Browns RB Peyton Hillis was one of the biggest sleepers of the 2010 fantasy football season. Undrafted in most leagues, the bruising runner out of Arkansas shockingly went on to finish fourth in fantasy points at the position — he even scored more points than Titans superstar Chris Johnson.

Unfortunately, Hillis’ chances of putting up another big statistical season seem to be dwindling.

According to Browns beat writer Jeff Schudel of the News-Herald, new coach Pat Shurmur likes the idea of a two-back system for his West Coast offense. That means a tandem of Hillis and Montario Hardesty.

Hardesty, who is coming off ACL surgery, expects to be cleared for football activities in the next few months and should be ready to roll entering the 2011 campaign. So while Hillis will remain atop the team’s depth chart, he’s going to share at least some of the workload (and maybe more) with Hardesty moving forward.

That might not be a bad thing for Hillis, who clearly wore down during the final weeks of last season, but it’s certainly not going to help his fantasy value. In fact, Hillis is a clear candidate to experience statistical declines across the board. Clearly, finishing among the top five runners again is highly unlikely in 2011.

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