NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - Off Season

[OzzyKP]

Wow, those are the only white running backs? I guess I never really thought about it.

[Al B. Sure!]

Wow, those are the only white running backs? I guess I never really thought about it.

ONLY? That's a lot of white RB's to be getting touches! Until Brian Leonard showed up on the Rams a few years ago, there hadn't been a white HB in several years (since Nick Goings)

And no, there are more white FB's but most of them are pure fullbacks who block primarily. These guys are either listed as HB's (Gerhart) or are FB's who play HB roles (the rest).

[Al B. Sure!]

Oops. Forgot Danny Woodhead. One more white RB. He had 3 catches and a TD this week.

[Al B. Sure!]

"Whatever Happened to the White Tailback?"

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hill/080926

In the NFL, white tailbacks are even scarcer. Not one white player starts at tailback on any of the NFL's 32 teams. The last time a white tailback was taken in the first round of the NFL draft was 1974, when the Los Angeles Rams selected Penn State's John Cappelletti with the 11th overall pick.

With such a deeply entrenched trend, you wonder if ESPN college football analyst Craig James might be the last white player to rush for more than 1,000 yards in the NFL or if former Washington Redskins legend John Riggins will be the last white feature back to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The article goes into theories about why this is.

Not just RB, cornerback is another position that went all-Black the last few years. Jason Seahorn is the last white CB I can think of.


It will be interesting to see what happens with Peyton Hillis. Here is a guy who is one of the few backs to run for over 100 yards against the Ravens D. When he got his time to start in Denver two years ago, he played extremely well as a rookie before getting injured. Was converted to fullback with the logic of "We want him on the field more" (same thing happened with Brian Leonard if you remember his rookie campaign) and got traded to the Browns (Leonard got traded to the Bengals). It'll be interesting to see if any coach in the NFL will be willing to keep a White feature back or if they will ultimately turn him back into a blocker.

So far, it's been years since a coach was willing to make that decision.

[Al B. Sure!]

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/news/story?id=5626300

Williams excused it, saying then that Bryant, who received $8.3 million in guaranteed money from his rookie contract, would just have to take the team out to dinner and get him some new shoes.

Well, that dinner happened Monday night. The final tab: $54,896.

Bryant took the offensive players out to Pappas Bros. Steakhouse. Williams, however, made sure Bryant got the message, inviting defensive players as well.

And guess who was left holding the bill afterward.

"They got the young fella," said Bryant's adviser, David Wells. "What could he say? He had to pay it unless he wanted to wash dishes for a month."

Players ordered basically everything on the menu and even took home bottles of wine.

After checking out the 90-page wine book, it's anybody's guess if anybody took home a bottle of Chateau Latour for $9,000. It's also possible a few players ordered a bottle of PlumpJack Reserve for $600.

It's chump change for Bryant but funny how the whole team took advantage. $9000 wine

[SlowwHand]

He got 8 million guaranteed. He should have carried the pads and kept his mouth shut.

[Al B. Sure!]

He got 8 million guaranteed. He should have carried the pads and kept his mouth shut.

Yeah well he's a Texas boy like Roy E. Williams or Michael Crabtree. Humility is lacking in the Lonestar State.

[SlowwHand]

That's not true, at all. You run your mouth a lot more than me. Where are you? Not Texas. You don't see me putting up charts and graphs, trying to point out how I surely will win.
You just keep talking though. That's what you're good at.

[Al B. Sure!]

I can't wait

[Imran Siddiqui]

Was converted to fullback with the logic of "We want him on the field more" (same thing happened with Brian Leonard if you remember his rookie campaign)

Well, to be fair, Leonard was a FB his last couple seasons at Rutgers. He was originally a HB, but gave up the spot for FB when Ray Rice came to Rutgers.

[Al B. Sure!]

Well, to be fair, Leonard was a FB his last couple seasons at Rutgers. He was originally a HB, but gave up the spot for FB when Ray Rice came to Rutgers.

Yes but he was back to being a HB in St. Louis in his rookie year.

[Imran Siddiqui]

But its much easier to switch someone to FB if that was their main position in college.

[Al B. Sure!]

But its much easier to switch someone to FB if that was their main position in college.

What are you responding to? I'm trying to figure out what your point is. I said he was converted into a fullback with the logic of we can have him on the field more since he obviously wasn't going to unseat Steven Jackson when he was healthy. Then you say, to be fair, he was a fullback in college... okay? He was a HB in the NFL for his rookie year and then told to gain some weight and play FB the next year then got traded to the Bengals the year after that... Why bring up his college stuff?

Oh I see... you wanted to bring up Rutgers... I get your game now

[Al B. Sure!]

In 2003, my freshman year...

Brian Leonard scored three touchdowns as Rutgers snapped a 25-game Big East losing streak with a 30-14 win over Temple on Saturday.

Only team in the Big East Rutgers could beat! And Brian Leonard carried the way.

[Imran Siddiqui]

What are you responding to? I'm trying to figure out what your point is. I said he was converted into a fullback with the logic of we can have him on the field more since he obviously wasn't going to unseat Steven Jackson when he was healthy. Then you say, to be fair, he was a fullback in college... okay? He was a HB in the NFL for his rookie year and then told to gain some weight and play FB the next year then got traded to the Bengals the year after that... Why bring up his college stuff?

Oh I see... you wanted to bring up Rutgers... I get your game now

How can you not see this? It is easy to sell a coaching staff or player on "converting" a player to FB, if he actually was a FB in college. Ie, he wasn't really converted to FB, he was converted to a HB with the Rams and then returned to his position.