Quick Reaction to the Hall of Fame Game
Taking a look at what transpired in the first football of the year
I’m not typically a big pre-season reactions kind of guy — especially when it comes to the first exhibition of the year — but it’s freaking football, and it’s back, so why not?
If we are going to observe the pre-season for anything meaningful, it should be more about team usage patterns than anything related to “who looked good”. The sample sizes on all of this stuff is going to be extremely small, and I actually do think coaching staffs know that for the most part. They see the players every day in practice, and are likely basing more of their evaluations off of that than the games.
Focus on Wrong Raider RB
Most of the buzz on my timeline last night was about Josh Jacobs playing in the first two series of the game against Jacksonville, but that likely isn’t as big a deal as folks are making it out to be. Jacobs still played clearly ahead of the other RBs, including on 10 of the first 11 plays.
As an aside, Nathan is a must-follow for all of the juicy usage tidbits he posts during the games. I have him on alerts.
We know that this game was special to Josh McDaniels, and it looked like they wanted to be as competitive as possible throughout. Of course, Jacobs not suiting up at all would have us feeling even better in his position as the entrenched starter, but I think anyone paying attention wasn’t expecting special treatment for Jacobs after Vegas failed to pick up his fifth-year option, and added a couple of other backs to the roster. This could wind up being a messy committee, but the odds of that remain unchanged.
The real bugaboo is with Kenyan Drake, who notably did not play until after Jacobs, rookie Zamir White, and veteran Ameer Abdullah. Abdullah in particular functioned as the third-down back, a role he may be in the drivers seat for with his new club. That could have some PPR value.
It is worth noting that Brandon Bolden did not play, but is likely to make the team given his contribution on specials, and previous history with McDaniels.
Drake was signed to a two-year deal by the previous Raider regime, and though they wouldn’t save any money by cutting him this year, it would save them a little in future years. Even if they carry five RBs, Drake seems to be playing from behind at this juncture.