NFL Draft Fantasy Fallout - Steve Slaton

by Skeller on May 20, 2008 3:30 PM EDT in Football

Heading into this draft, the Houston Texans were the team I expected to produce a big fantasy running back. They only had worn-out Ahman Green and a guy the Titans cut about seven times in Chris Brown. A first-round running back should be able to easily take over the starting RB role and provide a great fantasy starter.

But the Texans didn’t take a running back in the first round. How about the second round? No? Come on guys, help me out here! Finally, in the third round, the Texans decided to take Steve Slaton (89^th overall), a guy who had been projected as a first-rounder in early season mock drafts.

This brings up two questions:.

Why did the Texans wait to take a running back? The spine-chilling answer is that they seem to be happy with some combination of Ahman Green and Chris Brown at the position. This won’t do either the Texans or fantasy owners any good this year, but that’s the way the Texans want to go. Taking Slaton won’t change that, which brings us to the second question…

Why did Slaton drop so far in the draft? Despite putting up great numbers in college, Slaton became increasingly seen a one-dimensional speed back that could only run outside. If you were looking for a powerhouse to bang between the tackles, the 5’9", 197 lb Slaton was not your guy – according to the scouts. Teams seemed to buy off on that analysis, as Slaton tumbled into the third round.

For fantasy purposes, this leaves us with the unreliable Ahman Green, the unreliable Chris Brown and the unknown Steve Slaton at running back. I would imagine that Green will get the majority of carries this year, with Brown getting a few each quarter and Slaton trying to get playing time. When (not if) Green gets hurt, then it will probably come down to a split between Brown and Slaton. There’s the possibility that Slaton would take over as the starter in the event of a Green injury (or even if Green is healthy) but I wouldn’t draft Slaton based on that.

I thought Houston would be one of the best places for fantasy running backs and now it’s looking like one of the worst. Ugh.

Image via www.collegesportspro.com

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Slaton

With his speed, he could make a fantasy owner lok very good if Slaton breaks one in the week the owner was forced to start Slaton due to byes, injuries, etc. It will happen to me. I know it.

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by faketeams on May 20, 2008 3:58 PM EDT reply actions

re: dirty steve

Houston is going to use Slaton as a change-of-pace guy to the bigger backs (Green and Brown), and primarily in passing situations, due to his prowess catching the ball out of the backfield. This is going to be good for the Texans, but bad for anyone looking for fantasy points out of the situation. Slaton’s going to need to get a little bigger, and shore up his ball security before Houston allows him to take on a more featured role.
It may be time to face facts, folks… most teams are moving to a committee, so picking RB’s is going to a crapshoot. I even think Houston will be more of a committee-share than Skeller thinks. To keep both Green and Brown (it feels like I’m referring to M&M’s a bit) healthy, you may see a true 50-50 split on 1st and 2nd downs, with Slaton getting 3rd down work.

So, I'm bangin this chick, right...

by beefy on May 21, 2008 2:56 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

+1

The RBBC should cause a massive move up the draftboard for WR and QB values because one can always get a part of the RBBC in the 5th round plus.

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by faketeams on May 21, 2008 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Nice breakdown

At BRB, the SBN Texans site, we’ve done a couple of insightful pieces on Steve Slaton, one of which was an interview with John Antonik, the Director of New Media and department head for the Mountaineers athletic site.

One of the things that Mr. Antonik noted, which will help Slaton’s playing time/fantasy value moving forward, is that Steve ran in the same zone blocking system that the Texans are implementing this season. In fact, Rick Trickett, the then WVU offensive line coach, had copied Alex Gibbs’ zone blocking scheme down to the letter.

If Steve can prove that he can shoulder the load 10-15 times a game, he looks to be a threat to take it to the house on any given play. For more insight on Steve Slaton, check out the interview here. Thanks!

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by SOLIS on May 21, 2008 3:43 PM EDT reply actions