Pachyderm_Wave
Hartselle Tigers (15-0) 5-A State Champ
I just don't understand why Najee Harris going in the 1st round would be "higher than normal".
He's a physical phenom. Former top recruit. He is a WONDERFUL human being. Everyone that speaks to him feels impact. He's averaged 6 yards per carry pretty much every year at Alabama. He scored 26 TDs this year. He's an elite level pass catcher at the position, and I don't use that term lightly. He blocks.
The foundational layer of the Alabama offense is not the passing game featuring the quarterback and all of those receivers. It's not. This year really showed that as they lost Tua Tagovailoa, Henry Ruggs, and Jerry Jeudy to the NFL, and lost Jaylen Waddle for all but four games, and the offense still trucked through the SEC en route to an NCAA Championship.
The foundational layer of the Alabama offense is one principle, which is itself a mindset: if the defense keeps two safeties back, they're going to pound you into the dirt with the ground game, and you're not going to stop it until you start crowding the line of scrimmage.
Everything is layered on top of that foundation. The RPO layer is an extension of the ground game, like a long hand-off that takes advantage of defensive movement, similar to a screen. The play-pass layer is an extension off the RPO layer. It's built to look and smell like an RPO. The passing game which features a bunch of crossers is there to lighten up the pressure on pass protectors who have to protect for longer stretches of time on slower developing play-passes. But all of this starts with that foundational principle, which is that if you're going to sit back with two deep safeties, Alabama are going to crush you on the ground.
You could look at Alabama and say, well they always have really productive runners. And yes that's true. But they've also had really good running backs that made their impact on the NFL. Look what Josh Jacobs has done for the Raiders. Look at Derrick Henry. Look at Kenyan Drake. Look at Mark Ingram. Look at Eddie Lacy, before he ate his way into obscurity. Damien Harris was superb in New England this year, but nobody noticed because nobody cares about New England in the post-Brady era. Even T.J. Yeldon made an impact early in his career in Jacksonville.
The only duds have really been Bo Scarbrough (so far, PFF has actually graded him well in 180 snaps he's done through the first two years of his career) and Trent Richardson, and I'd say especially with the latter player there were some other things going on there that weren't just about talent. Whether Trent Richardson flamed out in the NFL or not, not even the most jaded will go so far as to say he was not really a good college back after all.
For two years now, Najee Harris has been the lead driver of that foundational layer. They lost a bunch of passing game talent, so they leaned on him even more, and they were just as good.
I just don't get, "higher than normal" in that context. Saquon Barkley went #2 overall. Leonard Fournette and Ezekiel Elliott went #4 overall. Christian McCaffrey went #8 overall. Todd Gurley went #10 overall. Melvin Gordon went #15 overall. Josh Jacobs went #24 overall. Penny went #27 overall. Rashaad Penny went #27 overall. Sony Michel went #31 overall. Clyde Edwards-Helaire went #32 overall.
That's 11 first rounders in the last 6 drafts, and 5 of them went Top 10.
So how would Najee Harris going mid-1st round be, "higher than normal"?
This is very nice and on point. The entire premise of the RPO was to make defenses pay for loading the box against the run. But Saban requires his OC's to structure their offense around his principles - which as you stated is going to be running the football if he can help it. That will never change at Alabama. Under Saban we will always run the same offensive terminology but every new OC brings a different design and flow to the offense.
From a philosophical standpoint, New England's offense and Bama's are similar in their design to do the same thing - take what is given. No matter what defense is devised it can't cover the whole field with the same effectiveness - therefore the offense strives to be able to attack whatever part you've defended the least.
In the end, the other team has a choice. Die quickly with long strikes or be bludgeoned to death. But death was imminent. They want you to have that choice. Like I said many times, you could either choose Najee running for 150+ or Mac Jones throwing for 400+. If you chose neither, you got both. I may not live to see another offense as good as the one Sarkisian led this year.
Under the current rule set in college football no defense can totally shut down a great college offense. Not even Saban's. Which is what he realized and was able to morph into a bit of a different type coach. It's what the great one's do. Coach Bryant did it when he suddenly broke out the Wishbone on USC in 1971 and ran it until he died. The RPO is impossible to defend consistently when you can run the football well. When those lineman fire out run blocking every snap, the choice on what you have to do next has already been made for you.
However, I think play action is probably more effective in the NFL as a whole just due to the buffer rule being different. You're only allowed the 1 yard downfield as opposed to 3 in college. So you have to be more limited in the types of RPO's you can run effectively. I think you kinda have to run it more off split zone type plays.
NajeeLoco the Crimson Bull is a 1st round talent but plays a day 2 position. He's a lock pro but he's not the dynamo Derrick Henry is. It took Saban and RB's coach Charles Huff a lot of work to get Najee to where he is. He still has a tendency to miss the hole and try to bounce it outside another gap or two and leave yards on the field. But his ball security and skillset are top notch. I just think teams have a hard time getting backs to live up the expectations if you take 'em top 20. Much less top 10.
Even when they do then you have to pay 'em and that's typically when your team begins to fall apart.