Bring back Ridley, or draft another RB?

patsfaninpa · Nov 23, 2014

manxman2601 said:
Did you his speed on the 90 yard TD? Ran away from the secondary.

Awesome day for him. Him and Gordon have similiar running styles. Long legged makes it difficult to get a good shot at them. Coleman a tick faster. Stylistically, both remind me of Jamaal Charles. Not saying they will be as good. Just running style.

Patriot Missile · Dec 16, 2014

Got A full stock of talent but I'd take a flyer on Zach Zenner out of S Dakota st in the 7th or fa. A load of production with some shiftiness and deceptive speed. Could dual as a FB or RB

manxman2601 · Dec 16, 2014

Patriot Missile said:
Got A full stock of talent but I'd take a flyer on Zach Zenner out of S Dakota st in the 7th or fa. A load of production with some shiftiness and deceptive speed. Could dual as a FB or RB

I like Zenner. I think he's a very straight line guy and won't be making holes on his own, but get him through the hole and he can be gone.

Patriot Missile · Dec 16, 2014

No I don't see him making his own holes either but he does have vision to see where the holes are and exploit them. He's a lot faster than he looks.

FreeTedWilliams · Dec 16, 2014

If Gurley is on the board, he would be tough to pass up. He is bigger, faster and better than anyone we have now. Plus he is a dynamic KO returner! I think coming off the ACL, he will be available at 32. If Easley upside was worth the risk, Gurley is 20 times the player Easley is/was in college.

manxman2601 · Dec 16, 2014

FreeTedWilliams said:
If Gurley is on the board, he would be tough to pass up. He is bigger, faster and better than anyone we have now. Plus he is a dynamic KO returner! I think coming off the ACL, he will be available at 32. If Easley upside was worth the risk, Gurley is 20 times the player Easley is/was in college.

I go two ways on BB picking Gurley in the first. For one, it's pretty clear that BB hasn't valued the RB position that highly of late. However, in terms of value one has to think that getting someone as good as Gurley the first matches BBs desire for value very well. But then Gurley doesn't really fit the RB rotation model. It's one of those "I won't predict it, but I'll be happy to see it" moments for me. Just like Easley actually.

Joey007 · Dec 16, 2014

Gotta like us having Gray and Blount next year. Thinking they've made Ridley expendable. Hopefully Vereen can come back but if not we could use a speed guy in the mid rounds. Haven't really focused on the prospects too much this year so I can't simply name them off of the top of my head like past years.

You guys think Gray and Blount have made the answer the threads question as "Neither"?

meatface · Dec 17, 2014

I'd love to see them go with Gray and Blount next season, resign Vereen and draft Gurley. They can afford to let Gurley sit out a big chunk of the season if they need to and he could be a huge steal if he can come back from the ACL 100%

captain stone · Dec 17, 2014

FreeTedWilliams said:
If Easley's upside was worth the risk, then Gurley is 20 times the player Easley is/was in college.

That's the thing: it's plain to see that Easley's upside (whatever it was) was not worth the risk at 29.
At least however he was a DLman; there is absolutely no way, no how, that even Bill uses his 1st-rounder on a RB coming off an ACL injury.

Patriot Missile · Dec 17, 2014

captain stone said:
That's the thing: it's plain to see that Easley's upside (whatever it was) was not worth the risk at 29.
At least however he was a DLman; there is absolutely no way, no how, that even Bill uses his 1st-rounder on a RB coming off an ACL injury.

DTs take a little bit to develop and I think Easley's best years are ahead of him. You ask any college coach in the SEC who the best pass rusher in their conference was and if they were hooked up to a lie detector they would say Easley every time. His knee injury(s) was a 1 year healer and to be honest I think he needed a little longer. Anytime you can get someone to rush the passer from the inside you pull the trigger. I'm still ok with them gambling at 29 and am still thinking we are going to get max return on the pick.

I agree with the Gurley at 32. End of the 2nd? Absolutely I'd be ok with that.

mayoclinic · Dec 17, 2014

captain stone said:
That's the thing: it's plain to see that Easley's upside (whatever it was) was not worth the risk at 29.
At least however he was a DLman; there is absolutely no way, no how, that even Bill uses his 1st-rounder on a RB coming off an ACL injury.

Not plain at all. I personally think it was well worth the risk. Easley is a very rare prospect in terms of his combination of disruption and versatility.

Clark Ryan · Dec 23, 2014

Ridley is not too far off of watching Brandon Bolden except he gets a few more yards consistently, but no thrill, big play maker, just boring especially with dual threat rb's becoming standard in today's game. Guy's that would be nice additions i think would be Jay Ajayi, Jeremy Langford, David Cobb and Cameron Payne. They are mid round to late rounder's that would be awesome in the Pats rotation. Ajayi would be freakn aweome!! Keepin my fingers crossed! Here's to wish

meatface · Jan 2, 2015

Clark Ryan said:
Ridley is not too far off of watching Brandon Bolden except he gets a few more yards consistently, but no thrill, big play maker, just boring especially with dual threat rb's becoming standard in today's game. Guy's that would be nice additions i think would be Jay Ajayi, Jeremy Langford, David Cobb and Cameron Payne. They are mid round to late rounder's that would be awesome in the Pats rotation. Ajayi would be freakn aweome!! Keepin my fingers crossed! Here's to wish

How many consistent players who also break off huge gains are there in the nfl? 5 at the most, players like Ridley are very valuable because they can be consistent even if some fans find it boring

manxman2601 · Jan 9, 2015

This is an interesting breakdown of the RBs in this draft.

http://www.allprofootballsource.com/2015-nfl-draft-rb-production-metrics/

James Cobern, the writer, uses a metric based upon the proportion of a teams total yards the RB accounted for:

For clarification purposes I use one main production metric when evaluating running backs in market share yardage data. You take a running back’s best statistical season in rushing/receiving yardage and divide it by the offense’s total output that year.

For example if a running back had 2,000 yards all-purpose in his best season and his team had 6,500 total offensive yards, then he would have 30.77% market share yardage.

And the top 10 percentile alone has names such as O.J. Simpson, Marcus Allen, Curtis Martin, Barry Sanders, Herschel Walker, Matt Forte, Emmitt Smith, Ricky Williams, LaDainian Tomlinson, LeSean McCoy, Thurman Thomas, Eric ****erson, Adrian Peterson, Tony Dorsett, Marshall Faulk, Earl Campbell and Edgerrin James.

Not a bad list.

Tevin Coleman comes out top based upon this metric and is within the top 5 percentile which would put him squarely amongst the above group (drool!). Melvin Gordon, David Cobb and Todd Gurley are the next three and all feature as a top 10 percentile back. Gurley is noticeable because of his injury and yet still ranks this high. And as the writer notes, Gurley is the youngest back in the class at 21.

The Abdullah entry is interesting:

Ameer Abdullah, Nebraska: Top 15 Percentile

A little further down the spreadsheet from Johnson is Abdullah. His market share is similar to Warrick Dunn, but his athletic comps are backs like J.J. Arrington, Kevin Faulk and Kerwynn Williams. I really like Abdullah’s tape, but I’m not so sure he’s a lock to be a near elite back until after his testing comes out. At the very least Abdullah will be a tough rotational back like Arrington and Faulk who can be a team’s Swiss army knife when the starter needs a break.

Hopefully The Exalted One will enjoy this post because it's all about production

Well worth a click through and read.

mayoclinic · Jan 9, 2015

manxman2601 said:
This is an interesting breakdown of the RBs in this draft.

http://www.allprofootballsource.com/2015-nfl-draft-rb-production-metrics/

James Cobern, the writer, uses a metric based upon the proportion of a teams total yards the RB accounted for:

Not a bad list.

Tevin Coleman comes out top based upon this metric and is within the top 5 percentile which would put him squarely amongst the above group (drool!). Melvin Gordon, David Cobb and Todd Gurley are the next three and all feature as a top 10 percentile back. Gurley is noticeable because of his injury and yet still ranks this high. And as the writer notes, Gurley is the youngest back in the class at 21.

The Abdullah entry is interesting:

Hopefully The Exalted One will enjoy this post because it's all about production

Well worth a click through and read.

Very useful article. Thanks for posting.

A few things stand out to me:

1. Tevin Coleman. I've said for months (since you got my attention with him) that I liked Coleman the best of any back this year, and I'm sticking with it. People are still focused on "what if Todd Gurley slips". I like Gurley, but I bet he'll go before Coleman, who is my favorite RB prospect since Doug Martin (I put him on my 2013-2015 All-Personal Favorite team). I think he'd be electric in our offense and could have a LeVeon Bell kind of impact (I thought it was interesting that Bell wasn't mentioned in the article as a comp for anyone), and I did list him along with Maxx Williams as someone to consider trading up for in the 2nd round depending on where he's still available, even though I'm a "build around the lines" guy.

2. David Cobb (mistakenly listed as "Wisconsin"; he plays for Minnesota). Interesting comparison to Corey Dillon:

David Cobb, Wisconsin: Top 10 Percentile
People really underrate David Cobb. He tested in the top 10 percentile of market share yardage with Corey Dillon and the infamous Earl Campbell as the nearest athletic comparisons. People want to say power backs don’t work in the NFL anymore when the opposite is true. They thrive as much as the speedsters do, but your personal bias drops them down the board. Cobb may end up being a Day 2 selection, but he gets a Day 1 grade based on his market share yardage.

Cobb could definitely be in our late 3rd/3rd comp/early 4th wheelhouse, and a very good value. Speaking of LeVeon bell, Cobb reminds me of him a bit, though less explosive. Someone apparently referred to Cobb as "LeVeon Bell after taxes" - not sure who it was, but it's a cute comparison.

3. TJ Yeldon with a big "buyer beware" flag. That's been my take on him.

manxman2601 · Jan 9, 2015

mayoclinic said:
Very useful article. Thanks for posting.

A few things stand out to me:

1. Tevin Coleman. I've said for months (since you got my attention with him) that I liked Coleman the best of any back this year, and I'm sticking with it. People are still focused on "what if Todd Gurley slips". I like Gurley, but I bet he'll go before Coleman, who is my favorite RB prospect since Doug Martin (I put him on my 2013-2015 All-Personal Favorite team). I think he'd be electric in our offense and could have a LeVeon Bell kind of impact (I thought it was interesting that Bell wasn't mentioned in the article as a comp for anyone), and I did list him along with Maxx Williams as someone to consider trading up for in the 2nd round depending on where he's still available, even though I'm a "build around the lines" guy.

2. David Cobb (mistakenly listed as "Wisconsin"; he plays for Minnesota). Interesting comparison to Corey Dillon:

Cobb could definitely be in our late 3rd/3rd comp/early 4th wheelhouse, and a very good value. Speaking of LeVeon bell, Cobb reminds me of him a bit, though less explosive. Someone apparently referred to Cobb as "LeVeon Bell after taxes" - not sure who it was, but it's a cute comparison.

3. TJ Yeldon with a big "buyer beware" flag. That's been my take on him.

The one problem I have with this article is that he lists all the great top 10 percentile RBs from the past but doesn't mention how many from that percentile busted. I am sure there's been some at least. We're not really told how likely it is that a to percentile college back then succeeds in the NFL.

Bring back Ridley, or draft another RB?

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