Backfield Adds ‘Great Finisher’ in Powell Posted by Eric Allen on May 13, 2011 – 9:24 am To many an outsider, the Jets’ selection of Louisville RB Bilal Powell in the fourth round seemed rather curious. With LaDainian Tomlinson, Shonn Greene and Joe McKnight under contract, the backfield already appeared to be a full house. “If people follow with what we do at here with the Jets, since I’ve been here and obviously with Rex, it hasn’t changed. But we’ve always had a stable of backs,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer told me on a recent “Four Quarters” appearance that will air next week. “When Curtis Martin left, you added Thomas Jones and Leon Washington. We cannot have enough backs and we feel great about our running back situation. A lot of the guys we have are dual threats.” Tomlinson, who will turn 32 in June, paced the Jets during the regular season with 914 yards and six touchdowns on the ground and added 52 receptions. While his three postseason TDs also were a team high, Shonn Greene became more of the workhorse in January as he totaled 198 rush yards and 45 attempts as the Jets advanced to the AFC Championship Game. And McKnight, a fourth-round pick from USC in 2010, got going late last year and Rex Ryan has already indicated he’ll get more offensive touches in his sophomore campaign. “You look at a guy like LT and a guy like Joe McKnight, they can play other positions,” Schotty said. “They can play in the slot, they can play extended and run routes 1-on-1.” And Powell will soon be on his way to Florham Park as well. The 5’10”, 204-pounder rushed for 1,405 yards last season, averaging an impressive 117 rush yards an outing. He was a model of consistency in a memorable senior campaign, rushing for over 100 yards seven times and topping the 200-yard mark on two occasions. “We’ve got a great finisher, a guy with great ability to see things and use his vision,” Schotty said. “This guy can take off and make people miss in space.” Interestingly, Powell started just five times his first three seasons for the Cardinals, amassing 933 rush yards in 30 contests. “People point to one year of production, but the philosophy before the new staff under Charlie Strong was to split time,” Schottenheimer said. “Once they started giving Bilal all the touches, I think you saw what he was capable of doing. We were thrilled that he was sitting there for us in the fourth round, knowing that you are going to have to find some gems and also get some luck on those last couple of days.” The fourth round has provided plenty of recent gems for the Jets. Dwight Lowery, the defensive back selected out of San Jose State in 2008, tied for the team lead with three interceptions last year and returned two of them back for scores. Back in 2006, the Jets scored Missouri weapon Brad Smith 14 selections before they drafted another RB, Leon Washington. B.Smith, who returned two kicks for scores in 2010, is the only player in the modern era to have scored touchdowns by reception, rush, kickoff return and blocked punt return and by throwing a TD pass. Jerricho Cotchery, a fourth-round selection in 2004, has 358 catches, 4,514 receiving yards and 18 TDs on his regular-season résumé. Despite playing last season with a herniated disk, J-Co still managed 41 receptions and then stepped it up in the playoffs with another 12. So the Jets have four talented backs, there is plenty of optimism about the latest fourth-round pick, and Brian Schottenheimer was pleased with the quartet of offensive prospects he acquired on day three of the draft. “All the scouts do a great job. They make it easy for us as a coaching staff once the season ends to kind of jump in and be ahead of the game because they’ve done so much work during the season while we’ve been game-planning,” he said. “It’s kind of set for us, so we get a chance to look at and give our input.”
Boom Boom Powell has already make an impact by making Joe McKnight work harder and the competition in training camp will make everyone better.
We are going to have a DOPE 3 headed monster for years after LT calls it quits. With Shonn and Bilal pounding the rock and then with Joe McKnight's speed and catching out of the backfield, we are going to have a good rotation at RB that will keep everyone healthy.
With the occasional Kerley run out of the "Horned Frog" . Just for calling the Horned Frog is reason enough to run it. lol
I questioned the pick at the time, but it makes sense reading the article. Ground and Pound will return in 2011, not that they strayed that far from it last year.
Just a thought, but does anyone else think this is a move considered that the staff is afraid to give the full workload to Shonn to keep him fresh?
Gotta have insurance for our RBs, *knocks on wood* If Greene were to ever have an injury, we would have another back to pound defenses with ... Can never have too many good backs in the NFL ...I just really hope McKnight pans out because he's the only RB with the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield (Connor has good hands also I heard ...) not to mention what explosiveness McKnight could bring to the table on offense and S/T
I don't get the impression that they are afraid, but perhaps hold a higher priority on the keeping the backs fresh. RBBC Inc.? Fantasy Forcast: Bail.? My gut feeling is that the committee approach is better for the team, but the fan in me likes getting behind the stud workhorse... Since winning trumps all I guess it should make me happier. *shrugs (of happiness)*
This will probably be LT's last year with the Jets, so my thinking is that they'll try to get Powell a year under his belt with the team and the playbook and next year come in totally prepared to be in the RB rotation.
I want Powell's rookie season to be like Shonn Greene's. Spend the year learning the system, getting garbage time carries. Then come out of no where in the playoffs with a fresh set of legs.
I didn't know Powell had been used so sparingly his first three seasons at college. Low mileage is great news for us.
The Jets play against alot of 3-4 defenses this upcoming season. Against a 3-4 defense the choice of running back is a player like Greene or Powell who are power backs. Against 4-3 defenses the choice would be L.T. or KnKnight. The Jets now have 2 backups at running back and they will be needed as the season progresses - if there is a season.
We can't have enough capable backs. I'd imagine this is LT's final season and we all saw him wear down at the end of last season. Greene should be the 2011 workhorse, but we don't know if he can handle a full season of being the feature guy since his physical play can lead to injuries. Also, McKnight is still relatively unknown as to what he can do at the NFL level, although I am more optimistic about his talents than most on this board. Best case scenario in 2011 is that Powell barely sees the field (unless it is due to injury). This means that Greene, LT, and McKnight are doing fine. Powell will likely take Tony Richardson's roster spot if the coaches are confident with Conner starting. We can use Powell late in the season if LT wears down and then he will become more involved once LT retires. I like how we are drafting for the future and building a team around Rex's philosophy.
It's more that they know halfbacks get injured, definitely including Greene, and they don't want to ever be caught shorthanded. Look at the Packers last season, the fact that they won a Super Bowl with the runners they were using after Grant went down is nearly miraculous. There's nothing worse than running out of backs, especially when your offensive line is one of the strengths of the team. And, I think the competition angle was big in their mindset. They don't want Joe McKnight to think, even for a second, that he can just settle into that third halfback role and wait for opportunity to come knocking. He's going to have to work just to make the roster, just like everybody else. Even if Powell ends up being a total chump, if drafting him helps get the most out of McKnight, it'll be a pick well spent, because McKnight has the talent to be a pretty big star in the league if he works at it. If they actually do like Powell as much as they've been saying, even better. But I think they had their minds made up that they wanted to add a halfback this year.
I think it's great to have a lot of running backs. I really don't get the "one year of production" thing with Powell. The production is excellent. He doesn't have as many carries as most four year backs. All that college production is good for in the NFL is more wear and tear. Give me a set of fresh legs that performed any day. -X-
I don't see how well Joe McKnight and Powell are going to co-exist. It almost seems like to me that Powell was a BPA pick and it's going to open up an opportunity to trade McKnight for another need of ours. Of course, they could be being honest by saying we intend to keep LT, Greene, J.McKnight and Powell... and Terminator as well.
So is Powell a power back? Seems odd for a 204-207 pounder. That's smaller than Curtis Martin. For anybody that has seen him play, describe his running style. Who does he remind you of? Thanks.
Not that he's the same caliber of runner but Terrell Davis-a fairly fast, strong, midsized back who runs downhill and runs tougher than his size. A good looking back and an asset but not a Greene clone by any stretch of the imagination.
