Shonn Greene

Despite turning in his second consecutive sub-4.0 YPC campaign last year, missing five games to a knee injury and undergoing a procedure on said knee in the spring, Greene finds himself atop the Titans' depth chart with Chris Johnson having changed area codes in the offseason. Unfortunately, that may be a very temporary placement for the 5-11, 233-pound power runner, as rookie Bishop Sankey is set to challenge him for touches. Indeed, even if Greene is good to go for training camp, as expected, he's a subpar receiver who'll probably yield third-down duties to Sankey right away, and it wouldn't be surprising to see him lose his early-down role as well. Frankly, the plodding Greene isn't even particularly well suited to goal-line work, having produced a fairly modest 18 touchdowns over the last three seasons despite 31 goal-line carries. Further, the Titans will get Jake Locker back after an injury-shortened 2013, and it wouldn't be surprising to see them recommit to the pass game, where they actually have some decent weapons. All in all, it adds up to Greene being in the weakest position of any "No. 1" running back in the league.

Greene's days as a 1,000-yard back ended the moment he left New York to become Chris Johnson's complement in Tennessee. Greene could still have value, though, if he earns the majority of the goal-line work. Tennessee Coach Mike Munchak said he doesn't view Greene as only a short-yardage back, but it's unlikely the plodding Greene sees more than occasional carries otherwise, barring an injury to Johnson. That said, with the additions of Andy Levitre through free agency and mauler Chance Warmack in the first round of the draft, Tennessee's run blocking should improve, and Greene's workload could grow if the Titans become an especially run-heavy offense.

Finally given the role as the team’s feature back, Greene gained 1,265 yards from scrimmage with six touchdowns last season. Those numbers aren’t bad, but since he played in all 16 games, they have to be considered a disappointment. While he’s improving, he’s still a poor receiver, and he got just 2.3 YPC after contact, which ranked 50th among backs. Greene also converted only 3-of-10 goal-line carries for scores. The overall numbers appear fine thanks to volume, but a back who averaged 79.1 yards and 0.38 touchdowns per game isn’t extremely valuable. The good news is the Jets didn’t address the RB position until late in the draft, so the starting job still belongs to Greene. New OC Tony Sparano promises a return to a “ground and pound” style offense, which is encouraging as well.

Greene was one of the bigger fantasy busts in 2010, thanks to the Jets’ continued use of a committee and a drop in his performance. Greene’s YPC fell from 5.0 to 4.1, he had just one carry for 20-plus yards and was given only three attempts at the goal line. Greene stayed healthy, albeit on a limited workload, and his improvement as a receiver over the second half of the year was an encouraging sign. After recording just two catches over the first 20 games of his career, he hauled in 14 receptions for 103 yards over his last nine contests. That’s not exactly Marshall Faulk in his prime, but 250 additional receiving yards yearly is better than what Michael Turner gives you, and further development can be expected, even if LaDainian Tomlinson dominates third-down work. Greene is a powerful runner who has good speed for his size, and he also benefits from running behind one of the better offensive lines in football. The Jets have run the ball 1,141 times the last two years since Rex Ryan took over as head coach – that’s 147 more carries than the next closest team (the Chiefs). Most important, Ryan has stated it’s time to turn over lead back duties to Greene, and even Tomlinson has conceded as much. In fact, Tomlinson, who is now 32 and has 3,099 career rushing attempts, has actually requested fewer carries. Expect Tomlinson to be the team’s third-down back, while Greene dominates the rest of the work.

Greene didn’t start a single game in the regular season last year and finished with just 108 carries, but he was unleashed in the playoffs, when he ran for 304 yards on 54 rushes (5.6 YPC) over 2.5 games. Greene battled fumbling problems and was slowed by ankle and rib injuries in training camp and was later knocked out of the AFC Championship game with another rib injury, so exactly how many carries he can withstand over a 16-game schedule is in question. Greene didn’t record a single catch during the regular season, and the newly signed LaDainian Tomlinson should receive most of the third down work, but this is an organization that traded multiple picks to move up in the third round to draft Greene in 2009, and it also had no problem letting Thomas Jones, who was coming off a season in which he gained a career-high 1,402 rushing yards, leave via free agency, so the Jets have plenty of faith in Greene becoming their workhorse. Despite getting 223 fewer carries, Greene forced just two fewer missed tackles than Jones last year, and while the coaching staff speaks highly of Tomlinson, consider this — he caused the fewest missed tackles and produced the lowest number of yards after contact among all starting running backs last season. New York possesses one of the three best offensive lines in the NFL, so Greene is set up for success. And even if Tomlinson is given more carries than he deserves at this stage of his career, the Jets had a whopping 607 rushing attempts last year, which led the league by 82 carries, so there will be plenty to go around. Don’t let Greene fall out of the first round of your draft.

The Jets traded their third, fourth and seventh round picks to move up 11 spots in the draft to select Greene. After sitting out 2007 for academic issues, he rushed for 1,850 yards (6.0 YPC) and 20 touchdowns for Iowa last season. He ran a 4.50 40 at his Pro Day, which is plenty fast for a 5-11, 235-pound back. He only had 11 receptions throughout his collegiate career, so he’s just a two-down back at this point, but he’s a bruising runner who should immediately dominate carries in the red zone. A strictly between-the-tackles back, Greene always finishes his runs and is more likely to run over defenders than make them miss. Leon Washington figures to get all the work on third downs, and Thomas Jones remains as competition after a huge bounce back season last year. Still, the new Jets’ coaching regime has no ties to Jones, who is 31 years old, approaching 2,000 career carries and unhappy with his contract. There’s actually a possibility Jones is cut, as Washington is looking for a contract, too, and the team can’t afford to make both happy, especially with Greene now available as a replacement. Meanwhile, New York’s running back coach rated Greene as the top back on his draft board, and the staff has been effusive in its praise of the rookie. With rookie Mark Sanchez likely starting at quarterback, coach Rex Ryan will surely be instituting a run-heavy, conservative offense. The team also has one of the three best run-blocking offensive lines in football, so Greene could make a big impact during his rookie season should he beat out Jones.