Bilderecke » on. The Rams remarkable rookie, Gurley, rushed fo

SEATTLE -- Washington middle linebacker Azeem Victor is expected to miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery for a broken lower right leg, coach Chris Petersen announced Monday, the second major injury loss for the Huskies defense in recent weeks.There is no timeline yet for Victors recovery but the expectation is the junior wont be back this season. Petersen was noncommittal when asked if there was any chance Victor could recover in time for a bowl game.Its OK. Its not going to be a real long-term thing, Petersen said. Its a bone and those things will heal quickly. I dont know exactly what the timeline is but its probably as good as it could be in terms of all those things.Victor was injured in the second quarter of No. 7 Washingtons 26-13 loss to Southern California on Saturday. Victor was in on the tackle of USCs Justin Davis on a running play, but immediately came up hobbling. He was on the field for several minutes getting tended to by medical personnel, who put an air cast on Victors leg on the field before he was taken off on a cart.Victor leads Washington with 68 tackles this season. He was regarded as a potential second-day pick in the NFL draft if he left after his junior season.So really when it was all said and done it was probably more positive than we were first thinking, Petersen said. Sometimes when you go into surgery and all that its all this kind of stuff but it was pretty straightforward from what I understand.Its the second major loss for the Huskies on that side of the ball after sack leader Joe Mathis underwent surgery earlier this month for a foot injury. Mathis is also expected to be out for the season, although The Seattle Times reported last week that Mathis is hopeful of possibly being able to return for a bowl game.Petersen joked Monday that no team other than Alabama could have the depth on the roster to withstand losing two top defensive players and not have any drop off.I dont know if anyone does that. Maybe Alabama. I dont know, he said. I think every coach in America, for the most part, you get a really good player, you lose them, you might have a really good young player but theyre just not there. I dont know if you ever get there.Redshirt freshman D.J. Beavers is listed as the starter with Victor out. Beavers stepped in after Victors injury on Saturday and finished with six tackles. But he also had some of his inexperience exposed by USC.Linebacker is one area where Washington still lacks experienced depth. Along with Beavers, the other options appear to be freshman Brandon Wellington and sophomore Ben Burr-Kirven.I think he filled in pretty well, Petersen said of Beavers. He made some tackles, played aggressive, played tough. Its hard when you lose a player like Azeem for sure but its not like `We have no chance type thing. He was right there playing physical like a linebacker should. Hes had a lot of good reps throughout the season and now hes going to have a lot more.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org Cheap Lions Jerseys Authentic . PETERSBURG, Fla. Wholesale Lions Jerseys Free Shipping . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste. http://www.wholesalelionsjerseys.com/ . Wall made the comment in a speech to a Regina business crowd that included Lesnar. The U.S. wrestler and retired mixed martial artist says he was visiting his brothers farm in Saskatchewan and decided he wanted to hear what the premier had to say. Youth Frank Ragnow Jersey . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. Lions Jerseys China . Thousands of Southern California fans enveloped the Trojans to celebrate an improbable win secured by an interim coach, an inconsistent kicker and a thin defence that wouldnt break. The rookie running back is a unique commodity in both real and fantasy football. If the sport of football is considered a young mans game, the tailback position is undoubtedly a key inspiration for this idiom.Few positions in sport, if any, incur such consistent and constant physical erosion as the NFL running back. The job description is to run through and past large groups of astonishingly strong and athletic men. This means the league, and thus fantasy investors, often look to the next wave of talent at the position for replenishment of workload and production. With an eventual eye on the 2016 class at the position, lets take a look at the past decade of rookie running backs in the context of fantasy football production.A brief history of top-flight rookie RBsThe premise that the league has continually devalued the running back position in the draft and in free agency over the past several seasons might ring true with regards to draft capital and bonus cash in free agency, yet this study revealed the fact that weve seen 19 rookie running backs tally at least 100 rushing attempts over the past two seasons combined. The past two seasons mark the biggest two-year stretch of 100-carry rookie backs over the past decade. Last years mark of 10 such performances was a 10-year high.From 2006 to 2013, we saw an average of 5.8 rookie backs accrue at least 100 carries. So while the sample isnt so sizable, its interesting to consider that while the league isnt allocating draft and cash assets to the position as it once did, on-field opportunity has actually increased over recent seasons.As a fun exercise, we compiled the top 30 fantasy seasons (ordered by standard fantasy points) since 2001. Even though Clinton Portis rookie opus in Denver in 2002 is the high-water mark for rookies since 2001, he finished fourth at the position that season in fantasy production, while Doug Martins 2012 netted him the highest finish (third) at the position for a rookie over the past 15 seasons.For some context for rookie backs in the past decade, consider that 40 rookie backs since 2006 have amassed as many as 150 rushing attempts in their debut season. During the past decade, 29 professional freshmen at the position have been targeted at least 40 times in the passing phase. Just how have rookie backs translated to fantasy production?Taking an overhead look at the league during the past decade, weve produced the production thresholds required for RB1, RB2 and RB3 seasons over the past 10 seasons. In the table below, youll find what each tier of production in both standard and PPR leagues demands for NFL running backs (not isolated solely to rookies). It has required at least 125 standard fantasy points, for example, to finish 24th or better among running backs on average over the past 10 NFL seasons.Lets apply these numbers to rookies at the position since the 2006 campaign.Rare RB1 rookie seasonsUsing 170 fantasy points as the threshold for producing a top-12 fantasy season using ESPN standard scoring, we find 13 rookie tailbacks since 2006 to have met this mark (rounding up Marshawn Lynchs 169 fantasy points in 2007). Using per-game production -- limiting the sample to having played at least eight games during their rookie campaign -- we find 12 backs qualify for the top-12 per-game threshold of 11.6 fantasy points per game.In a PPR (point per reception) format, just 12 rookie backs since 2006 have produced at least 206 fantasy points (the milestone for a PPR RB1 season over the past decade), again proving generous with the inclusion of both LeVeon Bells and Giovani Bernards 2013 efforts that resulted in 205 PPR points for each. Using per-game production, 13 backs since 2006 have met the requirement (14.3 FP/G) for a top-12 PPR finish.Rookie RB2 campaignsFor the top-24 tier, we find 12 tailbacks since 2006 have scored between 125 and 170 fantasy points -- the realistic range for an RB2 finish -- over the past decade (13 met the per-game mark of 9.1 to 11.6 points per game). Adding these tiers together, we find 25 backs have produced a top-24 fantasy season at the position in standard leagues over the past decade.In PPR formats, 10 backs over the past 10 seasons have produced RB2 results -- between 157 and 205 fantasy points -- and nine have met the per-game requirements for RB2 consideration, averaging at least 11 PPR points. This means 22 rookie backs have totaled top-24 efforts in PPR formats over the past decade, expanding to 24 using the per-game confines of the study.SSince 2006, 255 rookie running backs have appeared in at least four games during their inaugural pro season, thus we find just less than 1 percent of such rookies have produced RB2-worthy efforts over this sample.dddddddddddd.Rookie RB3 effortsThe group understandably expands as we lower the bar for fantasy production, as 20 rookie backs have totaled between 92 and 125 standard fantasy points since 2006, the range for RB3 production. The sample grows to 24 backs when looking at point totals in PPR formats over the past decade. When it comes to per-game production, 19 rookie backs have averaged RB3 production in standard scoring formats since 2006, which expands to 20 backs using a PPR key.Looking ahead to 2016Last season saw the Cardinals David Johnson and the Rams Todd Gurley lead fantasy teams to glory, while respectable stretches from the likes of Jeremy Langford, Matt Jones, T.J. Yeldon, Buck Allen, Duke Johnson and Thomas Rawls didnt go unnoticed. With a new crop to study, identifying the top talents in this 2016 class could prove profitable come December.Referencing the table above, weve compiled this years rookie class with ESPNs current fantasy football projections for 2016. Based on the research above, we have Ezekiel Elliott projected for a surefire RB1 campaign in both standard and PPR formats (more on him below).The Titans Derrick Henry is projected within 10 percent of the RB2 tier using standard scoring, while Jordan Howard, C.J. Prosise, Kenyan Drake, Kenneth Dixon and Tyler Ervin are set to achieve or come close to RB3-worthy production this season; all of them are within 22 percent of the RB3 scoring threshold.My personal favorites of this rookie possible RB3 tier would be Dixon and Howard, as I find the depth charts in both Baltimore and Chicago realistically scalable. Dixon has some LeSean McCoy to his game in both negative and positive regards; in that he can get stuffed at the line with some regularity, but then again, he also flashes Shadys rare ability to induce missed tackles from opponents. Of the Ravens trio of backs in Marc Trestmans space-friendly system, Ill take shares of Dixon. As for Howard, hes a between-the-tackles force compared to Langfords more reception-friendly skill set, so meaningful early-down work could come sooner than later for the bruising Hoosier.The key 2016 rookie asset to evaluate is surely Zeke, as the Cowboys top pick is currently going fifth on average at the position and in firmly the first round overall in ESPN drafts so far this summer. Our projection for Elliott this season, powered by the ever-accurate Mike Clay, has him set for the fourth-most carries in the league, with roughly 280. Fittingly, Brett Jepsen of the teams website has Elliott projected for 280-300 carries this season.Elliott is also projected for the 11th-most catches at the position, with 51, netting him the fourth-most projected yards from scrimmage (1,673) among all players at the position. Converting this gaudy expected workload into fantasy numbers, were projecting Elliott for the fourth-most fantasy points at the position in both standard and PPR formats.From Week 6 on last season, when he began to receive feature work, the Cowboys Darren McFadden averaged 107.8 yards per game, the most in the league over the final 12 weeks of the season. The Rams remarkable rookie, Gurley, rushed for just 17 more yards than McFadden on 10 fewer attempts last season. Which is to say, Dallas vaunted run-blocking line helped McFadden, in his eighth season, keep pace with the leagues elite talents at the position.Nine rookie running backs have been afforded at least 250 rushing attempts since 2006, with eight of these efforts resulting in RB1 production (at least 170 standard fantasy points). Of those nine rookie workhorse campaigns, six earned at least 40 targets and 260 receiving yards. This select six averaged 210 standard and 259 PPR points -- good for RB1 production in each of the past 10 seasons -- thanks to such voluminous workloads.Opportunity is a monumental influence for fantasy success with rookie running backs. We are banking on Elliott to join Doug Martin and Matt Forte in fantasy lore with a top-five finish at the position as a freshman thanks to such a hefty workload. Meanwhile, savvy shares of his draft peers also could pay off given the trends weve witnessed at the position over the past decade. ' ' '