Jordan Howard underwent eye surgery in May, according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times. He is hopeful that will help him solve the problems he had last year catching the football.
Patrick Finley covers the Bears for the Sun-Times, and he posted the item on Twitter.
Most everyone agrees that David Johnson, Ezekiel Elliott and LeVeon Bell are the top 3 backs available in this year (in some order). After that, there’s an interesting scrum for the No. 4 spot, and Howard is in that mix, competing (I think) against Devonta Freeman, LeSean McCoy and Melvin Gordon. Howard played really well in the second half of last year, but he doesn’t catch the ball nearly as well as any of those backs.
It’s possible for poor-catching backs to turn things around. We saw that last year with Tevin Coleman. As a rookie, he caught only 2 of the 11 passes thrown his way. Last year he averaged top-10 receiving numbers – 32 yards per game, with a league-high 3 receptions over 40 yards.
But Howard was pretty stinky last year. He caught 29 passes last year, but he also dropped 7 – the most of any running back. He also caught only 58 percent of the passes thrown his way. There 42 other running backs with at least 30 targets last year, and they all caught over 66 percent of the balls thrown his way.
I see that five notable running backs who are really good pass catchers also finished below 75 percent – David Johnson, Matt Forte, James White and Darren Sproles. But with those guys, we are perhaps getting into the dynamic of them running more difficult downfield routes. Howard definitely needs to improve in this area.
| CATCH RATES FOR RUNNING BACKS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Pct |
| LeSean McCoy, Buff. | 57 | 50 | 356 | 7.1 | 1 | 88% |
| Matt Asiata, Minn. | 38 | 32 | 263 | 8.2 | 0 | 84% |
| Rashad Jennings, NYG | 42 | 35 | 201 | 5.7 | 1 | 83% |
| Devonta Freeman, Atl. | 65 | 54 | 462 | 8.6 | 2 | 83% |
| Charcandrick West, K.C. | 34 | 28 | 188 | 6.7 | 2 | 82% |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 39 | 32 | 363 | 11.3 | 1 | 82% |
| Carlos Hyde, S.F. | 33 | 27 | 163 | 6.0 | 3 | 82% |
| Jerick McKinnon, Minn. | 53 | 43 | 255 | 5.9 | 2 | 81% |
| Frank Gore, Ind. | 47 | 38 | 277 | 7.3 | 4 | 81% |
| LeVeon Bell, Pitt. | 94 | 75 | 616 | 8.2 | 2 | 80% |
| Lamar Miller, Hou. | 39 | 31 | 188 | 6.1 | 1 | 79% |
| Mark Ingram, N.O. | 58 | 46 | 319 | 6.9 | 4 | 79% |
| Theo Riddick, Det. | 67 | 53 | 371 | 7.0 | 5 | 79% |
| DeMarco Murray, Tenn. | 67 | 53 | 377 | 7.1 | 3 | 79% |
| Chris Thompson, Wash. | 62 | 49 | 349 | 7.1 | 2 | 79% |
| Ty Montgomery, G.B. | 56 | 44 | 348 | 7.9 | 0 | 79% |
| Spencer Ware, K.C. | 42 | 33 | 447 | 13.5 | 2 | 79% |
| Bilal Powell, NYJ | 74 | 58 | 388 | 6.7 | 2 | 78% |
| Tevin Coleman, Atl. | 40 | 31 | 421 | 13.6 | 3 | 78% |
| Jay Ajayi, Mia. | 35 | 27 | 151 | 5.6 | 0 | 77% |
| Latavius Murray, Oak. | 43 | 33 | 264 | 8.0 | 0 | 77% |
| Giovani Bernard, Cin. | 51 | 39 | 336 | 8.6 | 1 | 76% |
| Fozzy Whittaker, Car. | 33 | 25 | 226 | 9.0 | 0 | 76% |
| Terrance West, Balt. | 45 | 34 | 236 | 6.9 | 1 | 76% |
| Kyle Juszczyk, Balt. | 49 | 37 | 266 | 7.2 | 0 | 76% |
| Isaiah Crowell, Clev. | 53 | 40 | 319 | 8.0 | 0 | 75% |
| Charles Sims, T.B. | 32 | 24 | 190 | 7.9 | 1 | 75% |
| Jalen Richard, Oak. | 39 | 29 | 194 | 6.7 | 2 | 74% |
| Shaun Draughn, S.F. | 39 | 29 | 263 | 9.1 | 2 | 74% |
| Robert Turbin, Ind. | 35 | 26 | 179 | 6.9 | 1 | 74% |
| Todd Gurley, L.A. | 58 | 43 | 327 | 7.6 | 0 | 74% |
| Travaris Cadet, N.O. | 54 | 40 | 281 | 7.0 | 4 | 74% |
| T.J. Yeldon, Jac. | 68 | 50 | 312 | 6.2 | 1 | 74% |
| Darren Sproles, Phil. | 71 | 52 | 427 | 8.2 | 2 | 73% |
| Kenneth Dixon, Balt. | 41 | 30 | 162 | 5.4 | 1 | 73% |
| Melvin Gordon, S.D. | 57 | 41 | 419 | 10.2 | 2 | 72% |
| Damien Williams, Mia. | 32 | 23 | 249 | 10.8 | 3 | 72% |
| Duke Johnson, Clev. | 74 | 53 | 514 | 9.7 | 0 | 72% |
| James White, N.E. | 86 | 60 | 551 | 9.2 | 5 | 70% |
| Matt Forte, NYJ | 43 | 30 | 263 | 8.8 | 1 | 70% |
| Devontae Booker, Den. | 45 | 31 | 265 | 8.5 | 1 | 69% |
| David Johnson, Ariz. | 120 | 80 | 879 | 11.0 | 4 | 67% |
| Jordan Howard, Chi. | 50 | 29 | 298 | 10.3 | 1 | 58% |
—Ian Allan