The Cincinnati Bengals have placed a lot of value on the running back position throughout the last thirty years. The franchise famously chose Ki-Jana Carter with the first overall pick in the 1996 NFL Draft, and one of the best running backs in the new millennium was Corey Dillon, a mercurial talent. Cincinnati has made it plain that they value the quarterback position, but they also think the offense works best when there is a balance between a bell cow running back and an outstanding quarterback.
It is no secret that the running back position has taken a major blow to its value over the past few seasons with the exploded salary cap growth rate. While the peak salaries at the quarterback position have multiplied over the past decade, the running back position has stagnated while the average career length of running backs has tanked.
That problem has officially spread to the Cincinnati’s complete back Joe Mixon as the Oklahoma product is expected to be released from the roster over the next few weeks. Mixon has managed to hit the 1,000-rushing yard mark four times during his career with Cincinnati after he was drafted with the 48th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft but he has also been the subject of some heavy scrutiny over the past few seasons. Let’s take a look at the rationale for Cincinnati.
Even though Mixon has been fairly productive statistically over the course of his career, there are some numbers that suggest that the team should move on this offseason. The biggest problem with Mixon is that he is arguably the least explosive running back in the NFL as he has failed to break a long touchdown run for several seasons in a row. Mixon has tallied an impressive amount of yards but it has mostly been his ability to avoid injury that has helped him as his yards per carry has stagnated to a mediocre value of 4.0.
Arguably the biggest problem with Mixon is that while he is a leader in the locker room, he has a tendency to be somewhat selfish in the backfield. Mixon may be a hard runner but he has been considered a major liability in pass protection and there is speculation that he may not be willing to be on the field if there isn’t a chance for him to get the ball. That’s certainly a harsh take but he has missed major blocking assignments more often than not over the past few seasons and a back unwilling or unable to pass block won’t endear himself to the team.
