If you need a refresher on the rules for the series or a run down of previous match-ups? Here is the rules and history thread:
"Close Calls 2007" - A Sportsoutlaw.com Exclusive
Remember, this is based on re-draft leagues.
Today's Match-up:

Thomas Jones - RB - NYJ *vs* Cedric Benson - RB - Chi

Last Year's Stats:
Thomas Jones - 16 gms - 1210 ru yds - 6 TD's - 36 rec - 154 yds - 0 TD
Cedric Benson - 15 gms - 647 ru yds - 6 TD's - 8 rec - 54 rec yds - 0 TD

Today we have ex-teammates going at it in a battle of RB's you may be looking at as your RB2. Can Benson carry the full load in Chicago with the departure of Jones? Can Jones continue the success he had in Chicago on his new team in New York? These are some of the questions you will need to answer in today's "Close Call."

i think this will be one of the more one-sided close calls.
it has to be benson here. simply based on where he plays, and chicago running until no end.

obviously there are questions around benson, but i just think the upside is there to take him over TJ easily.

Funny that these two guys finally get separated, and yet they are once again competing in this thread, LOL.

For me, the pick also has to be Cedric Benson. I just see Cedric Benson as now being the undisputed feature running back, vs. and injured Thomas Jones who is not going to be able to keep guys like Leon Washington off the field.

Should've seen this coming. Gotta go with Benson, if for no other reason than he plays in a weak division. TJ's going to have a rude awakening when he plays against the other AFC East teams.

I simply don't understand this logic. You have a guy who is ONLY starting thanks to a trade...period. He could not unseat Jones for two years in Chicago. Why? Well for one he can't stay healthy. Why else? Cause Jones beat him out both times.

Oh, and Jets will also be a very run oriented offfense. Difference is....I will take Pennington and their wrs and passing game over Grossman and chicago's any day of the week.

Assuming Jones' injury is not as bad as it seems...I will take Jones..in a heartbeat.

I like Jones, and has the history, however, Benson just impresses me more, especially in Chi's power run oriented offense.

New York runs because they can.

Chicago runs because they have too. Grossman sucks. Period.

The only reason this is a toss up is because the AFC East has some beastly defenses.

I rule in favor of Jones in this matter.

Benson was beginning to unseat Thomas Jones last year, and I think, had the team made their decisions on talent alone, Benson would have been the starter.

Chicago was dealing with the Ego of Benson, and keeping him in check.

As far as injuries are concerned, Thomas Jones isn't a walking picture of health either. He got banged up often in Chicago, and he is banged up again.

Same old story...

Benson would have unseated Jones...but...never did. Talent alone would make no difference, since he got hurt all the time. Sheesh.

Exactly on Ego..again why I am not all the supportive of him.

As for injuries..difference there Mike is Jones played through his issues. Benson missed games.

end of story...he isn't that good.

so i guess since Reggie bush didnt unseat Deuce, we should take Deuce before Reggie? MJD vs F. Taylor? DeAngelo vs Foster?

whether or not you think Benson could not unseat TJ is just opinion. It is hardly a fact. I agree 100% with Mike, it was simply a thing done to keep Benson in check.

but even if TJ was better, i'll take a slightly worse back with the far better O-Line. As for health issues, last time i check Benson was more healthy then TJ right now as well

I am on the record as stating very clearly that eveyone is way underestimating McCallister this year, and over valuing Bush. If it is not ppr...McCallister is the back you should get.

MJD vs. Taylor...yep. Why? Cause MJD can score at anytime, is used as a rest for Taylor and on 3rd down, and I don't think Taylor will last full year. Last year was the first year he had in a while.

Foster over williams...eventually, but I think this year will be RBBC.

None of which addresses the facts on Benson vs. Jones..but you wanted to know.

How is it opinion? He had two years to do so, and couldn't replace or unseat TJ. That is fact my friend, not conjecture. Oh, by the by...you don't pay a player first round money to sit on the bench....to teach him a lesson. don't think so.

I think we could argue this as well. Yes, Chicago has a damn fine line...I would argue though that the Jets line is young and improving...and the distance isn't as far as some think. I would also suggest that an offense with a real passing game, plus a real solid running game is much better for all..than a one dimensional offense like chicago. As for the injury...it is being classified a minor calf and achilles strain for Jones..he is expected back for reg. season. As for Benson...I haven't seen anything to make me jump up and down yet.

i think thomas jones is the better running back. but i think cedric benson is the better fantasy option this season.

neither of them is much of a receiving threat. jones seems like he should be, but he never really has. he only had 100 more receiving yards than last year and was on the field at least twice as much, so that is really probably close to even, or maybe a 5-10 point advantage for jones.

TDs are not a specialty of jones and that hurts his value. he has scored about 7 times a year the last three years as a starter, very average numbers for a fantasy RB. theyre solid RB2 numbers. the yardage is also good but not great, probably about a 1200 yard back. not a ton of upside, in a very vanilla offense and on a team that looks to probably take a step back this year.

i think the bears may falter from last year's pace as well, but the fact is that they are going to run the ball and theyre going to run it a lot. benson is going to have a lot of rushing chances. hes also going to have a lot of rushing attempts protecting 4th quarter leads, and he's also going to be put in a lot more positions to score. add in the fact that hes a better goal line threat, plus a lot of rushing attempts behind a good line, and you are looking at very solid numbers. not much in the receiving department, but essentially you are looking at a slightly poor mans rudi johnson. or just another rudi johnson.

to me benson is not a guy id quite want as my #1, because there is the injury risk in my mind, but he'd be a very ideal #2. especially if i could wait and get him at the top of the 3rd to pair with my sjax/harrison start or something. i think he will finish in the 8-15 range for RBs. jones i would say is more like a 12-20 guy. hes probably not going to fall much further while benson could admittedly disappear altogther imo, but hes a much more vanilla, limited upside, sort of pick. i would take him at the end of the 3rd if i needed another RB but not before.

I don't like Benson, and i really don't like the Bears, but for Fantasy I think that he has to be the pick. He's a better short yardage back. He's actually more explosive in the open field that Jones (who had surprisingly few long runs the past few years), and he'll carry the ball more too. Even though Grossman is pretty lousy, the Bears passing game still garners more respect than the Jets, meaning that Benson will get less attention that some of you think (this isn't John Shoop's crappy offense any more). I think benson will outgain jones by at least 100-200 yards on the season and score 2-4 more TDs.

all i know is, the last two years i've had TJ. and each time, the guy with benson makes fun of me and starts trash talking at the beginning of the season telling me how tj's not gonna start for more than a few weeks and blah blah blah, and each year, TJ is better.

i'm interested to see how they do now, separated, but i lean towards tj. he may be a little injured right now, but it's minor, and he keeps his head in the game (unlike benson who must be a real ass if that's the only reason he couldn't beat out tj for the starting spot).

i agree with phic in thinking the jets o-line is young and improving, and that a more balanced offense is going to help the running attack. i also think that benson with the increased workload has a higher chance for injury.

you stated that since Benson could not unseat TJ, so he was a "worse" option, but by that logic, all those backs i listed should be worse options or not.

and whether or not you are high on Deuce, the RB to take there is clearly Bush (as are all the #2 RBs in ALL those cases i stated).

then again, by your logic, if Bush doesnt unseat Deuce by the end of this year, and deuce ends up getting traded to some other team and starts, i should draft Deuce ahead of Bush, simply b/c Bush couldnt unseat him (lets assume they both end up with a team with around the same talent level for this assumption of course). Everybody knows Bush will be the starter in NO, just like everybody in Chicago knew Benson would be the starter in place of TJ. Just b/c it took two years means NOTHING.

you then said "they didnt waste a 1st round pick on him to sit on the bench", so why did NO waste the 1st overall pick for a RB who is SPLITTING carries?

i'm sorry, your arguments make no sense to me at least. Benson did not start the last two years b/c Chicago did not want him starting yet, and thats all there was to it in my mind (much like NO right now with Bush, or MJD or DeAngelo or Norwood or Adrian Peterson in Minny, all of whom are #2 backs but are the BETTER backs then the starters.)


i guess since Buffalo did not name Lynch a starter right away and wasted a 1st round pick on him, and he's splitting the ATrain, they are about the same talent level at this point too?


anyway, this is getting too far off Benson vs TJ, but if you want to further talk about it, we can start a new topic or use the pm system.

of course if bush is less valuable than deuce, that also means deuce is less valuable than ricky williams if he comes back to play... so things could get interesting...

I don't know why Reggie Bush and Cedric Benson are even mentioned in the same sentence. Comparing Reggie Bush as a backup to Benson as a backup is rediculous. Bush is a great back and will be great for fantasy teams and he is still the second on his team for several reasons. The first is experience. Bush is a much better athlete than Deuce, but he is still adjusting to the NFL. He exploded toward the end and will continue to grow, but he's still not a better choice than Deuce. So if Bush is in this situation, then you have to pick Jones before Benson. Benson may be a better athlete, but Jones just knows how to run. He's a lot smarter and I think he will be a much bigger recieving threat with Pennington pulling the trigger. Pennington is a small ball kind of player and RBs are much better in the recieving game with that kind of QB. Benson will get a lot more carries this year, but it'll be the first time he'll carry the load for a team. I don't think he's ready for that. He's still playing with the unstable Grossman and even if that offense manages to hold onto the ball for long, Benson is not going to be as effective without a veteran like Jones to take care of more difficult situations. He hasn't been able to hold up when being a #2 back, why should he last longer doing the work by himself?

I know this argument was really scattered, but it's pretty simple. Jones knows how to get the job done. Benson will have to do a lot of learning this year and he may have more yards this year, but his tds will drop. Jones is going to be in New York to be the man and he's going to have a productive season despite the injury.

I don't think you understand logic.

Saying the Bush/Duece, Taylor/MGD and Williams/Foster cases are the same is rediculous.

Actually, of the three only the Foster case applies.

Like it or not, Benson was drafted to REPLACE Jones. Jones was coming to the end of his contract and had high demands due to his high performance. The Bears drafted Benson for that reason. However, a small hiccup happened...Benson held out expecting too much, he then got hurt, and didn't play hardly at all in his first year. Year two, still had attitude, still was injured...and Bears were forced to resign Jones. Benson never came close to replacing Jones, since he could not stay healthy, and perform as coaches wished. That is all history, and fact.

Bush is an excellent rb, and is a great complement back, but he was not drafted to replace McCallister. He was drafted for what he is, a complimentary back.

MJD is in a similar position. He was drafted by Jacksonville to compliment Taylor. They resigned Taylor, and drafted MJD for a solid 1 - 2 punch running game. The difference though is MJD was more than they expected. He out performed Taylor in many aspects in alot less opportunity. I only see that increasing, which is why I am so high on MJD.

Foster/Williams is a different story. Carolina wants to run, and run alot. They were built on a up the gut, power running game. Davis got hurt, and never came back. Foster was change of pace, and not set up for that type of system, and was also getting hurt. So they drafted Williams as a future replacement. Unfortunatly Williams also got hurt, along with key pieces of the O-line, which hurt the overall run game, and thus the offense for Carolina. I do believe eventually you will see Williams take over. Just not this year...at least not up front.

All this aside, it does not detract from the fact Benson could not over take Jones. Everyone has him rated way too high due to where he plays. That mistake will kill alot of teams this year. If, what I expect to happen, happens.

I will add that your beliefs on why Chicago did or did not start Benson are rediculous. You can go back and research any number of articles that state clearly they expected Benson to take over. Hell, even Jones came out and said that was the teams expectations..and he was pissed. Never happened though...not because Chicago was......waiting.....puhlease.

lets see what happens after this year. Whether Bush is a complimentary back or the main back in NO.

Fine. But keep a name in mind while you watch.

Antonio Pittman.

He was a steal as late as they got him, and in my opinion, be McCallisters replacement....with Bush remaining as he is.

Keep in mind also, that RBBC isn't necessarily a bad work anymore.

The NFL is trending on a two back system now. Teams like New Orleans, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Minnesota, perhaps even washington, want to focus on the run, and not kill one back doing it. When used properly, both backs can bring different aspects..and thus success to both NFL and Fantasy teams.