Mark Ingram has been in the NFL for five seasons, yet has only played an entire 16-game schedule once, back in 2012. His numbers have gotten better along the way after prodding for 3.9 yards per carry the first two years, but he still hasn’t surpassed 1,000 rushing yards in a season.
That said, Ingram is still getting ranked as a top-10 running back ahead of next season as seen in the consensus rankings at FantasyPros. The question remains, why would anyone use a first- or second-round pick on a running back that probably won’t make it the entire season? I have no idea.
Ingram put up respectable numbers in the action he did see in 2015, there’s no arguing that. In standard leagues, he averaged nearly 13 fantasy points per game and was even better than that in PPR due to 50 receptions on the year. He finished with 1,174 total yards to go with 4.6 yards per carry.
Those numbers are great, but he didn’t play after Week 13 after tearing his rotator cuff in his left shoulder. And that’s been the case now for three-straight seasons. Ingram is never going to be a guy that can shoulder a full workload for an entire season. He’s injury-prone and there’s no way around that.
Ingram as the No. 10 running back seems a little high, though, especially for someone who has less than a 50% change of playing during the fantasy playoffs. Below Ingram the running backs include LeSean McCoy (11), DeMarco Murray (15), Latavius Murray (17) and T.J. Yeldon (20). That’s a wide range of backs that may cost less than Ingram (the FantasyPros rankings above are picked from ones that came in on March 10 or later).
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McCoy over Ingram is fairly obvious. Yes, he also dealt with injuries last year, but his numbers were slightly better than what Ingram put up. The reasoning for taking Ingram above McCoy remains unclear to me.
Yeldon is a second-year running back that I’ll be taking in plenty of drafts if he’s getting ranked at No. 20. He wasn’t great last year and battled injuries for much of the year, but he also took upon a huge role for the Jaguars. He only had two touchdowns, but if you back and look at the film, he was easily the best running back the Jaguars have had since Maurice Jones-Drew. While they added Chris Ivory, he’s another back that’s oft injured. A lot of people will be discounting Yeldon because of Ivory, but I think that presents sleeper status.
Latavius Murray is in an offense that should improve next season, yet no one seems to be giving him any respect after a 1,000-yard season. In his first full-time role, Murray did just fine and also caught 41 balls to go along with his rushing numbers. Once considered injury-prone, he has now appeared in 31 games over the last two years.
DeMarco Murray is an easy guy to make fun of after last year, but he’s still fairly young and coming off a low-touch season. Yes, he’s injury-prone, but no more so than Ingram is. Yet Murray is seemingly still be ranked after Ingram, despite his move to the Titans. He’s going to be the workhorse and is still an elite running back.
The Saints offense shouldn’t look much different from a season ago, but Drew Brees is 37 years old and hasn’t been his same steady self in recent seasons. Nevertheless, it’s hard to see the Saints planning on giving Ingram 250-plus touches before the season begins. They’ll likely keep him in the 200 range once more in an effort to not lose him to injury again.
Not to mention, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Saints drafted a new running back or added another one through free agency. They already added Vick Ballard with the hope he can stay healthy and get his spark back. And there’s still C.J. Spiller who can only have a bigger role in 2016, right?
Ingram can be good, but is he a top-10 running back? I don’t think so.
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