RBs who could interest the Lions

I dont think we are a primary passing offense. I think Bevell would prefer it to be close to 50-50. And having a strong running game goes hand and hand with a good defence.

I still really like Javon Leake. His forty at the combine really shocked me as he’s certainly fast on the field. GREAT kick returner as well though I get that is of marginal value nowadays.

McFarland as well though he’s going to go much higher I’d imagine.

A late round rb i like is Michael Warren. Physical rb that would fit Bevells offense like a glove.

I think our backfield needs some juice. Warren doesn’t offer that.

I agree. My first option is Dobbins or Clyde in the second. But if they dont go that way Warren is not bad in the 6th round. Haven’t seen your guy yet but will definitely check him out.

I prefer Dobbins and Taylor early. I’m open minded about late round guys but I want them
to have some home run ability. Raymond Calais intrigues me as well.

Why does it seem that any of the RB’s in this draft would be an upgrade to our RB’s?!?!?! LOL

I want a guy with some beef to him for once. We have seen what a guy like Bo Scarborough can do last year, we just need a better version of Bo.

A.J. Dillon has some thighs on him. I like my RB’s to have some thick legs.

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I’m hoping for Cam Akers in round 3.

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While I’d like to grab a RB in rd 2 with the extra pick from a trade down, I think they wait grabbing Dillon in the 3rd/4th and Gibson from Memphis in the 4th/5th. Gibson can act as a WR and a RB 6-2 220 and I think Dillon takesbover for Scarborough. I like Bo, but he’s injury prone same as KJ.

Mike Warren is slippery and has some shake to him, I don’t think he has the top-end speed to take a lot of those long runs to the house the way you seen him do it at Cinci.
I don’t think his 40 would be very impressive and he’d be another 4.6+ RB in the draft, maybe a 5th or 6th rounder like Theo Riddick was…but someone that could be useful in a NFL teams stable of RB’s.

I love breaking down RB’s & QB’s… I love Dobbins, Taylor & Swift, Taylor more elsewhere & not with the Lions .

For me in a Dobbins vs Taylor scenario I see Dobbins as translating much better to our Offense over Taylor. Dobbins vision is what sets him apart from every other RB in this draft .Ohio State ran inside zone, outside zone, mid zone, counter, power and Dobbins excelled at it, which is perfect here for a delay hand off, PA, standing next to Stafford in Shotgun and 11 personnel …the concepts he ran from in Ohio State in 2019 under Ryan Day were ideal here for how it would translate with Darrell Bevell. The plan with Dobbins week in week out while running in this zone scheme was Dobbins running between Guard and Tackle or outside off the Tackle’s hip … RPO usage on avg less then 14% of all offensive plays ran …run or pass.

I also pay a lot of attention to the splits (situations, production, big plays) when it comes to College RB’s as well as ball security…That "awe shit, fumble moment " keeps RB’s on the bench regardless of talent at the NFL level… trust is huge.
I also give less weight to 1st down production because of the down being the easiest to run on with Defenses having to respect everything ( mystery as to Run or Pass, Play selection)
Focusing below on Taylor & Dobbins as similar bell cows in 2019…The consistency on a per down basis favors Dobbins in a big way. The production consistency speaking to talent level , attributes, skill sets and less from situation and ease of down .

Taylor running on 1st down was head and shoulders better then any other down he ran on & because of this he was keyed on by Defenses for the downs that followed, 2nd down & 3rd down, making it harder to run (That’s a given for any RB used often ) also the outcome on the money down (3rd down & 3rd and short ) did they get the 1st down when trusted to do so .

----------------Jonathan Taylor --------------------------------------J.K Dobbins--------------
7.4 yds per carry on 186 att 1st down…vs… 6.4 yds per carry on 167 att 1st down
4.9 yds per carry on 95 att 2nd down…vs… 6.8 yds per carry on 95 att 2nd down
4.2 yds per carry on 34 att 3rd down…vs… 7.5 yds per carry on 36 att 3rd down

Both great converting 3rd and short (1-3 yds) Taylor 17/26 65% vs Dobbins18/25 72%

J.Taylor had 61 big plays of 10+ yards gained …by down …1st (42) 2nd (14) 3rd (4)
Dobbins had 51 big plays of 10+ yards gained …by down …1st (27) 2nd (21) 3rd (3)

J.Taylor had 13 big plays of 20+ yards gained …by down …1st (10) 2nd (3) 3rd (0)
Dobbins had 20 big plays of 20+ yards gained …by down …1st (12) 2nd (5) 3rd (3)

J.Taylor’s longest play from scrimmage by down…1st (72 yds) 2nd (38 yds) 3rd (19 yds)

Dobbin’s longest play from scrimmage by down…1st (68 yds) 2nd (60 yds) 3rd (67 yds)

Taylor vs Dobbins in the receiving game were similar in 2019 , the hands & ability favor Dobbins in how he caught the ball and as a whole for College career.

Ball security is not close between the two …

Taylor fumbled 18 times on 926 carries in his 3 years… that’s 1 fumble every 51 carries
Dobbins fumbled 5 times on 725 carries in his 3 years… that’s 1 fumble every 145 carries

With J.Taylor putting the ball on the ground as often as he did, that’s a real issue at the next level . He can fix it some, but this is not a Tiki or Abdullah type situation with the fumbles, because of the way in which Taylor runs, his style …

I’ve broken down so much tape and stats/splits on Dobbins, Taylor , Swift , Helaire…I’m currently spending time on Moss, Akers & Benjamin…

.

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I like a guy by the name of moe neal out of Syracuse

Late rd/undrafted but could be a fun guy to bring in

Any thoughts on Jason Huntley?

Nice breakdown, would like to see you add Dillon to your list.

Agree with your breakdown of the offense that Dobbins would fit in. I just wonder if that is really the offense we want to run with Bevell. Not exactly the downhill physical running style. Also remember that Dobbins was surrounded by much more talent in a much more dynamic scheme. With Wisconsin you game planned to beat Taylor. OSU had a much more advanced passing game. I felt like this lead to Dobbins getting many more looks in space where he was bursting through a hole and was off to the races. Can we get him the same opportunities here? I’m not sure, which is why I trend towards Taylor (or Dillon) more. Yes fumbles are a real issue with Taylor, as is his volume of carries. But after watching Derek Henry in the playoffs, the idea of Dillon in the late 3rd or 4th round really appeals to me.

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Nick Chubb has been basically everything you could want out of a RB his first two years and the Browns have still sucked.

McCaffrey has been even better, the Panthers have still sucked.

Joe Mixon is great, the Bengals are terrible.

Saquon Barkley is a stud, the New York football Giants are a train wreck.

The Cowboys have won all of one playoff game since Zeke arrived and are now paying him way, way too much.

The running back the Cardinals gave all their money to (DJ) sucked so bad they had to trade for another guy.

The Rams were carried through their 2018 playoff run by 2019 Lions cast-off CJ Anderson. LA thought so much of Gurley they let him go despite having to eat over $20M in dead money.

The Chargers only made the playoffs once in Melvin Gordon’s five seasons. They let him go and decided to keep the UDFA Ekeler instead.

Phillip Lindsay started off his career with back-to-back 1000 yard seasons, the Broncos have still been trash.

The Vikings made it as far as the NFC championship game once in Adrian Peterson’s career, same with the Chargers in the AFC with Tomlinson.

We won one playoff game with Barry.

Meanwhile, KC and SF made the Super Bowl with a pu pu platter of low round picks and UDFAs at RB. The Packers made the title game with a 5th rounder starting over a 4th rounder. The Seahawks start a 7th rounder (and surely regret drafting Penny high). The Ravens had the best record in the league with a cheap vet (they stole Ingram for $5M/year), a UDFA and a 4th rounder who hardly played. The Texans almost beat the Chiefs with Carlos Hyde and Duke Johnson ffs. Latavius Murray was just as productive as Kamara for the Saints this year (and neither one cost much). The Falcons finished 6-2 and won in SF with virtually no running game at all. Sure they all had help but that’s exactly my point.

And while the Titans rode 2019’s best RB Derrick Henry to the AFC championship game, he was a total non-factor against Kansas City and their terrible run defense.

Running back is overrated.

A real running game is the product of scheme, adjustments, and the play of the offensive line. Nail those and you can plug and play almost any running back. Our problem isn’t that we’ve haven’t had the right RB, it’s that we haven’t gotten the scheme, adjustments or offensive line right.

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no RB is not overrated. IT is A key piece to your offense BUT only a singular piece.

just like QB is a piece to itself OR A WR those Pieces have to be solid. your car engine isn’t going to run for crap if it’s missing it’s spark plugs. AIR, FUEL , SPARK…you don’t have one of those that engine isn’t running .
OTHER teams can have their chit together enough to win big just enough…to do it. The Lions never do because our leaders can’t figure it out…we had a team to get a bowl in 2011, BUT our leaders didn’t have enough brain power to give the team that extra nudge.

probably been other seasons we “could-have gone” but needed an extra step or two…we didn’t come up with. that’s why there are TEAMS, and they consist of a lot of moving parts AND different units but none of that matters unless you have the person or persons using them to make the team go. Players are responsible to do their damn jobs correctly , but so are the ^@#%%! leaders !!

WR unit. RB unit. TE unit. LB unit. DE , S , DT , OL unit. QB duo or trio , all the parts have to be used PROPERLY or damn close so you can earn a bowl win. RB helps you get there if they have the health and skillset, and are used correctly. just like ALL the units/parts of this football team. But hard to do that when you have moron leaders picking select few difference-makers for your groups and THEN have little clue how to direct their players to a bowl.
RB is not less important than WR , DT , CB or anything else IMO.

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Funny you mention Mc Caffrey , Mixon , Chubb (although I was not sure he would be as good after his injury and for carrying a load) Barkley …Every RB I loved as special players at the position coming out …I loved Guice as well

Veterans in Ingram & Hyde guys I have yelled for in FA or trade in 2017 , 2018 & 2019 & Duke Johnson to replace Riddick …

Henry’s loss to the Chiefs was on that Staff …The Chiefs ran 37 plays in the second half to the Titans 23…Titans went down double digits to start the 4th quarter Henry and the Titans were not built to play double digit come from behind .

All those RB’s you listed that were recently drafted that won nothing, were not part of the problem and would be major pluses if the teams they played on resembled the successful clubs that have done well with less talent at RB you listed .

Scheme , O-Line, adjustments are all valid to RB success agreed …but they will never make avg talent at RB Great…Great RB’s with the right setup special and a strength .

If the argument is the 2nd round investment to obtain the talent I want here and we could use the pick elsewhere to improve I get it …
Quinn has netted us KJ with a 2nd, a good back that can’t stay healthy …and we drafted A.Robinson , T. Tabor & Tavai with his other #2nd round picks …

I rather that 2nd at #35 in 2020 be used this year on a player at RB that is easily identifiable in talent and transition to the next level when picking that high …

Less chance of a miss at RB when the choices that should be available at #35 are RB’s that jump off the screen …undeniable talent at RB …rather then a possible, maybe type later on in the Draft.

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Good arguments on both sides of the debate.

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RB has been pretty high on my list. I’m starting to think it should be the highest. Hear me out.

I think a quality RB that can pick up a blitz would help to protect Stafford. It would slow the pass rush tremendously and really open up the offense. A guy like Taylor would have a far bigger impact than a pass rusher.

I honestly could see the Lions trading down and drafting an OT. This moves Vaitai to OG. Then using that extra 2nd rounder they got and go RB, DT round two.

Wow, you make a damn, good point!

Everyone says we need a RB to succeed, you just pretty much blew that theory out of the water.

Kind of makes me wonder if we’re better-off drafting some difference-maker WR’s instead?!?!?
I mean, football is made-up of lots of small-battles on the field and good players win more of those small-battles than the average player or bad players. RB’s are very dependent on the players in front of them, WR’s are not…still dependent on the play called or the defense but not dependent on 5-6 guys in front of them and 1 guy misses a block and the play can be blown-up.

You might have just changed my perspective on RB’s and WR’s. Thanks, I think. LOL