Ahmad Bradshaw (1 Viewer)

[ollie7585]

I picked up Bradshaw in our rookie/FA draft over the weekend and was wondering what other people thought of him. I've heard how injury prone he is, how he can never make it through a season. However through his first 6 years he only missed 12 games. Of course he had the neck injury last season, but let's assume for my purposes this isn't a Wilson/Best scenario. Bradshaw has averaged 4.6 YPC for his career and had 4.5 YPC in his three games with Indy last year. Richardson came in and averaged 2.9 YPC for the same team over the 14 games he was a Colt.

Of course Indy wants TRich to be the guy. But if it's week 2, 3, 4, etc. and a healthy Bradshaw is at his career average, 4.6, and TRich is at his career average, 3.3, Bradshaw will be getting the lion's share of the carries right? Bradshaw isn't young at 28 but he hasn't hit the dreaded 30 and is still at only 1100 career touches. Bradshaw finished as RB 28 12 20 18 from 2009-2012. What are the odds he can regain that form? Is there something I'm missing?

Cheers!

 

[zamboni]

Outside of injury, I think Richardson is going to get a long leash considering the Colts coughed up a first round pick for the guy. If nothing else than to find a way to validate the trade.

If Richardson does continues to struggle out of the gate, Bradshaw may be worked in more and more, but I think it's a long way until Richardson sees the bench entirely.

 

[jumper]

You aren't missing anything. At current ADP around 139 he's a no-brainer and easily a better pick than some of the rookies getting slotted a lot earlier like Devonta Freeman, Jeremy Hill, Carlos Hyde.

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

Yeah, if you figure in playoff games he probably played 90 games his first 6 years, and that's probably sitting the first few games of his rookie year when he got drafted in the 7th or whatever it was

 

[Sabertooth]

Luck is the franchise player here, not Richardson.

Bradshaw is considered one of the best blocking backs in the league.

I could see Richardson yielding 3rd downs to Bradshaw pretty early in the season, if not right away. Health is always the issue with Bradshaw though so I don't see him as being a full time back even if Richardson doesn't improve.

100 carries

380 yards

27 catches

212 yards (basically Donald Brown's production)

5 touchdowns

 

[Bronco Billy]

If healthy, Bradshaw is light years better at RB than Richardson, which he has proven, and is a perfect fit for this offense.

If Bradshaw is healthy, the ideal scenario for IND would be to let Bradshaw get 200 carries and 50 catches and let Richardson back him up and get 60% of that workload. That puts the better RB on the field more, but preserves him given his health issues. That would add up to the equivalent of a 1300 yd rushing/600 yd receiving bell cow RB for IND. That would make the Colts a very dangerous team.

There are 2 caveats, and they aren't small. Bradshaw would need to stay healthy, and IND management would have to swallow its pride.

 

[ollie7585]

Re: Bradshaw health, is it really such a concern or is it being overblown? I've never owned Bradshaw so I haven't paid close attention to him but he only missed 8 games from 2008-2012. Is the neck the main concern?

 

[VaTerp]

Re: Bradshaw health, is it really such a concern or is it being overblown? I've never owned Bradshaw so I haven't paid close attention to him but he only missed 8 games from 2008-2012. Is the neck the main concern?

As a past Bradshaw owner I would say the bigger concern is the chronic foot issues, which I believe he's had multiple surgeries on. He often plays through them but they may limit his effectiveness at times and will have you constantly watching the injury report.

The guy is tough as nails though and I have been a fan since his HS days in VA. I'm targeting him as a high upside RB whose price to acquire is very low at the moment.

 

[Blackjacks]

If healthy, Bradshaw is light years better at RB than Richardson, which he has proven, and is a perfect fit for this offense.

If Bradshaw is healthy, the ideal scenario for IND would be to let Bradshaw get 200 carries and 50 catches and let Richardson back him up and get 60% of that workload. That puts the better RB on the field more, but preserves him given his health issues. That would add up to the equivalent of a 1300 yd rushing/600 yd receiving bell cow RB for IND. That would make the Colts a very dangerous team.

There are 2 caveats, and they aren't small. Bradshaw would need to stay healthy, and IND management would have to swallow its pride.

What does "better rb" actually mean?

I will be honest I do own T Richardson in my main league and I made a big trade to get him cause I like his talent.

He is faster than Bradshaw, bigger than Bradshaw, has just as good if not better hands, less injury prone and is younger.

I know I know....Trent had a bad year last year. How bout a pretty good year his rookie year on a pretty bad team?

I have heard it enough on this website but I will repeat it one more time

Trent Richardson got traded midseason to a less than great running style team.

Their Oline just isn't that good...I know....I know, other rbs on the same team put up better stats.

How bout we give this top 5 draft pick a full year in the offense (and his 3rd year overall) to prove what he is going to be in this league.

People are suppose to think he has been a huge flop in the league. From a fantasy perspective he was top 10 his rookie year.

For the real NFL after his rookie year he was still worth a 1st round pick (very rare for a rb) in the Colts eyes.

The NFL talent evaluators are smarter than us. They have not once but twice put this kid in first round territory.

Not saying he is going to be a top 10 rb again and I think a lot of that is due to the oline in Indy, but I do think he will be the undisputed started in Indy and will garnish enough touches to be fantasy relevant.

 

[Ace zero1]

he is on my target list too. i love him this year. donald brown did great when he was in last year. see bradshaw doing the same

 

[SameSongNDance]

Re: Bradshaw health, is it really such a concern or is it being overblown? I've never owned Bradshaw so I haven't paid close attention to him but he only missed 8 games from 2008-2012. Is the neck the main concern?

Here's his injury history.

You aren't missing anything. At current ADP around 139 he's a no-brainer and easily a better pick than some of the rookies getting slotted a lot earlier like Devonta Freeman, Jeremy Hill, Carlos Hyde.

I disagree, specifically on Hyde/Freeman. They are sitting behind aging backs and are likely spry enough to carry a larger workload than Bradshaw if ever called upon. They fit my "lottery ticket RB" criteria much more so than Bradshaw. Of course, as you said you can essentially get Bradshaw for free so maybe it isn't the most apt comparison.

 

[Bronco Billy]

If healthy, Bradshaw is light years better at RB than Richardson, which he has proven, and is a perfect fit for this offense.

If Bradshaw is healthy, the ideal scenario for IND would be to let Bradshaw get 200 carries and 50 catches and let Richardson back him up and get 60% of that workload. That puts the better RB on the field more, but preserves him given his health issues. That would add up to the equivalent of a 1300 yd rushing/600 yd receiving bell cow RB for IND. That would make the Colts a very dangerous team.

There are 2 caveats, and they aren't small. Bradshaw would need to stay healthy, and IND management would have to swallow its pride.

What does "better rb" actually mean?

It means that Richardson would have had to increase his rate of productivity by 8.3% rushing and 9.7% receiving in his best year just to match the rate of production in Bradshaw's worst year. It means that Bradshaw can hit 4.5 ypc on the exact same team running the exact same offense that Richardson managed 2.9 ypc and was finally benched in favor of Donald Brown - who then also put up much better numbers than Richardson running the exact same offense on the exact same team. Seriously, if you've seen Bradshaw run even on bad wheels and you've watched Richardson run when healthy, and you came to the conclusion that Richardson was the better RB? I'd say you might want to invest that FF capital in rehab instead.

ETA for the sake of a moderator with an itchy trigger finger: that last comment was meant as a good natured barb and not an attempt to seriously imply that anyone in this forum might be under the influence of addictive hallucinogenic substances.

.

 

[skinsrule05]

If healthy, Bradshaw is light years better at RB than Richardson, which he has proven, and is a perfect fit for this offense.

If Bradshaw is healthy, the ideal scenario for IND would be to let Bradshaw get 200 carries and 50 catches and let Richardson back him up and get 60% of that workload. That puts the better RB on the field more, but preserves him given his health issues. That would add up to the equivalent of a 1300 yd rushing/600 yd receiving bell cow RB for IND. That would make the Colts a very dangerous team.

There are 2 caveats, and they aren't small. Bradshaw would need to stay healthy, and IND management would have to swallow its pride.

What does "better rb" actually mean?

I will be honest I do own T Richardson in my main league and I made a big trade to get him cause I like his talent.

He is faster than Bradshaw, bigger than Bradshaw, has just as good if not better hands, less injury prone and is younger.

I know I know....Trent had a bad year last year. How bout a pretty good year his rookie year on a pretty bad team?

I have heard it enough on this website but I will repeat it one more time

Trent Richardson got traded midseason to a less than great running style team.

Their Oline just isn't that good...I know....I know, other rbs on the same team put up better stats.

How bout we give this top 5 draft pick a full year in the offense (and his 3rd year overall) to prove what he is going to be in this league.

People are suppose to think he has been a huge flop in the league. From a fantasy perspective he was top 10 his rookie year.

For the real NFL after his rookie year he was still worth a 1st round pick (very rare for a rb) in the Colts eyes.

The NFL talent evaluators are smarter than us. They have not once but twice put this kid in first round territory.

Not saying he is going to be a top 10 rb again and I think a lot of that is due to the oline in Indy, but I do think he will be the undisputed started in Indy and will garnish enough touches to be fantasy relevant.

I think that is the main problem why Trent is being talked badly about and Bradshaw is being hyped. If you want Trent you are taking him as your RB2 (at least). He may bounce back some but his ceiling seems to be that of a RB2. He just looked really bad last year and Bradshaw (also new to the team) looked much better. Neither one may be good (like you said their o-line is not good) but at least Bradshaw has a low cost to take that gamble.

Trent's ceiling isn't much upside from where you draft him but if Bradshaw hits his ceiling it could win you a league.

 

[VaTerp]

If healthy, Bradshaw is light years better at RB than Richardson, which he has proven, and is a perfect fit for this offense.

If Bradshaw is healthy, the ideal scenario for IND would be to let Bradshaw get 200 carries and 50 catches and let Richardson back him up and get 60% of that workload. That puts the better RB on the field more, but preserves him given his health issues. That would add up to the equivalent of a 1300 yd rushing/600 yd receiving bell cow RB for IND. That would make the Colts a very dangerous team.

There are 2 caveats, and they aren't small. Bradshaw would need to stay healthy, and IND management would have to swallow its pride.

What does "better rb" actually mean?

I will be honest I do own T Richardson in my main league and I made a big trade to get him cause I like his talent.

He is faster than Bradshaw, bigger than Bradshaw, has just as good if not better hands, less injury prone and is younger.

I know I know....Trent had a bad year last year. How bout a pretty good year his rookie year on a pretty bad team?

I have heard it enough on this website but I will repeat it one more time

Trent Richardson got traded midseason to a less than great running style team.

Their Oline just isn't that good...I know....I know, other rbs on the same team put up better stats.

How bout we give this top 5 draft pick a full year in the offense (and his 3rd year overall) to prove what he is going to be in this league.

People are suppose to think he has been a huge flop in the league. From a fantasy perspective he was top 10 his rookie year.

For the real NFL after his rookie year he was still worth a 1st round pick (very rare for a rb) in the Colts eyes.

The NFL talent evaluators are smarter than us. They have not once but twice put this kid in first round territory.

Not saying he is going to be a top 10 rb again and I think a lot of that is due to the oline in Indy, but I do think he will be the undisputed started in Indy and will garnish enough touches to be fantasy relevant.

I don't want to turn this into page 75 of the Trent Richardson thread but if you've been watching the NFL the last 5 years and just go by the eyeball test then it's pretty clear, to me at least, that Bradshaw has been the better RB and it hasn't been close. Richardson had a good fantasy year as a rookie B/C he was on a bad team and not in spite of it. They actually had an above average run blocking line and he was force fed the ball and got his stats simply by volume.

You say that Richardson is bigger and faster. Well he's an inch shorter 8 pounds heavier and a tenth of a second faster in shorts. That's insignificant in my eyes. What is much more significant is watching them play and stats like this:

Richardson has a career 3.3 ypc average

Bradshaw has a career 4.5 ypc average

In 455 career rushing attempts Richardson has THREE runs over 20 yards and ZERO over 40 yards. (Really think about those numbers for a second and compare them to other RBs)

In his first 529 rushing attempts (1st 4 seasons for comparison sake) Bradshaw had 24 runs over 20 yards and 4 over 40.

I'm not sure how you've determined that Richardson has better hands but I'll give that to you. But Bradshaw has been productive enough in the passing game and is widely considered one of the best in the league at pass pro.

Richardson is still living off of his hype as a prep athlete and running behind a dominant offensive line at Alabama. I said it 2 years ago and I say it again, he's a great athlete/workout warrior but he's just not that good at playing RB at the NFL level. And we've seen that the last 2 years.

Richardson will get the first opportunity and Bradshaw has major health concerns so there is a reason you can get the better RB at such a lower cost in FF. But is there really ANY question who the better RB is?

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

If healthy, Bradshaw is light years better at RB than Richardson, which he has proven, and is a perfect fit for this offense.

If Bradshaw is healthy, the ideal scenario for IND would be to let Bradshaw get 200 carries and 50 catches and let Richardson back him up and get 60% of that workload. That puts the better RB on the field more, but preserves him given his health issues. That would add up to the equivalent of a 1300 yd rushing/600 yd receiving bell cow RB for IND. That would make the Colts a very dangerous team.

There are 2 caveats, and they aren't small. Bradshaw would need to stay healthy, and IND management would have to swallow its pride.

What does "better rb" actually mean?

.

Wut

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

Re: Bradshaw health, is it really such a concern or is it being overblown? I've never owned Bradshaw so I haven't paid close attention to him but he only missed 8 games from 2008-2012. Is the neck the main concern?

Just for reference, I've owned Bradshaw pretty much every year he has been in the league until he left the Giants and I don't remember him going more than 3 to 4 weeks at a time without being on the injury report. Whether it be probable or questionable, he's another one of those players who seems to always be on the inj list with enough games where he plays only a couple of series early in the game and never come back due to lingering injuries to keep you worried. Great talent, but man did that get old.

 

[Bronco Billy]

Re: Bradshaw health, is it really such a concern or is it being overblown? I've never owned Bradshaw so I haven't paid close attention to him but he only missed 8 games from 2008-2012. Is the neck the main concern?

Just for reference, I've owned Bradshaw pretty much every year he has been in the league until he left the Giants and I don't remember him going more than 3 to 4 weeks at a time without being on the injury report. Whether it be probable or questionable, he's another one of those players who seems to always be on the inj list with enough games where he plays only a couple of series early in the game and never come back due to lingering injuries to keep you worried. Great talent, but man did that get old.

Huh. I also have owned him his full career. Since he became the lead back 4 years ago he has only had 5 games in those 45 games where he had single digit carries and 3 with single digit touches. Now when he was stuck on a bonafide full blown work split before that he was frustrating for sure. But I don't remember the last 4 years as being quite what you have described. I remember him being on the injury report but usually playing through the pain. He's one tough SOB. .

 

[Blackjacks]

So comparing Bradshaw's career #'s really don't mean much and his 40 time that was probably taken a couple of years ago also doesn't mean much.

AS of the last few years e is a hobbled player that gets hype and cant stay healthy.

Your talking about his career avg's.......I don't care about what he did 5 years ago. I care about what he can do now.

The only thing I feel free guaranteeing now days is he will get hurt if he plays.

Trent has had 1 good fantasy season and 1 bad (while getting traded int he middle of a year)

I feel more comfortable moving forward wit a rb that GM's have valued recently and plays on Sundays compared to a guy who I consistently injured and getting past his prime.

 

[VaTerp]

So comparing Bradshaw's career #'s really don't mean much and his 40 time that was probably taken a couple of years ago also doesn't mean much.

AS of the last few years e is a hobbled player that gets hype and cant stay healthy.

Your talking about his career avg's.......I don't care about what he did 5 years ago. I care about what he can do now.

The only thing I feel free guaranteeing now days is he will get hurt if he plays.

Trent has had 1 good fantasy season and 1 bad (while getting traded int he middle of a year)

I feel more comfortable moving forward wit a rb that GM's have valued recently and plays on Sundays compared to a guy who I consistently injured and getting past his prime.

Huh?

As a Richardson owner I would be looking to acquire Bradshaw as cheap insurance not living in some alternate universe where Richardson is a great NFL RB and you have some need to crap on a guy whose ADP is around the 50th RB off the board.

I'm glad you "feel free to guarantee" Bradshaw will get hurt if he plays. Care to tell us when that will happen or what you are willing to put up to actually make it a guarantee?

But hey, whatever makes you feel better at night.

 

[Blackjacks]

So comparing Bradshaw's career #'s really don't mean much and his 40 time that was probably taken a couple of years ago also doesn't mean much.

AS of the last few years e is a hobbled player that gets hype and cant stay healthy.

Your talking about his career avg's.......I don't care about what he did 5 years ago. I care about what he can do now.

The only thing I feel free guaranteeing now days is he will get hurt if he plays.

Trent has had 1 good fantasy season and 1 bad (while getting traded int he middle of a year)

I feel more comfortable moving forward wit a rb that GM's have valued recently and plays on Sundays compared to a guy who I consistently injured and getting past his prime.

Huh?

As a Richardson owner I would be looking to acquire Bradshaw as cheap insurance not living in some alternate universe where Richardson is a great NFL RB and you have some need to crap on a guy whose ADP is around the 50th RB off the board.

I'm glad you "feel free to guarantee" Bradshaw will get hurt if he plays. Care to tell us when that will happen or what you are willing to put up to actually make it a guarantee?

But hey, whatever makes you feel better at night.

He has missed 19 games the last 3 years. Logic says the older a rb plays the BETTER chance he has at getting hurt.

He isn't even playing now, in preseason, due to be injured.

I cant guarantee Mark Sanchez isn't going to throw for 50 tds this year but history can give me a pretty educated guess.

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

What educated guess is history giving you on richardson - 50 td?

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

Re: Bradshaw health, is it really such a concern or is it being overblown? I've never owned Bradshaw so I haven't paid close attention to him but he only missed 8 games from 2008-2012. Is the neck the main concern?

Just for reference, I've owned Bradshaw pretty much every year he has been in the league until he left the Giants and I don't remember him going more than 3 to 4 weeks at a time without being on the injury report. Whether it be probable or questionable, he's another one of those players who seems to always be on the inj list with enough games where he plays only a couple of series early in the game and never come back due to lingering injuries to keep you worried. Great talent, but man did that get old.

Huh. I also have owned him his full career. Since he became the lead back 4 years ago he has only had 5 games in those 45 games where he had single digit carries and 3 with single digit touches. Now when he was stuck on a bonafide full blown work split before that he was frustrating for sure. But I don't remember the last 4 years as being quite what you have described. I remember him being on the injury report but usually playing through the pain. He's one tough SOB..

Agree with what u said, especially about him being a tough SOB. I remember about three games over that span where he was on the injury list as probable/questionable and started the game anyway just to sit rest of the way with him being on the injury list again as questionable to start the following week and upgraded to probable by game time. Having gone through that and seeing him on the injury list week in week out, it was hard to have him as a significant part of my team even though he was very productive. The whole share situation was a headache too.

 

[Blackjacks]

What educated guess is history giving you on richardson - 50 td?

That he will be lucky to get a 4 ypc avg and he should catch around 50 balls, carry the ball 250 times and get around 6-8 td's.

Not stud #'s but 300 total yards and 8 tds is something I will take and something I expect

 

[stbugs]

So comparing Bradshaw's career #'s really don't mean much and his 40 time that was probably taken a couple of years ago also doesn't mean much.

AS of the last few years e is a hobbled player that gets hype and cant stay healthy.

Your talking about his career avg's.......I don't care about what he did 5 years ago. I care about what he can do now.

The only thing I feel free guaranteeing now days is he will get hurt if he plays.

Trent has had 1 good fantasy season and 1 bad (while getting traded int he middle of a year)

I feel more comfortable moving forward wit a rb that GM's have valued recently and plays on Sundays compared to a guy who I consistently injured and getting past his prime.

We get it, you own him and traded for him and most likely got the real short end of the stick.

That said, do we really have to debate the "mid-season" thing again? The middle of the season is week 8/9, i.e. after you just played the 8th game of 16. TRich got traded after week 2 and played 16 entire games with the Colts. He has already played a full 16 games with them.

The biggest reason I am down on him is that when it counted, the Colts in the playoffs made him invisible and rode Brown even though he was out the door. TRich had 14 games with them at that point, more than enough for any normal RB to learn the system. I think they are trying as much as the can to get him to improve, but I really think they are going to either get him to work out (unlikely IMHO) or they are going to decide that they run everything through Luck and the RB is primarily a dump off/pass blocker.

 

[Bronco Billy]

Not stud #'s but 300 total yards and 8 tds is something I will take and something I expect

Freudian slip?

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

What educated guess is history giving you on richardson - 50 td?

That he will be lucky to get a 4 ypc avg and he should catch around 50 balls, carry the ball 250 times and get around 6-8 td's.

Not stud #'s but 300 total yards and 8 tds is something I will take and something I expect

in that case we're getting closer to agreement if you are willing to bump the td's down to 2.

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

I'm all in on bradshaw this week!!!!!!!!!!!

LET'S DO THIS THING!!!!

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!

AMERICA #### YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Manster]

im less enthused than Lar

changed him out last night for Alshon......DOH!

 

[RichInOrlando]

He looked great. Question will always be his health. Where is he on trade value right now? WR2 area?

 

[RhymesMcJuice]

He looked great. Question will always be his health. Where is he on trade value right now? WR2 area?

Health and will the Colts ever trust him to carry the load. I think they would be smart to limit his touches to keep him healthy. It's clear he's their best back but they want him available in the playoffs.

 

[VikingFrog]

He looked great. Question will always be his health. Where is he on trade value right now? WR2 area?

I just traded him for Dalton because I was deep at running back and light at QB.

I don't feel too bad about it because RG3 was my starter and my league rosters a lot of backup qbs.

 

[jon_mx]

Luck is the franchise player here, not Richardson.

Bradshaw is considered one of the best blocking backs in the league.

I could see Richardson yielding 3rd downs to Bradshaw pretty early in the season, if not right away. Health is always the issue with Bradshaw though so I don't see him as being a full time back even if Richardson doesn't improve.

100 carries

380 yards

27 catches

212 yards (basically Donald Brown's production)

5 touchdowns

He will exceed most of those numbers by week 5.

 

[hines]

He looked great. Question will always be his health. Where is he on trade value right now? WR2 area?

Health and will the Colts ever trust him to carry the load. I think they would be smart to limit his touches to keep him healthy. It's clear he's their best back but they want him available in the playoffs.

the Colts can't be resting players for the playoffs right now. their offensive coordinator is on the hot seat and they are 0-2

 

[jon_mx]

He looked great. Question will always be his health. Where is he on trade value right now? WR2 area?

Health and will the Colts ever trust him to carry the load. I think they would be smart to limit his touches to keep him healthy. It's clear he's their best back but they want him available in the playoffs.

the Colts can't be resting players for the playoffs right now. their offensive coordinator is on the hot seat and they are 0-2

Could have swore they won last night, but it is silly to suggest they are somehow saving him.

 

[pantherclub]

He looked great. Question will always be his health. Where is he on trade value right now? WR2 area?

Health and will the Colts ever trust him to carry the load. I think they would be smart to limit his touches to keep him healthy. It's clear he's their best back but they want him available in the playoffs.

the Colts can't be resting players for the playoffs right now. their offensive coordinator is on the hot seat and they are 0-2

Could have swore they won last night, but it is silly to suggest they are somehow saving him.

who won?

 

[jon_mx]

He looked great. Question will always be his health. Where is he on trade value right now? WR2 area?

Health and will the Colts ever trust him to carry the load. I think they would be smart to limit his touches to keep him healthy. It's clear he's their best back but they want him available in the playoffs.

the Colts can't be resting players for the playoffs right now. their offensive coordinator is on the hot seat and they are 0-2

Could have swore they won last night, but it is silly to suggest they are somehow saving him.

who won?

I woke up and checked the score late last night on my phone, i thought I saw the Colts won. I guess not.