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Chris Johnson — Overrated?
Posted by tomvanwyheI have a friend who told me this weekend that Chris Johnson is amazing, and it’s hard to disagree at first glance. Few players can compete with the game-changing performances he brings to the table. If you’ve watched any Titans games this season or at least tuned into the “fastest three minutes” segment of Monday Night Football to hear Chris Berman “Whoop!” and “Whaap!”, you know that Chris Johnson has been electrifying.
As of week eight, Johnson leads the NFL in rushing yards with 824 and through seven games he has 961 yards from scrimmage this season. Based on those numbers, Johnson is on a clear pace for over 2,000 yards from scrimmage this season and close to 1,900 rushing yards.
But there’s a catch.
Johnson, as most know, plays for one of the NFL’s biggest disappointments. Despite his explosive performances this season, he hasn’t found the endzone as often as one might expect after seeing his yards from scrimmage. His four rushing touchdowns tie him for 11th in the NFL with 10 other players. Heck, Reggie Bush has that many rushing scores with a tad more than 1/3 of the carries.
Too bad that’s not all. Chris Johnson, despite posting some incredible numbers this season, has more often than not been an average fantasy player. A typical game for him consists of around 90-100 yards from scrimmage and zero touchdowns.
Not terrible, but it hardly justifies him as a week-in week-out RB1. His lack of consistency this season cannot be trumped by his two explosive performances that account for 523 yards from scrimmage and all five touchdowns.
Yes, you read that correctly: more than half his yards and all his touchdowns are a result of just two games. If you had Johnson and started him those weeks you probably won your game. It’d be hard not to: he posted around 80 combined fantasy points in most standard leagues.
But what if you started him the other weeks, hoping he’d break out again and beat the living daylights out of a defense? Chances are you wouldn’t be happy.
Check out this Sports Data Hub graph that displays his fantasy points this season:
His “consistency” level is around 10 points per game (and that’s generous). Overall he typically falls between 5-10 points. Those two breakout performances highlight him as a player with stellar numbers.
He might be a stellar player, but he doesn’t get the touches to showcase it on a weekly basis. He has 119 carries and 18 receptions this season, putting him on pace for a year similar to 2008. He wasn’t a consistent RB1 last year; don’t expect him to be a consistent RB1 for the rest of this season, either.
Tags: Chris Johnson, Fantasy Football, Overrated, Running Backs, Stats, Tennessee Titans
