2020 Salary Cap Situation

[Deleted member 6794]

Behind the veneer of complexity, I believe the conclusions are rooted in some basic statistics that accumulate and reinforce game after game: You can hand the ball to a McCaffrey or a Jones and they will average 4.8 or 4.6 yards per carry. Or you can throw the ball and average 6 or 7 yards per pass play after adjusting for sacks. Even Kyle Allen, with an exceptionally high sack rate, averaged 5.47 on passes minus sacks.

In addition running backs tend to gain less yards when targeted in the passing game as well. Austin Ekeler was the best RB in that category at 26th among all players with at least 30 receptions with McCaffrey (96th) and Jones (100th) barely making the top 100.

All of that just does not take into consideration that you are playing a particular team on a particular day and the ball bounces one way or the other. Game planning is of course necessary but you have to adjust to the game being played, which includes a few variables
It is good to use all the stats in the world of course to pick a player in the draft but you can't always pigeon hole a player because of times and lifting weights. I would hope our scouts can do a good job just using these stats as a secondary tool. The primary tool being tape. Of course, it is easier just to look up stats on the computer. I just don't think they will ever tell the whole story except maybe on Madden.

I have no idea what that has to do with the discussion about the importance of running backs in today's game.