Shutout
Footballguy
A)Ron Dayne was a 1st round pick. I don't see the point. The NFL is littered with players who have failed or exceeded their draft spot. The draft spot is almost meaningless.It is an assumption, but a pretty good one considering that:This assumes Ball is the guy that ends up with those opportunities and THAT is where people are assuming A LOT here.I'll say this. FF running backs score a lot of points when they have the opportunity to score points. Montee Ball's stock has to rise based off the opportunity alone.
Denver and Elway know what they want to do and letting Moreno walk says volumes to me about what they believe. Ball is in for a significant amount of carries. Opportunity equals points in this offense.
If Ball gets Manning blown up or does like he did last year and fumbles, there are no opportunities when you aren't the lionshare guy on the field. And that's a point people need to remember. Moreno got to those numbers while absolutely dominating the workload. In the first 2/3 of the season he was on the field nearly ecery single play. That's not likely going to be the case this year unless Ball comes back as a vastly improved back.
The Broncos were very overt in keeping Anderson on the active roster despite every scenario suggesting they needed to move him to the PS and free up room. There is a reason for that. They see something and have him in mind for something he has shown them in the boring days of practice or film room or somewhere. It is not an accident.
Now, come the draft, it gets even murkier if they do draft a rb. That certainly can't be a boost of confidence for Ball if that happens but it's simple: The people invested in Ball are going to spin it their way until the wheels fall off but I have seen this before. Just like last year when the talk was all Ball and Moreno might get cut and hey what about this Hillman guy, I said a million times back then" this makes no sense. Moreno is the only guy on this team that can do what the Broncos will scheme to do and do the most important things well. And now, I just still don't see that in Ball.
What I saw in Ball was a fresh back that had the advantage of playing about 1/3 of the season, playing in very advantageous situations where no one was keying on him, and he was still coughing the ball up and missing assignments. That's not going to cut it.
But anyway, I don't own any of these players so I'm not going to get into it as much as I did in Adam's thread last year. I'll just leave it as "Remember Cj Anderson and definitely hedge your bets if you are a Ball owner this year".
a) he was a second round pick last year
b) he was second on the depth chart all last year
c) he played well last year
d) the Coach and GM have expressed confidence in Ball since allowing Moreno to walk
As for fumbling, that is a red herring. Anyone who saw the guy in college knows he is not a fumbler.
Pass blocking was something he DID have to work on last year, which is the main reason Moreno started instead of him. That's not uncommon for rookies. But by the end of the season he was blocking well.
He could get injured and that would change everything. But short of that, I don't see anyway he doesn't meet or exceed Moreno's production of 2013.
B)Honestly, saying your 2nd on the depth chart when Ronnie Hillman is 3rd and Moreno is 1st is like saying the AMC pacer is ranked 2nd between the BMW 3- series and the Yugo. Yeah, that sounds right but there is more to it.
C)People can argue semantics on what is good or what is not but he didn't blow anyone away last year. If he had or had shown that he was special enought to put up Moreno's numbers as his floor as you suggest, then they would have featured him. They didn't .
D) any coach you speak to will say supportive things about their players in March and April..Just last week, the Dolphins said Lamar Miller was their man and does all three things a RB needs to do and does it well. Then they went out and signed Moreno.
Threads like these are fun because people have such extreme opinions but its kind of silly to be penciling in Ball to have Moreno numbers as his floor. THe Broncos' season last year was lightning in a bottle. Those types of seasons RARELY duplicate.
Everyone can pick their side but this one, for me, is one that CLEARLY needs to be proven before believed.