I'm going out on a limb here by creating this thread, but here goes nothing... Jeremiah Johnson has showed a lot so far this pre-season/camp. The guy is quick, finds the hole quick, is decisive, has good hands, and in my eyes, has all the makings of a good running back. He reminds me of Steve Slaton his rookie year. Slaton was quick, hit the holes hard and quick, was great in the pass game, but his pass blocking wasn't quite what it could have been(same with Johnson). He's got a little more size than Slaton, though. Over the course of his college career, he averaged 6.7 yards a carry, which is pretty dang good. He was a backup for a lot of his career, but his Senior year, he shined as the starter, averaging over 7 yards a carry. Last year should have been his rookie year, but he missed the season due to shoulder surgery, the same reason nobody drafted him and we were able to get him as an undrafted free agent. So far this year, he's coming on strong, and in our first pre-season game, in my opinion, he was arguably our best back. I'd like to see him get some reps with the first team just to see what he can do. So, here's the bold prediction: Johnson continues to be the bright spot of our pre-season, and outworks Chris Henry (who I think is overrated) to make the team. I'm not saying that both won't make the team, just that Johnson will be further ahead of Henry on the depth chart. In fact, I'll go on to say that Johnson will get a chance to start a few games this season, and make us forget about Ben Tate for at least one year. I say he has the most yards on the team for each of the pre-season games, also. Johnson will become our typical "Denver Broncos" running back that nobody has heard of, but we can plug in and he can be successful.
Bold prediction Johnson would still be behind Foster and Slaton. In all serious, I too like what I've seen from him in one preseason game and TC.
cleverly disguised game day thread? =) why not? I have a feeling that the running game is going to be so much better this year. Even if it's ranked 20th, it will mean Victory.
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Nothing against JJohnson but I really hope Chris Henry gets his head screwed on straight. He seems to have all the talent in the world just needs to get "it". Either way, I hope Foster and Slaton make it tough for either one of these guys to see action.
Yes, I see him as a keeper and sleeper. JJ had that offense at Oregon that led to alot of open field running. I DO agree he is suited for ours too. Blunt toted the rock near the endzone, so ...... My concern as of now is for a red zone back.
This may not be what you're talking about but the one thing has reportedly always been a knock on Henry is he's great at practice, can't translate it to the field on gameday.
Absolutely...I would put him as the change of pace back behind Foster based on what I've seen thus far. Foster is establishing himself as the starter though. He is doing everything well. (power running, finding holes, blocking, receiving) Both are doing very well thus far. Great running technique from both compared to past running backs. These two players will be key to a 10 win + season.
On a semi-related note, where was Steve Slaton? I saw him get a couple of touches, but it didn't seem like many. Johnson looked really good at times. I wouldn't mind having a three headed monster with him. They can use Slaton as the third down big play guy. Its funny because coming into the year our weaknesses looked like the corners and running backs. There are indications that these could actually be strong points for us. How awesome would that be?
Steve was taken out because he came down with the dreaded turf toe. That said, he didn't have many carries even before they took him out. I'm wondering if he was suffering from it even before the game began.
I really like what I saw from Johnson last night. He isn't fast as Slaton but he is quick and strong. I give the personal staff a lot of credit for signing two undrafted free agent running backs last year in Foster and Johnson. Looks like this year they found another pretty good undrafted free agent in Malcolm Sheppard.
in last years draft, i thought johnson would be getting pt over foster...but with the injury, foster got the shot. johnson looks good!
Better now than into the season. I wouldn't be surprised to see him just about ready for the 2nd game.
Released and not coming back. Not put on practice squad. Sad really. Mike Bell 2.0. This will come back to haunt us. Slaton is even more injury prone than Johnson,and Tate is to. I was hoping Kubes could wait just 4 weeks and have a rotation of foster/johnson/ward but noooooooooooo..he has zero patience. Kubiak is really bad at keeping young quality rb's ,instead he gets vets to "win now"..kinda like the battier for gay trade He also is bad at developing qb's. Carr,JDB,Orlovsuck....now possibly leinart. Kubiak just cant figure out which qb is a stud and which isnt. For instance,should have drafted Skelton.Native Texan no less.Instead of having 7 tight ends, and what does skelton do? Destroys our 2nd-3rd stringers in preseason. Looks waaaaaay better than jdb,leinart,or orlovsuck...thats why Carninals are choosing skelton over leinart. Skelton is an untouchable. Makes it more sadder he is a native texan. They will probably never see jeremiah johnson ever again. Some team like washington will pick him up and 2 years from now will be playing great.You will be saying "DOH!" Something tells me they will release slaton next year also. This team hates players that get injured .Kubiak has zero patience for injured players even if they are talented. Thank god my intuition tells me kubes will be coaching colorado state next year and we can have cowher thank you.
I like how you hold Carr against Kubiak and don't give him credit for Schaub. Carr was damaged goods before Kubiak even got here and I don't hold it against Kubiak if he claimed he could fix Carr's problems if he thought it would net him the job. Plus, no one can deny that Kubiak was RIGHT about Schaub, and getting the starting QB position right is 100x more important than getting the BACKUP QB position correct. So Kubiak missing on JDB or Orlovsky doesn't really bother me all that much. I'm not a Kubiak apologist. The guy makes a lot of mistakes for someone that we would hope could take this team to the promise land...but to complain about his skills developing or spotting talent in QBs makes it sound like you just have an axe to grind.
