Great Debates in Fantasy Football: Is Jamal Lewis Any Good?

From 2005 to 2006, Jamal Lewis seemed incapable of doing anything other than tap dancing his way to the hole and falling directly forward into the line of scrimmage, causing a few members of the Rex Grossman staff to deem him “The Human Anvil.” Now, after a season in which he gained 1550 total yards and 11 TDs, Lewis is being taken with an average of the 22nd pick in ESPN leagues. Are we really supposed to believe that Jamal Lewis is good again? Earlier this week, our own Mr. T and Marble Ryan put their day jobs on hold to debate the issue in an email exchange.

Marble Ryan (10:59 a.m.): I probably should’ve taken Kevin Smith instead, but I think Selvin Young should be good at the flex for me.

Mr. T (11:04 a.m.): When you have the Human Anvil, you don’t have to use phrases like “I think.”

Marble Ryan (11:06 a.m.): Dude, the Anvil was terrible last year. His whole season was
made by one game, just like Carson Palmer’s. Believe me, I had Lewis week to week —he was awful.

Mr. T (11:08 a.m.): Do yourself a favor and check the stats: he put up great numbers in Weeks 9, 11, 12, 14, and 15.

Marble Ryan (11:17 a.m.): Yeah, and he played like Garbage Johnson the rest of the time. Plus, don’t try to slip that Week 9 past me — he had 4 TDs, but he only had like 70 total yards. You can’t count on stuff like that happening again. Give it up, the Anvil sucks.

Mr. T (11:18 a.m.): Hey, he’s a feature back. He was one of the few guys left on the board who doesn’t have someone coming up behind him on the depth chart.

Marble Ryan (11:21 a.m.): You’d figure that someone who spent 4 months in prison would be used to performing with someone behind him…

Mr. T (11:22 a.m.): Haha. Still, the Browns D should be better, so they’ll be running it more, especially later in games. And he’ll still be getting the same amount of carries at the goal line. That’s when Selvin goes to the sideline and Andre Hall comes in, right?

Positions: Mr. T owns The Human Anvil in the Rex Grossman fantasy league.