Are You Comfortable with the RB Position?

[Mazrimiv]

It's hard for me to have much of an opinion of the RB situation yet.  Generally speaking, I guess I expect it to be a little better than last season almost by default.  It's not like there's been a high bar set at RB over the past couple seasons.  I think waiting until the end of RD4 to address the position was a pretty clear signal that RB is viewed as a complementary piece in this offense.  If Monty and Williams manage to stay healthy for the most part, they should fill the role well enough.

[vegas492]

Great topic, just getting caught up....

When I think about how our running backs will fare, I think about the offensive scheme and the offensive line.

From the accounts I've heard, expectations are that the line will be better this year than it was last year.  Evans is at least equal to Lang, and from a friend's opinion, possibly better.  Bakhtiari looks even better.  Bulaga looks the same.  Taylor appears to be much better and I've not heard anything about Lindsley.  Better line, better running results.

From a scheme standpoint, our RB's shouldn't be running against a stacked box.  Even in a 2 TE set, teams will be wise to try to contain the passing game first and take chances against our run game.

All that points to a big year from the running backs.

But then there is this...short line/goalline.  I don't see the guy who will gut out short yards, besides Rip.

4 minute offense.  When the box is stacked, is Monty going to hold up physically?  Do any of the rookie Rb's have enough vision and patience to grind out those yards?

And as pointed out, can a RB besides Rip pass protect?  I would say it isn't a huge deal, but we see what happened in the Super Bowl when a RB blows the block.

Finally I think the stats will be very good, but the little things bother me, especially short yardage and 4 minute offense.  

[AlexGreen#20]

6 hours ago, vegas492 said:

Great topic, just getting caught up....

When I think about how our running backs will fare, I think about the offensive scheme and the offensive line.

From the accounts I've heard, expectations are that the line will be better this year than it was last year.  Evans is at least equal to Lang, and from a friend's opinion, possibly better.  Bakhtiari looks even better.  Bulaga looks the same.  Taylor appears to be much better and I've not heard anything about Lindsley.  Better line, better running results.

From a scheme standpoint, our RB's shouldn't be running against a stacked box.  Even in a 2 TE set, teams will be wise to try to contain the passing game first and take chances against our run game.

All that points to a big year from the running backs.

But then there is this...short line/goalline.  I don't see the guy who will gut out short yards, besides Rip.

4 minute offense.  When the box is stacked, is Monty going to hold up physically?  Do any of the rookie Rb's have enough vision and patience to grind out those yards?

And as pointed out, can a RB besides Rip pass protect?  I would say it isn't a huge deal, but we see what happened in the Super Bowl when a RB blows the block.

Finally I think the stats will be very good, but the little things bother me, especially short yardage and 4 minute offense.  

Lang to Evans is a huge drop-off. You're talking about an all pro caliber player to a guy who's hopefully going to be an average starter. I'm not sure Evans has ever in his career been a better player than Lang has been the last two seasons and Evans is certainly not in his prime.

[PackyAttacky]

6 minutes ago, AlexGreen#20 said:

Lang to Evans is a huge drop-off. You're talking about an all pro caliber player to a guy who's hopefully going to be an average starter. I'm not sure Evans has ever in his career been a better player than Lang has been the last two seasons and Evans is certainly not in his prime.

A huge drop-off or just a drop off?

[AlexGreen#20]

12 hours ago, PackyAttacky said:

A huge drop-off or just a drop off?

A huge drop off

[Gopackgonerd]

19 hours ago, vegas492 said:

Great topic, just getting caught up....

When I think about how our running backs will fare, I think about the offensive scheme and the offensive line.

From the accounts I've heard, expectations are that the line will be better this year than it was last year.  Evans is at least equal to Lang, and from a friend's opinion, possibly better.  Bakhtiari looks even better.  Bulaga looks the same.  Taylor appears to be much better and I've not heard anything about Lindsley.  Better line, better running results.

From a scheme standpoint, our RB's shouldn't be running against a stacked box.  Even in a 2 TE set, teams will be wise to try to contain the passing game first and take chances against our run game.

All that points to a big year from the running backs.

But then there is this...short line/goalline.  I don't see the guy who will gut out short yards, besides Rip.

4 minute offense.  When the box is stacked, is Monty going to hold up physically?  Do any of the rookie Rb's have enough vision and patience to grind out those yards?

And as pointed out, can a RB besides Rip pass protect?  I would say it isn't a huge deal, but we see what happened in the Super Bowl when a RB blows the block.

Finally I think the stats will be very good, but the little things bother me, especially short yardage and 4 minute offense.  

I believe Williams can do both the bolded parts, he's no little back, plus his vision is very good, and we know McCarthy loves dem fullback dives, so I don't forsee those being problems.

[Revel8]

On 8/4/2017 at 6:32 PM, AlexGreen#20 said:

Lang to Evans is a huge drop-off. You're talking about an all pro caliber player to a guy who's hopefully going to be an average starter. I'm not sure Evans has ever in his career been a better player than Lang has been the last two seasons and Evans is certainly not in his prime.

Evans is good, he's not a huge drop off.  It will take the line some time to adjust however, but barring injury these things should be ironed out by the annual end of season playoff push.

[HighCalebR]

1 hour ago, Revel8 said:

Evans is good, he's not a huge drop off.  It will take the line some time to adjust however, but barring injury these things should be ironed out by the annual end of season playoff push.

It's a precipitous drop, especially from early season Lang. T.J. destroyed the 2nd level in the run game and was more than a handful when he pulled. Evans just isn't on the same athletic level. Evans is closer to Lane at this point than Lang..

[Revel8]

11 minutes ago, HighCalebR said:

It's a precipitous drop, especially from early season Lang. T.J. destroyed the 2nd level in the run game and was more than a handful when he pulled. Evans just isn't on the same athletic level. Evans is closer to Lane at this point than Lang..

I agree that Evans is closer to Lane Taylor than Lang, and that's not a bad thing.  It was a highly economically efficient move.

[HighCalebR]

Economical? Sure.. but there's going to a be a noticable difference on the field.

[Pad Level]

None of these RBs excite me.  I do hope that they all get action so we can see what we have because next years draft is going to be RB deep.

[justo]

Hard for me to imagine that this team won't transition to Jamaal Williams sooner rather than later. All the word out of camp is that Ty Montgomery still struggled in pass protection. I didn't really see much of an improvement in the first preseason game. That's a big worry there. Green Bay's not spending all that money/assets on offensive tackles just to have Aaron Rodgers sacked because a former receiver isn't able to hang in pass protection.

[vegas492]

On 8/4/2017 at 6:32 PM, AlexGreen#20 said:

Lang to Evans is a huge drop-off. You're talking about an all pro caliber player to a guy who's hopefully going to be an average starter. I'm not sure Evans has ever in his career been a better player than Lang has been the last two seasons and Evans is certainly not in his prime.

I respectfully disagree.  Evans was and is a 4 time All Pro and 6 time Pro Bowl member.  Lang went to one Pro Bowl.  Never an All Pro.  If you look at their careers, Evans > Lang.  And that's not a knock against TJ, he was a very good player.

Lang had a back issue and foot issues.  What got him in GB last year...knee?  Hip?

And Evans was very solid last year.  

To be fair, they are guards and both will play next to a good center in Lindsley and a very good tackle in Bulaga.  Guards can and do age pretty well.  When healthy, Lang did move better than Evans (later in his career).  But Lang's injury has limited that mobility.

I don't think you will see any drop off this year from Lang to Evans, except in the payroll.  Now, if TJ were healthy.....

[vegas492]

About the RB's...the only good thing I've seen thus far from any of them is Montgomery coming out of the backfield.  Lots of pre-season to go, but so far that whole unit looks shaky to me.  There is time to turn it around, but I haven't really liked what I've seen.

Williams runs high and is long/lean.  And he isn't fast.  And he isn't quick.  I worry about him.  

Jones looks like a little bowling ball.  I like his burst.

Mays has a little agility to him.

I just don't know.  Part of me thinks that it won't matter much because when #12 is under center, the RB is hardly ever going to run against a stacked box, so the yards will come easier.  Part of me thinks that our RB of the future still isn't on the roster.

[skibrett15]

15 minutes ago, vegas492 said:

I respectfully disagree.  Evans was and is a 4 time All Pro and 6 time Pro Bowl member.  Lang went to one Pro Bowl.  Never an All Pro.  If you look at their careers, Evans > Lang.  And that's not a knock against TJ, he was a very good player.

Lang had a back issue and foot issues.  What got him in GB last year...knee?  Hip?

And Evans was very solid last year.  

To be fair, they are guards and both will play next to a good center in Lindsley and a very good tackle in Bulaga.  Guards can and do age pretty well.  When healthy, Lang did move better than Evans (later in his career).  But Lang's injury has limited that mobility.

I don't think you will see any drop off this year from Lang to Evans, except in the payroll.  Now, if TJ were healthy.....

Don't look at their careers.  Their careers are hardly relevant as compared to their past 1-2 years of play and what happened in the offseason.  Evans was cut by seattle, then played fine in NO, then signed a very modest deal to play here.

 

Lang signed one of the biggest FA contracts this offseason, and played really well the past 2 years.  It's gonna be a huge dropoff.  All pro to passable starter type dropoff.