When Jay Gruden became the new head coach for the Washington Redskins, everyone knew that he was inheriting a young star quarterback in Robert Griffin, III. The new dynamic was seen as a positive what with Griffin coming off of a forgettable 2013 season that involved public clashes with former head coach Mike Shanahan.
Gruden, the former offensive coordinator at Cincinnati, helped develop his then-quarterback Andy Dalton into a Pro Bowl and playoff-bound signal-caller who defied the odds and is now one of the highest paid players at his position.
The Redskins’ brass brought Gruden here — in part — to help to repair the psyche of their popular franchise quarterback. The new head coach must realize that he has a real work-horse in third-year running back Alfred Morris. This realization is significant for the team’s opening contest this coming Sunday against the Houston Texans. Morris has a chance to take the next step and become a household name this year. More importantly, he has a chance to become the Redskins’ real MVP and take a lot of pressure off of Griffin and even Gruden to some extent.
The 2013 Pro Bowler has been one of the pleasant surprises and great media stories over the past two seasons. Morris went from a relatively obscure commodity at the small Florida Atlantic University outside of Miami, to having an All-World rookie campaign in 2012. Had it not been for his teammate and NFL Rookie of the Year (ROY) Robert Griffin, and the emergence of Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson and Indianapolis signal-caller Andrew Luck, perhaps Morris would have been ROY himself.
All three of the gifted quarterbacks had the type of first years on their teams that made Morris fall under the radar on the national landscape. In all actuality, what he and fellow rookie running back Doug Martin (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) did in 2012 could have been more impressive in the grand scheme of things.
In the past two seasons, Morris has had the most rushing yards in the league, second only to those of Minnesota Vikings’ future Hall-of-Fame running back Adrian Peterson. In his rookie campaign Florida alum’s numbers were mind boggling, having rushed for 1,613 yards on 335 carries. He produced 13 rushing touchdowns to go along with those gaudy numbers.
Last year, he followed up his impressive rookie outing with a solid 1,275 yards on 276 carries. He had seven touchdowns, down from the previous year. These numbers would get most backs instant recognition and fame on a big platform. But Morris remains a quiet, well-spoken teammate who likes just being who he is. He has no desire to be a more vocal leader and wants to continue to lead by example. He shakes the notion of leading verbally just as fast as he does defenders on Sunday’s.
“No, that’s just not me,” he said in response to my question about being a more vocal leader. “I’m a ‘lead-by-example’ type of guy. There are other [teammates] that are vocal and that is just not my thing.”
One way Morris would be extremely valuable in the offense would be to generate more opportunities in the passing game. This part of his game was lacking over the past two seasons and that is what — in part — has led to his name not having the mega attention that it does for say, a LeSean McCoy in Philadelphia or even Peterson in Minnesota. Those two backs have displayed a complete all-around game that fans have recognized.
McCoy, over the past two seasons, has rushed for 2,447 yards on 514 carries as well as running for 11 touchdowns. He is equally effective coming out of the backfield as a pass-catcher, having caught 106 balls for 912 yards and five touchdowns.
Peterson has been more than just a record-chasing runner as well. Over the past two seasons he has rushed for 3,363 yards on 627 carries and 22 touchdowns. He is effective in the passing game as well, hauling in 69 catches for 388 yards and two touchdowns.
For Morris to be mentioned in the elite running back conversation, he understands that catching the ball out of the backfield is important. His 20 receptions over the last two years will have to greatly improve if he is going to stay on the field for third downs this year.
“It’s real important,” he said in an interview. “The more you can do, the more you can stay on the field. So, as a player you always want to be on the field and always have an opportunity to help your team succeed. And success in this game is winning. It’s really the only thing in the game that matters honestly. So, to work on that small part of the game and just be better at it… I’m trying to give confidence to the quarterbacks and the coaches that I can stay in there. I’m just thankful for the opportunity. I have to make the most of it.”
There is no way to know for sure whether Alfred Morris can catch more than 15 passes in a season, given what he’s shown in the past. For him to be really successful in that department, he has to have 25 or more catches. This could be an added bonus for an offense that has a bunch of explosive individual play-makers. Morris has a better yards-per-catch average (7.85) than Adrian Peterson does (5.65) and is not too far off from LeSean McCoy’s (8.65). Perhaps the Redskins running back could give the offense some serious production in this category.
The more Alfred Morris can give this offense, the more pressure is taken off of Robert Griffin, III and the better Coach Gruden will be able to utilize all of his weapons. If the RB can handle both the workload and the expectations placed on him entering his third season, he may just get the national exposure that has eluded him… and title of the Redskins’ real team “MVP”.
Only time will tell. And the clock starts ticking this Sunday in Houston, Texas at 1:00.