Doctor wrote:I love that we have faith in Barber. And with a roster that included Martin and Quizz that made sense. But this isn't a rbbc offense. Barber isn't Fred Taylor here. When DK took over Martin got the bulk of the carries with Sims getting about 100, Martin got over 1400 yards that season. Rojo is looking at about 250+ carries this season is he's healthy easily.
Resigning Sims to be the 3rd down guy, so that won't be Barber. And he won't keep Rojo on the bench on 1st and 2nd. We all know exactly how this is going to play out with Rojo sharpening his teeth against back ups in the preseason early before winning it the job.
I like Barber, I do. But he's a back up.
You're looking back 3 seasons as a reference as to why you think Ronald Jones will get 250+ carries. Look at it objectively.
In 2015, this was a team a year removed from a 2-14 record. The entire operation was in rebuild mode. We had a rookie QB, a 2nd year WR who had a good year, a 32 year old Vincent Jackson who declined very quickly and 2 rookies starting on a shakey Oline. We also had Lovie Smith as our head coach, a guy who loved using the run game to control the clock and likes using bell cows. Of course we wanted to run the ball over and over and over. And we did. Martin was our bell cow. In fact that season only 3 RBs received carries. Martin, Sims, and Bobby Rainey.
Move to 2016 Koetter is head coach and Martin got hurt. But even before he got hurt IIRC we signed Jacquizz Rodgers. And Antone Smith. Everybody got touches. Martin, Barber, Rodgers, Sims, Smith, Mike James. Koetter spreads the wealth around and likes utilzing multiple backs to fit the situation. Same with 2017, used multiple backs.
Also factor in what we are as an offense. In 2015 we had a rookie QB in Winston, Evans 2nd year, Vjax. ASJ & Brate at TE. Hump was a rookie. Very young, inexperienced offense.
2017 now look at what we have. Winston in year 4, ready to breakout after showing improvement each season prior. Evans in year 5 with a fresh new contract. Djax is 31 but still fast as **** and hopefully ready to contribute. Brate in year 5 and still getting better. OJ Howard has plenty of talent and is ready for a role. Hump in year 4 as well. Godwin in his 2nd year and really stepped up late last year. All of these weapons in the passing game, do you think Koetter is going to force the issue here and try to build his offense around a rookie RB? No. Barber isn't a special player but he's done what he can with his carries which is decent and will look to improve as well. All of these things you fail to take into consideration.