With the NFL now more than ever a quarterback’s league, the running back position has been devalued to the point where RBs have been relegated to serving drinks on the team plane -- and carrying the long snapper’s bags. Running back has become a disposable slot, with the days of the workhorse largely over as teams shuffle backs in and out of lineups -- and on and off rosters -- that they’re often gone before you’ve even gotten the chance to know their names.
And yet, who is more indispensable to the Jets than Chris Ivory? Darrelle Revis is almost indisputably Gang Green’s best player, but even without him, they’d be loaded in the defensive backfield. Muhammad Wilkerson has been a force, but the team’s top d-lineman, Sheldon Richardson, is rejoining the unit for next week’s game vs. Washington.
Ryan Fitzpatrick is an able QB, but even Geno Smith could win with the Jets’ dominating D on the other side of the ball and Ivory in his backfield.
Through the first quarter of the 2015 season, Ivory ranks fourth in the NFL in rushing -- even though he missed a game with a quad injury. He’s averaging 5 yards per carry, which is especially impressive since so many of his runs go right up the middle, into the teeth of opposing defenses.
But with Ivory, it’s about so much more than the numbers. First of all, it’s how far he’s come. The sixth-year back was undrafted out of tiny Tiffin College (whose archrival, I believe, was Faber College, although I’m not sure either school actually fields a football team) in 2010, even though he ran a sub-4.5 40 at 222 lbs. at that year’s NFL Scouting Combine. Yet as a rookie, he led the New Orleans Saints in rushing.
However, as has always been the case with Ivory, the Saints didn’t think he was good enough and brought in other RBs over the next few years to take on much of the load while shunting the admittedly oft-injured Ivory to the side.
During the 2013 draft, ex-GM John Idzik dealt a fourth-round pick for Ivory, who came to the Jets with just 256 career carries under his belt. Idzik was much-maligned during his tenure, although probably not as much as he deserved. But the Ivory trade was a stroke of genius.
Naturally, Ivory led the Jets in rushing in his first season in New York, and naturally, the Jets brought in a new #1 RB the following season - -former 2,000-yard man Chris Johnson. And yes, naturally, Ivory was better.
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In fact, Ivory is better than just about every running back in the league. Really. He punishes opponents with his battering-ram style, and carves out solid gains in situations where no other RB - even Adrian Peterson -- could.
The great Peterson and other top backs go through the holes their offensive lines create. Ivory makes his own holes.
When the Jets allow Ivory to be a workhorse, they’re simply a different team. A better team. A playoff-contending team. Maybe someone should be carrying his bags.
