The Chicago Bears running back search is about as extensive as it gets for this upcoming 2019 draft. With less than a week to go before the action begins, they’ve met with no fewer than 17 prospects at that position in some capacity. It’s a matter of where the priorities of head coach Matt Nagy lay. Jordan Howard was traded in large part due to his system after all.
Some think it’s the desire to have more of a receiving threat out of the backfield. Others think Nagy wants more dynamic ability to run between the guards, something Howard struggled with the past two years. Either way, it seems a lot of people are getting hung up on one certain aspect of these backs that makes or breaks their stock.
Workload.
Backs who had a large amount of carries during their college careers seem to be falling down boards for some in the media. The reason being a fear of too much wear and tear on the body. It’s an understandable concern, but also one that tends to get played up a bit too much every year.
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Chicago Bears running back search can’t get hung up on too many carries
Below is a list of prominent NFL running backs since 1990 who had excellent careers that spanned a decade or more in the league. This despite having workloads that exceeded 700 carries during their college years.
- Matt Forte – 833
- Adrian Peterson – 748
- Thomas Jones – 809
- DeAngelo Williams – 969
- Steven Jackson – 743
- Ricky Williams – 1,011
- Marshall Faulk – 766
- Emmitt Smith – 700
By contrast, there is an extensive list of good running backs who didn’t exceed that mark in college who still ended up having shortened NFL careers.
- Jamaal Charles – 533
- Chris Johnson – 624
- Maurice Jones-Drew – 481
- Clinton Portis – 440
- Jamal Lewis – 487
- Terrell Davis – 372
- Eddie George – 683
The point of this? There is no set reality to drafting running backs. People talk about “tread on the tires” all the time but the truth is there is no way to tell when the body of a player will break down. Some guys could’ve run it 700-800 times in college and still crack 10,000 career yards in the pros.
Others were conserved with just 300-400 in school, burn brightly for a few years in the NFL, got injured and that’s it. People can’t look at the production with a running back and twist it into a bad thing because he was used too much. Production is production. Injuries happen in football. There is no telling where or when they’ll strike.
