Best of the rest running backs...

**ScottDCP** · 07-06-2010, 07:33 AM

I'm a supporter of Fred Jackson as being the third best RB in the league right now. The past couple years I think he and Lynch have been at or near the top of the league in just getting hit a half second after taking the ball, and both do a good job of getting somewhere in spite of that. Are there any stats on positive yardage made after contact behind the line of scrimmage? League leaders, league avg on number of plays hit behind line?

**Ninernightmare** · 07-06-2010, 07:58 AM

Fred Jackson 3rd best in the League? I could name 15 guys right now that I'd take over him. He had an alright season last year but he is 29 and really hasn't show a whole lot. Being in Buffalo isn't gonna put his name in the spotlight where he can show the nation how good he is but 3rd best in the League thats gonna be a hard argument to make with any type of stat sheet pulled out.

**Andy Freeland** · 07-06-2010, 08:26 AM

I'm sure that Elias has records on RBs hit behind the line, they have stats on absolutely everything. But I have to agree with Ninernightmare, Fred Jackson is no where near the top 3 in my opinion.

**ScottDCP** · 07-06-2010, 02:16 PM

What are the stats you'd use to measure it? Avg yards per carry? Total yards against quality opponents? Number of runs over twenty yards? Forty? OK, I'll give you Drew in Jacksonville, but who's next? Gore, Turner, the two in Carolina, well, they're two guys, not one. Who else? Barber is an OK dancer, but Jones is a better back but how much better than Jackson? Portis is on the injury track, and Ronnie Brown is right there alongside him. Just curious - why are the other backs better? Because they are on better teams? Put Jackson in Dallas, Arizona, or Green Bay and does he all of a sudden make their offenses worse?

To complete the thoughts on Gore and Turner, I'd say at their best equivalent runners, but lesser receivers and blockers.

**Andy Freeland** · 07-06-2010, 03:11 PM

Off the top of my head I would take Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Ray Rice, Michael Turner, DeAngelo Williams, Maurice Jones-Drew, Shonn Greene, Frank Gore, Jamaal Charles, Jonathan Stewart, Rashard Mendenhall, Steven Jackson and Brandon Jacobs over Jackson.

Jackson is going back to the perfect role for him, backup/3rd down back. He catches very well, runs ok and plays very hard. Yes he had over 1000 yards last year, but almost exactly 1/5 of those yards came in a meaningless week 17 game in which the Colts had no interest in playing (one of his two 100-yard games). I would put Jackson among the top 10 backups/bottom 10 starters. If he was one of the top 15-20 backs in the NFL, the Bills wouldn't have drafted C.J. Spiller.

**ScottDCP** · 07-06-2010, 07:00 PM

Johnson and Peterson, well, they were my implied two best, and I definitely blanked on Drew. So fourth, I rate him fourth, in a relative tie with some of the guys you mentioned. I would take a few of your choices - Jacobs, Mendenhall, and Greene, and put them a step below. The rest I think on are a fairly even field with Freddie. J. Charles and S. Jackson are the only two in your list (not assuming it's complete) who played on an offense anywhere near as bad as Buffalo's last year. I''m making the case that F. Jackson would do as well or better than the rest of these guys if they switched out, and that many of them would fare much worse in Buffalo.

As for what the Bills did in the draft, most every new regime is going to try to bring in some new skill players, wherever they go, these days. I think they screwed up, believing in Bell and whatever they do at right tackle, and I think anyone who tells me they drafted a kid to be exciting rather than good has just demonstrated poor judgement, Buddy Nix. I also think Spiller will spend his year looking a lot like Drew did his first year, wondering at whether Reggie Bush has a nice life after all.

D. Williams and J. Stewart share a load. Each one might be as good as the other, but neither, I think, is better than F. Jackson, and neither will get a full time chance to show it this year, barring injury.

I fear Steven Jackson is on his way to a serious physical breakdown - in his case it's not the years, it's the miles.

I disagree with the assertion that F. Jackson runs ok - he's not flashy, but he doesn't get caught by linemen or taken out by DB's. He breaks linebacker tackles and slips most guys who try to arm tackle him. Also, very good blocker. Put excellent hands, good route running, blitz pickup, and very good running with the ball together, and who else is really all that much better?

Howsabout this - I think F. Jackson will end the year top four in yards after contact, again average more than four yards per carry (where half the guys on your list - all not counting Johnson and Peterson, who neither one is normal - will fall at or below four yards per carry. I also think he'll account for a higher percentage of his team's first downs, blitz pickups, and catches of very badly thrown balls than all but four other backs in the league. And at the end of the year, if I'm wrong, I'll tip my wings to you and grumble a little.

**mattpett** · 07-06-2010, 07:14 PM

If Jackson is so great why would the Bills draft C.J. Spiller. If they felt that Jackson was an elite running back they wouldn't have wasted a top ten draft pick on a a running back who will be backing him up for a couple years.

**Andy Freeland** · 07-06-2010, 07:15 PM

That's a bet that I'll take.
My bet - Fred Jackson will retire with one 1000-yard season. If I lose I'll wear a Bills shirt for an entire day while administrating FPL (in my basement where no one can see me).