Who should I take with the #1 pick in my fantasy football league: Adrian Peterson or LaDainian Tomlinson?

Question

I'm leaning towards LT on this one. The consistency factor and pure talent is a given. But it's hard to ignore what Peterson did last season, and he's running behind a fantastic offensive line. The only thing that worries me about him is the injury factor. That and, of course, the possibility of the classic sophomore slump. Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Whats up Martin,

I think you absolutely have to take LT over Peterson in this year's draft and there are several reasons for this:

1.  LT simply outperformed Peterson last year, straight up.  LT put up a total of 302.9 fantasy points (using the standard scoring system) and Peterson accounted for 232.9, a full 70 points less than Tomlinson.

2.  LT will not lose as many carries to his backup as Peterson will.  In 2007, LT lost 71 carries to Michael Turner while Peterson lost 157 carries to Chester Taylor (more than twice as many).  There are no signs that Taylor will lose carries so you have to expect the same in 2008.

3. LT has done it year after year, time after time, and crowned many a fantasy champion.  AP, while he has tons of talent, simply hasn't.  You've got to go with the sure thing.

Peterson is the s**y pick this year but you have to take a step back, ignore the hype, and look at things objectively.  When you do, you'll see that LT is the correct pick in 2008.  Personally I have AP ranked 3rd behind Westbrook, who almost matched LT's fantasy output in 2008.

If you want to check out my full rankings (complete with fantasy points, bust tags, etc), check out the link in my source list.  On my site you can also create your own player rankings using drag and drop (with bust tags, sleeper tags, etc), then generate a printable cheat sheet to take to your fantasy draft.  It's free.

Answer 2

I would pick Brady personally but out of those two definitely Tomlinson. AD is still in a timeshare is injury prone and inflated his statistics last year with 2 outstanding games.

Answer 3

LT for sure.  He's proven himself beyond just one season.

Answer 4

I would go with AP.  He has more potential.  LT this year sounds a lot like Shaun Alexander and Larry Johnson in 2006 to me.