By Bob Harris, Special to SI.com, FootballDiehards

Leon Washington, RB New York Jets

Although I've touted Kevan Barlow in recent weeks (see below), Washington seems to be winning the coaching staff over with his big-play potential.

As Pro Football Weekly suggested on Monday, the knock on the 5-8, 202-pound Washington is his size. Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, however, believes he can make up for that by putting the speedy rookie in motion and using him effectively on screen passes, shovel passes and pitches and by lining him up wide as a receiver.

As he demonstrated with a 47-yard catch and run in Week 3, Washington knows what to do when he gets a hold of the ball in open space.

Washington isn't built to run 15 to 20 times a game between the tackles, but he can be a weapon. If he continues to improve, he'll take carries from Barlow.

Chad Jackson, WR New England Patriots

Although former Raider Doug Gabriel has the hot hand among Patriot wideouts right now, I'm looking for Jackson to recover from a lingering hamstring issue and quickly show why the Patriots traded up to select him early in the second round of April's draft.

Asked to describe his best attributes shortly after the draft, Jackson said: "Running fast and catching the ball." Bill Belichick pretty much shared that assessment, breaking down the youngster's skill set to the Pats' two most coveted attributes: "Getting open and catching the ball."

Belichick didn't mention size or speed, although Jackson has more of both than former No. 1 Deion Branch. Bottom line? A healthy Jackson vaults ahead of Troy Brown and Reche Caldwell by the first week of November.

Evaluating earlier predictions

I will continue to keep an eye out for more players with stretch-run potential and try to point them out in coming weeks. Meanwhile, as I promised last Friday, we'll follow up on some recent predictions and see where they currently stand.

In the Sept. 15 Fantasy Notebook, I offered up five running backs, classified as below:

Immediate Help: Kevan Barlow, New York Jets

Winner! Barlow's four rushing TDs tie him with the Bengals' Rudi Johnson for the AFC lead.

The Sure Thing: Laurence Maroney, New England Patriots

Winner! Maroney ran for 125 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Bengals last Sunday. He hasn't pushed veteran Corey Dillon out of the picture yet -- but he will. Until then, Maroney is the first Patriots rookie running back to score more than one touchdown in a season since Robert Edwards had nine in 1998. ... His 25-yard touchdown run last Sunday was New England's longest in almost four years -- since Kevin Faulk had a 45-yarder against Buffalo in November 2002.

The October Surprise: Samkon Gado, Houston Texans

Last month I wrote: "Gado is the most proven running back on the roster. He'll be the starter by mid-October. ..." Well, Wali Lundy is no longer in the mix and head coach Gary Kubiak is already talking about Ron Dayne and Gado sharing the workload. But as anybody who watched him run in last week's win over the Dolphins, Dayne clearly prefers watching from the sidelines to actually playing. Gado will help him achieve that objective -- this month.

Money Talks: Cedric Benson, Chicago Bears

Clank! Although he contributed 37 yards on 11 carries in the Week 4 win over Seattle, Thomas Jones still came in for obvious passing situations during the series Benson was featured. The second-year man still must prove to the coaching staff that he can handle pass-protection assignments. GM Jerry Angelo is rooting for him, but Benson isn't there yet.

The Longshot: LenDale White, Tennessee Titans

Don't look now, but those who follow the team closely believe White is ready to move in as the starter. The stage certainly is set; head coach Jeff Fisher announced early this week that the Titans will make a game-by-game decision naming a starter and a backup at the end of the week and likely deactivating the third running back. Last week, Travis Henry was odd man out. ... Chris Brown appears to be locked in as the starter this Sunday, but he same could be said of Kerry Collins this time last week. If you ask me, it's only a matter of time before the Titans are rolling with an all-rookie backfield of White, Vince Young and fullback Ahmard Hall.

Bob Harris is co-founder of the FootballDiehards Web site and senior editor at FSP Inc., publisher of Fantasy Football Pro Forecast, DraftBook, CheatSheets and Football Diehards magazines. He is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.