1.04 Houston Tethered Swimmers - RB Eddie Lacy

In the real world: Lacy replaced Trent Richardson as Alabama's lead RB in 2012. He left early, not only to take advantage of the relative thinness in this year's RB crop, but because T.J. Yeldon is the real deal. ESPN kept referring to Lacy as the best RB in the class based on the assessments and scores they received from their in-house player evaluation team, Scouts, Inc. (Lacy's Scouts, Inc. grade went from the low- to mid-70s to 89 earlier this year.) But he's been nursing a partially torn hammy since February (suffered during a mock Combine event at IMG), and a Pro Day workout that NFL Network's Bucky Brooks called "disappointing" led people to wonder about Lacy's conditioning and work ethic. Getting drafted by Packers was going to be a huge boon for Lacy's fantasy value, but then came Round 4 of the NFL Draft, when the Packers took another runner, Johnathan Franklin from UCLA. Also, after the draft, rumors spread that Lacy's big toe was fused, which Alabama's team doctor denies.

In the TUFF world: The Tethered Swimmers already have a solid RB trio with Jamaal Charles, Trent Richardson and Stevan Ridley. They had considered trading down, but when both Lacy and Montee Ball dropped to 1.04, Houston decided to keep and use the pick. Even with Charles, Richardson and Ridley in front of him, Lacy is guaranteed to start at least one game--because that trio of backs will all be off in Week 10.