Promising rookie Ryan Williams of the Arizona Cardinals has been lost for the season with a devastating, career threatening injury in which he suffered a ruptured right patella tendon.
Williams was filled with upside and most fantasy pundits believed that he would unseat incumbent Beanie Wells for the starting job due to his three-down skills and ability to maintain speed in and out of cuts.
The loss of Williams is a huge blow for the Cardinals but is big news for Beanie Wells’ fantasy stock.
The Cardinals went ahead and traded Tim Hightower to the Redskins expecting Ryan Williams and Wells to share the backfield, but now all of a sudden Wells finds himself as one of the few workhorse backs left in the league.
Fantasy Impact:
Beanie Wells gets a huge boost in value here as some G.M’s were crossing Wells of their cheat sheets altogether prior to the injury to Williams. He is now a solid RB2 with low-end RB1 upside and may finally fulfill some of the promise he showed entering the league. Wells was ranked anywhere between 24 and 36 by some of the most popular fantasy sites on the Internet including ESPN and Yahoo! Sports, but is now considered a legit top-20 option at running back. NFL.com’s Michael Fabiano currently has him at 21 from 27 which seems like a very good ranking.
The Cardinals should add another running back to the roster to be a direct backup to Beanie Wells.
