Houston Texans: Montee Ball an option at running back?
By Randy Gurzi
The future of the Houston Texans running back situation is a bit mirky to say the least. Current starter and franchise yardage leader, Arian Foster is perpetually injured. The 2015 season will start with Foster on the sidelines, which adds to the 11 games he has missed in the past two seasons.
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At 29-years of age the odds are not in his favor of suddenly becoming healthy. As for the people behind him, the team seems to have the most trust in second-year back Alfred Blue.
Blue has outperformed his sixth round draft status, but he still has questions since coming out of LSU. He rushed for 528 yards and two touchdowns in 16 games, three of which were starts, during his rookie campaign.
The problem though was that managed only 3.1 yards per carry and was below average while rushing at the goal line. During the preseason he started strong in Week 1 against San Francisco, but really flatlined after that.
In the final three games, Blue managed a sad 2.75 yards per rush and was consistently stuffed at the goal line. The one time he did manage to break the plane, he was a mere inches away from fumbling the ball.
Blue is not the long-term answer at running back, and may not even be a short term answer in all honesty. Instead the team may need to look outside their roster, and currently there are a few options available after teams made their roster cuts this past weekend.
One of the most intriguing names still available is former second-round pick out of Wisconsin, Montee Ball, who was released by the Denver Broncos and has since cleared waivers.
A bit of a surprise: #Broncos RB Montee Ball cleared waivers. He’s a free agent
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 7, 2015
The third-year player performed well in 2013 as a rookie by rushing for 559 yards and four touchdowns. The 5’10” back who weighs in at 215 pounds averaged 4.7 yards per attempt during that season.
In 2014 he fell behind running backs C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman and had a let down compared to his rookie year. With only 55 rushes, Ball had an average of 3.1 yards per carry and only one score.
Still, his “let-down” year saw his average yards per rush equal the “impressive” rookie campaign of Alfred Blue.
Ball is only 24-years of age and just two seasons removed from being one of the best running backs in the NFL Draft. He would be an upgrade over the current stable of Blue, Jonathan Grimes and Chris Polk.
At five years younger than Foster, he could serve as not only an insurance policy for injury to the star back, but also as a future starter when Foster is unable to continue playing at his normal level.
So tell me if you agree that the Texans should check out Ball, or if they should stick with the group they currently have.
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