Running down the 13 biggest running back busts in NFL history.
Let’s play a little game of chemistry, class.
Is there anyone who can tell me what sort of reaction is yielded when a tremendous amount of media attention is added to a solid collegiate football career?
What do you think would happen if we took the substance and placed it in extremely different atmospheric conditions?
What’s wrong? Don’t you know the answer? Well, that’s okay. Only the football Gods have the real answer anyway.
Let’s examine the biology of one of nature’s most frustrating species.
The “football bust,” or footballicus bustimus as it’s known in Latin, is almost impossible to predict but equally as difficult to recognize.
At one time, the most common type of bust was that of the running back – known for it’s astronomical collegiate statistics and eye-popping combine numbers.
Running backs have been an endangered species in recent years, though. There have only been two drafted in the first round in the last three NFL Drafts: Todd Gurley and Melvin Gordon in 2015.
And the last time more than three running backs were taken in the first round was in 2012, when Trent Richardson left Alabama for the Cleveland Browns.
Here’s where we enter the physics portion of today’s lesson.
If Richardson starts a running play at an average depth of eight yards in the backfield and accelerates to a maximum speed of 15 mph, what would happen if he rotated 90 degrees away from a giant hole created by his offensive line?
Hey, you got one! The answer is a tackle for loss and a lost career.
With former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Ryan Clark labeling Richardson, a former No. 3 overall draft pick, the worst running back ever, the need to analyze those pesky running back busts seems apparent.
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