Ladell Betts: Overrated Or Over-Hated?

(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Redskins pre-season talk has focused on Marcus Mason and Anthony Aldridge, both of whom fought an uphill battle trying to make the Redskins final roster; Mason, after three years, finally secured an unlikely spot despite concerns he's too same-ish to the other tailbacks on the team.

Discussion has also centered around Clinton Portis because of concern that he's on his last legs and because, well, he's Clinton Portis. He's the face of the franchise.

Finally, a few people have been wondering if Rock Cartwright is really worth a spot on the roster just for being in the top half of the NFL in return yards when he doesn't do much on offense. He's a role model and work ethic leader, so he was a lock to make the team.

But what about that other tailback on the roster, No. 2 tailback Ladell Betts?

He just turned thirty a few days ago, so now is as good a time as any to look back at Betts' career, evaluate his performance, and perhaps decide what the team can do to improve his production.

The No. 1 criticism against Betts is that his production has trailed off considerably since 2006, when he rushed for 1,154 yards and signed a juicy 5-year contract. It seems as if he's coasting, collecting pay stubs while Portis takes the vast majority of rushing attempts and hits from locomotive linebackers.

Certainly, 2006 was by far his best year. He averaged an excellent 4.7 yards/carry, a number that obliterates the merely-average 3.6 and 3.4 in seasons since then. In fact, his performance in 2006 had most people labelling him a starter-quality back. He certainly could have found a job as the number one and made slightly more money.

While that raises warning flags, it's far from proof he's a coaster. It's not just his unexpected re-sign in Washington in 2006 but his less dynamic performance since then that have critics condemning him for playing for the paycheck and not the Lombardi Trophy.

In the two seasons since then, Betts has rushed for 541 yards, less than half the production than he had in 2006 alone. After four trips to the end zone in '06, he's had just one per year since then.

People read too much into just these numbers, though. Although this doesn't quite explain his Herculean 4.7 yards/carry, a number nearly as good as Adrian Peterson had in 2008, I think that Betts benefited from one of the Redskins best offensive lines of the past decade.

It's strange to think the Redskins could have had a loaded line in '06. After all, the team tied worst record of the Daniel Snyder era with a pathetic 5-11 final mark. The offense was strangely productive, though. The team ranked in the top half of the league in yards per game, especially impressive when you consider that Jason Campbell played seven games as an unpolished rookie.

I give a lot of credit to that line, which not only gave Betts and Portis (4.1 yards/attempt) room to run, but gave Campbell and Brunell loads of time in the pocket. Campbell's 3.3 sack percentage and Brunell's 4.4 sack percentage were by far the lowest numbers of their careers. When Campbell played, the line allowed only seven sacks in seven games.

So, Betts' numbers were inflated by a very good O-line in 2006 and have fallen with a line that has shown signs of age since. In that way, Betts' prospects don't look especially promising in 2009. He'll be looking for blocks from a line that's crumbling from age and lack of prospects.

But to be fair to Betts, he hasn't been asked to step up to a starter role since 2006 when Portis battled injuries. When Portis is out there, fighting off any sort of aches and bruises and delivering punishing blocks, the Redskins don't particularly need Betts to do much besides convert the occasional first down.

I think it's fair to say that Betts ought to be playing better than he has been the past two years. Whether it's just a stroke of bad luck and bad blocks, an inability to develop rhythm, or perhaps even the sense of entitlement fans accuse him of having, he's not earning his contract just yet. But fans shouldn't expect him to return to his tremendous efficiency of 2006 until the front office and coaching builds an offensive line that will allow him to do so.

Every part of a football game can be better understood by looking at the battle in the trenches, and the performance of Ladell Betts is no different.

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