Following a 27-27 tie with the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, there are many discussion points for the Detroit Lions heading into week two, where the Lions will open their home campaign against the Los Angeles Chargers. Although the focus will be on the coaches and their game management or even the issues at left tackle, the Lions need to shift their focus to their young running back, Kerryon Johnson. All things aside, scoring 27 on the road is a decent week, however more should be asked from the Lions in the run game and out of the backfield.
In the second round of the 2018 draft the Lions grabbed Auburn star running back Kerryon Johnson in hopes of bolstering the one part of the offence that has always been cited as the reason why QB Matthew Stafford is being held back - a strong running game. The rookie campaign for Kerryon was promising despite some injury concerns, however Lions fans remained optimistic for year 2 after the Lions brought Darrell Bevell in to run the offence. Bevell was the offensive coordinator for the Seahawks in the era of Seattle football that ran Marshawn Lynch right down the throats of whoever lined up on the other side of the ball. It may only be one game, but a healthy Kerryon Johnson should not be seeing 16 rushing attempts and only 2 targets in the air. In Kerryon's tool bag is a fantastic ability to get out past the line of scrimmage and catch the football, making him a dangerous back given the way modern football is beginning to trend, however these traits of his are not being used properly. The Lions currently do not possess a lethal deep threat (with the exception of Kenny Golladay), so their offence is primed to dink and dunk its way down the field, using the weapons like Danny Amendola, Marvin Jones Jr and even Kerryon Johnson to try and move the sticks through the air.
The fact of the matter is that the life of a running back in the NFL is not very long, so the Lions need to make best of their time with Kerryon. The dynamic of the running back market in this league is drastically changing as well, with top tier backs holding out to request big bucks from their teams, something the Lions do not have to worry about.... yet. If the Lions want to operate like a winning franchise (I know even the thought of that being possible is laughable), they simply must run Kerryon into the ground. Let's get this straight, I hope Kerryon makes his money when the time comes, he seems like a great team guy and has already embraced the community, something that Detroit sports fans require across all sports. With that being said, the Lions need to get everything they can out of Kerryon before he comes knocking for a big paycheque or packs his bags for another team. 16 rushing attempts will simply not cut it. Now obviously his injury history could play a part in the limited amount of snaps he is receiving, but if you stack his usage up against the best in the league, then numbers are startling.
I took a look at some of the other running backs who just entered free agency - Zeke Elliot, Todd Gurley, Leveon Bell and Melvin Gordon - and compared their skill set and usage to that of Kerryon, here is what I found. In all of their Year 2 seasons combined, only five times (not including games they left early) did these backs receive under 14 touches a game on the ground (Leveon Bell three times in 2014, and Todd Gurley twice in 2016). Keep in mind as well, Leveon was not a superstar in his second season, however his usage was still up. Leveon is known as one of the best pass catching backs in the league, and in that 2014 season he received more than 2 targets (what Kerryon got in week 1) in every single game he played in. It is also worth noting that the teams these top backs were on in their second year had far superior playmakers than that of the Lions right now. Even with star players needing their share, these teams made it a point to get their running back the ball, in the air and on the ground.
Essentially, the point to be made is that there is no reason the Lions should not be giving Kerryon every opportunity he can get. The league is shifting almost entirely towards offence, playmakers win you football games. The Lions clearly have a playmaker in Kerryon Johnson, yet they are not using him to the best of his ability. Again, it is one game, but I would like to see the usage go up against the Chargers, who are without arguably their best defensive player in Derwin James on Sunday.
*The image is not my own, the image rights belong to ESPN.com*
In the second round of the 2018 draft the Lions grabbed Auburn star running back Kerryon Johnson in hopes of bolstering the one part of the offence that has always been cited as the reason why QB Matthew Stafford is being held back - a strong running game. The rookie campaign for Kerryon was promising despite some injury concerns, however Lions fans remained optimistic for year 2 after the Lions brought Darrell Bevell in to run the offence. Bevell was the offensive coordinator for the Seahawks in the era of Seattle football that ran Marshawn Lynch right down the throats of whoever lined up on the other side of the ball. It may only be one game, but a healthy Kerryon Johnson should not be seeing 16 rushing attempts and only 2 targets in the air. In Kerryon's tool bag is a fantastic ability to get out past the line of scrimmage and catch the football, making him a dangerous back given the way modern football is beginning to trend, however these traits of his are not being used properly. The Lions currently do not possess a lethal deep threat (with the exception of Kenny Golladay), so their offence is primed to dink and dunk its way down the field, using the weapons like Danny Amendola, Marvin Jones Jr and even Kerryon Johnson to try and move the sticks through the air.The fact of the matter is that the life of a running back in the NFL is not very long, so the Lions need to make best of their time with Kerryon. The dynamic of the running back market in this league is drastically changing as well, with top tier backs holding out to request big bucks from their teams, something the Lions do not have to worry about.... yet. If the Lions want to operate like a winning franchise (I know even the thought of that being possible is laughable), they simply must run Kerryon into the ground. Let's get this straight, I hope Kerryon makes his money when the time comes, he seems like a great team guy and has already embraced the community, something that Detroit sports fans require across all sports. With that being said, the Lions need to get everything they can out of Kerryon before he comes knocking for a big paycheque or packs his bags for another team. 16 rushing attempts will simply not cut it. Now obviously his injury history could play a part in the limited amount of snaps he is receiving, but if you stack his usage up against the best in the league, then numbers are startling.
I took a look at some of the other running backs who just entered free agency - Zeke Elliot, Todd Gurley, Leveon Bell and Melvin Gordon - and compared their skill set and usage to that of Kerryon, here is what I found. In all of their Year 2 seasons combined, only five times (not including games they left early) did these backs receive under 14 touches a game on the ground (Leveon Bell three times in 2014, and Todd Gurley twice in 2016). Keep in mind as well, Leveon was not a superstar in his second season, however his usage was still up. Leveon is known as one of the best pass catching backs in the league, and in that 2014 season he received more than 2 targets (what Kerryon got in week 1) in every single game he played in. It is also worth noting that the teams these top backs were on in their second year had far superior playmakers than that of the Lions right now. Even with star players needing their share, these teams made it a point to get their running back the ball, in the air and on the ground.
Essentially, the point to be made is that there is no reason the Lions should not be giving Kerryon every opportunity he can get. The league is shifting almost entirely towards offence, playmakers win you football games. The Lions clearly have a playmaker in Kerryon Johnson, yet they are not using him to the best of his ability. Again, it is one game, but I would like to see the usage go up against the Chargers, who are without arguably their best defensive player in Derwin James on Sunday.
*The image is not my own, the image rights belong to ESPN.com*
Comments
Post a Comment