Can't you just answer the simple question? If I was to ask 100 pro-football execs to rate Spillers career to date from 1-10, what do you think the average would be?
I answered you already. Your question is irrelevant to the bigger issue, it's out of context and, not to put too fine a point on it, prone to fickleness.
I'll demonstrate that for you.
If you asked them after 2011, his second season, they would have said it's hard to tell since he was a change-of-pace sub for Fred Jackson who went for 927 and 934 yds. those two seasons on about 200 carries per year. Since GMs don't watch much film of players they don't have to face or who are not up for free agency in the next off season, I imagine, if pressed, they would have given him a 3.
Fast forward to 2012. Wow. What a season. 9 for sure. Buffalo is getting top value on that pick after all. Of course, Jackson was hurt and only got 115 carries so Spiller was the feature back instead of sharing time with another go-to guy.
Jump to 2013. Jackson's back to 206 carries for 890 yds. Spiller gets 202 for 933 and 4.6 yds per carry and 33 catches for 185. Quite comparable to the Packers offensive rookie of the year. Spiller doesn't score many TDs because Jackson is their go-to guy in the red zone and, simply put, the passing offense is pretty bad thereby limiting red zone opportunities. GMs don't know what to grade him; they're too busy wondering what the Bills are doing with a dual-feature-back setup from a bygone era. If pressed, they'd look at the numbers and give him a 6.5.
As far as injuries go, you might have noticed Spiller hasn't missed many games in his career. That's because unlike a guy like Starks who doesn't take the field unless he's 100%, Spiller has played through knee sprains though not this week. That's not to say he won't be back to full strength in week 15, which is what this is all about...or what it should be about.
Further, as the years tick by, group think among the GM ranks increasingly tells you that no running back provides value in the first round, whether it's true or not. The fact of the matter is given the number of productive and durable backs coming out of the mid-to-lower rounds, if pressed for honesty they'd tell you the state-of-the-art in scouting is poor in projecting who will be a productive and durable ball carrier and who will not, so they avoid the risk altogether.
So the question is...will Spiller be 100% against the Packers and will Orton have his other weapons back in the lineup? I don't care what GMs might think about that.