W the absolute best line in the league, imo. Wouldn't expect those numbers here and as you said he's been injured.
I think Lamar Miller is fine and Daniel Thomas actually graded out extremely well on PFF. Maybe if we had one guy on our team besides Incognito who had a positive run blocking grade we could see that. The rb's are not the issue, its the run blocking. These are the grades of our TE's and offensive lineman in the run blocking category on PFF. The rb's are not the problem. edit- was not able to attach the picture but ill give you every one of our run blocking grades Clay -10.9 Sims -11.2 Egnew -5.3 Jerry -10.4 Clabo -8.4 Pouncey -2.4 Mckinnie -8.2 Incognito 1.2 Martin -5.5 Garner -9.8 Brenner -4.2 That is while PFF gave the following grades to Tomas and Miller for their rushes Thomas 4.9 Miller 1.0 Those are positive. BTW those aren't dashes for the OL/TE, those would be negative signs. To go out and spend money on a free agent running back and not keeping Miller/Thomas is completely idiotic and will do nothing to solve the problem. The problem is we have an entire offense full of terrible run blockers. Literally not 1 good one. This is on the offensive line. That being said we could use either a power back or a guy like D'Anthony Thomas to catch passes out of the backfield.
As far as bigger backs in the draft go: Carlos Hyde - Ohio State Jeremy Hill - LSU* Andre Williams - Boston College Jerome Smith - Syracuse Terrance West - Towson* James Wilder Jr - Florida State* Tyler Gaffney - Stanford * yet to declare.
As a nole who has been to every game in the past 2 years, Wilder Jr. is going to be a very good power back.
Bad blocking across the board...man is that depressing..backs tight ends, the whole line..no fullback..
Spending a second round pick on a running back that only averaged a tenth of a yard more per carry than Lamar Miller, despite having a far better offensive line and Aaron Rodgers, doesn't seem like the best of ideas. I'm probably in the minority but I don't think we should be spending significant resources on the running back position. There's not many players that would have been productive behind the line as it's currently constructed. Spending significant money or picks on a new RB would be a mistake.
hmmm, thats a hell of a point, miller finished with a Four yard average eh?? That is impressive Initself considering..I didn't know his average was 4 yards. Lacy had 1200 yards..11 tds..4.1 average. Worst blocking oline in the league according to PFF? Sure looked that way.. To get four yards a pop with over 150 carries is pretty good.
Well if we had spent a 2nd rounder on Lacy we'd have actually produced a quality starter with a 2nd round pick.....that would be something wouldn't it? I think Lacy is a much better every down back and Miller, Rodgers was hurt a lot this year and Lacy played good for a rookie. He was a much higher pick so he should be better ....and he is.
If he is so much better why did he average the same YPC as Miller with a much better oline for run blocking? Not one RB in the NFl would have had a great year with the dolphins o-line run blocking last year. How many times last year did we see a RB even get like 3-4 yards downfield without being touched? very infrequently.
If you watched both guys play....Lacy just passes the eye test. Sorry he's just better, I'm not sure why you need to focus on one stat to make a case for Miller. Miller isn't as good as Lacy, bad oline or not. Lacy played well when Rodgers was out too. Lacy had games where he was dominant or at least a goto guy, Miller hasn't really shown anything other than flashes here and there. Lacy showed that he could shoulder the load for a season...as a rookie. Its not really arguable that Miller is as good as Lacy. If you want to hang onto your YPC stat as though that is the end of the discussion thats fine but Miller isn't as good, it just is what it is.
I'm not saying that Lacy isn't better. I'm that if Lacy ran behind this offensive line, there's not a chance in hell he passes your eye test. And I'm a big Lacy fan, dude runs hard as ****. If you want to hang your hat on the two or three games you saw the Packers play, that's fine. But there's no arguing that they had nearly identical production per carry. This is ignoring that Lamar Miller was averaging 4.8 YPC before he lost Incognito and Martin (and Mike Pouncey for 2 games). It just is what it is.
Miller has never had games where he has looked anywhere near as good as Lacy. I'm not sure what we are arguing about if we both agree that Lacy is better. If you think Lacy isn't better.....oh well I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion. Miller is a backup Rb on a good NFL team. I think he could do well in a 2 back system with a good oline but he's not a game changer.
I disagree...Miller can be every bit as productive as Lacy with an improved line to run behind. To me the flashes he has shown rival Jamal Charles. I love Eddy Lacy and I would take him over Miller but what we are trying to tell you is that Lacy would of had a tough year behind this o-line just as Miller has. We arent arguing over who the better back is...we are saying that it simply would not have mattered running behind the crap we relied on to block this past season.
As for the running back situation...I say we roll with Miller. It wouldnt hurt to get a power back into the mix but we shouldn't have to spend a high draft pick online one. The offensive line is the top priority in my opinion.:
Joique Bell & Bobby Rainey are restricted FAs. They'll get tendered fairly highly and end up back with their respective teams. MJD is worth a 1 year stop gap deal to give us better wriggle room in the draft. Rashad Jennings would be the best multi-year option IMO.
Am I the only one who thinks Miller would be fine with...oh I don't know...someone to block for him???
Nope. Miller had poor vision and awareness even when he was in space. He's a backup running back in this league.
I don't know how anyone can say anything conclusive about him when he was put in conditions that were impossible to succeed in.
I'd take a hard look at James Starks from GB. Having a veteran RB that knows the system and can pass protect is invaluable. Miller needs to step it or risk being a JAG
Is he worthy of a roster spot? Yes. Is he a legit NFl feature back? No. He's soft through contact, his vision is meh, and he has a lot of runs go for 0-2 yards because of these issues. I like him as a change-of-pace homerun guy, but not as a 20+ carry horse.
I would cut both Miller and Thomas and get a couple of good FA vets in here, proven backs.....so we can concentrate on filling other needs thru the draft. No need to "worry" if our RBs are gonna work out.