Note, there's one guy that has me intrigued that I've yet to look at on Game Rewind and that is Jerious Norwood. Here are my thoughts on some of the runners available: DeAngelo Williams - He's a Grade A talent and physically/athletically very impressive. He breaks off big runs. Even better, he creates big runs, doesn't necessarily have them created for him. The downside is he's been in the league a while now, taken a lot of carries, and taken some injuries. The other downside is he's not really the kind of pass catching option you'd think considering how shifty he is as a runner. His style is very cutback oriented, which may fit with Miami's planned running style under Brian Daboll. My vision for him would be for him to be a 1st/2nd down back while Daniel Thomas focuses more on being a change of pace, blocker and pass catcher...but also getting in on some 1st/2nd down work to get experience. What would he cost? I'm guessing in the neighborhood of $7-8 million a year, which is expensive. It's worth noting that DeAngelo has an especially low rate of fumbling. Ahmad Bradshaw - Also a Grade A talent but physically not as impressive as DeAngelo Williams. He's not as fast, but he is very shifty and consistently gains yards, creating big plays. He's got less wear and tear on him, despite the pins in his feet. The pins in his feet were to stabilize bones that wanted to develop stress fractures, possibly due to his running style. Since stabilizing them with the pins, he's had no real problems and was able to handle 20+ touches per game in 2010 without missing one. He's not necessarily a cutback runner, but it's also hard to say how much zone and cutback element the Dolphins plan on installing into this offense. He is a prime example of the type of player that could be available in this free agency purely due to the lockout, as normally I think the Giants would have had him re-signed long ago. He's been in the league only four years and only taken significant action two of them, but the Giants have known since that first training camp that they found a special talent. They've been buzzing about him since then. They just happened to also have Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward and so there was no reason to rush the increase in his ball handling. He is an excellent outlet target in the passing game, capable of getting open and creating big plays when the QB is in trouble. He also blocks well. If he were signed, he would be the 3rd down back, and take probably half the 1st/2nd down carries, allowing Daniel Thomas to focus on 1st/2nd down core running as his role in the offense. Character is an area that needs to be investigated, as he had a checkered history in college and I believe had to serve a suspended jail sentence since entering the pros, for something he did back in college. My guess is his next deal would be in the neighborhood of $7 million per year. Reggie Bush - Not my favorite option by any means. Purely a speed runner, he dances too much and focuses too much on juking people in the hole. Doesn't have real power in his game, or great vision/timing for following blocking between the tackles. He's an East-West runner which makes him ideal for the jet sweep role in the Wildcat, which is a role the Saints familiarized him with by the end of his stay in New Orleans. He's clearly more comfortable and dangerous as a runner on turf where he can use his speed to its fullest advantage. On grass, he's been a very poor runner. The most excellent aspect of his game is clearly as a receiver out of the backfield, where he most definitely is tough for linebackers to handle. If you have a system that allows for this, and especially a quarterback that can buy enough time with his feet to make great use of his outlet options, he can play a valuable role in an offense. Linebackers have to account for him, or he will create a big play. The NFL is becoming more and more a passing league, which creates opportunities for players like this where in the past they might have been shunned from the league. If you plan on going with Chad Henne at quarterback, I would not recommend Reggie Bush at all. If you plan on acquiring Donovan McNabb or perhaps even Vince Young, then Reggie becomes more interesting and valuable. I don't believe he's all that rare a talent, given his shortcomings. I think the NFL typically passes over a lot of guys every year in the Draft that have the kinds of shortcomings Reggie has proven to have, undervaluing them. That's how you get a Danny Woodhead claimed off waivers and out-Reggie Bushing Reggie Bush. His knee must be checked out, as even Reggie admits it's pretty wrecked, blaming the turf for it. I think he'll make in the neighborhood of $5-6 million per year, all told. His contract is likely to LOOK bigger, because he wants the flash, but the real deal will probably be $5-6 million a year for the next 3 years. His presence would put a lot of pressure on Daniel Thomas to be the entire ground game for the team. Darren Sproles - Darren is not a guy you want taking regular carries out of regular formations between the tackles. He's just not big enough and doesn't have the kind of patience or vision to consistently do it. He's a lot like Reggie Bush except with his size limitations, teams are more likely to see him for what he truly is than they are with Reggie. Again, if you have a quarterback that likes to draw defenses to him, or keep his eyes up the field until they forget about the leak option, then hit his outlets for big gains, then you have room for a Darren Sproles on your roster. He's not as great a screen runner as you'd think because of his size which makes him susceptible to players bumping him and throwing off the timing of the screen. However, he's downright wicked on wheel routes. You get him running out on a pattern immediately at the snap, I don't see who's covering him, and he can adjust to passes and catch them on either shoulder depending on your ball palcement. As a runner, I think you want him running out of the shotgun on draws and sweeps more than anything. In the NFL you get into all kinds of situations where teams have a pretty good idea that you're passing the ball. He's the kind of guy you want in the game in those situations, not unlike Reggie Bush. I think he'll make a maximum of about $4-5 million per year but we'll see. I don't think he can take a significant enough carries load to take pressure off Daniel Thomas to be the team's entire ground game. Brandon Jackson - I finally decided to take a look at him and I liked what I saw. The Green Bay line was pretty awful at sustaining blocks in the ground game. They also run a lot of zone and cutback stuff. Neither of these things really helped Brandon Jackson. I don't think he's a natural cutback runner. He just doesn't have the ability to find the right crease with great timing, then sit and explode through it. He's kind of a narrow runner, so that's not conducive to that kind of style I think. What he clearly has though are speed and vision. He gets to the hole quickly, and when he gets into the open field he has the ability to stiff-arm and shake defenders with his athleticism. He's more of a zone-stretch than zone-cutback guy. Because of his narrow base, he's not very powerful. He reminds me of a faster Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He has the vision to find the hole and he gets through it very quickly, and with better blocking he'd be creating a lot more chunk plays because of his speed. If you do not have blockers that can sustain, he'll probably never be very efficient as a 1st/2nd down runner. However if your blockers are able to sustain, his speed and lack of hesitation will create more big plays than a lot of other guys. The other thing he does well is help the passing game. He's a natural pass catcher, and because of his speed he can do damage with the ball in his hands that way. He's also good in blitz pickups as a blocker. I believe he would be Miami's 3rd down back and be a valid change of pace to Daniel Thomas on 1st/2nd down, with Thomas having more of a feel for the cutback and inside running game, while Jackson would stretch defenses to the perimeter and get to the outside. I don't know how much he'll make on the open marke, I'd guess maybe the same $4-5 million as Darren Sproles. Jason Snelling - Snelling is really a very unexciting runner that runs straight ahead, behind his pads, with good balance and power as befitting a fullback type of runner. He has enough change of direction ability to cut back against the grain and find the right hole. He reminds me of a less powerful version of Mike Alstott as a tailback. He can be a part of a collective effort with the ground unit, that can take over games in the 4th quarter and wear out defenses that get tired of tackling him. He's shown the durability to handle a load. As a pass catcher he's really not very exciting, but he has soft hands and is reliable. He would be a good role player in the red zone and if your attitude is one of a team that wants to physically pound a defense with Daniel Thomas and Jason Snelling, he can help you get that done. However, if you find yourself falling behind a lot because your passing offense is not scoring points, then he's not going to help you out much in those situations. Nor will he help you gain big yards when your offensive line are having a tough time dealing with some talented defensive linemen. In those situations he will be three yards and a cloud of dust.
The Falcons writer behind that AJC article I posted thinks Snelling will be back in Atlanta. I think that makes sense considering the drafting of Rodgers and Turner's history of sustaining minor dings that cause him to miss a half here or there.
Without looking at numbers, has Deangelo Williams really had as many carries as a normal/average starting running back with as many years of service? He missed most of last year, and has been splitting carries with Jonathan Stewart for a few seasons now.
Of course I'd like D Williams, but the panthers are sitting on a Scrooge McDuck pile of cash they have to spend, they can make him an offer he cannot refuse if they really wish to retain him. Second is Brandon Jackson, fits what we do, and most importantly, understands Blitz Pickups and is good at executing them, mid priced talent as well, to me he makes the most practical sense though he is not a big named player.
I would tend to agree on Brandon Jackson although I want Ahmad Bradshaw. The Giants are having some issues with the cap, they may not be able to sign him, and Bradshaw just recently reiterated that if he's not a Giant, he wants to be a Dolphin.
Ideally absolutely, not a huge fan of some of the things he has shown but those are gnats, he'd be a solid acquisition. Knowing the Giants though, they will find a way, they are a bit like the Steelers in that solid talent rarely leaves until they let them leave.
That's true of a number of teams, not letting good talent get away unless they're spent. But, this free agency is unique. It's put a lot of teams in a bind. They haven't been willing to negotiate long term extensions because they knew the lockout was coming and wanted to see the form of the new CBA. And then there could have been some assumption that the rules that applied in 2010 about needing 6 accrued years to reach unrestricted free agency, would apply in 2011 as well, maybe beyond. This leaves a very narrow window for these teams to get their own guys re-signed and those guys can be in discussions with other teams at the same time, now that they've removed tampering issues. There will be guys that change hands that wouldn't usually escape. I said so in my description of Ahmad Bradshaw. Hence, I don't think the logic that the Giants don't let good players escape applies here...Bradshaw may escape even though the Gianst do tend to keep their good talents.
thats what I was thinking as well. and I looked up the numbers to confirm my thoughts...and that was what happend..they were...confirmed..yea... anyways...He's only carried the ball more then 150 times twice in his career. 216 and 273. So there shouldnt be that much wear on his tires. Although, I do remember him having quite a bit of carries in his couple years at Memphis.
IDK CK, to me I'm smelling a leveraging situation on Bradshaw's part, we not use us to squeeze more out of the Giants? This is another reason why I like B Jackson, should not be heavily pursued, nice fit, won't break the bank, and we are fairly sure to land him if we pursue him, that is the other portion of this, not a whole lot of time to mess around and if Ireland "misses" after investing so much time into negotiations it costs more in terms of roster upgrades. Other player who makes a lot of sense for us is Kevin Smith, if anything he does more things then B Jax does, and will certainly cost less, and is a local guy making things simpler.
I think this period where you're fully allowed to negotiate with free agents but only his own team is allowed to re-sign him...that will help that problem out significantly. It creates a window of opportunity to negotiate with both an Ahmad Bradshaw and a Brandon Jackson. If Bradshaw re-signs with the Giants, he'll do it within that window. With the full freedom to negotiate with Bradshaw during that window, you can come to an understanding that if he doesn't reach a deal with the Giants within that window, he signs with your team at 2:01pm. If you can't come to that agreement, in the mean time you've been talking to Brandon Jackson, and he can be the guy that signs at 2:01pm because you know that Bradshaw is really heading back to the Giants.
I didn't cover Mike Tolbert in this because I thought he was an restricted free agent, but now I'm hearing he's unrestricted. If so, that's a good option for the Dolphins. I know people will be turned off about how he's a power runner and we want speed/play making but the guy breaks tackles, runs hard and gets touchdowns in the red zone. I've been concerned in the past that Tolbert's ultra physical style will wear him out, and that concern persists...but bottom line is, if you can't get Ahmad Bradshaw or DeAngelo Williams then you're scraping through a lot of imperfect options already. You could do a lot worse than a guy like Tolbert who could legitimately take pressure off Daniel Thomas. You would still need someone else, a speed back...but they keep talking up Kory Sheets, don't they? Also I could swear DuJuan Harris could fill that speed back role even as a UDFA. Or Brandon Saine.
I think you've got to consider Joseph Addai and Jerome Harrison as well. Addai is still reasonably young and doesn't have a huge workload. He's not been amazingly productive, but he's also played behind some awful offensive lines that I don't think are made up for with the Colts passing game. He's also at very least a good pass protection and receiving option. Reuniting Jerome Harrison with Brian Daboll also seems like it would be logical. He's a solid player who has had a high yards per carry average as a change of pace back, and has been at least reasonably productive shouldering a heavy work load(He closed out 2009 with 34 for 286 yards, 39 for 148 yards, and 33 for 127 yards). He'd be an adequate #2, but I think if they could get him as a #3 back you'd be in pretty damn good shape.
I think it always make sense to look at players with past connections to your coaches. I find that often those players are brought it over others who are considered "better" on the various media/fan lists.
Agreed, but the Giants have bigger fish to fry. On the OL especially, but the DL & TE spots will have to be addressed as well. They may not be in as willing to offer big $ to a time share RB the way a more needy team like Denver or Miami would.
I may be crazy.... But..if we couldnt land Deangelo Williams or Ahmad Bradshaw.....Id just as soon resign Ronnie Brown. It sounds like they are high on Korey Sheets..... I guess I wouldnt mind maybe Sproles and Ronnie Brown.......
Nice write up. I'll past what I wrote in the Club level of the three guys I'm most interested in (Sproles is a bit of a poor man's Bush, imo, and I think he's got a bit more wear and tear so I didn't include him). But, ultimately, I like either Bradshaw or Williams, with Bradshaw as the prime favorite for me b/c of his youth and more explosive speed. I've also linked their names to their ESPN stats. Interestingly in the DYAR stats last year, Bradshaw finished 12th in the league for RB's: DYAR. Not bad: RB is a position of need, with really only a rookie (Thomas) as the penciled in starter and it is apparent there are three major names that could be on the Dolphins radar (and should be). Obviously they will look for production from their own bottom of the roster and others as well. But, none of those have proven to be strong candidates as bonafide NFL RB's. A look at the three: Much will be made - and has been - of Reggie Bush. It is pretty likely he'll be released by the Saints because of his $16 M cap #. And, what he brings is just what Miami needs (after drafting a power back): An explosive player who is a great receiver out of the backfield, makes big plays, return punts and is not an every down back (those are becoming a dinosaur in the modern NFL, however). Bush is only 26 years old. The challenge with Bush is that he'll garner a great deal of interest from other teams. Philadelphia ($13 M under); St. Louis ($35 M under) and Tampa Bay ($59 M under). Trying to compete against either the Rams or Bucs will be tough. Especially since there is a hard floor and teams have to spend money. Miami, currently, is $13 M under. Of course, this will be a challenge with competing for the services of other players with any team that is much further under the cap than the Dolphins. Whoever signs Bush will likely overpay relative to his consistent production as a RB. But, that's the price of a player who can make big plays. The other two RB's on the radar are DeAngelo Williams and Ahmad Bradshaw. Williams is more of an every down back (5'9, 217) but has been in an offense in which he does platoon some. He is not an explosive runner; has decent speed and power for his size; but just a great RB period - when healthy. The challenge is he is coming off of injury. He is 28 years old. He has 841 carries in five seasons. Compare that to Bradshaw who has more explosiveness but is not as powerful and cannot handle as many carries (5'9, 198). However, Bradshaw is only 25 years old and in four seasons he has 529 attempts. Last season, with other RB's injured, he became the feature back and was the first season he had over 200 carries (276, over half of his career totals). Yet, he has played on a SB winning team and has a ton of experience already. He has also proven to be a very good RB if not a guy you consistently want to be an every down player. Given that Bush is most likely of these three to garner a big pay day with several bidders moving quickly, and that Williams is 28 with a bit of wear and tear on his body, my favorite for the Dolphins to pursue heavily is Bradshaw. His age, experience, capability as a runner (and showed he can catch the ball decently last year with 47 receptions) would make him an ideal compliment to Daniel Thomas. I like all three of these runners; but think Bradshaw would be the most ideal, if we can pry him away from the Giants (I think they and he want him there as well).
What's interesting about Addai is I never liked the guy coming out of college and then for a short while in the NFL he actually performed well and I was surprised, and then...he was back to the guy I thought he was when he came out.
I've always been rather fond of Harrison as a player but here's one thing I do know for a fact: Eric Mangini hated the guy. He didn't just not like him - he loathed him. Now, everyone's certainly free to think of Penguin Eric whatever they chose, but considering he had a long sitdown with our owner not too long ago, I'd wager a guess and say Harrison's off the table.
For God's sake, keep Ronnie and play him at fullback. He'd be a nightmare for defensive coaches catching the ball out of the backfield. He'd just create too many mismatch options for offense. Bradshaw was extremely fun to watch, but I don't know how much tread he has left. In fact, I'm not too high on bringing in anyone since the shelf life of a RB is about 4 yrs. (unless your name is Edgerin James). I'd rather keep everybody and bring in some UDFA talent ala Harris, Locke, Devine, Grigsby etc.
Yeah, but when he went back to being "that guy", his offensive lines were awful. I think it's also quite arguable that the Colts scheme hurts Addai, that they've over-leveraged stuff like spreading defenses out and constraint plays which aren't enough to make up for bad blocking, along with a bunch of weird stuff like not actually employing a lead blocker, etc.
The cause is as much a well-kept secret in Cleveland as the cause for Kokinis' dismissal. From what I've heard, they've never seen eye to eye from day 1 and Mangini let Harrison know it. Ostensibly (and I'm strictly speaking on a what I've heard level here), Mangini pulled Harrison out of games to keep him from reaching certain bonuses in his contract, which naturally caused quite some locker room dissent. I can't say how much there is to that rumor, but I can say with some certainty that Mangini and Harrison were on different planets as far as working with each other went.
Interesting quote at the bottom, Vendigo. Of course, if "a picture paints a thousand words," then words are even more useless than art! I would say some art is useless (I used to have that other position). But, there is plenty of art that tells a story immediately - that would otherwise take several pages and lose the emotional impact. Same is true of the "art" of film. Then of course there is the beautiful canvas of the gridiron (more beautiful in ages past - 60's & 70's - when there was mud and myth). Even a well-crafted story is artistic and says much more than what one could say in straight rationality. Ah well ... back to the "art" of football.
