Every single year rookies come into the National Football League and impact the production of marginal veterans. While BenJarvus Green-Ellis has been a decent performer, first for the New England Patriots and the for the Cincinnati Bengals, he just doesn't seem to have the "it" factor on the football field.
In fact, Green-Ellis tallied the least amount of yards after contact of any regular running back in the NFL this past season. That's a prime example of him being as good as the sum of the parts, not the primary reason the sum of those parts are better. He averaged less than four yards per rush in each of the last two seasons and tallied less than 70 rushing yards per outing this past year.
Novices to the fantasy football game look at 1,000 yards rushing in a season and think they're going to get an outstanding, or at least above-average, fantasy player. This simply isn't the case.
A total of 16 running backs tallied over 1,000 yards on the ground in 2012. Among them, Green-Ellis tied Shonn Greene for the lowest average yards per attempt. In addition, Greene had two more rushing touchdowns than The Law Firm.
No one in their right mind believed that Greene was an above-average running back option in fantasy football this past season.
On the field, outside of fake football, Green-Ellis just wasn't a difference maker for the Cincinnati Bengals. He struggled getting consistent yards, gaining first downs less than 19 percent of the time.
According to Pro Football Focus, the veteran running back ranked as the 55th-best overall running back in the league, behind the likes of Daniel Thomas and Evan Royster.
There are reasons why the Bengals exhausted a second-round pick on a running back when the league as a whole doesn't seem to view them as that valuable atop the NFL Draft. They just weren't satisfied with the production they got from Green-Ellis.
Enter into the equation Giovani Bernard, who was one of the most productive running backs in the nation over the last two seasons. He combines great field vision with stellar blocking and soft hands to form an all-around running back threat that Cincinnati has coveted since Corey Dillon was in his prime.
The North Carolina product put up over 3,300 total yards and 31 touchdowns in two seasons. That's an average over 143 total yards and 1.4 touchdowns per outing.
Just think about that for a second.
I completely understand that playing in the ACC is a completely different game than going up against one of the toughest divisions in the entire National Football League, but that is a major gap in production between these two players.
Now take into account Cincinnati's offensive line, which ranked in the middle of the pack. If Green-Ellis can compile over 1,000 yards with his limited ability, just imagine what Bernard could do; even as a rookie.
I am looking for the rookie to tally over 1,300 total yards and over six scores in 2013.
He should take over for for Green-Ellis in training camp and not look back.
Fantasy Role Projections
Giovani Bernard: Solid RB2 option
BenJarvus Green-Ellis: Mid-tier FLEX player