Rudi Johnson Released

So the big news in fantasy yesterday was that Rudi Johnson was released by the Cincinnati Bengals. This is the Rudi Johnson that rushed for 12 TDs in each of the 2004, 2005, and 2006 seasons, so the Johnson owners expecting a significant late round steal clearly are upset. However, this move should not have come as a big surprise, given Rudi's struggles this preseason with his health and numerous warnings from coach Lewis. Hopefully, you didn't put too many eggs in the basket of the faded star.

What does this mean, fantasy wise? Well, many have taken this to mean Chris Perry is the free agent pick up of the year, as I've read that over the last 24 hours Perry's ownership has jumped from around 4% to around 35%. In most leagues, Perry should indeed be picked up, but the hype has clearly been overdone. In many public yahoo leagues, players like DeAngelo Williams and Chris Johnson are available, two players with far more potential than that of Chris Perry.
Now if players such as Chris Johnson, Mendenhall, DeAngelo Williams, Fargas, or Felix Jones are available, all those players deserve a pickup ahead of Perry. Well ahead, in fact. Yeah, Chris Perry was a first round pick (4 years ago though), but he's only rushed for 337 yards in his career. Everybody knows who he is since he played for Michigan, but playing at a good program won't help you break tackles. Fact is, Perry has never had a game with double digit carries, didn't play last year, and had 10 total carries the year before that. You think the Bengals are going to throw him out there for 20+ carries a game? If they do, there's no way he'll last even close to the whole season (so they won't).

While Perry could prove me wrong, there is definitely some overexcitement over a player who will struggle to match half of Rudi's old numbers. The main fantasy impact of Rudi Johnson's release is a positive bump for Cincinnati's passing attack. Carson Palmer owners should be in store for more of a monster season than before, along with Housh owners. Ocho Psycho owners, who knows?