Pretty certain that this game was my introduction to KW3 (living in ACC country I may have seen him at Wake and didn't take note) and it was one of those, "You'd better remember this guy" moments. What a thrill to hear a guy I was so hyped about's name called on draft day. Less of a thrill to hear Twitter bemoan the pick, but negativity and "dunking" are what Twitter users do best, no matter the topic. Here's to hoping that it will be like the F grade we were given for drafting Wilson.
It's so crazy. Nobody here could have grown up without some running back out there who made you love watching football. Doesn't matter if the era is the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, or even the 10s with Marshawn Lynch. Running backs have always made the sport fun to watch and they have always held great significance in the entertainment value of football. Yes, offenses have shifted to a degree that gives more of that air time to QBs, WRs, and TEs, but running backs are still giving us spectacular entertainment value, in addition to on-field value because they're still touching the ball 200-350 times per season. Why any fans would want to discredit running backs, to personally devalue their own entertainment while watching football, it makes no sense. How could they not simply allow themselves to ENJOY the fact that the Seahawks drafted an awesome running back prospect? Did they not enjoy Rashaad Penny's dominance at the end of the year? Did they already forget?
It's more proof that a lot of those folks actually do not watch football. Watching has always taken a back seat to highlights, social media posts, box scores, graphics, and fantasy football updates. And there's nothing wrong with that if that's how you fancy following the sport...it's just an important distinction that needs to be made: Do those people enjoy watching football? Were there Seahawks fans who were "annoyed" every time that Lynch got the ball? It's illogical.
Because of their short careers and likelihood of injury, it’s questionable whether a team should use a high first on a running back. I get that. But a high second? The argument that you can get just as much productivity out of two fourth round RBs* reflects the built-in myopia of the spreadsheet mentality.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess the PCJS are well aware that a couple of plug-and-play backs could potentially give them the same output as KW3. I’m going to go out even further on that limb and guess that they would say that misses the point. They’ll quote Hamlet I.v.187-188 (at least I like to think they would) and explain that they want more than equivalent productivity: They want a back who in the fourth quarter under the cold rainy gray skies of November makes a defense put its collective hands on its collective hips. No other player on the field can do this by himself, and that’s what makes great backs important.
*This argument is inevitably accompanied by “they could have drafted <name>, a player I like.” Thing is, when you set the “positional value” argument aside, the back is usually the more talented player and has a better chance of panning out.
For sure, I do agree with you. Just be careful not to get lost in the sauce because not everything that looks good on paper is necessarily true: a first round QB pick is far riskier than a first round RB pick. The difference is merely that a home run QB pick is better than a home run RB pick. But 50-75% of first round QB picks turn out to be bad. We don't hear that narrative. We hear the one about RBs. The NFL survived fine for many decades with first round RBs. And where are all the "WRs dont matter" arguments? I'm seeing a ton of day 2 WR picks outpace their day one counterparts...look no further than Seattle's roster. It's all narrative to me.
If he can be almost as good against NFL talent & if Penny can stay healthy, then all we need is for our QB to be a game manager! Should be an interesting year, 2022.
"We appreciate it, Ken."
It's never too early to draft a generational talent. Time will tell if KW3 is as good as we hope he is but he sure looks the part so far.
Pretty certain that this game was my introduction to KW3 (living in ACC country I may have seen him at Wake and didn't take note) and it was one of those, "You'd better remember this guy" moments. What a thrill to hear a guy I was so hyped about's name called on draft day. Less of a thrill to hear Twitter bemoan the pick, but negativity and "dunking" are what Twitter users do best, no matter the topic. Here's to hoping that it will be like the F grade we were given for drafting Wilson.
It's so crazy. Nobody here could have grown up without some running back out there who made you love watching football. Doesn't matter if the era is the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, or even the 10s with Marshawn Lynch. Running backs have always made the sport fun to watch and they have always held great significance in the entertainment value of football. Yes, offenses have shifted to a degree that gives more of that air time to QBs, WRs, and TEs, but running backs are still giving us spectacular entertainment value, in addition to on-field value because they're still touching the ball 200-350 times per season. Why any fans would want to discredit running backs, to personally devalue their own entertainment while watching football, it makes no sense. How could they not simply allow themselves to ENJOY the fact that the Seahawks drafted an awesome running back prospect? Did they not enjoy Rashaad Penny's dominance at the end of the year? Did they already forget?
It's more proof that a lot of those folks actually do not watch football. Watching has always taken a back seat to highlights, social media posts, box scores, graphics, and fantasy football updates. And there's nothing wrong with that if that's how you fancy following the sport...it's just an important distinction that needs to be made: Do those people enjoy watching football? Were there Seahawks fans who were "annoyed" every time that Lynch got the ball? It's illogical.
Because of their short careers and likelihood of injury, it’s questionable whether a team should use a high first on a running back. I get that. But a high second? The argument that you can get just as much productivity out of two fourth round RBs* reflects the built-in myopia of the spreadsheet mentality.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess the PCJS are well aware that a couple of plug-and-play backs could potentially give them the same output as KW3. I’m going to go out even further on that limb and guess that they would say that misses the point. They’ll quote Hamlet I.v.187-188 (at least I like to think they would) and explain that they want more than equivalent productivity: They want a back who in the fourth quarter under the cold rainy gray skies of November makes a defense put its collective hands on its collective hips. No other player on the field can do this by himself, and that’s what makes great backs important.
*This argument is inevitably accompanied by “they could have drafted <name>, a player I like.” Thing is, when you set the “positional value” argument aside, the back is usually the more talented player and has a better chance of panning out.
For sure, I do agree with you. Just be careful not to get lost in the sauce because not everything that looks good on paper is necessarily true: a first round QB pick is far riskier than a first round RB pick. The difference is merely that a home run QB pick is better than a home run RB pick. But 50-75% of first round QB picks turn out to be bad. We don't hear that narrative. We hear the one about RBs. The NFL survived fine for many decades with first round RBs. And where are all the "WRs dont matter" arguments? I'm seeing a ton of day 2 WR picks outpace their day one counterparts...look no further than Seattle's roster. It's all narrative to me.
Where in ACC country? I’m in Virginia.
North Carolina. I live in the Asheville area currently.
What a nice town. I’m near Richmond.
As is Richmond!
Walker’s cuts to his left are knee-buckling. His cuts to the right aren’t shabby. There are going to be a lot of empty jocks in his wake.
If he can be almost as good against NFL talent & if Penny can stay healthy, then all we need is for our QB to be a game manager! Should be an interesting year, 2022.