Originally posted by NYniner85:
Originally posted by OnTheClock:
YPC doesn't tell the whole story, NY. Wilson was used almost exclusively in short yardage duty. It's completely unfair to judge him on his YPC against Breida because of this. Breida has not looked good running the ball for months. While I doubt they remove Breida as the #3, I wish they would.
Wilson is an extremely talented runner with terrific forward lean who is also good in the receiving game, going back to his college days. Even despite the fumbles, I'm still very surprised he didn't get drafted with how good his tape looked. Yes, he still had fumble issues as a rookie with us, but between him and Breida, I know which back I would rather have out there if I know I'm likely going to need yards after contact at this point in the season. Wilson had 5 touchdowns on just 30 touches all year, so a touchdown for every 6 touches.
Breida has averaged 4.0 yards per carry since Week 6 and fumbled 3 times. Coleman has averaged 3.9 since week 6. But again, Breida doesn't take short yardage carries either. I love Breida, but he's slumping right now.
There's a reason Wilson is used exclusively in short yardage. There's a reason he's not active most games. How can you say he's good in the passing game? He's got 15 career catches, yes one awesome catch to win it vs AZ (thankful for that) IMO all three of our RBs make that play vs Jones.
Does Wilson understand protections? Gotta be able to pass protect in this offense as a RB. Fumbles suck (Breida isn't known as a fumbler) but let's not act like that's a part of Wilson's game either 
I see no way they promote Wilson over Breida heading into the NFCC.
Well yeah, at the time he was being used in that role, it was because he was easily one of our two best short-yardage backs -- and was our only one while Coleman was still recovering from injury -- but other than that, he mostly wasn't needed in any other capacity and again, he had not (and still has not) proven more than the men in front of him just yet. All of that still doesn't make it any more fair to compare his YPC average to Breida. That's my point. Their roles were clearly different. They reasons why are irrelevant.
Secondly, I think you misunderstood what I was referencing with Wilson's passing game skills. My generic comments about Wilson being good in the passing game when looked at in the entire context of that sentence, where I said "going back to his college" days, were meant to allude to his college days at UNT. I scouted Wilson as a draft-worthy RB that had starting RB qualities, and a very underrated ability to catch the ball if asked to do that. Since I first saw him on tape, I saw a complete back in Wilson and from what we've seen so far in the NFL, I get the sense that -- similarly to Mostert -- he might very well prove to be more than just a role-player in the future, if afforded more opportunities. He still has to earn that though.
As far as protections go, if you're grinding out yards in 100% run situations, pass protection isn't relevant to that situation. What I was trying to get at initially was that I lean towards Wilson as a good option if we're trying to grind out yardage because of his superior power and his experience in that role has been successful already.
While Breida did have a fumble in both 2017 and 2018, it's true he hasn't had major issues with fumbling until this year. This year, he's simply struggled with consistency in a lot of areas, from the fumbles to dropped passes (including one that turned into an INT), and I think it's fair to critique him this way. There is no excuse for his fumbles this year just as much as there's no excuse for Wilson's fumbles last year or even in college (which I didn't ignore, so I'm kind of confused by that last comment).
Again, I agree that it's very unlikely Breida is shelved for Wilson without a chance at redemption (we've given second chances to several players this year). He's helped us win games, but so did Pettis, Witherspoon, and Skule early in the year. I think we can all agree that these players have to continue to earn their place every day they go out on the field, or they risk losing opportunities to others who will make the most of them.
[ Edited by OnTheClock on Jan 13, 2020 at 11:37 AM ]
