Elijah Dotson Makes the Initial 53 (Was Poll)

[ghost]

What will happen during the regular season, when opponents are more responsible about setting the EDGE ?

Ekeler.
Kelley.
Spiller.
Dotson.

Order of battle.

I agree with all this. Question concerning the new run scheme: Do you think that Dot's two TDs last night were the residual effect of the new scheme (a zone/non-zone mix) - that draws more players to commit to their gaps, over a larger surface area and the result is the front seven or eight players getting lost in the wash?

Elijah Dotson tape. This is worth your time to view his uncanny lateral movement. His spin move is killer and this tape confirms he has great hands. Balance and burst.

[jamrock]

What will happen during the regular season, when opponents are more responsible about setting the EDGE ?

Ekeler.
Kelley.
Spiller.
Dotson.

Order of battle.

I have Spiller ahead of Kelley. Just think he has a higher cieling and just starting to get going. Having 4 guys you like is a good problem. Inevitably there will be guys who miss games with injury

[wu-dai clan]

It's an interesting dilemma to have,
ghost jamrock ...

[northerner]

we will probably have a better feel for the RB pecking order after the next two PS games. I am sure the "running back pecking order" is now a priority with the coaching staff.

[CivilBolt]

I agree with all this. Question concerning the new run scheme: Do you think that Dot's two TDs last night were the residual effect of the new scheme (a zone/non-zone mix) - that draws more players to commit to their gaps, over a larger surface area and the result is the front seven or eight players getting lost in the wash?

Elijah Dotson tape. This is worth your time to view his uncanny lateral movement. His spin move is killer and this tape confirms he has great hands. Balance and burst.

Wow, great vision and hands. If Ek is out, he can fill in nicely. I thought people were overreacting about Dotson but he showed a lot of potential in his first PS game. It looks like he secures the ball before contact which is a plus.

[DerwinBosa]

Ten pages dedicated to an undrafted running back on a forum in which most posters want us to throw 50 passes a game. Interesting.

Here's what Popper wrote on the matter:

2. Part of the rushing performance was a breakout game from rookie Elijah Dotson, an undrafted free agent out of Northern Colorado. Dotson, playing in his first NFL game, had touchdown runs of 37 and 40 yards in the second half. Both came on rushes designed to go up the middle that Dotson bounced outside to the left. Dotson ran a 4.52 40-yard dash during the pre-draft process, according to our scouting expert Dane Brugler. He looked much, much faster than that while pulling away from defenders on both touchdown runs.

Dotson was not on my 53-man radar through the first three weeks of camp. But he is now firmly on the bubble. A performance like this can catapult a player into the conversation.Ekeler, Kelley and Spiller are locks. There could be a fourth spot available in the running back room if the Chargers choose to go in that direction. And Dotson significantly outplayed Larry Rountree III, who rushed for just 9 yards on five carries and also missed a pass protection pickup on a sack early in fourth quarter.

[dmac_bolt]

I thought his first run was just as impressive as those two Tds. He ran right up the gut with a burst that I'm not used to seeing in our backs. When I saw that I kinda sat up in my chair a bit. Then of course he had the two long runs. Need to see if he can catch the football, block, and need to see some more inside running. I'd be looking at him as Ekeler's replacement.

Re: his speed, I went back and watched his highlights and in college he consistently ran away from everybody and definitely looks faster than 4.5. I think the issue is with the timing. When some scouts work these small school pro days they err on the side of caution in their numbers, so they won't stop the clock until the player is well through the line, which turns a 40 yard dash into more like a 45 yard dash. I bet that's what happened here because this kid is obviously fast as shit.

Hand timing by scouts at school pro days are always slightly “faster” than fully automated times like at the combine because they have a fractional delay in starting their stopwatch when the kid starts running. Even the best of them can’t start it as a fast as an optical recognition sensor in an automated timer. Your theory is not fact, noe of them let their stopwatch run until they ran 45 yards instead of 40.

I bet it was something else. Maybe he just didn’t have a good day. I found one site had his 40 between 4.48 and 4.58, meaning he ran multiple times and they just gave him his average. Maybe he didn’t get a good start on one of the runs. Another site with a 4.53 time said it had not been updated since 2022. Its more likely he just didn’t get an elite starting burst on one of his 40 runs - we’re not talking full seconds here, we are wondering about 0.1 sec of what we think we see vs 4.53. He doesn’t look like he’s running 4.3 or anything , he looks mid 4.4’s which is fast for a RB (4.5 is very normal for a good RB).

I searched for a theory out there that hand times are slower because scouts can’t stop the watch until they ran 45 yards, but I can’t find it anywhere. Watching maybe thousands of prospects and noticing their pro day times vs combine automated times, the hand times by scouts are always faster.

https://www.zybeksports.com/hand-timed-versus-electronic-timed-40-yard-dash/

[FoutsFan]

Pollard comp?

Dotson

[FoutsFan]

Thats why Barry Sanders was run out of the league. He never ran where he was supposed to. He was a coach killer.

Sorry, I was illustrating absurdity with absurdity.

I should have put it in green or blue or something to make it known better.

[Lone Bolt]

Ok...not gonna sift thru 10 pages, so sorry if I repeat someone elses arguement...

First, 2 big runs on broken outside contain...lets see him do some tough running, break a few tackles, make some moves in traffic, catch some balls....he will need a good preseason to unseat Horvath, because we will be keeping extra WR, Oline, or TE before we keep 5 RBs. Also dont know about his pass pro...

That said, if he balls out, or even looks good the rest of training camp, I like what I see...shades of Ekelor there...but again...gotta stash Horvath...dont know how critical he is to some of Moore's packages, but I could maybe see 12 personel with Mckitty in the backfield filling Horvath's roll on those type of plays...

If he does have a great preseason, he wont survive the practice squad...teams are looking for RBs, but these vets floating around on visits are pricing themselves high...Hunt has 3 teams dangling...even if he signs with one, the demand is obviousley out there...

But still...need to see a lot more...

[Whydachargers?]

I thought his first run was just as impressive as those two Tds. He ran right up the gut with a burst that I'm not used to seeing in our backs. When I saw that I kinda sat up in my chair a bit. Then of course he had the two long runs. Need to see if he can catch the football, block, and need to see some more inside running. I'd be looking at him as Ekeler's replacement.

Re: his speed, I went back and watched his highlights and in college he consistently ran away from everybody and definitely looks faster than 4.5. I think the issue is with the timing. When some scouts work these small school pro days they err on the side of caution in their numbers, so they won't stop the clock until the player is well through the line, which turns a 40 yard dash into more like a 45 yard dash. I bet that's what happened here because this kid is obviously fast as shit.

The game will be shown on NFL Network at 9pm, pst tonight. I'm looking forward to watching all of Dotson's carries and that long Spiller run. I missed all of that somehow when it was live.

[Caslon]

As if often the case, Larry Roundtree showed early promise as a north and south power runner. Whether due to subpar blocking or whatever, his stock fell quickly soon afterwards. The Chargers are hoping that either Spiller or Kelly IS the kind of power runner (with improved run blocking) that the Chargers have missed for sometime now.