It seems to me that PIT is accepting that FWP is a pretty solid running back. He's a lot bigger now (205) than he was in years past (180ish I believe?).
This year up the middle he's averaged 4.5ypc on 31 carries, and he is rocking 50% efficiency (3/6) in goal-line carries, which is pretty damn solid.
The real story here is how his carries per game seem to fluctuate this year... is it because he's wearing down per game or because of the defenses (small sample size) he's faced, or what?
This I cannot answer because I haven't watched him across all four games, but I'm sure an avid steeler fan should be able to provide some better insight.
For me, I'm buying Davenport cutting into FWP's touches a lot, but what you will see as a direct result of this is a noticable jump in Parker's YPC. So although he will lose touches, you will likely only see a negligible decrease in his total output.
The reason being, Davenport's strength is his off-tackle running ability. FWP's is up the middle and wide outside.
For his career off tackle, Davenport has averaged 6.15ypc off 102 carries, including 5 of his 7 career TDs. That is compared to a 3.77ypc and 2TDs off his other 117 attempts.
By contrast, FWP averaged 4.18ypc off tackle as opposed to 5.06ypc wide and inside.
While any lehman can tell you that Dport and FWP have two distinct skill sets (being that there's a 40lb difference in weight), a quick look at some stat splits dictates that while FWP may lose some carries, he will see a very marginal decrease in overall output.
Honestly, if I'm a FWP owner, I'm never excited about my RB2 losing touches, but being that he's a smaller guy, I'm glad that he'll have less opportunities to be injured, and more opportunities that maximize his skill-sets, allowing him to be the most efficient point producer for me with a lower risk of injury.
The final question for me is, will Dport see enough touches to actually be worth picking up?
add: can we rename this topic to something more conducive of the actual discussion please?
