Much of the animosity and ridicule of Toby Gerhart is based on the very first game where he was injured and that injury alone turned out to be worse than anyone else thought...........especially the coaching staff. I think Toby himself convinced the coaches he was OK when in reality, they should have benched him from game 2 on until he was 100% healthy. Unfortunately, what we saw in him performance wise wasn't even a blip on the radar until those last couple of games when it appeared he was BACK. The games in between where the coaches put him in did more damage than good. That said, I STILL believe that without a miraculous improvement in the OL...........it really doesn't matter who is in the backfield come opening day. Training camp will determine whether Toby or Denard (perhaps even Jordan) which one will be there on day one. It's going to be interesting. Frankly, I'd like to see Toby shed about 10-15 lbs because I think that would dramatically effect his burst speed. I think he is carrying too much weight. At 215 or so, I think we'd see a much more elusive Toby Gerhart. Do I think he has the ability to earn every last penny of his salary? Absolutely I do, but as with is this entire JAGS team where he and THEY go depends totally on how well this OL improves. Bortles could come out on fire, but if the OL falters, his flame will go out quickly. Same goes for ALL of the RB's no matter who they are.
I think with rumors that we are targeting Bulaga and Hudson, if we were to sign them, the O-Line would drastically improve(Bowanko did fine, but a veteran Hudson would still be a very solid improvement.) I think we should give Gerhart another chance, assuming we get at least 1 of them. Between injury and a terrible o-line, it is no surprise that Gerhart couldn't succeed. I think if he comes back healthy and the o-line improves, he should be given another chance to show if he has potential or not. If we improve the line and he still sucks, goodbye.
With a better O-Line and a healthy Gerhart we'll see....since it looks like they'll keep him.
He did seem to improve towards end of season.
We'll find out that's for sure.
Quote:I think with rumors that we are targeting Bulaga and Hudson, if we were to sign them, the O-Line would drastically improve(Bowanko did fine, but a veteran Hudson would still be a very solid improvement.) I think we should give Gerhart another chance, assuming we get at least 1 of them. Between injury and a terrible o-line, it is no surprise that Gerhart couldn't succeed. I think if he comes back healthy and the o-line improves, he should be given another chance to show if he has potential or not. If we improve the line and he still sucks, goodbye.
He still has time on his contract and as a result he isn't actually costing the team anymore by being here so sure; give the man another chance. I think Dave would be wise to look to the this draft for a running back though. I'm not sure that even with the addition of Bulaga if that would be enough to make a difference for Toby.
Why was this nonsense revived.
Gerhart showed in the proper situation he can be a good back. Gerhart is the type that needs a good offensive line to get his legs going then he becomes the back we all wanted. This offensive line often hit RB's behind the LOS and never gave him a chance to built up his momentum.
The oline blocked better towards the end of the season while his production skyrockted from earlier in the season.
I believe Gerhart would make a good H back.