Can Slaton be a Feature Back?

[Keith]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Feature backs are typically 25-30 carry/game type players. To call someone a feature back and then say you hope he gets 15 touches is contradictory. Feature backs are guys you give the rock to over and over again whether you are ahead or behind to wear down the defense (think LJ, Tomlinson, Peterson).

There was not a single running back averaging 25-30 carries/game last year. Times they are a changin'.

Tomlinson, for example, has been a touches bell cow since he joined the league. He was 4th in the league last year with 315 carries, 10 behind league leader Clinton Portis. That's 19.7 carries/gm. Include LT's 60 catches (which is pretty high for a RB), and his average touches/gm jumps to 23.4 per game. For his career, LT still only averages 21.3 carries per game, one of the few backs recently to be able to carry such a heavy load over a long period of time (7 years).

2007 Touches per Game Leaders
1. LaDainian Tomlinson 375
2. Clinton Portis 372
2. Brian Westbrook 372
4. Edgerrin James 348
5. Willie Parker 344

20 touches per game will probably put a player just into the top 10 in the league this year. I think this is a downward trend and is partially why you are seeing so many teams going with 2 RBs nowadays.

For reference, Portis, during his time with the Broncos, averaged 21.9 touches/game over the 2002-03 seasons. Back in those days, guys like LT and Ricky Williams were getting around 27 touches/game. If a featured back then on the Texans gets about 80% of the touches a league leader might get, then I would figure that the team's optimal scenario would be to find a RB that would get around 19 touches/game.