Saints claim All-Pro KR/RB Kene Nwangwu (Update: Nwangwu was waived-failed physical) (3 Viewers)

[St. Widge]

This guy isn't just fast, he has good size at 6'1", 210 pounds to go with that 4.37 forty speed. He not only gives the Saints another return man, he was a good RB at Iowa St. He's entering his 4th year in the league. He hasn't been used much as a RB so far, so his stats as a Pro RB are limited. It will be interesting how he's used by the Saints in the Kubiak offense.

Pro Stats from pro-football-reference.com:

Kene Nwangwu Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats for Kene Nwangwu. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, college, draft, and more on Pro-football-reference.com.

www.pro-football-reference.com

College Stats from sports-reference.com

Kene Nwangwu College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

Check out Kene Nwangwu's College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits and More College Stats at Sports-Reference.com

www.sports-reference.com

Rushing & Receiving​

• * indicates bowl stats included

• 		Rushing	Receiving	Scrimmage
  Year	School	Conf	Class	piece of work	G	Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Avg	TD	Plays	Yds	Avg	TD
  2016	Iowa State	Big 12	FR	RB	12	27	133	4.9	0	1	16	16.0	0	28	149	5.3	0
  *2018	Iowa State	Big 12	SO	RB	13	39	157	4.0	0	2	11	5.5	0	41	168	4.1	0
  *2019	Iowa State	Big 12	JR	RB	13	16	115	7.2	0	1	8	8.0	0	17	123	7.2	0
  *2020	Iowa State	Big 12	SR	RB	12	61	339	5.6	4	3	22	7.3	0	64	361	5.6	4
  Career	Iowa State					143	744	5.2	4	7	57	8.1	0	150	801	5.3	4

Interesting that he got so few attempts as a RB even in college. I think he's a project as a RB but he's already a very good return man which is what I think he was brought here to do. Takes some of the pressure off of Shaheed to be both the return man and WR, though they may use both on kickoffs.

 

[9thwardvet]

This dude has pure speed. I love it because we know how much teams like SF and Miami love fast rbs.

Good lord this kid is fast. I think shaheed would get him though. Not only is he fast but he is real decisive when he sees a gap

 

[ndcc]

I know his size and speed. I also know that he's a RB and not a WR . A RB that struggles with pass protection which means he hasn't likely got a lot of snaps on passing downs. And that his stats don't show much production as a receiver or as a runner. He's a guy they brought in to return kicks and that they hope can develop more as a RB. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I think you might be getting a little bit ahead of yourself on this guy.

Good points.

Then again, Taysom doesn’t fit the prototypical mold of QB, gunner, FB, RB, yet… look at what experimentation yielded!

We’ll see.

 

[SWJJ]

He's always been a return specialist, even in college.

Here's a couple of his old draft profiles:

Link1
Link2
Link3

 

[jesusfish]

He may just not be a good RB. You can have the measurables and not the vision. There's about 7 years of data on him going back to college and he is very low usage at RB.

 

[Artifactual]

Seems he's getting faster as we speak!

If he actually does run a 4.29 forty, he would instantly become one of the fastest players on the team.

 

[St. Geezy]

This adds some more significant speed to the offensive meeting room. We really needed a speed guy at RB, and we found one. Don’t be surprised to see him have a significant role in the offense in short order.

 

[RJS]

Maybe he's a late bloomer as a RB but even if he's not, Rizzi might put him and Shaheed back on kickoffs and make teams choose which All-Pro returner they are going to kick to.

 

[St. Widge]

Seems he's getting faster as we speak!

If he actually does run a 4.29 forty, he would instantly become one of the fastest players on the team.

You can't trust Duncan because he's a . . .

 

[Wild Magnolia]

From the Reddit thread I posted earlier -- maybe this is a sour grapes perspective, but some Vikes fans actually theorized that Kene is a bad fit for the new kickoff rule, because he relies on gaping wide holes and his flat line speed -- supposedly he has poor vision and tackle-breaking abilities --

New kickoff rule made Kene less valuable. Kene is amazing in the open field in free-flowing situations when he could just hit his top speed, and struggled in condensed situations where he instead needed to break tackles and/or wait for other people to block for him (hence why he never quite took off in standard drop-back roles). The new kickoff has things far more condensed and static than it used to be, where the kickoff is most similar to a wide zone run play that has him waiting for numerous blocks rather than just finding one seam at his top speed. Doesn't suit his skill set as much, unfortunately.

 

[BreesusSaves]

This adds some more significant speed to the offensive meeting room. We really needed a speed guy at RB, and we found one. Don’t be surprised to see him have a significant role in the offense in short order.

A key element in this blocking scheme is creating "one cut and up" runs. Makes it a lot easier for RBs to be decisive and with Nwangwu's speed, if he gets to the second level its 40+ yards if not a TD.

 

[Artifactual]

This adds some more significant speed to the offensive meeting room. We really needed a speed guy at RB, and we found one. Don’t be surprised to see him have a significant role in the offense in short order.

Hopefully Kubiak can wake up the beast in Nwangwu!

Nwang A Whew Nwang A Whew Nwang A Whew Nwang A Whew

 

[SWJJ]

From the Reddit thread I posted earlier -- maybe this is a sour grapes perspective, but some Vikes fans actually theorized that Kene is a bad fit for the new kickoff rule, because he relies on gaping wide holes and his flat line speed -- supposedly he has poor vision and tackle-breaking abilities --

Those observations are consistent with some of the draft profiles I read about him.

 

[St. Geezy]

A key element in this blocking scheme is creating "one cut and up" runs. Makes it a lot easier for RBs to be decisive and with Nwangwu's speed, if he gets to the second level its 40+ yards if not a TD.

Great point brought up here. We have already seen how this scheme works wonders for remotely competent RBs. Just seeing what it has done for even Jamaal Williams speaks volumes.

We are indeed scheming guys into good runs.

 

[St. Widge]

Those observations are consistent with some of the draft profiles I read about him.

True, but I'm not sure that blazing fast speed, even if you don't have great vision or tackle breaking ability, isn't a major asset even with the new rules. The other team can't move until you catch it so the ability to get up to speed quickly and have a high top end speed might get you an angle on the defenders and make it hard to catch you. Also, if you get past that first line then the speed will certainly help. I can see him being used on things like reverses where he can use his speed to make the corner once the other team is committed to the side of the field where the initial returner is.


Nobody really knows how the new rule is going to work out in the long run, but I'm betting on Rizzi to have a better idea about it than Vikings fans.