Carter's Classroom: Sacrificing savvy for speed

The addition of Knile Davis to the Steelers' depth chart was a sign that the team is ready to move on from DeAngelo Williams for a younger and faster option to backup Le'Veon Bell at halfback.

Williams found plenty of work in backing up Bell during both of his suspensions and when Bell was injured. His experience made him a great replacement that had several games over a hundred yards on the ground and was a key element to the offense on several occasions.

The problem with retaining Williams' services for the future is that he's 34 years old at a position that starts to rule out even the most elite once they hit their thirties.

Davis, on the other hand, is 25 years old and has the speed to hit the home run on plays when the opportunity presents itself. He's not the detail-oriented player that Williams was, but he's a young player that could grow into that role while still providing speed that could be truly beneficial to the game plan:



Davis ran a 4.37 for his forty yard dash in the combine four years ago and that combined with his 6' 0" 227 lbs. frame makes for a formidable athlete when he has the ball in his hands. What detracted from his scouting profile was his injury history in college.

That didn't carry over into his NFL career, but he ran into the wall of solid running backs that the Chiefs had and never caught on there. He only made two starts in his three full seasons with the Chiefs and ended up with the Packers for two games last season.

HOME RUN ABILITIES

The Steelers haven't had a running back with the breakaway speed to score on long runs for years now. Not that they've needed it with Williams and Bell both being competent working solid yards per carry averages, but it's a component that is always an asset if it's available.

When Davis gets the ball, that home run is a possibility. We could've selected on of his touchdown receptions or runs, but we figured we could knock out two birds with one stone by showing off one of his kick returns that ended up as a touchdown:



Once Davis gets in full speed he runs away from defenders. The Steelers need someone that combines that kind of speed with enough shiftiness to capitalize on seams both on special teams and from out of the backfield.

Not that this trait should ever give rise to him replacing Bell, but it's something the Steelers could use in their arsenal from the running back position. Davis won't always hit the right hole, but when he does he's a danger to score if he can make one safety miss.

QUICK FEET

As a running back Davis does a good job of always keeping his legs pumping and using his feet to set up opponents with decent moves while keeping his balance to keep moving forward. He'll occasionally sell out on some moves and sacrifice his center of gravity to make one person miss and expose him to a bigger hit, but that's part of his style.

Watch here how he does a good job of reading the right tackle coming down the line and setting up the edge for him to cutback into the lane, while still keeping his head up so he could evade the last safety in his way:



This isn't a regular thing with Davis, but given the opportunity he can make a few players miss. With the reliability of a good Steelers' offensive line, Davis could get more one-on-one opportunities with linebackers and safeties that open up seams for his speed to exploit.

VISION

Davis most likely won't exhibit the patience that Williams showed, but both are traditional one-cut style backs that can show good vision and capitalize when given a clean backfield to work with.

Watch here how Davis sees backside linebacker come too far down the line and change the direction he needs to go:



If the backside linebacker comes in off of Eric Fisher's (72) left shoulder, he will be able to challenge Davis in the backfield.

But instead he comes down the line and is picked up by the chipping guard, opening up the gap he vacated. Davis shows good awareness in picking that up and walking into the end zone once he is able to slide away from the defensive tackle that had driven the Chiefs' center into the backfield.

BALL SECURITY

During the one season that Davis saw more than 100 carries, Davis showed that he had work to do when it came to protecting the ball.

Most of these instances came when a defender was able to catch Davis thinking about which hole he needed to attack or slowing down to assess a situation. This example shows a Brent Grimes, a cornerback, coming in and ripping the ball out of his hands:



Grimes is a smaller defensive back that should not have been able to pry the ball from Davis' hands so easily when you consider Davis' size. Davis can be a solid power runner, thanks to his size and footwork, but that all gets wasted if he cannot protect the ball consistently.

OVERALL

Davis is the Steelers' new attempt at a Mewelde Moore type of a running back. Speed and ability to catch the ball with NFL experience to lessen his learning curve.

He will need to work on his pass protection if he wants to earn a longer stay with the Steelers after his new contract, along with other polishing of specific points to his game.

Davis ends any speculation of whether the Steelers would invest a mid-round pick into a halfback to replace Williams. The only way I see a halfback being selected is in the later rounds as a challenge to Fitzgerald Toussaint.

What the Steelers now have is a combination of a thunder and lightning backfield, much like Williams had when he worked with Jonathan Stewart while withe Panthers. Of course, Bell is infinitely more versatile and brings his elite-caliber game to the Steelers that Stewart could never match, but Davis possesses a home run speed that could keep defenders on their toes even when Bell is taking a break.

But if we've seen anything over the past four years, it's that Bell determines when he comes off the field barring any injury or suspension. The insane stamina that Bell has shown leads me to believe that Davis won't be called on as much to give Bell a breather as more of he is to be the guy in an emergency if Bell is hurt or unavailable.

Time will tell if Davis can do all the little things that Williams made so routine as a running back, but what the Steelers do know is that they got a guy with wheels behind the NFL's best running back.