Bears need real help at RB

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First, I absolutely love the Montgomery pick. I think he's a potential workhorse back for years. Love love love the kid.

Second, I really like Cohen - even though he was disappointing this year in many ways. What I think he really is, is a 3rd down back - actually more a WR than a RB (he even said so) I believe they definitely should be leveraging his explosive, open field skills (e.g. wheel routes) and NOT running curls, those predictable WR screens and other contested routes. I guess what I'm saying is, I've concluded he's not a #2 RB. And he certainly isn't interchangeable or a reliable starting RB if/when Monty gets dinged for a few games every year.

Third, Patterson can be a really effective running back. The guy averages over 5 ypc for his career - and that includes starting multiple games at RB for the Pats. But for some reason, in spite of his demonstrated successes, his coaches are reluctant to trot him out there at RB more than a couple of times a game. My guess is it's because he's a reluctant blocker. So he's not really a legit backup either... emergency only, or gadget guy.

Behind those guys there is UDFA - even though Nall looks like he can play a bit, he's not been given opportunity. I'll avoid Nagy criticism beyond saying I don't really like his decision to really only give Cohen legit carries and by default count on him to carry a load in Monty's absence. OK - so the Davis signing didn't work out and it made sense to go for the compensatory 4th rounder. But to me, that role still needs to be filled.

So... isn't this a fairly weak depth chart and big risk for the Bears right now? It looks like it is Montgomery alone as a reliable starter and 15-20 carry/game guy. And given what we see across the league in terms of what is successful, it seems like teams need to go 2-3 good, reasonably interchangeable RBs deep. To me, it looks like the Bears absolutely need another starting-quality RB.

So what say you? Agree? Disagree (and why)? Is Nagy capable of using more than one real RB? What options are out there? FAs? 4th or 5th rounder prospects?
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Yes, seems like they need that 3rd head of a good RB 3 headed monster. The total lack of Mike Davis useage was curious to say the least.

SF has showed you don't necessarily need "top flight" RB talent either. A commitment to the run and a good supporting cast can elevate passed over RBs. Hopefully they bring in some good comp for that 3rd RB spot. Let Nall compete as a ST. Patterson just as a gadget guy and ST.
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Montgomery can be an every down back. Cohen shouldn't be run between the tackles although he doesn't go down easy if he is. Find a way to use him more effectively in the passing game and in the running game when the defense has loosened up. I'm not sure why they don't use Patterson more in the passing game. They need a burner and he has speed to spare. Maybe because, in his career, he hasn't been truly effective in this phase of the game. If they're not going to use Nall, cut him and get a guy to spell Montgomery. There will be UDFAs and players cut from other teams to look at for this.
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the Bears will not care about the position until if / when Nagy decides the position is a priority rather than a cog in a gadget

anyone who thinks regularly running Cohen up the middle between the tackles constitutes an effective running attack, and is apparently satisfied with the lack of production, is not someone who thinks a change or upgrade is in order

so instead of thinking conventionally and seeing issues, we need to be more open minded so maybe we can figure out what Nagy is thinking
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I like Nall, but I was bummed they kept him and let Whyte walk.
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I disagree, and would point to SF and Seattle as prime reasons why.

If you want to run the ball, you have to invest in your OL and your coach has to commit to the running game. Right now we fail at both criteria. And I don't care who you have in your RB corps, without a decent OL in front of them they are neutered. So when I look at SF and Seattle, I don't think that they have insane depth at RB. Put Mostert in Chicago behind this line and he'd look like absolute garbage. Put Carson in Chicago behind this line and with Nagy calling plays, and he'd look like garbage. We basically just showed this with Mike Davis. Wasn't effective in the very few chances he actually got - but he was PLENTY effective in Seattle. Why? Their coach commits to running the football. Their OL ranks poorly, mainly in pass pro, but they can power run and they stick to it. In the rare instances when Nagy committed to a power running game, we saw it come to life a little bit and Monty have some good games. It's two parts, an OL that can run block and a coach that commits to running the football.

So no, adding depth behind Monty/Cohen, two guys that are going to get 90%+ of our workload, is a waste of precious cap space that should be applied towards our OL in my opinion. Then, with a decent OL to mow the lawn, guys like Nall or Patterson could step in in a pinch and be effective, like you see when guys go down in SF and Seattle. And none of it matters, OL or RB, if Nagy doesn't learn from last seasons mistakes and commit to running the football.

BUILD. THE. LINES. How GM's forget this basic principle is astounding to me. San Francisco is such a clear example of it. How many first round picks are on the OL and DL?
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The philosophy behind running Cohen between the tackles makes sense. The execution is bad though. Ideally you run him between the tackles because he’s small and gets lost behind his linemen in the trash. Before you know it he squirts out and breaks off a big gain. But the Bears haven’t been able to run block for two years.

I do think the Bears need a viable backup for Montgomery though. You also have to factor in Cohen potentially leaving after next season.
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dplank wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 12:11 pm I disagree, and would point to SF and Seattle as prime reasons why.

If you want to run the ball, you have to invest in your OL and your coach has to commit to the running game. Right now we fail at both criteria. And I don't care who you have in your RB corps, without a decent OL in front of them they are neutered.

BUILD. THE. LINES. How GM's forget this basic principle is astounding to me. San Francisco is such a clear example of it. How many first round picks are on the OL and DL?
Agreed. It won't matter who is in the backfield until we have proper talent on OL and a scheme/coach that caters to their strengths. Lazor is strong in this area from what I have gathered, I'm not so sure about Castillo but we will see.
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As I see it our RB situation is serviceable. An upgrade would be nice but we have more pressing needs.

Our biggest issue running isnt RB related IMO. It is the lack of respect defenses show for our ability to pass the ball. When defenses can play down hill all game, this is how running the ball can look.
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Wanna make the running game better?

O-line
O-line
O-line
O-line

Our RG situation sucks, the tackles are not good and for some reason they decided to swap Daniels and Whitehair so C and LG got fucked up too.

Fix that and everything, including the passing game, improves.

Other than that, Cohen is a gadget player that runs for more yardage after he's been knocked OOB on kickoffs and handoffs than he actually obtains inbounds.

I appreciate Patterson on special teams.

Monty is the very definition of a grinder. Always tries one evasive move, moves his legs and just grinds forward. Give him a legit OL and a #2 back to give him rest and to continue to grind down the defense and he's a 1,000 yard guy without a problem. And, even better, he's the kind of back that wears out a defense just from trying to tackle him.

The Bears need to develop a legit 1-2 punch with RBs. I would be elated if they drafted an OL in the second round and signed somebody in FA for the OL while also drafting another RB in round 4 or 5.

I know The Ministry Of Information around here gets all defensive whenever Nagy and Pace get criticized but we'd have to have an HC that wants to run the ball for any of this discussion to matter.
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improving the offensive line would definitely help no doubt ... but even with a middling offensive line, success can be found through repetition

on many Bears running plays it appeared that not all of the offensive linemen knew what they were supposed to do .. practice and repetition would fix at least part of that unless the guy is a dumbass ... unfortunately there are plenty of examples of them being dumbasses

like when a guard pulls and runs past a defender to go to his spot, and then stands there with no one to block because the guy he ran past tackled the RB for a loss ... there were plenty of examples of that to choose from ... and to me, that indicates poor coaching and technique, both of which need to improve

as to the repetition aspect, keep in mind Nagy said in one of his post game discussions "I know we need to tun the ball more. I'm not an idiot", and then proceeded to not run he ball very much at all ... I think they had 12 total designed runs in the next game after he made that statement

the biggest problem I see is the Bears offense has no identity ... they don't really know what they want to be and simply toss some things together hoping something will work out ... they don't completely suck on offense, but they also don't really do anything particularly well

find an identity, establish a plan, and then get the players to successfully operate the plan ... or, truly assess the players you have and come up with a plan to best utilize the abilities they can offer ... it doesn't seem to me the Bears are doing either ... just sort of in the middle of their thoughts, in the middle of their plans and in the middle between success and failure ... until that changes, 8-8 is what they will aspire to
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Patterson is wasted money. He is another super athlete that just isn't very good at offense in football.

He had almost 50 percent of his rushing yards on 1 single play over an entire season.
He had 33 percent of his reception yardage on 1 single play over an entire season.
He had 1 spectacular return for a td and about 15 returns where he came out of the endzone and didn't even get to the 20, let alone the 25 yard line.

They paid him 5 million for 186 yards in offense, 1 td, 7 first downs and 800+ yards of kick returns.

Offensive line is where they need investment, let monty take the load and forget ever putting patterson in on offense because most often it was a clusterfuck when he was on the field due to false starts or the defense knowing we were about to hand him the football.
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southdakbearfan wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 2:51 pm Patterson is wasted money. He is another super athlete that just isn't very good at offense in football.

He had almost 50 percent of his rushing yards on 1 single play over an entire season.
He had 33 percent of his reception yardage on 1 single play over an entire season.
He had 1 spectacular return for a td and about 15 returns where he came out of the endzone and didn't even get to the 20, let alone the 25 yard line.

They paid him 5 million for 186 yards in offense, 1 td, 7 first downs and 800+ yards of kick returns.

Offensive line is where they need investment, let monty take the load and forget ever putting patterson in on offense because most often it was a clusterfuck when he was on the field due to false starts or the defense knowing we were about to hand him the football.
If he's mostly used as a KR and gunner, I agree it's wasted money. Every other stop he's made the coaches got better O production from him. I'd like to see more of a commitment to utilize him, personally. But there is a risk there.
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I love David Montgomery and think he can be a bell-cow in this offense. I wish he had better long speed but it is what it is.

I'm also with @wab when it comes to running Cohen up the middle. To add to his point, you have to keep defenses honest. You can't let defenses key in on #29 and alert to tosses/sweeps/screens. That's shooting yourself in the foot.

I'd bring Kareem Hunt in here as depth, otherwise you can look at guys like Kenyan Drake, Matt Breida, Jordan Howard (no reason to not bring him back if he's still interested), Carlos Hyde or Lamar Miller. Names will be out there or we can even draft one if we so choose.
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southdakbearfan wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 2:51 pm Patterson is wasted money. He is another super athlete that just isn't very good at offense in football.

He had almost 50 percent of his rushing yards on 1 single play over an entire season.
He had 33 percent of his reception yardage on 1 single play over an entire season.
He had 1 spectacular return for a td and about 15 returns where he came out of the endzone and didn't even get to the 20, let alone the 25 yard line.

They paid him 5 million for 186 yards in offense, 1 td, 7 first downs and 800+ yards of kick returns.

Offensive line is where they need investment, let monty take the load and forget ever putting patterson in on offense because most often it was a clusterfuck when he was on the field due to false starts or the defense knowing we were about to hand him the football.
All Pro players are generally not "wasted money". First team All Pro no less and the only Bears player to make either 1st or 2nd team. 5M isn't a ton of money. I'd like to see them get him involved more on offense, but damn...why shit on one of the few bright spots we had last year? My thought on Patterson, which was universally roasted, was I think that he has the build to play the "Kelce TE" position. He's a BIG dude. 6'2 220, Kittle is 6'4 250. Vernon Davis is only 6'3, similar build to Patterson. Can you imagine Patterson as the TE threatening the middle of the field? Damn, that'd be brutal on a defense.

Regarding Cohen up the middle. I'm ok with it to keep defenses honest like G08 says, but I think Nagy got too cute and outsmarted himself (a scary trend IMO) and did it too often. Same with Patterson, he used him for his gimmicky shit all the time and defenses knew it, plus our OL was incapable of executing, typically with some stupid penalty.
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I don't like running Cohen inside the way they usually do it. The Bears don't run inside zone plays well--they seldom create space for him to slip through and he isn't going to make yards after contact. If the ran him out of a conventional I formation, on say a draw play, I would be ok with that because the rush usually creates seams and he can burst through, but they tend to run him from an offset position closer to the LOS where his vision is impaired too and he usually comes back across the formation so it's not a quick hitter. The results haven't been good.

Anyway, if he is the sole RB, I believe they should run him mostly on outside zone runs or have him go out for passes either from offset or motioning him to or fixing him in the slot. If they could stretch the field with better downfield throwing, the screen game might get better for both him and Monty. I thought Monty was underutilized as a receiver last year.

It's funny that slow Howard ran the stretch zone plays better earlier in his career with Loggains than he and Monty did under Nagy.

Last year, they really struggled running wide. Monty isn't explosive and the blocking was bad. They seemed to run to the left side better than the right after Daniels switched to LG.
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dplank wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 3:14 pm
southdakbearfan wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 2:51 pm Patterson is wasted money. He is another super athlete that just isn't very good at offense in football.

He had almost 50 percent of his rushing yards on 1 single play over an entire season.
He had 33 percent of his reception yardage on 1 single play over an entire season.
He had 1 spectacular return for a td and about 15 returns where he came out of the endzone and didn't even get to the 20, let alone the 25 yard line.

They paid him 5 million for 186 yards in offense, 1 td, 7 first downs and 800+ yards of kick returns.

Offensive line is where they need investment, let monty take the load and forget ever putting patterson in on offense because most often it was a clusterfuck when he was on the field due to false starts or the defense knowing we were about to hand him the football.
All Pro players are generally not "wasted money". First team All Pro no less and the only Bears player to make either 1st or 2nd team. 5M isn't a ton of money. I'd like to see them get him involved more on offense, but damn...why shit on one of the few bright spots we had last year? My thought on Patterson, which was universally roasted, was I think that he has the build to play the "Kelce TE" position. He's a BIG dude. 6'2 220, Kittle is 6'4 250. Vernon Davis is only 6'3, similar build to Patterson. Can you imagine Patterson as the TE threatening the middle of the field? Damn, that'd be brutal on a defense.

Regarding Cohen up the middle. I'm ok with it to keep defenses honest like G08 says, but I think Nagy got too cute and outsmarted himself (a scary trend IMO) and did it too often. Same with Patterson, he used him for his gimmicky shit all the time and defenses knew it, plus our OL was incapable of executing, typically with some stupid penalty.
If the guy could learn route trees or crisp routes he would be a beast. His knock has always been that he runs the wrong routes half the time and is lazy in his routes the other half.
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G08 wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 12:43 pm
dplank wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 12:11 pm I disagree, and would point to SF and Seattle as prime reasons why.

If you want to run the ball, you have to invest in your OL and your coach has to commit to the running game. Right now we fail at both criteria. And I don't care who you have in your RB corps, without a decent OL in front of them they are neutered.

BUILD. THE. LINES. How GM's forget this basic principle is astounding to me. San Francisco is such a clear example of it. How many first round picks are on the OL and DL?
Agreed. It won't matter who is in the backfield until we have proper talent on OL and a scheme/coach that caters to their strengths. Lazor is strong in this area from what I have gathered, I'm not so sure about Castillo but we will see.
This, all day long. The frustrating thing was watching them have success running from the I and offset I formations with Holtz at FB and then not sticking with it.

Matt "I know we need to run the ball more. I'm not an idiot." Nagy, Matt "“I wasn't brought here to run the I formation” Nagy, blooming well ought to have been paying attention to the NFC Championship Game where the 49ers ran all over his team's key division rival and thrashed them whilst only throwing 8 passes. Stick with what works!
AZ_Bearfan wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 11:44 am I like Nall, but I was bummed they kept him and let Whyte walk.
Yeah, that was a bit of a headscratcher given that they knew they were parting ways with Davis and Whyte was a draft pick with speed, something which Nagy coverts in his offense. Whyte's numbers in Pittsburgh: 6 games, 24 carries, 122 yards, 5.1 yard average.
The Marshall Plan wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 1:48 pm ...for some reason they decided to swap Daniels and Whitehair so C and LG got fucked up too.
The reason was obvious. Daniels was a college center, considered by many to be the best center in his draft class. Whitehair had never played center until joining the Bears where he was expected to play guard and whilst he's played well there he's always had issues with shotgun snaps. It made a ton of sense to switch them and I don't recall anyone on these boards suggesting otherwise before the season started. It's easy to bemoan the change in hindsight, but everybody including the Bears expected it to make the line better not worse.
Fumblebuck wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 1:18 pm Our biggest issue running isnt RB related IMO. It is the lack of respect defenses show for our ability to pass the ball. When defenses can play down hill all game, this is how running the ball can look.
It's hard to pass the ball when you consistently find yourselves behind the chains due to an ineffective run game. Your opponents know you're going to have to pass. A key objective under Lovie Smith was to make the other team's offense one dimensional, to take away the run and force them to pass. It's a big part of what made that defense so effective. Nagy's offense seems to do the job for their opponents; they make themselves one-dimensional.

In another thread I pointed out the correlation between a drop off in rushing average and a drop off in passer rating. If QBs like Brady, Rivers, Ryan and Goff all saw a big fall in passer rating compared to last year when their team's rushing average fell to 4 yards a carry or below then is that due to defenses showing a lack of respect to their ability to pass the ball?
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I 100% agree that Monty is fine, the OL desperately needs upgraded and Nagy needs to commit more to the run.

On Cohen up the middle, I largely agree with wab and G08 on keeping defenses honest. You can't show teams that when 29 is in the huddle as the only RB, it won't ever be a run. But the Bears were SO predictable with him in the first series or two, it was pathetic. Guess what? They're going to run Cohen up the middle at least a couple times early. And not so much after that. I say let DM start and sprinkle 29 in here and there as a change of pace or situationally.
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I should have pre-empted with "of course everyone knows the line needs to be better, and the run game improved" so people wouldn't bother posting the same "Oline blah Oline blah" all over again. Why does everyone have to create these false choices in their posts? Nobody can post about ANYTHING else about other areas of need when the Oline needs work? Wrong.

Plank - your "disagreement" is noted - but you're arguing on a different topic. The choice isn't RB OR Oline. It is just about the RB depth. WHEN the Oline is fixed, the Bears had better have more depth at this position. There are no Mosterts on the Bears. They basically have two RBs and one is a fringe 3rd down back. I'd venture to say that the RB position is a far bigger risk to the Bears if they do nothing than the TE position.
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This OL, particularly the OT's, were built for the straight-ahead 3 yards and a clod of mud get off the bus running Fox football game plan. The OL has consistently had problems with the Nagy's offensive vision. They started last season with the hopes that Kyle Long had recovered from his injuries and could again anchor and lead the OL. Unfortunately that was not meant to be.

Until the OL can rise to at least an average NFL level then we won't really know how well Monty can produce or if Mitch can be a pocket passer. And yes, I was also disappointed that Nall did not get a chance at the end of the season. The coaches must not REALLY like him.
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G08 wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 3:04 pm I love David Montgomery and think he can be a bell-cow in this offense. I wish he had better long speed but it is what it is.

I'm also with @wab when it comes to running Cohen up the middle. To add to his point, you have to keep defenses honest. You can't let defenses key in on #29 and alert to tosses/sweeps/screens. That's shooting yourself in the foot.

I'd bring Kareem Hunt in here as depth, otherwise you can look at guys like Kenyan Drake, Matt Breida, Jordan Howard (no reason to not bring him back if he's still interested), Carlos Hyde or Lamar Miller. Names will be out there or we can even draft one if we so choose.
Kareem Hunt would be the perfect signing to compliment Monty.
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I'd love Hunt, but the Bears have been avoiding guys like this ever since Ratliff came through the door. It'd be a great get, however.
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Hunt had 43 carries and 37 receptions the rest of 2019 after serving his 8 game suspension so he shouldn't be beat up. There is, tho, the character issue which got him cut from KC. I don't know if Ms. McCaskey will sign off on him.
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Again... stop with the "oline makes RBs better". We all know that. Back on topic...

Hunt would be an amazing get. Probably quite expensive though. His history with Nagy might break the ice of reluctance to go after the guy. He was the comp for Monty going into the season. But he's more explosive. He'd probably end up starting. But who cares. Light all their fires. Most RBs last a couple of years and the pipeline needs to be kept full of them. The Bears always seem to treat the RB position like a punter - "we got our guy and he's pretty good so next topic."
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You can't separate the two IE....The reason people are pointing out the OL is because we have to decide where to apply our finite resources. And applying resources towards a 3rd or 4th string RB isn't going to move the needle at all on our rushing attack. Applying resources towards our OL instead, and staying with what we have at RB (including Nall, who I like), will help our rushing attack. In the event of an injury to Monty and/or Cohen, backup RB's are everywhere, available, and cheap. Look at this year's playoff teams...KC had an injury at RB, they grab Lesean McCoy.
Seattle loses Carson late in the season, no problem they grab Marshawn Lynch.

It's just not something we need to worry about, we have lots of more pressing issues than a 4th string RB.
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4th string RB? Let's have an honest discussion - I never friggin said that. Jesus - do you like when people do that to you? Put dumb words in your mouth?

I get it - it's a team sport and the play of one can dramatically impact the play of another. But both positions are important, but you're putting all the weight on one & none on the other - that's a mistake. The Bears can address both positions - and need to.

Seattle suffered greatly with very little running threat after Carson went down - may have cost them that last game. Wilson almost single-handedly carried that team on his back... wow what a performance. Lynch got into the end zone from a yard or two out a few times - and great for him; great story. But don't try to sell me he was a legit run threat for them. He made them one-dimensional. If the Bears were in the playoffs and Monty went down... you're saying you want to put the game potentially on Mitch Trubisky and see if he can be a Wilson?

McCoy went there because of Reid, and Reid probably got the most out of him. But C'mon... you're going to take the position that the Bears with Trubisky can win with the same weaknesses at RB as KC with the future GOAT under center? Honestly how would KC's line look with Trubisky under center and Nagy calling plays? How many of those long TDs would Mitch have hit? That team is where they are because of 3 guys - Mahomes, Hill and Reid. Not as much the Oline. I just think that's another weak example.

A far better example of "look at a team that got there" is the Niners. They go 3 deep at starting RB. And no Cohens. All 3 down backs.

I'm not suggesting using a 2nd rounder (although I'd be open to it if someone like Taylor was sitting there). I AM saying that for the Bears to win with Trubisky, they need to be able to run the ball, and have quality depth at the position. And I'd bet that spending $X on Kareem Hunt would have a better impact on the run game than the exact same number on a FA OL. Note: I'm assuming the new OL coach will have an impact, as I assume everyone else does too.
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wab
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It’s getting spicy around here.
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dplank
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I'm just trying to follow your logic here...you said...
First, I absolutely love the Montgomery pick. I think he's a potential workhorse back for years. Love love love the kid.

Second, I really like Cohen - even though he was disappointing this year in many ways. What I think he really is, is a 3rd down back - actually more a WR than a RB (he even said so) I believe they definitely should be leveraging his explosive, open field skills (e.g. wheel routes) and NOT running curls, those predictable WR screens and other contested routes. I guess what I'm saying is, I've concluded he's not a #2 RB. And he certainly isn't interchangeable or a reliable starting RB if/when Monty gets dinged for a few games every year.

Third, Patterson can be a really effective running back.
Now I'm not Stephen Hawking or anything, but I think if you like our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd RB's currently on roster and aren't suggesting we dump any of them, then you're talking about a 4th RB here, no? The only one putting words in your mouth is...umm....you. But look, if you think adding a 4th RB to our team who will be lucky to see the ball even once a game is more important than adding a starting RG or upgrading at OT, then ok....you can have that discussion all you want. My opinion is that's moronic. But you're welcome to think otherwise.

Any astute observer of this team, locally or nationally, has noted that this team has glaring problems at OL, TE, and sadly QB. Those are the areas I think we should focus on. We're set at RB IMO. JMO, please don't yell at me.
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I think RB is very low on our lists of needs.

In an effort to save money, I’m good with these 3 being it at RB.
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