Way back in the preseason, Ian Allan wrote something about how if the Seahawks wound up releasing Alex Collins, he might catch on with another team. I didn't think much about it at the time, but kind of filed it away. And they did release him, as expected, and he went unclaimed before the Ravens signed him to their practice squad. And here we are.
When the team added him to their active roster a few weeks back, I picked him up in my dynasty league. Because Terrance West hasn't been particularly effective, Kenneth Dixon can't stay healthy/unsuspended, Javorius Allen seems best as a third-down back. So maybe Collins could eventually emerge as the main runner.
He has. Collins was the most impressive player on the field for either team last night, ripping off big chunks of yardage carry after carry. And the Seahawks must be kicking themselves.
Collins is up to 6.0 yards per carry now. That's better than any back who's gotten double-digit carries for Seattle or Baltimore the last two seasons -- way, way better than most of them. Only third-down back C.J. Prosise has been close, and as we're all well aware, Prosise is incapable of staying on the field. As the table shows, Collins was actually better than a lot of the backs on either roster with his limited chances a year ago, too.
| RAVENS AND SEAHAWKS RUNNING BACKS, 2016-2017 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Player | Att | Yds | TD | Lng | Avg. |
| 2017 | Balt. | Alex Collins | 80 | 478 | 0 | 50 | 6.0 |
| 2016 | Sea. | C.J. Prosise | 30 | 172 | 1 | 72 | 5.7 |
| 2016 | Balt. | Kenneth Dixon | 88 | 382 | 2 | 20 | 4.3 |
| 2017 | Sea. | Chris Carson | 49 | 208 | 0 | 30 | 4.2 |
| 2016 | Sea. | Christine Michael | 117 | 469 | 6 | 41 | 4.0 |
| 2016 | Sea. | Alex Collins | 31 | 125 | 1 | 26 | 4.0 |
| 2016 | Balt. | Terrance West | 193 | 774 | 5 | 41 | 4.0 |
| 2016 | Sea. | Troymaine Pope | 11 | 43 | 0 | 18 | 3.9 |
| 2017 | Balt. | Javorius Allen | 99 | 356 | 1 | 37 | 3.6 |
| 2017 | Balt. | Terrance West | 39 | 138 | 2 | 13 | 3.5 |
| 2016 | Sea. | Thomas Rawls | 109 | 349 | 3 | 45 | 3.2 |
| 2016 | Balt. | Justin Forsett | 31 | 98 | 0 | 11 | 3.2 |
| 2017 | Sea. | Eddie Lacy | 36 | 108 | 0 | 19 | 3.0 |
| 2017 | Sea. | Thomas Rawls | 24 | 60 | 0 | 9 | 2.5 |
Way, way down at the bottom are the two running backs Seattle currently has operating as the main runners, Eddie Lacy and Thomas Rawls.
Collins isn't perfect. They clearly don't trust him as a receiver (his 2 catches last night were his first of the season) and might be worried about fumbles at the goal line. He did lose one out of bounds at the end of a run near the end zone last night. On multiple occasions the Ravens curiously tried fullback dives with Allen, of all people, rather than giving the ball to Collins.
But it looks awfully safe to dump West and say that Collins is going to be Baltimore's main back for the rest of the season. He looks a lot better than what they've had the last couple of years.
--Andy Richardson