A Running Back to Target in Each Round of Your Fantasy Football Draft

Jonathan Stewart, Carolina Panthers

ADP: 42 (4.06)

Admittedly, when I started writing this piece, I had C.J. Spiller sitting at this spot. But with news of his arthroscopic knee surgery that will cost him the entire preseason recently surfacing, his draft stock should tumble its way down to a much later round.

This leaves us with the next best running back target in this round, Jonathan Stewart.

And that, my friends, may be all you need to know about targeting a running back in the fourth round of your fantasy football drafts this year.

While Stewart may not be the flashiest name in the draft this season -- no one in your league is going to ooh and aah when you call his name in the fourth round -- the departure of DeAngelo Williams sets his floor at about 200 carries, making him a safe bet to return at least RB2 value on the year.

On this note, as our Editor-In-Chief JJ Zachariason wrote recently, in 13 games last season, Stewart garnered 175 carries for 809 yards and 3 touchdowns, finishing the year as the RB24 in PPR leagues.

Beyond this, his Success Rate (which measures the percentage of positive plays a player makes in terms of NEP) of 43.75% on the ground not only made him the Panthers most reliable tailback, but also ranked him as the 12th-most reliable back in the league with at least 150 carries.

While his upside is limited by a lack of red zone opportunities -- he had just 18 red zone carries all of last season -- the high volume he should receive in the league's eighth most run heavy team according to pass-to-run ratio makes him a worthwhile high floor pick at his current ADP.