they picked up Matt Giordano who spent his career as a special teams demon and started him at safety where he had a bunch of tackles and 5 interceptions, so anything is possible. With Jacob Hester on the Chargers, Schmitt with the Raiders and Hillis with the Chiefs, I have a dream that at least two White backs will have 500 yards in the AFC West, with Hillis being one of those going ovver 1k. I just hope he isn't pulling trucks around,, I think that is causing the hamstring problems.
Actually not all of his carries were out of the typical fullback spot, he had quite a few plays lined up next to the qb in shotgun and had some zone read plays, usually with an afflete on the other side (usually not blocking for him, misdirection similar to the 60+ yard run Hillis had in college with McFadden in the wildcat) these are where most of his big plays came from. But yeah he did get some typical fullback carries, I think his ypc would be like 8 if it weren't for those, they say he was only stopped for a loss 4 times. Its ashame that he wasn't used more, the fans went nuts when he got the ball.
Fans seem to like him, similar to Hillis, if he gets carries his jerseys will sell. The styles of guys like Brian Leonard, Gerhart and Hester, they don't like as much. They use their power only when needed and tend to be more balanced. They like White guys who seek out contact at any given chance. Luckily Hillis knows how to deliver the punishment rather than receive but he is also 250 pounds like Owen while the other guys are around 230, still big but better suited for a balanced running style
It could turn out great Hillis splitting carries with a Charles coming off of a knee injury. Schmitt splitting carries with McFadden coming off a million injuries. Hester is on a team with Ryan Matthews who is injury prone and Tolbert is gone. Its never too late. After Hillis had his breakout season with the Browns fans were wanting to try to grab Hester and Leonard and use them as halfbacks.
after the dissapointing season for White backs last year I think things will look great this year, whether that leads to a long term change I dont know. I think it will be like the safety spot where we made a slow gradual change at. Very dark at the position with the retirement of John Lynch, first a few rotational guys now we have several starters, one pro bowler and some guys used in the rotation. Like the safety position, the talent level at rb has seriously declined, so playing more Whites will be out of need. Mark Ingram and Donald Brown were considered the cream of the crop the other year, not to mention guys like Knowshon Moreno.
hopefully Woodhead can at least put up stats similar to his 2010 season and Gerhart has the chance to put up a few 100 yard games before Peterson comes back