In the same way that Joey Lawrence lived and died by his ability to say "whoa!", fantasy teams live and die by their running backs. Pick a loser and you're the fantasy version of the Astros; pick a winner like AP was last year and you're smiling all the way to the top.

There'll be plenty of time to get into which RBs you should avoid like day-old Domino's Pizza; in this article, we'll look into options you should consider late in your draft. Some will have true superstar potential, some will have a great chance of stealing the starting role, and some are just too good to be drafted where they're currently being drafted.

Of course, because we're numberFire and not one of the millions of sites who make recommendations based solely on opinion, we'll back everything up with statistics and metrics so you can feel confident in your decision making. Remember kids: opinions without numbers is like chicken wings without bones - an abomination that should be wiped off the face of the Earth.

LeSean McCoy, Eagles

"Hold up!" you're thinking. "Way to really go out on a limb here, guys. McCoy? He's already a top-10 back!".

We know you think he's a top-10 back. He's more than that though. He's a top-3 back, and he's massively underrated. Let's start with his comparables.

Yeah, not bad, right?

Not to mention the fact that he'll be playing in a Chip Kelly offense that is almost perfectly designed for him, one that is also missing a key cog in wrote in a column a month ago:

"In his 227 rushing attempts, Bush only lost 0.04 expected points per rush for the Dolphins last year. Since rushing is a much less efficient way of moving the ball than passing overall, that's not half bad. Among the 22 backs with at least 200 attempts last season, Bush ranked No. 15 overall per rush, ahead of this article:

"Although rushing totals are not likely to equal Steven Jackson’s for any one Rams player this year, one area of the offense that is likely to expand for the running backs is the receiving game. This was especially clear in the case of Richardson last year in serving as the number two back behind Jackson. While Jackson totaled 257 rushes to Richardson’s 98, the number of receptions was much closer at 38 for Jackson and 24 for Richardson. So while less than 13% of Jackson’s touches were receptions, the reception percentage goes all the way up to 20% for Richardson."

On top of that, Pead has shown a bit of the fumble-itis in practice and in preseason tilts, a huge no-no for running backs in any system. Add all of these factors up and we've got a solid case of winning-by-default for Daryl Richardson, making him much more valuable than his current ADP position. Our official prediction for him feels really low; he's got a great chance to be a consistent flex play for your team, and perhaps more in a PPR setup.

We think: #38 RB, 86.87 fantasy points

Daniel Thomas, Dolphins

Everyone loves sets the record straight:

There is a rushing metric called success rate, which takes into account how often a rusher improves their team’s likelihood to score when they are handed the rock. And guess what? The success rates for Daniel Thomas and Lamar Miller were not only nearly identical last year, but Daniel Thomas actually came out slightly ahead with a 43.48% success rate compared to Lamar Miller's 43.14% success rate.

Sooner or later, you're going to have to start choosing backups on the basis of their handcuff situation or on the basis of the incumbent, presumed starter not being very good. You've got a few options to choose from here, but Thomas should stand out strongly. He's got the metrics to support it, he's got a unproven starter ahead of him, and he's got something that the Dolphins are going to need when Tannehill-to-Wallace isn't happening the way they think it will: experience. Our projection comes in low; it's going to be higher if and when he takes significant carries from Miller.

We think: #40 RB, 81.27 fantasy points