Steven Jackson has held out for 22 days now missing two of his team’s preseason games. He’s seeking a new contract as he heads into his fifth season.
On its face, perhaps he’s earned it. He’s had three 1,000 yard seasons and scored 36 touchdowns in his career. But has he truly earned the right to hold out in hopes of scoring his big payday?
The 2006 season was his best. He rushed for 1,528 yards and 13 touchdowns, then added three more scores through the air. He caught 90 passes. Those are some fantastic numbers. BUT … 10 of the 16 total touchdowns and 500 of his 1,528 yards rushing came during the season’s final four games – after the Rams had started 5-7, virtually eliminating themselves from the playoffs. Certainly he was not inept during the season’s first 12 games. But during a season in which much, much more was expected from him his failure to deliver earlier hurt his team (Full disclosure – I had Jackson on a fantasy football team that season and his low touchdown numbers during weeks one through 12 hurt my chances as well).
In 2007 Jackson missed four games altogether due to injury and was hampered in several others. He broke 100 yards rushing just twice and scored just six touchdowns, five on the ground. Again, the Rams as a team foundered, finishing 3-13 and well out of the race for the playoffs.
No doubt that when Jackson is on the top of his game he’s one of the league’s biggest threats. And granted, Jackson was hampered by an offensive line that was decimated by injury in 2007. But if I am a general manager or team owner in the NFL today, before I am going to unload a Brinks truck in front of a running back I need him to show up for an entire season rather than pad his stats during the last quarter of a lost year.
I also need the running back to show multiple years running that he is going to be durable and that he is going to help his team win games. Since he joined the Rams, the team has gone 8-8, 6-10, 8-8 and 3-13. So, to this point, Jackson has done none of the above.
So, again, no question – at the top of his game, there are few in the league as talented as Jackson. I enjoy watching him and I do think he is a good-to-great player. And, if his line stays healthy, I think this could be a solid year for him, not only for the Rams but for fantasy football players who take him likely in the first half of the first round of their drafts – the rest of his division certainly hasn’t gotten that much better and it wasn’t that great to begin with.
But until he steps up and displays that dominance for a season or more and helps take his team into a playoff chase I question how he justifies not being in Wisconsin with his teammates.
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I’m not certain I can completely follow your logic. The Rams should let one of the best backs in the league escape because he can’t carry the team all by himself?
Maybe they can let him walk and put that $50 million to use hiring a couple of tackles. And then let them leave because the offensive line doesn’t take the team to a Super Bowl.
Who said anything about letting him walk? He’s under contract. And he hasn’t had a great season for a full 16 games in his career. He should be in camp.
And if it comes down to letting him walk I’m sure they are capable of not making the playoffs just as well without him as with him.
I’m not arguing whether or not he should be in camp. I tend to think players should honor their contracts. Probably a naive idea in today’s NFL.
My point is that your strategy of awarding only players who carry the whole team on their shoulders seems a touch flawed. And to put a different spin on his numbers, separating out the last four games of ’06 and noting the injury in ’07 means he broke 1,000 yards twice with less than a full season of play.
Great – breaking 1,000 yards takes something like 69 yards per game. And one year the team was 5-7 when he went on his tear and the next season the team finished 3-13.
Great. Not saying he has to carry the team on his shoulders. I’m questioning whether or not he’s earned the right to sit out when he hasn’t maximized his potential and his team has ranged from average to terrible during the years he has been there.
When he has a season like he did in 2006 while putting up the numbers while his team is in something resembling a playoff race then I’ll consider rewarding a guy with a big contract. That combo has happened exactly zero times.
It takes 83.3 yards per game to break 1,000 in 12 games. Jackson averaged 85.6 during the first 12 games of ’06.
I think it is just as impressive that he was putting up 150 yards in games that really didn’t matter. I can think of a few players who wouldn’t have bothered to show up.
Fair point – but do you disagree that the Rams could have just as effectively been out of the playoff race if he’d spent those Sundays selling popcorn in the stands?
And in those first 12 games he scored six touchdowns – yards are nice, but you need your stud running back to be scoring some points when it matters. What difference does 85.6 yards per game mean when you’re losing seven of 12?
I agree that he didn’t make an impact that turned the Rams into a winning team. I just don’t believe any single player can do that. So I give him a lot of credit for playing hard despite the team going nowhere.