Per schefty via Twitter, we are in negotiations w/ Marion Barber. He's a cheaper alternative to Bradshaw. The Sunshine Cowboys ride again! Your thoughts?
Could do worse as Barber could be very effective in a role where he gets 8-12 carries a game. Heavy dose of Thomas for the first 3 quarters and then Barber to close games out just like Dallas used to do and the Giants have employed at times with Bradshaw. Bradshaw/Williams are clearly the two best players available at the position but Barber can still be a change of pace/rotation type who comes cheaper. Guess we really like Hilliard and Grigsby?
Well, we all sort of knew this could be coming, and tbh if you look at his carries, he is still well below 1k for his career (last I checked around 840), do not know if he is an upgrade on Ronnie B though.
Isn't that what both Grigsby and Sheets are? We could do worse than Thomas/Barber/Hilliard/Sheets/Grigsby heading into camp. Maybe not much worse. But worse. I really think this regime just has a lot of faith in Daniel Thomas . . . and probably more faith in Lex Hilliard than most of us here. I'm not quite there yet, but if they sign a decent guard I might be.
Thomas will carry the load if Barber is who we bring in... I'm OK with this actually- I've been saying spend the big bucks on a position with longevity RB is such a fickle position in terms of longevity, I'm good with taking the big money elsewhere ie OG, Defensive front, then QB
Oh Compadre, we got Grigsby vs Sheets for scatback. Barber is a guy I always liked. He seems like a poor man's mini Ricky Williams to me, as for when both were in their primes. If we want to have a RBBC divided 50/50 or 60/40, then Barber with Thomas makes some sense. If we sign Bradshaw, it would have to be a salary commensurate with a 270 carries/yr type of workload, IMO. What we'll likely have to pay Barber, it's gonna be commensurate with him and Thomas getting like 180 or so each. JMO
LOL. I loved that season. The chickens in the car. Rampage completely destroying a door. The only thing that sucked is they built that match all up only for him to bail to go make The A-Team. I honestly thought Rampage might pull out Reshad's heart and start eating it in the cage.
I think that was the last season I watched. That show is god-awful these days. I've always liked Rampage but he's def got some bipolar goin on.
Let me get this straight Ireland's/Sparano's big plan to fix the Dolphins offense is: * Hire Brian Daboll at Offensive Coordinator who lead the Browns to be ranked 31st in points per game, 29th in total offense, 20th in rushing offense and 29th in passing offense. * Shifted Karl Dorrell from WR coach to QB coach a position he never coached exclusively. * Draft a Center at 15 who is the highest drafted center in more than 2 decades. * Draft Ed Gates to add speed to the receiving core (a move that actually has me excited) * Trade up into the 2nd round to draft a running back who is slower than Ronnie Brown and is more fumble prone. * Sign Marion Barber who was a ghost last year and is a shell of his former self. Can't wait to see what they do a qb!
I think Hilliard will take over Cobbs' role as jack of all trades, Sheets and Grigsby will compete, loser leaves, and we'd go with DT/Barber.
I would have picked Ryan Mallett. In my opinion he was the best QB prospect in this draft. If he didn't have the off the field issues he would have been a no brainer Top 15 pick. Instead they took the safe route and took the best Center in this draft.
You would have taken a 3rd round QB in the 1st round?!? Really? Well, you're right about 1 thing... it wouldnt have been the safe route. However, it wouldnt have been the smart one either. A 3rd round pick 15th overall?
That's fine, 32 teams passed on him at least twice because of his off the field issues that is a fact. He's a turd and I'm a turd because I would have bet on his talent and him maturing as a person. I get it safe = smart.
If that bumps Lex Hilliard off the roster, fine. I could live with Bradshaw, Thomas, Barber, and Grigsby or Sheets. But man, I'm sick of the Cowboys connection.
Oh no. If we sign Ricky then it would be fine. But Barber has never had 1,000 yards and the last time he got double digit TDs was 2007. Would rather just sign Ronnie if it came down to them.
DT was a relatively expensive acquisition for a rb imo. Spending beaucoup bucks on another rb ala Bradshaw or Williams to me would not be spending prudently . Finding a second rb at a much less price makes more sense to me . I don't know if Barber is that guy though , loved the Barber from a few years ago but he is the type of back that the wheels may fall off rather suddenly. I would use the resources to upgrade with a premium player (s) at another position and hope this regime was right about DT.
And how would that help this years offense. Most of these rookie QB's don't have time to win a starting job. They'll sit on the bench being groomed for next year.
Every now and then Barber shows you glimpses of the back he used to be. The problem is, it's only every now and then. Unless you're a real homerun threat then you need to make every carry count and be dangerous on most if not all the carries. There were definitely a lot of carries where he got torpedoed by bad blocking, but there were also a lot of carries, I'd say just as many, where he bucks it right up into contact with defenders and doesn't do anything to be elusive, and instead of being the vicious tackle breaker that he used to be, he's just defeated by the contact. That's what happens when a guy his style just can't physically dominate anymore. He's never learned to be particularly good at running away from those defenders. It's like watching Ricky Williams, except with less vision. The ability to make people miss just isn't there anymore, and again I reiterate he's not a homerun threat so he's not going to bring his averages up with a lot of big runs. I agree with the frustration expressed in this thread. I don't really see how Marion "Brokedown" Barber improves this offense from what it already had with Ronnie and Ricky a year ago, and in fact I think it's a downgrade. If you get him, you'd have to hope that Daniel Thomas is a LOT better than the back that the NFL was ready to let escape all the way to the 3rd round. You know, I see that get brought up about Mallett a lot. The NFL let Mallett get to the 3rd round. He must suck. Well, the NFL was letting Daniel Thomas into the 3rd round too. We stopped his fall and snagged him two picks shy of the 3rd round. What's that say about him that we're counting on HIM to be the difference-maker, since I think we all know that Marion Barber would not be?
Apples and oranges as QBs tend to get drafted higher than their worth and RBs tend to drop on draft day. As for Barber, I'm not excited by the prospect of bringing him in. I'd rather resign Brown and he's not high on my list either.
I don't think RB's are as valuable a draft commodity as QB's, so some teams are just letting guys like Thomas slide, simply because RB's are easier to find...QB s on the other hand seem impossible to find.
