Problem w/Zeke’s Contract

[CalPolyTechnique]

When you front load a contract like we did extending Zeke you end up force feeding him to justify the contract.

Zeke’s game is well-rounded and he has his strengths but that doesn’t mean there aren’t better players in certain facets such as the passing game.

I don’t know what happened to Super Chunk but he’s become a power back; he has very little burst or ability to get past the second-level. Anyone questioning that at this point is in total denial; he’s not that guy anymore.

In 659 carries dating back to 2017, Zeke’s longest run is just 41 yards. His second longest is just 30 yards.

The money spent on Zeke is sunk cost, but the point is I’d much rather see Pollard on play designs where we’ve been throwing to Zeke. Frankly, I’d actually like to see Pollard become part of the regular rotation instead of oddly giving him one series of carries during the game and then not using him again.

 

[ultron]

Zeke missed all of training camp & we switched offensive coordinators, I knew that would be a huge problem & it's something that not a lot of people talk about. He finally looked like Zeke against the Jets & the Jets have a legit defense (two of the best safeties in football). One thing that disappointed me today was the first or second drive, Travis Fredrick pulled to the right and Zeke had a massive gain - if he cut to the outside he would've been gone, but instead he cut to the inside & FredBeard couldn't get to the DB and it resulted in a nice gain but it could've been a TD and possibly changed the outcome of this game.

 

[aria]

He’s the best! He’s had the most yards 2 out of 3 years and is an expert at getting those “dirty yards”. Money well spent Jerry, glad you caved, it’s been paying off in dividends

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

Zeke missed all of training camp & we switched offensive coordinators, I knew that would be a huge problem & it's something that not a lot of people talk about. He finally looked like Zeke against the Jets & the Jets have a legit defense (two of the best safeties in football). One thing that disappointed me today was the first or second drive, Travis Fredrick pulled to the right and Zeke had a massive gain - if he cut to the outside he would've been gone, but instead he cut to the inside & FredBeard couldn't get to the DB and it resulted in a nice gain but it could've been a TD and possibly changed the outcome of this game.

That jives though with what we’ve been seeing the past three seasons.

Despite not having any long runs to skew the average, his YPC has been relatively good/respectable. However, what that also tells you is the offensive line is opening up holes/lanes for him at the LOS and Zeke is failing to get past the second level.

I don’t have the stat in front of me but I do know Zeke either leads or is one of the leaders in 10+ yard runs. On its face that stat is impressive but then it’s also damning because it’s clearly showing he’s not breaking any of these runs.

He’s a tone setting power back. That has value but if I’m paying a guy as the top back I want a special element to his game.

 

[aria]

Zeke has been a predictable absolute waste of money. Jerry was thinking Super Bowl, caved, and went all in. Just wait until next year and the year after when his contract really pays off, most RB’s age like a fine wine

 

[AmericanCowboy]

Jerry has gotten fleeced in the contracts he signed in the offseason.

Zeke did look good today. My biggest problem with him is that he keeps Pollard off the field and it really does seem like Pollard could be a weapon for us

 

[aria]

It doesn’t matter how good the Ewok is or isn’t, the RB position is extremely replaceable and has been shown time and time again that you don’t need to pay a RB top tier money to win games.

The two top paid RB’s teams are both 3-3. Blame it on coaching, injuries, the O line, whatever you want...the fact still remains that RB’s aren’t worth big money. I’m truly glad a lot of you supported paying Zeke because he has been an absolute gem, I don’t know how we would have won 3 games against the 3 of the worst teams in the league without him. The good news is that we still have him for another 3-4 years at least, should be good times, I can’t wait to see what he does with all his money this off season, it should be entertaining.

 

[superonyx]

Zeke has been a predictable absolute waste of money. Jerry was thinking Super Bowl, caved, and went all in. Just wait until next year and the year after when his contract really pays off, most RB’s age like a fine wine

Zeke is on pace for over 1400 yards and 14 TDs. Jaylon Smith and Demarcus Lawrence are stealing money while our defense sucks. Rushing offense is #5 in the league.

Grow up.

 

[JayFord]

Zeke is fine.....hes the least if my concerns

 

[aria]

Zeke is fine.....hes the least if my concerns

That’s the problem, you don’t sign a RB to that kind of contract to be “fine”. Pollard is “fine” and he costs practically nothing.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Zeke is on pace for over 1400 yards and 14 TDs. Jaylon Smith and Demarcus Lawrence are stealing money while our defense sucks. Rushing offense is #5 in the league.

Correct perspective.

 

[Swanny]

Zeke is currently playing on his rookie contract. So they are not paying him a ton of money right now.

 

[aria]

Zeke is currently playing on his rookie contract. So they are not paying him a ton of money right now.

Whew! That makes me feel better, no wonder he hasn’t played like the 2nd highest paid RB in the league. Guess we'll have to wait until next year when he starts running like a 90 million dollar RB. Cool.

 

[CowboyChris]

I don’t care if you had signed Zeke for a hot dog and a coke, the whole NFL knows we run on 1st down and then go shotgun on 2nd down. We are so predictable on offense. It’s amazing he stays healthy with the pounding he takes we after week.

 

[basel90]

Zeke is very average . Wasted money by JJ

 

[DallasDW00ds0n]

Zeke honestly hasnt been bad. OL is awful, offense still predictable, and our beloved QB is inaccurate. Zeke cant be expected to put this whole team in his backpack. We should be questioning DLaw. 21 mil a year for THIS?

 

[Swanny]

Whew! That makes me feel better, no wonder he hasn’t played like the 2nd highest paid RB in the league. Guess we'll have to wait until next year when he starts running like a 90 million dollar RB. Cool.

I agree he has sucked. I would have never signed him to a monster contract. But to say his contract is front loaded right now is not really accurate

 

[Zordon]

Shocking tidbit I heard on The Break last week....Zeke only has three runs of 30+ yards in his career.

 

[ClappingCarrot]

Zeke looks like a clydesdale now and lacks any sort of explosion. His best play the entire game was drawing a PI in the fourth quarter down the sideline.

 

[Sydla]

I'll say it again, it was an organizational mistake to take him with the 4th pick and we compounded it by paying him the most money ever for a TB.

The Jones' simply do not know how to build a franchise. If they swallowed their pride and hired a real GM with a real plan on how to build the franchise, they'd be in much better shape. But with no oversight, no threat of being fired, Jerry and Stephen act on whims and big shiny objects in their face instead of building an organizational plan and sticking to it.

I thought they might be doing that in 2015 when they continued their focus on investing in the OL and said they would not overpay for a TB because their research showed you likely wouldn't get the full return on that investment. And then a year later, they use the 4th pick on a TB and a few years after that, hand him a whopping contract.

This franchise is going nowhere, unfortunately, with these two running things. I kept hoping that maybe, just maybe Jerry's lack of time on this earth and maybe Stephen being less impulsive would steer this franchise in the right direction, but I now know I am wrong. Nothing will change.