Often in life we are faced with perplexing, confounding dilemmas. Paper or plastic? Boxers or briefs? Chocolate or vanilla? This year, a new quagmire is presented to fantasy football managers around the country: Kevin or Julius?

Both running backs should play key roles in their respective offenses. Both running backs are young, talented, and looking for their breakout year. But the similarities don’t stop there. Both were drafted in 2004, both were born in August, and both have remarkably similar facial hair! But I digress . . .

In most drafts, both players are taken in the second round, with Julius usually preceding Kevin by one or two picks. In order to decide which one you should take, it helps to look at their differences instead of their many aforementioned similarities. Kevin Jones played well throughout last season, rushing for 1,133 yards and 5 touchdowns, averaging 4.7 yards per carry. While Julius Jones only played the last eight games of the year, he rushed for 819 yards and 7 touchdowns, averaging 4.2 yards per carry. Since both are expected to play every game this year, Julius’ average of 100+ yards per game would make him the better pick, right?

Wrong. Last year, Julius averaged 25 carries per game. This was largely due to the Cowboys struggling passing game, as the senior-citizen Vinny Testaverde was behind center. But this year, the acquisition of Drew Bledsoe should greatly decrease Julius’ carries. Detroit, on the other hand, has an equally shaky passing game as they did last year, and will have to rely on Kevin more than ever if they want to produce on offense. Their three stud wide receivers (Roy Williams, Mike Williams, and Charles Rogers) will help spread the defense, but at the same time too many passing plays won’t be called with trigger happy Joey Harrington taking snaps.

So assuming that Kevin gets an equal amount if not more carries than Julius does, Kevin now becomes the better draft pick. He averaged .5 more yards per carry last year than Julius, and quietly put up a stellar performance at the end of last year as well. Furthermore, I see Julius as a bit of a gamble, considering that we have not seen what effects playing an entire season will have on his barely 200 – pound frame, whereas Kevin played 15 games last year and showed he could take a bruising.

Bottom line: Both running backs are great players and a good acquisition for any fantasy team, but Kevin is just the safer bet. He should go before Julius.