By now most of us are over the initial (somewhat shock) of the Jags signing Toby Gerhart to be their starting RB for next season, and letting MoJo walk, as we move on into the future with the current regime. 

 

Here's the thing,...if we were all paying attention better to our own management, we might have seen this one coming before it did. 

 

Look at Caldwell's history - 

 

What team did we get him from again?...Atlanta, correct? 

 

Well, pretty much this exact scenario played out in Atlanta several years back. Atlanta was in need of a workhorse RB, as their current crop of RB's at the time were aging/ not getting the job done. How did Atlanta address their issue? By signing Michael Turner, backup RB (to LaDanian Tomlinson) on the San Diego Chargers for his first 4 years, and was productive in his limited work, but largely unknown playing behind an established star RB. 

 

Caldwell apparently took a page from that book in how we went about filling our need for the RB position this offseason with the Gerhart deal. The only real difference being slight - Gerhart is a year older than Turner was at the time of his signing, but to offset that, Gerhart got only a 3 year deal which expires at the age of 30 for Gerhart, which IMO, was a smart decision by Caldwell. 

 

Otherwise, Gerhart and Turner are pretty similar in skill and the type of runners they are. Both bigger RB who move really quick for their size. This isn't the usual plodding 240 pound RB addition, 

 

For those worried about age - Turner was able to post 1300 yard seasons at age 28 & 29 (his 3rd and 4th seasons in Atlanta and that was after totaling over 1500 yards that first season as a starter with the club. During his first 4 years as a Falcon Turner averaged 4.5 YPC, which is similar to the kind of YPC Gerhart has shown thus far as a career average. I anticipate that like the Turner example showed, Gerhart has a lot of tread left on the tires despite the age of 27, due to a reduced workload in total carries, thus far in his career. 

 

Also overlooked here - is if Gerhart does indeed play out like Turner did - the 4 MIL per year we are paying Gerhart, will suddenly look cheap, relatively speaking. 

 

Looking back, its amazing few if any of us saw this coming, given Caldwell has proven at times to follow his Atlanta script, such as his hire of Bradley which is somewhat similar to the regime in Atlanta hiring Mike Smith. 

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