Larry Johnson is a bit perplexing in the 2008 fantasy football draft. His foot injury last year should be healed, small crack, sounds like an odd injury, but I hate to see running backs with a foot injury. Second issue is the offensive line of the Chiefs. I did not see great play out of them last year, reminds me of the downward slide of Shaun Alexander after losing his stud line a couple years back. With that being said, Larry Johnson is too good of a player to stay down.

Keep tabs on what the Chiefs do concerning their offensive line this off-season, and if you draft after a couple pre-season games, take a look at how he is running. I expect him to be a big part of the KC offense. They will be run heavy, and play in the AFC West where two of the worst run defenses in the NFL reside. They get to play both of those teams twice. Additionally, with Bowe emerging as a big play maker, and Tony Gonzalez still playing at a high level, if they get some decent QB play, it could open up the run game a bit more.

Johnson has stud ability, and if he plays like he did in 2006, is very worthy of a top 5 pick. I have him going a bit lower than that this year due to some of these concerns, and he may slide a bit further yet. If he’s around still at the end of the first round, beginning of the second, snap him up. Much earlier than that, I think he may be a bit of a gamble, and I’m not real big on a gamble with a high first round selection, but he does have a large upside.