There’s an article on Washington’s official team website, and it’s got a handful of noteworthy observations about the team’s running backs. It’s one of the league’s more crowded position groups.
Randy Jordan is the team’s running backs coach, and he says he expects the team to use a committee approach. Most of the carries should go to Adrian Peterson and Derrius Guice.
Guice suffered an ACL tear last year, but the article says he’s expected to be ready for the start of the camp.
Peterson (pictured) is 34, but he was able to run for 1,042 yards last year, including a 90-yard touchdown run against the Eagles.
“You have a guy like Guice, and from what I’ve seen in the preseason before he got hurt -- he’s good,” Peterson said in the article. “Obviously, we know what he did in college, so as long as we’re both being productive, I’m all open arms for whatever they decide to do. I’m all about winning and helping these young guys and making these young guys better players.”
Chris Thompson isn’t mentioned much, but I expect he’ll be their primary back in obvious passing situations. I think he’ll be one of the league’s better third-down backs, making him the safest choice in PPR formats.
Washington also has Samaje Perine, who’s been praised by Jay Gruden in the offseason. The team draft Bryce Love in the fourth round, but he’s coming off a torn ACL. This article says Love isn’t expect to be ready to go when camp opens. With the team being overloaded at the position, this probably will be a redshirt year for the Stanford back.
—Ian Allan