Kirby Lee – USA TODAY Sports
If you were a fantasy football owner with either Giovani Bernard or BenJarvus Green-Ellis on your team last year then you know all about the Cincinnati Bengals‘ strange running back situation. This dynamic duo of a rookie and five-year veteran looked promising in the beginning of the year, but both would finish the season as the 17th and 30th ranked fantasy running backs in the NFL.
Surely, a lot of this had to do with Green-Ellis getting a few more goal line carries than Bernard, but the biggest factor here was the fact that neither back was ever committed to as the go-to guy, which is something that good fantasy owners should always be looking for.
Now, there is going to be some change in Cincinnati as the Bengals’ running back coach for 2013 will be making the move to offensive coordinator in 2014. Hue Jackson has some experience at this position, but more importantly; he knows exactly what he has in the backfield considering that has been his job over the last year. A quick look at Jackson’s past offensive coordinator jobs and you’ll see running backs like Warrick Dunn, Darren McFadden and Michael Bush. Needless to say, Jackson has seen quite a few runners in his day and would be a fool to not give Bernard at least a few more touches.
Of course, fantasy owners are looking to cash-in. The best case scenario of Jackson making Bernard the Bengals’ cowbell back sounds great in theory, but that will only happen in the event of a Green-Ellis injury. So while this hire does mean good things for the second-year play-maker, it doesn’t mean great things.
Devin O’Barr is the Content Commentator for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DevinOBarrRS, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
