The still shot is from Lewis' 1st game as a Patriot, and he fumbled once in that game (recovered by Gronkowski). He also fumbled the very next game...which means that 2 of his 3 fumbles as a Patriot (in regular season) happened his first 2 games. It's quite possible he was coached after these 2 fumbles so it wouldn't happen as frequently, thus no more carrying the ball away from his body.
Agree.
And, just for the record, I don't believe that Lewis' "fumble" in the AFCCG was on him. It was a brilliant play by Myles Jack (who I really wish was in a Patriot uni instead of with JAX).
Blount noted that BB
personally coached him on better ball security and how to run with a lower pad level, and his fumble/touch declined dramatically. BB also coached Faulk into better ball security. IIRC, Bolden didn't have great ball security coming out of Mississippi, but he hasn't fumbled once for the Pats since his first pre-season. And then, of course, BGE didn't fumble at all with the Pats, but started losing the handle after moving to the Bengals (5 fumbles in two seasons).
In his first three seasons with the Pats, Ridley fumbled once very 56 touches. He eventually began to carry the ball securely with more consistency (0 fumbles in his past ~160 touches with 4 different teams, including his final season with the Pats), but his YPA also took a big hit.
Ball security is a critical - and totally ignored - stat when it comes to evaluating college RB prospects for the draft (although college fumbling stats are often fairly difficult for us draft fans to find). Fixing a rookie's college fumbling issues may take time away from coaching him on other things and may yield no improvement. The Pats may take a hard-pass in the draft on a college RB prospect who fumbles a lot, regardless of how uber-productive he was, unless they've seen enough on tape and through workouts/interviews to convince them that his issue is fixable.
DJ Foster fumbled once every 167 touches at AZ State, which is not bad.
James White fumbled once every 377 touches at Wisconsin. He's fumbled once in 328 touches with the Pats, and not since the 2015 AFCCG against Denver (and he recovered his own fumble).
Although there were a few others who I liked for their production:fumble ratio, my #1 RB binky in the 2017 draft was Kareem Hunt, who fumbled only once in 855 touches. It was quite the irony that he fumbled (was stripped by Jordan Richards, of all people) on his first ever NFL carry, though he didn't fumble again in his 325 regular season touches.
I definitely did NOT like Ameer Abdullah in the draft because he fumbled once every 38 touches in college. And he's fumbled once every 60 for the Lions.
In contrast, I also didn't like Kamara, who fumbled once every 44 touches in college. However, he's only fumbled once in 243 touches with the Saints this season (proving that some guys can be easily fixed, apparently).
