Going forward, I think I need to be more open-minded about smaller players. Xavier Worthy weights only 165 pounds; Bucky Irving weighs only 195. But those guys are good players.
The game has changed, I think, with more of an emphasis on speed. There’s still room for big guys (Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, Mike Evans, DK Metcalf) smaller players can put up big numbers also.
With the list of the season’s top 20 running backs in front of me, I see five that came into the league weighing less than 200 pounds. In each each, I let that steer me away from giving serious consideration to the idea of them being full-time, elite-type players.
Jahmyr Gibbs, DeVon Achane, James Cook, Irving. I was figuring they’d be committee backs. And while they’ve all shared time in plenty of games, they’ve also put up great numbers.
With Kyren Williams, I bought into the reasoning that the Rams were hoping he would be a third-down back. He didn’t play much in his first season, but Williams has been as heavily used as any running back for large portions of the last two season.
It’s been a great year for free agent running backs, with Barkley, Henry, Joe Mixon, Aaron Jones and Josh Jacobs leading the way. But it’s also been a big year for smaller backs.
Going forward, I expect I’ll be a little more bullish on players with less than ideal size. And not just running backs. Worthy had a nice season for KC; he’s looking like their No. 1 wide receiver right now. And a pair of other small receivers (Tank Dell, Josh Downs) had big years the previous season.
| TOP 20 RUNNING BACKS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Run | Rec | Total | TD | PPR |
| • Jahmyr Gibbs, Det. | 1,412 | 517 | 1,929 | 20 | 364.9 |
| Saquon Barkley, Phil. | 2,005 | 278 | 2,283 | 15 | 357.3 |
| Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 1,456 | 431 | 1,887 | 15 | 341.7 |
| Derrick Henry, Balt. | 1,921 | 193 | 2,114 | 18 | 338.4 |
| • DeVon Achane, Mia. | 907 | 592 | 1,499 | 12 | 299.9 |
| Josh Jacobs, G.B. | 1,329 | 342 | 1,671 | 16 | 299.1 |
| • Kyren Williams, LAR | 1,299 | 182 | 1,481 | 16 | 278.1 |
| • James Cook, Buff. | 1,009 | 258 | 1,267 | 18 | 266.7 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 950 | 543 | 1,493 | 8 | 265.3 |
| Chase Brown, Cin. | 990 | 360 | 1,350 | 11 | 257.0 |
| James Conner, Ari. | 1,094 | 414 | 1,508 | 9 | 255.8 |
| Aaron Jones, Min. | 1,138 | 408 | 1,546 | 7 | 247.6 |
| Chuba Hubbard, Car. | 1,195 | 171 | 1,366 | 11 | 247.6 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 1,431 | 136 | 1,567 | 12 | 246.7 |
| • Bucky Irving, T.B. | 1,122 | 392 | 1,514 | 8 | 246.4 |
| Breece Hall, NYJ | 876 | 483 | 1,359 | 8 | 244.9 |
| Joe Mixon, Hou. | 1,016 | 309 | 1,325 | 12 | 240.5 |
| David Montgomery, Det. | 775 | 341 | 1,116 | 12 | 223.8 |
| D'Andre Swift, Chi. | 959 | 386 | 1,345 | 6 | 214.5 |
| Rachaad White, T.B. | 613 | 393 | 1,006 | 9 | 205.6 |
—Ian Allan