Not every pick is for the upcoming season. Like other posters have stated,LT has 1 year left with us and McKnight is still developing so I don't understand why some are looking at this as a mistake? The kid is a good ball catcher out of the backfield so he learns under LT for a year and takes over next season. I'm pretty stoked about this kid.
Hope this turns out to be another Shawn Green situation, havin two backs like this is going to be great for the TOP. Jets are lookin real grande when it comes to the run...........
That's actually one of the few things he isn't good at. This kid's never had more than 18 catches in a season, so he's pretty unproven as a receiver. I like the pick - I was confused at first because of the other talent available when the pick was made. To me, this pick is insurance for Shonn Greene - if Greene keeps leaving games with minor injuries, the staff may sour on him. Joe McKnight will replace Tomlinson when the time is right. McKnight's the back with the great receiving ability - he'll learn the most from LT.
Like i've said many times,i'm not a big college football guy,so i'm going on what i've heard and that was that this kids got pretty good hands. I guess we'll find out soon enough? No matter,we still needed to add some depth to our RB's after this season and this kid seems to be a pretty good player.
I'm not going to write him off as a receiver, but I see him being more a Shonn Greene type player: a powerful, between-the-tackles guy that will be subbed in passing situations. In the words of Mike Tannenbaum: "You can never have enough good backs."
I actually think we need a guy like this. Remember 2 years ago when Greene got injured and Jones' legs were shot and Washington was injured? We certainly could have used another back. Remember last year when Greene and McKnight were in the doghouse and LT's legs were shot? Point is, running backs have short lifespans in the NFL. Both from a career-standpoint and a season standpoint. We have 4 half backs and I would not be surprised at all if all 4 saw significant playing time during the season. All it takes is one injury and we need to be stacked at this position for the type of football we want to play. The interesting thing is that RB's are devalued quite a bit in the league right now so it looks like we're taking advantage of that.
I like this pick. Do you guys really trust this running back corps? Shonn Greene's fumble problem could always arise and he will probably get banged up this year due to his running style. LT due to his age can always get banged up and will decline like last season. McKnight is unproven.
We could potentially carry all these guys on the team. Last year (5 RBs) LT Greene McKnight T. Richardson J. Conner This year (5 RBs?) LT Greene McKnight J. Conner Powell Unfortunately I don't think Tony Richardson is going to be back. Which is too bad, because I think he was great for the locker room. There's just no reason to have 2 roster spots for FB's. I see Powell as an insurance plan in case the McKnight experiment doesn't work out. McKnight played a great game the one time he played last year against Buffalo, but Buffalo was the last-ranked rush defending team, and it was the last week of the season. I think the coaching staff is still evaluating McKnight.
2012- Greene and Powell running hard and punishing defenses and then you got Mcknight as a change of pace back and 3rd down...looks pretty damn good to me- our future running game is set. I just hope Ducasse pans out and becomes the RT of the future- IK its a little unrelated, but it heavily affects the running game and Sanchez's longevity
FYP A Powell, Greene, McKnight combo down the road would be pretty incredible. With the running styles of Greene and Powell, their bodies will wear down a lot slower if they're splitting carries.
Greene stepped up his game as a receiver between last year and his rookie year. Learning under LT helped Greene, hopefully it can help Powell as well.