statement.. particularly as I was looking at fucking RBs. But I also totally understand how busy the commish has been.

    And what’s right is right. Give the running man his crumbs.

  4. I voted no because a “carry” amounts to nothing more than a play call. It would be akin to giving WR points for each route they run, whether they catch the ball or not, or QB points for pass attempts (we don’t do that, do we?). I can see I’m all ready in the minority, so that’s just my two cents…

    • I don’t think it’d be akin to giving WRs points for route running. Maybe a better analog would be giving WRs points for being targeted. Regardless, QBs and WRs aren’t hurting for points in quite the same way RBs are. Also, I think there’s something to be said for wearing down a defense with rushing attempts. I don’t think incomplete passes have quite the same effect.

      With the way the game is today, it’s a huge pain in the ass to field 2 RBs. It’s a pass first league, so I’d rather be starting WRs. But if I have to start RBs, we should give them some credit for toting the rock.

      Here’s ten cents, my two cents is free.

  5. I spoke my peace about how this could change the strategy of how we pick rb’s in the lengthy email, but in the end it can only help my rb points game so I voted yes selfishly. I agree with Adam, it will make workhorses more palatable and could change the bidding process, but what is .5 here and 2.0 for a heavy run day? Supplemental, that’s what. Let’s be honest, if you’re really banking on the attempt points, you were probably fucked to begin with.

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