RB Mike Davis

Originally posted by NYniner85:
See I think we've seen pretty much what draughn is as a RB, 3.5 avg YPC along with a injury towards the end of the year pretty much blah. Harris is who he is good for a couple carries but other than he's couple big runs against the Rams he avg 1.9 YPC...both are at a age when your not gonna expect them to all of a sudden get better ya know? There's a reason they've been thrown around the league.

Davis ran for over 2,000 yards and had 66 catches his final two years in college ( dealt with injures and conditioning issues his last year) I just don't see how he doesn't make the team and I expect him to be RB 2 for us this year.

It will be interesting to see what happens at the RB position.

There is good reason why both Harris and Draughn were available to be signed midseason. Its not like these guys haven't had opportunities. Harris is on to his 7th team in 6 years and only once has he played more than 5 games in any season since 2011. He is a career #3 backup RB, the kind of guy that think can be alright but you don't want to rely upon. Draughn is Derek Loville all over again. Good to get you 3 yards a carry, catch a few passes, help out on special teams, nothing more than that. If you're a team competing for a SB, Draughn is a safe choice to pick up some yards here and there but if you're a young rebuilding team, then he's simply eating carries for guys that you hope will play a much bigger role when you are competing in a few years.


Davis might not turn out to be any better than either of these guys, but at least there is upside there. He's young enough, has limited enough experience with the right amount of tools that he has the potential to become a very solid #2 RB, that can run, catch and block.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by NYniner85:
See I think we've seen pretty much what draughn is as a RB, 3.5 avg YPC along with a injury towards the end of the year pretty much blah. Harris is who he is good for a couple carries but other than he's couple big runs against the Rams he avg 1.9 YPC...both are at a age when your not gonna expect them to all of a sudden get better ya know? There's a reason they've been thrown around the league.

Davis ran for over 2,000 yards and had 66 catches his final two years in college ( dealt with injures and conditioning issues his last year) I just don't see how he doesn't make the team and I expect him to be RB 2 for us this year.

It will be interesting to see what happens at the RB position.

There is good reason why both Harris and Draughn were available to be signed midseason. Its not like these guys haven't had opportunities. Harris is on to his 7th team in 6 years and only once has he played more than 5 games in any season since 2011. He is a career #3 backup RB, the kind of guy that think can be alright but you don't want to rely upon. Draughn is Derek Loville all over again. Good to get you 3 yards a carry, catch a few passes, help out on special teams, nothing more than that. If you're a team competing for a SB, Draughn is a safe choice to pick up some yards here and there but if you're a young rebuilding team, then he's simply eating carries for guys that you hope will play a much bigger role when you are competing in a few years.


Davis might not turn out to be any better than either of these guys, but at least there is upside there. We haven't seen what he can do with regular carries behind a decent OL, in a much more competent offense.

This is the part I'm even more intrigued by. My God:

Staley - Garnett - Kilgore - Beadles - Brown vs. Armstead - Dial - Buckner

I like this kind of party!

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by NYniner85:
See I think we've seen pretty much what draughn is as a RB, 3.5 avg YPC along with a injury towards the end of the year pretty much blah. Harris is who he is good for a couple carries but other than he's couple big runs against the Rams he avg 1.9 YPC...both are at a age when your not gonna expect them to all of a sudden get better ya know? There's a reason they've been thrown around the league.

Davis ran for over 2,000 yards and had 66 catches his final two years in college ( dealt with injures and conditioning issues his last year) I just don't see how he doesn't make the team and I expect him to be RB 2 for us this year.

It will be interesting to see what happens at the RB position.

There is good reason why both Harris and Draughn were available to be signed midseason. Its not like these guys haven't had opportunities. Harris is on to his 7th team in 6 years and only once has he played more than 5 games in any season since 2011. He is a career #3 backup RB, the kind of guy that think can be alright but you don't want to rely upon. Draughn is Derek Loville all over again. Good to get you 3 yards a carry, catch a few passes, help out on special teams, nothing more than that. If you're a team competing for a SB, Draughn is a safe choice to pick up some yards here and there but if you're a young rebuilding team, then he's simply eating carries for guys that you hope will play a much bigger role when you are competing in a few years.


Davis might not turn out to be any better than either of these guys, but at least there is upside there. We haven't seen what he can do with regular carries behind a decent OL, in a much more competent offense.

Totally agree...I just don't see how people can even come close to wanting to throw Davis on the chopping block wit just 35 carries, I mean I can around here

I still think that he'll be the 3rd stringer after all said and done..

I'm still pissed for not drafting CJ Prosise (Notre Dame)..

Originally posted by 9moon:
I still think that he'll be the 3rd stringer after all said and done..

I'm still pissed for not drafting CJ Prosise (Notre Dame)..

I agree I thought a 3rd round pick was a little high for him IMO...still see Davis as the RB2.

Originally posted by NYniner85:
Totally agree...I just don't see how people can even come close to wanting to throw Davis on the chopping block wit just 35 carries, I mean I can around here

I think people underestimate just how bad the OL was when it came to run blocking last year. It wasn't until Tiller came in that the run game started to stabilize somewhat. Hyde did an amazing job of turning a lot of nothing into something, getting hit 3 or 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage and somehow turning it into a 3 or 4 yard gain. Davis doesn't have the elusiveness of Hyde, he's a pure north-south runner. Create a hole for him and he'll bust through, staying low, churning his legs and picking up extra yards. I think he can provide the type of power in between the tackles that Kelly was hoping for with Murray in Philadelphia. The addition of Garnett probably helps Davis more than any other RB on the roster.

Hopefully he has a good preseason because that would be one more item checked off of the laundry list. He and Taylor both, and suddenly RB is a less pressing issue.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by NYniner85:
Totally agree...I just don't see how people can even come close to wanting to throw Davis on the chopping block wit just 35 carries, I mean I can around here

I think people underestimate just how bad the OL was when it came to run blocking last year. It wasn't until Tiller came in that the run game started to stabilize somewhat. Hyde did an amazing job of turning a lot of nothing into something, getting hit 3 or 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage and somehow turning it into a 3 or 4 yard gain. Davis doesn't have the elusiveness of Hyde, he's a pure north-south runner. Create a hole for him and he'll bust through, staying low, churning his legs and picking up extra yards. I think he can provide the type of power in between the tackles that Kelly was hoping for with Murray in Philadelphia. The addition of Garnett probably helps Davis more than any other RB on the roster.

Hopefully he has a good preseason because that would be one more item checked off of the laundry list. He and Taylor both, and suddenly RB is a less pressing issue.

yup it's gonna be interesting to see this group in preseason I'll add I like Taylor's footwork seems to never get taken down by the first person that touches him as well.

Give this man some daylight to run through.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by NYniner85:
Totally agree...I just don't see how people can even come close to wanting to throw Davis on the chopping block wit just 35 carries, I mean I can around here

I think people underestimate just how bad the OL was when it came to run blocking last year. It wasn't until Tiller came in that the run game started to stabilize somewhat. Hyde did an amazing job of turning a lot of nothing into something, getting hit 3 or 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage and somehow turning it into a 3 or 4 yard gain. Davis doesn't have the elusiveness of Hyde, he's a pure north-south runner. Create a hole for him and he'll bust through, staying low, churning his legs and picking up extra yards. I think he can provide the type of power in between the tackles that Kelly was hoping for with Murray in Philadelphia. The addition of Garnett probably helps Davis more than any other RB on the roster.

Hopefully he has a good preseason because that would be one more item checked off of the laundry list. He and Taylor both, and suddenly RB is a less pressing issue.

great post.

most people would acknowledge that our O-line was terrible last year with the images of Devey, Pears, and Martin whiffing in pass protection dancing in their head. But the story that is less told is that we were actually far worse in run blocking than pass protection, hard as it is to believe. This exacerbated our poor pass protection because we were constantly in unfavourable down and distance situations.

Originally posted by JohnMatrix:
great post.

most people would acknowledge that our O-line was terrible last year with the images of Devey, Pears, and Martin whiffing in pass protection dancing in their head. But the story that is less told is that we were actually far worse in run blocking than pass protection, hard as it is to believe. This exacerbated our poor pass protection because we were constantly in unfavourable down and distance situations.

This. They weren't even the worst pass blocking OL in the NFL last year, the Chargers got that honor but the run blocking was just atrocious, and went to slightly less crappy when Tiller got inserted into the starting lineup. The RB's were constantly getting hit just after getting the football.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by JohnMatrix:

great post.

most people would acknowledge that our O-line was terrible last year with the images of Devey, Pears, and Martin whiffing in pass protection dancing in their head. But the story that is less told is that we were actually far worse in run blocking than pass protection, hard as it is to believe. This exacerbated our poor pass protection because we were constantly in unfavourable down and distance situations.

This. They weren't even the worst pass blocking OL in the NFL last year, the Chargers got that honor but the run blocking was just atrocious, and went to slightly less crappy when Tiller got inserted into the starting lineup. The RB's were constantly getting hit just after getting the football.

If you can't judge Davis on his limited carries last year at RB, then you can't judge Harris or Hayne on the same principle.

You can judge drawn badly, and his carries he was average at best

Originally posted by MFWIC:

If you can't judge Davis on his limited carries last year at RB, then you can't judge Harris or Hayne on the same principle.

You can judge drawn badly, and his carries he was average at best

The difference is pretty clear cut. Davis was a rookie who had been an exceptional player at South Carolina giving some reason to believe that he had good NFL upside. His skillset fits the sort of mentality that led the 49ers to draft Joshua Garnett. A power runner inside the tackles.




Harris is a journeyman RB playing for his 7th NFL team. Since 2011 he has played in more than 5 games in a season exactly once. He has played behind some good run blocking OLs and failed to distinguish himself while putting the football on the ground too often which is why Seattle cut him.


Hayne is a project that had never played football in his life prior to last year and was behind the learning curve of what Davis picked up while at South Carolina, playing in the SEC, at the highest level of college football. Hayne was ultimately cut and PSed because he was struggling with ball security and as a pass blocker.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

The difference is pretty clear cut. Davis was a rookie who had been an exceptional player at South Carolina giving some reason to believe that he had good NFL upside. His skillset fits the sort of mentality that led the 49ers to draft Joshua Garnett. A power runner inside the tackles.




Harris is a journeyman RB playing for his 7th NFL team. Since 2011 he has played in more than 5 games in a season exactly once. He has played behind some good run blocking OLs and failed to distinguish himself while putting the football on the ground too often which is why Seattle cut him.


Hayne is a project that had never played football in his life prior to last year and was behind the learning curve of what Davis picked up while at South Carolina, playing in the SEC, at the highest level of college football. Hayne was ultimately cut and PSed because he was struggling with ball security and as a pass blocker.

Which examples can you provide of him struggling as a pass blocker? Kap got sacked once with Hayne on the field because of an atrocious effort from Devey.

Davis has the pedigree to be a productive player because of his performance in college, but that doesn't always translate to the NFL. Look at Trent Richardson as an example. 3rd pick overall and 3.3 career YPC.

We will all have to wait and see how preseason pans out. Davis may get out there and kill it. It all depends on who best fits Chip's offense and you won't know until they are out on the field executing plays.

Too easy to speculate one way or another at this point. It's a mix of unproven guys right now. We have three RBs that have injury histories now (Hyde, Harris, Davis), a promising rookie (Taylor), an international convert still learning the game (Hayne), and a "nothing special" journeyman vet. I could see things shaking out a number of ways.

As 49ers fan, the best scenario is that all the young players dominate the competition and play so well and Harris and Draughn both get cut.

Could we have Hyde/Davis/Taylor/Hayne as the combo? Who knows. The one issue I see there is the lack of speed. Harris signed a longer extension so I get the feeling they want him in the rotation somehow. Again, it comes down to health and their performance in camp/pre-season.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by NYniner85:
See I think we've seen pretty much what draughn is as a RB, 3.5 avg YPC along with a injury towards the end of the year pretty much blah. Harris is who he is good for a couple carries but other than he's couple big runs against the Rams he avg 1.9 YPC...both are at a age when your not gonna expect them to all of a sudden get better ya know? There's a reason they've been thrown around the league.

Davis ran for over 2,000 yards and had 66 catches his final two years in college ( dealt with injures and conditioning issues his last year) I just don't see how he doesn't make the team and I expect him to be RB 2 for us this year.

It will be interesting to see what happens at the RB position.

There is good reason why both Harris and Draughn were available to be signed midseason. Its not like these guys haven't had opportunities. Harris is on to his 7th team in 6 years and only once has he played more than 5 games in any season since 2011. He is a career #3 backup RB, the kind of guy that think can be alright but you don't want to rely upon. Draughn is Derek Loville all over again. Good to get you 3 yards a carry, catch a few passes, help out on special teams, nothing more than that. If you're a team competing for a SB, Draughn is a safe choice to pick up some yards here and there but if you're a young rebuilding team, then he's simply eating carries for guys that you hope will play a much bigger role when you are competing in a few years.


Davis might not turn out to be any better than either of these guys, but at least there is upside there. He's young enough, has limited enough experience with the right amount of tools that he has the potential to become a very solid #2 RB, that can run, catch and block.

you hit it on the ball. Nothing special about draughn or harris. Mike Davis has a lot of potential if he can stay healthy. We know what we are getting with harris and draughn but not with Davis. If anything Davis will be just as good as them. He