Thinking of the RB/FB portion of the upcoming roster, I think we can all agree that Cunningham is a goner and that Mizzell sucked. Why we kept Burton last year I have no idea.
Obviously Cohen and Davis are locks. Patterson will get some carries but I'm gonna include him at his primary position of WR. I think there's now a 95% chance we are drafting a RB somewhere in rounds 3-5, who will occupy a 3rd roster spot. That would leave a 4th and final position for Nall assuming he can demonstrate value on STs.
We kept Burton b/c of his dead cap hits last year and this year. Patterson will play a role similar to Cohen and be all over the field at WR and RB, I'm guessing he and Cohen will be more 1/2 back then RB/WR. I've thought there was a 100% chance they drafted a rb this year for awhile. According to some reports they've had in for meetings at the combine and personal meetings about 10 different rb's. It was always in their plan.
I'm talking about Michael Burton (FB) not Trey Burton (TE). The former had no dead cap last year and is now UFA. He was kept on the final roster but barely played.
Looking at the RB group for this year (and I'm assuming we will keep 4), it's gonna be totally revamped. Will be Cohen, Davis, likely draft pick, and a ? (which is where Nall could get a shot if he can show STs value). I agree that Cohen and Patterson are hybrid type players who will each get as many pass targets as they do caries. They gave Mizzell a shot last year and he sucked. Seemed to be a decent receiver but couldn't run or return the ball for shit.
No way Mizzel breaks camp IMO, but I've said that about Bellamy for 4 straight years. Cunningham? Can't see it, unless they keep Cunningham for the 'vet rb on 3rd downs' role. Patterson will return kicks and be listed as.....wr?
No way Mizzel breaks camp IMO, but I've said that about Bellamy for 4 straight years. Cunningham? Can't see it, unless they keep Cunningham for the 'vet rb on 3rd downs' role. Patterson will return kicks and be listed as.....wr?
Patterson is definitely a wildcard. He can and most likely line up all over the place.
stats man. the smaller the sample the less accurate. some good stat work would be finding a way to split up a single carry into a near infinitesimal amount of something that when measured gave you predictive power about how a player was going to do over a long period of time. bring the calc to "analytics".
Yes, I realize he didn't "fit" the system but both parties should have found a middle ground here. They could've asked Howard to lose some weight and improve his receiving skills (something he did last season) and Nagy, who's still considered an offensive genius by most, could have found a way to use him in a more effective way.
I've said it many times on this board, great coaches can sometimes adapt the playbook or even improvise. Belichick does it all the time. He's always been able to get the most out of players whether they fit the system or not, that's why he's been so successful
Like him or not, Howard is an extremely talented player which is why they shouldn't have given up on him so quickly. IMO you don't get rid of great players just because they're not 100% what you're looking for. And yes, this created a hole. We went from having one of the best RB duos in the league to a big question mark. I sure hope we draft a good replacement because Cohen and Davis (who's got six TDs in four years) are not gonna cut it.
Am I surprised by the move? No. Am I disappointed? You bet.
W/ that being said, nothing we can do here so I think it's best to just move on and look forward.
If you are putting forte in that you have to add rec's and rec td's b/c the reality is he was used as an ultra back, that this type of O could badly use.
You really need to watch some of the breakdowns i posted about him. He was a good zone runner, out of shotgun, against stacked boxes, which allowed him to be patient, find the hole and the first person he was up against was usually a DB. Not going to get a lot of any of that in Nagy's O, and you saw it, and he struggled b/c of it. Philly will likely use him as they did Blount, so if he does need 25+ carries he might struggle there also.
Bill B, doesn't adjust what he does, he finds players that do what he is looking for them to do and asks them to do only that; Shea Mc is a good example of that.
He's not a great player, he's a really good player when asked to do one specific thing, he becomes very average when you ask him to do more. If he was a really great player the Bears wouldn't have only gotten a 6th, maybe 5th next year for him.
Walter Games Total Yds Year Touch Y/Tch YScm RRTD Fmb AV 1975 229 3.9 892 7 9 6 1976*+ 326 4.7 1539 13 10 14 1977*+ 366 5.8 2121 16 11 2 921 14.4 4552 36 30 22
Forte Games Total Yds Year Touch Y/Tch YScm RRTD Fmb AV 2008 379 4.5 1715 12 1 11 2009 315 4.4 1400 4 6 9 2010 288 5.6 1616 9 3 1 982 14.5 4731 25 10 21
Jho Games Total Yds Year Touch Y/Tch YScm RRTD Fmb AV 2016* 281 5.7 1611 7 2 9 2017 299 4.2 1247 9 1 7 2018 270 4 1080 9 2 850 13.9 3938 25 5 16
Atrain Games Total Yds Year Touch Y/Tch YScm RRTD Fmb AV 2001 300 4.5 1361 7 0 10 2002 238 3.7 884 6 5 4 2003 253 4.2 1060 6 1 791 12.4 3305 19 6 14
NealA Games Total Yds Year Touch Y/Tch YScm RRTD Fmb AV 1986 39 5.8 226 1 1 2 1987 176 6 1053 6 2 9 1988* 288 5.1 1477 12 8 11 503 16.9 2756 19 11 22
Cben Games Total Yds Year Touch Y/Tch YScm RRTD Fmb AV 2005 68 4 275 0 1 1 2006 165 4.2 701 6 0 5 2007 213 3.7 797 4 3 446 11.9 1773 10 4 6
No he wasn't better then Forte when you look at rush and rec. which is what this HC wants and why Howard isn't here anymore. He was slightly better then ATrain and not in the same atmosphere as Forte or Sweetness. *AV is approximate value*
Maybe a different thread but of the RB I've seen, here is my ranking:
Payton Anderson--would have liked more years from him Forte Jones Howard Harris/Allen/A.Peterson/Thomas
Don't know where to slot Cohen. He's more of a position-less OFF player than a RB.
I'm sure I left someone out, apologies is advance.
Gale Sayers was a better pure runner than Walter until injuries took away his quickness and explosiveness. Payton was the better overall RB than Sayers though. Everyone else on that list is in a 2nd (or lower) tier than Payton and Sayers. None of those others will be Hall of Famers. Just really good Bears players.
EDIT: I just re read your post and realized your list is limited to guys you have seen play. I did see Sayers career play. The guy was unreal. He scored 6 TDs in one day for us. Just a holy terror on the field. Had D's crapping their pants.