Yakuza Rich
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Speed: I am pretty sure Jones is faster, so he gets the advantage here. Barber is not much slower though.
Barber ran at his Pro Day and ran a 4.48 time. Julius ran at the combine and ran a 4.40 and 4.47 times. It's hard to tell since they were running on two different surfaces, but I'd say it's safe to say that Julius is faster.
Hands: Jones seems to drop half the passes thrown his way and he cannot adjust well to poorly thrown balls (When Bledsoe is about to get hit, he flips it towards Jones). Barber has much better hands than Jones.
This obviously goes to Barber. Julius seems to have really short arms and for whatever reason, doesn't have much coordination when it comes to catching. When he gets the ball cleanly in the open field, he's dynamite. But, Barber is extremely smooth catching the ball out of the backfield.
Protecting the Ball: I think Jones fumbles more than Barber. This was always a problem in college for Julius.
Remember, Barber had some difficult times holding onto the ball including giving me a heart attack in the second Philly game when Dallas was trying to run out the clock and he fumbled in Dallas territory. Somehow the ball bounced off the turf and right back to him. Still, I don't think either has a big issue with this and they'll get better as they get more experience.
Blitz pickup: Jones was much better at the start of the season, but Barber picked it up. They are pretty close now, Jones might have a slight edge.
Both are surprisingly good blockers. I used to laugh when BP wanted Eddie George and Richie Anderson in to pickup the blitz and Julius was by far better at doing that than either of them. Barber struggled early, but did a real good job at the end. I remember one play near the end of the season where Barber got sort of fooled then bowled over, so I'd say that Julius is the better blocker, but just barely.
Moves: Jones has more moves than Barber but the problem I have here is that he loses yardage making those moves. Instead of putting his head down and getting 5 more yards, he tries juking the defender and gains 1 yard. Not a big deal on 1st down necessarily, but on 2nd and 8 when you run, it's better to gain the 5 yards and be 3rd and 3 vs. 3rd and 7. This is what kills drives.
I don't think that's Jones' problem at all. A lot of times he has no choice as the blocking is really poor. Last year was a big problem as many times Johnson and Rivera were getting pushed back and when he'd get the ball, either Johnson or Rivera would be backed up to his feet.
My problem with Julius is that he doesn't have good balance and doesn't have a lot of great running power. Barber has that and that's why he was so effective in short yardage. Whereas Julius would run into the pile and fall down.
Rich............