We breakdown the Commanders RB room entering 2025... Do they need to overhaul the room as a whole?
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00But, we just did our Blitz, you asked Mitch this question about the running backs, so
00:04let's get into our position group a day breakdown and go to the RB position.
00:08We started with quarterbacks yesterday.
00:10Running back is way more interesting, I think, because they've got some decisions to make
00:15here.
00:16Austin Eckler is under contract and will be back.
00:19Ryan Robinson is under contract and will also be back.
00:22Jeremy Nichols is the only free agent.
00:24Chris Rodriguez, the sixth round pick a couple of years ago, still a couple of years left
00:28on his rookie deal, but he, while he's played very well, is kind of one of those guys back
00:32of the roster that you would think is always kind of on a bubble to be back the following
00:38season because he's listed fourth on the depth chart.
00:41But the big question is, you kind of feel good about Eckler and his role, pass catching
00:45back, two-minute, four-minute offense.
00:48Nick Nichols leaves, do you just elevate Rodriguez to the third guy, or do you go out and look
00:53for somebody like Nick Nichols, who's more of that Eckler mold of shifty pass catcher?
01:00And then as far as B-Rob goes, are you willing to try one more time here with Brian Robinson,
01:06where every year it seems like another reason why it's close but no cigar.
01:11He's solid, but it's not great.
01:14But he is getting better.
01:15He had 3.9 yards per carry as a rookie, 4.1 last year, 4.3 this year.
01:21His attempts have been right around 185 to 205.
01:25He's been roughly around 800 yards throughout his career now in three straight seasons.
01:30You know how I feel.
01:31I've been beating the drum for a speedier home run hitting running back to replace him
01:35as the RB one for a little while.
01:38But B-Rob is only 25.
01:39He doesn't make a lot of money.
01:41And you've got to acknowledge that his yards per carry have gone up each season he's been
01:44in the league.
01:45They have.
01:46And, but we'd buy a couple very nice games regardless of, I mean, this is how you get
01:50your numbers.
01:51Anyway, like you think about a major league hitter, you don't hit 300 every day you hit,
01:55you know, 400 for a month and two 20 for a month.
01:57And you end up at the end of the year hitting two 88 and you go, yeah, nice year.
02:00It's the average.
02:01So he had a handful of games where he was really, really good.
02:03The offensive line did well early on when teams weren't really sure how to handle stuff.
02:07You get the Arizona game, a hundred plus yards and a touchdown, the giants, 133 yards, et
02:12cetera.
02:13That's a really nice ball games.
02:14But if you look game in and game out, there's of his, I think it was what 14 that he played
02:18in maybe 15, because he was banged up a bunch.
02:21The majority of them look, not even majority overwhelming majority look like 11 for 36,
02:2610 for 16, five for 10, 10 for 24.
02:31You see where I'm going.
02:32It ain't it.
02:33And I love the dude, like, you know, put all personal stuff aside.
02:38What do you overcame the, what do you, you know, kind of how we go, it goes back to being
02:42shot.
02:43Yeah.
02:44We shot in the knee.
02:45Not like, not like the, the, the tip of his pinky, like in the knee, you need them as
02:50running backs.
02:51I would say, or has anybody forgot six, but this is not the style that I think fits the
02:55best for this kind of offense.
02:57And really for most modern offenses, there are exceptions.
02:59I mean, look at a brick trains like Derrick Henry that kind of continue to defy the age
03:04curve and you know, the number of rural Campbell's that we've seen that are awesome.
03:07And then sort of you know, sort of I don't know, kind of fall off a cliff at a George
03:11style that some guys defy that to me, he looks like someone that's old.
03:16And tired in his mid twenties because of how much he gets beaten up and how much he gets
03:19hit.
03:20And it's, it's mean, it's disrespectful, but this is the league, man.
03:23It's, it's not, it's unfair.
03:24The, the, it goes on with or without you.
03:26I need more scat back.
03:28I need more quick.
03:29I need more home run.
03:30I need another, a younger Austin Eckler type.
03:32They don't grow on trees.
03:34He's exceptional.
03:35And certainly when he was in his prime, he was, but I need to find that I want to major
03:38in that.
03:39There's a role for Robinson.
03:41It's just not leading my team in touches.
03:43Eckler for me has never even really been the home run hitter I'm looking for.
03:46I am looking for a strike up the band speedster, like a guy that if he gets through the first
03:51level, it's curtains.
03:53I think pairing that back that, that I'm dreaming about and salivating over with Jaden Daniels
03:59would be awesome for this offense and for read option and for having him next to Daniels
04:04in the gun at the mesh point, because then you just have this really dangerous lethal
04:09weapon and it makes Daniels who didn't really rip off huge runs that often this year.
04:14I mean, he was, don't get me wrong, the best running quarterback, not named Lamar Jackson
04:18in the national football league, but that was mostly by way of volume.
04:21Like you didn't have the 60, 70, 80 yard Robert Griffin against the Vikings run from Daniels.
04:26And I think part of it is you didn't really have to be worried about whoever the back
04:30was next to him with all due respect to Jeremy McNichols nor Brian Robinson.
04:34You mentioned this Robinson at three, 100 yard games.
04:37That's it.
04:38For a guy that is your starter who plays 15 games, three times he ran for a hundred and
04:42he had plenty of 15 plus carry games in there.
04:46But in two of those three games, he ripped off a huge run.
04:49He had 40 yard runs against the giants and the Titans.
04:53And for him, that is as good as it gets.
04:55Like those are career long runs.
04:58If you remember both of them, I won't say they weren't fluky, but like the Titans, 40
05:03yard touchdown was an untouched drive, a golf cart through it whole, where he was going.
05:10You know, if you're at the game, basically away from the tunnel they come out of, but
05:13he just runs through the gigantic hole.
05:16Never gets touched.
05:17It would have been a 59, 79 yard touchdown because it was just a bust basically.
05:22Anybody would have scored it.
05:23That was on their roster.
05:24That was the 40 yard or against the Titans as part of a hundred yard game for him.
05:27The giants one was that weird pile up on a, on a, on a short yardage play.
05:31And then he squirts out the back and, and, and goes, everybody just kind of gets into,
05:35you know, a 20 man pile.
05:38And then he's somehow still standing as everyone's falling over and he, you know, steps backward
05:43and then finds out no one's around me.
05:45And then he goes around the edge and he picks up 40 still gets caught by the way.
05:48But like, I need someone who can go for 60 or 70.
05:52So I just think Robinson is a really good RB too, that they've treated like an RB one
05:59is basically how I would describe him.
06:02Stylistically speaking, I think he could be great in short yardage.
06:05We've seen him be really good on the goal line and he saw it again this past year.
06:08I mean, this is 13 touchdowns the last couple of seasons on the ground as a battering ram.
06:14That's the role for me in a pinch.
06:17If he's got to go out and give you 15, 17, 18 carries because your, your starters hurt.
06:21No problem.
06:22He was great at Alabama.
06:23He had a good career, his third round pick, whatever, but I want speed.
06:28You lower the ceiling of your offense.
06:32When you go with guys like him who are not scary, they are not, they don't worry you
06:37in open space.
06:39If he gets around the edge with no one around him, you'll get to him in 17, 19 yards on
06:43an angle.
06:44It's not what I want.
06:45I want to, oh my God, he's loose.
06:48Go get one, please.
06:50Find me Jameer Gibbs.
06:52And that guy doesn't exist.
06:53I get it.
06:54But look, you're not looking for him either.
06:55You're not going to find him.
06:56If you keep looking for B Rob and, and, and, yeah, keep drafting Chris Rodriguez perfectly
07:03fine players, but that's not what we're talking.
07:04Try to draft Jameer Gibbs once and see where that gets you.
07:08Yeah.
07:09I mean, to me, I, I w I would sort of look at those same things that they applied last
07:11year in terms of athletic scores to the running back spot.
07:15That's that to me, something I would do pretty consistently every other year, however often
07:19I sort of would decide that round four round five range for me, I'd always try to find
07:24the guy that maybe went to Western Colorado state and I, or whatever, but, you know, doesn't
07:29have the ideal profile, but can really move.
07:31And maybe I can find someone that fits at worst.
07:33He's, you know, my gunner on special teams and, you know, we never hear from him again,
07:37but they need that.
07:38They need some explosion out of there.
07:39I'm with you.
07:40I mean, to me, the thing that I care about most is what you do in the past game.
07:43And Robert is actually not a bad receiver and he's actually pretty decent in terms of
07:47pass pro.
07:48So he's better than you think there, but I need something way more dynamic.
07:51Again, you could see what would happen when Eckler was right and healthy.
07:55You got that Philly game up there, Eckler left, Eckler right.
07:58You're now in field goal range, just on the opening after the opening kickoff, right?
08:02You'd see when, or Cincinnati, when, when you and I were there, you know, pitch it to
08:06him this way, quick screen that way.
08:08You all of a sudden just picked up 25 yards, field position change.
08:11I need more.
08:12I need more guys that can do that.
08:13Eckler, I think right there at that a hundred to 125 touch roll, I think is exactly right.
08:18I can't give him more than that because of injury.
08:20I need someone who can take some of those 200 plus touches of Robinson's and do more
08:24with them.
08:25Yards per attempt are not everything.
08:27I understand that.
08:29But Eckler this year averaged a half yard per carry more than Robinson has at any point
08:33in the first three years of his career.
08:35And Eckler did it at 29 years old battling through some injuries, right?
08:40The other thing is the way Robinson finished the season and he had really good game.
08:45I thought against Detroit, you knew he wasn't going to be able to run the ball against Philly
08:49because nobody runs the ball against Philly.
08:51He was completely held in check, 10 carries, 16 yards against the Bucs.
08:54It was basically a non-factor in two of the playoff games.
08:58Detroit was terrible and they were the opposite of Philly.
09:00Like you and I could have run the ball against the Lions and we knew that going into that
09:04game, they'd be able to.
09:05But the end of the season, you know, two yards per carry against the Cowboys, 2.4 against
09:10the Eagles, 3.1 against the Saints, it 21 for 65 in that game that they almost lost
09:162.6 against Dallas.
09:19There were only a couple of games in the second half of the season where he had any real explosiveness
09:24or wiggle to him.
09:26And he wasn't the only guy that couldn't run.
09:28They all struggled, but sorry about it.
09:32That was a big show me season and you didn't show me that's where we ended up as I didn't
09:36get shown.
09:37And the other note on that Saints game, by the way, I remember that he had a long of
09:4022.
09:41There was actually a pass that he caught, but they said it was just backwards enough
09:43that they called it a run.
09:45It was really about 20 for 35, right?
09:48Cause they were, they were so determined that they'd be able to run the ball in that game
09:51and they just couldn't.
09:52And they let New Orleans Damier come back and win it.
09:55I just can't beat my head against the wall right there.
09:57And I know that there's still this kind of last vestige of the, the thing that I sort
10:02of make fun of that, that sort of the Neanderthal college football, the old school football guy
10:06had on a hat, Oklahoma drill, let's establish physicality downhill.
10:09And that battering ram is perfect for that.
10:12I just think that's not, and I know you want to establish some of that.
10:15So there's room for him on my roster and on my team and to get the football sometimes
10:18if football is still physical and violent and macho there.
10:23And there's something to be said for that.
10:25I just can't have that guy get the most touches on my team by, by a factor of 100.
10:30So you know what I'm saying?
10:31He had a hundred more touches than anyone else combined on my offense.
10:36That's not the most dynamic thing you can do.
10:37My guess is the Eckler injury had a lot to do with that.
10:40I agree with that.
10:41I get your point totally.
10:42And it's part of why your offense is going to lack explosiveness when you're choosing
10:47the let's get into a boxing match guy over the let's run away from you guy to some extent
10:53though.
10:54And you'll disagree with this.
10:55That's what they want to be.
10:56I mean, they've kind of proven that with a lot of the moves that they've made is that
10:59they would rather do the B-Rob thing.
11:01So I don't know if I'm going to get what I want, what I want, the home run hitter, the
11:05speedster.
11:06I think they look at the lions and they'd covet Montgomery over, you know, that that's
11:11what's frustrating.
11:12That's an interesting quantum, by the way.
11:13Do you think they think that, or are they just inherited this?
11:15Cause like you weren't going to move on from the guys that were already here for cheap.
11:18I just know how they used guys, you know, this year they, there was something about
11:23B-Rob.
11:24They really liked because Rodriguez was a better version of him and they just kept going
11:27back to the well as the year went on.
11:28In my opinion, if you look at the, someone just sent me football insights, team run blocking
11:33grades this season, they had the way that they charted Washington as the 28th best
11:40run blocking team in the league.
11:42So I'm not sitting here pretending like this is all on B-Rob.
11:47They did not do a good job in the second half of the year in the run game, unilaterally
11:52and collectively that is irrefutable, but I still need speed.