Sink or Swim: Rudi, Ray and Julius

It's almost Sunday and by now you already should know who you needed to scoop off the wire. However, I'm the beacon of light when it comes to letting you know which players are simply dead space. Yes, it's a tough task, but somebody's gotta do it. Besides, it's easier telling you who to add to a roster, but the hard part is telling you who to cut.

Let's face it, roster space is limited and now you've gotta prepare for the remaining bye weeks, get your roster aligned for the playoffs or make one last surge towards the playoffs. Well, let's not sugarcoat this anymore. It's another run of "sink or swim." On the hot seat today are a few RB's that started off with promise, but have since hit a a wall...so to speak.

Give a warm welcome to Rudi Johnson, Ray Rice and Julius Jones. And now let's decide if you should sink these guys or save them for a later date. Follow along...

Rudi Johnson: Poor Rudi, he jumps ship from one abysmal team to another. He gets his luggage stolen by Tatum Bell, he's told he'll start and then he's replaced by a rookie in the end. It's been quite the up-and-down run for Mr. Johnson. One can simply not get over the irony that the team he left, the Bengals are 0-7 and the Lions are 0-6. Anyhow, things are hardly gonna get an easier for Rudi anytime soon.

Really, we shouldn't even be having this conversation, as Rudi has been a useless Fantasy Football asset since 2005. It's been a landslide ever since then. One man's trash is another man's treasure is not the case here. The Bengals cut him for the obvious reasons, like he was no good anymore. It looked for a split second that he would push the rookie Kevin Smith aside and recapture the glory days. Um, that's just hilarious to think about now.

Kevin Smith is just better, flat out. And the youth movement is in full swing for the Lions, as they have no other choice. For a team destined to go 0-16 – Rudi Johnson holds little value. He'll be cut this off-season and looking for a new contract. Technically speaking, you should cut him early and let him attempt to bargain or con his way onto somebody else's roster.

Ray Rice: The little engine that once could; simply can't anymore. Does that make sense for you? Well,Willis McGahee is slowly creeping back into the picture. And although, you never can quite trust Willis to stay healthy or not get lazy...you do know if either happens Le'ron Mclain is ready to takeover. The buzz around Ray Rice went pretty quick and lasted only a few seconds.

He toted the ball 22 times in Week 1 for 64 yards. However, in his past five games he's only mustered up a total of 19 carries. There's no holding out hope for a second half sleeper. Sometimes it just wasn't meant to be. No matter how smart or ahead of the Fantasy curve you think you are, you'll never get the chance to pat yourself on the back for stashing Ray Rice on your bench. Sink him now, save face later.

Julius Jones: Shocker alert? Well, not really with all things considered. For example his team is horrible, his current QB is Seneca Wallace, he's really not that good to begin with and now Maurice Morris is back in the mix. Who does Mike Holmgren favor? Yes, Mo Morris whom for some reason he just has a little more faith in. Might you remember that going into the season this appeared to a timeshare anyhow with Morris being the probable starter?

Well, most people forgot about Morris and thought the Juice was gonna run loose after a few big games early in the season. Yet, due to the teams woes Julius Jones just hasn't found much room to run or many opportunities to run for that matter. Can you really just give up on the guy now? No, I don't think we've reached that point in time. The call here for now is to just tuck him away on the bench for potential later use. Hold tight, but realize that better days might not be on the horizon.