I really liked Rooster out of HS. Like, a LOT. And he is still a very good player and can be a major weapon for us. But I think this ends the debate of how good of an inside runner he was last year and probably puts him behind the 8 ball as far as a pure RB in our pecking order. Check out the tweet below.
What this is telling you, is of all the returning P5 backs, he was dead last in YPC on plays that were poorly blocked. Which is what the people stanning for him were saying. The run blocking sucked, he had no chance, etc. But when other backs had poor blocking, every single retuning P5 back was better. All of them.
OK, he’s not great when the line doesn’t help him much. But what about when he has a well blocked play in front of him? Uhhh, not great there as well. 2nd worst YPC in the P5. Bottom left on this chart is….not good. And he’s wayyyy in a class by himself.
This is one of the reasons why I’ve been saying he needs to be put into better situations. I think he should play slot WR or be involved in 2 back sets where he can get the ball on the edges and/or used in the passing game. Especially with the depth of the room. Look at Parrish on this chart also. Not exceptional, but MUCH better than Rooster on making something out of nothing.
Rooster can help us a ton here. But it can’t be how he was used last year (and yes, I realize last year it was out of necessity. But still. Gattis has to recognize what he does and does not do well.)
