NY Giants: Full Position Breakdown and Depth-Chart Analysis at Running Back
Last season, the New York Giants running game finished 23rd in the NFL, averaging 100.1 yards per game.
In fact, it’s been quite a while since the Giants have had a top-10 rushing unit, the last time being in the 2010 season.
That year, they finished sixth in the league with an average of 137.5 yards per game, this thanks to the power-running tandem of Ahmad Bradshaw (276 carries for 1,235 yards) and Brandon Jacobs (147 carries for 823 yards).
There are many reasons for the Giants' poor rushing performance from last year—injuries, the offensive line and inexperience all were factors.
This year, however, the Giants are hoping that with an improved offensive line and the addition of newcomer Shane Vereen to a backfield that returns starter Rashad Jennings, backup Andre Williams and fullback Henry Hynoski, they can regain that run-game dominance to get them back to being a top-10 unit.
Here’s a breakdown of each player, what we can likely expect and how it just might play out if everyone stays healthy.
Rashad Jennings, 6’1”, 231 lbs, Liberty
1 of 6
2014 Season in Review
With David Wilson, who had finished the 2013 season on injured reserve with a neck issue, facing an uncertain future, the Giants put their focus on Rashad Jennings.
Jennings, the now-30-year-old, seven-year NFL veteran, initially landed on the Giants radar when, as a member of the Oakland Raiders in 2013, he ran for 88 yards on 20 carries (4.4 yards per carry) against a Giants run defense that had successfully shut down top rushers such as Adrian Peterson of Minnesota, Alfred Morris of Washington and LeSean McCoy of Philadelphia, just to name a few.
Jennings, who inked a four-year, $10 million contract on March 13, 2014, became the Giants’ newly appointed starter in 2014.
Looking to build on his 2013 breakout season, a year in which he ran for 733 yards on 163 carries for the Raiders, Jennings was also looking to put in his first 16-game season in the NFL.
It was not meant to be.
A midseason ACL sprain and then a late-season ankle sprain caused Jennings to miss five games.
Between trying to operate in the second half of the season with a bad set of wheels and behind a porous offensive line that simply couldn’t get out of its own way, Jennings, who, per Pro Football Focus, was averaging 4.4 yards per carry prior to his first injury, saw his average dip to 3.2 yards per carry.
Jennings finished his abbreviated first season as a Giant rushing for 639 yards on 167 carries, a 3.8 average. He scored just four rushing touchdowns.
As a receiver, he caught 30 passes for 226 yards and no touchdowns.
2015 Outlook
Jennings enters his second season with the Giants, looking much trimmer and quicker than he did last season. He figures to again be the team’s starting running back whose primary role will be to move the chains and to catch the occasional ball out of the backfield.
A slasher type of runner who is good at spotting the little creases, and who has the speed to exploit them, Jennings devotes himself to studying every little nuance of the game, which is why he always seems to make the right decisions in terms of picking out the right holes and following his blocks.
The question with Jennings, as has been throughout his career, is can he last for 16 games? If the Giants are to get back to being a top-10 rushing unit, they are going to need Jennings on the field every week.
Andre Williams, 5’11”, 230 lbs, Boston College
2 of 6
2014 Season in Review
The Giants hit a home run in the draft when the nation’s top college rushing-yardage leader was sitting there waiting to be taken in the draft in the fourth round of the 2014 draft.
That back was Andre Williams, who, in his final year with Boston College, ran for 2,177 yards to lead the nation.
For as promising as a runner as Williams was, the Giants’ initial plan was to get him involved in certain spots, most notably in short-yardage and goal-line situations.
Williams, remember, was not much of a receiver out of the backfield, a fact that was well-known around the league and which might have worked against him and the Giants when he was on the field since opposing defenses didn’t really need to account for him in the passing game.
When Jennings suffered his knee injury that cost him four games, the Giants had no choice but to throw the still-raw Williams into the deep end of the pool.
It wasn’t always pretty. First, the pro game’s speed was something that Williams had some trouble adjusting to, as when creases did open up, he was often a hair too late spotting them.
Second, his footwork needed some refinement, as was discussed in this analysis.
The good news is that the season wore on, the game slowed down for Williams, who learned to be patient in letting his blocks develop ahead of him.
After averaging 3.2 yards per carry in the Giants’ first 10 games of the season and never rushing for more than 67 yards in any game, Williams’ numbers increased, as he recorded two 100-yard rushing performances in the final six games, boosting his average to 3.8 yards per carry.
2015 Outlook
If there was one area where Williams really excelled, it was in making defenders miss him. His 27 missed tackles led the Giants running backs last season by a mile, which is the good news.
Despite his positives, Williams is a very similar running back to Jennings in terms of style, minus of course the ability to be a receiving threat out of the backfield.
Right now, the 22-year-old Williams seems best suited for a specific role in this, his second NFL season, and that is of a short-yardage and goal-line back.
The latter role is especially important since, according to the Giants’ 2014 year-end statistics, six of Williams’ seven rushing touchdowns came within the 5-yard line.
Shane Vereen, 5'10", 205 lbs, California
3 of 6
2014 Season in Review
Shane Vereen, 26 years old, joined the Giants this offseason fresh off a Super Bowl championship with the New England Patriots.
Vereen, who was signed to a three-year, $12.35 million contract, was a big part of the Patriots offense last season. He rushed for 412 yards on 102 carries, scoring two touchdowns, but where he really made his money was as a receiver out of the backfield.
In that regard, Vereen caught 71 of 93 pass targets (76.3 percent) for 591 yards and three touchdowns, averaging a healthy 8.4 yards per reception, the eighth-best out of 14 running backs who took at least 60 percent of their team’s snaps last season.
2015 Outlook
At his 2014 year-end press briefing with reporters, general manager Jerry Reese, who is typically tight-lipped about personnel plans, made it known that the Giants were interested in replacing David Wilson, who had been forced to retire with a neck problem that summer.
Vereen, who is an established scatback and an accomplished receiver out of the backfield, is projected to fill that role.
With the Giants still looking to run some successful screen plays out of the backfield, Vereen has the perfect skill set to make it happen if he can get the blocking from the offensive line.
More importantly, though, given the pounding that running backs take, if Rashad Jennings and/or Andre Williams should have to miss any time due to injury, Vereen should be able to step into either role with little to no drop-off in production.
.jpg?w=256 "Browns Football")
Orleans Darkwa, 6'0", 215 lbs, Tulane
4 of 6
2014 Season in Review
As injuries began piling up on the Giants at running back—they lost Peyton Hillis to a concussion and Michael Cox to a broken leg—New York plucked 23-year-old Orleans Darkwa off the Miami Dolphins practice squad.
Faced with a choice of sinking or swimming, Darkwa swam and looked surprisingly good doing so despite not having much in the way of experience.
Darkwa played in 42 snaps for the Giants on offense, earning mostly positive grades in every aspect of his game (rushing, pass blocking, etc.).
He also received nine carries, which he converted into 23 yards and one rushing touchdown, and averaged 3.0 yards after initial contact, proving himself a hard man to bring to the ground.
Darkwa was also targeted five times in the passing game and caught every single ball thrown his way for 48 yards. However, where he made his biggest contribution was on special teams, where he was a key element in helping most of the Giants' special teams units play better as the season wore down.
2015 Outlook
Darkwa’s roster spot is far from being a lock, but if he loses out to one of the up-and-coming running back prospects, it won’t be for a lack of effort.
Darkwa told me at the end of last season that he planned to train down in Miami with teammates Andre Williams and Rashad Jennings to build up that camaraderie and to work on improving his overall game.
Darkwa has also been praised by his teammates. Last year, Jennings spoke glowingly about Darkwa’s football IQ, noting that he was also starting to show more and more confidence each week.
It remains to be seen if the Giants will keep four running backs and one fullback—injuries will certainly dictate the final numbers. However, as of right now, Darkwa has that inside track, thanks to his special teams work.
Henry Hynoski, 6'1", 266 lbs, Pittsburgh
5 of 6
2014 Season in Review
After missing most of the 2013 season due to a fractured shoulder suffered in Week 3, Henry Hynoski, aka “the Hynocerous” was back with a bang, showing no ill effects from his nearly year-long unplanned hiatus.
A better-than-average receiver out of the backfield—he has 24 career receptions for 138 yards in four seasons—Hynoski is first and foremost a lead blocker and a very good one at that. Per Pro Football Focus, he was the NFL's second-best overall fullback, right behind Kansas City’s Anthony Sherman.
When the Giants brought over former Green Bay assistant coach Ben McAdoo to be their new offensive coordinator, it was widely believed that the 26-year-old Hynoski might be given a bigger role in the West Coast offense the Giants now run.
The reason behind this thinking is that the Giants were starting from scratch with their tight ends, a group that at the time wasn’t proven and didn’t have much experience, save for veteran journeyman Daniel Fells.
Hynoski, who told me for Bleacher Report last summer that he received a bigger part of the playbook to learn, never got a chance to execute it.
His snap count was drastically reduced. Whereas Hynoski took 428 snaps in 2012, his last 16-game season played, his offensive snaps were reduced to just 209—with zero pass attempts—in 2014.
2015 Outlook
While McAdoo seems to have no intention of eliminating the fullback’s role in the offense, it seems more and more that he prefers to have a tight end take on that responsibility because it leaves him and quarterback Eli Manning with a little more in terms of options.
There can still be a role for Hynoski, who was signed to a two-year, $2.1 million contract this offseason as an unrestricted free agent. His likely role, besides special teams, where he was one of the unsung heroes and most consistent players of that unit, is to be a power blocker on short-yardage and goal-line situations.
In fact, of Andre Williams’ seven touchdown rushes taking place inside of the 5-yard line, Hynoski was the lead blocker on five of them.
Might Hynoski get a pass or two thrown his way? It’s certainly possible—in Tuesday’s OTA practice he was named as one of Giants.com’s standout players of the practice.
However, with an offense that is projected to have Shane Vereen, Victor Cruz, Odell Beckham Jr., Rueben Randle and Larry Donnell, does it really make sense to take potential pass targets away from that group just for the sake of throwing the fullback a bone if the game is tight?
The Training Camp Prospects
6 of 6
Akeem Hunt, 5’10”, 190 lbs, Purdue
Akeem Hunt, the 22-year-old rookie out of Purdue, is a versatile, smallish back who, per Lance Zierlein of NFL.com, played a variety of roles for the Boilermakers, including lining up in the slot and returning kickoffs.
Hunt has good speed and quickness; in 2014, he led his team with 949 rushing yards and six touchdowns in 12 games.
However, his smallish size might be a concern, as Zierlein notes that Hunt is susceptible to arm tackles and that he’s not likely to pick up many yards after contact due to a lack of power.
Kenneth Harper, 5’10”, 233 lbs, Temple
Kenneth Harper, a 22-year-old rookie out of Temple, is a bigger back with more of a downhill running style.
Originally invited to the Giants' rookie minicamp last month, he impressed just enough to earn himself a futures contract and an invitation to summer training camp.
Harper, who ran for 307 yards on 87 carries (3.5 yards-per-carry average) as a senior at Temple, is a former team captain.
Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. Unless otherwise noted, contract information is from Over the Cap, and advanced analytics are from Pro Football Focus.
.jpg?w=480 "Browns Football")
