/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50259197/491322880.0.jpg)
Every few days, we’ll look at who is on the roster bubble at key positions on the roster. Today, we cover running back.
Safe: Devonta Freeman, Tevin Coleman
On the Bubble: Gus Johnson, Terron Ward, Brandon Wilds
This is another position where it’s very settled at the top, and very unsettled at the bottom. As long as Freeman and Coleman stay healthy, however, that’s not going to matter all that much.
Freeman is a stellar blocker, capable runner, and excellent pass catcher who has to be considered the favorite to start, while Coleman has been the star of the early days of training camp, and is a legitimately dangerous offensive weapon if he’s cleaned up the fumbling issues that plagued him last year. The two of them should get somewhere between 95-99% of all the touches are running back this year.
Ward, Johnson, and Wilds are duking it out for that last spot (and I do expect it to be the last one), and besides Ward holding down that job a year ago, I don’t see any reason to give it to him. He was nothing more than an average third back a year ago, if that, and Wilds offers a little more quickness and Johnson a better-rounded skillset. It’s clear enough that any of the three have a shot, which means any of the three may find themselves cut.
Who do you have winning that third job?