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Hybrid RBs

#1

Hello from the U.K., first post here for me so please don’t crucify me...my knowledge of the game is good for a Brit but not amazing.

I wanted to touch on a article written by Bucky Brooks this week whereby he said teams should be considering hybrid RBs as first round picks. 

I think this is subjective dependant on need but if your looking for an offensive player in the first round and don’t posses one of these hybrid RBs I think he has a point. Just look at the players taking the league by storm, Gurley, Hunt, Barkley, Kamara, McCaffrey & Connor. These guys are regularly posting 100+ yds from scrimmage per game, are TD machines and freeing up the field for other positions to make plays.

I guess Yeldon is our equivilant but he’s certainly not matching the stats put up by the guys above. So, is this something we need to look into? Would a more consistent offensive help Yeldon reach a higher ceiling? Is Fournette capable of being a Hybrid RB if he can stay on the field? Hyde has shown flashes of this style of play in the past but remains predominantly a power back!

Interested to hear your thoughts Smile
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#2

With the league's rules and standard of rules enforcement shifting to favor and enable passing attacks, involving backs in the pass game is going to naturally trend upward.

It's nothing new, but it will certainly become more prevalent.

The Jags were actually in good shape in this regard before losing Grant and putting Yeldon on a snap count due to injury.
Both of them are quite productive catching the ball (when given opportunities) and Grant was sometimes lined up as the slot receiver in a bunch formation - so they were thinking of him AS a receiver at times.

Hopefully the new line-up of Fournette/Hyde/Yeldon will be utilized with a number of pass plays as well. Yeldon we know will get targets, but Fournette should be targeted as well.  He has adequate hands though I'd not send him on a deep seam route or anything like that. Not sure how well he tracks the ball on deeper routes.


Welcome to the board!
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#3

Just going off memory, I believe half of your examples weren’t 1st round picks. It’s a position you can generally get good if not elite production from out of the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Should a team consider drafting one in the 1st? Maybe, but I wouldn’t bend over backwards to force a selection there. Also, as NYC mentioned we were fine at RB prior to all 3 of our guys suffering injuries of some sort and I don’t think Hyde was comfortable with the playbook yet when he made his first appearance as a Jag just prior to the bye. I think we’ll be fine going forward. Fournette may not be the receiver that mccaffrey, Kamara and Hunt are, but he’s hybrid enough and has pass catching backs in yeldon and grant (on IR this season unfortunately) to help out and Hyde can do some of that as well.

If you don’t have a QB, you should really be focused on that in the 1st round above all else assuming you can get into position to get a guy that makes the grade.
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#4

The game has definitely changed where you want your RB to be multi-purposed running and catching. The days of Larry Csonka are long since gone. And you definitely don't take a true RB in the 1st round anymore. And wIth the way the game is changing, at some point, you may not even need a true RB anymore. If you have a somewhat more stout WR, like a Cordelle Patterson, they could effectively be used as your running game. So I would argue the position of the player is somewhat irrelevant now. Ultimately you are just drafting high end athletic ability with a wide skillset. If you find one, you take them in the first round and they become your offensive weapon. If they are mainly a WR that gets about 5 carries and 7 receptions a game or if they are a mainly a RB getting 10 carries a game and 3-5 receptions a game, so be it. You draft versatile athletes and get them the ball.

As far as the Jags, we were in a pretty good spot until the injuries. Yeldon isnt an explosive home run talent but has the perfect combination of versatility you want in today's game. Grant also had a lot of versatility and while not able to run between the tackles the way Yeldon can, had more big play ability. And admittedly I've never been a huge fan of Fournette, and fairly or not, have been critical of him since draft night. He would have been better in the 70s and 80s in my opinion. A big guy who is hard to bring down and runs really fast but needs a gaping hole. However every team needs a big back for short yardage and late game situations and he in theory should be that guy.


________________________________________________
Scouting well is all that matters.  Draft philosophy is all fluff.
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#5

Yes you need a hybrid RB. Only one close on the roster is Yeldon, but he really doesn't scare you. You want a guy that's going to scare opposing defenses ala Tarik Cohen and Kamara. A better term is JOYSTICK RB.

As for spending a 1st rounder on one? Hell no. You can find these guys later. We could use Fournette as our Mark Ingram, we just need a Kamara and a QB who can pass a football.
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#6

I don't know about hybrid running backs, but I've done well with a hybrid 3 iron.
When you get into the endzone, act like you've been there before.
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#7
(This post was last modified: 11-09-2018, 01:56 PM by Inziladun.)

Generally speaking you can get good RBs outside the first round, there's certainly some excellent recent examples of this in Kareem Hunt (3rd round pick), Alvin Kamara (3rd round pick), and David Johnson (3rd round pick). All these guys could be considered "Hybrid" RBs, and they were all drafted later. That being said, maybe the article is hinting that given the recent trend in pass catching backs in the NFL, that these guys may end up going earlier and earlier and it may be a lot harder to land a Kamara or a Hunt in the 3rd round in 2022. I personally think that the pass catching element adds a certain level of diversity to the position that you can find decent talent late if you have a good scouting team. Guys like Ito Smith(4th round) with the Falcons or Austin Ekeler(UDFA) with the chargers can provide a lot of value to a team, even if they're not grand slam picks.

For example, Kamara doesn't have elite speed. This is why he wasn't a 1st round pick. He's not a guy that's going to burn the whole team. What he excels at is footwork, he makes cuts better than anyone in the league, can make a guy miss and advance levels in the defense. This is what will turn a 2-3 yard run into a 7-8 yard run. Add in a pass catching element, and here you go. Telvin Coleman(3rd round pick) has excellent speed but not the best between the tackles kind of guy(which is why he wasn't a first rounder), you can scheme to get him into space, or even have him straight run WR routes and force a mismatch that way. Ultimately there's many ways to skin a horse, which allows you to find value later and later, rather than just going for the guys that are good at everything. Of course it's up to the teams to diagnose that talent and then utilize it on the field, which is a challenge in of itself.
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