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Kick returner position causing quite a stir for Dallas Cowboys
Submitted by Syndicated sources on September 21, 2012 - 6:52am
These days, just saying the words "Felix Jones" around a Dallas Cowboys fan might be enough to cause an aneurysm. Felix's struggles in the 2012 season have been well documented, but let's take a moment to recap. First, Felix showed up to camp out of shape and failed the initial team conditioning test. After that, we were fed report after report of Felix looking slow and lacking burst during training camp. In the preseason, we saw Felix drop ball after ball out of the backfield and struggle to get anything going on the ground. Finally, once the season arrived, Felix earned exactly 0 yards against the Giants, and then proceeded to fumble the opening kickoff against the Seattle Seahawks.
How much longer will Felix be returning kicks? (Jon Froschauer / AP)
Not exactly a highlight reel of accomplishments to start the season. Since fumbling against Seattle, there has been a lot of chatter throughout Cowboys nation in regards to replacing Felix in the kick returner department. Well, before we even get this debate off the ground, let's look to the words of the man that will actually make that decision.
“Felix has been such a good player for us,” said Head Coach Jason Garrett, “…If you just look at his track record as a play-making type player, both on offense and in the kicking game, he’s been pretty darn good..Felix’s body of work has been pretty darn good. We will have Felix back there."
Upon review, it's pretty tough to agree with Garrett's logic; just because he's been a useful player in the past doesn't mean he'll be useful in the future. And then, when we evaluate the stats, it becomes even tougher to agree with Coach Garrett.
Felix Jones has returned 8 kickoffs this season, good for 2nd in the league up to this point. Unfortunately, he hasn't done much with them. His longest return in two games is only 29 yards and his average of 21.3 yards is only good for 31st in the league.
And then, to stoke the fire a little bit, it has come out this week that first-round pick Morris Claiborne has been getting extra reps at the position in practice.
“I just started getting a lot more reps in it now," Claiborne said, "backing Felix up and just trying to get all the catches I can get. We’ve got a guy back there right now that to my understanding is doing a great job in Felix. If they need somebody else, I’m here.”
While some of us may question Claiborne's usage of the word "great", he is handling the extra reps like a professional and not taking undue shots at his teammate. Claiborne proved at LSU that he is a more than capable kick returner, averaging 25.4 yards per return and even taking one to the house against West Virginia. Whether or not he should be back there returning kicks for the Dallas Cowboys is a different story.
Time and time again, we have seen players get hurt on kickoffs in the NFL. It consistently proves to be one of the most dangerous plays in the game, which makes a lot of sense when you consider the context of 250lb monsters bashing into each other at full speed. It was so dangerous that the NFL decided to mitigate the risk and shorten the distance between the kickoff point and the end zone at the start of last season. Since the rule change, we have seen a major increase in touchbacks (from 416 in 2010 to 1,120 in 2011) and decrease in kick returns.
Taking this all into account, it brings us to a simple conclusion: Just leave Felix back there. It is not worth the risk of letting Claiborne blow out a knee trying to return a kick. Losing Felix to injury is a million times easier to overcome than losing Claiborne. The days of Devin Hester and Desmond Howard are mostly over with. The dynamic kick returner just doesn't have the same impact on the game as he used to. So our advice to Felix is as follows: Just catch the ball, take a knee when you're in the end zone, run straight when you're not, and HOLD ON to the football!
Submitted by Syndicated sources on September 21, 2012 - 6:52am
These days, just saying the words "Felix Jones" around a Dallas Cowboys fan might be enough to cause an aneurysm. Felix's struggles in the 2012 season have been well documented, but let's take a moment to recap. First, Felix showed up to camp out of shape and failed the initial team conditioning test. After that, we were fed report after report of Felix looking slow and lacking burst during training camp. In the preseason, we saw Felix drop ball after ball out of the backfield and struggle to get anything going on the ground. Finally, once the season arrived, Felix earned exactly 0 yards against the Giants, and then proceeded to fumble the opening kickoff against the Seattle Seahawks.
How much longer will Felix be returning kicks? (Jon Froschauer / AP)
Not exactly a highlight reel of accomplishments to start the season. Since fumbling against Seattle, there has been a lot of chatter throughout Cowboys nation in regards to replacing Felix in the kick returner department. Well, before we even get this debate off the ground, let's look to the words of the man that will actually make that decision.
“Felix has been such a good player for us,” said Head Coach Jason Garrett, “…If you just look at his track record as a play-making type player, both on offense and in the kicking game, he’s been pretty darn good..Felix’s body of work has been pretty darn good. We will have Felix back there."
Upon review, it's pretty tough to agree with Garrett's logic; just because he's been a useful player in the past doesn't mean he'll be useful in the future. And then, when we evaluate the stats, it becomes even tougher to agree with Coach Garrett.
Felix Jones has returned 8 kickoffs this season, good for 2nd in the league up to this point. Unfortunately, he hasn't done much with them. His longest return in two games is only 29 yards and his average of 21.3 yards is only good for 31st in the league.
And then, to stoke the fire a little bit, it has come out this week that first-round pick Morris Claiborne has been getting extra reps at the position in practice.
“I just started getting a lot more reps in it now," Claiborne said, "backing Felix up and just trying to get all the catches I can get. We’ve got a guy back there right now that to my understanding is doing a great job in Felix. If they need somebody else, I’m here.”
While some of us may question Claiborne's usage of the word "great", he is handling the extra reps like a professional and not taking undue shots at his teammate. Claiborne proved at LSU that he is a more than capable kick returner, averaging 25.4 yards per return and even taking one to the house against West Virginia. Whether or not he should be back there returning kicks for the Dallas Cowboys is a different story.
Time and time again, we have seen players get hurt on kickoffs in the NFL. It consistently proves to be one of the most dangerous plays in the game, which makes a lot of sense when you consider the context of 250lb monsters bashing into each other at full speed. It was so dangerous that the NFL decided to mitigate the risk and shorten the distance between the kickoff point and the end zone at the start of last season. Since the rule change, we have seen a major increase in touchbacks (from 416 in 2010 to 1,120 in 2011) and decrease in kick returns.
Taking this all into account, it brings us to a simple conclusion: Just leave Felix back there. It is not worth the risk of letting Claiborne blow out a knee trying to return a kick. Losing Felix to injury is a million times easier to overcome than losing Claiborne. The days of Devin Hester and Desmond Howard are mostly over with. The dynamic kick returner just doesn't have the same impact on the game as he used to. So our advice to Felix is as follows: Just catch the ball, take a knee when you're in the end zone, run straight when you're not, and HOLD ON to the football!