SpeedBack ~ Trey Williams ~ Texas A&M Aggies 5075/195
I've come to believe that any HalfBack that doesn't bring a Passing Game element to the BattleField is...incomplete.
Hence, the term "FlexBack" ~ although quite cool, I believe!! ~ short-circuits the Evaluation Process.
As to how I break them down, I expect that the terms are pretty self-explanatory:
PowerBacks ~ HalfBacks who do their best Work between the Tackles..
SpeedBacks ~ HalfBacks who do their best Work outside the Tackles.
The PowerBack prototype would be about 5115/220 or so.
The SpeedBack prototype would be about 5010/200 or so.
Those are gross oversimplifications, of course, and many HalfBacks will manifest Attributes of both styles. Indeed, Power and Speed ~ better yet: Agility ~ are crucial to the Success of either kind of HalfBack. But I believe that it advances the discussion and better serves my Fellow FootBall Fanatics if I make an effort to distinguish between types.
This is how I break things down, when evaluating all HalfBacks:
Power: Above all: Core Power. Upper body Power is important, but lower body Power, from the Knees to the Ribs, is absolutely crucial. An HalfBack's Capacity to break Tackles is more about Core Power than anything else.
Agility: Launch Velocity, Fluidity, Acceleration, and Ricochet. Long Speed is all well and good, but at the end of the day, it is Gravy. What wins Championships is Moving The Chains. And Moving The Chains is accomplished far more consistently by the guys who exhibit the Agility ~ and the Focus ~ to consistently pick up 5 and sometimes 10 Yards at a time.
Processing Speed: Diagnostic Velocity. Field Vision. That ethereal Capacity to Rapidly Read & React to the Rapidly Roiling & Boiling Tactical LandScape...and to foresee and envision Lanes developing before they actually do.
Blocking: Having an HalfBack who doesn't Block effectively is like having 10 Men on the Field of Battle. Most HalfBacks just coming out'f College are mediocre Blockers, but this is a crucial Aspect of the Game that they'll need to master.
Receiving: Whether he be a PowerBack or a SpeedBack, an HalfBack that can effectively present a genuine Threat in the Passing Game dramatically increases his Team's Options on any given Play. The more dynamic the Threat, the more valuable to'is Team on the Field of Battle, whether he's just slipping out'f the BackField or splitting out Wide.
Broken down into SubCategories, it'd go something like this:
Power
* Core Power is most of it. Tyrannosaurus Rex would've made an Hell of an HalfBack.
* Torso Power doesn't hurt, though.
Agility
* Launch Velocity
* Fluidity
* Acceleration
* Ricochet
* Long Speed
Processing Speed
* That ethereal Capacity to foresee and envision Lanes developing before they actually do.
Blocking
* Power
* Agility
* Combat Skills
* Processing Speed
* Motor
Receiving
* Separation
* Catch Point Capacity
* Navigation
Agility: Magnificent. Williams brings a phenomenal fusion of Fluidity and Speed to the Field of Battle. His Fluidity and his Acceleration are extraordinary, his Long Speed is outstanding, and his Ricochet out'f'is Breaks is sensational.
Field Vision: Competitive. Tremendous Field Vision, but deficient Patience. He is one of those guys who all too often bails on the Play's Design and FreeLances, trying for 80 Yards instead of taking the 5 that were there, and all too often demolishing the entire Drive in one Play. If I were his Coach, he would never see the Field.
Blocking: Horrible. Let's move on.
Receiving: Impressive with the Potential to become Exceptional. His Route Running is the Variable, here, because he's got good Hands and sensational Agility, and he could become a genuine Terror in the Open Field.
Trey Williams has both the Agility and the Field Vision to become an extraordinary OutSide Runner and a terrific Passing Game Weapon. He is a Liability as an Inside Runner and as a Blocker, but he can be dangerous.
My largest concern is his obnoxious Propensity to go all Barry Sanders ~ that is not a compliment ~ and skitter around the BackField, wasting the Work of his Linemen in pursuit of an enormous Splash Play, rather than take the Yards they'd earned for'm and their Team. Drives are killed and Games and Seasons are lost by such Phuckery.
Here's hoping it was Immaturity, and long since passed.
Because if it wasn't, he might not last very long.
Having said that ~ and without the benefit of interviewing either him or his Coaches ~ he still seems, from this distance, to be well worth a MidRounder, because if he puts that crap behind'm, his Impact could be dynamic.
Grateful Thanks, as always, for the crucial Work done by the folks at Draft BreakDown!!
UFA Market Value | Yankee Grade 4th/5th Round |
This is not is even remotely a Complaint, mind you, but rather a Warning: Caveat Emptor!!