Marshawn NFL-Bound. For Reals.
So you want me to feign heartbreak that Marshawn Lynch is headed for the April NFL draft? Yeah, okay, it sucks for the Bears next season.
This season Lynch, a junior running back, rushed 1,356 yards and 11 touchdowns — best of all the Pac-10, earning him the honor of the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year. He’s been a top, key player for the Bears since he was recruited. Lynch will be sorely missed, but, honestly now, what did you expect?
When he was recruited, Lynch was ranked the #2 running back in the nation, behind Adrian Peterson. The blog NFL Draft Dirt predicts that
Lynch will likely hear his name called early-to-mid 1st round in the NFL Draft. The only runningback who will likely go ahead of Lynch is Adrian Peterson. If Lynch posts a good 40 yard dash time at the NFL Scouting Combine he will likely be picked in the first half of the 1st round. There are no serious flaws in Lynch’s game and he has everything NFL teams are looking for in a modern runningback. Lynch will start from day one and become a franchise runningback who can touch the ball 25+ times a game.
Great for Lynch, not so much for Cal. It leaves the Bears with Justin Forsett and lots of room for speculation for next season. It also leaves me with nothing else to add. I do horsies and poetry. Ben’s the football nut.
LA Times and CalBears.com also have the story.
(Edit by Ben)
What does this mean for Cal? Well, there is some potential upside. Justin Forsett’s style of running is potentitally more fitted to OC Mike Dunbar’s “spread-ish” offense - he can spread the field out with his speed and take the ball to the outside, but his ability to run between the tackles against big defenses (like Tennessee and USC) is unknown at best and dubious at worst. Forsett is by no means the all-purpose threat that Lynch is - Lynch could line up almost anywhere on the field and worry defenses - but with our wide receiver corps next year, that may not be as much as a factor. I won’t say we’re better off without Marshawn, because it’s not true, but there are ways to turn this negative into a positive if Mike Dunbar and Jeff Tedford put something together during the offseason that combine Forsett’s positives and the potential strengths of an offensive line returning three or four starters.
As far as Marshawn’s pro potential is concerned, I may be in a minority of people that would contend that Lynch did not prove that much to anyone this year. He’s got the build, speed, and moves to be good in the pros, sure, but he hasn’t put them together in an extraordinary way at Cal. I hate to break it to you all, but having a 1000 yard season against the defense-weak Pac-10 is not a groundshaking accomplishment. Putting up stellar highlights against Stanford is great if you’re only going to play second-string defenses in the NFL.
Now, there are a lot of excuses people can throw out for Marshawn: injury problems, bad line support, lack of supporting cast - but these problems do not necessarily disappear at the next level; in fact, they may become more prevalent. I’m not saying Marshawn hasn’t done good things at Cal - he’s done good things - they just aren’t great things, not NFL-greatness caliber things, and if it has been great, it hasn’t been consistent.
I wish Marshawn all the best, I’m just not holding my breath for him - or drafting him in my fantasy league.
Christine,
Good enough post
Thanks.
Ian
Comment by Ian — January 3, 2007 @ 1:29 pm
Justin Forsett is a great running back, often outperforming Lynch on the field. Let’s give him a chance and our support before we take a turn to negative town.
Comment by Bear Alumnus in SD — January 3, 2007 @ 4:09 pm
Hey Ben! benbenben! Write something!
Comment by Anonymous — January 3, 2007 @ 4:11 pm
When did calstuff get good again?
Comment by errr — January 3, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
Justin Forsett will have a breakout season with Lynch going to the NFL. He won’t drag defenders with him for extra yards, but he is crazy fast and he carried his load when Lynch was injured throughout the season.
Comment by Anonymous — January 3, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
lesbianism.
Comment by anon54 — January 3, 2007 @ 4:52 pm
Lynch leaving is great for CAL. If he does well in the draft high class recruits will feel less apprehensive about coming to CAL.
Besides, he is a running back. They get hit so much on the field they have to leave earlier to last longer in the NFL.
Give Forsett a chance.
Comment by anon — January 3, 2007 @ 10:27 pm
I only wished that USC lost the ‘Rose’ so that recruits saw that Cal football is on the upswing and they tumbled on to a downward spiral.
Comment by googooga — January 4, 2007 @ 1:45 pm
Student Action is a bunch of lying scumbags.
Comment by anon54 — January 4, 2007 @ 2:53 pm
word. also, ben’s a football nut? didn’t he unironically call minnesota a big ten powerhouse?
Comment by nonamees — January 5, 2007 @ 12:39 pm
To be fair, Minnesota is in the top ten in their conference
Comment by Ethan — January 5, 2007 @ 3:04 pm
oh it’s quite common for a “football powerhouse” to blow the largest lead in bowl history and then fire the coach who just got a contract extension. happens all the time. stop attacking ben’s football “knowledge”.
Comment by anon54 — January 5, 2007 @ 3:05 pm
Ok. My bad. Fuck you guys. Perennially, they’re better than… well… they were this year.
Comment by Ben N. — January 6, 2007 @ 4:44 pm
Get used to plenty of Forsett runs for zero yards punctuated by an 18-yard burst. It averages out well, but Lynch punished tacklers and Justin won’t. It’s not a value judgement, it’s just not his game. Don’t delude yourselves, Cal was far better off with both of them.
On the other hand, youngish Cal fans just don’t remember how bad this team was for so long, so even a less ramped-up Bears squad will still be a treat to watch.
Comment by L. L. Taraval — January 8, 2007 @ 10:33 am