As a followup, Yaesha Newman wanted to see how preseason stars tended to perform in the regular season. That is, when a running back is piling up yards in the practice game, is that a sign said player will be a star? (Should we all be using last-round picks on Chris Warren?)
Or is the sign that a player is getting a bunch of carries in the preseason an indication that the team isn’t truly sold on him. The best running backs, however, tend to not even play in the preseason.
Over the last five years, 41 running backs have run for at least 150 yards in a preseason. Only 10 of those backs have then finished the regular season with top-40 numbers (standard scoring).
| PRESEASON RUNNING BACKS WITH 150-PLUS YARDS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Att | Yards | Avg | Lg | TD | Rnk |
| 2014 | Lorenzo Taliaferro, BAL | 65 | 243 | 3.7 | 12 | 1 | --- |
| 2013 | Khiry Robinson, NO | 49 | 228 | 4.7 | 18 | 0 | --- |
| 2016 | Mack Brown, WAS | 39 | 227 | 5.8 | 60t | 1 | --- |
| 2013 | Jordan Todman, JAC | 29 | 223 | 7.7 | 63t | 2 | --- |
| 2016 | • Derrick Henry, TEN | 34 | 216 | 6.4 | 26 | 3 | 40th |
| 2013 | Joseph Randle, DAL | 55 | 215 | 3.9 | 18 | 1 | --- |
| 2014 | • Rashad Jennings, NYG | 35 | 212 | 6.1 | 73t | 1 | 30th |
| 2014 | Joe Banyard, MIN | 36 | 212 | 5.9 | 56 | 0 | --- |
| 2013 | Christine Michael, SEA | 40 | 201 | 5.0 | 43t | 1 | --- |
| 2016 | • Rob Kelley, WAS | 38 | 198 | 5.2 | 18 | 1 | 26th |
| 2016 | Elijhaa Penny, ARI | 49 | 195 | 4.0 | 20 | 1 | --- |
| 2014 | Andre Williams, NYG | 38 | 195 | 5.1 | 38 | 2 | --- |
| 2017 | Corey Grant, JAX | 22 | 191 | 8.7 | 79t | 1 | --- |
| 2014 | • Jeremy Hill, CIN | 41 | 190 | 4.6 | 17 | 0 | 10th |
| 2015 | Zach Zenner, DET | 35 | 183 | 5.2 | 41 | 2 | --- |
| 2017 | Cameron Artis-Payne, CAR | 28 | 180 | 6.4 | 43 | 3 | --- |
| 2013 | David Wilson, NYG | 24 | 179 | 7.5 | 84t | 1 | --- |
| 2014 | Fozzy Whittaker, CAR | 43 | 179 | 4.2 | 19 | 2 | --- |
| 2015 | Jarryd Hayne, SF | 25 | 175 | 7.0 | 53 | 0 | --- |
| 2016 | Jordan Howard, CHI | 36 | 173 | 4.8 | 16t | 1 | --- |
| 2017 | Terrell Watson, PIT | 37 | 173 | 4.7 | 15t | 1 | --- |
| 2014 | Branden Oliver, SD | 35 | 161 | 4.6 | 27 | 1 | --- |
| 2014 | Cyrus Gray, KC | 30 | 161 | 5.4 | 25 | 1 | --- |
| 2017 | David Fluellen, TEN | 33 | 161 | 4.9 | 53 | 1 | --- |
| 2015 | • Thomas Rawls, SEA | 30 | 158 | 5.3 | 17 | 1 | 26th |
| 2017 | Alfred Morris, DAL | 30 | 158 | 5.3 | 25 | 0 | --- |
| 2017 | Elijhaa Penny, ARI | 49 | 158 | 3.2 | 13 | 0 | --- |
| 2013 | Phillip Tanner, DAL | 37 | 158 | 4.3 | 17 | 1 | --- |
| 2013 | Roy Helu, WAS | 27 | 157 | 5.8 | 30t | 1 | --- |
| 2014 | Silas Redd, WAS | 34 | 157 | 4.6 | 20 | 1 | --- |
| 2014 | • Mark Ingram, NO | 22 | 156 | 7.1 | 22t | 1 | 15th |
| 2015 | • Ronnie Hillman, DEN | 21 | 155 | 7.4 | 23 | 0 | 20th |
| 2013 | • Chris Johnson, TEN | 20 | 155 | 7.8 | 58t | 1 | 9th |
| 2014 | Bishop Sankey, TEN | 42 | 155 | 3.7 | 13 | 1 | --- |
| 2016 | Malcolm Brown, LAR | 27 | 155 | 5.7 | 39 | 0 | --- |
| 2015 | Zac Stacy, NYJ | 44 | 154 | 3.5 | 10 | 0 | --- |
| 2015 | • Jeremy Langford, CHI | 28 | 153 | 5.5 | 46 | 1 | 24th |
| 2016 | • DeMarco Murray, TEN | 19 | 153 | 8.1 | 71t | 2 | 5th |
| 2014 | Bryce Brown, BUF | 34 | 152 | 4.5 | 19 | 0 | --- |
| 2016 | Tyler Gaffney, NE | 35 | 152 | 4.3 | 44t | 1 | --- |
| 2017 | Jarveon Williams, CIN | 41 | 150 | 3.7 | 18 | 0 | --- |
To me, when a back runs for a bunch of yards – like Warren did for the Raiders against Detroit – that gets your attention. You then want to take a look at those runs, and take another look at the scouting reports.
In the case of Warren, his long run came when there was a defensive breakdown outside. Any running back would have gone for a bunch on that play. Warren is really big (6-2, 246) and has some ability to move the pile, but he’s pretty slow. He ran a 4.69 at the combine. So for now, I would say he looks like maybe another Isaac Redman – maybe good enough to win a roster spot, but unlikely to ever really move the needle at the NFL level.
—Ian Allan