jeff_eaglz
Moderator
It's my personal belief that the face of the running back position is changing in the NFL. RBBC is more en vogue than ever, an offshoot of the substitution of personnel for various situations at most every other position on the field.The reasons are many, with only one real drawback:Reason 1 - Having two (or more) running backs involved in the offense creates a 2- or 3-headed monster that is the team running back. Having a bruiser to pound the ball up the middle, a speed guy to turn the corner, and a hands guy to go out in pass patterns creates the ideal running back. Reason 2 - The ideal running back is a rare beast. How many athletes at the RB position can run the ball inside and out, turn the corner, pick up third and 2 consistently, and also run a pass pattern that will keep opposing LBs and safeties up at night? Not many. For every LJ, Tiki or LT2 there's a few tandems that try and emulate just that (i.e. Anderson / Bell or FWP / Bettis). Reason 3 - Injuries. Ball carriers get hurt - it is part of the game. Having 2 or 3 RBs that are used to getting touches every game and/or series keeps them ready if they have to go to a bigger role in the overall offense.Reason 4 - There are a growing number of running backs that are gifted athletes in the NFL, both as rookies and as veterans. Witness the depth of the position that even a relatively new team (Houston) has in the backfield - Dom Davis, Jon Wells, and V. Morency, and now they are going to take Reggie Bush. Carolina has a 5-time 100+ yard rusher as their 3rd back. Samkon Gado comes out of nowhere as, what, the 5th string RB to shine for GB this season? Lots of running backs.All this points to RBBC becoming the norm throughout the league. 300+ carry running backs / feature backs may go the way of the dinosaur. I hope it is not true, but don't be the last one to notice the trend.