Poll: Post Gurley RB strategy

[RamDino]

Whatever works for McVay works for me. Todd Gurley was obviously the bell cow. and that worked fine until he got hurt. Many teams have a "thunder and lightning" approach, like the Saints Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara, and some teams use RBC, like the 49ers and the Seahawks. I will leave this up to McVay, but I remain dumbfounded why McVay did not use Henderson more last year.

 

[Merlin]

IMO you gotta have a guy who can get some tough yards in this league. And with a guy like McVay it's even more important, because that balance is central to his scheme and all the marrying of play action. I didn't really consider that he would recognize he needs a guy who adds that element, but of course he got a guy in Akers who can do the other stuff he likes too.

Look at the Saints of two years ago. In 2018 they had Ingram as their "tough yards" guy (Success Rate was 3rd in the league that year at 57%), and Kamara as their "explosive" back (4th in DVoA). But after that season they lost Ingram in FA, which at the time probably made sense to them because Kamara was ranked 2nd in SR.

Fast forward to 2019 however and Kamara really struggled as the focus of the offense, dipping to 12th & 15th. Now they had some issues up front just like us as well (and they went and got Ruiz in this draft). But when you watch their games you can see Kamara wasn't the same guy when he wasn't fresh and the pounding IMO caught up to him a bit.

So looking at our backfield I think that lesson applies. I think Hendy is a poor man's Kamara, not as good a receiver (but who is) and there were rumors about him struggling to pick up the offense, however he should be pretty good coming in fresh for us this season and McVay should be able to run the same offense. Tie it all together and I feel like Akers' ability to get tough yards is going to benefit us and it should benefit Hendy too.

The other element of course is the OL. But we've beat that horse to death lol.

 

[dieterbrock]

Whatever works for McVay works for me. Todd Gurley was obviously the bell cow. and that worked fine until he got hurt. Many teams have a "thunder and lightning" approach, like the Saints Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara, and some teams use RBC, like the 49ers and the Seahawks. I will leave this up to McVay, but I remain dumbfounded why McVay did not use Henderson more last year.

Funny thing though is that none of the teams you mentioned, are the same as they were when successful. Saints let Ingram go, and Murray wasnt great, Kamara may have been a 1 year wonder. The 49ers? Remains to be seen how many of their RB will be back, they've already gotten rid of Brieda, Coleman is on the trade block and we'll see what Mostert can do as "the man". And Seattle isnt RBC now that they've got their guy in Carson, who took the majority of the RB workload

I think its a myth. Teams will do RBC when they dont have an RB#1.

 

[Ram65]

Probably one answer does not fit all situations.

If you have a running back that has the skill set to do everything at a high level then teams should use them. If you have a limited skill set running back (starter) then you need to find a compliment to him that does things your start is not as good at.

In the case of Akers and Henderson, they do have similar skill sets. I think Akers has a better all-around game with more power and blocking ability-based college history. We still have to see them play with the Rams. I have the feeling Akers will prove to be the starter and better all-around running back. Hopefully, McVay will keep Akers fresh by giving Henderson a decent amount of touches. Henderson is so explosive that the Rams have to get the ball in his hands.

I would wait on second contracts as long as possible. Case by case situation on resigning to a second contract. It's a crapshoot.

 

[Ram65]

RBC worked for the 9ers but their scheme is run first and I think they got lucky with the amount of rb talent they had. I expect this year to be the Mosert show after trading Breida.

But the Titans were RBC until they realized it's best to give Henry more than 10-12 touches a game.

I honestly don't know what's best.

The whiners resign McKinnon who was hurt his first two years there. He was effective and quick with the Vikings.

https://www.sacbee.com/sports/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/article241274341.html

 

[Loyal]

Not at all. I think if anything, Gurley is the outlier.
(Jaylon Smith is another good example, though different position)
Gurley proved the draft pick wasnt risky, then was living up to his new contract. What happened next? I cant recall anything like it. I cant think of one example to compare to, of course mostly because we dont know what actually happened.
That makes his situation the outlier

Yes, he was an outlier in that way. But I was speaking of your original post. What Adrian Peterson did in one year to recover from his surgery was an outlier, which I attribute to freakish genetics. Frank Gore is threatening the all time rushing title through doggedness, which again, his longevity in maybe the roughest position in the NFL, is freakish. They are outliers in the long run because it just doesn't happen that way for most RB's. IE, "You can't make the club, if you're in the tub."

As for Gurley, it hasn't worked out for the Rams for whatever reason, because he did not last. We just gave up a helluva lot of money dumping him. If he had worked out for us, we wouldn't have heard from Sean McVay most of last season things like "Todd is ok....cleared to play.," but then he was sparingly used when we needed for him to take over a game(s). One game was all we needed to be in the playoffs, and a normally healthy Gurley would have affected the whole season.

 

[dang]

So what did super bowl Participants 49ers and Chiefs have in common last year on offense?



give up....



RBC....Mosteart/Coleman/Brieda for 49ers and Williams/McCoy/Williams for Chiefs. Gotta has solid OL but it works and promotes next man up strategy.

 

[Loyal]

So what did super bowl Participants 49ers and Chiefs have in common last year on offense?



give up....



RBC....Mosteart/Coleman/Brieda for 49ers and Williams/McCoy/Williams for Chiefs. Gotta has solid OL but it works and promotes next man up strategy.

But you said it yourself, you have to have a solid oline...I would say it would be an almost great Oline for it to work. Like someone said earlier, if you have a RB who is more effective than the others, he will get more carries. If one is a better blockers and a better runner/receiver, then he will get the lion's share of carries. Not sure if I agree with the whole RBC idea.

 

[bluecoconuts]

I don't like the idea of "preserving" him for a second contract, but I don't have any issue with giving him one. Gurley was worth the contract until he got injured, and it seemed to be a sort of freak thing where it doesn't really seem to bother him day to day, but it completely took away a major factor in his game and really hurt his ability to run.

So far the only thing significant on Akers is in 2018 he played through a minor ankle injury. Otherwise pretty clean bill of health. Lets knock on wood it remains that way in the NFL and he becomes a huge player for us. He's a big boom or bust type guy, he could easily be the best RB in the draft and be a star in the league, the talent is there for sure. If he does, yeah, keep him as long as he's an asset.

 

[FarNorth]

We all loved watching Todd out there, tearing it up. The new contract we gave Todd was a mistake, as much as I agreed with it at the time. It was because of that contract and the fear of being wrong about giving it to Todd, probably made McSnead baby Todd's injury/non-injury during the year. This is no way to be when when coming down the stretch of last season. Being worried about your star back getting injured is stinkin' thinkin,' in my opinion. We should have pounded the ball with Gurley, and if he broke doing that, then so be it.

We all hear it as a cautionary tale...Running back by committee, they say. I think Cam Akers is a bell-cow back. I also am looking at him as a one contract player. We should use and abuse him, and maybe trade him regardless after 3 years. Hopefully he has great numbers and we could get draft capital for him.

Imo Akers will be the man. He's likely to be the best overall runner, best at getting through any hole in the line, best at yards after contact. For these reasons Akers is the guy to make the most out of our unproven o-line. Akers is also likely to be the best receiver out of the backfield and not least the best blocker. For these reasons it will be very hard to get him off the field for third down.

I like Henderson but he was drafted to be the change of pace back, and expect he will remain so. This is still an important role however.

Imo Akers was hand picked by McVay to be the RB for this offense.

 

[Loyal]

I don't like the idea of "preserving" him for a second contract, but I don't have any issue with giving him one. Gurley was worth the contract until he got injured, and it seemed to be a sort of freak thing where it doesn't really seem to bother him day to day, but it completely took away a major factor in his game and really hurt his ability to run.

So far the only thing significant on Akers is in 2018 he played through a minor ankle injury. Otherwise pretty clean bill of health. Lets knock on wood it remains that way in the NFL and he becomes a huge player for us. He's a big boom or bust type guy, he could easily be the best RB in the draft and be a star in the league, the talent is there for sure. If he does, yeah, keep him as long as he's an asset.

I meant preserve in that his number of carries are monitored and his usage is curtailed at a predetermined number, as opposed to going with the hot hand throughout a game.


From my point of view, the Gurley's unprecedented contract was a risk worth taking if he lasted through a significant part of the contract, delivering what we had been used to and expected in the future. This is how I decide success, and you may have a different idea about that.

 

[FarNorth]

Imo Akers will be the man. He's likely to be the best overall runner, best at getting through any hole in the line, best at yards after contact. For these reasons Akers is the guy to make the most out of our unproven o-line. Akers is also likely to be the best receiver out of the backfield and not least the best blocker. For these reasons it will be very hard to get him off the field for third down.

I like Henderson but he was drafted to be the change of pace back, and expect he will remain so. This is still an important role however.

Imo Akers was hand picked by McVay to be the RB for this offense.

Forgot to add that it wouldn't surprise me to see Akers throw the ball a couple of times a game. Why not? He was a great qb in high school and has a really good arm. McVay as a former running and throwing Georgia state championship qb will immediately see these possibilities. And we got some instruction from the Ravens on how hard it is to defend this kind of double threat.

 

[bluecoconuts]

I meant preserve in that his number of carries are monitored and his usage is curtailed at a predetermined number, as opposed to going with the hot hand throughout a game.


From my point of view, the Gurley's unprecedented contract was a risk worth taking if he lasted through a significant part of the contract, delivering what we had been used to and expected in the future. This is how I decide success, and you may have a different idea about that.

Ah, yeah, then I'm more okay with my selection there. I would like to see him and Henderson split carries and both get plenty of time, I think we've seen a number of teams use this two headed punch well, and I don't see why we can't I see plenty of talent and home run ability from both players, so we should use them.

But I don't have an issue with playing the hot hand at times either. If Akers or Henderson busts out a 90+ TD run, and follow it up with another 20-30+ yard gasher their next carry, yeah, feed them the ball. On an average Sunday, go ahead and split carries as the game goes.

I don't want McVay hyper focused on one player though.

 

[Loyal]

Ah, yeah, then I'm more okay with my selection there. I would like to see him and Henderson split carries and both get plenty of time, I think we've seen a number of teams use this two headed punch well, and I don't see why we can't I see plenty of talent and home run ability from both players, so we should use them.

But I don't have an issue with playing the hot hand at times either. If Akers or Henderson busts out a 90+ TD run, and follow it up with another 20-30+ yard gasher their next carry, yeah, feed them the ball. On an average Sunday, go ahead and split carries as the game goes.

I don't want McVay hyper focused on one player though.

I wanted to see Henderson last year, but the rumor was that he had trouble becoming a blocker in pass-pro. If that's true and Cam is good as advertised in protecting the QB, he will be the milk cow RB, imo.

 

[dieterbrock]

Yes, he was an outlier in that way. But I was speaking of your original post. What Adrian Peterson did in one year to recover from his surgery was an outlier, which I attribute to freakish genetics. Frank Gore is threatening the all time rushing title through doggedness, which again, his longevity in maybe the roughest position in the NFL, is freakish. They are outliers in the long run because it just doesn't happen that way for most RB's. IE, "You can't make the club, if you're in the tub."

As for Gurley, it hasn't worked out for the Rams for whatever reason, because he did not last. We just gave up a helluva lot of money dumping him. If he had worked out for us, we wouldn't have heard from Sean McVay most of last season things like "Todd is ok....cleared to play.," but then he was sparingly used when we needed for him to take over a game(s). One game was all we needed to be in the playoffs, and a normally healthy Gurley would have affected the whole season.

AP didnt have his knee issue in college, Im not referring to that. He was an "injury prone" RB in college and still was drafted high. Gore tore the ACL twice, and was still drafted in 3rd round, Willis McGahee was drafted in 1st round after blowing out his knee and miss whole year. I dont think they are outliers, unless there is a littany of guys drafted in first 2-3 rounds who never recover?
Gurley proved worth the risk of the draft pick, and then some.
And for 14 games proved worthy of the contract extension.
Gurley is the outlier for sure, the guy who signs the big extension, plays great and then just disappeared

 

[So Ram]

That's a trick question, because a first round rookie cant sign an extension, and after 3 seasons they arent a rookie any more....


That's a different argument all together though. But that has nothing to do with what position they play or injury history.

RB’s have less of a shelve life. Why give him top dollar. Bell was going to be the highest paid RB & it didn’t happen. The Rams totally over paid & imo was always a stupid extension.

The Rams held out Aaron Donald twice.

 

[So Ram]

KCs strategy: Offense: Score every time your offense gets the ball. Defense: stop your opponent on one possession. Result: you will win every game.

well it wasn’t totally like that. They are explosive. There defense stepped up though.
The Rams offense should be in the top 10.

 

[OldSchool]

Plan is to run the same offense with both Akers and Hendo on the field and move the chains on the way to scoring.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Imo Akers will be the man. He's likely to be the best overall runner, best at getting through any hole in the line, best at yards after contact. For these reasons Akers is the guy to make the most out of our unproven o-line. Akers is also likely to be the best receiver out of the backfield and not least the best blocker. For these reasons it will be very hard to get him off the field for third down.

I like Henderson but he was drafted to be the change of pace back, and expect he will remain so. This is still an important role however.

Imo Akers was hand picked by McVay to be the RB for this offense.

Makes sense.

 

[Loyal]

Makes sense.

homer ~ OldSchool