Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Is Ron Dayne Still a Bust





I think we can safely close the book on the NFL career of Ron Dayne. Here is the final stat line:

Some Background-
Ron Dayne played 7 seasons in his NFL Career. He was with the Giants, Broncos and Texans. He was released by Houston following the 2007 season. He did not play in the 2003 season due to a kind of a weird situation. He was taken with the 11th pick by the New York Giants in the 2000 draft, leaving after his senior season with UW (only Shaun Alexander, Mike Anderson, and Jamal Lewis were taken after Dayne and had more rushing yardage than him to have a somewhat relative comparison to the class). He played in a Super Bowl his rookie season. His most popular fan nickname was Thunder (to Tiki Barber’s lightning). He thought he had a couple more years in him after 2007, but he never got the call.

Stats (all regular season numbers)-
Total Rushing Yards = 3722 Rushing (good for #203 on the all time, some below him are Kevin Faulk, DeShaun Foster, LaMont Jordon just passed him by 12 yards)
Total Attempts = 983 (good for #182 on all time, Kevin Faulk is at 847, Alan Ameche 964)
Games Play = 96 (Julius Jones is at 94)
Games Started = 28
Rushing TD’s = 28
Yards Per Att = 3.8 (most 5.1 in his season with Denver)
Attempts Per Game = 10.2 over career (14.9 was his most in a season and that was in his last year with Houston. Brandon Jacobs has a career of 10.8 attempts per game, and last year in 2010 managed 9.2)
Avg Yards/game = 38.8 (highest in a season was 59.5 in his last year)
Avg Yards/season = 532
Total Reception = 57
Total Receiving Yards = 340 (nothing to write your drunk uncle about)
Yards per Catch = 5.96
Total Yards from Scrimmage = 4062
Career Fumbles = 7 (1 per year)
Longest Run 61 Yards
2 Successful 2 point conversions
Won All Iron Award in 2005 for Thanksgiving Game
*A couple of other notes, he was improving as the years went on. His YPA started in the 3’s but never got below 4 again after he left NYG. He scored 11 TD’s in his final 2 years.

To the Point, from 2002 until about 2006, and some say continually depending on how late you watch ESPN, Ron Dayne was thrown on just about every conceivable list of draft busts. This is of all time now. Not just running backs, not just Heisman winners, not just players selected from a certain state of birth, everyone who has ever been drafted in history of the draft. A relatively small city kid, phenomenal college player, with disciplined professional skills in a longer than average career and you are going to put him in what is essentially the Top 99 percentile of players you did not want on your team after the year 1980. How is a running back from the Big Ten (12) that you draft from middle first of the 2000 draft a Top 50 draft bust of all time? Does he deserve to still be a member even considering the most recent draft classes and the rest of his career extending passed the production dates of many of these polls/lists?

Taking everything into consideration I think he was a serviceable back that needed to fit into certain systems, but turned out a respectable career. He altered his style and began to show signs of improvement when his career was arguably cut short by a couple years. Not an All-Pro by any means, or someone who would even be to consecutive pro bowls but I’d be willing to put him on a Top 50 of something of the NFL other than draft busts. Knowing what we know now about running backs in the post 2000 era (i.e nary a few will play passed the age of a lord any savior in the league, Bettis might the last modern one inducted). To me it comes down to that he earned his paycheck, not too much, but didn’t get robbed. I thought his total attempts and att/game really stood out and illustrates he was just a workhorse for the Giants. These were teams that had Tiki Barber as the main back. They weren’t going to run formations with him catching passes in the flat, and he wasn’t going to break 60 yarders like he did in college and he was never meant to in that system. He was brought on as a 3rd down back, get short yardage, bruise defenders. He was like Sonny in the Godfather. I think he accomplished that well, well until he got shot up. After he slimmed down a few seasons in, he showed flashes of the break tackle, then speed off he did so well at UW. This may have led to the success he had with Houston. If the Texans would have brought him back for at least 2 more years he could have helped them out significantly and probably hit at least 5000 rushing yards. They had struggled with consistent backs since that and up until they found the gold mine, Arian Foster.
I would label Ron Dayne as a bust. However, he is not one of the biggest busts of all time. When you consider how high he was drafted, he should have been a more productive back. He was not a speed back, and wasn't really a great NFL-type RB. He was a good, solid backup, worthy of a 2nd or 3rd round pick, but not that high. Yes he left as the NCAA career yardage leader, and Heisman trophy winner, but with the UW system, O-line, and situation, his draft stock was overrated. I would say he is a minor bust, but no Ryan Leaf.


Fallsllama doesn't know what he's talking about. Ron Dayne is a Joey Harrington-esque bust. Does anybody else remember that All Iron game? He broke away from everybody on the field, was running as fast as he could, and somebody caught him.

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