Gridiron 11: Second-tier RBs

Gridiron 11 As football season quickly approaches it's time to switch gears in this space from baseball's Nine for Now to football's Gridiron 11. Each week

Gridiron 11

As football season quickly approaches it's time to switch gears in this space from baseball's Nine for Now to football's Gridiron 11. Each week we're going to look at the top 11 of something that will help you with the week-to-week management of your team, often pointing out emerging talent and player trends culled from the previous week's action.

For now, however, we're right in the middle of draft-prep season, so what better place to start than running back. Since there are a consensus top four (Chris Johnson, Ray Rice, Maurice Jones-Drew, Adrian Peterson in my rank order), today's list looks at the next 11 you should have high on your wish lists.

Steinbrenner often treated his real-life team as a fantasy squad, and like all of us, he had his ups and downs. During the dark period from 1982 to 1994, a time the recent five World Series titles has helped push to the dark recesses of Yankees fans memories, the biggest criticism of Steinbrenner was that he sacrificed his young talent to acquire high-priced veterans. Who can ever forget Frank Costanza's disgusted rhetorical question to Larry David's portrayal of "The Boss" on Seinfeld asking "What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for?" referring to the 1988 deal that sent the then-young slugger who'd end up with 310 career home runs to the Mariners for DH Ken Phelps, who'd hit just 17 home runs for New York. In the later years Steinbrenner's advisors convinced him to be less impetuous with young players, resulting in long careers for the homegrown Core Four. Still, a few current former Yankees farmhands are making an impact away from the Bronx. Here are the Top 9.

For more insights, follow SI's fantasy expert David Sabino on Twitter at SI_DavidSabino.