Brian Westbrook finally is starting to get the respect he deserves in fantasy leagues.

For years upon years, he has been labeled as the injury-risk, too fragile to draft, avoid at all costs, high-risk runningback. Fantasy owners everywhere avoided Westy like the plague every offseason, wary of his penchant for missing time.

But now he is getting much love from those same owners, myself included, who avoided him in the past for “surer” things. Westy is ranked among the top three or fours backs by many publications after his sensational 2007 season. Despite missing out on one now famous should-have-been touchdown, Westbrook finished the season as the top runningback in many scoring formats, particularly point-per-reception (PPR) leagues.

The sad thing for Westbrook and his backers is the fact he is no spring chicken anymore. As dynamic as he can be, Westy will be 29-years-old when this season begins. And we all no that for runningbacks, nothing is guaranteed once a guy reaches the age of 30. Westbrook is ominously close to that un-golden age.

That brings me to the question of finding the next Brian Westbrook. The Eagles traded for 24-year-old Lorenzo Booker earlier this offseason to add some youth and depth to the runningback corp. Something tells me they wanted him for more than just depth, however.

Reports out of Philly suggest that the Eagles are grooming Booker to become Westbrook’s stand-in this season. He has the same shiftiness as Westy, and only time will tell if the play-making ability also is shared. As it stands right now, Booker is slated to unseat the talented but oft-injured Correll Buckhalter as Westy’s primary backup.

Booker, at 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds, is made in the right mold to be the next Westbrook. The coaching staff in Philly is hoping he can step right in for Westbrook without the offense missing a beat — that is, do the same things on offense that Westy does.

Training camp will tell most of this story. But it looks as if Booker will get his shot to fill Westbrook’s shoes at least in the short term. Fantasy owners — especially those who own Westy — will need to keep an eye on Booker’s performance this summer and decide if he is a worthy handcuff for the high-valued Westbrook.

Get your subscription to The Hazean for just $0 a month! You can subscribe to The Hazean by email and have this stuff in your inbox seconds after I post it or you can subscribe in your feed reader or on your home page. Either way you get all the fantasy info you need fast and easy. But hurry because this offer may not last forever!*

Don’t understand this whole subscribing thing? Check out this short video on RSS courtesy of my friend The Fantasy Football Goat. Isn’t technology great?

*This offer will last forever

BallHype: hype it up!

Spread the love:
  • Facebook
  • TwitThis
  • StumbleUpon
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!