The football season is slowly making its way to the forefront so it is now time to begin preparing for your fantasy draft.  Your draft should really go on how your league’s point system is set up but for the majority of leagues running backs are king.

Based on performances from last year and some hype coming in this year I’ve placed 8 names on the official watch list.  These names are all potential round 1 picks that definitely won’t make it past the second round.

DeAngelo Williams snuck up on a lot of people.  Lucky people, such as myself, grabbed him in the late rounds while everyone else was picking up Stewart.  It paid off well but he’s on everyone’s radar now.  He’s average 5 yards a carry over the last two years and the offensive line from last year is still there.

Michael Turner burned a lot of defensive schemes last year and his hype coming into the 2008 was well deserved.  People thought and would guess he’d have a good year and he did.   With a quarterback who has his rookie year behind him and the addition of Tony Gonzalez I expect Turner to put up the same numbers.

Adrian Peterson may possibly be sharing the backfield with one of the best quarterbacks to ever suite up. (I realize that’s debatable)  Favre improved Thomas Jones’ numbers last year when he played for the Jets so just imagine how the man child will benefit.  A.P. may very well be the consensus number overall pick this year.

Matt Forte is looking to improve and continue his success from his rookie year.  With the Bears obtaining a new pro-bowl QB it may take just enough pressure off the box where Forte can just explode.  Look for Forte to be huge.  He’s going to win you some fantasy game.

Chris Johnson shares the backfield with Lendale White but even with that he had 250 carries and he made everything he could with those with a 4.9 yard per carry average and 9 rushing touchdowns.  I don’t foresee Johnson’s workload declining so these types of numbers again this year isn’t unreachable.

Steven Jackson is a beast.  Simple.  The problem is, in the past, he was either injured or didn’t get worked into the game properly.  If he could play the entire season he’d top all fantasy points and will be WELL worth the first round pick.  His ability to stay injury free is the risk you’ll have to assess.

Marshawn Lynch.  I only place him on this list because of his ability and the arrival of Terrell Owens.  Keep in mind that Lynch is definitely suspended for at least three games though that may get reduced through the appeal process.  Freddie Jackson will be starting in place of Marshawn but has had recent fumble issues.  It would not be wise to draft this guy in the first round but by season’s end he’ll have round 1 numbers.

Pierre Thomas is currently going in the mid second round and that’s probably about average when the season comes along.  He may be this year’s last year DeAngelo Williams.