Pre-Season Position Group Battles: Running Backs | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Pre-Season Position Group Battles: Running Backs

Feverdream

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As Brother Loco so aptly described, we are in the dead zone of the NFL season... and, we are all bored. So I thought maybe I could do a series of posts about the upcoming camp battles. We'll see if there's any interest. I'll start with an easy one, the Running Back room.

In the past, we have usually broken camp with 4 RBs and a FB, though we did cut to a bare 3 RBs one year. This was only an initial roster however, the 3 RB room was eventually expanded back to 4.

So, I will assume that we'll go with 4 and 1 again this year.

First up, the Ingold room. We only have one FB, and we use him in a lot of different ways, carrying the ball is not one of them. Our FB blocks, acts as an H-back, and occasionally splits out wide. For these reasons, Brooks, although of FB size, is not even remotely in this conversation. Ingold is a unique player and has no camp competition. If Ingold gets cut or becomes injured, we'll have no FB on the roster.

The RB room isn't much harder to decipher. Achane, Mostert, and Wright are absolute locks. The only real question here is "who gets the largest number of snaps?".
Wright will immediately be the best pass protector in this room; he's also a plus receiver with only one drop last year. If he's a quick study and learns the offense, I suspect he's the third-down option almost immediately. He's also heavier than Achane and Mostert and may see the short yardage snaps.
Achane should be our first down option. If teams play the pass, he'll have huge gaps to run through again. He's much younger than Mostert and will get first crack at the nominal starting job.
Mostert was amazing last year; most RBs are retired by the time they reach his age. Last year was the best of his career... but honestly, I think we can expect regression this year. I do think we can expect to see him touch the ball 5-10 times per game, and he may continue to get the red zone touches unless Wright supplants him here. He is moving into the back up part of his career.

The rest of our RBs are fighting for one job, a spot that might not exist. If the battle is close, the team might cut all of them and see who goes unclaimed... then resign whoever makes it through waivers when we move rehabbing players to short-term I.R. on the Monday following cut-down day. I seriously doubt that all three would be claimed by other teams. Waived RBs usually aren't.

Wilson probably has first call. He's a McD favourite and has been around awhile. He doesn't really have one area where he excels though, and that's a bad bet for a committee RB room. No real role.
Brooks, who a lot of the FH brothers like, really hasn't shown much. He's looked OKish in preseason, but for those who like him, I've gotta ask you this... "If the team really liked him, why would they move up to draft Wright?". I think he's a guy who could be cut and resigned to the PS. If we lose him... eh... he was a UDFA.
Then there's Ahmed. I suspect his one and only chance is if Achane or Mostert are injured. He brings nothing to the table... he's on a vet minimum salary with no bonus. He has one foot out of the NFL.

Feel free to tell me where I'm wrong, I'm used to that... I have a wife and 6 kids.
 
You see a bigger role for Wright than I do. Assuming Achane and Mostert are healthy, I think they each get 12-14 touches per game, with about 5 for Wright. The point you make about pass protection is true, but we don’t use our backs for pass protection, so I don’t think that buys him all that many snaps. In 855 combined snaps last season, Mostert and Achane were only used in pass protection 34 times (combined) all season. It just isn’t a feature of this quick hitter offense.

Now a team’s top two RBs never stay healthy all season, so I’m sure Wright will get his chances at a bigger role. But at least at the outset, I think he won’t be much more than a change of pace back.

I agree that Wilson is probably top dog for the fourth RB spot, mainly because he’s reliable. For a fourth stringer, someone who’ll know his assignments and run hard is good enough for me. He won’t be active on game days unless we have injuries at the position.

Brooks makes sense to keep around on the practice squad. If he gets claimed, he gets claimed—nothing super special about him. I could see him turning into a solid backup, but I have no idea why people on here love him so much.

I wouldn’t even use a practice squad spot on Ahmed.

Overall this RB room is incredible.
 
Your point about the Dolphins not using RBs in pass pro is solid, but my follow up question is this... Did we neglect to do this on third downs because we didn't want to... or was it because we lacked the personnel to run these formations.

I believe it was the latter... and this led directly to the drafting of Wright. He was widely considered to be the most developed pass pro RB in this year's draft. If we didn't move up to draft him for this exact reason, them honestly... I'm scratching my head as to why we made the move.

I suspect we are expanding upon what we've done in the past... because when teams knew we were gonna run, it didn't go well. Having a legitimate pass pro/receiving back will make us much more difficult to defend.
 
Your point about the Dolphins not using RBs in pass pro is solid, but my follow up question is this... Did we neglect to do this on third downs because we didn't want to... or was it because we lacked the personnel to run these formations.

I believe it was the latter... and this led directly to the drafting of Wright. He was widely considered to be the most developed pass pro RB in this year's draft. If we didn't move up to draft him for this exact reason, them honestly... I'm scratching my head as to why we made the move.

I suspect we are expanding upon what we've done in the past... because when teams knew we were gonna run, it didn't go well. Having a legitimate pass pro/receiving back will make us much more difficult to defend.
Very possible. I think we needed a good (and young) third RB who can do the same things as Mostert and Achane no matter what, so I’m still happy with the pick even if we don’t use him in pass pro much.

But it’s clear that we struggled on third down and in short yardage scenarios, so I’m sure McDaniel is reconsidering everything on those fronts. Anything that makes us less predictable is good. Odell, Jonnu, and Wright all help with that.
 
Very possible. I think we needed a good (and young) third RB who can do the same things as Mostert and Achane no matter what, so I’m still happy with the pick even if we don’t use him in pass pro much.

But it’s clear that we struggled on third down and in short yardage scenarios, so I’m sure McDaniel is reconsidering everything on those fronts. Anything that makes us less predictable is good. Odell, Jonnu, and Wright all help with that.

You could be right on that too... (right on Wright). Wright, unlike a lot of backs his size has some speed... and it's why I'm so damned high on him.
 
Wilson didn’t get used much at all last year
He came through with a couple clutch runs at the end of the game winning drive against the cowboys. I would liked to see Miami use him later in season against ravens and chiefs in playoffs. But that didn’t happen. Unless we have injury he prob won’t make team or play much.

I think people like brooks because he appears to be a physical running back. Which posters think we lack. I think achane might get tons of use catching the ball this year.

Really interested to see the difference between wright and achane. I don’t know much about wright so I am excited to watch him and see what he brings to table that is different then Achane.
 
I would appreciate a positions camp battle discussion. We all need some Dolphins news this time of year.

I think Achane and Wright will be used heavily first 12 games of the season. If we can keep Mostert fresh for the playoff push and into the playoffs it would help our cold weather chances a great deal. Injuries will occur but hope those are all minor and no more than 2 at once. We have enough talent to rotate our RB's and allow dinged up players a little more time.
 
I would appreciate a positions camp battle discussion. We all need some Dolphins news this time of year.

I think Achane and Wright will be used heavily first 12 games of the season. If we can keep Mostert fresh for the playoff push and into the playoffs it would help our cold weather chances a great deal. Injuries will occur but hope those are all minor and no more than 2 at once. We have enough talent to rotate our RB's and allow dinged up players a little more time.
You got it. .. I'll do another one in a couple of days. No need to rush... we've got time to kill.
 
As Brother Loco so aptly described, we are in the dead zone of the NFL season... and, we are all bored. So I thought maybe I could do a series of posts about the upcoming camp battles. We'll see if there's any interest. I'll start with an easy one, the Running Back room.

In the past, we have usually broken camp with 4 RBs and a FB, though we did cut to a bare 3 RBs one year. This was only an initial roster however, the 3 RB room was eventually expanded back to 4.

So, I will assume that we'll go with 4 and 1 again this year.

First up, the Ingold room. We only have one FB, and we use him in a lot of different ways, carrying the ball is not one of them. Our FB blocks, acts as an H-back, and occasionally splits out wide. For these reasons, Brooks, although of FB size, is not even remotely in this conversation. Ingold is a unique player and has no camp competition. If Ingold gets cut or becomes injured, we'll have no FB on the roster.

The RB room isn't much harder to decipher. Achane, Mostert, and Wright are absolute locks. The only real question here is "who gets the largest number of snaps?".
Wright will immediately be the best pass protector in this room; he's also a plus receiver with only one drop last year. If he's a quick study and learns the offense, I suspect he's the third-down option almost immediately. He's also heavier than Achane and Mostert and may see the short yardage snaps.
Achane should be our first down option. If teams play the pass, he'll have huge gaps to run through again. He's much younger than Mostert and will get first crack at the nominal starting job.
Mostert was amazing last year; most RBs are retired by the time they reach his age. Last year was the best of his career... but honestly, I think we can expect regression this year. I do think we can expect to see him touch the ball 5-10 times per game, and he may continue to get the red zone touches unless Wright supplants him here. He is moving into the back up part of his career.

The rest of our RBs are fighting for one job, a spot that might not exist. If the battle is close, the team might cut all of them and see who goes unclaimed... then resign whoever makes it through waivers when we move rehabbing players to short-term I.R. on the Monday following cut-down day. I seriously doubt that all three would be claimed by other teams. Waived RBs usually aren't.

Wilson probably has first call. He's a McD favourite and has been around awhile. He doesn't really have one area where he excels though, and that's a bad bet for a committee RB room. No real role.
Brooks, who a lot of the FH brothers like, really hasn't shown much. He's looked OKish in preseason, but for those who like him, I've gotta ask you this... "If the team really liked him, why would they move up to draft Wright?". I think he's a guy who could be cut and resigned to the PS. If we lose him... eh... he was a UDFA.
Then there's Ahmed. I suspect his one and only chance is if Achane or Mostert are injured. He brings nothing to the table... he's on a vet minimum salary with no bonus. He has one foot out of the NFL.

Feel free to tell me where I'm wrong, I'm used to that... I have a wife and 6 kids.
Because as you saw the last two years our RBs have been banged up. Have you not been watching? So, in the NFL, more is better at the RB position. It a brutal job. And Brooks will make the cut. For the little we saw of him he’s a violent physical runner. He reminds me a bit of Marshawn Lynch
 
Because as you saw the last two years our RBs have been banged up. Have you not been watching? So, in the NFL, more is better at the RB position. It a brutal job. And Brooks will make the cut. For the little we saw of him he’s a violent physical runner. He reminds me a bit of Marshawn Lynch
I would go with that to an extent... but I think the question is also, "Why this SPECIFIC back?", and "Why were they so eager to get him that they traded up to get him?".
Yeah... it could just be for depth, but I'm going to argue that it is also about his specific skillset.

I guess we'll see.
 
With both Mostert and Wilson up there in age and with injury concerns, the Wright selection made sense. Injuries hurt Miami at the RB position last season. I think it was more about getting younger and bringing in a RB, who can help in pass protection, and not an indictment of the other RB's on the roster. Wright brings a more talented player at the 1A/1B RB postion, who can give McDaniel the ability to continue to run his offense in case of injury, to others.
 
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