Five teams who should give Willis McGahee a contract
By David Miniel
Now I’ve been sitting here awhile and realized what free agent running backs are still available. I mean you still have guys like Michael Turner and Willis McGahee who are looking for a new place to call home.
The production they’ve brought to the table for their previous teams weren’t anything compared to Adrian Peterson, but in a way they can still contribute to an offense. Now when I wrote for NFL Spin Zone, I used to do a couple posts here and there about five teams who should sign certain free agents.
We all seen Ahmad Bradshaw who came off of a surgery, land with the Indianapolis Colts. So why is it so difficult for McGahee to find a team in this league?
Well with the Dolphins showing no interest in the veteran running back out of the University of Miami as written by a colleague of mine, who should take a chance with this work horse?
Let’s draw up a list of five teams and see what we can come up with, starting with number one.
1. Pittsburgh Steelers – They lost Stephens-Howling and Redman struggled in the game against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. They had to bring themselves to re-sign Jonathan Dwyer who they released during the last week of cuts before the regular season 53 man roster deadline. They also have Felix Jones on the roster, but right now they’ve decided that Redman will start against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday. If this doesn’t work out and they look to bench Redman, that means Jones could step up. But I think they could at least give Willis McGahee a shot to try to help spread out that offense like he did in Denver with Peyton Manning.
2. St. Louis Rams – Yeah they are deciding to go with the younger running backs on their roster, but they could bring in a veteran just in case those young running backs can’t get things going. Or at least bring him in as some sort of mentor for the group. Pead was activated today today after serving a one game suspension. It may be a long shot, but McGahee could be their veteran insurance who could step up on third down or maybe passing situations and help move the chains.
3. Green Bay Packers – The running game was still slow against the San Francisco 49ers and they desperately need a consistent running game to go with that high powered passing offense. They can’t always rely on the arm of Aaron Rodgers every game, which could be nice but the reality is you need to be able to balance your game plan. It can’t always be one sided. They haven’t had a consistent running back since Ahman Green. So why not call up the veteran running back, hand him the ball and allow him to score touchdowns and experience a couple Lambeau Leaps.
4. Oakland Raiders – The second leading rusher in the league after Week 1 is their quarterback Terrell Pryor. McFadden had just 48 yards on 17 carries against the Indianapolis Colts, which isn’t all that great. Even worse, is that their number two running back, Rashad Jennings only had two yards on two carries. So Oakland could be a good fit for for McGahee who would do a lot better than Jennings as a number two running back for this Raiders offense.
5. New England Patriots – Right now they have LaGarrette Blount and Stevan Ridley who will more than likely split carries on Thursday night against the New York Jets. They lost Vereen, who will miss eight weeks of the regular season due to a wrist injury. If you can’t rely on Ridley, are you gonna hand all the work to Blount? You’re going to need someone to step up and become that dump off target in passing situations for Tom Brady. The Patriots organization has been known to attract former Pro Bowl talent.
So what do you readers think? Does this Top Five seem alright, or do you have other teams in mind who should attempt to sign Willis McGahee.