avatar

Pleasant Surprise #7: Ahmad Bradshaw

by Rich Resch on February 18th, 2011 at 9:59 am

7. Ahmad Bradshaw

Before the season, I predicted big things for Ahmad Bradshaw, but even my optimistic projections fell short.  Bradshaw compiled 1,235 yards and eight touchdowns on 276 carries, plus over 300 yards through the air.  He was one of the most productive running backs in the NFL, despite constantly dealing with wrist and ankle injuries.

Bradshaw struggled with fumbles, coughing up the ball seven times, often in big spots.  But despite this one flaw, the good more than outweighed the bad in the former 7th rounder’s breakout season.  An argument could be made that he should have been on the NFC pro bowl squad over Steven Jackson and his 3.8 yards per carry.

If the Giants bring back the restricted free agent running back, they will want to limit his carries so as to prolong his career.  He is one of the shiftiest runners in the NFL and has a habit of making big plays out of nothing; he’s always one touch away from breaking off a 20+ yard run.  However, the one drawback to feeding him the ball so often is that he is undersized and injury prone.  He has dealt with injuries his entire career, and might be best suited in a 50/50 backfield share.

Despite all of his injuries, he has missed only two games over the past three seasons, but as the ailments mount, his productivity will likely decline.  In limiting his workload, Bradshaw’s yards per carry will increase, and the Giants will get more bang for their buck.

#8: Mario Manningham

avatar

About Rich Resch

Rich is a graduate of University of Maryland and is currently the senior editor of Giants Football Blog. He is a former contributor to Hot Foot Blog, and a former featured columnist on Bleacher Report. Hear him live on "Giants Rush," Wednesday nights at 9 on Blog Talk Radio. Follow him @RichResch View all posts by Rich Resch →
  • jaymanjd

    John you know exactly what to do to get my goat and love for that lol. Why is Jacobs not on this for heaven sake unless you intend to place him on you list a little higher which I doubt since you only hate on him.

    Stop overrating Bradshaw’s production he was not a pro bowl running back. Let me say this again he wasn’t even the most productive runner this year thats right Jacobs was. Im sorry to burst your bubble again. Do I really have to go throught he numbers again to show you and everyone else that over yards are last thing anyone should be looking at when determining a good runner. Bradshaws Yards per carry were down and the amount of carries he recieved vs the amount of yards actually gained show a high volume less reward type runner. Now did he break a few this season absolutely but he fell into the same trap Jacobs fell into last year the evil running back labels “tip toeing and dancing” This what bradshaw did A LOT of instead of hitting the hole. Lets go through the number one last time to compare jacobs and bradshaw.

    Jacobs:
    147 Attempts 823 yards 9 TD and 5.6 yards per carry

    Bradshaw:
    276 Attempts 1235 yards 8TD and 4.5 yards per carry

    Argument:
    Bradhsaw had 129 more carries than Jacobs. Lets say Bradshaw averaged around 20 carries per game that would be over 6 games more of carries than Jacobs. Yet he ran for only 412 more yards hmmm not very productive considering the carries. Furthermore, despite Johns ability to brush a huge issue under the table the primary duty of a running back when they get the ball is to hold on to it PEriod. Bradshaw had 7 fumbles and 6 lost. Jacobs had 2. Now you say hey jacobs had less carries. Well lets double jacobs carries to 294. Averaged out he would still not have as many fumbles even if we add on 3 more to be conservative about it. For a running back to have 6 lost fumbles is a terrible season. Lets go deeper into Bradshaws production. Bradshaw averaged by the end of the season 4.5 yards per carry not bad you say considering the amount of carries. However, if you break down the games you will find that he has 8 games which he ran for an average under 4 and that after the bye week in week 7 he was considerably pedestrian for the rest of the season give or take one game when he averaged 9.4 which is the only game he broke 100 yards in a 9 game stretch.

    Conclusion:
    Did it suprise me that Bradshaws numbers went up no WAy he got an absurd amount of carries, but his stats are inflated primarily because of the amount of carries and a handleful of really big games Dallas, DET, CHI, and MINNY, Also, for guy with so many carries he only broke 100 four times this season. So pick you poison John either Bradshaw was not as good as you believe or the Oline was not as good as you believe. I believe they both get blame and its starts by taking Anthony Castonzo, Holder, or Smith or Cimini at 19. I hope I don’t have to do this again haha. The fact is I believe Bradshaw and Jacobs were productive despite the bad and inconsistent OLine and think they should both come back at reason salaries because they make a good team. They are not the issue really especially Jacobs leave that guy alone offensively he might be the only consistent player they had last season.

    • Rich Resch

      Hey Jaymanjd,

      I appreciate the well thought out argument. Unfortunately, John did not write this, I did.

      In response to your Jacobs argument: I like Jacobs, and I think he had a nice season. He is not on this list because he has already proven that he can have a better season than he had this year. I was expecting him to have a bounce back season, and he did not surpass my expectations for him. He was a very good #2 RB this season, and an honorable mention, but he’s not in my top 10.

      I’m as big a proponent for yards per carry as anyone, but it’s unrealistic to expect Bradshaw’s YPC to stay as high as it was when he gets a full workload like this. If you read to the end, you’ll see that I even said the Giants should lighten his workload so that he can be a more efficient runner.

      The fact is that the Giants gave Bradshaw the ball 276 times, and he played through all 16 games. That right there is a pleasant surprise in and of itself, but the fact that he maintained a solid 4.5 yards per carry is gravy. The fumbles are killer, but if you would have told me before the season that Bradshaw would have had these overall numbers, I would have taken it in a heartbeat.

      As far as Bradshaw not being a pro bowl RB this season: Steven Jackson was the 3rd RB selected, and he had a 3.8 YPC. Jackson did a much better job holding on to the ball, but that YPC is below average. Bradshaw even scored 2 more TD despite having less carries and having TDs vultured by Jacobs. I never said Bradshaw definitely deserved to be in the pro bowl, just that an argument could be made. I think he has a strong case over Jackson.

      • Mickster

        I take exception to the “well thought out argument” part of your reply. Otherwise I agree with what you’ve said about Ahmad.

        Love #44′s production and effort, but the fumbles KILLED us. I have mixed feelings regarding his return, as I do #27s’.

      • Anonymous

        haha sorry me and John have gone back and fourth on the whole Jacobs vs Bradshaw concerns. I really think it would be a big mistake to break up this tendem unless your plan is draft a work horse type back like Mark Ingram. I just do not see either or them working out as a primary back. Jacobs gets injured and Bradshaw fumbles and gets injured too much as well. But by the end of the season Tom found a better balance and they can both be productive. Now I do believe the carries should be more like 15 apiece insteand of 20 to 10 between them.
        You also say he has had better seasons Im not so sure. Now if you mean yardage absolutely but as you can tell Im not a big fan of simply looking at yardage. His best seasons were arguably 2007 and 2008 when he cracked over 100 yards and in 2008 he had 15 TD. So 2008 was a really productive year. But again he had over 200 carries in those seasons and last season was actually his highest yards per carry average of his career. The fact is the giants did recognize what a great season Jacobs was having because they were too focused on what was going wrong and not on enough on what was going well. They should have fed the hot man more and they didn’t and it probably cost them a playoff spot. If the giants yank bradshaw a couple games earlier or start limiting his touches a couple games ealrier we might be in playoffs. Jacobs was a baby about it but who would not be frustrated when you are running better than you have since 2008 yet they still dont give you the rock. In 2001 he ran 1089 yards on 219 carries. If the Giants gave Jacobs another 72 carries this season he would have shattered his season mark by a lot instead he end the season with 823 yards.

  • Anonymous

    On another Note it was just reported that BOB SAnders was released by the Colts. He is injury prone for sure but when he is on the field he is lights outs. Grant is a free agent. Imagine having Rolle and Sanders in the safety slots with Phillips as a third Safety.

    • Mickster

      Whoever takes Bob Sanders would be wise to give him a deal similar to that of Shawn Andrews. Someone will – provided he passes a physical.

    • Rich Resch

      Sanders is good when he’s healthy, which is never. At this point, he’s like the Mark Prior of football. I’m fine going with Deon Grant again, if he’ll take the same role he had last season.