3rd Round ain't late. And I'm not a huge fan of this kid TBH. Some nice traits. I like that he's got a 3-down skillset. But the first thing I look for with any back is at least one elite trait. If they have one elite trait - vision, speed, pass blocking, whatever - they can be great if put in the right situation. Not sure I see any here.
OK, I've watched a bit of his tape (not a ton) and if you want an elite trait he does have one - though I don't know how much it's valued. The kid is an absolute natural pass catcher. He's already got the best hands in our RB room. LF isn't a natural, he's gotten fairly proficient, but every catch is a struggle for him still. KV even more so. Even Gio doesn't have that smoothness. If things had gone differently for the kid he might have ended up as a WR and may even have been draftable as such.
My personal player comp for him? Not production or "talent" wise, but stylistically, looking at how he runs and his body control and balance? Eddie George. He's an upright runner, but like George he has good lean into contact. He lacks George's power and aggression though. Put another 10 pounds on the guy and some mental adjustment and he could easily be a power runner, but he's a zone runner, not man.
His lateral agility is definitely outstanding. Stop and start both laterally and vertically are excellent. What I like most about him is his combination of vision and patience. Watch him hit holes and he seems to be going to the right spot almost always. He's very patient behind his block, but he doesn't dance - he doesn't delude himself that he's Barry Sanders, but he doesn't just hit the called hole like a tank like ROJO does. He has excellent acceleration in motion, and can stutter step as well as anyone.
One thing that shows up to me is his body control. He has the ability to keep his torso both perpendicular to the ground and facing upfield while his lower half can torque around and move in different ways than it would look like if you just saw his upper half. (sorry if that's hard to understand I can't really describe it better).
Negatively, he's lazy when he's running a route and isn't the target - he jogs enough to make Jaquezz proud. In pass pro he's passive and seems to sit and await contact. I DO wonder though if that was by design - he seems to be waiting for a green dog, but itching to get out into the flat.
Add some muscle and some attitude and you could have a power back with vision and acceleration and hands softer than a prison bitch.
If he's a natural pass catcher that could be a game-changer. As you note, Fournette has gotten better; but he's still worlds away from what Brady had in James White, and White was a major, major part of that offense. Without James White the Pats would not have won SB 51.
White was never on a team that had a WR room like we have now. So this is a different White, but if he's even in the ballpark of as good as a receiver as the other White, and can keep from being a liability in pass protection...Forget about it.
3rd Round ain't late. And I'm not a huge fan of this kid TBH. Some nice traits. I like that he's got a 3-down skillset. But the first thing I look for with any back is at least one elite trait. If they have one elite trait - vision, speed, pass blocking, whatever - they can be great if put in the right situation. Not sure I see any here.
OK, I've watched a bit of his tape (not a ton) and if you want an elite trait he does have one - though I don't know how much it's valued. The kid is an absolute natural pass catcher. He's already got the best hands in our RB room. LF isn't a natural, he's gotten fairly proficient, but every catch is a struggle for him still. KV even more so. Even Gio doesn't have that smoothness. If things had gone differently for the kid he might have ended up as a WR and may even have been draftable as such.
My personal player comp for him? Not production or "talent" wise, but stylistically, looking at how he runs and his body control and balance? Eddie George. He's an upright runner, but like George he has good lean into contact. He lacks George's power and aggression though. Put another 10 pounds on the guy and some mental adjustment and he could easily be a power runner, but he's a zone runner, not man.
His lateral agility is definitely outstanding. Stop and start both laterally and vertically are excellent. What I like most about him is his combination of vision and patience. Watch him hit holes and he seems to be going to the right spot almost always. He's very patient behind his block, but he doesn't dance - he doesn't delude himself that he's Barry Sanders, but he doesn't just hit the called hole like a tank like ROJO does. He has excellent acceleration in motion, and can stutter step as well as anyone.
One thing that shows up to me is his body control. He has the ability to keep his torso both perpendicular to the ground and facing upfield while his lower half can torque around and move in different ways than it would look like if you just saw his upper half. (sorry if that's hard to understand I can't really describe it better).
Negatively, he's lazy when he's running a route and isn't the target - he jogs enough to make Jaquezz proud. In pass pro he's passive and seems to sit and await contact. I DO wonder though if that was by design - he seems to be waiting for a green dog, but itching to get out into the flat.
Add some muscle and some attitude and you could have a power back with vision and acceleration and hands softer than a prison bitch.
You can put muscle on a guy, but attitude is a different story. A guy either has some dog in him or he doesn't. That's not really something you can coach.
That being said, it is not really something you need in a running back. Especially a running back with his skill set. He doesn't need to be bowling over linebackers or pancaking edge rushers. He needs to be elusive, catch the ball, and when necessary, get a shoulder on a guy to give brady an extra second.
OK, I've watched a bit of his tape (not a ton) and if you want an elite trait he does have one - though I don't know how much it's valued. The kid is an absolute natural pass catcher. He's already got the best hands in our RB room. LF isn't a natural, he's gotten fairly proficient, but every catch is a struggle for him still. KV even more so. Even Gio doesn't have that smoothness. If things had gone differently for the kid he might have ended up as a WR and may even have been draftable as such.
My personal player comp for him? Not production or "talent" wise, but stylistically, looking at how he runs and his body control and balance? Eddie George. He's an upright runner, but like George he has good lean into contact. He lacks George's power and aggression though. Put another 10 pounds on the guy and some mental adjustment and he could easily be a power runner, but he's a zone runner, not man.
His lateral agility is definitely outstanding. Stop and start both laterally and vertically are excellent. What I like most about him is his combination of vision and patience. Watch him hit holes and he seems to be going to the right spot almost always. He's very patient behind his block, but he doesn't dance - he doesn't delude himself that he's Barry Sanders, but he doesn't just hit the called hole like a tank like ROJO does. He has excellent acceleration in motion, and can stutter step as well as anyone.
One thing that shows up to me is his body control. He has the ability to keep his torso both perpendicular to the ground and facing upfield while his lower half can torque around and move in different ways than it would look like if you just saw his upper half. (sorry if that's hard to understand I can't really describe it better).
Negatively, he's lazy when he's running a route and isn't the target - he jogs enough to make Jaquezz proud. In pass pro he's passive and seems to sit and await contact. I DO wonder though if that was by design - he seems to be waiting for a green dog, but itching to get out into the flat.
Add some muscle and some attitude and you could have a power back with vision and acceleration and hands softer than a prison bitch.
You can put muscle on a guy, but attitude is a different story. A guy either has some dog in him or he doesn't. That's not really something you can coach.
That being said, it is not really something you need in a running back. Especially a running back with his skill set. He doesn't need to be bowling over linebackers or pancaking edge rushers. He needs to be elusive, catch the ball, and when necessary, get a shoulder on a guy to give brady an extra second.
You just described Warrick Dunn. Not bad company to be in.
I like him better now than I did when we drafted him, now that I've taken the time to watch literally every touch he had in college. He honestly reminds me a lot of Rojo. One cut, foot in the dirt, and GO. Also soft hands. Biggest issue could be his frame. He's only listed at 6'0 but he runs taller, and he's listed at 214 (at the combine) but he looks like he plays skinnier. He's going to take some shots.
I still would not have taken him with Jeremy Ruckert sitting there. I think we'll live to regret that. I don't see anything exceptional about White compared to a bunch of guys who went after he did (I really would rather have gotten Spiller or Pierce.) But this would hardly be the first thing I was wrong about.
"So let's get to the point
Let's roll another joint
And let's head on down the road
There's somewhere I got to go..."
Every time I read that thread title it comes into my head as "Welcome Back White" and I have to stop mt last few remaining active brain cells from running into search mode to find somebody named White that is returning to the team. Every damned time!
IronDog wrote: ↑Tue Jun 14, 2022 10:17 am
Every time I read that thread title it comes into my head as "Welcome Back White" and I have to stop mt last few remaining active brain cells from running into search mode to find somebody named White that is returning to the team. Every damned time!
