[Old 2020 thread] NFL Free Agency/Trade Rumors:

[TheRainMaker]

Check out their yards per numbers from last year.


Dion Lewis Stats | Pro-Football-Reference.com
Todd Gurley Stats | Pro-Football-Reference.com

I know they weren’t great and I don’t think there’s anything left with Gurley. But I think Lewis can be used like he was in NE.

 

[Deus Irae]

I know they weren’t great and I don’t think there’s anything left with Gurley. But I think Lewis can be used like he was in NE.

What struck me is that they were nearly identical.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

"Casual"?

OK, slick. We've had the back and forth on the RBs before. I've showed you where you were wrong. You just choose to keep repeating the same erroneous arguments even after we've discussed them.

To repeat basic common sense:


You take elite talent when you find it. You don't wait on it. If there's an elite QB, you draft him high. If there's an elite center, you draft him high. If there's an elite RB, you draft him high. If there's an elite guard, you draft him high. Etc....

The exceptions are the ST only guys.

Yes casual. That's because you don't need elite from the RB position to win. Being a NEP/Brady fan you'd think you'd know that by now?

It's a position you can find later in the draft and not as valuable as other positions. You disagree with that? And again you don't need elite. Look at who played in the SB last year.

Look at the approach and players the NEP have taken.

Look at the current landscape. Teams that pay them big money regret it and are eating big $ to get rid of them.

It's simply not smart football.

Listen to a draft expert Deus. I don't understand why you want to be so hardheaded and don't want to learn?

 

[Uptown]

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Yes casual. That's because you don't need elite from the RB position to win. Being a NEP/Brady fan you'd think you'd know that by now?

It's a position you can find later in the draft and not as valuable as other positions. You disagree with that? And again you don't need elite. Look at who played in the SB last year.

Look at the approach and players the NEP have taken.

Look at the current landscape. Teams that pay them big money regret it and are eating big $ to get rid of them.

It's simply not smart football.

Listen to a draft expert Deus. I don't understand why you want to be so hardheaded and don't want to learn?

This got me thinking...

NFL running backs were so valuable up until around 2000. In the 90s we saw so many Super Bowl teams with great RBs, and same with the 80s, 70s, 60s, and 50s. But in the 90s, I remember Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Thurman Thomas, Terrell Davis, Ricky Waters, etc. The running back position used to be as valuable as the QB.

At least that was the perception.

With the exception of real superstar RBs like Jim Brown and Barry Sanders, do you think running backs are generally overrated in NFL history? Is it mostly the blocking, strong passing game that keeps defenses back, etc? Or is the plug n play running back a phenomenon of the last twenty years?

 

[carmelo15]

Why the hell was gurley given that contract knowing his injury history, mind boggling

 

[Uptown]

 

[primetime]

This got me thinking...

NFL running backs were so valuable up until around 2000. In the 90s we saw so many Super Bowl teams with great RBs, and same with the 80s, 70s, 60s, and 50s. But in the 90s, I remember Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Thurman Thomas, Terrell Davis, Ricky Waters, etc. The running back position used to be as valuable as the QB.

At least that was the perception.

With the exception of real superstar RBs like Jim Brown and Barry Sanders, do you think running backs are generally overrated in NFL history? Is it mostly the blocking, strong passing game that keeps defenses back, etc? Or is the plug n play running back a phenomenon of the last twenty years?

It's worth noting that, of the examples you chose, only Sanders and Smith were 1st round picks. Terrell Davis was sort of the canary in the coal mine. He was a 6th round pick who blew up in a Shanahan offense. After he retired, so did Mike Anderson, Olandis Gary, Clinton Portis, and a host of others.

Even historically, a great running back hasn't really translated to team success. Jim Brown certainly led his teams to success, but he was playing with a Hall of Fame quarterback. Barry Sanders played on losing teams. Bo Jackson played on losing teams. OJ Simpson played on losing teams. Eric ****erson played on losing teams. These are many of the special running backs since the merger, and they didn't make enough of a difference to elevate their teams. Meanwhile, a guy like Ricky Watters, who really was a Kevin Faulk-level receiving back but not a particularly special running back, played on a lot of winning teams. Helped to have Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens and Steve Young, I guess.

I do think running backs are still valuable, but the attributes of the position that are valuable have changed. Do-it-all players aren't a necessity. You need running backs for short yardage and you need them for pass protection and receiving. If you're Bill Belichick, you need some of them to do special teams. Guys who can only do one or the other, but not both, at an elite level tend to be undervalued and you can pick them up cheaply or in the middle to late rounds of drafts; see James White, for example. And there's just a market glut of decent backs to choose from, so there's no real need to pay a lot when the marginal value of, say, Todd Gurley over Dion Lewis is, at best, pretty small, especially when compared to other positions like quarterback (of course), wide receiver, pass rusher, or cornerback.

 

[primetime]

Why the hell was gurley given that contract knowing his injury history, mind boggling

The contract was bad for anyone who thought paying a running back was stupid, but by the standards of stupid running back contracts, it didn't look awful at the time. Look at his 2017 and 2018 seasons. Of course, those days are in the rear view mirror.

 

[Triumph]

Im glad that Gurley was not healthy in the Super Bowl.

No way the Pats would have won with that NE offense.

 

[Uptown]

 

[ViperGTS]

Todd Gurley couldn’t WAIT to sign a deal with the Bucs. Man that was fast..

wait...




Guess he wasn’t clamoring to play with old man Brady after all.

 

[Uptown]

 

[jah]

That organization will never learn its lesson about old/broken down RBs.

 

[captain stone]

This is the guy Bill should've acquired last season, after the Andrews situation became known ... and the season before that...and the season before that...But what would've we done with him while we've had Thanksdad all this time?

 

[captain stone]

Almost no other position is useless by 30.

Almost no other position is as NFL ready out of the chute.

Which is why many RBs begin their decline by age 30...

My take: Spending #31 overall on a RB is Not a bad idea...when that RB is Nick Chubb...

Spending #31 overall, however, on a RB is Indeed a bad idea...when that RB is Soreknee...

 

[Deus Irae]

Which is why many RBs begin their decline by age 30...

My take: Spending #31 overall on a RB is Not a bad idea...when that RB is Nick Chubb...

...Spending #31 overall, however, on a RB is Indeed a bad idea...when that RB is Soreknee...

Yeah. Like every other position, drafting the high talent only works if that high talent translates to effectiveness in the league. If you can get a Barkley, or an Elliot, or an AP, you take him high. You don't wait until later because he's a running back, because someone else will take him.

And running backs are integrated into the system faster than pretty much any other position, so the first contract is usually going to be better with a running back than, say, a wide receiver or tight end.

 

[Joey007]

welp that was the last option.

Ready for another year with incompetent TE play?

 

[jah]

This is the guy Bill should've acquired last season, after the Andrews situation became known ... and the season before that...and the season before that...But what would've we done with him while we've had Thanksdad all this time?

Yeah, it seems every year he's inexplicably available on the cheap after a good season, and yet we never sign him. Like you say, if Jimmy Nepotism wasn't getting starts for this team, it wouldn't feel as bad.

 

[jah]

welp that was the last option.

Ready for another year with incompetent TE play?

I already was.