The Running game

[HawkWow]

Some in here are ridiculously quick to write Turbin off: "He fumbled a KO". Well, he's not a return man...blame that on Pete. How many times has he fumbled a carry? That's what matters. Very sure handed RB that gains positive yardage while our 1 catches a breather AKA: knows his role, does his job.

"He goes down easy and gains too few yards". He does need to lift his feet higher, but he does have a burst and he's also a damn good blocker. Add the yards he lost because of penalties and his YPC is probably better than Marshawn's. And he's done this without the benefit of repetitions. Every back needs to establish a rhythm. How many times have you heard a Joe Buck, in describing a back, say "he just gets stronger as the game goes on"? Most backs do...they've established their rhythm.

It's fun to talk about how "explosive" CM is, but wherever it is he's been doing all this exploding, it sure as hell hasn't been on the football field. The yards Turbin lost to penalties alone would add up to more yards than CM gained last year. He couldn't beat Turbin out of the 2 spot and none of us have seen any indication he ever will. Michael is the one deserving of your less than favorable adjectives...not Robert Turbin.

And please...all this talk about "Pete was saving CM". Not only is that a lame and convenient excuse for CM's ineptitude, it is also some utter bullshit. CM didn't get on the field because there were better options in front of him. Thankfully, those better options remain with the team going into this 14 campaign.

Lynch
Turbin
Ware
Michael

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Some in here are ridiculously quick to write Turbin off: "He fumbled a KO". Well, he's not a return man...blame that on Pete. How many times has he fumbled a carry? That's what matters. Very sure handed RB that gains positive yardage while our 1 catches a breather AKA: knows his role, does his job.

Turbin could arguably start for a lot of teams, especially on a team that rotates backs.

I just think he's going to get squeezed out this year by Michael, who needs to start getting carries if he's going to be the heir apparent to Lynch. You don't draft a guy with Michael's ability, and then have him rot on the bench for four years.

 

[hawknation2014]

Some in here are ridiculously quick to write Turbin off: "He fumbled a KO". Well, he's not a return man...blame that on Pete. How many times has he fumbled a carry? That's what matters. Very sure handed RB that gains positive yardage while our 1 catches a breather AKA: knows his role, does his job.

Turbin could arguably start for a lot of teams, especially on a team that rotates backs.

I just think he's going to get squeezed out this year by Michael, who needs to start getting carries if he's going to be the heir apparent to Lynch. You don't draft a guy with Michael's ability, and then have him rot on the bench for four years.

If it's looking like that will happen, why not turn him into a full-time fullback? He has the pass blocking technique, quickness, and upper body strength to build on. He also has the experience as a blocking back on third downs. If he works on his run blocking and strengthens his lower body, who knows? He could develop into real weapon at the fullback position.

Obviously, I'm not that excited about our current situation at fullback. Our savior is a 5'8 rookie with a gut who runs a 4.9 and sometimes stalls out when trying to block college linebackers. :180670:

 

[edogg23]

On the KJR they asked John Snider if they had any oh crap moments where their guy was taken ahead of them. He said in the 7th round the fb they wanted was taken 3-4 picks in front of them. So it appears Smalls wasn't even their first choice at fb.

That's wrong. They wanted a different player in the 7th, but it wasn't a fullback. In fact, there was no other fullback taken in the 7th round, so you could have checked that pretty easily. JS said Small was his top rated fullback on Brock and Danny.

The player they wanted in the 7th was likely Beau Allen, a DT from Wisconsin. He was taken three spots ahead of Small and fits the profile of players that JS likes (SPARQ athlete, from Wisconsin).

Your right, I misquoted him.
The player taken three spots before Seattle was DT Beau Allen of Wisconsin, and taken four spots prior was LB Brandon Watts of Georgia Tech.

 

[Happypuppy]

I don't think people dislike turbo. He just seems like a low ceiling guy. He was last year about the same as his first year. He really needs to watch some old video of Rodger Craig. He too had a smallish lower body but prevented ankle tackles by his high knee lift stride.

 

[Smellyman]

A lead blocker limits wear and tear?

Are you actually serious...or does this need to explained.

There is a reason why the decline of the workhorse running back coincided with the decline of the lead blocking FB. There is a reason why the majority of teams are using running backs by committee as well as getting their RBs out in space more...

To limit wear and tear.

If Lynch went a full seasons without any lead blockers, he'd probably have retired from football by now.

And look at the best RBs throughout history, more often than not, he'll be accompanied by a distinguished FB. If I remember Emmitt Smith's HoF induction speech well, he was in tears of admiration for how thankful he was for Daryl Johnston.

So its pretty much logical, workhorse backs like Marshawn Lynch need a quality FB such as Michael Robinson to get him through the grind of 300+ carries. Its that simple.

your opinion convinced me

 

[HawkAroundTheClock]

Kiero might have landed with the Ravens in UDFA. He's from Baltimore and they value the position.

If not the Ravens, others were watching him:

He has worked out for the San Diego Chargers and the Atlanta Falcons and visited the Cleveland Browns. Small also participated in the Ravens' local prospect day.

As DavidSeven pointed out, we got our guy in addition to the others we were targeting for UDFA. Win-win-win. Now, let 'em compete.

Just saw this, LOL:
Retweeted by Davis Hsu
Jacson Bevens ‏@JacsonBevens 1h
Vince Wilfork - Red Bryant - Michael Turner - Mike Tolbert - Kiero Small #NFLNestingDolls