If you're a strict fantasy football fan, this might be worrying to you; if you're a St. Louis Rams fan, this might come as a great comfort to you. I'll report and let you decide: The Rams' rookie running backs, Isaiah Pead and Daryl Richardson, could siphon carries from Steven Jackson in 2012, if an excellent preseason performance from Richardson (as well as an excellent preseason finish from the more highly touted Pead) is any indication.
↵For Rams fans, this is outstanding news: Jackson has been run into the ground for years, now, and if he's going to stand up much longer than he has already the Rams are going to need to find a way to push his carries semi-permanently under 300. With Cadillac Williams's own aging legs behind him Jackson managed to come back from the worst season of his career in 2010; Pead and/or Richardson could be a long-term manifestation of that solution, not to mention the long-term solution for the Rams at running back.
↵Meanwhile, if you're a fantasy football fan: One more 300-carry running back is almost certainly out the door, and the Rams probably won't be replacing him. It's about to be that much harder to figure out your draft strategy, so long as fantasy football continues to overvalue the anachronistic idea of the Single Running Back.