I know what my eyes see and i think its fairly obvious for anyone to see Ellingtons' big-play ability. Guys like Spiller/Charles/Mccoy, u can see it pretty easily. Im not putting Ellington in their class but he has that same gamebreaking ability. Watching D-Rich and for people drafting, he was clearly one of those "Ugh, i guess ill take Richardson - He's starting right?" players. Come on, no one was pumped up taking him, nor should they have been
You're letting last year shade your memory of Richardson as a rookie -- he averaged 4.8 on almost 100 carries in 2012 and looked pretty dynamic doing it. Richardson is a MUCH better comp for Ellington than are Jamaal Charles and LeSean McCoy.
No. Not really. 4.8 vs 5.5 ypc is a world of difference. 5.5 is Spiller/Charles/Mccoy territory. And Richardson didnt look anything close to dynamic to me. He had a quick first step and fell to the ground the second his laces were touched. He was nowhere near as explosive as what we saw from Ellington last year.
Have to agree here. Richardson's 2012 vs Ellington's 2013 aren't even in the same page. I think a better comparison would be Jamaal Charles 2009 season. Charles had 190 att for 1,120yds at 5.9ypc and 7 TDs. Ellington's 2012 season had 118 att for 652yds at 5.5ypc and 5 TDs. Now, I knew what you're thinking statistically, Ellington's numbers pale in comparison to Charles. But hear me out.
Charles was playing change of pace to one of the best backs in football at the time and running behind one of the best lines in the NFL as well. Ellington was playing change of pace to a 3.5ypc plodder and running behind one of the bottom 5 lines in the league.
The fact that he came 0.4ypc shy of Charles taking what I outlined above into account? Makes me say good comp is MUCH closer to Charles than Richardson. Some people may or may not remember last season when I used Charles as a comp for Ellington in the pre-season. Everyone pretty much told me they'd like to speak to my dealer. And while some of you still might, now I'm only smoking pot instead of crack rock.