tone1oc said:
He's had consistent buzz everyday. Silva is speculating (and now rotoworld blurb) and I agree that Forsett could be cut, in favor of West as lead back. Not sure how the rest of the roster shakes out, but with all of the WR injuries they may need to carry more WRs and not have luxury of carrying 4 RBs. If that's the case, I think West has definitely played himself on to the team and they aren't going to cut the young guys.
I think they like Buck Allen on passing downs and Dixon is a complete wildcard with the knee issues and not getting any reps. I don't think the Ravens would view Dixon as someone they need to force out there because of draft capital invested. I say that because I believe the Ravens (Harbaugh/Newsome) do not play politics and would truly want the best player on the field, I know many teams pay that lip service but few actually subscribe to it. Looking back to 2014, it was Bernard Pierce who was the young RB who they acuired in the 3rd round of 2012 draft after moving up to get him. Most believed he was the next man up, but was outplayed by Forsett and then subsequently benched. This situation feels very similar to me.
I think that Terrance West is this year's Dion Lewis, the guy in a muddled backfield with a history of not living up to talent who breaks through and becomes a must start for owners. I'm all in!
I doubt that. Evan used to be a regular here. I never follow his cause and reaction thoughts....never. He's excellent with researching stats and all, but whenever I think things through (as he did, reading the article) I disagree.
You wrote of four RBs. That's fairly normal for an NFL team, without any cuts. Forsett caught 44 balls two years ago, 31 last year in 10 games. He's got hands to be the guy that comes in on third and the quality backup.
Most teams use two backs as the lead back during a season. Deangelo and Leveon. Cincy, Chargers, and the Browns use two all the time.
Cowboys added Alfred Morris as their feature back and then he became a backup on draft day. Titans added two.
Injuries, the rest of a play off, maybe a different style to em'....myriad of reasons to have two backs that are very good.
West was mouthy in Cleveland. They had good backs and didn't "straighten him out" like you'd probably expect would happen to a team's leading rusher. In Tennessee, I was thrown by his lack of use. Whisenhunt was horrible at developing young talent. IIRC He had a fumble, maybe a second, and was done. Tennessee was a different planet the last two years. The RB was not assured holes or any blocking whatsoever. Antonio Andrews has some beast to him and could take on defenders. He got hurt at the end of camp and once he returned from injury he took over. West looked fine, but like he was overwhelmed by the poor blocking. He should have been.
I would not have kept Cobb. He stunk in OTAs, didn't study in minicamp, looked good in a single game in preseason against third stringers and very ordinary against the ones, then he got hurt. When he was healthy, late, he did not play right away and step right in. In fact he got like a carry or two a game. They were so fortunate to get Cleveland's lead back. Nothing in here says "keep Cobb" other than their GM worried of losing his job. Cobb got in more and looked foolish a couple times. He whiffed on blocks and on two screen passes, he was behind Mariota where he couldn't see him. Andrews missed a key block and Mariota got hurt. Despite being the best blocker all year(or that it was a stupid play to have the RB take on the DL by himself) this was held against him and he barely played the last bit there. Mularkey showed some faith and kudos, Cobb did well in week 17. I was pleasantly surprised. Still though, when West was there, they had "no business" keeping Cobb over him. Same could be said for Sankey.
West has some spunk to him when he hits the OL. He's a different sort of back. You can tell he's prideful. He'll get zero yards or negative one, then has this fight to him that gets him six or seven yards. I'd like to see what he can without every yard having to be earned- with some good blockers for a change. I think he's only got one fight move to him every run. If he has to bust thru a line with no holes, he's not taking off. I'm not sure if I've seen him have a run over 20 yards. Over at PFR he had four runs over 20 yards with the Browns, none in year two. His longest run was 17 yards in year two. The Browns line two years ago wasn't horrible but they couldn't pass well.
West hasn't averaged 4+ypc yet. I'm totally willing to blame that on the lines or teams he's played for, but next year that'll be used against him if it doesn't change.