Graham And Ward Are “Roster Flotsam”
June 29th, 2010
Joe has repeatedly posted how, though he LOVES the hearts and passion both Earnest Graham and Cadillac Williams have for the game, Joe just believes their best days are behind them.
Seems as though Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports agrees, though he is a bit harsher. In grading each NFL team’s running backs, he has the Bucs at No. 26. Friends and fans of Graham may want to skip the critique and go to Joe’s next paragraph.
26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: A tip of the cap to Bucs leading rusher Cadillac Williams, who came back last season after suffering through injuries for two years. Still, it’s not like Williams was all that electric, averaging only 3.9 yards per carry. Likewise, backups Derrick Ward and Earnest Graham were just roster flotsam. The Bucs have a bunch of guys who are nice backups at this point. They need somebody who can be a starter.
Joe has stated before he believes the Bucs to have quite a few average backs, but he never went as far to call them backups or “flotsam.”
Graham has had season-ending injuries the past two seasons and he is 30. Not a good combination. Cadillac is running on two rebuilt knees. Also not encouraging.
Joe believes the Bucs might need to keep their eye open for someone cut late in training camp who is lightning quick. That would be a good change of pace with Williams and Graham.
June 29th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Mark Dominick treats his football team like a fantasy football team… Caddy, Ward and Graham are all value runnung backs. The only problem is, with the back field so crowded and with the defense giving up so many points early and with Freeman throwing picks too often, his stable of value HBs aren’t scoring him any fanatsy points.
June 29th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Joe, we already have that “lightning quick” back in Huggins, the guy runs a 4.3 40 and is very shifty, i doubt we will find a better back cut after TC, we need to give him a look and cut out loses with Clayton and Ward, who were massive free agent busts
June 29th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Huggins Joe, Huggins. I know there is a reason he hasn’t seen the field yet, but I think it’s more politics (and other RB salaries = Ward) than anything else.
June 29th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Again with no love for Kareem Huggins? What do you know that I dont?
June 29th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
act12greg:
Love the guy and Joe hopes he does well some day but let’s be real. He was cut in last year’s training camp and cleared waivers, meaning 31 other teams passed on him.
It’s one thing to have a nice game in the second contest of preseason late in the fourth quarter against truck drivers, bartenders and insurance claims adjusters. Quite a bit different to pull off the same thing against the men who play defense in the NFL for a living.
Kareem’s biggest advocate (Doug Williams) no longer works for the Bucs.
June 29th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Thank you Joe! Why is everyone so high on Huggins? He hasn’t even played in a real NFL game yet.
I hope he turns out to be a beast, we could sure use him. But right now you can’t expect national sports journalists to be noticing him.
June 29th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Maybe Ward will step up this year.
June 29th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
The guy on the bench is always popular
June 29th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
What are you guys talking about?
Huggins was the driving force/mvp of the entire team last year.
Don’t you listen to Rah? The fact that he did not actually play is irrelevant.
June 29th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
act12greg,
Actually, what do you know about Huggins that the rest of us dont? This guy barely saw the field last year.
June 29th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Check out Coles other “Rankings” – especially the Dline one – still thinks Chris Hovan is on the team…
Amateur.
June 29th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Repeat after me “Kareem Huggins” lol!
Nah, Caddy Can still be the man in this, IF the knees hold up! I pray that they do, because I have the upmost respect and admiration for this great young man.God bless you Cadilac!
I believe War d to be a serviceable back, contrary to some opinions
I Think Graham will be a difference maker, but not so much running the ball, as catching the short pass in the flats. Ernest excells at making the first guy miss! That fairly unique talent makes him a dangerous man one on one.
None of them will do squat with a line fills rookies! So it may be a moot point
June 29th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Earnest Graham is being screwed around
June 29th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
The move to fullback, where he takes less hits, will extend his career, and allow him to shine as the recieving back outta the backfield
June 30th, 2010 at 7:25 am
take less hits as a fullback, not sure about that tim
June 30th, 2010 at 7:42 am
Blocker takes more hits than the ball carrier? Yeah, you can be positive about that one! Tackling a blocker is usually a penalty called “holding”!
June 30th, 2010 at 8:33 am
I love Caddie and Graham (Ward is garbage) but they are on borrowed time. Too old, injury prone, and slow to be anything more than depth.
My hopes lie with Kareem Huggins and I’m still hoping be get Harvey Unga in the supplementle draft this month. I’d love to see Huggins and Unga this year over Caddie, Ward, or Graham. Huggins and Unga might not be the next thunder and lightning, but it would be fun to watch them and see if we get surprised. We already know what we have in our current backs and the only surprise will be if Caddie makes it thru the whole year.
June 30th, 2010 at 8:52 am
The entire off season with the same offense will make a difference for all of our backs. They will do fine, as long as the O line steps up. Cady seemed to get stronger as the year went on, so he may be back to form this year. Ward will have a better grasp on the play book, and I agree with Capt.Tim that Enrist will be a nice passing option for freeman. I like Huggins, and maybe he translates to the next level…heck, Grahm always looked good in preseason then never got playing time until people got hurt. The difference is grahm played for UF, so he played in big games against big name teams. Huggins is fast, but so was Dexter jackson.
June 30th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
If anything Cap.Tim it’s doing the opposite. Playing at fullback Graham has been knocked out for the season the past two years.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:48 am
As much as many people believe Earnest Graham is the best back we have at this point, or that Ward is better because of fewer injuries…. I’d like to just make a few statistical points…
Statistics for both 2008 and 2009 combined.
Williams – played 22 games, started 16. Carried the ball 273 times, scored 8 TDs, had 1054 yards, add 3 more TDs receiving.
Ward – played 30 games but only started 4. Carried the ball 296 times, scored 3 TD’s plus 2 receiving TDs. Had 1434 yards.
Graham – played 23 games with 16 starts. 146 carries with 2 total TDs and 629 yards.
What that says to me is that even with a two knee injuries, Caddy has performed as well or better than either of the other two. He scores TDs (the point of the game). His average is about the same as the others, and he was durable enough last year to basically catch up to the other two in carries and yards.
Say what you want about his “bum knees”, but he was the only back to actually participate in all 16 games last year. Graham missed 3, Ward missed 2. If something should happen again, it would be tragic, but until then I’m sticking with Caddy as the #1 guy with the ability to change a game.
July 1st, 2010 at 8:52 am
Hey Joe( brings a Hendix song ta mind). I didn’t say it worked. I said that was the plan! Besides, Graham got hurt while playing Halfback on the series last year, didn’t he?