The Falcons are expected to release Michael Turner any day now, and his market will likely be very soft. Turner has had a nice career in Atlanta, but he doesn't have much left.
Nowhere are his declining skills more evident than at the 1-yard line. No running back in the league had more chances to carry the ball at the 1 than Turner did, and among ball carriers with at least 5 chances, no running back was less effective.
Including quarterbacks, 30 players got at least 3 opportunities to carry the ball from the 1-yard line last year. Turner had a better success rate than a few of those players, but not many. (An interesting name among those who struggled is New England's Stevan Ridley, who converted only 4 of 10 chances.)
On the other side of the spectrum, handing the ball to Andre Brown, Mikel Leshoure, Mike Tolbert and Alfred Morris around the goal line seems to work out pretty well. Collectively, those four players were 20 of 21 in converting those chances for a touchdown.
The 2012 numbers for carries from the 1-yard line, sorted by success rate (3 or more chances), are presented below.
Pct Att Con
100% 5 5 A.Brown
100% 5 5 M.Leshoure
100% 5 5 M.Tolbert
100% 3 3 J.Harper
100% 3 3 T.Brady
83% 6 5 A.Morris
80% 5 4 M.Bush
75% 4 3 A.Peterson
75% 4 3 C.Newton
75% 4 3 D.Carter
75% 4 3 J.Battle
75% 4 3 J.Flacco
75% 4 3 M.Stafford
67% 6 4 D.Martin
67% 6 4 T.Richardson
67% 6 4 F.Gore
67% 3 2 A.Bradshaw
67% 3 2 C.Wells
60% 5 3 R.Rice
56% 9 5 S.Greene
55% 11 6 A.Foster
40% 10 4 B.Green-Ellis
40% 10 4 S.Ridley
40% 5 2 F.Jackson
36% 11 4 M.Turner
33% 3 1 L.Ball
33% 3 1 M.Forte
33% 3 1 M.Hardesty
33% 3 1 S.Jackson
25% 4 1 L.McCoy
--Andy Richardson