Not that long ago I had my top 15 rankings all but etched out in stone…and by not that long ago, I’m referring to about 48 hours ago.  In that time, the following has happened:

Trent Richardson is having a minor knee surgery and will miss most of the rest of preseason.
New reports surfaced about Jones-Drew hold-out surfaced.  It could get much uglier than I anticipated.
Ryan Mathews broke his clavicle on his first carry in preseason – and will miss 4-6 weeks.

We all know how shallow the running back position is this year.  Those of us who have been around for a while have been watching this trend for years! This year though…We have to add in some major injuries to expected performers, like:  AP, Jamaal Charles, Fred Jackson, DeMarco Murray, Matt Forte….and so on and so forth. I’ve never minded simple RBBC’s, but the number of “quagmired” teams has only grown…now we have the Patriots, the Saints and the Panthers all with teams who make backs tough to draft, on average.   Suddenly, backs with plenty of usage or years (or both) don’t seem like such bad options…Fred Jackson (31), McGahee (30) or Steven Jackson (29 with nearly 2500 total career touches)….and those backs coming off less serious injuries magically don't seem so risky either.

This leads me to my latest thought of draft strategies…I offer it up to you with only a touch of sarcasm and humor:  Draft a running back every round for the first five.  Then draft skill players.

I actually did a few mocks of this strategy and it actually worked out pretty well! My only complaint is that my top receivers typically ended up being guys like: Stevie Johnson and Reggie Wayne. I like those guys this year, but would prefer them to be my second option. 

So what started off as a joke, I now present to you…slightly less jokingly:  Draft a running back in the first FOUR rounds of your drafts! 

If you do this, I suggest taking a WR in round five…then whatever tight end and quarterback you prefer in round six and seven.  In round five, you can still nab a wideout like Miles Austin, Dez Bryant, Marques Colston, or similar guys. In round six or seven, you can still draft a tight end like Hernandez, Witten or Finley…or quarterbacks like Romo, Rivers or Ryan.

So here is the team I just mocked using this strategy, through seven rounds:

QB:  Matt Ryan, RB:  Ray Rice, DMC, Sproles, Bradshaw WR:  Bryant, TE: Hernandez

That is a solid team – top to bottom.  And there are plenty of undervalued WR #2s and #3s…Guys like Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon, Titus Young, Randall Cobb and many others are all undervalued WR’s available later in drafts.

Besides the fact that I would much rather have a WR#3 of Randall Cobb than a RB#3 of DeAngelo Williams….there is a side benefit to this draft strategy too:  Your opponents go crazy.  Seriously.

In all my mocks guys like McGahee and Helu went at least two rounds earlier than their ADP….and I frequently saw guys like DeAngelo Williams, Jonathon Stewart or Mark Ingram being drafted as RB #2’s on teams.

WR’s are far easier to replace than RB’s…why not embrace the scarcity this year and just load up?

I think you can come up with a great team doing just that! And even if you don’t…Trust me, the entertainment value on draft day is far worth the price of admission.