Just last week many fantasy sites had this kid going before both McFadden and Moreno. Now, after everyone's got a taste of his injury proneness, he's fallen drastically in the minds of drafters. But in the end, he's likely to make the 2nd preseason game so this injury should not affect the regular season....so is the drop-off just short-sightedness? Or do people believe Hightower will remain the RB on passing downs and also the GL back?? If that's the case, why didn't people think Hightower was a threat last week?

Any outlooks on Wells in '09?

The hype dissipated when he got hurt during his first practice. Nothing major, but it wasn't encouraging. Hightower has been impressing in the interim.

Moreno looks to be the inevitable starter in a better running situation.

Hightower averged 2.9 yards per carry last year...Botton line, he isn't that good. The WELLS hype will come back real quick as soon as he can stay healthy because he is the far more talented RB and should have a strangle hold on the starting job if he can stay healthy.

I wouldn't rate Wells higher than a RB3 in a redraft and dynasty I might consider passing on him - even as an OSU fan. He's good when he plays, but he's hurt often. Most of his last year at OSU he was wearing more tape than leather on his feet and ankles.

I think the hype was to be expected come draft time and pre draft time back in March and April because hes a workout warrior who has exceptionaly feakish natural abilities. His 40 time is sick for his size, but like its been said, he gets injured too much. He'll always get injured and never hold THAT much fantasy value because of it. The most he could ever be is likely a RB2. Thats not bad tho, but in many peoples cases, if ur not playing in preseason games, the hype soon goes away. Theres no way to rate him until hes seen playing. So hes bound to slide.

So you are some type of injury predictor type guy...."He'll always get injured" YES he has been hurt with several nagging injuries but as far as I know, he hasn't had major injuries in his past to indicate this will always be an issue for him. Injuries are a concern without question but who knows how that will play out in the pros.

And yet the Cardinals coaches are reiterating that they believe Tim Hightower has the same skillset and potential and Marion Barber. So Hightower winning the starting job is not out of the question, especially if Wells is too hurt to actually compete for it.

What do you think they are going to do when their injury prone #1 pick goes down early in camp? Say that their only other option is a bum??? No, they are going to talk up Hightower in a dual effort to motivate him and portray a confident team image in the media.

If the object was to motivate Hightower, they would be publicly ambivalent about him. Calling him the next Marion Barber is not a motivational tool. If anything, it would placate Hightower.

It's a much different situation than Dwayne Bowe who was benched by a new coaching staff to prove a point about who's in charge. There's no way Arizona is going to come out and say "We're f'ed at RB, everyone should just gameplay pass again". They're going to say, Hightower has been much improved in his 2nd year and we're in great shape. They may be fine with Hightower and he might not need any motivation, they are just saving face in the media. He's not Marion Barber.

No one in this thread is claiming him to be.

Do you know how bad you have to be to only average 2.9 yards a carry....on a team loaded with weapons....against defenses that are always playing to stop the pass and not so worried about the run....TO only average 2.9 yards a carry would be next to impossible....YET somehow Hightower pulled it off....The guy just isn't that good, its that simple....If Wells can stay healthy...His talent is far greater and he will emerge as the GUY.

Exactly, Hightower is a JAG (Just another guy).

If Wells is healthy, it's his job to lose.

Anyone heard if AZ is planning to give GL touches back to Hightower this year? If so, this really hurts Beanie's value...

Well as of now, isn't Hightower currently listed as the starter?

If Beanie does take over (as everyone thinks he will), i'd assume Hightower would get the goal line just to keep Beanie healthy.

I don't know what would keep Beanie healthy, but it's certainly nothing OSU did during his time there. Abundant talent, but probably the most injury prone college player I can remember. When he's healthy he's going to be big, but I guarantee a nagging injury.

The hype went to the Trainer's room, and then to the bike on the sideline. Tomorrow it the hype will have an X-Ray and later a precautionary MRI.....They hype will be doing this many times this year....

Wells is a boom or bust fantasy player. I can seem him shedding injury perception and having a chris johnson/matt forte type seaason. Or i could see him having 800 yards and missing 5 games or so.

I truly think Cedric Benson is a safer pick with as much upside. He has the ability to put up the same line Rudi Johnson used to do every year from 2003-2006.

I also don't understand the Benson hate at all. In the 2nd DUI boating case, the judge almost brought up charges of police misconduct & assault on the officers! They basically stopped Benson for no reason, administered a DUI field test ON A MOVING BOAT, knocked him down to the ground and pepper sprayed him, while running water on his Benson's head when he was on a boat with his mom and some friends. There was an eye witness who made a formal complaint at the police station about the incident and another 22 year old English major at UT who called her father to say that the police were attacking Benson! It's racial profiling at it's worst.

LOL, nice to get a good laugh on a dreary monday morning at work! And this is coming from a Wells owner!

Make up your mind, good sir: Are you calling him "it" or "the hype"? Either is fairly funny.

There are a lot of reasons Hightower notched a paltry 2.8 YPA.
For instance he got to carry the ball more than 15 times in a single game exactly once. Given the ball 22 times he carried for 109 yards.
His role with the team constantly changed.
He picks too much, dances too much. But besides having the look of a tentative runner dancers quite often are also trying to get their timing down. This will be his 2nd year in the league, should be more comfortable with the game's speed.

All in all Hightower may not be everybody's ideal of the prototypical breakthrough candidate but he shouldn't be dismissed as readily as he has been either. As Nick and Patrick imply, Wells kind of needs to be vertical and moving in order to see regular snaps, let alone be given the job outright. When fully healthy he will eventually prevail in Arizona. But until that time I expect Hightower to be a bigger factor than you think.

My buddy out is Arizona said that Hightower looks awesome in camp....He is the guy to own in that backfield...Let someone else spend a higher pick on Wells...I'll be taking Hightower.

Drafted Wells as RB2 in a 16 teamer. Hes a bruiser and can be a homerun hitter. Also came across this "Former Ohio State great Archie Griffin recently said that he thinks Wells is the closest thing he's ever seen to Jim Brown." Obviously too early to be saying this. I like Beanie over Hightower any day. Beanie proved himself in college against tough D's Hightower can not say the same thing

In ppr leagues, I think Hightower is a great pick. Management is comparing him to M.Barber.......none of us think he's that good of a back, but think about these factors for a minute:


1. Great offense that will try to establish the run more this year.

2. It's either him or Wells on the field, and Wells is a rookie w/ little reps and is injury prone.

3. Arz knows Wells is injury prone, so it should at least be a time share(they went to super bowl, so should be thinking about keeping him healthy for the playoffs).

4. Maybe management want Hightower to take on the Barber role(passing downs and goaline)? If so, that explains the comparison, makes sense as he's a better blocker w/ more experience to protect the injury prone Warner. It would also help keep Wells healthy.

5. Hightower is a VERY-LOW risk, high reward guy. His ADP in Mockdraftcentral is 96 or 97(ppr) and in yahoo is 121!

Don't forget about Hightower's pass blocking abiliites...which will have him on the field more.

in AZ you might as well consider Fitz the goal line back with those slants and corner routes

Beanie Wells reinjured his ankle in practice on Tuesday night.

Maybe this guy really is injury prone. Wells said he just twisted it and he's "OK" but his status for Saturday's preseason game is undecided. The rookie isn't exactly earning the trust of his teammates by missing virtually all of camp. If you draft him, make sure you know the risks and headaches coming. Aug. 19 - 8:45 am et

I'm starting to get really concerned. When i drafted, i thought Steven Jackson/Brandon Jacobs in my RB slots and Beanie in my W/R would be my strong point, but it's not looking so good for Beanie...

I grabbed hightower as a handcuff... but I'm really not looking foward to all those thirty yard, 2.1 yards a carry games if he's forced to take over....

Please get well Beanie.

Puh-lease... what a Ohio State homer.

You don't have to be bad to only average high-2/low-3ypc - you just need to play for the Cardinals, a team that is incapable of run-blocking.

Thomas Jones and Edge went there to die, and Arrington's career was ruined by being drafted there. Any RB that has the misfortune of playing for ARI looks like crap. Stick AD in there and he'll average 3.5 ypc.

to be fair, I wouldnt say Arrington would have much of a career elsewhere (unless he went to the monster O-line teams) imo

Cal's O-Line is always good, one thing that Tedford is always really good at. that system spits out rbs with huge numbers every year.


more on topic, I was thinking of drafting the guy in a keeper, but I shifted my attention to mccoy a while back. wells plays for the cards, is injury-prone and...yeah thats already two things gone wrong. Ill be grabbing Hightower in most leagues if his adp doesnt improve. Makes for a great sell to the Wells owner and if anything a solid backup RB in later rounds.

The hype on Wells has definitely disappeared. Despite Rosenthal comparing him to Brandon Jacobs and predicting something like 1000 yards and 8 TDs, I was able to grab in at 8.10 in my 12 teamer as my RB4.

If he had been practicing more and playing in the first couple of preseason games, there's no way you would be able to get him as late as you can right now. I like to take the approach that pre-season is pre-season...it's for getting healthy and learning the system. Wells is supposed to play in the game this Friday, and what he does there could very well shoot him up people's draft charts.

I understand the talk about Hightower being a great value, and having a head start on starting and getting the bulk of the carries right now, but the comments I've read from the Cardinals don't indicate to me that they are giving the job to Hightower until they see what Wells can (or can't) do.

I don't think his role as the top RB on that team is in question as much as 1) his durability and 2) the fact that the Cards are a pass-first team. The former is the reason Hightower is getting moved up since even 2-3 YPC from a feature back is worth something.

Beanie at this point is a high risk high reward player.

1. Benson ran poorly behind a good OL in CHI (Thomas Jones flourished behind the same OL)
2. Benson is now running behind arguably the worst OL in the NFL
3. Benson is playing on a team that passes first and runs as an afterthought
4. Benson has been a head case since he entered the NFL

That said, I might be taking a look at Benson very late in the draft.

What kind of numbers are you guys projecting for Beanie? I have no idea what to expect from him.

To be honest, I had no intention of drafting him, but when it came around to my pick, the guys I was about to draft all got take right before me. I ended up with Wells. I understand he is injury prone, but he also only missed 3 games in college, so he cant be that fragile, right? Kind of like a Plaxico? I know its a different position, but Plax was injured every single week, yet played every Sunday and performed at a high level.

Pretend he's gonna be on the field every week, what kind of numbers can I expect from this kid?

That's a huge leap of faith, but assuming he and Hightower stay healthy, I'd predict:

185 carries, 760 yards, 6 TDs, 18 rec., 125 yards, 0 TDs.....

I think Wells is going to be great this year, especially after the first few games hell be back to full speed.

But would you start LeSean McCoy or Beanie Wells in week 1?

Not unless I only had 2 rb's rostered..and had to play 3..

I would expect more TDs than that if he plays 16 games. 'Zona should score alot, and even though they pass first Beanie will get alot of the TDs. My issue with him is I don't expect him to play 16 games, I would expect a season more like what McFadden had last year.

Why is there belief that Wells will become the goal line guy? Hightower did a very good job at the stripe last year. 10 scores on 140 carries is actually outstanding, even higher TD percentage than Lenwhale. In fact, Hightower's use at the goal line certainly had something to do with his low ypc. If he continues to be the goal line guy on a high scoring team, that's great value.

It's called hype. Both are enormous and physical guys and while I do think that if healthy that the two will split goal-line carries eventually, the Cards weren't a good running team. They had 14 rushing TDs last year with Hightower getting 10 of them. They were last in attempts and yards/attempt. Drafting a RB isn't going to make a huge difference, they should have been investing in the OL. I think it's a moot point as I think "Beanie" will most likely miss a few games......

This is a ridiculously low prediction. If Beanie is healthy for all 16 games he will easily surpass 1000 yards and 10 tds. The question is will he be healthy. Ankles can be troublesome so hopefully this won't linger any longer for the young fella. I don't have him on my team, but I am considering drafting him....will probably come down to Wells, McCoy, or Brown...limited keeper league.

Is it? After I made mine, I went to some reputable sites and they're predictions weren't that different than mine. The Cards ran a league low 340 times last year and were the worst team in the league with a 3.9 average. No major upgrades were made on the OL, he's in a time share (one their best player admits to), and Zona got to a Super Bowl with that pass first offense. I thought I was giving him a pretty good split of things by saying that Zona will run the ball about 10% more and then giving him the slight edge in touches....I don't know, unless he takes that job and becomes "the man", I don't see how he's going to get to a 1000 yards. May score some more TDs, but Hightower's a huge guy too......I guess we'll see or maybe we won't, since the likelihood of him remaining healthy all season seems low....

Jump start the hype machine, Beanie's running wild. Hightower looks good to against this supposedly "dominant" Packers D.

This why I feel Beanie has a very good shot to lead all rookies in terms of yds tds etc. When healthy, he is a beast and productive. Even if he misses a few gms, still has a good chance at 1,000 yds. Interesting how this backfield competitions shapes. Few more games like this, Wells is a lock to start

Barring injury I absolutely see Wells taking the front role completely from Hightower. Wells is significantly more athletic and flat out way more talented than he is. Despite being the best passing team in the league, Whisenhunt thinks like a Steeler. He knows he has to run the ball to win. And hes going to do it with a powerful back like Wells in combination with Hightower. I assure you Arizona RBs will get way more touches this year. Not necessarily a bad thing for the WRs either, as it will open the field up.

That's the whole key. I don't have any question Beanie is a better RB than Tim Hightower. I actually thought he was the best RB in the nation last year. The issue is it seems like he's always got a nagging injury. If he ever gets that put behind him, he's going to be special. If not, he's going to be like a ton of other talented RB's whose careers got largely impacted by their ability to stay healthy.

I like how people keep mentioning his injury problems. But if memory serves correct this guy tried to battle through most of his injuries in college. Sure he missed some games but for the most part he tried to to be a warrior in terms of playing through injury. I can respect a player like that

In his 3 seasons at OSU, he missed a total of 3 gms. Not sure how that deserves the label on injury prone. Those 3 gms he missed were all from last season. Again, 3 gms missed in 3 yrs does not equal injury prone to me

He's tough. It's an admirable trait. Most NFL players are tough. I like Wells a lot. He's got more talent than anyone in this draft class at RB in my opinion. Watching him in college, I just question whether injuries may not play a large role in his NFL career. I hope not. I hope he's a perennial pro-bowler, but when push comes to shove when you're talking about the pros and cons of Chris Wells, how do you not talk about injuries?

He is almost an exact replica of AP w/o speed IMO, he is gonna be great, next year his ADP will be 30-40