Thoughts on Mike Gillislee so far?

[RobertWeathers]

We must resign Rex.

Price is going up by the game

 

[RobertWeathers]

And replace who?

Not a total replacement but he'd get some carries . If he ran like Dion has he'd get a few. A handful per game maybe.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

The concern is he played a bunch and now he has been collecting dust for a good month now.

He's still practicing in pads so he's not non-football ready yet. And, unfortunately, as so often is the case, injury always is there to provide an opportunity. The big thing for Gill is how he is taking this non-active role? Is he doing everything at practice to make the decision harder on BB/JM? Or has this taken the wind out of his sails making the decision easier?

There is X amount of active roster spots and what area gets those handful of flexible active spots can be critical to the team. And it comes down to a numbers game for Gill. White and Burk just provided more production value so Gill is the odd man out. Unfortunately for Gill but fortunate for the Patriots, the running game with Lewis-Burk-White is very much more than adequately manned. And until that changes due to performance or injury, Gill will continue to sit.
That's my take. Again I hope Gill is showing fight at practice to make himself as ready as possible and show BB/JM he is still here ready to play.

 

[RobertWeathers]

He's still practicing in pads so he's not non-football ready yet. And, unfortunately, as so often is the case, injury always is there to provide an opportunity. The big thing for Gill is how he is taking this non-active role? Is he doing everything at practice to make the decision harder on BB/JM? Or has this taken the wind out of his sails making the decision easier?

There is X amount of active roster spots and what area gets those handful of flexible active spots can be critical to the team. And it comes down to a numbers game for Gill. White and Burk just provided more production value so Gill is the odd man out. Unfortunately for Gill but fortunate for the Patriots, the running game with Lewis-Burk-White is very much more than adequately manned. And until that changes due to performance or injury, Gill will continue to sit.
That's my take. Again I hope Gill is showing fight at practice to make himself as ready as possible and show BB/JM he is still here ready to play.

To use BB speak, he hasn't taken advantage of his opportunities

 

[Deus Irae]

It's not Gillislee's fault that Lewis is back in form

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

Never heard of him

 

[Ochmed Jones]

There are some really good backs in the draft.

I would rather we use our scant number of picks on defensive players, but a rookie is an option.

 

[fnordcircle]

Some serious glass half empty **** going on when our top 3 backs are performing so well that people fret over how our 4th isn't active...

 

[AvocadoIceCream]

Who?

 

[maineman209]

Not a total replacement but he'd get some carries . If he ran like Dion has he'd get a few. A handful per game maybe.

Sorry. I meant, "who would Gillislee replace among the 46 actives?"

That's assuming that he wouldn't be replacing one of the other RBs.

 

[maineman209]

To use BB speak, he hasn't taken advantage of his opportunities

Most of Gillislee's opportunities came in the beginning of the season (after he'd been unable to practice for a good part of Camp, IIRC). At the time, the offense was still reconfiguring around the unexpected absence of Edelman, the OL and Allen were still getting the kinks worked out, Lewis was still working his way back to form, and Burkhead was out with a rib injury.

During that time, Gillislee ...
- gained 44.4 yds/game (currently top 30 among 290 NFL RBs and QBs this season)
- scored four TDs (still top 20 in the league, in spite of the fact that other RBs have played more games)
- gained 23 1st-downs (still top 30, in spite of many other RBs now having had many more opportunities)

Extrapolating Gillislee's numbers from 8 games to a full 16-game season:
- 196 carries = 20th in the league in 2016 (out of 338 players)
- 710 yards = 24th in the league in 2016 (Gillislee was 29th last season)
- 8 TDs = 11th in the league in 2016 (same total as Gillislee had in 2016)
- 46 1st downs = 18th in the league in 2016

So, Gillislee has been a Top-20 RB for the Pats when he's played. That means that there are at least 11 other teams in the league whose #1 RB hasn't been as good as Gillislee. That also means that Gillislee is the Pats #4 because the Pats have three guys who are even better.

Gillislee didn't "fail" to take advantage of his opportunities, he was merely surpassed by at least two other guys who have succeeded wildly.

We are truly spoiled.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Sorry. I meant, "who would Gillislee replace among the 46 actives?"

That's assuming that he wouldn't be replacing one of the other RBs.

Bolden but I have to think about the ST impact

 

[RobertWeathers]

Most of Gillislee's opportunities came in the beginning of the season (after he'd been unable to practice for a good part of Camp, IIRC). At the time, the offense was still reconfiguring around the unexpected absence of Edelman, the OL and Allen were still getting the kinks worked out, Lewis was still working his way back to form, and Burkhead was out with a rib injury.

During that time, Gillislee ...
- gained 44.4 yds/game (currently top 30 among 290 NFL RBs and QBs this season)
- scored four TDs (still top 20 in the league, in spite of the fact that other RBs have played more games)
- gained 23 1st-downs (still top 30, in spite of many other RBs now having had many more opportunities)

Extrapolating Gillislee's numbers from 8 games to a full 16-game season:
- 196 carries = 20th in the league in 2016 (out of 338 players)
- 710 yards = 24th in the league in 2016 (Gillislee was 29th last season)
- 8 TDs = 11th in the league in 2016 (same total as Gillislee had in 2016)
- 46 1st downs = 18th in the league in 2016

So, Gillislee has been a Top-20 RB for the Pats when he's played. That means that there are at least 11 other teams in the league whose #1 RB hasn't been as good as Gillislee. That also means that Gillislee is the Pats #4 because the Pats have three guys who are even better.

Gillislee didn't "fail" to take advantage of his opportunities, he was merely surpassed by at least two other guys who have succeeded wildly.

We are truly spoiled.

His ypc is pretty weak. Part him, part line part #1 in facing the most 8 man fronts of all RBs.

 

[Gronk]

Some serious glass half empty **** going on when our top 3 backs are performing so well that people fret over how our 4th isn't active...

First world problems....

But now that we can't argue over which backup QB will be Brady's successor we must find other ways to avoid simply enjoying watching the games.

 

[PatsDeb]

Well so far, he's been pretty invisible, especially the last 4 games or so.

 

[maineman209]

Bolden but I have to think about the ST impact

Bolden, who's maybe 15-20 lbs heavier than Gillislee, has years of experience playing on all four primary ST units. Through 12 games, he's tied with Richards for the most ST snaps on the team (213). He's made 6 ST tackles so far this season, second only to Ebner (7). He's usually in the top 3 or four

Thinking in more detail about Gillislee's potential ST role ...

He doesn't have the speed or agility to be a gunner like Slater or Ebner or Grigsby (the ST role where the Pats have suffered the most losses to injury).

He doesn't have the size of a lot of the guys who regularly participate on STs (e.g. Hollister, Grissom, Reilly), nor is he very likely to have the tackling skills and experience of the defensive players who regularly contribute substantially on ST coverage units and who are roughly Gillislee's size (e.g., Richards). Offensive skill-position players rarely do have those skills. Guys like Bolden, Burkhead and O'Shaughnessy are really fairly rare around the league.

Since Gillislee is not a returner (one KR, zero PR his entire NFL career), so his 10 ST snaps/game for the Bills last season were likely as a blocker on KR and PR units. The Pats appear to have at least 15 other guys who already perform that function regularly, so Gillislee - whatever his skill level might be in that role - is pretty much redundant.

IOW, there's no compelling reason to make Gillislee active for the sake of ST, and doing so very likely means that a guy who already contributes more has to sit.

 

[maineman209]

His ypc is pretty weak. Part him, part line part #1 in facing the most 8 man fronts of all RBs.

True. But ypc may be a bit overemphasized in the larger context.

 

[maineman209]

Well so far, he's been pretty invisible, especially the last 4 games or so.

He wsn't at all "invisible" in the first 8 games of the season (roughly a top-20/top 25 RB in contributions), and he's been a healthy scratch the last four after being surpassed by both Lewis and Burkhead.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Bolden, who's maybe 15-20 lbs heavier than Gillislee, has years of experience playing on all four primary ST units. Through 12 games, he's tied with Richards for the most ST snaps on the team (213). He's made 6 ST tackles so far this season, second only to Ebner (7). He's usually in the top 3 or four

Thinking in more detail about Gillislee's potential ST role ...

He doesn't have the speed or agility to be a gunner like Slater or Ebner or Grigsby (the ST role where the Pats have suffered the most losses to injury).

He doesn't have the size of a lot of the guys who regularly participate on STs (e.g. Hollister, Grissom, Reilly), nor is he very likely to have the tackling skills and experience of the defensive players who regularly contribute substantially on ST coverage units and who are roughly Gillislee's size (e.g., Richards). Offensive skill-position players rarely do have those skills. Guys like Bolden, Burkhead and O'Shaughnessy are really fairly rare around the league.

Since Gillislee is not a returner (one KR, zero PR his entire NFL career), so his 10 ST snaps/game for the Bills last season were likely as a blocker on KR and PR units. The Pats appear to have at least 15 other guys who already perform that function regularly, so Gillislee - whatever his skill level might be in that role - is pretty much redundant.

IOW, there's no compelling reason to make Gillislee active for the sake of ST, and doing so very likely means that a guy who already contributes more has to sit.

Yea there really isn't the justification to play him. There are RBs and STers that have more value. Oh well

 

[Kontradiction]

I was way off about him. I thought he was going to hit 1,000 yards in this offense. I even made a $100 bet about it with a friend of mine. Burkhead, on the other hand, looks like a monster of a Swiss Army Knife and Dion is back to his 2015 ways.