The *OFFICIAL* "Who will the Raiders waste their first round pick on" thread
- Thread starter Fucky McFuckerson
- Start date
Is Spiller tough enough to run inside?
NEW YORK – C.J. Spiller stood in the middle of Central Park, a plot of land about as big as downtown Lake Butler, Fla., his hometown.
“There are buildings here with more people than the whole county I’m from,” Spiller said. At 13,442 by the last census count, Union County is not exactly a mecca for population growth in the Sunshine State.
Likewise, Spiller isn’t much when it comes to size. At 5-foot-11, 196 pounds, the former Clemson running back is a whisp in a game filled with men built like tree trunks. Befitting his stature, Spiller isn’t getting a lot of attention on the eve of the NFL draft, which starts Thursday evening. Dressed in a gray “Play 60” T-shirt (he had to wear that rather than the blue shirts the other draft-eligible players wore because he signed an endorsement deal with Adidas rather than Under Armour), few reporters even noticed Spiller.
While there is plenty of talk about other players – from quarterbacks Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen and Tim Tebow to defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy to safety Eric Berry and wide receiver Dez Bryant – Spiller might impact the league faster than any of them.
No pun intended.
That’s because Spiller fits what the NFL wants so much right now: An explosive big-play threat from the backfield, in the mold of fellow native Floridian Chris Johnson, who is coming off a 2,000-yard season with the Tennessee Titans.
The only question is whether Spiller can really do it. Can he learn to distinguish colors from bodies?
“That’s what happens at this level,” said former St. Louis Rams star running back Marshall Faulk(notes) during Wednesday’s gathering in New York. “You don’t see bodies running at you, you just see color. That’s how fast the game moves. If you see bodies like you did in college and holes open up before you even get to the line, it’s not because one guy blew an assignment, it’s because a lot of people blew their assignments.”
Faulk and fellow NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock believe Spiller has a chance to be special. In getting to that point, he has to address an important question: Will he be like Johnson, a guy who has the courage and trust to run between the tackles, or like Reggie Bush(notes), a guy who has struggled to read colors and has made his hay in the NFL by consistently bouncing plays to the outside?
Johnson, who was picked No. 24 overall in 2008, is an every-down player. Bush, the No. 2 pick in 2006, is a specialist. Both have value, but the pay rate is much different – Bush commanding top dollar upon getting drafted, while Johnson is already asking for a pay raise. Subsequently, teams have to figure out how much of an investment Spiller is worth, which factors into projections that he can go as high as No. 6 overall to the Seattle Seahawks or to the San Francisco 49ers with their second first-round pick at No. 17.
“I think he’s the wild card of the draft,” an NFC executive said. “Yeah, Dez Bryant is hard to figure exactly where he’s going to go, but there are a lot of teams that you know just won’t touch that guy. With Spiller, everybody thinks about him. How can I use him? What situations? What kind of return game could I have with him? He’s like the favorite toy for the coaching staff.”
Faulk talks about Spiller in terms of getting him “quality” opportunities. Be it as a returner or as a runner, Faulk sees how coaches could try to highlight him.
“When I say quality carries, what I mean is those times where the offensive coordinator really knows what the other team is going to be doing on defense and what he can do to get a big play,” Faulk said. “It’s not those first few carries in a game where you’re feeling out what kind of defense they’re in or those last few carries in the game where you’re just trying to run clock.”
Within that is the tougher question about how Spiller can handle the position. So many running backs of his size don’t have the ability to run between the tackles. Either by fear or by trying to use their speed to run outside to the open spaces, many don’t have what it takes to keep a defense completely honest.
That has held back Bush. Prior to last season, Bush never averaged more than 3.8 yards per carry in a season. Last season, Bush bumped his average to 5.6 yards per carry, but carried only 70 times – the first time he had fewer than 100 totes.
By contrast, the willingness to run inside has made Johnson a star, to Mayock’s surprise.
“I had a second-round grade on Johnson when he came out because of that very reason,” Mayock said. “I didn’t think he could run it between the tackles. But what I found out is that when he was in college it was just like grade school for him. He was so much faster than everybody that he’d just bounce it outside and outrun them. He got to the NFL and he’s willing to run through the middle.
“That’s the question with Spiller. Is he going to be a guy who bounces it outside every time or will he run inside? He can be a dynamic player, a game-changer.”
Spiller hears that and knows the answer. Back in high school, he averaged more than 10 yards a carry for his career. But he was just outrunning people, toying with them in Lake Butler’s odd Wing-T formation.
In college, it changed.
“I had to run inside against the big boys, in all them bodies,” said Spiller, who seems to understand the big picture. He graduated from Clemson last December with a degree in sociology. He’s the first person in his immediate family with a college diploma.
“I want to be focused on my next career, playing football,” Spiller said. “I know it’s not going to last forever, so I wanted my degree. But I didn’t want to be going back to school to finish up once I got to the NFL.”
He also gets the value of the business. Aside from Adidas, Spiller has a marketing deal with Subway and even sold the sandwich chain’s new slogan about pepperoni – “It’s the new bacon,” Spiller said, convincingly – and breakfast sandwiches.
In other words, Spiller knows the deal. He knows what kind of player he can be.
Now he has to do it.
NEW YORK – C.J. Spiller stood in the middle of Central Park, a plot of land about as big as downtown Lake Butler, Fla., his hometown.
“There are buildings here with more people than the whole county I’m from,” Spiller said. At 13,442 by the last census count, Union County is not exactly a mecca for population growth in the Sunshine State.
Likewise, Spiller isn’t much when it comes to size. At 5-foot-11, 196 pounds, the former Clemson running back is a whisp in a game filled with men built like tree trunks. Befitting his stature, Spiller isn’t getting a lot of attention on the eve of the NFL draft, which starts Thursday evening. Dressed in a gray “Play 60” T-shirt (he had to wear that rather than the blue shirts the other draft-eligible players wore because he signed an endorsement deal with Adidas rather than Under Armour), few reporters even noticed Spiller.
While there is plenty of talk about other players – from quarterbacks Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen and Tim Tebow to defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy to safety Eric Berry and wide receiver Dez Bryant – Spiller might impact the league faster than any of them.
No pun intended.
That’s because Spiller fits what the NFL wants so much right now: An explosive big-play threat from the backfield, in the mold of fellow native Floridian Chris Johnson, who is coming off a 2,000-yard season with the Tennessee Titans.
The only question is whether Spiller can really do it. Can he learn to distinguish colors from bodies?
“That’s what happens at this level,” said former St. Louis Rams star running back Marshall Faulk(notes) during Wednesday’s gathering in New York. “You don’t see bodies running at you, you just see color. That’s how fast the game moves. If you see bodies like you did in college and holes open up before you even get to the line, it’s not because one guy blew an assignment, it’s because a lot of people blew their assignments.”
Faulk and fellow NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock believe Spiller has a chance to be special. In getting to that point, he has to address an important question: Will he be like Johnson, a guy who has the courage and trust to run between the tackles, or like Reggie Bush(notes), a guy who has struggled to read colors and has made his hay in the NFL by consistently bouncing plays to the outside?
Johnson, who was picked No. 24 overall in 2008, is an every-down player. Bush, the No. 2 pick in 2006, is a specialist. Both have value, but the pay rate is much different – Bush commanding top dollar upon getting drafted, while Johnson is already asking for a pay raise. Subsequently, teams have to figure out how much of an investment Spiller is worth, which factors into projections that he can go as high as No. 6 overall to the Seattle Seahawks or to the San Francisco 49ers with their second first-round pick at No. 17.
“I think he’s the wild card of the draft,” an NFC executive said. “Yeah, Dez Bryant is hard to figure exactly where he’s going to go, but there are a lot of teams that you know just won’t touch that guy. With Spiller, everybody thinks about him. How can I use him? What situations? What kind of return game could I have with him? He’s like the favorite toy for the coaching staff.”
Faulk talks about Spiller in terms of getting him “quality” opportunities. Be it as a returner or as a runner, Faulk sees how coaches could try to highlight him.
“When I say quality carries, what I mean is those times where the offensive coordinator really knows what the other team is going to be doing on defense and what he can do to get a big play,” Faulk said. “It’s not those first few carries in a game where you’re feeling out what kind of defense they’re in or those last few carries in the game where you’re just trying to run clock.”
Within that is the tougher question about how Spiller can handle the position. So many running backs of his size don’t have the ability to run between the tackles. Either by fear or by trying to use their speed to run outside to the open spaces, many don’t have what it takes to keep a defense completely honest.
That has held back Bush. Prior to last season, Bush never averaged more than 3.8 yards per carry in a season. Last season, Bush bumped his average to 5.6 yards per carry, but carried only 70 times – the first time he had fewer than 100 totes.
By contrast, the willingness to run inside has made Johnson a star, to Mayock’s surprise.
“I had a second-round grade on Johnson when he came out because of that very reason,” Mayock said. “I didn’t think he could run it between the tackles. But what I found out is that when he was in college it was just like grade school for him. He was so much faster than everybody that he’d just bounce it outside and outrun them. He got to the NFL and he’s willing to run through the middle.
“That’s the question with Spiller. Is he going to be a guy who bounces it outside every time or will he run inside? He can be a dynamic player, a game-changer.”
Spiller hears that and knows the answer. Back in high school, he averaged more than 10 yards a carry for his career. But he was just outrunning people, toying with them in Lake Butler’s odd Wing-T formation.
In college, it changed.
“I had to run inside against the big boys, in all them bodies,” said Spiller, who seems to understand the big picture. He graduated from Clemson last December with a degree in sociology. He’s the first person in his immediate family with a college diploma.
“I want to be focused on my next career, playing football,” Spiller said. “I know it’s not going to last forever, so I wanted my degree. But I didn’t want to be going back to school to finish up once I got to the NFL.”
He also gets the value of the business. Aside from Adidas, Spiller has a marketing deal with Subway and even sold the sandwich chain’s new slogan about pepperoni – “It’s the new bacon,” Spiller said, convincingly – and breakfast sandwiches.
In other words, Spiller knows the deal. He knows what kind of player he can be.
Now he has to do it.
^ that's the way Al Davis really thinks, lol
we better not take Taylor Mays at number 8... or I'll shoot myself... same goes with Bruce Campbell
and Tony... you're fucking insane thinking we should draft Spiller at number 8... remember last year... you wanted DHB and everyone else didn't... see how that turned out???
I'd be happy with any of the top OTs... McCoy or Suh... but they'll be gone... I'd love to get McClain... anything else I'm pretty much gonna be pissed off
we better not take Taylor Mays at number 8... or I'll shoot myself... same goes with Bruce Campbell
and Tony... you're fucking insane thinking we should draft Spiller at number 8... remember last year... you wanted DHB and everyone else didn't... see how that turned out???
I'd be happy with any of the top OTs... McCoy or Suh... but they'll be gone... I'd love to get McClain... anything else I'm pretty much gonna be pissed off
