Heh. Talk about a standout player...
 

Damn.....and a maxed-out rookie at that. I am assuming you are not Cleveland.

No, I'm Atlanta. He went 1(1). I had the 30th pick in round 1, so there was really no way to trade up to get him. He led the league in rushing as a rookie.

That is one sucky bunch of RBs in that league.

My leagues seem to ebb and flow, which I love. Right now it has more talented QBs than I'm used to seeing, but the RB talent isn't there. Jennings, with 1683 yards, won the rushing title by over 300 as a rook.

Are the two phenomena related? I mean, does the AI sense that there aren't enough good running backs and load up the draft with them (resulting in a one in a hundred die role to produce that rookie)?

I don't think so, and I hope not. I like the draft classes having more random talent and the league therefore at times having a dearth of talent at some positions. And in this case, there's some pretty strong evidence that it isn't dependent on league talent. I'm in the next season now, and the next-best RB in year 2 to Jennings in terms of future potential is a 34/49. Further, of the four-year-and-under RBs, they break out in future potential as follows:

94/94
60/60
34/49
36/45
43/44
37/42
39/42
30/42
40/41
40/40

Those are the best-looking young RBs in the league, mind you. Looks like Jennings is going to dominate for years. The best RB in the next class looks like he'll be no better than 55/55ish once he's done developing.

That's fascinating and a bit shocking on the surface. Having said that, quick looks at a couple of my more mature careers shows very similar things happening with QBs in one and CBs in another. So it makes sense, and I think you're right, it adds something to the flavor of a career to have to understand the relative value of a 60/60 player to the rest of the universe at his position.

Dola, I guess the only question I'd have is... does that 60/60 guy who's the 2nd best RB in the league know that, or is he simply asking for decent starter money? Would that even matter, or would he still really only be adding that kind of value to an offense despite his relative stature?

Well, he's third best for now, but anyway, it's hard to tell. FOF has always valued players who put up good "alternative" numbers. The 60/60 guy signed a huge contract, but that may have as much to do with the fact that he averages 65 catches per season as his relative worth in the league.