Indians and As expected to make a deal Friday
December 5, 2014GIFs: Kyrie Irving’s incredible layups from Thursday’s win over the Knicks
December 5, 2014A year ago Cleveland said “good riddance” to Trent Richardson, collecting a first round pick in exchange for his 3.5 yards-per-carry average. Instead of letting bygones be bygones and Trent fading into the obscurity that swallows the Indianapolis Colts’ running back position, Browns fans kept Richardson alive, collectively taking to twitter to bask in each Richardson fumble, two-yard carry, or alleged adult video. Richardson, who once set the sports’ blogospehere on fire when he pancaked a Browns’ coach during his pro day, and again against the Eagles defensive backfield, has now become a punchline in the land which he was first drafted.
Trent’s struggles, paired with the early success of Browns’ rookies Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell have Clevelanders believing Richardson is a box of Franzia to West and Crowell’s Johnnie Walker Blue. There’s no doubt Crowell and West provide better value for the Browns than Richardson did as the third pick in the draft, but are the three running backs that different in their abilities?
2014 Stats
- Richardson
- 135 rushes, 445 yards, 3.3 yards per attempt, 3 touchdowns
- 22 catches, 203 yards, 9.2 yards per reception, 0 touchdowns
- 4.13 yards per touch
- West
- 133 rushes, 502 yards, 3.8 yards per attempt, 3 touchdowns
- 9 catches, 52 yards, 5.8 yards per reception, 1 touchdown
- 3.9 yards per touch
- Crowell
- 107 rushes, 475 yards, 4.4 yards per attempt, 7 touchdowns
- 6 catches, 61 yards, 10.2 yards per reception, 0 touchdowns
- 4.74 yards per touch
Looking at the basic numbers, it appears Crowell has been the most productive back this season. While not as much of a threat catching passes out of the backfield as Richardson, the Crow brings the hammer with his 4.4 yards per carry. However, we all know a running back, despite how much talent he possesses, is only as good as the hogs up front that are blocking for him.
Both Indianapolis and Cleveland’s offensive lines are regarded as above-average run blocking units according to the grading at Pro Football Focus, putting the backs on somewhat of a level playing field for comparison. However, there are still other factors to account for when judging a running back. How hard is the back to bring down? How good is the back at pass protection? Luckily for us, the guys are Pro Football Focus are continuing their quest to measure everything involved in the game of football, giving us some running back advanced metrics to consider.
To figure out which back is the hardest to tackle, independent of the blocking in front of him, PFF uses the their Elusive Rating.
(Missed Tackles Forced)/(Rushes+Receptions) * (Yards After Contact Per Attempt*100)
Essentially the rating looks at the percentage of touches the runningback made someone miss and then accounts for how many additional yards were gained because of those misses.
The backs with the best Elusive Rating in the league with at least 100 carries:
1. Marshawn Lynch
2. Chris Ivory
3. Eddie Lacy
4. Le’Veon Bell
5. DeMarco Murray
6. Trent Richardson
…
22. Terrance West
34. Isaiah Crowell
So Trent Richardson is one of the hardest backs to bring down, and Isaiah Crowell is the easiest? Then why is Trent’s yards per carry a full yard lower than the Crow?
Crowell’s stats are boosted by his 9 runs of 15+ yards. Those runs account for 40% of Crowell’s rushing yards, the third-highest mark in the league. Richardson by contrast only has 3 runs of 15+ yards with those runs only accounting for 13% of his yards, ranking him 43rd in the league.
If you want to turn a no gain into a 4-yard run then Richardson is your guy, but if you want to turn a 7-yard run into 20 yards then go with Crowell.
Both Richardson and Crowell are yet to show the ability they can be a the feature ball carrier over an entire season. Richardson has only two games this season with at least 20 carries and Crowell’s season/career high is just 17 carries last week against Buffalo. Each back also has multiple fumbles to their name (Crowell – 3 Richardson – 2), a big detractor to playing time — just ask Stevan Ridley and Bill Belichick. As a running back if you can’t distinguish yourself as a ball carrier, then being able to pass block is the best way to stay on the field.
How do Crowell and Richardson stack up in pass protection? We turn back to our friends at PFF for their pass blocking efficiency rating which is a weighted formula that combines sacks, hits, and hurries and compares it to the number of snaps a runningback is in pass protection.
Blah. Blah. Blah. Now where do they rank?
The backs with the best Pass Blocking Efficiency rating with at least 40 plays in pass protection:
1. Jeremy Hill (CIN)
T2. Eddie Lacy (GB)
T2. Steven Jackson (ATL)
4. Jacquizz Rodgers (ATL)
5. Ryan Hewit (CIN)
…
10. Trent Richardson
33. Isaiah Crowell
The Crow may have the touchdowns, and a better yards per touch number than Trent, but Richardson is a better pass protector and harder to bring down. Adding up all the on field factors, neither back distinguishes himself from the other. However, Richardson cost both the Browns and Colts a first-round pick for his services, while Crowell was an undrafted free agent. In terms of value they provide, it’s Crowell in a landslide, but in terms of on field ability, it’s a bit of a wash.
20 Comments
I’m confused on how you got the yards per touch numbers. If it’s a matter of (total yards)/(total attempts)=yards per touch then it should be TRich with 4.1. West with 3.9. Crow with 4.7.
I’m unsure how any can have a yard per touch higher than their averages for either per catch or per carry.
Trent being a glorified FB should be a better pass blocker. Also he would have more missed tackles forced because he runs directly into defenders and never finds holes whereas Crowell can actually find holes and gets majority of yards pre contact. Trent is contacted before he gets back to line of scrimmage. Thus both “ratings” are flawed.
We solved this one yesterday….I’ll even use DIFFERENT ones than the Pitt run for Trent and the Atlanta TD for Crowell
Richardson (yes, Trent chose to run left)
http://blacksportsonline.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Trent-Richardson-.jpg
versus Crowell
https://waitingfornextyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Crowell-TD-140907-compressor.gif
Well, the one thing that I will give Trent is that he is a phenomenal blitz blocker. He is absolutely fantastic at finding the defender and getting in his way. The issue is that he does the same thing when he runs the ball.
Thanks JL. Something must have gotten lost in translation when publishing. Appreciate our readers always keeping us honest!
All you have to do is look at all the backs that the Colts have brought in that keep doing better than Trent. Boom Herron being the latest. This is not even close. Common man.
Trent also has 2 more years of experience than Crowell and as we know most rookie RBs first big adjustment is to become better pass protectors. So 2 years from now maybe Crowell becomes a better pass blocker than Trent.
How interesting! I would not have expected them to be as similar.
Fanfare for the common man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS2nMV_5k-k
You can skew numbers all you want but all you need to do is watch film. The stats don’t account for several things, some being:
1) The offenses these backs perform in. Trent is in the highest scoring, (arguably) best passing offense in the NFL facing rarely more than 6 defenders in the box. Crowell, on the other hand, is on a team that for the majority of the season had Andrew Hawkins, Miles Austin and Gary Barnidge as its top receiving threats.
2) The value of the runner. Trent being a first rounder vs Crowell, an UDFA. Now if this article is simply “who would you rather have?”, this point is moot – but in the reality, you want the best value.
3) Strength of Schedule – I’m not sure which team actually has faced the tougher run defenses throughout the year but this would clearly be a factor in numbers.
The backs really aren’t similar…. people obsess with numbers too much. I’d be willing to bet that 90% of GMs would rather have Crowell right now, fumbling issues and all, over TRich.
Anyone who has WATCHED the 2 backs play, and would like to have TR instead of Crow, raise your hand…
http://img.pandawhale.com/post-31464-Ben-Stein-anybody-anyone-Buell-5Aqi.gif
Yeah, I thought so.
I think he was trying to reiterate Jim Brown’s critique that Trent was “ordinary”
Jim Brown may be right, but Jim Brown hasn’t been impressed with a running back, since Jim Brown. 😉
http://www.quickmeme.com/img/9f/9f2718962d54e89cd56beacaaed277c7978d444d72dfe1b6598fa01eaa3194b7.jpg
It seems natural to me that Trent is a better blocker:
1) He has a full year against NFL defense on the rookies
2) You can’t use him to the run the ball so you keep him back in blocking a lot more which gives him more experience
timeless music, bizarre video. Like part of an acid-trip SAT exam: work the land, sweat in factory, blimp, war, native American, fancy-dance figure skating, Mt. Suribachi. Identify the commonalities; differentiate no more than three.
Of about 20 videos, I simply HAD to take this one. It’s both John Ford and Upton Sinclair in one crazy package.
I heard that Jim Brown didn’t even think that Jim Brown was all that, at least in comparison to Jim Brown.
I’ve come to view Trent as a sort of a tragic figure. In that he’s honestly confused as to why it’s not working out for him.
And I’m still really ticked at myself from that draft. I saw him play in college and looked at the posted film and saw a kind of strong, plodding quarterhorse, not a feature back, but decided that everyone else’s higher eval must be right. Now I trust my own eyes first.
I’ve never seen Trent burst through a hole and accelerate once as I’ve seen Crowell do half a dozen times this year.
Um, shouldn’t it matter than TRich is playing with the best QB in the league and still sucks? Crowell is playing with Brian Hoyer.
Also worth noting – Crowell was acquired as an undrafted FA, making his value per cost of acquisition infinitely higher than T-Rich’s.