Buffalo Bills Running Back C.J. Spiller: No Line, That's Fine

And the 2010 Offensive Rookie of the Year goes to.........

It’s a topic many analysts and fans are fiercely debating right now. It's always one of those preseason questions that people show a lot of interest in. Names like Ryan Matthews and Dez Bryant pop up in the conversation a lot this year. But there’s one name that should be right at the top of the list–C.J. Spiller.

There’s reasons to believe Spiller won’t have much success this season considering Buffalo’s backfield is a crowded one with veterans Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch looking for carries. The Bills also enlist one of the worst offensive lines in the league to handle run blocking duties.

Those factors are enough to shed doubt on even the most skilled of players, but sometimes, there are just rare rookies who can persevere through it all.

C.J. Spiller is one of those players.

Spiller is that “other world” type of talent. That type of pure speed and grace that you see once every 10 years or so.

C.J. Spiller is the best running back prospect we’ve seen this millennium.

Maybe because he played off at Clemson, which is a certainly a big school but it doesn’t necessarily have the cache of some of the more prestigious names of the sport. He was accomplishing so much, but Clemson’s continued failure in the biggest spot of the season–the ACC Championship Game–never allowed Spiller the chance to show off his talents on a BCS Bowl stage.

In this era when we over-analyze every top quarterback prospect ad nauseum, maybe we should have spent a little more time this offseason watching a tape of C.J. Spiller.

Instead of watching Tim Tebow’s terrible throwing motion 10 times a day in super slow motion, we should have been watching C.J. We should have been giving him his due.

Not even an invite to the Heisman ceremonies?

For a kid who totaled more than 4,500 yards in his four-year college career.

Shame on us.

But now I have feeling Mr. Spiller has a bit of a chip on his shoulder.

He may have one of the worst lines in the sport, but he also has something else that’s a bit dangerous –something to prove.

“O.K. Seattle, O.K. Cleveland, you guys wanted to pass on me, now it’s time to show you I was worth it.”

If that’s Spiller’s type of attitude and motivation for the season, then he could really do some special things.