Will T.J. Yeldon be relevant in 2016?

Signing Chris Ivory took the wind out of the sails powering Jacksonville Jaguars running back T.J. Yeldon for 2016.

Because T.J. Yeldon goes about his business in a humble, professional manner, you won’t hear him complain about being paired with running back Chris Ivory in the Jacksonville Jaguars’ backfield going forward.

That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t talk about it, though.

After a pretty stellar rookie season that saw the 2015 second-round selection amass 740 yards in 12 games and look like the only real threat in the Jags’ running back stable, it seemed logical to assume Yeldon would carry the rock almost exclusively going forward.

And then the Jags signed Pro Bowl running back Chris Ivory.

It was an odd move for a team that seemed dead set on only fixing the defense for 2016 and it was an even more odd move because Yeldon was so impressive as a rookie and hinted toward even better development in 2016. Questions will continue to abound as the Jags work on finding a balance between the two, which logically leads to the question: How relevant will Yeldon be in 2016?

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Last season we here at B&T kept track of Yeldon’s performance compared to other top running back selections from the 2015 NFL Draft. Only Todd Gurley made Yeldon look less than successful and, well, he’s Todd Gurley.

Now, as articles contemplating league leaders come out, Yeldon isn’t even an afterthought to the conversation. Yeah, Yeldon was just 22nd in the league in overall yardage in 2015. Yeah, he was just 15th in yards per game. (Gurley was third in both categories) But everything hinted toward so much more for Yeldon going forward.

Now, with Ivory in the backfield with him and a revamped offensive line finding its feet, it’s as if Yeldon will be written off before the season even gets going. This is a shame, because a player who worked as hard as he did in a rookie season on a bad team deserves plenty of attention. He deserves to be in conversations about who could break out and who could be successful for the coming year.

We’ll have to wait and see, but for now it’s almost as if he isn’t even relevant.