Terrance West & Isaiah Crowell, CLEPRIMER
The
Browns signed the crown jewel of the free agent running back class in 2014 in
Ben Tate, but he was eventually cut and it was a combination of
Terrance West and
Isaiah Crowell who led the charge on the ground. With new rookie
Duke Johnson joining the mix, this will be a three-headed race for touches that could give fantasy owners fits all season long.
2014 IN REVIEW
West was a much touted sleeper among draftniks and fantasy fans alike, hailing from the small school of Towson. He notched 100 rushing yards in his first game, and surpassed 94 two other times en route to leading the team in rushing. West is a classic one-cut runner, who has solid vision and power, but lacks real breakaway speed. He is decisive in his reads and rarely gets tackled behind the line of scrimmage unless his blocking goes horribly wrong. Crowell is the bigger, faster, stronger back, with equally as good of vision. He was certainly the big-play threat in the backfield, and per Pro Football Focus had the fifth-highest breakaway percentage of running backs who had at least 25 percent of their team's carries. The only trouble with Crowell is that he sometimes waits too long trying to find a home-run hole and gets tackled for a big loss. On one particular play, he drifted along the line all the way to the sideline for an 8-yard loss instead of driving up field to make something out of nothing. But, the good far outweighs the bad with Crowell based on what he put on tape in 2014.
2015 AND BEYOND
I was really liking this tandem as a nice one-two fantasy punch in 2015, with both offering value in the RB2 to RB3 range, but now with
Duke Johnson in the mix this backfield is completely muddled. Johnson figures to eat into the backfield targets, as the team has even reported giving him reps at wide receiver. That means West and Crowell will be duking it out for carries, likely both staying in the 10-15 range per game (if that). This is bad news for West, who was more of a volume runner in 2014. In the six games where he had 15 or more carries, he averaged 12-plus fantasy points per contest, versus a mere 3.4 in the nine where he had fewer than 15 totes (he was a healthy scratch in Week 6). Crowell on the other hand, given his propensity for the big play (and nose for the end zone) will have greater upside in Cleveland, even if Johnson gets a healthy amount of touches.
2015 DRAFT VALUE
Static: I'm breaking the rules here, but until we know more about how this backfield will look once the pads come on later in July, it is truly impossible to predict. If you're drafting before then, however, both West and Crowell (as well as Johnson) need to be drafted in standard leagues. There will be a leader in this backfield ... we'll just have to wait and see who it is.