https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/05/08/neils-nfl-daily-may-8-2013/ I tend to agree, do have high hopes for Gillisless, but Bradshaw to me would be a cheap upgrade and send DThomas down the road at the very least
I don't think its necessary. I think Gilly, Miller & Gray comprise a quality backfield and are good enough to send Thomas on his way.
Thing is FinD, his pass pro numbers, he is offensive line insurance to begin the year. IDK if one recalls this, but last time we played the Browns Sheard owned Jake Long, the other DE owned Martin, imo Bradshaw is insurance against that sort of thing happening this year. Especially early in the yr.
That Gillislee and Gray are quality at the NFL level is speculative at this point. I have no problem seeing what they can do, but I wouldn't have an issue with signing Bradshaw, either.
That is pretty optimistic FinD, keep in mind the NFL puts pressure on everything, a rook 6th rd pick is not the guy I want to be the weakest link on a given play.
Of course its speculative. It would be speculative to think Bradshaw could actually help us or is better than anything we already have too.
Being picked in the 6th round has zero bearing on his ability to block. In the reports I've read, his low round status is due more to what he does with the ball and one of his strengths is pass blocking.
Eh, not really, since his rookie yr his allowed 3 sacks in pass protection. IMO, this is the immediate future of the league, like left tackles being overrated, Rb's who specialize in blitz pickups are underrated. Daniel Thomas was supposed to be able to do this, tbh, he has sucked at it, cannot stay on the field, and is very replaceable ie, by Bradshaw.
I'm all for signing Bradshaw. I think it's a bit optimistic to rely on Gillislee early on, and I don't think Jonas Gray even belongs on the radar in that regard.
Does not make him a good risk to take, why? Go with the guy who has proven he can get the job done. This is the new field to plow FinD, for all of the RT vs LT stuff, a Rb who can cover for either is massively underrated. How do you suppose the Giants sieve of the OL won SB's w/o a running back to cover their butts?
Not really. Without a doubt in my mind Bradshaw is the best blocking running back in the league. Good locker room guy as well and he worked with David Wilson last year on blitz pickups and understanding coverages. Given how many times I've watched him play severely hurt I would say he also might be the toughest player in the league. He's played with a fractured foot for a month. How one does that...I don't know. Hes a pretty darn good back as well. He would give us an element of toughness we really don't have on offense right now. Definitely in favor of such a move.
Except your stance when followed to its logical conclusion means any position in the NFL needs a FA to fill it if its empty. I think, its ok to go with rookies at times and positions....especially a specialist running back position.
His blocking sucks when he's injured on the sidelines. That's why its speculative he can help us. I see no point in giving a roster spot to an old, broke down RB solely for the times we'd need him to pass block, when that spot can be given to a younger player with potential.
That is old thinking, like "franchise LT!" Blocking Rb is your last line of defense, college Rb's are not taught blitz pickups at an NFL level, b/c the level of complexity in blitzes if very different, so of course gamble on the rookie 6th rd pick?
Didn't know missing 8 games in 5 years was injury prone? http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BradAh00.htm?mobile_long=false
I think the author is taking a look at our roster and filling in the gaps .We have seen that Ireland favors youth over experience .I think we stick with what we have .
Or gamble on an old player with a severe injury history at a position most likely to break down because of injuries and the roster spot that eats up? We drafted a guy to do that job. Filling every hole with FAs is the old way of thinking Pads, considering Shula did it almost 20 years ago. The most consistent teams in the league, year in, year out tend to be growers, not show-ers.
Well, Sims should help out a lot on 2 TE sets. I'd love to have Bradshaw, but he has to be our backup. all those times staying in to block for NYG probably didn't help his health, which was already shaky. If Bradshaw would sign for a reasonable price, he'd be a great addition to our stable. for the recommended price of 2.5 million, I'd be okay with Bradshaw. I'd feel better about an incentive laden deal
Cmon, there's missing games...and then there is being injured all the time. Bradshaw is clearly the latter and it has affected his playing the last 2 years.
27 is old? Already the youngest team in the league, and do not give half a damn about "year in, your out" And here is why your thinking is backwards, why take a LT at say #2 in the draft and pay him millions, and then settle for 'whomever" to pick up blitzing Cb's, Safeties and Lb's? Does that make any sense rationally? Nope, yet that is how the league does things, and Rex Ryan of all people realize this thus never had a dominant passrusher, yet his defenses were usually top 10 in the league. Even Rexxy is bright enough to exploit such an *** backwards way of doing things. Send an A gap blitz over say JJ, and of course rely on a rook 6th rd pick to realize the Cb is not blitzing, it's the linebacker, your Qb runs for their lives, and gosh, it's a mystery how it happened. Your Rb's have to able to read a blitz as well, if not better, than your Qb, that is the NFL's new reality.
I am somewhat indifferent to Bradshaw, but personally, I think it's a bit optimistic to rely on Miller, Gillislee and/or Gray early. None has shown to be legit runners nor pass protectors... Don't get me wrong, it's apparent that the staff feels that that Miller is ready, but we don't really know that yet either...and pass pro is certainly not his forte... I just am not sure that we look at Bradshaw...that would be another FA coming off injury that we aren't really sure what we are getting...
I get what you're saying, Pads. Right now we have: a 4th-round pick with an injury history who hasn't done much of anything in the NFL to show he can be a 'feature back', being backed up by a 5th-round rookie, backed up by a possible bust with concussion problems, backed up by an UDFA coming off an ACL. None of these guys have done anything significant at this level. But I just think we've signed so many free agents that it's time to stop. Winning teams are seldom made from adding this many new FA starters and new players to the organization all at once. (To backtrack, I would've signed a different vet RB, kept Bess, passed on Gibson, and drafted a WR.) We've added a ton of new FAs already and we need to start building with and developing guys in-house. The running game is my biggest concern for this year, yes; but I think we have to roll the dice on it as is to keep the roster young and think long-term (we've done enough hole-plugging) - give our own guys playing time and the opportunity to develop.
So why is this never hurt, 27 years young, amazing RB not signed by anyone? We didn't grab just anyone to cover pass blocking from the RB position, we grabbed a guy whose strength is pass blocking. That generally nets you a lower draft grade. And your praise of Rex Ryan's "approach" contradicts your excitement over Jordan.
I would love to have a back that you know can read and pick up the blitz. If RT throws well at all this year teams will try to speed up his decision making by blitzing and while I think the addition of Clabo makes a significant difference in the quality of our line, Martin's play is still in question. A solid blocking back, who not only knows how to block but where to block, would make for some nice insurance. Maybe help teach the youngsters too.
Disagree b/c we still are the youngest team in the league as is, adding a FA is not going to change the future makeup of the roster, and really this year is all about seeing what Tannehill has not some grand roster vision and organizational direction.
He was cleared to resume football activities last month. Well, gee FinD, do you suppose it is reasonable to think that a Rb who picked up blitzes vs Vandy is now suited to read, recognize and react properly to a blitz designed by say Greg Wlliams? If so, what do you base that upon other then optimism? I'll spare you the "huh?", if anything it heightens Jordan's value b/c he can cover, or blitz, meaning if anything he can now maximize the structural flaw in the league's way of looking at things. You can now blitz a Cb and have Jordan cover whomever they were covering, the last line of defense is some Rb who has -0- chance of reading what is going on and our opponent's Qb will be throwing the wounded ducks. Or You can go 4 DL and 7 back in coverage and still generate pressure, or use Jordan like a Leo and drop him off into coverage from a DE position and blitz your Db
I wouldn't be opposed to a Bradshaw signing at this point. Although I do think the combination of Lamar Miller and Mike Gilislee, with Jonas Gray battling Daniel Thomas and Cameron Marshall for the third spot, is sufficient.
Meh.....I'd be all for it if it wasn't for Bradsaw's feet. The dude's feet are shot to hell and it might be 1 play or 1000 plays before he has to hang up the cleats due to them. Maybe if he was splitting time with Miller and someone else it'd be a good fit. Felix Jones is another viable option if you want a bigger back for yardage and downs situations.
It's all about blitz pickups, could care less if he handles the ball minimally. It's curious to me that such a big deal is made about Martin playing LT, but there is no one even bothering to mention a Rb who can do this job when in fact if Martin is as poor as the naysayers think you are going to need that extra blocker to help him out. Patriots used to understand how important this was and you can trace Brady's playoff failure to Kevin Faulk hanging the cleats up. Now, as Ryan Clark mentioned 'Brady sees ghosts when blitzed"
Again, Padre, rookies are allowed to fill holes. Your concept of FAs being used to fill every hole has NEVER WORKED in the NFL. Bradshaw, has been cleared for plenty of time for him to have been signed.
At least there's a proven resume there. If we can sign him to a deal with little or no guaranteed money I'd have no problem with it.
Padre I love ya man but your FA RB suggestions scare me annually. Bradshaw is a better idea than Hillis but how things went down w him and PIT should tell you what kind of shape that foot is in.
That is an exaggeration. 1 month since resuming football activites is not "plenty of time". And what I had in mind was not the status quo, that is for old thinkers, the ones who take tackles with high picks, and talk about "have to keep your Qb upright" then put a Rb in the backfield to blitz pickup who is clueless. Nope, no new ground to plow there, let's do what they've always done and stick, oh, a rook 6th rd pick from the ACC, or Miller in the backfield, then watch in the 4th qtr when our Qb is sacked b/c dummy missed the blitz pickup ending the game. But hey, it's all about the future right? Or put another way, why is it logical that it takes Qb's a couple of years to learn how to read a defense, but it's expected a Rb will be able to do so as a rookie or young player?
I don't know why I have OCD for little things but I do. We played the Browns in 2011. Jon Martin wasn't on the team then. Marc Colombo had some struggles, but they pressured us up the middle. Jabaal Sheard did nothing, especially against Jake. Chad Henne ran into about 3 of the 5 sacks the Browns had to boot. He played horrible in Chad Henne fashion. Either way, I think having Ahmad Bradshaw would help. Although Daniel Thomas' pass pro hasn't been poor and I think it's one of the things that keeps him on the roster.
How is it an exaggeration? Its the logical conclusion of your argument. If a rookie can't fill the very specialized blitz pick up RB position, then they can't fill any position.
Not when Rb is usually by cmte in the NFL now. So they have even less of a chance of learning blitz pickups quickly.