What if Morris is better than Elliott?

HappyOnions

HappyOnions

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I don't see why it's so out of this world to think that Morris is possibly, a better option to start than Zeke.

Everyone is assuming that Zeke will be a HOF runner behind our line but he hasn't proven anything yet. There have been so many backs taken early in the draft who either A. never lived up to the hype or B. completely became busts:

This is just from 2000 - 2016: Trent Richardson, Cedric Benson, Ronnie Brown, Cadillac Williams, Darren McFadden, Reggie Bush, Ron Dayne, Knowshon Moreno, CJ Spiller, etc.

Morris has proven that he can play in this league, Zeke has not. I don't think it's blasphemous to consider starting Morris and having Zeke be the change of pace back until he's ready to take on a more consistent role.
 
chicago JK

chicago JK

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I have really liked two interviews of Morris that I have heard on the ticket. He comes across as a guy with very little ego. He admits this free agency was very tough due to teams telling his production is down (he says this is due to his carries being down) but that is the only hint of frustration or negativity. For a guy with over 4500 yards in rushing over his first four years, he has surprisingly little entitlement .

He relishes the competition with Zeke. He appears to be a guy willing to learn and not afraid that he is going to make mistakes and thinks that by making mistakes he will learn from them. He is also taking pride in learning special teams and appreciative that the special teams coach has been patient with him.

Just seems like a really nice guy.
 
CowboyRoy

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LocimusPrime said:
Hypothetical? What do you do as the GM, if the running back coaches tell you that Morris is better than Elliot. What if Morris outperforms Elliot? Do you still keep Zeke at no.1 rb because of the draft investment or do you let the best players play?

Morris had a bad year last year, but prior to that he was a stud, and he's still young. Just curious what the CZ zone couch GMs would do.
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Gotta love these type of threads. It means people are appreciating how good Morris is. I remember a few of us commenting about how good he was and some throwing up their arms about how he got worse and worse in Washington and is all but washed up. The guy can ball and has never missed a game. That being said, I think all this is another sign that this offense and Oline is top notch. Nearly EVERY RB that comes in here has a career year. That is all you need to know.

And as far as Morris being better than Zeke, I am just going to laugh at that one. Love Morris, but he will not outperform Zeke. All this preseason success of Morris is doing is making Zeke drop in some Fantasy rankings which is A OK by me. Although after next week that may change. Lets hope they play Zeke sparingly.

THAT being said, Morris would have 1500-1800 yards rushing if he got 300-400 carries like Murray did. I have no doubts about that. It was one of the big reasons I would NOT have taken a RB at 4.
 
CowboyRoy

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HappyOnions said:
I don't see why it's so out of this world to think that Morris is possibly, a better option to start than Zeke.

Everyone is assuming that Zeke will be a HOF runner behind our line but he hasn't proven anything yet. There have been so many backs taken early in the draft who either A. never lived up to the hype or B. completely became busts:

This is just from 2000 - 2016: Trent Richardson, Cedric Benson, Ronnie Brown, Cadillac Williams, Darren McFadden, Reggie Bush, Ron Dayne, Knowshon Moreno, CJ Spiller, etc.

Morris has proven that he can play in this league, Zeke has not. I don't think it's blasphemous to consider starting Morris and having Zeke be the change of pace back until he's ready to take on a more consistent role.
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Wait until you see the kid play before you start saying that Morris will be better. Fact of the matter is that if you didnt see Morris run in this ONE preseason game you wouldnt even be saying what you are saying now.
 
Fla Cowpoke

Fla Cowpoke

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The fact that all these guys look good may say a little more about the OL and supporting cast than it does about them.

I like Morris and he is a great guy, but for him to say he wasn't as productive because he didn't get as many carries is ridiculous. I am sure it was hard on the ego when guys are downgrading you in free agency but it was hard not to pay attention to the trend. It may also have been a bit of a wakeup call for him and maybe he is working harder here than he did last year in Washington.

Elliott might not be as good but the evidence suggests that he is. Morris was a late rounder and went into an offense that featured exactly what he is good at. Elliott is considered more of a complete back that would excel in most any system. As far as most of the backs that failed, almost all of them had some warts in their games coming in. Elliott is considered the total package....run, pass catcher, blocking...he can do it all.

If we think that he isn't much of an upgrade though, maybe we can trade him to the Chargers for Bosa.
 
Doomsday101

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I like what I am seeing with Morris, goodness knows I have seen him put up big games vs Dallas when he was in Washington just glad he is on our side now. I certainly think the future is Zeke but it is nice to know we have an experienced physical running back to be able to plug into the game and a guy who is a team oriented player in Morris
 
stiletto

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Doomsday101 said:
I like what I am seeing with Morris, goodness knows I have seen him put up big games vs Dallas when he was in Washington just glad he is on our side now. I certainly think the future is Zeke but it is nice to know we have an experienced physical running back to be able to plug into the game and a guy who is a team oriented player in Morris
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Well said...agreed.
 
School

School

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Morris a good player but Zeke brings a totally different element to the offense with his receiving ability. Remember the first couple games last year with Dunbar? He receiving ability was a huge part of the offense. Now we have a guy in Zeke who has the potential to be a great runner and a great receiver as well. We've already heard reports they have been splitting him out wide at times. His presence is going to keep defenses off balance in a way that Morris can't.
 
BotchedLobotomy

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PJTHEDOORS said:
What if McFadden (comes back) is better than Morris?
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xwalker

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LocimusPrime said:
Hypothetical? What do you do as the GM, if the running back coaches tell you that Morris is better than Elliot. What if Morris outperforms Elliot? Do you still keep Zeke at no.1 rb because of the draft investment or do you let the best players play?

Morris had a bad year last year, but prior to that he was a stud, and he's still young. Just curious what the CZ zone couch GMs would do.
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They're both going to play. They might make Morris the starter anyway, but the real question is how many snaps for each.
 
kevm3

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Morris got 1600 yards as a rookie. I don't see why he couldn't be better than Elliott other than people being more focused on draft position and college accolades. Still, when it comes down to it, I think each one of these guys will excel against different teams. Morris looked rather pedestrian against the Seahawks and Elliott looked excellent. it was flipped against the Giants. The key is to find which guy has the hot hand in a particular game and go with that player. This will keep both guys fresh and maximize our running game.
 
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