Short post but this comes up again and again so I want to put it in a fanpost so I can just paste a link to the fanpost when it comes up.
I like Felix Jones. I like Felix a lot. So much that I think you can make the claim that Felix is as good as any RB drafted in 2008 not named Jamaal Charles. I know what you’re saying. You’re crazy FiTaT; CJ, Mendenhall, Ray Rice, and Matt Forte were all drafted in 2008. Felix is as good as those guys?
My answer: possibly. Why? Because receiving ability matters just as much … and maybe more than rushing ability.
A yard receiving is equal to a yard rushing. And if the defense doesn’t know if the RB will run or be used as a receiver the offense hasn’t tipped its hand making whatever is called harder to defend.
So I look at RBs based on their productivity per touch (where touches include rushing attempts and pass targets).
Yards per touch = (rushing yards + receiving yards) / (carries + receiving targets).
| Rushing Yards | Carries | Yds Per Carry | Rec Yds | Rec | Targets | Yds Per Target | Total Yards | Total Touches | Yds Per Touch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | B | C=A/B | D | E | F | G=D/F | H=A+D | I=B+F | J=H/I | |
| Jamaal Charles | 1,290 | 208 | 6.2 | 407 | 42 | 64 | 6.4 | 1,697 | 272 | 6.2 |
| Felix Jones | 800 | 185 | 4.3 | 450 | 48 | 52 | 8.7 | 1,250 | 237 | 5.3 |
| Matt Forte | 1,069 | 237 | 4.5 | 547 | 64 | 70 | 7.8 | 1,616 | 307 | 5.3 |
| Ray Rice | 1,223 | 308 | 4.0 | 556 | 75 | 82 | 6.8 | 1,779 | 390 | 4.6 |
| Chris Johnson | 1,364 | 316 | 4.3 | 245 | 44 | 57 | 4.3 | 1,609 | 373 | 4.3 |
| Rashard Mendenhall | 1,274 | 324 | 3.9 | 167 | 27 | 34 | 4.9 | 1,441 | 358 | 4.0 |
Everyone knows Chris Johnson is explosive right? Well Felix Jones produced twice as many yards per target in the passing game as Chris Johnson. Betcha didn’t know that did you? Felix also tied Miles Austin as the highest yards per target on Dallas.
To bring it back to Murray. I suspect that Garrett is aware of the benefits of a RB that’s a good receiver. He’s already got one of the best in the NFL and was probably happy to add another
Want to know why Garrett’s looking for more than Barber and Choice? Maybe it’s because Felix is almost twice as efficient in the passing game. Here’s how the Dallas RBs measure up.
| Rushing Yards | Carries | Yds Per Carry | Rec Yds | Rec | Targets | Yds Per Target | Total Yards | Total Touches | Yds Per Touch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | B | C=A/B | D | E | F | G=D/F | H=A+D | I=B+F | J=H/I | |
| Felix Jones | 800 | 185 | 4.3 | 450 | 48 | 52 | 8.7 | 1,250 | 237 | 5.3 |
| Marion Barber | 374 | 113 | 3.3 | 49 | 11 | 15 | 3.3 | 423 | 128 | 3.3 |
| Tashard Choice | 243 | 66 | 3.7 | 109 | 17 | 22 | 5.0 | 352 | 88 | 4.0 |
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