Link: Running Backs Rankings
FoxSports has ranked running back groupings around the league, and the Jets land at #10.
If GM Mike Tannenbaum can satisfy both of his veteran backs, the Jets should have quite the running game for QB Mark Sanchez to potentially lean on as a rookie. Jones is hanging his helmet on the fact that he led the AFC in rushing (1,312 yards, fifth overall in NFL) and scored a career-high 13 rushing TDs. What he also likely realizes is that he’s a dinosaur in RB years (age 31) and the Jets just drafted Shonn Greene in April as his eventual replacement. Jones’ tag-team partner and return star Leon Washington is also vying for a new deal and considering a camp holdout. If the money issues are worked out, the pair along with Greene and veteran fullback Tony Richardson should give the Jets a top-10 running game.
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I thought I would really disagree with the entire list given our backs. But, in truth, I thought it was very reasonable.
OTOH, does anyone doubt that the Ravens and America’s team would love to trade running backs with us.
But 8th or 10th makes no odds.
It is up to our OL to make holes and keep the boogie men off our QB, our QB to complete passes without pics, and our D to dominate.
RB should not be an issue.
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I think Shonn Greene is gonna be a an absolute stud in Nov Dec this year.
Please give Leon the money he diserves! He’s to great to get payed minimum !
I think the Jets should be in the top 6. TJ will only be better this year with a little less workload because Leon and greene will take carries away from him. Leon will get his new deal i just hope its before camp starts. I really think the Jets could come close to their record for frushing attempts for a season. In 1979 they attempted to rush 634 times. I am sure Rex and schotty would love to run the ball 35-40 times per game if things go according to plans.
I think the FO is smart enough to fig. out the Leon situation. However, Thomas Jones needs to just be happy with the money he got paid the first 2 years. I mean, it’s not like he gave money back after only scoring 1 TD in 07.
I just hope Shonn Greene makes all of our problems go away….
I think that those rankings are pretty off. I have no idea how you can put the Ravens runners so high. Miamis runners are all overrated as well. I dont think Thomas Jones is a topflight back by any means, but he isnt any worse than Ronnie Brown and he is most defintely better than Willis McGahee. Leon is better or as good as any number 2 above him other than Chester Taylor and there are few better than Tony Richardson at FB.
I have to say, I think our running game is top 5. We have a very good group of RB’s.
Where in the definition of being a Jets fan does it say ‘delusional’?
No Thomas Jones is not as good as Ronnie Brown or Willis Mcgahee. Yes he is a good running back. No our running game isn’t top 5. But it should be after the over-expensive rook develops.
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A fair ranking based on the twin facts that TJ is hitting that over-30 zone when RBs start to decline and Shonn Greene is an unknown factor. Plus, our FB hasn’t carried the ball much (and I thought he should’ve carried the ball more last season). So, based on what Mangini did with this group of RBs, I’m okay with the ranking, as of now. But, by year-end, I expect that the Jets’ RB corps will be top 5, especially if Greene and Caulcrick add more of a smash mouth element to complement Leon.
Our O-line has a lot to do with it and I think a lot of us are forgetting that… Our o-line if healthy all year should be close to the top of the league….
having miami above us is ridiculous. ronnie brown is a stud but what else do you have? ricky williams? come on. same with dallas. barber is a stud and felix is good but already missed a huge chunk of time in his first year. other then that i agree for the most part other then the jets not being in the top 5
igs,
As usual you think with your heart and not with your head, and come across as ignorant, and beligerent.
Since 2004 Thomas Jones has amassed 5924 rushing yards,
Terrence McGahee 5243 yds.,
and Ronnie Brown 3431 yds.
Please show me where Thomas Jones is not better than McGahee and Brown. I don’t want to hear about perceptions, the proof is in the stats.
And while you are at it, please explain your comment “over-expensive rook”? I assume you are talking about Shoon Green? He signed a very reasonable 3rd round rookie contract. I don’t understand anything you wrote.
Like Harlan I was prepared to rip our listing of 10th, and like Harlan upon reading the list I’ve no argument with it’s author. We tend to forget that last year’s 1st in the AFC was 5th or 6th in the NFL.
I’d imagine that our new commitment to the run, and the addition of Greene, will raise us up a few notches this season.
ramble,
igs is harping on the cost in draft picks, not dollars, when discussing Greene.
It’s a tune he won’t stop playing for quite a while if history is any indication.
I took exception to his “delusional” label. It’s not like they were ranked 20 and I said 5. They were ranked 10 out of 32 and I said 5, reasonable I think considering TJ was the 5th best rushing RB in the NFL last year. When you add in LW, and TR, who is regarder as one of the best FB in the league, I think we have a top 5 rushing attack. And thats not taking into account our OL.
Ramble, since I’m ignorant and belligerant, I’ll just let some other people on the blog further explain what I was saying:
From EDL: “Our O-line has a lot to do with it and I think a lot of us are forgetting that… Our o-line if healthy all year should be close to the top of the league….”
From Sack: “A fair ranking based on the twin facts that TJ is hitting that over-30 zone when RBs start to decline and Shonn Greene is an unknown factor. Plus, our FB hasn’t carried the ball much (and I thought he should’ve carried the ball more last season). So, based on what Mangini did with this group of RBs, I’m okay with the ranking, as of now. But, by year-end, I expect that the Jets’ RB corps will be top 5, especially if Greene and Caulcrick add more of a smash mouth element to complement Leon.”
Ramble and StvDoe, you guys are stupid-idiots that don’t know anything about football and don’t know how to take an honest look at the makeup of a team. If you can compare TJ to Ronnie Brown or Willis McGahee and say he’s a better RB, than your dumb. What I will give him is that he’s more durable and better at adjusting to different blocking schemes.
You compare yards from 2004 when Ronnie Brown was drafted in 2005 and has had a major injury and McGahee has faced a major injury and shared the backfield with LaRon McClain, Ray Rice, and others. What kind of slanted idiocy is that?
Now as I said. TJ is a good back. The running game does project to be a top 5. Shonne Green looks like he will be a great back in the NFL. But that has to happen first.
Like I said…ignorant and beligerent.
What’s the matter? That’s the best rebuttal you could come up with chump? Yeah. That’s what I thought.
igs,
I didn’t support ramble’s argument, nor did I disagree with it. I merely clarified YOUR point about the cost of Greene.
And you and I seem to agree that this season the Jets should move up a few notches in these rankings.
So, I clarify once and agree once, and for this you label me a “stupid-idiot”.
You’ve got some issues son.
BTW, just wondering, why hyphenate stupid idiot?
igs,
What have you seen out of either of those two backs to say they are anything more than JAGs, just like Jones other than where they were drafted? The facts are that Ronnie Brown is basically a 210-220 carry a year guy with decent hands out of the backfield. He doesn’t have a nose for the endzone, and other than 2007 right before he got injured has been a basically average back. If he was drafted in the 2nd round nobody would ever mention him as a “big name” player.
McGahee is an injury risk. Usually good for 13 or 14 games a year. He does have a nose for the end zone and is a bit better than jones at finding a big play, though neither is good. Play in and out he is nowhere near as good as Jones or Brown for that matter. I think he has only averaged above 4 YPC once in his career and looked awful at times last season. He is also a major liability on 3rd downs. The Bills used to remove him from games all the time in passing situations because he cant block at all. There is a good possibility he will be demoted to the number 2 RB and number 3 option by the time the season starts.
StvDoe,
No, what you did was dumb my argument down by bringing up the fact that I hated the Shonne Green trade. I can do my own dumbing down. I don’t need your help with that.
As other people have pointed out in these posts, I made a legitimate point about the RB rankings and how TJ compares to Brown and McGahee. The Shonne Green bit was the most minimal part of that point and you tried to flip it to look like that’s what I was talking about.
And generally, as another pet peeve, don’t correct my grammar. It’s a football post, not a English essay.
Jason, that’s exactly what I pointed out. First off, if since 2004, TJ had 1000 more yards that Brown. But Brown was drafted in 2005 and had 1 major injury that who projects as the better back.
Or lets say we just compare the numbers from 2005 even though Brown has had that major injury. So the fact that the other guys are less durable has not been lost on me.
Or lets just use common sense. Anybody that’s seen the 2 guys play could see that Brown has more power, better lateral movement, and more speed than TJ. Not to mention that Ronnie Brown is approaching the prime of his career as to where TJ’s career is nearing the end. We’ve just began to see what Ronnie Brown can do and we’ve seen TJ at his best already.
I said it several times that, to his credit, TJ is def. more durable and dependable.
But compare TJ’s numbers when the Jets have a good line and when the line wasn’t working so well together. SO a lot of that is line.
And do you guys watch college football? I mean come on. Why is this even an argument?
Guys?
Stop with the name calling please. Any more personal insults will be removed.
College has almost no correlation to the pros. Reggie Bush was a great college player. He has more tools than Ronnie Brown in every sense of the game. Id rather have Ronnie Brown on my team any day of the week.
Im not sure I get your injury argument. Brown got hurt in 2007, not 2005. Jones has rushed for something like 1500 more yards than Brown from 2005-2008, not 1000 more since 2004. Even if you make a projection that he would have kept up his 2007 pace, Jones still would have rushed for more yards by a good amount. I understand Jones has been on better teams than Brown, but Brown isnt lighting the league on fire either. I have never once seen him play and said “if he was only on a good team he would be great” and usually RB is one position where guys stand out even on a bad team. He never has.
fwiw, I think it’s very hard to judge how RBs would do if placed in the exact same situation. From what I’ve seen, I think Ronnie Brown is a better RB than Jones. I know Jones has more yards, but Ronnie Brown was having an exceptional season on a poor Dolphins team before his injury in 2007. The Jets had an equally poor team, but Jones was not anywhere near as good as Brown. Brown is only 27, has a lifetime 4.4 YPA and has averaged around 34 receptions a season at 8.4 YPR (both are better than TJ’s career and Jets numbers). He also ran the “Wildcat” to perfection. IMO, he’s more versatile and more of a second-level threat, while able to get tough yards (he is 6-0, 233). I believe behind the Jets line he would be a superior RB to TJ and I’d gladly trade TJ for Brown, which is my personal barometer of who is better.
As for McGahee, I think TJ is better. TJ’s numbers are better and I even think TJ is a better second-level threat. I might prefer McGahee when it’s 4th and inches, but I think even at his age Jones is better.
As for the rankings, I thought the Dolphins and Ravens got more out of their RB corps than the Jets did last season, so my comment was more an indictment of Mangini than a shot at the quality of the Jets backfield, which is, IMO, top 5 in talent.
igs,
I didn’t “dumb down” your point, I merely explained it. He thought you meant money, I said you meant draft picks.
But your enmity for me twisted it in your head to an insult.
I did comment on your flagellation of a moribund equine, but that’s not an insult, merely an observation.
BTW, I didn’t correct your grammar, I questioned your spelling. I just wondered why you’d make such a choice. (I assumed it was purposeful, not a mistake.)
And like it or not, when one chooses to “put pen to paper”, one’s writing, as well as content, is judged by those who read it. I try not to make errors in spelling and grammar, but I’m sure I fail frequently. (I tend to write run-on sentences, among other failings.)
I tend to assume that everyone takes pride not only in what they write, but in how they write it. Perhaps that is a reflection of my advanced years, and such things are not valued by those younger than I am.
Bent,
I engaged in no name calling, but questioned why I was being called names.
Anything comparison b/t the RBs for the Jets and Miami needs to take into account the O-lines. The Jets O-line is much better, and TJ’s work (or lack of success) behind a weak O-line has shown that he lacks some of the burst and power that the Miami backs have.
Sack,
The reason why I dont think the Jets would be as effective with Brown is because he cant handle a high workload. I think there our running game would take a step down if we had to use Leon for 200 carries, because Brown can only handle 200 carries a season. I think if you try to run him more than that you end up with him missing 2-3 games which would mean Leon as the number 1 option. Like I said above I think Brown and Jones are similar in talent. Brown is a name because of where he was drafted and Jones is a name because of his days in Chicago where he was in a feud with Cedric Benson. Neither is great by any means.
Did you guys see that survey on ESPN.com that ranks the Jets as the 102rd worst franchise in pro sports (out of 122 teams). Bassett actually is interviewed for the article and basically implies it’s because of the crappy stadium but with coaching and ownership ranked so high I’m surprised we ended up so far down.
The Jets offense is filled with question marks and a need for certain players to raise their game to the next level
http://turnonthejets.com/2009/07/01/jets-2009-offense-the-elephant-in-the-room/
I can’t believe that anyone would even entertain the argument. But hey, it seems like a few guys here just don’t know how to make a sensible, objective observation. And feel the need to blow it out into an argument. I’ll simply say again that anyone that watches all 3 backs play can clearly see the difference in speed, lateral ability, and power. And anyone that reads the stat lines can see that TJ has stayed on the field much longer and has not had a major injury. ANd that’s to his credit. But to say he’s more talented than McGahee or Brown is a joke. He has ben more durable.
Jason,
My point about the injury is to say that you just have to take that into account. Guys get hurt so you cant say TJ is better simply because he’s had more yards in a 3 year span. There’s so many different situations for RBs that it’s almost impossible to say. What line? What blocking scheme? How many other good backs on the team? What kind of back is he? etc, etc. But the closest you can get to fair is to compare Brown’s 4 seasons in the NFL to TJ’s 1st four seasons. Even with a major injury it’s beyond comparison. TJ’s first year he put up 373 yard to Brown’s 900 something. Should I go on?
StvDoe,
When you clarified my point, you dumbed it down. And don’t ask me aboug my grammar or spelling errors or anything. It’s a blog post. I don’t want to talk about English and it offends me.
OH, btw, the reason I brought up college is that you can see in college what kind of talent a player has regardless of his situation. Someone brought up the point of Reggie Bush, and that’s a good example because what made Bush so valuable was the kind of back he projected to be, which is a Marshall Faulk, which is very rare in the NFL. And all that talent is still there. But his situation is what changed in the NFL. He needs to be in a team like the ‘99 Rams to see the height of his potential.
So if you see a back in college you can talk to a higher degree about raw talent.
Looking at the Jets tight ends in 2009
http://turnonthejets.com/2009/07/01/jets-positional-analysis-tight-ends/