Dynasty League Football Forum

In the PFF Podcast previews, Sam brought up an interesting point that I have been mulling over .. he compared RB to what we have talked about QBs in early development, meaning how many postulate a young QB can be ruined with intensive pressure early in their careers, seeing Ghosts phenomena ..

So the idea is if a RB can't trust that the holes or cut backs will be there, they will never be able to follow a play design always feeling they will have to create on their own .. and some get frustrated and just try to use power and force their way ... It was an interesting thought because at this level you cannot afford any hesitation, the athletes are too good .. so, with this theory a RB doesn't trust the OL, play design, he hesitates just enough, athletes swarm him consistently and we see a bad player .. So can a RB see ghosts if traumatized early in the careers? Some food for thought ...

I think he still possesses the rare speed/size combo .. but it is terribly frustrating that we may never see him put it together .. there were some plays in the last game where the edge wasn't sealed and we could see a glimmer when he used his speed and power on the outside of what we expected to see ..

This is certainly a case study .. I think there is a chance with well blocked schemes by McVay could help him, I think there is a bit of hope ..

I just realized who he reminds me of. I see alot of DMC in his running. Statlines also reminding me of DMC. He had the great year, lots of terrible years, that even when healthy his YPC was weak. Goes to Dallas and does well behind a great line. Both RB's though seem to run with drive but neither seem to have the patience or vision to really see what's happening. Neither have that lateral ability to side step and fire back up to full speed immediately like AP, McCoy, Zeke, Lynch. Both DMC and Gurley need a hole opened up, WHERE IT WAS DESIGNED TO BE, if they are to have success.

Feel free to disagree it's just a comparison I thought of that made sense to me.

I sold Gurley under value before season so I'm obviously worried about him and "biased"

The catches and yards were a positive, but the ypc are still very concerning. This also may have been the worst team they play all year.

Haven't watched all the games yet, but IND are certainly on the worst team list so far ..

Gurley wasn't overly impressive. However Goff did well enough against IND alive with quick passing that if teams feel Goff has improved and can beat them in the pass game they may back off run blitzing nearly every play.

I see some comments on his vision, patience and inability to burst out of an unplanned step. This is something ive agreed with ever since his college injury.

Does he have the ability to make something out of nothing? He does, but he doesn't do it nearly often enough like the elites do. His college injury does seem to of sapped some of his sudden 0-60 burst the elite backs have, but it's not the end of the world. Unless you think hes a top 5 franchise rb.

Hes a good NFL running back with a bad line. Not a good combo. If you have a good but not elite rb you need an above avg line, which they do not have and likely wont for some time. There are many out there still willing to play top dollar for him, if i had him on any teams i'd very much sell for market value.

The new offense is going to keep him afloat in ppr leagues and good for his overall usage because he does have some pass catching chops.

Overall if i have a great rb1 im ok with him as my 2.

If you're going to try and sell him, I would wait until after week 3 or 4. He has good matchups right now but has a tough stretch in the middle of the season that could cause a lot more worries.

Right now I have him as my RB2 behind Fournette but I might try packaging him + something else to upgrade while his value is stable.

Plank wrote: ↑Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:09 am In the PFF Podcast previews, Sam brought up an interesting point that I have been mulling over .. he compared RB to what we have talked about QBs in early development, meaning how many postulate a young QB can be ruined with intensive pressure early in their careers, seeing Ghosts phenomena ..

So the idea is if a RB can't trust that the holes or cut backs will be there, they will never be able to follow a play design always feeling they will have to create on their own .. and some get frustrated and just try to use power and force their way ... It was an interesting thought because at this level you cannot afford any hesitation, the athletes are too good .. so, with this theory a RB doesn't trust the OL, play design, he hesitates just enough, athletes swarm him consistently and we see a bad player .. So can a RB see ghosts if traumatized early in the careers? Some food for thought ...

Eh, i'm a believer in that good players will play good, bad players will play bad, and average players will play good sometimes and bad other times.

I agree with a lot of what's been said here. There is something going on. Maybe mental, maybe the injury made him a different player. He definitely doesn't seem to be a fiery, aggressive runner. Either way he's a long ways from what we were all hoping for when he came out.

The O-line excuse is a weak one. This is a guy that was supposed to be situation proof. Adrian Peterson played behind some miserable lines in his career and he always produced. That is what people were hoping for with this guy but he is so far removed from that it doesn't even seem reasonable to hope for in a best case scenario anymore.

He looks like an average NFL RB. He'll get 3 yards when there are 3 yards there, 5 yards when there are 5 yards, and 0 yards when there are 0. But he's not the guy turning 0 yard runs into 3 yard runs and 5 yard runs into 50 yard runs.

I'll probably take a lot of flack for this but he kind of reminds me of late career Cedric Benson. Can handle a big workload and pretty much gets what is blocked and then falls over. Benson was able to put together some decent fantasy seasons in that role, as I expect Gurley to as well, but he doesn't look like a guy that can be that really elite fantasy option anymore.

Phaded wrote: ↑Sun Sep 10, 2017 6:00 pm He is just not that great to be honest, but I have always had that opinion. I am surprised more people do not see it yet and continue to blame everyone but Gurley. The fact remains his vision and patience are awful.

Although his fantasy value might be salvaged with his newly found involvement in the passing game.

An RB2/FLEX at best.

I'm still waiting to see if that's the case. To me, time has to be given for McVay's offense. Their scheme has to overcome the lack of run-blocking talent they have on their offensive line. Jeff Fisher was tasked with the same thing, but he just didn't have the offensive minds to come up with a solution.

Interesting that Brian Baldinger (NFL Films) agrees with some of the sentiment in this thread:

"He has no vision...I watched all 18 of his carries yesterday. No jump cuts; no special qualities"

Still being cautious, but definitely going to try and watch Rams games a little closer this season.

I watched every play of the Rams Colts game, and as has already been said on here, he had NO room to run. He actually looked good to me tho, the few times he had a little crease. I was honestly encouraged coming away from week 1 film.

Vcize wrote: ↑Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:52 pm I agree with a lot of what's been said here. There is something going on. Maybe mental, maybe the injury made him a different player. He definitely doesn't seem to be a fiery, aggressive runner. Either way he's a long ways from what we were all hoping for when he came out.

The O-line excuse is a weak one. This is a guy that was supposed to be situation proof. Adrian Peterson played behind some miserable lines in his career and he always produced. That is what people were hoping for with this guy but he is so far removed from that it doesn't even seem reasonable to hope for in a best case scenario anymore.

He looks like an average NFL RB. He'll get 3 yards when there are 3 yards there, 5 yards when there are 5 yards, and 0 yards when there are 0. But he's not the guy turning 0 yard runs into 3 yard runs and 5 yard runs into 50 yard runs.

I'll probably take a lot of flack for this but he kind of reminds me of late career Cedric Benson. Can handle a big workload and pretty much gets what is blocked and then falls over. Benson was able to put together some decent fantasy seasons in that role, as I expect Gurley to as well, but he doesn't look like a guy that can be that really elite fantasy option anymore.

I think the point it has come down to is we found out he ISNT situation proof.

He can't carry a team on his back like AP. That's obvious based on last year alone, unless he makes dramatic steps in strength/agility/vision down the road. As of right now he's a complimentary workhorse RB that a team tried to use as the centerpiece of their offense and it failed. That's now being changed, and when the offense becomes more passing-centered I see gurley returning to putting up big numbers.

He may not be AP, but honestly which backs in the NFL can you put behind a horrible line and expect them to have amazing careers? I don't even think Zeke/DJ could do that. Maybe Bell but even he has his games.

No player is situation proof.

rubber_duck wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:24 am No player is situation proof.

Don't tell Tom Brady that.