primetime

Turner was great (good inside runner, caught the ball real well), yes, but Byars was the exact opposite of a "traditional" FB. He, like Centers, was more of an H-back (though with more blocking responsibilities).

Byars caught 81 passes in 1990 and ended his 12 year career with 610 catches. He had only 200 less catches than Jimmy Smith had as a wide receiver in 13 years, and Smith was a number 1 receiver for his whole career, more or less (Centers ended his 13 year career after a year with the Patriots with 827 catches, which is more than Jimmy Smith in the same time span).

If Mills turns into Turner, I'll be happy. If he turns into Centers or Byars, that's incredible.

JoeSixPat

I'm talking about Byars when he was with the Patriots.... I'll eat my shoe if he ever had 60 receptions, let alone 80.

He was more like a 25 recption guy - one, maybe 2 passes a game on average

I'm pretty sure at that point they were plugging Byars in at FB - whether he was a FB or not - that's my point - that the true FB who could run, catch and block became a thing of the past - I don't think the Pats have had anyone near as offensively productive since Kevin Turner at FB and in fact, BB plugs in defensive players at that position on goalline situations

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Digger44

And who could forget the Keith Byars shuffle? The man did not know how to break out into a flat out run. He just kinda shuffled his feet in small steps and was able to make big plays. If anybody can pull up a video, wath for the shuffle.

primetime

You're right, though the Pats signed him midseason (and he only played one season before shuffling off to the Jets for a couple years). He was an instrumental piece in that playoff run though.