2005 Top First Half Fantasy Running Backs

The Players Who Were Strong Out of the Gate

Stats that reflect a player's season totals are often misleading. The NFL season lasts a long time, and players often have impressive stretches of play that get lost in the shuffle.

There are a lot of reasons why certain players have a great first half but tail off later in the year. Injuries to them or their teammates are often the cause, but other factors like strength of schedule can play a role too.

However, there are also a class of players that are simply known as fast starters. Year after year they come out strong out of the gate and post gaudy early season numbers before the grind of the season wears them down.  

Identifying and acquiring these players can be critical as the outcome of the first 8 games of the year often determines who will make the fantasy playoffs. A side bonus is you can ride these guys and then trade them off before their scoring declines.

We use the Freaks' standard scoring system and all of the scoring totals are rounded to the nearest whole number. 

So study hard, and come next fantasy draft you'll have the best stocked roster in your league. 

For more fantasy stats analysis, please see the NFLFreaks Stats Index.

Quarterbacks | Running Backs | Wide Receivers | Tight Ends | Kickers | Team Defense / Special Teams

10 Yards Rushing/Receiving = 1 pt  |  20 Yards Passing = 1 pt  |  TD = 6 pts

Rank

Player

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

Season Total

1st Half Total

2nd Half Total
1 Shaun Alexander 7 22 38 16 26 38 6 0 29 35 24 17 17 19 23 33 13 364 182 182
2 LaDainian Tomlinson 13 17 47 29 19 36 3 16 39 0 15 39 11 8 9 7 16 324 181 143
3 Edgerrin James 11 17 20 16 21 34 27 0 17 21 23 12 18 15 11 6 0 268 163 106
4 LaMont Jordan 11 15 13 21 0 21 34 20 14 11 9 26 7 8 17 0 0 227 149 78
5 Steven Jackson 7 17 5 18 20 19 24 26 0 12 2 17 4 7 8 11 0 197 136 61
6 Tiki Barber 18 21 7 20 0 7 17 27 10 29 13 18 12 26 37 13 32 307 127 180
7 Thomas Jones 11 28 17 0 14 22 14 10 4 0 9 12 9 16 15 17 6 203 119 84
8 Willis McGahee 13 3 20 16 15 23 9 16 0 7 4 5 10 1 11 7 14 173 115 58
9 Brian Westbrook 17 18 33 7 4 0 10 16 8 18 12 19 6 0 0 0 0 167 113 54
10 Stephen Davis 14 26 5 19 11 3 0 17 17 14 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 131 111 20
11 Warrick Dunn 12 5 10 19 11 18 16 0 17 19 10 12 9 11 9 6 4 188 108 80
12 Priest Holmes 15 15 9 17 0 24 22 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 107 107 0
13 Clinton Portis 12 8 0 11 13 13 29 2 14 23 9 11 26 18 12 25 24 249 101 147
14 Larry Johnson 24 10 1 3 0 6 18 8 28 18 34 23 27 35 30 30 40 335 98 237
15 Corey Dillon 21 4 20 15 12 0 0 19 7 0 0 0 14 19 18 20 0 169 98 72
16 Mike Anderson 1 9 16 14 5 12 18 20 0 13 31 4 22 2 22 13 0 201 94 106
17 Ronnie Brown 6 4 21 0 12 13 17 12 8 9 6 14 11 3 6 0 3 144 92 52
18 Tatum Bell 6 0 5 7 25 19 6 23 0 6 4 0 5 8 6 8 23 151 91 60
19 Curtis Martin 8 8 7 5 18 21 11 0 13 8 1 10 6 0 0 0 0 115 91 25
20 Domanick Davis 6 15 0 11 17 13 17 12 0 0 17 18 17 25 0 0 0 167 90 77
21 Willie Parker 27 17 6 0 4 6 19 8 2 0 14 7 8 11 10 19 15 173 89 84
22 Reuben Droughns 10 8 11 0 9 6 11 10 19 18 23 12 9 8 8 7 5 172 83 89
23 Rudi Johnson 20 9 8 9 8 14 7 7 17 0 21 24 22 24 25 10 2 227 83 144
24 Fred Taylor 9 10 16 3 13 0 0 23 6 0 0 0 0 2 7 17 0 106 79 27
25 Chris Brown 6 6 9 5 9 23 4 17 16 0 24 20 4 10 6 2 0 160 79 81
26 Kevan Barlow 10 7 9 6 13 0 11 12 5 6 4 12 0 6 0 0 0 100 72 28
27 Mewelde Moore 0 4 10 12 0 11 17 9 8 0 14 8 0 1 1 9 16 119 70 49
28 Julius Jones 17 11 23 9 7 0 0 0 0 2 11 6 16 4 10 33 4 152 67 85
29 Kevin Jones 10 3 0 10 18 2 8 14 2 9 13 3 0 7 0 0 8 107 67 40
30 Cadillac Williams 21 19 16 2 0 0 0 3 5 2 19 9 10 24 3 22 8 162 65 97
31 Deuce McAllister 19 9 14 15 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 63 63 0
32 Jamal Lewis 5 4 0 14 17 7 4 6 5 6 3 21 4 0 17 9 12 134 63 71
33 Michael Pittman 0 7 0 19 9 20 0 1 4 2 1 2 6 2 1 3 10 86 59 27
34 Chris Perry 5 8 2 4 8 13 4 10 2 0 12 0 1 2 0 0 2 73 54 19
35 Chester Taylor 5 3 0 6 7 10 2 12 4 0 9 0 5 7 4 6 5 84 48 36
36 DeShaun Foster 6 6 8 9 9 0 0 6 4 6 6 10 30 5 8 8 23 143 47 96
37 Patrick Pass 0 0 2 6 10 21 0 4 0 0 9 9 0 0 0 2 3 65 43 22
38 T.J. Duckett 8 8 14 10 3 1 0 0 0 6 13 13 1 7 0 9 2 93 42 51
39 Marcel Shipp 2 9 6 9 3 0 4 7 2 1 3 5 0 3 4 4 8 71 42 28
40 Marion Barber 0 0 0 0 0 5 10 26 0 11 17 3 1 11 6 3 4 96 41 55
41 Ahman Green 9 10 9 6 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 40 40 0
42 Antowain Smith 0 2 2 0 4 21 7 3 12 0 3 5 5 13 3 4 6 89 39 49
43 Brandon Jacobs 10 7 0 2 0 0 0 7 12 0 0 0 6 0 0 1 7 52 38 14
44 Kyle Johnson 8 6 1 0 0 6 10 7 0 2 0 1 0 10 0 0 3 53 38 16
45 Frank Gore 4 2 5 0 5 0 15 4 4 6 0 0 5 1 14 19 12 94 37 56
46 Shawn Bryson 1 1 0 2 16 2 4 5 5 6 3 4 6 2 2 1 7 65 34 31
47 Marshall Faulk 2 2 14 4 0 6 4 3 0 5 0 1 0 6 11 5 3 66 34 32
48 Artose Pinner 0 0 0 4 9 2 5 2 10 2 1 2 16 3 7 9 0 71 31 40
49 Greg Jones 1 3 1 1 2 15 0 0 9 17 4 14 11 5 5 0 0 88 31 57
50 Dominic Rhodes 0 1 0 0 9 10 5 0 6 0 7 0 0 0 2 3 3 45 31 14
51 Michael Bennett 2 4 0 3 0 1 2 1 17 3 2 0 21 14 4 1 17 91 30 61
52 Tony Fisher 2 6 0 0 6 0 3 12 0 0 4 4 8 0 5 8 6 65 29 36
53 Jerald Sowell 5 6 6 1 0 0 1 0 8 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 34 28 6
54 Mike Alstott 1 9 0 1 2 2 0 2 8 18 7 8 0 2 1 10 3 74 26 49
55 Alvin Pearman 0 0 3 4 3 6 0 5 4 1 2 3 0 0 1 5 9 46 25 21
56 Ladell Betts 4 2 0 4 3 0 10 0 3 11 0 0 0 1 10 5 3 54 25 29
57 Jeremi Johnson 8 0 0 6 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 26 23 3
58 Jonathan Wells 1 1 0 2 1 2 0 0 16 14 0 3 1 0 22 12 0 75 23 52
59 Maurice Morris 1 1 0 0 0 16 0 0 4 0 2 0 3 2 2 4 4 40 23 17
60 Ricky Williams 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 8 11 3 8 16 14 3 13 24 17 120 22 97
61 Lamar Gordon 0 10 2 5 1 0 1 3 1 6 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 32 22 10
62 Verron Haynes 9 3 3 0 0 1 4 1 1 11 2 0 0 4 4 13 2 57 22 35
63 Justin Griffith 0 0 1 1 6 8 4 0 2 0 0 2 1 1 1 6 3 36 21 15
64 Jerome Bettis 0 0 0 0 13 0 6 2 0 9 0 1 10 22 2 8 22 95 21 74
65 Shaud Williams 3 2 1 2 0 3 4 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 6 0 1 28 20 8
66 Aaron Stecker 0 0 0 0 0 9 7 4 5 0 10 6 6 5 10 2 3 65 19 46
67 J.J. Arrington 3 0 1 1 3 0 4 1 6 9 13 4 8 3 2 2 3 63 19 44
68 Cedric Benson 1 5 0 0 1 0 1 4 8 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 28 19 9
69 Zack Crockett 2 3 1 0 0 0 12 0 0 2 2 0 4 0 1 8 3 38 18 20
70 Adrian Peterson 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 1 12 18 4 3 5 0 1 3 7 56 16 40
71 William Henderson 2 3 0 4 1 0 1 1 4 2 1 0 0 4 3 0 1 26 15 11
72 Jarrett Payton 0 0 0 4 7 1 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 8 1 0 26 15 10
73 Lorenzo Neal 2 2 2 0 0 3 3 3 1 0 8 1 1 3 2 0 0 30 15 16
74 Kevin Faulk 3 3 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 9 3 6 1 41 14 26
75 Samkon Gado 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 13 29 4 18 15 24 5 0 0 108 14 94
76 Obafemi Ayanbadejo 3 2 1 3 2 0 0 0 3 8 1 0 4 0 1 2 3 32 13 18
77 Mack Strong 0 1 2 1 4 4 1 0 1 1 0 3 0 1 2 2 3 25 13 12
78 Michael Turner 1 1 1 4 0 5 0 0 2 0 11 0 9 0 17 0 0 52 12 40
79 Travis Henry 4 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 4 7 0 8 5 45 12 33
80 Rock Cartwright 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 2 0 0 2 7 12 0 2 0 0 34 11 23
81 Nick Goings 2 2 0 0 0 4 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 3 9 3 3 28 10 19
82 Ciatrick Fason 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 7 1 1 8 0 0 6 31 7 24
83 Ron Dayne 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 3 1 0 2 6 35 5 29
84 Vernand Morency 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 4 0 0 0 0 10 3 19 39 4 35
85 Heath Evans 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 12 10 4 0 0 0 2 3 32 2 30
86 Cedric Houston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 1 1 1 13 12 2 12 49 1 48
87 LaBrandon Toefield 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 20 16 40 1 39
88 Noah Herron 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 9 12 24 0 24
89 Maurice Hicks 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 5 9 0 0 17 8 54 0 54
90 Ryan Moats 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 23 14 1 3 47 0 47

~

 

  

 

 >

 

 

  

News and Analysis:  Player News / Ask the Freaks / Freak of the Week / Hall of Shame

Lineup Tools: Match-Up Analysis Tool / Start-Bench List / Player Performance Projections / Game Focus

NFL Information: Fantasy Stats / NFL Standings / 2005 NFL Schedule / The Line

Fantasy Resources: NFL Team Links / Local Newspapers / Fantasy Football Site Links / ESPN Injuries

Draft Central: Index / Pre-Season Cheat Sheets / Mock Draft / Sleepers / Strength of Schedule Rankings

NFLFreaks Site: Site Map / Testimonials

As always, NFLFreaks.com is your complete source for free fantasy football news, articles, advice, player rankings and statistics. Everything you'll need to dominate your league you will find right here on one site. Keep coming back because our content is constantly updated, bringing you the best in expertise, writing and entertainment.

We want to publish the best, most complete and authoritative site on the internet. What do you want to see? Email us at Our Users Make the Call to get your thoughts, comments and suggestions about the site.

Are you getting strange error messages? Are any of the java controls not displaying (i.e. big, gray boxes appearing)? Are you having trouble with pages loading slowly or pages not displaying at all? Whatever trouble you may be having, we want to know about it. For problems or questions regarding this web site please contact NFLFreaks.com Support.

NFLFreaks.com.com is not in any way affiliated with, endorsed or licensed by the National Football League (NFL), any NFL team or any National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) members.

© Copyright 1998-2006 NFLFreaks.com. All rights reserved.