Young Gets First Shot

The Broncos' release of Travis Henry on Monday means that second-year sprinter Selvin Young is entrenched as the Broncos starting running back... for now. Simply put, no Broncos' back job is ever safe as long as Mike Shanahan is head coach. That being said, Young sits atop the depth chart and should be unchallenged for the role now that Henry has been shown the door.

Young likely saw Monday's dismissal of last year's starter coming last week when he told the Denver Post that he thought he could rush for 2,000 yards this season. "The key to that to me is staying healthy," Young told the Post. "Everything else, I believe in wholeheartedly. It's not like I said something to try to get a laugh or to smile or to get people to pay attention to me. It's something I believe is in me." Many a running back has had the temerity to forecast a 2,000-yard season for himself, only to fail miserably. The most recent example was Frank Gore prior to last season's 1,102-yard output. A little math tells us that if you multiply Young's gaudy 5.2 yards-per-carry average from last year over a full season of, say, 350-plus carries...and, carry the one, you get close to 2,000 yards. Of course, only five running backs have cracked the 2,000-yard barrier and, call me crazy, but I'll take the Vikings Adrian Peterson over Young in that prop bet any day of the week.

The main point for fantasy owners in all of this is that the job is Young's to lose and, say what you will about his meddling, but the Broncos have a long history under Shanahan of producing successful fantasy backs. Go ahead and move Young up your cheat sheet to the brink of the top 30 and be prepared to keep moving him up if the Broncos' training camp competition cements his status as their feature back.

I'm rather skeptical that it will, though. The Broncos really like rookie Ryan Torain and brought in Michael Pittman last week in all likelihood to serve as their third-down back. Andre Hall is also in the mix for touches if he makes the team ahead of Pittman. What's more, Young's size has been a bit of a question mark and Shanahan may opt to give someone other than Selvin carries in the red zone. Young packed on five-to-10 pounds of additional muscle this offseason, but it remains to be seen whether it's enough.

As for Henry, his run as a significant fantasy football player is over and his career may be too. T-Hen turns 30 in October, the age when most running backs jump the shark in terms of productivity and begin breaking down. Henry, however, has played a full 16-game season just once in his seven-year career and nagging injuries hampered him after a quick start last season. Heck, he has a hamstring injury right now and was staying away from the Broncos' OTA's, a move that appears to have been the last straw for him in Denver. Add in the fact that he is one positive drug test away from a one-year NFL suspension, and the risk is just too high for all but the most desperate of teams to sign him. Now add in the fact that Henry successfully appealed a positive marijuana test last October, two months after it was disclosed in court that he had fathered nine children by nine different mothers in six years, and the inevitable PR nightmare won't be worth the hassle for any team.