Faceoff - RB Cedric Benson, Cincinnati Bengals

Posted 7/15, exclusive to Footballguys.com

Upside - by David Dodds

It looks like I drew the short straw here. It's hard to actually like Cedric Benson. Despite coming into the league with high praise, he was mostly a bust for the Bears. He tends to fall down on slight contact, whines when things don't go his way and cried on draft day. So I can understand the ease of which the other side is arguing to avoid this guy at all costs.

But the last time I checked, Cedric Benson is being drafted as the 31st running back off the board with an average draft position of Pick 73. That would make sense if Benson was in a clear running-back-by-committee situation. But he isn't in a RBBC at all. He is the clear starter for the Bengals.

To get a glimpse at the upside of this pick, consider Benson's last three games in 2008:

• Week 15 against Washington: 21 carries for 73 yards, 3 receptions for 88 yards
• Week 16 against Cleveland: 38 carries for 171 yards
• Week 17 against Kansas City: 25 carries for 111 yards and a TD, 2 receptions for 19 yards.

In these three weeks, this HORRIBLE player combined for 462 yards of offense and a score. And this is playing with a scrub at QB, a dinged up WR1 and a team that had lost its way in 2008. There are many things that point to improved play from Benson in 2009:

• Carson Palmer is back. He is the catalyst and will open up the field so teams can't smother the line of scrimmage.
• The team added beef on the offensive line.
• Chris Perry, Benson's competition for carries, isn't on the team anymore.
• Ochocinco is healthy again which should stretch the field.

Benson will get the opportunities and at RB31, he doesn't need to do much to justify that draft position. Consider last year's RB31 put up just 127 fantasy points. If Benson scores even six TDs, he would need to get just 910 combined yards to meet draft position expectations. Those aren't loft numbers at all especially for a 27-year old, who should be in the prime of his life athletically.

Let others give you grief here. Your ability to grab quality players early and an easy value play like Benson in the seventh round is the kind of strategy that secures championships.

Downside - by Will Grant

Cedric Benson has value. Let me just get that out of the way right off of the bat. He's the primary back in an offense that has nowhere to go but up. The offensive line has made some solid upgrades this off season. Their QB, Carson Palmer, is throwing well in the early camps. Their receiving corps of Chad Ochocinco and Laveranues Coles is solid and they are poised for a rebound from an injury-plagued 2008. To put icing on the cake, most people are running scared from Cincinnati players, and Benson's ADP is somewhere near the top of the seventh round. Not bad for a starting RB in the NFL right? How can you possibly lose by taking this guy?

Let's start with the eye-popping career 3.7 YPC. That includes his 4.1 YPC from Chicago. In Cincinnati, he's averaging just 3.5 YPC. He set a career best for rushing yards last season: 747 rushing yards. Career best yards from scrimmage: 932 yards last season. Career best in touches per season? Last season with just 234. Over 47 games, he has just 12 touchdowns. That's one TD every four games. WOW.

Speaking of career stats, Benson has never played a full 16-game season. Since coming to Cincinnati, he's never played in more than 12. His best fantasy season was back in 2007 when he had just over 800 yards from scrimmage and just four rushing TDs. That year he finished as the No. 36 fantasy back. Last year he ranked #42.

Last season he had a couple solid games, including 462 yards from scrimmage and one TD over the last three games of the season. Of course that was against three non-playoff teams with a combined record of 14-34 that gave up more than 1,085 total points last season. In the 12 games that Benson played last season, he scored less than eight fantasy points in eight times, including four games with less than four fantasy points each. This is not a guy that you can count on from week to week.

As far as competition goes, the Bengals signed former St. Louis Rams' second round pick Brian Leonard during the offseason. They also drafted Bernard Scott, a dynamic back from Abilene Christian whose off-the-field troubles caused him to free-fall to the sixth round this year. Former Top 20 RB Kenny Watson remains on staff as well as former Colt DeDe Dorsey. Any of these guys have the potential to seize the starting job this summer, or any time Benson disappears after the season begins.

The Bengals made some solid offensive line upgrades over the summer, but it will take the new additions a few weeks to gel as a unit. Until then, the holes are going to be smaller and harder to find. The defense is still one of the weakest in the AFC, meaning the Bengals are going to have to throw the ball more to stay in each game. Four of their games will be against division rivals Pittsburgh and Baltimore, two of the toughest defenses in the league. All of this adds up to fewer rushing opportunities for Benson and all of the other running backs on the team. At the top of the seventh round, it makes more sense to take a WR with bigger upside like Lance Moore or Jerricho Cotchery than a guy like Benson who was probably at the top of his game last season.