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[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

My concern with CEH is that he may lack the top end speed to actually do anything with some of these holes. It's like, he can make the LB miss in the hole and then by the time he makes the 3rd level miss, the 2nd level guys are tackling him from behind.

I sort of expected that, though.

And it didn't bother me - I'll take a consistent 3 yards over 7-0-2. What's important for this running game is to stay at/near the sticks or be able to pick up short yardage. If he were never anything more than the version of Marcus Allen we had that seemed to always pick the right spot to be and gain 3-4 yards, that would be just fine and hugely valuable. The running game is not and should not be a focal point of this offense - its a complement. And a consistently productive 'churn' would be extremely useful.

My concern is not the top end to blast through the hole into the second level - it's that sometimes he's not seeing the hole at all and he's running into his linemen.

You combine the lack of breakaway speak with the occasional wasted carry from not seeing a hole and putting us behind the sticks, then you have a real question as to what he actually brings to the running game. And then if you see the team still putting Williams and McKinnon out there on 3rd downs because of pass protection issues w/ CEH you start to ask what value he really brings at all.

And again - all of that is worst case scenario stuff. That's not to say it's time to close the book on the kid at all. It's just the inklings of a worry that I'm starting to get with him. On a mediocre team, I wouldn't worry about it because there would be bigger issues. On this team, its worth wondering. Because there aren't many nits to pick here.

[JPH83]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I sort of expected that, though.

And it didn't bother me - I'll take a consistent 3 yards over 7-0-2. What's important for this running game is to stay at/near the sticks or be able to pick up short yardage. If he were never anything more than the version of Marcus Allen we had that seemed to always pick the right spot to be and gain 3-4 yards, that would be just fine and hugely valuable. The running game is not and should not be a focal point of this offense - its a complement. And a consistently productive 'churn' would be extremely useful.

My concern is not the top end to blast through the hole into the second level - it's that sometimes he's not seeing the hole at all and he's running into his linemen.

You combine the lack of breakaway speak with the occasional wasted carry from not seeing a hole and putting us behind the sticks, then you have a real question as to what he actually brings to the running game. And then if you see the team still putting Williams and McKinnon out there on 3rd downs because of pass protection issues w/ CEH you start to ask what value he really brings at all.

And again - all of that is worst case scenario stuff. That's not to say it's time to close the book on the kid at all. It's just the inklings of a worry that I'm starting to get with him. On a mediocre team, I wouldn't worry about it because there would be bigger issues. On this team, its worth wondering. Because there aren't many nits to pick here.

I think this is all reasonable. Basing this off very few snaps but I'm also thinking the OL may need a little bit more time than I originally thought. Some really good play but some fairly average stuff that I think needs more time together. So I'm not as bullish as some are on CEH ripping off massive yardage this year. But as others have said, when you've got Mahomes if you're running it that much you're probably not doing it right.

He'll probably have an uptick this year with an improving OL and more focus on the run, that'd be fine. I just never want to see Veach pick another RB in the 1st round.