Montee Ball

Fantasy Upside
Montee Ball was the Broncos second-round draft pick of 2013 and still has a lot of good football left in him. As a change-of-pace back during his rookie campaign, he averaged 4.7 yards per carry on 120 attempts with four scores. He was Denver’s starter for the first four weeks of ’14, running for 172 yards and a TD. He is fully recovered after an injury-plagued second campaign.

Fantasy Downside
Last year was supposed to be Montee’s opportunity to take over the starting RB position, but after an appendectomy before the season, he never was able to get going. He sustained a groin injury in Week 5 and returned for four snaps in Week 11 before tearing his groin and finishing the season on I.R. Over the season he averaged just 3.1 YPC and had a tough time finding the wholes with any regularity. New HC Gary Kubiak likes to feature one back, which could limit Ball’s playing time.

Bottom Line
With the emergence of Ronnie Hillman in preseason, Ball will likely be losing playing time once the regular season starts. C.J. Anderson, who is a better fit in Kubiak’s one-cut zone scheme, will start. Montee should only be drafted as a handcuff or in the later rounds; but, even in the Broncos balanced attack, right now he does not carry a lot of fantasy value heading into the regular season. That said, there is a lot of upside in the Broncos offense if Anderson were to go down.