He's a RB, his first responsibility is running the ball. I agree, the ability to catch makes him more valuable. In 3 seasons he's had one really great year receiving the ball. He's closing in on half of the life expectancy of a NFL RB. One huge reason that I'll take LW. Real elite weapons like BSanders, APeterson, LT, Curtis Martin, HWalker, etc, etc, how many SBs have they won? Or even played in for that matter.
It would also help his sack totals big time if his team played from out in from more often and forced teams to pass on obvious situations. It helps you when you know opponents are done running the ball and the QB is dropping back the majority of the time and all you have to do is pin your ears back and head for th QB
he didn't transform anything. he ran into stacked boxes and averaged 3.2 YPC and only 885 yards in year 2 because defenses caught onto the lack of passing game. he exploded last year because goff played well and opened the offense. without goff and a pass threat, gurley would have very mediocre impact. it's also a position where you can find good one's not in the top 5 (hunt, kamara, cook recently) DE's like Leo are much harder to find and have a bigger impact on the defense then you think. his QB pressures and hits, makes our mediocre CBs look better. Also as they say which is very true is games are won in the trenches. If you control the LOS on both sides of the ball, you win games
Jeff fisher almost ruined Gurley, Mcvay is great but Gurley is still a transformative player. Leo ranks highly in QB hits but his sacks and TFL are abysmal when compared to other players who have his amount of QB hits, he played much better in 2016, and his rookie year I can also argue he played better. My eye test told me he regressed this year and the stats back it up. His lack of playmaking ability double teams or not is majorly concerning. His TFL of 4 is shameful and almost tar and feather shame worthy, if he is in the backfield so often why can't he make plays ? Other DE's have no problem racking up 15 plus TFL's, Leo's 4 doesn't even rank in the top 100 and is a major red flag imo
So if a guy had 0 tackles all year, but it took 5 lineman to block him and everyone else was able to run free, he sucks? your eye test is wrong because as you said he's racking up QB hits and hurries. He's also ate up lineman for people like davis to have a career year (41 TFL from davis, lee, martin, and adams combined) Revis famous year is a perfect example, in 2010 he had 0 INTs and only 26 solo tackles. but was 1st team all pro and a pro bowler.
No that means he has the ability to get to the backfield but has a low playmaking ability, all the other DE's have much better TFL numbers, are all 100 DE's ahead of him being double teamed? Leo isn't a playmaker, for that reason alone he isn't worth his draft position, I wish we had gurley or Beasley obviously you disagree so let's leave it at that
You know it really makes no sense to me why so many of you take my posts as though they are some sort of personal attack? I'm not criticizing you. Hell, I'm not even criticizing Williams. Just gave an accurate assessment of his career thus far? You all respond with this nonsense like he's a baby and what not? That's all well and good if that's what you think. But what I posted and considering he was the 6th overall pick and considered to be the very best player in the draft, is accurate. He's been rather UNDERWHELMING. I rreally don't understand why you all have to act so butt hurt about it? MAYBE he'll come out of this current funk he's in, maybe he won't. But underwhelming would be my description of him after 3 seasons.
contradiction, getting in the backfield is making plays lots of the best pass rushing DEs have lower sack numbers because they gain more attention. it's part of the "don't let X guy beat us" mentality in the NFL. the same mentality that will triple team a WR and leave the rest 1 on 1. It's why certain players open up opportunities for others. Not to mention he is a 3-4 DE, their primary job isn't rushing the passer it's controlling the line and eating blocks so the OLBs can get sacks. That's why in a 3-4 all the top sack leaders are OLBs not DEs. Williams is making opportunities for others, they just aren't taking advantage. Beasley plays a different position. he's an OLB it's his main job to get pressure, but without the help of the ATL d-line he wouldn't get jack, that's how the NFL works
Well said. The attention he takes up creates a situation where it's difficult for the offense to create mismatches in other places of the field.
I don't know one word of spanish but it bugs me how sometimes (I don't know specifically what subsection of the latin world do this) but they pronounce S like THHHH
Big Cat is going to have a monster season this year! If he could get some help from the OLB rushing the passer he could make his first pro bowl