'CalBear said:
Ladanian Tomlinson averaged 3.6 ypc his rookie season.
On a 5-11 team with a brutal OLine. Ingram is averaging a similarly poor YPC on one of the best teams in the league, with an elite OLine, along with a stud QB that teams can't possibly put 8 men in the box. Just sayin'.However, to play devils advocate against myself, the fact that Ingram is used as a closer to run up the gut, in game-closing situations, is a great reason (*cough* excuse) for his low YPC.
Here are some backs who averaged less than 4.0 ypc their rookie years (since 1990):Marshawn Lynch
7-9
Willis McGahee
9-7
Matt Forte
9-7
Marion Barber
9-7
Emmitt Smth
7-9
Tiki Barber
11-5
Charlie Garner
7-9
Reggie Bush
10-6
Ricky Williams
3-13
Travis Henry
3-13
Thomas Jones
3-13
Jahvid Best
6-10
Tim Hightower
9-7 (NFC Champs)
I think it's safe to say that averaging less than 4.0 ypc is not unusual for quality rookie RBs.
I'm not sure why you felt like you had to defend yourself when I pretty much agreed with the main reason why Ingram has a low YPC. In any event, I'm too lazy to look it up (maybe I'll do it when I have more time) but feel free to post the team records for all of the above players during their rookie years. I can absolutely guarantee you that none of those above players played on a team as good as the 2011 NO Saints. Oh, and please add Emmitt Smth to the list too.
Bottom line, is that you can't just cherry pick players that had a low YPC during their rookie year because almost all of those players played for horrible teams. I can also play your game by picking rookie HB's that had YPC seasons above 4.0, but that doesn't mean they had successful careers. It just isn't a good defense because the success of the teams they played on varies so much.