The Jaguars offense has clearly identified itself as a downfield passing attack where the running game is a bit of an afterthought with a rather porous run blocking OL. With that said, Yeldon appears to be doing his job when called upon helping to keep drives alive. One could only imagine how good he might be if the offense featured true road graders up front or stressed a run first philosophy, but as it stands, TJ is averaging 4.0 ypc this season and is nearly on pace for a 1000-yard season. While he only has two 100-yard games to date, you often see him bouncing outside and slicing through the smallest gaps to pick up something like 8 yards.
All of this said, I feel like the jury is still out. He's not quite as explosive as Fred Taylor and not quite the brawler that MJD was, but he's somewhat of a blend of the two. Do you feel he's a franchise caliber feature RB or should we still be looking for that guy? What are you thoughts on our second round pick now that he's halfway through his rookie season?
I think, with better blocking, he can be that guy. But we have got to get a good complimentary back to spell him.
I haven't seen anything that's made me get up out of my seat as of yet. This WR group should draw more attention next year, making Yeldon's job easier... doesn't mean he will be any more explosive though.
You don't always get Freddy T or MJD types available. I'm going to watch the guy play and see what happens. The line play is mediocre at best and just not cracking open gaps for him. He has good feet and decent speed. He isn't going to juke the defense and explode the play like Fred. He isn't going to overpower the defense like MJD. He is a solid running back that is still a rookie. He is already improving his ability to stay in and block and know when to be a safety valve.
Quote:The Jaguars offense has clearly identified itself as a downfield passing attack where the running game is a bit of an afterthought with a rather porous run blocking OL. With that said, Yeldon appears to be doing his job when called upon helping to keep drives alive. One could only imagine how good he might be if the offense featured true road graders up front or stressed a run first philosophy, but as it stands, TJ is averaging 4.0 ypc this season and is nearly on pace for a 1000-yard season. While he only has two 100-yard games to date, you often see him bouncing outside and slicing through the smallest gaps to pick up something like 8 yards.
All of this said, I feel like the jury is still out. He's not quite as explosive as Fred Taylor and not quite the brawler that MJD was, but he's somewhat of a blend of the two. Do you feel he's a franchise caliber feature RB or should we still be looking for that guy? What are you thoughts on our second round pick now that he's halfway through his rookie season.
Yeldon is going to be a very good back for us. His vision and patience really does remind me (and a lot of other people) of Leveon Bell. He has such nimble feet and if he was in an offense like Pitt, you would see Leveon type stats.
He needs to be on the field as much as possible on 3rd down though. Why in the world are we putting in Denard?! He dropped what would have been a 20+ yard gain on a crucial 3rd down in the game.
Unfortunately for Yeldon, and every future Jaguars running back, he'll always be compared to Freddy T and MJD, and I don't think you'll ever get that out of him. Or most anyone else, for that matter. Those two, especially Fred, were of a rare breed, and whether he hits the Hall or not, Fred was one of the best backs in NFL history.
Yeldon is not of that caliber. He's a good runner, no doubt, but calling him a "blend" of Fred and Mojo is kind of ridiculous. He's a very patient, powerful runner, but he lacks breakaway speed, and I don't think he'll ever be able to seemingly create holes like Fred and Mojo had a knack for doing. I still think that James Stewart is a good comparison for him, although he's more gifted athletically than Stewart was. If he has a solid line in front of him, he can pound it out and wear a defense down over the course of the game, then hit them for a couple of longer runs later on. Without much help from his blockers, I think 4ypc (what we're seeing now) is pretty close to his ceiling. With blocking, he'll fall into that pantheon of running backs who do everything well, but excel at very little. You know, kind of like what James Stewart was projected to be.
Innards.. Rib cage.. Sternum..
Quote:The Jaguars offense has clearly identified itself as a downfield passing attack where the running game is a bit of an afterthought with a rather porous run blocking OL. With that said, Yeldon appears to be doing his job when called upon helping to keep drives alive. One could only imagine how good he might be if the offense featured true road graders up front or stressed a run first philosophy, but as it stands, TJ is averaging 4.0 ypc this season and is nearly on pace for a 1000-yard season. While he only has two 100-yard games to date, you often see him bouncing outside and slicing through the smallest gaps to pick up something like 8 yards.
All of this said, I feel like the jury is still out. He's not quite as explosive as Fred Taylor and not quite the brawler that MJD was, but he's somewhat of a blend of the two. Do you feel he's a franchise caliber feature RB or should we still be looking for that guy? What are you thoughts on our second round pick now that he's halfway through his rookie season?
I don't think he compares to either Fred or MJD, he doesn't have either of their styles. I see a better comparison as Lesean McCoy.
Quote:I don't think he compares to either Fred or MJD, he doesn't have either of their styles. I see a better comparison as Lesean McCoy.
He doesn't dance like McCoy. Leveon is the best comp I think.
As I said it other times, I really like Yeldon.
Unfortunately for him the run blocking is really awful, every game he's hit in the backfield or at the LOS by 3-4 guys at the time, like there's no blocking at all. Even with that he doesn't give up and creates yards out of nothing when possible.
Surely sometimes he could just dance a little less but that's his style and what makes it possible for him to create yards even when they are not there.
Plus he has good hands and reliable as receiver.
I don't get why when we reach the end zone we almost never give him the ball, just one try yesterday (vs the 4 in a row that Gerhart got), even DRob was brought up instead of him when we reached the Red zone in the first half.
We see it when other RB get on the field: we either lose yards or no gain at all, yesterday DRob was really bad actually risking a fumble as a RB in that red zone situation and having a terrible drop when he wasn't pressured at all in the second half on a crucial play.
Gerhart...let's not talk about it.
I say give Yeldon a decent run blocking OL and he will dramatically improve his numbers making it really difficult for opposing defenses to try dealing with our receivers and him in the backfield.
Quote:He doesn't dance like McCoy. Leveon is the best comp I think.
Guess we disagree here. I think his feet move very much like McCoy's do. He doesn't have the power Leveon has.
It seems like Yeldon has a lot of potential but we won't see it (at least not this year). We have become a pass heavy team and don't run the ball nearly as often as we used to. Probably because our O-Line sucks. Once that improves, I see us using the run more and Yeldon could become a star.
He seems ok enough, I just wish he didn't dance behind the line as much as he does.
TJ Yeldon is more of a less powerful, more elusive version of Leveon Bell. That's where you need to put your comparisons at, and Leveon Bell has one of the best run blockers in the league on his line. Give Yeldon time, he will never be MJD or Fred Taylor, we may never have two players like that ever again, but he'll be good in his own right.
Quote:It seems like Yeldon has a lot of potential but we won't see it (at least not this year). We have become a pass heavy team and don't run the ball nearly as often as we used to. Probably because our O-Line sucks. Once that improves, I see us using the run more and Yeldon could become a star.
That and we usually are playing from behind which effectively shuts down the run.
I see fans who complain that he dances too much when he loses 2 and comparisons to L. Bell when he gains big yardage due to patience.
I'd like to see us ultimately go with a 1-2 type punch to balance the attack and prolong his career.
The NFL rules favors the passing game so much that teams like the Pats & Steelers value a good RB but are not dependent on a good RB.
I think TJ is good for our system and the future vision of this franchise.
Quote:I see fans who complain that he dances too much when he loses 2 and comparisons to L. Bell when he gains big yardage due to patience.
I totally agree with the comparison. Le'Veon has a little more juke and speed, but their running style is very similar.
Ultimately, when the OL is able to establish holes, their running styles are even more effective.
he seems to get the most out of what is there most of the time, in that case he reminds me of MJD. With better blocking he would be doing much better.
Quote:I'd like to see us ultimately go with a 1-2 type punch to balance the attack and prolong his career.
The NFL rules favors the passing game so much that teams like the Pats & Steelers value a good RB but are not dependent on a good RB.
I think TJ is good for our system and the future vision of this franchise.
I think the Jaguars will never possess the caliber of a team the Patriots have and should definitely rely on a good running game. The biggest mistake every franchise in the NFL makes is trying to be the Patriots, even when the Patriots themselves will acknowledge how lucky they've gotten when moving the roster around.