T.J. Yeldon, Melvin Gordon leading rookie running backs
By Luke Sims
Sep 20, 2015; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars running back T.J. Yeldon (24) runs past Miami Dolphins cornerback Brent Grimes (21) during the second half of an NFL Football game at EverBank Field. The Jacksonville Jaguars won 23-20. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
2) T.J. Yeldon, running back, Jacksonville Jaguars
Coming in second among rookie running backs, T.J. Yeldon is only behind Melvin Gordon after Week 2.
With a healthy 70 yards on 25 carries in Week 2 (2.8 yards per carry average), Yeldon stays in the hunt. It is also clear that the Jacksonville Jaguars are committed to pounding the ball with Yeldon, even when his average is low. Ideally, he’ll break some more for big gains, but we didn’t see that against the Miami Dolphins.
Through the first two weeks, Yeldon is 13th most productive running back in the NFL with 121 yards on 37 carries (3.3 yards per attempt). He needs to increase his yards per attempt, but that hasn’t seemed to affect the grading by the guys over at Pro Football Focus. Yeldon’s +3.0 grade is third in the NFL behind just Carlos Hyde of San Francisco and Giovanni Bernard of Cincinnati.
But it all comes down to how many yards a running back can rack up in this ranking and 13th is good for second among the rookies.
Yeldon also has six missed tackles to go along with his rushing yards and he had a touchdown called back in his last game.
With the Super Bowl defending champion New England Patriots up next, it will be interesting to see if the Jacksonville Jaguars turn to T.J. Yeldon or Blake Bortles as a chance to keep up with the high-flying Tom Brady-led offense.
Next: The first rounder leads the way