Warrick Dunn's Future

[biju]

While I really like Norwood and had targeted him in late rounds this year I will certainly say that while his YPC is extremely good I wouldn't want to be caught in a "Tatum Bell" situation where the guy looked like he would run for about 6,000 yards if they just fed him the ball 30 times each game, but in reality he's been just a solid back.

All Norwood has proven thus far is that he's great in a limited role. There is no way to make assumptions that he would be good or bad in a featured (20+ carries a game) role.

[GreatestShowOnEarth]

[He's a little tall for my liking and is not built proportionally (5'11", 205 lb). Compare this to Jamal Lewis (5'11", 245 lb) and Ronnie Brown (6'0", 235 lb).

5'10", 205 - Tiki Barber
5'11", 212 - Clinton Portis
6'0", 214 - Edgerrin James
5'10", 216 - Emmitt Smith
5'11", 200 - Reggie Bush

These guys must suck. I know it's strange, but people can actually add body mass. See Parker, Willie.

Norwood doesn't have the speed of Portis, the moves of James and Bush, or the vision of Smith and Barber. He has very good blockers, but that won't last forever. I've watched Norwood quite a bit, and I just don't see any one ability that makes him stand out.

No abilities to stand out? The guy may dance a little to much, but he's got game-breaking speed. You act like this is the first time Norwood has broke the big one. He has made some incredible plays this year. Norwood hits the hole with power and once he's in the secondary, he's gone. Take it from me, I live in Atlanta and watched him alot in the preseason where he turned nothing into something and made it into a 50 yard TD run. The only knock on Norwood is the size of his legs..they are skinny..but a little bit of work in the weight room can change that.

To say he wouldn't last or be 'average' if you gave him the rock 20 times a game is just stupid. At Missippi State behind a piss poor offensive line, he played about as good as anyone could have asked him to. Put him on a team in college with a good QB that doesn't let defenders stack the box and a good O-Line and he's a first round draft pick this year. No questions asked.

As for why he's not getting as many carries as Dunn, I really don't know.

mattb47 pointed out in an earlier post that dunn still has a good average, and leads a lot of other rbs in rushing yards. the difference between atlanta and other RBBC's is the nature of the RBBC: Dallas has speed (Julius) and power (marion). Denver has speed (tatum) and power (i'd argue mike bell). Other teamsm including atlanta in the past couple years, used this formula for their RBBC. but like mattb47 also pointed out, norwood and dunn are both speed runners, so atlanta couldn't use norwood in the same way they used to use duckett.

and to answer TheDiplomat, i think Dunn is still seeing more carries because he is the established starter and has deserved his starting spot. If the falcons look like they will be out of the playoff picture, then they may use norwood more to see what they have. Dunn was posting great numbers early in the season, he is probably tired from it....norwood will probably see a slight increase in carries, maybe getting 10-15 touches a game, so that dunn's legs stay fresh.

The reason Dunn was posting such great numbers to start the season is because the Falcons were running that option offense. Defenses hadnt seen anything like it and couldnt figure out how to stop it. Once they keyed in on that offense Atlanta switched offensive philosophies.

[skinsfan]

Any Falcons fans out there could probably answer this, but isn't Warrick Dunn one of those solid citizen, "Man of the Year" type players, beloved in Atlanta? Isn't there a chance the Falcons will hold onto him until retirement because of his popularity?

It'd be very different if he were a Falcon his whole career. But the fact is, he's played half of his career with Tampa Bay who drafted him, so I wouldn't expect there to be so much attachment in Atlanta. He won ROY in Tampa, and his only Pro Bowl appearances ever came in Tampa as well.

[The_Dude]

While I really like Norwood and had targeted him in late rounds this year I will certainly say that while his YPC is extremely good I wouldn't want to be caught in a "Tatum Bell" situation where the guy looked like he would run for about 6,000 yards if they just fed him the ball 30 times each game, but in reality he's been just a solid back.

All Norwood has proven thus far is that he's great in a limited role. There is no way to make assumptions that he would be good or bad in a featured (20+ carries a game) role.

I see your Tatum Bell and raise you a Deshaun Foster.

[TheDiplomats]

While I really like Norwood and had targeted him in late rounds this year I will certainly say that while his YPC is extremely good I wouldn't want to be caught in a "Tatum Bell" situation where the guy looked like he would run for about 6,000 yards if they just fed him the ball 30 times each game, but in reality he's been just a solid back.

All Norwood has proven thus far is that he's great in a limited role. There is no way to make assumptions that he would be good or bad in a featured (20+ carries a game) role.

I don't know, Norwood has looked even better then Tatum Bell did last year.