2012 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Buffalo Bills Running Back C.J. Spiller

Fred Jackson of the Buffalo Bills was one of the hottest running backs during the first half of the 2011 season after recording 1,376 yards from the line of scrimmage and six touchdowns over the first 10 games of the season. Now, it appears one of Jackson’s teammates is considered one of the top 2012 fantasy football sleepers for the upcoming season–C.J. Spiller.

Since being selected in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft (ninth overall pick), Spiller has yet to live up to the hype considering he’s only rushed for 844 yards and four touchdowns over his first two seasons. However, the main reason behind Spiller’s lack of production has been because of Jackson–but that could change during the 2012 season.

When Jackson went down with an injury, it was Spiller who picked up the slack in the backfield by averaging 105 yards from the line of scrimmage over the final six games of the 2011 season. With these type of numbers, Spiller is expected to split more carries with Jackson for the 2012 season–which means he could be in for the best season of his three-year career.

There’s still a good chance Jackson will produce big numbers if he can remain healthy and return to the elite level he played at during the first half of the 2011 season, but that doesn’t mean fantasy owners shouldn’t expect productive numbers from Spiller as well. Spiller will most likely be drafted in the later rounds for most leagues, but he’ll make a nice fill in if Jackson were to miss time off the field due to another injury.