Biabreakable
Footballguy
I wanted to talk about some of the legit criticism's of Booker as a prospect.
The first of these is Bookers age. He will be 24 years old in 6 more days from today.
There are not many examples of 24 year old rookie RBs going on to have successful careers. Recently Andre Ellington had some success for a time, another example was Priest Holmes who didn't get much opportunity until he reached his second contract. There really are not very many historical examples of RB this old going on to have successful careers.
Because of the lack of data I have chosen to treat Booker like he is 23 year old rookie, where there is a lot of data for historical examples. But I can understand it if people want to take him off their board or drop him down because of his age.
When I watch Booker and I see him demonstrating good vision and understanding of the blocking schemes and defenses, he seems better at these things than other rookie RB from 2016. This could be in part because he is an older and perhaps more developed player than the other RB who are younger than he is.
I think that vision is more about instinct and the ability to process movement around you and process that information quickly, so you can anticipate when to cut and which direction to avoid defenders and find the open space allowed by the defense. Some players don't seem to ever develop this ability. I think it is harder to develop than skills like pass blocking, pad level ect.
So the age is a red or yellow flag depending on how you interpret this for Booker. Is he a man among boys because of being a year or two older? Or is he just good?
Another concern is that he re-injured his knee, which caused the rehab process to be longer than expected. This is a sign of the injury being serious. He reportedly will be healthy enough to do everything soon. I can understand people being concerned about his injury, combined with his age and downgrading him for that.
I think these are the two main negatives about him. The next negative would likely be Booker not having long speed to finish big plays. While this is nice I don't think long speed is a requirement to be a good RB and I think Booker has enough speed to be effective in the NFL.
I think these downgrades for age and injury are already reflected by his draft position. So I am not downgrading him further for these concerns. I can understand people doing so with him however if these areas bother them more than they do me.
The first of these is Bookers age. He will be 24 years old in 6 more days from today.
There are not many examples of 24 year old rookie RBs going on to have successful careers. Recently Andre Ellington had some success for a time, another example was Priest Holmes who didn't get much opportunity until he reached his second contract. There really are not very many historical examples of RB this old going on to have successful careers.
Because of the lack of data I have chosen to treat Booker like he is 23 year old rookie, where there is a lot of data for historical examples. But I can understand it if people want to take him off their board or drop him down because of his age.
When I watch Booker and I see him demonstrating good vision and understanding of the blocking schemes and defenses, he seems better at these things than other rookie RB from 2016. This could be in part because he is an older and perhaps more developed player than the other RB who are younger than he is.
I think that vision is more about instinct and the ability to process movement around you and process that information quickly, so you can anticipate when to cut and which direction to avoid defenders and find the open space allowed by the defense. Some players don't seem to ever develop this ability. I think it is harder to develop than skills like pass blocking, pad level ect.
So the age is a red or yellow flag depending on how you interpret this for Booker. Is he a man among boys because of being a year or two older? Or is he just good?
Another concern is that he re-injured his knee, which caused the rehab process to be longer than expected. This is a sign of the injury being serious. He reportedly will be healthy enough to do everything soon. I can understand people being concerned about his injury, combined with his age and downgrading him for that.
I think these are the two main negatives about him. The next negative would likely be Booker not having long speed to finish big plays. While this is nice I don't think long speed is a requirement to be a good RB and I think Booker has enough speed to be effective in the NFL.
I think these downgrades for age and injury are already reflected by his draft position. So I am not downgrading him further for these concerns. I can understand people doing so with him however if these areas bother them more than they do me.