Thursday, July 4th / 2002

RB Duce Staley, Philadelphia Eagles

Height: 5-11  
Weight: 220  
Born: February 27, 1975, Tampa, FL  
College: South Carolina

Career Statistics:    

Chris Smith’s Thoughts:  

It was only a couple of seasons ago that Duce Staley was a rising star in the fantasy realm.  He ran with power and was a super receiver out of the backfield.  He had a rock-solid 1273 rushing yards during the 1999 campaign on 325 carries and caught 41 passes out of the backfield.  The future looked bright and after the first game of 2000 when he ran for 201 yards against the Cowboys, he looked like the best thing since color television brought the NFL to life.  However, after the Cowboy game, Staley's season went into the toilet.  He only ran for 143 yards on 53 carries during the next four games and then was hurt for the season.  He came back last year with decent expectations but his rushing did not have the same passion it once had.  He averaged a miserable 3.6 yards per carry considering that rookie back last year, Correll Buckhalter had a nifty 4.5 yards every time he ran the ball.

If Buckhalter hadn't injured himself for the season during mini-camps, the Eagles likely would have released Staley.  However the team was forced to hold onto him and it looked like he would get the touches by default for the team this year.  That was before a hotshot rookie came on the scene though by the name of Brian Westbrook and all of a sudden there is a real competition for touches coming out of the backfield.   Westbrook had 2261 total yards and a whooping 28 touchdowns in only eleven games last year for Villanova.  Now Villanova doesn't exactly play powerhouses each week but anytime a player can put up that many touchdowns, he is doing something right.  He has been very exciting so far in camp and I believe the starting job may end up being split between him and Staley much like it was last year.  Because of Staley's injury problems the past two years, his ineffective running and the competition for touches at the position, I wouldn't even consider picking up Staley until round five and I may wait until the double digit rounds to pick up Westbrook instead.

200 carries for 735 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns
60 receptions for 530 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns
for a total of 156.5 fantasy points.  Injury Risk: 5

Quotes from the P.O.D. Thread in the forum: (make sure you click on the link that takes you to the thread.  There are many fantastic opinions that I wasn't able to fit into this article).

Link to the thread: Click Here  

Positive Responses:

General Malaise:

I rank Staley 13th and if he improves on his yard-per-carry average, he could be a top 10 back by season's end. The Eagles' management challenged his man-hood by flirting with other free agent RB's and I think this will have a profound effect on Duce this year.

Snotbubbles:

I think Duce Staley is a good #2RB for your FF team. With the injury to Buckhalter he should see at least 200-225 carries this year possibly more. He is also an excellent reciever and blocker, which means that I don't think he'll lose as many 3rd down opportunities as people think, especially with a game on the line because he's just too valuable to bring out (other than for a breather).

Saintsfan:

He is number 14 on my list. I like Staley and I think a full two years removed from his injury, he will be fine. I know he will catch the ball a ton. 1000 yds rushing not that hard to achieve.

Res Ipsa Loquitur:

Now a full season removed from that year, he should be ready to make it back into the top 15 RB range.

Woodrow:

All that being said, I was absolutely SHOCKED to see that last year, a year where Duce racked up just 604 yards rushing, he finished as the 20th best RB, according to FBG.

Deacon14:

Staley has been given new life, and that could be dangerous. All he needs is some confidence early on. Once he stops listening to everybody saying he's just not the same, we are gonna see that famous bounce back in his step.

Negative Responses:

red toes:

think he is a very good football player, but not a very good Fantasy player...My biggest problem with him is McNabb stealing goal line carries. My projection assumes he will miss a couple of games due to injury.

Holy Schneikes

If Westbrook shows anything at all, we will see a lot of him this year. If he doesn't show much, I think Philly will bring in a vet to share the load.

I've heard lots of claims that Duce was looking better as a rusher toward the end of the season. I have a little trouble with that - here are the rushing numbers from his last 6 games:

Week 11 15 50 3.3
Week 12 25 80 3.2
Week 13 15 21 1.4
Week 14 15 36 2.4
Week 15 15 35 2.3
Week 16 8 23 2.9

No rushing TDs in that span of course.

Insane Jets Fan:

think what people don't realize is that if Buckhalter did not get hurt, Staley would barely be DRAFTABLE as a fantasy RB. Towards the end of last year, there were countless whispers of how many of the veterans on the team were clamoring for Reid to ditch the platoon system, and give Buckhalter the job outright. Staley would have been relegated to 3rd down back at best.

Ministry of Pain:

Plain and simple. Duce is not a TD guy. With Buckhalter going down he will rack up more yards but not more TDs. The Eagles would rather have their better runner take the ball inside the 10. Donovan McNabb.

Juicecore:

BTW, I consider Duce to be injury prone. He's only started 52 out of a possible 80 games since he's been in the league. So his chances of playing a 16 game schedule this year aren't very good.

Footballguy Projections:

Chris Smith's Projections:  

P.O.D. average projections