Medical reasons why Saints may have passed on RB Tyjae Spears (1 Viewer)

[SonOfNOLA]

Spears will have a lot of successful seasons if half or most of his touches comes from out in space like tonight. He’s had a double digit carry game just once this season. Only 3 games of more than 5 carries.

With AK being the every down satellite back for the forseeable future, Saints were looking for a versatile, complementary ground and pound back to succeed Williams in a year or two. Miller’s availability isn’t looking good for that role long term.

Spears wouldn’t have been a good fit either because of coaching. His usage would’ve been mad inconsistent here. The way run blocking looked earlier in the season would’ve probably had Spears dealing with injuries too if he was asked to carry the ball inside at any point. AK isn’t coming off the field on passing downs enough for Spears to make the same plays he’s doing often with the Titans.

He’s in a better situation for playing time there in a RB friendly offense. They’ll still need to find a new early down back to replace Henry so Spears can thrive without a lot of mileage during his rookie deal.

 

[Saint KayBee]

If he hadn't gone to a Louisiana school, everyone would be livid over the Saints taking a player with no ACL given the Saints history with injuries. And just because he's having success elsewhere doesn't mean he would have that here. Because with the current offense, he wouldn't. Truthfully Spears is better off where he's at.

I saw a lot of this last season with Saints fans wishing Boston Scott was still on the team

 

[woohoosaint]

119 yards from scrimmage with a lot of key plays with large gains on the second to last touchdown drive.

 

[B-Train]

Spears will have a lot of successful seasons if half or most of his touches comes from out in space like tonight. He’s had a double digit carry game just once this season. Only 3 games of more than 5 carries.

With AK being the every down satellite back for the forseeable future, Saints were looking for a versatile, complementary ground and pound back to succeed Williams in a year or two. Miller’s availability isn’t looking good for that role long term.

Spears wouldn’t have been a good fit either because of coaching. His usage would’ve been mad inconsistent here. The way run blocking looked earlier in the season would’ve probably had Spears dealing with injuries too if he was asked to carry the ball inside at any point. AK isn’t coming off the field on passing downs enough for Spears to make the same plays he’s doing often with the Titans.

He’s in a better situation for playing time there in a RB friendly offense. They’ll still need to find a new early down back to replace Henry so Spears can thrive without a lot of mileage during his rookie deal.

The way he would have complemented AK is exactly what the team needed this year though. Yes he's in a good situation by backing up Henry, but both his running ability and especially his screen game would have been extreme value added here.

 

[rsmith2783]

Spears will have a lot of successful seasons if half or most of his touches comes from out in space like tonight. He’s had a double digit carry game just once this season. Only 3 games of more than 5 carries.

With AK being the every down satellite back for the forseeable future, Saints were looking for a versatile, complementary ground and pound back to succeed Williams in a year or two. Miller’s availability isn’t looking good for that role long term.

Spears wouldn’t have been a good fit either because of coaching. His usage would’ve been mad inconsistent here. The way run blocking looked earlier in the season would’ve probably had Spears dealing with injuries too if he was asked to carry the ball inside at any point. AK isn’t coming off the field on passing downs enough for Spears to make the same plays he’s doing often with the Titans.

He’s in a better situation for playing time there in a RB friendly offense. They’ll still need to find a new early down back to replace Henry so Spears can thrive without a lot of mileage during his rookie deal.

What's interesting is that if you look at the running style of Henry, you'd think Miller would be the perfect backup as opposed to Spears. Seeing that Spears is having success tells you something about the way they evaluate the position.

It's early to see how Miller will pan out, but the two RBs drafted after him are having more success. Payton may have whiffed on a lot of players, but he knew how to find and pick a good running back.

 

[SailorJerrysHorse]

We’ve seen flashes from Miller that justify the pick. If he can stay healthy I don’t think anyone will have a problem with him in the coming years and he could even be special.

But like the thread title suggests re Spears, health is a major issue with Miller. All we can really do right now is cross our fingers the kid can get his body right and stay on the field.

 

[BayouSAINTJoe]

If he hadn't gone to a Louisiana school, everyone would be livid over the Saints taking a player with no ACL given the Saints history with injuries. And just because he's having success elsewhere doesn't mean he would have that here. Because with the current offense, he wouldn't. Truthfully Spears is better off where he's at.

Think of it this way...he can't tear the ACL in that knee again...so he's got a 50% injury reduction factor going for him

 

[rsmith2783]

We’ve seen flashes from Miller that justify the pick. If he can stay healthy I don’t think anyone will have a problem with him in the coming years and he could even be special.

But like the thread title suggests re Spears, health is a major issue with Miller. All we can really do right now is cross our fingers the kid can get his body right and stay on the field.

I think much of this is going to come down to personal opinion, but i'm echoing what Jim Mora said awhile back regarding Mark Ingram "He's not a special running back. He belongs in the NFL, but he's not a special running back. The only special running back they have is Sproles and you cannot give him the ball 20-30 times a game".
So far Miller doesn't appear to be that person. We've had backs in the past and you could see it early on that they were good if given the chance: Ivory, Khiry, Edmons.

 

[B-Train]

 

[sfidc3]

I think much of this is going to come down to personal opinion, but i'm echoing what Jim Mora said awhile back regarding Mark Ingram "He's not a special running back. He belongs in the NFL, but he's not a special running back. The only special running back they have is Sproles and you cannot give him the ball 20-30 times a game".
So far Miller doesn't appear to be that person. We've had backs in the past and you could see it early on that they were good if given the chance: Ivory, Khiry, Edmons.

This is the perfect indication of how badly Mora is at evaluating offensive players.....all time historically bad.....

Once MI was completely healthy from the turf toe (which I'm sure Mora did not research) he was indeed special....

I really don't have any respect for anything Mora says to be honest, he never grasped the concept that you have to take chances offensively to win playoff games....

 

[nakadish]

Payton may have whiffed on a lot of players, but he knew how to find and pick a good running back.

Then why was the RB room so terrible outside of AK when he left? Beyond MT and AK, I don't recall Payton developing anyone else on the offensive side of the ball since then. I hadn't thought about that till now, but that's a pretty terrible record.

 

[rsmith2783]

This is the perfect indication of how badly Mora is at evaluating offensive players.....all time historically bad.....

Once MI was completely healthy from the turf toe (which I'm sure Mora did not research) he was indeed special....

I really don't have any respect for anything Mora says to be honest, he never grasped the concept that you have to take chances offensively to win playoff games....

I don't know when MI healed from his turf toe, but for the longest you had backs on the roster who were better than him.

From 2016 - 2018, he was definitely better than his earlier years but not special. There's a reason Baltimore moved on from some so quickly.

 

[rsmith2783]

Then why was the RB room so terrible outside of AK when he left? Beyond MT and AK, I don't recall Payton developing anyone else on the offensive side of the ball since then. I hadn't thought about that till now, but that's a pretty terrible record.

I honestly do not have an answer for that, but I agree that AK was the last great back that he picked up. I will say that once MI left, he found Murray, which gave some good results.

Find AK was good because his production is right there with CMC, whom went in the top 10 of that year.

 

[SoggyBottomBoy]

Then why was the RB room so terrible outside of AK when he left? Beyond MT and AK, I don't recall Payton developing anyone else on the offensive side of the ball since then. I hadn't thought about that till now, but that's a pretty terrible record.

We simply didn't use premium draft capital on offensive skill positions, mostly defense or offensive linemen. Payton's four drafts after 2017 featured these offensive skill position picks:
TQ Smith 3rd
Boston Scott 6th
Alize Mack TE 7th
Adam Trautman 3rd
Tommy Stevens QB 7th
Ian Book 4th
Kawaan Baker 7th

 

[madsaint1967]

Dead horse meet the forum. Ship has sailed, train left the station, hindsight is 20/20, etc.