Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Don’t rush to judge the Raiders’ backfield

Raiders vs Eagles

Wade Vandervort

Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs (28) runs the ball during an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Allegiant Stadium Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021.

Early last season, Josh Jacobs went to the Raiders’ coaching staff with a request. The star running back was coming off a Pro Bowl season but wanted to see more of fellow running back Kenyan Drake, whom he thought was being underutilized.

“I don’t want this to be a one-man show,” Jacobs explained going into a Week 7 game against the Eagles. “My body don’t want this to be a one-man show, you feel me? I tell them, ‘Incorporate him.’”

Jacobs won’t need to urge anyone for more of a timeshare at his position this upcoming season. If anything, it’s starting to look like he might need to do the opposite — ask for more opportunities.

Click to enlarge photo

Georgia Bulldogs running back Zamir White (3) eludes Florida Gators safety Mordecai McDaniel (32) on this 4th quarter touchdown run during the second half of the annual NCCA Georgia vs Florida game at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Oct. 30, 2021. Georgia won 34-7.

The NFL Draft made it clear that the Raiders’ new power duo of general manager Dave Ziegler and coach Josh McDaniels prefers, like most of the rest of the modern NFL, a “running-back-by-committee” approach. Unlike former coach and ultimate personnel authority Jon Gruden, they’re not interested in using anyone as an every-down back or allocating a large part of the salary cap to the backfield.

On the second day of the draft last month, before Ziegler had even made his first pick as general manager, he announced in a statement that the team would not pick up Jacobs’ fifth-year option for the 2023-24 season. The Raiders could conceivably still negotiate a new deal with the 24-year-old former first-round pick out of Alabama, but they turned down a chance to lock him up for an extra year at $7.9 million.

Then, on the draft’s final day, Ziegler selected a pair of running backs — Georgia’s Zamir White in the fourth round and UCLA’s Brittain Brown in the seventh round. Having also signed free agents Brandon Bolden and Ameer Abdullah in March, the Raiders now have six running backs on the roster, with Jacobs and Drake returning from last year, in addition to fullbacks Sutton Smith and Jakob Johnson.

“Running back is just a tough position in the league,” Ziegler said in his post-draft news conference. “Those guys take a pounding, and it’s a physical position. [We were] able to add young players there to compete, see if they can find a role, and again, it goes back to what was available when it was our turn to pick.”

McDaniels further downplayed the team’s low-cost running back shopping spree over the past two months, noting that he would prefer to carry seven running backs into the start of training camp in July anyway. The Raiders are just ahead of schedule in getting to that number, he said.

But there’s clearly a little more to it. Las Vegas traded up four spots in the draft, to No. 122 overall, to take White. That contradicts the company line that the Raiders were simply taking the best player available at their draft slot.

And White doesn’t project as a complementary piece long-term. He has No. 1 running back ability in virtually every area after having led Georgia on the ground for two straight years, including on last season’s national championship team, with a combined 1,659 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns.

He only slipped to the fourth round due to a pair of back-to-back ACL tears in separate knees his senior year of high school into his first training camp at Georgia. The second injury happened in 2018, so long ago that White says he doesn’t “even think about it” anymore.

White should immediately get carries in his rookie season, when the Raiders will likely be grooming him to take over for Jacobs as the featured back in 2023 if he proves he can stay healthy.

“He’s played against a real high level of competition,” McDaniels said of White. “He’s a physical, tough, downhill runner. He’s got burst and speed. He’ll be physical in blitz pickup. They didn’t throw him the ball a ton, but he’s got adequate ability in the passing game. Just a tough kid who … overcame some adversity. He really made a tremendous career for himself at Georgia, overcoming what he had to overcome.”

The 6-foot, 215-pound White was the nation’s top-rated running back recruit out of Scotland High in Laurinburg, N.C. His college decision came down to Georgia or Alabama, coincidentally right as Jacobs was leaving the latter following a storied career that saw him win one national championship and reach the final in his two other seasons.

Jacobs had similarly arrived at Alabama right after Drake graduated with a pair of national titles from his time with the Crimson Tide.

“Those are both great backs that I have looked up to for years,” White said of Jacobs and Drake in a Zoom call with reporters. “As far as me coming in, it’s just working and grinding and not worrying about [playing time]. I just want to come in and compete, just have fun and meet them guys.”

Aside from White and Brown, all of the Raiders’ running backs aren’t contractually tied to the team beyond next season. That means there’s a chance the two rookies could come into 2023 as the Raiders’ one-two running back punch of second-year players if they impress this season.

Brown is more of a passing-down back, and therefore a natural complement to White. He looks like a strong candidate to develop on the practice squad this season, though he could sneak onto the 53-man roster if he proves capable of helping on special teams in a big way.

Las Vegas is unlikely to carry more than four running backs out of training camp and into Week 1 of the season. Jacobs, Drake and White look like shoo-ins, assuming they’re healthy. Bolden should have the next best chance given his years of experience under McDaniels with the Patriots.

Abdullah, a former second-round pick of the Detroit Lions, appears to be an ultra-long shot to make the team. But it’s hard to know for sure with the surprises that have already transpired.

No one saw the Raiders signing two running backs in free agency and then drafting another pair.

“You can never have enough good players at any one position,” Ziegler said. “We’ve talked about it from the beginning: We want to build depth in competition, and that’s going to be a very important part of this program. It was an opportunity to take some swings.”

This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.