I talk to a lot of Packer fans, and when it comes to Starks and expectations for the 3rd year guy, there's a wide range of expectations. Some people think this is the year he's going to put it all together, stay healthy, and have a Ryan Grant type of year around 1200+ yards. Remember Grant had over 1200 yards in back-to-back seasons, 2008 & 2009, and Ryan't career YPC is 4.3. I know quite a few fans thought that Grant was crappy... which always perplexed me. That being said, Starks avg carry so far is 4.2, and he's played in a total of 16 games for 679 total yards, regular seasons. I drafted this guy last year expecting a Grant type of season..... and he let me down with the injuries. What are you all predicting for Starks this year? http://www.kffl.com/gnews.php?id=793227-packers---james-starks-believes-this-will-be-his-big-season
I have had faith in Starks since day one and I still do. I think he is going to have a great year and surpass Grant although I love Grant as well. I think Starks is our future #1 RB, he has tremendous talent but he needs time and experience to develop. My predictions are continued improvements, I think he will put up the best #s for RB.
I hope he does well but I expect more of the same. I don't think he is exceptional physically or mentally.
It's difficult enough to predict how a healthy player's season will go, it's impossible to predict whether or not an injury prone player will be healthy for a season. Starks didn't play his senior year of college ball in 2009 because he got hurt in August of that year. He didn't play until the last three regular season games in 2010 and then was great throughout the playoff run to the title. Last year he had a problem with ankle sprains and played in 13 regular season games and split carries with Grant (133 carries for Starks, 134 for Grant). He also split carries with Grant in the playoff game. So his last healthy season was his junior year in college, 2008. But as Packers fans, we gotta like the trend. The concern I have is not only he hasn't had an injury-free season in three years, it's that may be compounded if he is asked to carry the load in Grant's absence. What do I predict? All I have is hope that this will be his first complete NFL season and if that happens I'm confident he'll present a good enough running threat for the offense to succeed.
I think the guy is too physical of a runner to stay durable.... he absorbs a lot of punishment and that takes a toll on anyone, even as bullish as he looks. I'm still mad that Alex Green had the torn ACL already in season 1, on special teams.
Well our team is running back by committee till someone can carry the load. I hope Starks can do that.
I mean he didn't do so well last year his best game was probably the wildcard game in Philly but I hope he will do better than what he did last year
This. I think that if he could improve one thing to make him a more valuable piece of the packers puzzle it would be his pass blocking. The run game will work its way out and i think the yds and Tds will be split up among Saine, Starks, and Green. And as everyone else always brings up about him, he neeeeeedds to stay healthy.
I really hope for the best out of James Starks, but as long as we can run the the ball, and do it effectively and do it with anyone we can do it with I am happy.
I don't think the Packers O-line is particularly adept at run blocking to be honest. Couple that with the fact that Starks is incapable of being an every down back in the NFL (he's had 2 years to prove otherwise at a position with a 6-8 year shelf-life), and I will say I don't expect much from him stats wise. I do think he can be an effective part of a commitee approach, along with whomever (don't forget Grant is still out there). He is a pretty exciting back when healthy and fresh...I just think it's obvious at this point he can't take the pounding on an every down basis. Few can.
