Who’s in on Toby Gerhart? The Jaguars signed him, say they like him, and say he’s going to be used in a workhorse role.
Gerhart didn’t play much in Minnesota, where he was stuck behind Adrian Peterson, but he’s a former second-round pick. And he showed flashes of ability last year, averaging 7.9 yards per attempt (albeit on only 36 carries).
So where does that leave us? How much should we even pay attention to a high average when it’s based on only a handful of carries?
Well, in the last 20 years, 15 other running backs have averaged at least 6.0 yards per carry while carrying the ball only 30-50 times. Of that subset, only two went on to average over 5.0 yards per carry again the next season. Only five others averaged over 4.0.
More notably, only one of those players ran for over 700 yards – Jerome Harrison, who went for 862 yards in 2008.
Not ruling out Gerhart, but his 7.9 average isn’t a guarantee that he’ll be a good back this year with the Jaguars.
| LIGHTLY USED HIGH-AVERAGE BACKS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Att | Yds | Avg |
| 1995 | Brian Mitchell | 39 | 193 | 4.9 |
| 1995 | Lamar Smith | 153 | 680 | 4.4 |
| 1998 | Ahman Green | 26 | 120 | 4.6 |
| 1998 | Greg Hill | 144 | 542 | 3.8 |
| 2001 | Michael Wiley | 22 | 168 | 7.6 |
| 2001 | LaMont Jordan | 84 | 316 | 3.8 |
| 2001 | Bob Christian | 31 | 119 | 3.8 |
| 2003 | Maurice Morris | 30 | 126 | 4.2 |
| 2008 | Felix Jones | 116 | 685 | 5.9 |
| 2008 | Jerome Harrison | 194 | 862 | 4.4 |
| 2008 | J.J. Arrington | 0 | 0 | -- |
| 2010 | Derrick Ward | 45 | 154 | 3.4 |
| 2012 | Mike Goodson | 7 | 61 | 8.7 |
| 2012 | Cedric Peerman | 8 | 17 | 2.1 |
| 2012 | Joe McKnight | 0 | 0 | -- |
| 2013 | Toby Gerhart | ? | ? | ? |