The Ravens have signed Mark Ingram to a nice free agent contract. But does that mean that he’s going to come in and be their featured runner, putting up top-15 numbers? Not necessarily.
Baltimore has some other running backs, and I wonder how much better Ingram is than those guys. In his last six games, Kenneth Dixon ran for 301 yards, averaging 5.7 yards per attempt. I would think he could have some kind of a role. And Gus Edwards was really effective last year after they made the quarterback switch. In the second half of the season, Edwards ran for 664 yards, 5th-most in the league.
I would think this would be a backfield where two and three running backs are utilized in most games. In the eight games Jackson started last year, the Ravens averaged 41.5 rushing attempts. Even setting aside quarterback runs (Jackson averaged 16 attempts in his starts), there were 25.5 carries per game there – too many for any one of these backs to handle.
I would think it will be a committee backfield, and I’m not confident Ingram will strongly outshine what they already have. Edwards was awfully effective last year on those quick-hitting zone-read plays up the middle. He’s just as fast as Ingram and outweighs him by 25 pounds.
And when this team is around the goal line, will it make an effort to feature Ingram? Edwards was a better short-yardage runner last year. He was successful on 11 of 13 carries last year when the Ravens came to the line of scrimmage needed 1-2 yards to either score or to keep a drive alive on third or fourth down. That was the best in the league among running backs with at least 10 such carries.
Ingram, on the other hand, went only 8 of 17 on those plays for the Saints.
Relative to where they’ll be picked, I like Edwards a lot more than Ingram.
| SHORT-YARDAGE RUSHING | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | "Good" | Att | Pct |
| Gus Edwards, Balt. | 11 | 13 | 84.6% |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 18 | 22 | 81.8% |
| Adrian Peterson, Was. | 12 | 15 | 80.0% |
| James Conner, Pitt. | 18 | 24 | 75.0% |
| Phillip Lindsay, Den. | 11 | 15 | 73.3% |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 23 | 32 | 71.9% |
| Kareem Hunt, K.C. | 7 | 10 | 70.0% |
| Chris Carson, Sea. | 22 | 33 | 66.7% |
| Jordan Howard, Chi. | 16 | 24 | 66.7% |
| David Johnson, Ariz. | 14 | 21 | 66.7% |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 12 | 18 | 66.7% |
| Leonard Fournette, Jac. | 8 | 12 | 66.7% |
| Saquon Barkley, NYG | 12 | 19 | 63.2% |
| Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 10 | 16 | 62.5% |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | 16 | 26 | 61.5% |
| Todd Gurley, LAR | 19 | 32 | 59.4% |
| Marlon Mack, Ind. | 13 | 22 | 59.1% |
| LeGarrette Blount, Det. | 7 | 12 | 58.3% |
| Latavius Murray, Min. | 6 | 11 | 54.5% |
| Royce Freeman, Den. | 6 | 11 | 54.5% |
| Alfred Morris, S.F. | 7 | 13 | 53.8% |
| Alfred Blue, Hou. | 7 | 13 | 53.8% |
| Sony Michel, N.E. | 12 | 24 | 50.0% |
| Peyton Barber, T.B. | 7 | 14 | 50.0% |
| Doug Martin, Oak. | 7 | 14 | 50.0% |
| James White, N.E. | 7 | 14 | 50.0% |
| Nick Chubb, Clev. | 7 | 14 | 50.0% |
| Carlos Hyde, 2 tm | 8 | 17 | 47.1% |
| Mark Ingram, N.O. | 8 | 17 | 47.1% |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | 5 | 11 | 45.5% |
| Dion Lewis, Ten. | 4 | 10 | 40.0% |
| Josh Adams, Phil. | 2 | 10 | 20.0% |
—Ian Allan