Running Back Musical Chairs
The once barren NFL trade market seems to have been revived. Now it combines with free agency to cause your average NFL fan to scratch his head and wonder how he’s ever going to keep up with who’s on his team. This month names like Ahman Green, Dominic Rhodes, Travis Henry, T.J. Duckett, Jamal Lewis, Willis McGahee, Tatum Bell, and Thomas Jones have found new homes either by being lured with new contracts or by being traded. Others like Chris Brown, Sammy Morris, and Corey Dillon are still available.
With more money to work with under the salary cap, teams are now able to retain more of their players. In part due to the weak free agent class, it seems it’s now en vogue to call up your fellow GM and pull off a trade. After getting used to racking their brains on how to retain a respectable team to field under the salary cap, maybe NFL GMs are simply bored.
Kicking off the action on March 4th, the Houston Texans signed former Packers and Seahawks running back Ahman Green. At the very least this brings a marquee name to a backfield that included Ron Dayne, Wally Lundy, and Samkon Gado in 2006. It should also significantly improve their 21st ranked rushing total and 3.9 yards per carry from last season. Once establishing a more dependable rushing attack, David Carr should have more time to find open receivers.
The Denver Broncos seem to have fallen in love with the idea of picking a running back early in the draft, slapping the number 26 on him, letting him mature some in their finesse offense, then dealing him for a shut-down cornerback. They did exactly that when they sent Tatum Bell to Detroit and managed to get former Tarheel Dre Bly in return. Bly will look fantastic across from all world-defender Champ Bailey and should help the Ponies significantly slow down high powered passing offenses. This includes, if not specifies, the “O” residing with the other Ponies in Indianapolis, likely the team standing in the way of representing the AFC in the Super Bowl.
The Broncos had a plan in mind when dealing for Bly, and it wasn’t just to beef up their “D.” Benching Jake Plummer in favor of Jay Cutler in the middle of the ’06 season gave the Broncos the rifle-armed signal caller they’ve been searching for since John Elway’s retirement. Despite Cutler’s gun, he’ll still be learning the tricks of the trade in only his second season in 2007. Denver signed former Tennessee Volunteer Travis Henry to a multi-year deal to bring some stability to their backfield. The Broncos did rank 8th overall in total rushing in 2006, but can benefit substantially by taking attention off Cutler and the passing game. Bringing in Henry, who rushed for 4.5 yards per carry and 1200 yards last year with the Titans will do just that.
The Cleveland Browns ranked 31st out of 32 teams last year in total rushing. One could only describe that with words like “putrid.” When the Browns think “running game,” anyone could guess that the first name they think of is Jamal Lewis. Another former Tennessee Vol, Lewis has routinely made the Browns look like a pee-wee team, setting the single game rushing record against them in a massacre that won’t soon be forgotten. Though some think he’s on the downside of this career, Lewis will bring a downhill power running style to a Cleveland team that will need a veteran presence to compete in the AFC North. The Browns then traded running back Rueben Droughns to the Giants for wide receiver Tim Carter to add some speed to their receiving corps. The Giants will look to Droughns to team up with bruiser Brandon Jacobs as a replacement for retired Tiki Barber.
The biggest winner in this madness could be the Baltimore Ravens. Upon letting Jamal Lewis go to a division rival, Baltimore traded three draft picks to Buffalo for Willis McGahee. McGahee gives the Ravens the explosiveness out of the backfield that they lacked in the playoffs and should stabilize their running game for the foreseeable future. Add this big play rushing threat to quarterback Steve McNair and the team’s improved passing game and Baltimore will surely be one of the top candidates to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
Trading for Thomas Jones puts a feature back in Eric Mangini’s offense that struggled to replace Curtis Martin in 2006. Jones brings the Jets a tough running style and leadership and should make them a playoff contender in ’07. Former Michigan State Spartan T.J. Duckett signed with the Lions and will be the thunder to Kevin Jones’ lightning. In a similar, but not quite so “thunder and lightning” situation, the Raiders signed Dominic Rhodes to pair with LaMont Jordan, making their offense look slightly less horrid (though their quarterback situation doesn’t look too promising for the near future).
With a few names still out there, the running back class of 2007 still has yet to make its full affect. Despite the importance of a running game, the NFL’s fickle tendencies with the position appear to be a trend of the time.
-AB
