The Green Bay Packers are young and talented at RB for the 2008 season
The Green Bay Packers are young at RB but they have a lot of talent on hand. Getting Ryan Grant during the pre-season last year was a coup for the Packers as he really was a big key in the offense in the 2nd half of the season. Grant ran with a good combination of power and speed. He played in 15 games (7 starts) for the Packers last season and he carried the ball 188 times for 956 yards (5.1 ypc) with 8 TD runs. Grant also caught 30 passes for 145 yards (4.8 avg). Look for Grant to improve on those numbers this season as he will be starting from day #1 n 2008.
Fellow 2nd year running back Brandon Jackson was the starter when the season started for the Packers before losing his job to DeShawn Wynn. But, Jackson responded well late in the season which made the Packers’ front office happy with him. Jackson played in 11 games (3 starts) last year for the Packers and he carried the ball 75 times for 267 yards (3.6 ypc) with 1 TD run. He also caught 16 passes for 130 yards (8.1 avg). Look for Jackson to have better numbers in 2008.
DeShawn Wynn showed that he has some talent but he will need to stay healthy to really achieve his full potential. Wynn played in 7 games (4 starts) for the Packers last season and he carried the ball 50 times for 203 yards (4.1 ypc) with 4 TD runs. He also caught 9 passes for 73 yards (8.1 avg). Wynn has the potential to be more than a backup if the guys in front of him on the depth chart go down to injury.
Vernand Morency was buried on the depth chart behind all of the rookies and it will be interesting to see how he responds to this challenge. Morency played in 13 games (0 starts) for the Packers last season and he carried the ball 29 times for 108 yards (3.7 ypc). He also caught 30 passes for 199 yards (6.6 avg). It appears that Morency will not ever live up to the potential that many thought he had coming out of college. Morency has now played in 39 games (3 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 171 times for 726 yards (4.2 ypc) with 4 TD runs. He also has caught 57 passes for 404 yards (7.1 avg).
Noah Herron will have a hard time making the Packers this season. He did not play a down last season for the Packers. He has now played in 23 games (0 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 85 times for 273 yards (3.2 ypc) with 3 TD runs. He also has caught 29 passes for 211 yards (7.3 avg) with 2 TD grabs.
PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: B
I actually also recently wrote a post about the Packers running backs on my own blog. For the most part I agree with you as far as the running backs go. I think Ryan Grant will have a breakout season this year. As long as he gets his contract signed before training camp he will have a full training camp with the team which he didn’t have last season. Plus Grant seemed to get better after almost every game (not including the NFC Championship game). Also with the offensive line having another year in the zone blocking scheme our run blocking should get better (or at least not get worse). I also think Brandon Jackson is in for a pretty good year as a backup. I think he will provide a good compliment to Grant. I attended two of the mini camp practices and I came out of both practices impressed by Jackson. He seems to be quicker and stronger than he was last season. I am also cautiously optimistic about Wynn. If he can somehow avoid the injuries, Wynn should provide the Packers with a great change of pace back. The problem is though he hasn’t shown that he can survive an entire game without getting hurt. As far as Morency and Herron, I personally don’t think either are bad but they don’t really offer anything special. Neither are game changing running backs and have little potential to grow into a better running back than they currently are. Overall I would have to give our running backs an A-.
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