I didn’t say ground and pound. I said scheme change. They want to be a power running team and every personnel decision on the offensive side of the ball says that. You can be a power running team without being a ground and pound team. We added a deep threat WR2 and a guy that resembles one of the best weapons in the sport. To me it’s way more balanced than it is skewed towards the run or pass.
One interesting thing about him is that he has the size of a fullback. Lining him up in a 2 back formation with Breece Hall gives them tremendous options that the defense has to deal with. They could just use him as a fullback and have him block a breece hall run. They could have him run and use Breece as a decoy. They could split Breece off as a receiver, and keep him in to block and then go out on a wheel route or something else. Imagine a 2 RB, 1 TE formation (with Williams and Wilson as WRs). How does a defense respond to this - do they remove their nickel and add another LB and go heavy expecting a run? This would create mismatches of LBs or Safeties having to cover Breece and Braelon - a setup that ARod is sure to take advantage of. If they had a good OC, this would be a pretty frightening situation for a defense to deal with. They could also do something similar with him and Malachi. Imagine Breece out and a 1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR set, with Braelon being the RB and Malchi being the third receiver. You could motion Malachi into the backfield and then hand it off to him and use Braelon as a fullback. Once again - for this setup the defense would likely use a nickel d, but this would be a run heavy package with an undersized nickel back facing a blocking 235 RB or TE. His size gives them lots of options to create mismatches and not just for himself but for various teammates.
Davis had only 36 special teams snaps over his entire college career so if this was a pick for Boyer it makes little sense.
Yeah but that’s usually the case with these guys at the bottom of the draft. There aren’t a lot of RB1’s or RB2’s on the depth chart in college that played special teams.
Yes, but if you're drafting specifically for special teams, you look for an ace, otherwise they just drafted a JAG special teamer and could've filled that role with a UDFA. Maybe I'm missing something, but Davis doesn't strike me as a potential special teams ace, so to say he was drafted for special teams makes no sense to me.
Yeah but my point is - what guy comes out as a special teams ace? Most anyone who gets drafted doesn’t play special teams in college so you’re just trying to project RB’s, corners, linebackers, etc. that are big, strong, fast and willing hard workers. I don’t think you’re ever really drafting guys that weren’t mostly starters even at the bottom of the draft.
I like the pick but I understand how you feel about Douglas. He made big talk about his plan and then even in a year where he killed it in the draft (2022) the CS that he hired was struggling to figure out how to use those players. Not so sure about the existence of this plan.
It very much feels like Douglas had no say in hiring Saleh and friends. I also don’t think either are very good at their jobs which makes it harder when there’s not at the very least cohesion.
It really does feel exactly that way even in absence of evidence to support it. Saleh had like no history with anybody Douglas had worked with. The hire made no sense. Except when Woody Johnson is added to the equation.
Passing yards and points were down across the league last year. Teams are primarily playing two high safeties to limit explosive plays and force teams to matriculate the ball down the field. Three of the four teams in the conference championship were top five in both rushing yards and avg per rush. The fourth team has Patrick Mahommes.
About half the time (or more) a RB is on the field, he never gets the ball. This is important time too...what is he doing? Blocking for the QB, blocking for 2 seconds than leaking out for a short pass....etc. Unfortunately highlight reals never show what a RB's doing when he's not running the ball. Until a RB shows he can stay in and block, and block well, Rodgers won't want him on the field. Anyone know how Allen is in this half of his game?
Most of his draft profiles say he can pass block. He was at Wisconsin with the older regime for two years where they were an I-form offense that taught runningbacks all the fundamentals so I trust he can block. https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Braelon-Allen-RB-Wisconsin https://www.nfl.com/prospects/braelon-allen/3200414c-4c06-3734-6e11-4c57194f79b4 I think it was Pete Prisco of CBS that called him the best blocking back in the draft.
And on top of Breece and Braelon banging on opposing Ds and outrunning them, we also have a slot WR in Corley who can run over them or fake them out of their jock and outrun them.
The only problem with that is that in spite of his size and power, he's not a very good blocker, at least not in pass protection, and I don't know if he was ever used to block at Wisconsin. He certainly has the size and power to learn and be very effective if he's willing to do it. EDIT: Evidently the poster who told me that Allen wasn't a good pass protector was wrong. Jonathan_Vilma shared some articles that say he is. I like your creativity and thinking outside the box. Let's hope that Hackett can surprise us and come up with some creative things like that himself, but I'm not gonna hold my breath on that.
So good to read this...tu! I feel gooder now. I was thinking Aaron won't want a rookie in the backfield, picking up blitzers. That's that hardest thing for a 200lb running back....getting in front of a 300lb angry pass rusher and making it count. I thought JoeD would bring in a vet/RB, just for that reason. Someone Rodgers can trust. (kinda like Gase did with Gore). thanks for the articles...
I respectfully disagree. Have you watched any film on him at all. He's not only big and powerful, but he's fast. He hits the hole quickly and outruns defenders as well. RB was one of our biggest needs. The Jets had Breece, Izzy and two wannabes on the roster. They needed a 3rd RB and one who could start if something happened to Breece. They may have given up on Izzy. He barely got on the field last year. I thought JD should have and would have taken an IOL with one of the 4th round picks, but he traded two of the three away. I also thought it likely that he draft a S or DT, and hoped that he would draft a strong safety. That he didn't was weird to me, and it was weird that he drafted Isaiah Davis.
In what capacity? AFAIK he doesn't return punts or kicks, and he isn't very fast. How many RBs play on ST who aren't return men?
That's a very interesting take that I haven't seen or thought of before. I had always assumed that Saleh killed the interview and he and Joe hit it off. I didn't understand why Daboll didn't get the job. This offseason I heard about Daboll's temper and assumed that was probably why he didn't get the job or that JD and he had differing visions for the team. As far as cohesion, it has always seemed to me that they were in lockstep, but if they aren't then they do a great job of hiding it. There does definitely seem to be a disconnect somewhere, however. It would make me feel a lot better about JD's judgment if Woody did order the hiring of Saleh and company, but it would also make me wonder about JD's backbone if he let Woody tell him to hire in his very first hire. The CS and their record is a direct reflection on JD. I can't imagine any GM with any pride or balls allowing his owner to tell him who to hire, but I guess with this dysfunctional franchise, I shouldn't be surprised.
That's great to hear. When I first mentioned him here a couple of months ago, someone piped in and said he was not good in pass protection. I'm glad to see that they were wrong.
