Ashley Fox has another one of her photo-gallery rankings pieces up, this one ranking the top 10 running backs in the NFL. And would you look at the name at the very top of the list? Why, it's the Philadelphia Eagles' LeSean McCoy.
Seems like only last offseason we were debating the question of McCoy vs. the New York Giants' Ahmad Bradshaw as the best running back in the NFC East (though, to be fair, McCoy fared very well in that polling). A year later he's the best back in the whole league? It's not a ridiculous claim at all. Those of us who won fantasy football titles after trading for Maurice Jones-Drew might, if we allowed our personal biases to seep into the discussion (which we do not), move the No. 2 man into the top spot. And certainly good arguments could be made for Baltimore's Ray Rice or Houston's Arian Foster, who rank third and fourth on Ashley's list. But all of those backs are so good that it's about personal preference, and if you're taking McCoy as the best running back in the league right now, it'd be hard to say you're wrong.
Ashley likes him because of his versatility:
The running back position has evolved. The best backs are multi-faceted. McCoy is versatile, reliable, young and coming off a season in which he set a franchise record with 20 touchdowns.
And fair enough. McCoy has shown he can handle workhorse-back duties, goal-line duties and be a factor in the passing game. He can be a breathtaking, make-you-miss back in space and he can pound it between the tackles. And if you're basing the list on which back you'd want right now if putting a team together for the long haul, the fact McCoy won't even turn 24 until next month is a definite mark in his favor. For that reason, I agree with Ashley on this ranking. If you're asking me who's the best running back in the NFL right now, I'm taking the young man in Philadelphia in a close vote. Call it divisional favoritism if you want, but I feel like there are a lot of different ways McCoy could help me win games, and for a long time.