Steelers RB Group Overview

[Steeldrama]

Im fairly sure Anthony McFarland was the Steelers major addition to the running backs group.

Still, if they’re willing to add another, I’d like to see them make another trade with the Ravens.

Gus Edwards and his 130 yds impressed me in that horrible season finale

[bradshaw2ben]

Im fairly sure Anthony McFarland was the Steelers major addition to the running backs group.

Still, if they’re willing to add another, I’d like to see them make another trade with the Ravens.

Gus Edwards and his 130 yds impressed me in that horrible season finale

Gus Edwards is the best RB they have... by far.

[PennyBacker]

Watching the highlight videos of Whyte and McFarland, Whyte looks to be about a half step faster.

McFarland runs more compact from my perspective, and looks like he not only has a better build than Whyte, but a solid one which given his compact running style should allow him to endure hits better. Whyte looks a bit slight and loose for an every down or more developed role. JMHO. I am not sure anyone can say for certain what the plan or expectation is for McFarland is at point.

It will be interesting to see how McFarland looks in full Pittsburgh Steelers uniform. Some rookies immediately fill it out well, while other guys have looked worthy of a cut right away.

[steelmann58]

I really can't see Connor getting a second contract.

[VeritasSteel]

Im not one to hang my hat on a talking head's opinion, but Reggie Bush talks glowingly of McFarland's potential. I would be interested in seeing what he does in the passing game both blocking and receiving before I can get on board with the Bell comparisons. But if game recognizes game then lets see what the kid can bring to the party.

https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/ma ... eveon-bell

[bradshaw2ben]

Im not one to hang my hat on a talking head's opinion, but Reggie Bush talks glowingly of McFarland's potential. I would be interested in seeing what he does in the passing game both blocking and receiving before I can get on board with the Bell comparisons. But if game recognizes game then lets see what the kid can bring to the party.

https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/ma ... eveon-bell

I don't see McFarland contributing in the pass game very much if at all in year 1. I think he's a 2-down back, a la Kerrith Whyte... they'll just use him more than Whyte.

[lifelongsteel]

I think Conner starts as the 1st back, Samuels as the 3rd down/2 min back, McFarland as the change of pace guy, Snell in short yardage. Snell can stick with even a very narrow role because his STs play keeps him active.

In a vacuum this looks right.

But this offense lacks speed, which is kind of important. I would do everything possible to get McFarland on the field as often as possible.

[COR-TEN]

I think Conner starts as the 1st back, Samuels as the 3rd down/2 min back, McFarland as the change of pace guy, Snell in short yardage. Snell can stick with even a very narrow role because his STs play keeps him active.

In a vacuum this looks right.

But this offense lacks speed, which is kind of important. I would do everything possible to get McFarland on the field as often as possible.

I'm not as wise as some here, but the highlight reel I saw had plenty of missed tackles by DB's, along with bad angles by LB's and DB's. Maybe even some missed assignments. Take a wrong angle to a guy with speed and you're fucked.

[VeritasSteel]

Im not one to hang my hat on a talking head's opinion, but Reggie Bush talks glowingly of McFarland's potential. I would be interested in seeing what he does in the passing game both blocking and receiving before I can get on board with the Bell comparisons. But if game recognizes game then lets see what the kid can bring to the party.

https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/ma ... eveon-bell

I don't see McFarland contributing in the pass game very much if at all in year 1. I think he's a 2-down back, a la Kerrith Whyte... they'll just use him more than Whyte.

We keep wanting to compare him to Whyte. I think the FO followed sentiment that is prevalent on this site and found a workhorse type back with speed in a later round. He has a lot of nagging small injuries which in my mind is the only knock on him. This team doesn't need another tub monster in the RB room.

Speaking of the RB room, I was high on Snell in college. After he made a Gator defense ,stocked with NFL talent, look bad at the Swamp. I figured we got a steal. But he had "first year back" issues. His first year reminded me of Bell's in that we were all wondering why the Steelers picked this guy. Hopefully Snell will come back jacked and able to catch passes like a WR. I wouldn't be mad if he fully embraced the glorious Pittsburgh "fatback" tradition and came in at 265# after signing a 2 year promotional deal with a Pierogi and Ice Cream Sandwiches maker.

[VeritasSteel]

Snell doesn't need to weigh any more than 220. Hopefully he come in in elite physical condition cause he aint the most physically gifted. That said. He can catch and block just fine. I'd say we'll see a whole lotta yinzer rock pounding going on during the first part of the season. Possibly including a lotta short dump-offs to the Switzinator.

I was kidding about the 265#.

But if he did and had quick feet, it is safe to say they would run out of hand lotion in WPA.

I don't see a lot of work for Switz now that JuJu is in the slot and we have two TEs over 6' 5"

[bradshaw2ben]

The thing about the comparison to Whyte is: if they can't trust him in pass protection, his participation is going to be severely limited. Whyte did great when he got rushing touches, and it seems like Mcfarland is a theoretical upgrade to Whyte as a runner, even if he's not quite as fast as Whyte. Sure, in a world without Conner, One could see Mcfarland and Snell getting a ton of touches as the de facto starter, with Samuels being the 3rd down guy. Unless you think Conner is going to be with the team for years to come, it's why I think you have to have Samuels around with Ben for another year and see if he's the 2018 or the 2019 version.

[steelmann58]

I have feeling Wyhte will make this roster and think Snell is going to have a major step forward

[K_C_]

I'm sure Whyte's a fine player, but I believe his chances to make the 53 went away when McFarland was drafted.

McFarland will either have to get injured or he'll have to be a massive disappointment for Whyte to make the roster.

Hell, Benny Snail looked like a massive disappointment last season and the Steelers kept him around all year.

[steelmann58]

I can't see if edmunds makes this team.

[Scunge]

This is all hindsight of course, now looking back after they made McFarland the choice, but the player and skill set makes a lot of sense for who the OC and QB coach are.

When Randy Fitchner was the OC at Memphis he had DeAngelo Williams as his RB. Williams became a first round pick of Carolina and had a fine career, and he was reunited with his former OC at Memphis when he spent the last two years of his career in Pittsburgh.

Matt Canada had Anthony McFarland as his RB when he was the interim coach at Maryland. I can imagine when Fitchner/Canada talked of McFarland pre-draft, they probably had a conversation comparing McFarland to a young DeAngelo Williams.

You look at Williams he was 5'9", 210 ran in that 4.45 area, had many long runs and catches in his career. He was not some scat back, had strength and power to break tackles, he did not go down easily with contact.

Carolina had a bigger back in Jonathan Stewart that they paired with Williams and it was a great duo.

Might the Steelers be building something similar with Conner and McFarland??

McFarland has the same build, speed and playing style of a Williams. We saw what even a 32-33 year old Williams could do in this offense, so to take a younger player with a similar skill set is not really that much of a stretch to see what the Steelers were thinking.

If they finally have a fullback that can be relied upon, not miss any time, I can see McFarland doing really well, really early in his NFL career. I tend to think that RBs are about as WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) as anything in life. You either have the talent or you don't, you either have the running instincts or you don't. Snell, Samuels, whatever, they are not difference makers, are not the jolt of electricity that the RB position needs. Is McFarland the answer, can he bring the juice? Maybe, maybe not, but I don't think Snell, Samuels or Whyte are going to be in the way of McFarland getting some playing time.

Whyte, I think he is not big enough to break tackles and his running style is a little too upright, he is stiffer and not as elusive.
Snell, he has a monotonous, plodding running style, and if he loses weight to get quicker will he sacrifice power and make himself less able to break tackles??
Samuels? I don't think he is enough of a pure RB, strictly a 3rd down back, receiving threat.

If Conner goes down to injury, misses more time this year, I can see McFarland being the best option, even as a rookie, to see more playing time because he may have a more complete game. With him you can keep him on the field and not have to limit the offense. With the others, well, last season was proof of how they had to go with a musical chairs approach, because none of them could stay on the field and replace Conner on their own.

[bradshaw2ben]

I think that's a good breakdown of the situation. My concern with the whole FB thing is, who are you taking off the field? I mean, there are some situations when it would be great to have a FB. Maybe. It has to be a situation where they're pretty sure you're running the ball. 3rd and inches? 4 minute drill with a two TD lead? Absolutely.

But are you taking out WRs or TEs in goal to go? With Ben F Roethlisberger as your QB? That's something to do once a game, maybe.

I think there's way too much emphasis on the run game and fullback, just as it's probably true there's too much emphasis on nose tackle, and for the same reason.

Solidify the OL. Surround Ben with weapons and make sure he's healthy and maintained. Get leads early by throwing the shit out of the ball.

The three best things you can do for the run game.

[steelmann58]

Can Watt catch the ball or is he strictly a blocker?

[bradshaw2ben]

I'm sure he can catch it at least as well as Rosie Nix... but can he catch it as well as literally any other skill player on the roster? Probably not.

[Scunge]

Watt's ability to catch the ball and run after the catch is infinitely better than Rosie.

Yes, small sample size, to be sure, but Watt has 10 career catches for 152 yards.

Rosie had 12 catches for 69 yards.

Watt has a 53 yard catch, a 23 yard catch, a 21 yard catch. When Watt's father talked recently of how he thinks his son may get more of an opportunity to show what he can really do as a fullback, I can see his point.

A fullback averages over 15 yards a catch and his team doesn't really explore that to its fullest.

Kyle Juszczyk. Might Watt have a chance to be that type of fullback?? Play more snaps, catch 20-30 passes. It always seemed like Kyle killed us when he was a Raven because Flacco would find him on a critical 3rd down conversion to keep a drive alive.

And I also think a legitimate fullback CAN have an impact in the passing game in terms of play action passing. I ask you B2B, or anybody for that matter, isn't play action more convincing when you have a fullback on the field, the ball is snapped, the fullback runs into the hole, the QB fakes the handoff to the RB and the defense bites on it. We tend to have a single RB behind Ben, and we do this lame fake and nobody on defense bites on this weak sauce play action.

I guess it takes some time to judge an offseason, but man, I love how they have added all kinds of shapes and sizes to this offense.

Eric Ebron. Chase Claypool. Anthony McFarland. Derek Watt. Where were these 4 players last season in our offense?? Where was that strong #2 TE who was a vertical threat in the passing game. Where was that big 6'4" WR? Where was that speedy complementary RB to Conner? Where was that poor man's Kyle Jusczyk at fullback??

Now, yes, let us not get ahead of ourselves, maybe some (all?) of these 4 players will disappoint in some fashion. But at least the Steelers appeared to have a plan this offseason to attack the holes in the offense at the skill positions. I like it a lot.

[steelmann58]

I think Enbron is the real dark horse here and could be a game changer in this offense

[Scunge]

It is funny, but might the Steelers have looked at what the Ravens did last season with their TEs and thought hey, we might be able to do that too?

The Ravens #1 TE in terms of actual snaps played is Nick Boyle, he played 70% of the time. He is their best blocker at TE. He was able to do the dirty work and then the #2 and #3 TEs behind him, in terms of playing time, both playing 42% of the time, were kept clean and able to dominate as receiving threats. Those two TEs were Mark Andrews and Hayden Hurst.

Could the Steelers use McDonald more as the Nick Boyle and use Eric Ebron and Chase Claypool as the equivalents to Andrews and Hurst??

I think they can.

Yes, yes, Claypool is not per se a TE but if he is lined up like a Kelce or Kittle in the slot or out wide, is he not for all intents and purposes a TE?

I suddenly see a team that has all of the chess pieces it needs, we don't have that pure speedster on the outside at WR, a Mike Wallace, but we sure do seem to have a robust group of skill position players at RB, TE and WR that might just give Ben the best options he has had in a long, long time.

[bradshaw2ben]

We better hope McDonald was hurt last year and not just terrible as a blocker, because it does seem likely he'll be the primary blocker.

[Scunge]

I give everybody on offense a pass for last year for the most part. Is anybody going to argue that McDonald wasn't a good blocker in 2018? I thought he was great as that combo TE, pass catcher and blocker when he last played an entire season with Ben.

Last season just wasn't about Ben being out for 14.5 games, it was also about having Rosie Nix out for 13 games, for having Conner miss 6 games, having JuJu miss 4 games, Pouncey miss 3 games, Foster miss 2 games. Not having Jesse James anymore as that #2 TE, not having Antonio Brown as that #1 WR.

Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong, whatever moves they made to replace players ended up failing miserably. Whether it was counting on Grimble or later Vannett to replace Jessie James. Or thinking that Donte Moncrief could help fill the void at WR. They had a position coach die shortly before the season starts, they had a backup QB have his helmet torn off of his head and then used as weapon against him, and then called a racist afterwards. It was just a total shitshow all season long, and yet they were 8-5 at one point and in the playoff hunt for a time.

Now defensively, yeah, they were the antithesis to the offense, it seemed everything that could go right, did go right, everything fell into place perfectly.

I am hoping that the defense does not fall back down to earth too much and that the offense is able to make major strides with the youth movement and that Ben embraces the young players around him.

[COR-TEN]

I give everybody on offense a pass for last year for the most part.

Yup. And this season, if it happens and with a truncated season, will not be an accurate indicator as to what these new additions can offer. IOW, we cannot judge them on the status quo circa 2019. That shit is over. We need to judge them by a different set of parameters - as it plays out over the next few months. /shrug.

[Scunge]

Well, that is for certain that this season is going to be drastically different.

But you know what Core-Ten? I am old enough to remember the 1982 strike shortened 9 game season and the 1987 15 game season with the 3 games by scab players, and both of those seasons still ended with a winning team lifting up the Lombardi trophy in a Super Bowl.

If everybody starts this season under the same circumstances, has to deal with the same trials and tribulations then in my mind this season is as legitimate as any other, no asterisk has to be applied.

After looking over the Steelers offseason so far and really thinking hard about it, I like what they did. They really seem to have adapted their normal approach. You look at some of the draft picks, they went against their normal MO. Kevin Dotson is not an underaged, inexperienced player who needs a year or two in the weight room, needs to learn how to play. No, he has started 52 games, will be 24 years old in September, and has a maxed out body with the strength needed to play right away. You look at the safety/nickel backer they drafted in Brooks, instinctive, has played in 40 games, again going for a player who has a fighting chance of playing some as a rookie.

And then when they didn't draft players with a lot of game experience, at least they drafted for elite traits and sometimes that can make for an easy way on to the field and give you some rookie production.

One of the things I am excited about is the special teams units this year.

Some people moan about the players we lost, Dirty Red, Chickillo, Holton, Nix, but I say good riddance. I think some of those players were over rated in terms of their special teams prowess.

Now this year? Derek Watt. Chase Claypool was a very good gunner in college. McFarland? I did see one kickoff he had for 40 yards, they didn't use him as a kickoff man but with that speed and his ability to slip tackles he might make a very good one. Highsmith, Brooks, just a bumper crop of hungry athletes, better athletes ready to juice up the special teams.

[COR-TEN]

Well, that is for certain that this season is going to be drastically different.

But you know what Core-Ten? I am old enough to remember the 1982 strike shortened 9 game season and the 1987 15 game season with the 3 games by scab players, and both of those seasons still ended with a winning team lifting up the Lombardi trophy in a Super Bowl.

If everybody starts this season under the same circumstances, has to deal with the same trials and tribulations then in my mind this season is as legitimate as any other, no asterisk has to be applied.

I don't disagree that if all teams have the same logistical issues RE covid 19, then so be it. I was just commenting on the fact that a year or two from now when people declare draft picks a bust or didn't live up to their potential, they should at least get a year or so pass. In the greater scheme of things. I too am confident the moves the steelers made are positive, and look forward to watching them play. I share your enthusiasm.

[ironzabo]

Whats up boys - been busy as hell over here since the draft. F the Pandemic = please and thank you

First and foremost - I have never for one second felt that James Conner had it in him to be THE starting RB for the Pittsburgh Steelers. (God Bless Him) I also have been one of the biggest supporters of Jaylen Samuels since he was selected subsequently. HOWEVER ... we now have a new dynamic


I am over the moon on the Steelers thinking outside the box on taking RB McFarland here and now from Maryland and his ties to Canada.... believe this firmly more firmly now than before that they had him targeted over the plodders and JAGS like Dobbins in this haul. (FUCK tOSU = Love you Ice, Drama and crew )


I see absolutely zero reason we cant succeed for the next two years with 7 at the helm with the version of Juju that I am told is coming by B2B and the new crew of "Kinda Young Money" = DJ - Claypool - Washington and semblance of Cain ....and maybe "oldest young man" JUJU.

I think young Mr. K Whyte deserves to make this team too - if that is done you can really do some things when you couple Ebron and Vanimal with Watt in the Hback jam.


Im getting more excited about the 2020 attack. LFG men

[Ice]

Well said, Zabo. I'm feeling positive, too, but I'll once again reiterate that Perch has McFarland pretty well nailed. Extremely feast or famine and needs to be gameplanned and utilized as such. A bounce back year from Conner, as much as folks are down on the guy, is probably the key to the group in 2020. He's the only guy, aside from Samuels against NE two years ago for one game, that has had any consistent professional success. We need a big year from James and some contributions from the supporting cast. I'm hopeful on all counts.

[steelmann58]

I just want to see this kid take it to the house during the season

[Thrillsseeker]

Umm