Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
When Steven Jackson joined the Atlanta Falcons in 2013, many fantasy football owners were excited to see a long-time reliable fantasy running back being placed in a highly potent offense that had gone to the NFC Championshipgame the year before. Jackson burned many fantasy owners this season after starting off the season hot — he sustained a hamstring injury in Week 2 and took a long time to recover.
Going into the 2014 NFL season, that should be a major red flag for fantasy owners. Jackson is 30 years old and to this point in his career, he has carried the ball 2,553 times. It appears that all of that mileage is starting to catch up to him. Hamstring injuries are difficult to judge, but they are generally given two to four weeks to fully recover, however, it took Jackson six weeks to recover.
Even though he has been labeled injury-prone throughout his career, 2013 was a year where Jackson had trouble playing through his hamstring injury. Fantasy owners may get excited at the fact that Jackson seemed to regain form in the second half of the past season. If Jackson is able to keep his form going from the second half of the season, then he could be a candidate for fantasy comeback player of the year. However, owners should be wary of him in 2014 and view him as a high-end RB-3 to start the season.
He won’t be getting any younger and could have more of the same issues in 2014. Owners should look at more youthful options before turning their attention to Jackson.
Alexander Muir is a writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter @AmuirAlex, “Like” him on Facebook or add him on your network on Google.
