|
Saturday,
June 29th / 2002
RB Deuce
McAllister, Saints
Height:
6-1
Weight: 225
Born: December 27, 1978, Lena,
College: Mississippi
Career
Statistics:
|
RUSHING |
RECEIVING |
| STATS |
ATT |
YDS |
AVG |
LNG |
TD |
REC |
YDS |
AVG |
LNG |
TD |
| 2001 |
16 |
91 |
5.7 |
54 |
1 |
15 |
166 |
11.1 |
22 |
1 |
| Projected |
16 |
91 |
5.7 |
54 |
1 |
15 |
166 |
11.1 |
22 |
1 |
| Career |
16 |
91 |
5.7 |
54 |
1 |
15 |
166 |
11.1 |
22 |
1 |
Chris Smith’s Thoughts:
Running back Deuce McAllister was one of
the most sought after prospects in the 2001 NFL Draft. Fantasy
owners as well as NFL scouts were excited about his mix of size, speed and
talent. However the Saints shocked the football world when
they selected this Mississippi star with their first round pick.
Fantasy owners sighed in disappointment because he was destined to back up
the Saints young buck at running back, Ricky Williams.
What a difference one season can
make. Williams has been traded to the Dolphins and McAllister now
has his opportunity for greatness. He is an explosive runner who is
a threat to score from anywhere on the football field. His knock
coming out of school was his inability to stay healthy but he did play in
43 games while in Mississippi. There have been many players who have
had injury concerns in college yet have gone on to have successful NFL
careers. McAllister has taken steps to improve his durability in
this off-season. He gained ten pounds of muscle and has been working out
hard to ensure his conditioning is prime. The bottom line on him is
that if he can stay healthy this season, he should finish up as a top ten
back in terms of fantasy football numbers. He has too much talent
not to.
310 carries for 1270 rushing yards and 7
touchdowns
60 receptions for 520 receiving yards and 2 touchdown
1790 total yards and 9 touchdowns for a total of 233.0 fantasy points
5 of the posts
from the P.O.D. Thread in the forum:
(make sure you click on the
link that takes you to the thread. There are many fantastic
thoughts that I wasn't able to fit into this article).
Juicecore
Footballguy
Member # 2651
|
posted June 28, 2002 12:58 PM
McCalister is clearly a
better runner than Ricky Williams and here's why.
He may or may not be able
to match Ricky in terms of pure power; but he certainly outshines
him when it comes to speed, hands, quickness, and if there's one
thing nobody can argue - he's a homerun threat every time he
touches the ball. Although its been stated before; its worth
repeating that the Saints traded Ricky away and made Duce THE MAN.
They're not a stupid organization and they are good talent scouts
- Duce is the real deal. The Saints will try to use him in the
Rams Marshall Faulk mould by running him about 17 times a game and
utilizing his abilities in the passing game, as he is one of the
finest receiving backs to come out since Faulk. He is going to
create a lot of mismatches. Also, contrary to popular belief,
McCalister is actually quite durable as the injuries he suffered
in college were freaks and he has played through pain many a time.
One more thing. The
Saints have nobody else. He is going to get almost all the work
and he'll be in on the goaline.
285-1283-10td
64-576-3td-2fumbles
--------------------
I used to be conceited.
But, now I'm perfect.
|
crâcKer
Footballguy
Member # 1650
|
posted June 27, 2002 10:49
PM
Deuce McAllister
Where to start.
If you were lucky
enough to have an early off-season draft, you could've picked up
Deuce in the 6th round (as I did). Just last week, I drafted him
at 2.04. Is that too high? I don't think so, and here's why...
Let me first just say
that I like the Saints offense. I like Aaron Brooks, I like Joe
Horn, I like the off-season additions at wide reciever/tight end
& I definitely like Deuce McAllister. I think that this
group of playmakers will easily cover-up any deficiencies that
they have on the offensive line.
6'1", 220 lbs, 4.4
40. He's said to have durability problems, but he still competed
in 43 games at Ole Miss. For what it's worth, the Saints were
comfortable enough with his "chronic shoulder
condition" that they traded away their franchise back,
Ricky Williams, with all intentions of making Deuce The Man.
A rare combination of size & speed (heard that before?)
coupled with one of the best set of running back hands in the
game leads me to believe that Deuce McAllister is going to be a
star in this league. At first glance, his SOS may look imposing
(especially the early portion), but the numbers
show that the Saints are in the top 20% in RB points for the
upcoming season.
All in all, he's still
pretty much a rookie. He'll have games where he struggles &
he'll have games where he flat out shines. My conservative
rushing projections reflect Deuce's early season struggles &
learning experience...How to Become a Stud: 101
projections:
1150 rushing yards, 7 TDs
650 receiving yards, 4 TDs
injury: 4/10
|
Lung
Nugget
Footballguy
Member # 2042
|
posted June 27, 2002 08:31
PM
Deuce is one of the
biggest,if not the biggest, question marks at RB this year.Not
because of injury risk ( T.Davis,F.Taylor) but because of the
man he's replacing. Is the Saint's system capable of plug and
play at RB like Denver or Miami? Or was Ricky a special, if
goofy, back? Need to break this one down.
1) The Saints were a run first team between the 20's. On a
couple of occasions Deuce broke through the line for long
scores. While Williams could move the pile,I don't see Deuce
getting as many carries but he could post similar yardage with
that breakaway speed.Reports have hin up 12 lbs. at mini-camp
which may help keep him in there on third and short.Jury's out
on that point.
2) The Saints choked in the redzone as often as any team in
the NFC West.I had Ricky and watched or listened to every 'Aints
game.One of two things happened more often than I could
believe. Either Williams was stuffed at the line or Brooks was
sacked or thowing an int. I know Hasslett will address this
but I believe one of his biggest answers to this problem will
be his now dangerous group of T.E's led by David Sloan this
may keep the scores down for Mac.
3) The offensive line has been shook up a bit with Turley
moving to LT but reports say he made the move
"seamlessly" and is looking foward to breaking his
helmet toss mark. C Jerry Fontenot is solid.This line blocked
the run much better than it pass blocked and this should
continue.
4) It's end of June and the Saint's do not yet have a backup
at RB of any note. While this need could be filled with a free
agent like a R. Watters or a Dorsey Levens, more likely is a
trade for a back and at this time Shawn Bryson is the leading
candidate. However, any back comming in will not cut into the
carries of one of the most assured "featured" backs
this year. The Saints have really put all their eggs in one
basket this year.
5) Point #4 should mean a more wide open offense utilizing the
Saint's outstanding WR's and deep talented TE corps to keep
the D honest and to protect McCallister. If Mac gets dump off
chances, a more open offense helps his production.
OK and after all that
my guess is;
200-230 carries for 1180 yds.
45-50 catches for 540 yds.
9 rush 3 rec. TD's
Injury risk 4
|
TigerFan
Footballguy
Member # 2805
|
posted June 27, 2002 03:30
PM
I'm not entirely sold
on Deuce.
Naturally, his past
injury history is always brought up. I don't think this
comes into play, since he's had 2 years to fully recover
from those. Is he injury prone? Maybe, maybe not.
What concerns me
even more is that I don't think he's a 20-25 carry guy. He
never carried the ball that much at Ole Miss. Joe Gunn stole
a large number of touches away from him. Did some of that
have to do with his injuries? Perhaps. But it is still
unsettling that the top RB in the 2001 draft (according to
many) was never "the guy" at his school in
college.
I do believe his
receiving skills make him valuable in that sense. Ricky
Williams didn't get much credit for his receiving, but if
you will note he did catch a good number of balls out of the
backfield. I think Duece is a better receiver than Ricky.
I don't believe the
Saints schedule is favorable, and I'm also of the opinion
that the Saints will be playing catchup more so than they
will be running the clock out.
My prediction:
950 yards rushing
400 yards receiving
8 total TDs
|
Doug
B
Footballguy
Member # 3247
|
posted June 27, 2002 11:41
AM
I'm not one who
projects specific stats before drafting, but as a Saints
fan, I expect Deuce McAllister to put up stats something
like:
1150 yards
rushing, 500 yards receiving
7 TDs rushing, 4 TDs receiving
---
His college
injuries have shied some people away. However, there are
two things about Deuce that I think most people miss when
considering his college injury history:
1) Contrary to
popular belief, Deuce hits the field when hurt. He
suffered a pulled hamstring against UNLV in 2000. Deuce
returned to the game, and scored the winning TD against
the Runnin' Rebels in OT. Additionally, Deuce played
through a re-aggravated shoulder injury in 2000 (a la
Emmitt Smith 10 years ago). This guy is no Fred Taylor.
2) Two of his
more severe college injuries were flukey and would have
sent anyone to the sidelines. One was his initial shoulder
injury, which was incurred during his junior year against
Vanderbilt. It didn't happen by hitting a defender or by
running hard. A Commodore defender late-hit Deuce, and
rammed his shoulder into a patch of concrete that laid
near the sideline. The second freak injury was a severely
sprained ankle suffered against Alabama in 1999. This
time, one of Deuce's own linemen got throttled back and
rolled up on Deuce's leg. Deuce didn't hurt the ankle
running or cutting.
----
And now Deuce
McAllister is three years removed from his worst injuries.
His body has had time to heal. Plus, he has no competition
for the Saints' starting RB spot -- and the team won't be
bringing any studs in (maybe Terry Allen).
Upright running
style, you ask? Well, sure - but it never stopped Roger
Craig, Eric Dickerson, or Eddie George. Not saying that
Deuce is as good as those guys (that's yet to be
determined), but I am saying that running upright should
not automatically disqualify Deuce as a solid RB.
Deuce McAllister
should be fine for 2002. I see him as, at worst, a legit
#2 fantasy RB. His upside could even be far greater than
that.
|
Link
to the thread: Click
Here
Footballguy
Projections:
|
Player
Name
|
Team
|
Car
|
Rush Yards
|
TD
|
Rec.
|
Rec.
Yards
|
TD
|
Fant.
Pts.
|
|
Deuce
McAllister
|
Ari
|
270
|
1161
|
7
|
55
|
484
|
3
|
225.0
|
Chris
Smith's Projections:
|
Player
Name
|
Team
|
Rush Yards
|
Rec.
Yards
|
TD
|
Fant.
Pts.
|
|
Deuce
McAllister
|
Ari
|
1270
|
520
|
9
|
233.0
|
P.O.D. average projections
|
Player
Name
|
Team
|
Rush Yards
|
Rec.
Yards
|
TD
|
Fant.
Pts.
|
|
Deuce
McAllister
|
Ari
|
1166
|
495
|
9
|
220.1
|
|
