Violent Runner?
March 30th, 2019
Like Daddy, how?
Despite this week’s public pronouncement from Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht that the Bucs feel “very good” about having one of the least effective set of running backs in the NFL, he did dispatch running backs coach Todd McNair to both State College, Penn. and Athens, Ga. to privately work out running backs Miles Sanders and Elijah Holyfield.
Joe has written about Sanders, a potential big-time sleeper in the draft. But Holyfield? He turned in poor times at the NFL combine in Indianapolis last month. Then again, a man can be a good running back without being Usain Bolt.
So what kind of runner is Holyfield, the son of former heavyweight boxing champion of the world Evander Holyfield? Could Holyfield be, well, violent?
Before the combine, NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah spoke briefly about Holyfield.
“I should mention Elijah Holyfield, as well, who is a fun player to watch from Georgia,” Jeremiah said when asked about running backs. He’s “[o]bviously Evander Holyfield’s son, and talking to some folks down there in Georgia, they said if you came out to our practice and we told you that there’s one kid on the field whose dad was the heavyweight champion of the world, it wouldn’t take you 30 seconds to figure out who it is, just with the way he plays.”
Joe isn’t sure what this exactly means. Does Holyfield deck defenders with right hooks? Does he rope-a-dope linebackers? Does he take a beating and still comes out swinging in the latter minutes of a game?
At best/worst, this seems to indicate Holyfield is a tough SOB because you have to be a tough SOB to be a boxing champion.
Joe isn’t sure how Holyfield would fit in with the Bucs, but Joe doesn’t doubt the Bucs could use a warrior on the roster no matter where he plays.
Jeremiah did say he believes Holyfield would be a solid middle-round pick or an NFL team.
March 30th, 2019 at 7:51 am
Looks pretty good on this reel. 4th round?
March 30th, 2019 at 7:52 am
No thanks. We need speed at RB and Holyfield does not have it.
March 30th, 2019 at 7:53 am
Sure, if we wanted to pick a turtle sloth in the middle rounds. Hell no to this dude who runs with his feet in cement. Last name is worthless.
David Montgomery looking more and more like a wise selection in round 3 or so, cause won’t last till our pick in the 4th.
March 30th, 2019 at 8:05 am
Violent is a fair assessment of this highlight reel. It appears he doesn’t have good speed but will move the chains and be good in goal line situations.
March 30th, 2019 at 8:11 am
I lived in Athens for Holyfield’s freshman and sophomore years. The rub on him early was that he wasn’t dedicated enough to learning the playbook and it took until the end of his soph year to see meaningful touches as a result. Pure beast of an athlete so he couldn’t stay out of the lineup forever and eventually committed to studying, so did he learn for good or is he another Jeremy McNichols?
March 30th, 2019 at 8:31 am
He looks faster than barber
March 30th, 2019 at 8:34 am
Sanders woukd fill that pass catching roles really nice. Maybe even a return man on punts The fact that barber declined to sign a long term extention tels.me.he will come back stronger and play harder as the power back.
March 30th, 2019 at 8:44 am
This feels like a Licht pick probably in the 2nd passing much better players, hopefully this is the year we finally fire Licht
March 30th, 2019 at 8:47 am
NFL speed is a combination of mind processing speed, reaction speed, and physical speed….and sprinkle in some determination speed. Did you see the way he went after that pylon? Yeah, middle rounds, I’d take him. He’s a change of pace guy and def a goal line guy! And the genetics are def there!
March 30th, 2019 at 8:49 am
Ground and pound!
He could be worth taking a flyer on in later rounds. Could be a good back-up to Barber, especially if we’re looking to get Barber more touches. Injuries are bound to happen.
Oh, and plus, there ain’t nothing like a little violence in a RB! Good trait to have.
March 30th, 2019 at 8:55 am
I agree Max,you don’t have to 4.2 if a defender is approaching you heading the opposite direction. I mean many have stated it before Emmit Smith had a slow 40x,turn on his highlight reel and how times you see someone run him down. Almost never,when he saw goal line in the distance his 40x didn’t matter. 22 was getting inn.
March 30th, 2019 at 9:00 am
I still like Miles Sanders Joe, and figure he’s worth a 3rd Rnd pick to the Bucs (we’ve got bigger NEEDS with our #1 & #2 picks IMO, which is where Sanders is projected to go). One mock draft that I saw had us taking Bama’s Damien Harris in the 4th Rnd. I’d love that … watched him every game & all he does is produce, game after game. Solid runner for Bama, but also a very good receiver (ran a meh 4.57 at the Combine, but his real time is closer to 4.50). I assume he’s also a decent pass protector or he wouldn’t have gotten as much on-the-field time as he did in Nick Saban’s offense.
March 30th, 2019 at 9:09 am
I’d beat him in the 40.
March 30th, 2019 at 9:11 am
I mean , he seems to even be able to follow his blockers well and vision is alright , seems like a clone of barber tho if you ask me , if you put barber in a Georgia uni half way through that clip and didn’t tell me , I’d think it was holyfield the whole time to be honest..go get Henderson fools !
March 30th, 2019 at 9:41 am
Holyfield could be a Mike Alstott type of back or used as a Fullback by whoever drafts him. The type of style of offense that I would think be better suited for would be a Jon Gruden-esque offense that prefers more a more classic style/throw back kind of offense that likes to grind it out on the ground. He looks like a solid player. Nothing flashy or sexy about his running style. Just a blue collar type of player where if you need 1 or 2 yards on 3rd down you can “pound the rock” with this guy. That being said, the Bucs could do worse.
March 30th, 2019 at 9:44 am
Nothing to see here. Move on.
March 30th, 2019 at 9:46 am
reminds me of errict rhett
March 30th, 2019 at 9:47 am
The 40 doesn’t translate for RB’s. Even Emmitt Smith ran a 4.7.
March 30th, 2019 at 9:49 am
If Licht chooses Holyfield, it’s the fans that will be violently ill.
JT Sports is mocking Darrell Henderson of Memphis to the Bucs for the 70th pick (3rd round). He describes him as “exciting”
This guy ran a 4.49 40 yard dash at the combine. He actually skipped his bowl game to be ready for the combine even though he had 1909 yards rushing and was tied for 1st in the nation with 22 rushing TD’s.
Bucky Brooks called him the best receiving back in the draft and Kiper has him as the 3rd best back.
March 30th, 2019 at 10:39 am
Does he “deck defenders with right hooks?” Funny.
No, but at the insistence of his father, he did choose a sport with headgear protection to avoid getting his ear bit off.
Arian Nation—
Your name is pronounced exactly like Aryan Nation—a homonym. Think about the connotation.
March 30th, 2019 at 10:50 am
Meh.
For every 4.7 Emmit Smith HoFer, there are a bazillion 4.8 college RB guys carrying hod.
Hard pass.
March 30th, 2019 at 10:51 am
RB ranks seem all over the place.. guessing we will have a shot at Sanders or Henderson in r3 which are 2 I could live with there
Or Rodney Anderson in the 4th. If that guy can stay healthy he’s a 3 down stud
March 30th, 2019 at 10:58 am
Joe
Hollyfield seems to play faster than his times.
Not that he is Emmit Smith, but wasn’ t that the knock on him that he was too slow coming out of college?
March 30th, 2019 at 11:02 am
What I saw is a kid whose feet are always moving, who carries the ball high (harder to fumble) who had cuts and acceleration and was willing to run people over. He is better than Barber by a lot. I don’t give a crap that his combine stats were not great. Tape first, combine performance is not always a good predictor. We don’t hire on SAT scores.
March 30th, 2019 at 11:14 am
Hey, hey, hey! What about our excellent pick in the draft last year, Ron Jones? Drafted as high as he was he certainly is worth 3-4 years of study and waiting until he shows up. You know – -kind of like Daquan Bowers. Did the Bucs ever cut him? Wouldn’t surprise me if he was still on the roster- -like Ron Jones.
Let Licht draft another bum to go along with our excellent pick of a kicker couple of years back.
We know what is wrong with this team(rhymes with light).
March 30th, 2019 at 11:29 am
@DR
Sanders will never make it to the third Rd.
March 30th, 2019 at 11:43 am
Wow surprised nobody mentioned how he beat white on one of those plays n ran over the other LSU lb
March 30th, 2019 at 11:45 am
“Tape first, combine performance is not always a good predictor.”
Sorry, but a bad combine to me shows a lack of dedication and hard work.
We’ve seen that with “Snoop McPlaybook”.
Did Holyfield use his Daddy’s money to hire a speed coach to knock 2/10ths off his 40 time? Did he hire a strength coach to add 5 reps to his benchpress? Did he hire a track coach to increase his jump measurements?
When Daddy is going to buy you a house and make your Mercedes payment, do you really need to put in that extra effort it takes to really succeed in the NFL?
His tape doesn’t make him out to be slow but maybe after his last game he slacked off a little bit.
March 30th, 2019 at 12:07 pm
nope not worth a draft pick….maybe a FA look see
March 30th, 2019 at 12:22 pm
Or maybe the guy was sick that day? Anyone who values combine numbers over gametape is just begging to draft the next Mike Mamula. Either that or the guy wants to be the next Al Davis.
March 30th, 2019 at 12:27 pm
SB … My head tells me you’re right; Sanders will go in the 1st or 2nd round as projected. But my heart says “Remember OJ”. No one thought in a million years that he’d last to #19. Maybe every other team will be thinking DEFENSE in the first 3 rounds, and Licht can pull a sneaky by drafting Sanders in the 3rd because all our defensive problems will be solved by the end of round 2. Bucboi confirmed the other day that all our problems are the result of bad coaching so we’re good to go now. Rest easy.
March 30th, 2019 at 12:36 pm
Believe the film…this dude will be a heck of a running back. I definitely like an SEC running back over aPAC 12 guy
March 30th, 2019 at 12:54 pm
Well Jeremiah also said the Bucs should draft Josh Jacobs with their first round pick from his first mock draft so
March 30th, 2019 at 1:16 pm
A question for all. Is there any doubt the first two picks will be from the defensive side of the field…UNLESS it’s an excellent OL..then all bets are off.
But if we wait until the middle rounds to pick “hopeful” RB’s..DB’s and LB’s won’t Special Teams play have a major consideration in those picks.
It’s been well documented that Special Teams have played poorly for us…the good guys usually come from those players who can’t quite crack the starting lineup but are still good athletes with “violence” being a good quality.
March 30th, 2019 at 1:25 pm
Yes. Really do not believe the Bucs will draft an offensive lineman in the first two rounds. Arians is not fond of rookie offensive linemen. Plus, there are four entrenched starters. Where would the rookie play? Surely are not going to bench Smith, Marpet or Jensen.
March 30th, 2019 at 1:30 pm
Agree with that take Joe. Juwann had my interest but not at #5 and he won’t last until the second.
This draft is simply too loaded with defensive standouts for a team with defensive issues to pass up.
March 30th, 2019 at 1:30 pm
Jason will trade up at some stage for a
Player that would have been drafted 3 rounds later
Maybe this is the guy
March 30th, 2019 at 1:45 pm
Just saying Holyfield’s career stats at Georgia are pretty underwhelming. 1340 career rushing yards. You might think that he would want to stand out at the combine.
He did well in the bench (26 reps) press, so he wasn’t sick. He’s just freakishly slow for a RB. One expert exclaimed at the combine, “But that’s fail level slow. Not good.”
He ran a 4.79 and a 4.81.
March 30th, 2019 at 1:49 pm
Snoop McPlaybook and RJIII should have had their SATs checked.
March 30th, 2019 at 1:56 pm
Maybe he would make a great FB
March 30th, 2019 at 1:58 pm
UGA fan here
Holyfield has huge potential but he’s not ready for the show. Was surprised when he declared for the draft. People liked to compare the Holyfield and D’Andre Swift duo last year to the Nick Chubb and Sony Michel duo at UGA and if you actually watched both duos you can easily tell that one is light years better than the other. If the Bucs wanted a RB they should’ve got em last year. Holyfield isn’t bad and he could blow up but the Bucs need defense and an O-line to run behind before RB
March 30th, 2019 at 2:03 pm
Perhaps. Trick is Arians doesn’t like fullbacks. May be while Alan Cross retired. Probably knew he was doomed.
March 30th, 2019 at 2:37 pm
Maybe, Holyfield would pick it up a few notches at Georgia’s Pro Day….or maybe not.
Holyfield timed between a 4.76 and a 4.89 in his 40-yard dash at Georgia’s pro day Wednesday, Mike Griffith and D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Uh-oh! Sounds like he fell completely off the NFL Draft board.
March 30th, 2019 at 3:02 pm
“David Montgomery in the 4th round…
David Johnson clone
Thank me end of the year”
Kobe faker
March 30th, 2019 at 3:22 pm
Bring him in and let his pops deal with some of these JFB posters
March 30th, 2019 at 4:20 pm
I really don’t even see us taking a RB this year honestly.
If we trade down and get extra picks then maybe Sweat or White and with extra picks trade back in the 1st for Simmons or wait for Polite?
Depending on who we get then we need to look at LB and CB.
I mean DT, DE, LB, RG, CB and extra DT and DE are still more important than a RB.
Just way too deep defensively to pass up.
Saw a mock that had us taking a WR in round 3 LOL.
Clueless and uninformed.
Maybe I’m wrong but I seriously hope we go all Defense and find 4 starters.
March 30th, 2019 at 6:13 pm
2’nd pick should be an offensive Tackle. There are a lot of good ones this year. I like Taylor from Florida but he won’t last long.
March 30th, 2019 at 9:34 pm
I like this kid a lot. He’s a punishing runner
March 30th, 2019 at 11:13 pm
Fullback. Allstott-esque.
March 31st, 2019 at 10:35 am
Not worried about 40 time i want to see what he does with Pads on an it looked like he was pretty dam good with pads on to me I’ll take him all day people put way to much on gym short football how does he play with pads oh good I’ll take him