Beanie Wells the Feature Back over Ryan Williams for the Arizona Cardinals?

Last week, Arizona Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt made it clear that Beanie Wells is the first-string running back. Some find that a little hard to believe considering the Cardinals drafted Ryan Williams with their second-round pick in the 2011 NFL draft.

I find it hard to believe as well.

However, do I think Wells will fail and succumb the starting role to Williams? Not exactly.

Wells is quite a talent…when healthy. To start out his rookie campaign in 2009, he got injured during training camp but recovered to have a solid season after rushing for 793 yards, averaging 4.5 yards per carry.

Last year, he injured his knee in the final preseason game, leading to arthroscopic knee surgery and didn’t return until Week 4.

Upon his return, he was never the same.

Wells said of his knee injury:

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“It was awful last year. I was really frustrated and had a lot going on. It was tough to fully get my mind on the football season last year because of what happened. I don’t think mentally I was 100 percent into it because that takes so much out of you.”

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Now that Wells has the starting role clearly to himself after the Cardinals traded Tim Hightower, he thinks he will perform better. For Wells' sake, I hope he is right.

Williams is a very talented back that could easily be a featured back on the team. Wells will always get the red-zone touches, but Williams is a very agile back who can hit holes hard and gain yards after contact. He really is a complete back that I’m sure the Cardinals envision as the future of their ground game.

There is no doubt that Wells is a talent, but the tenacity isn’t always there. Wells gets brought down too easily upon contact and doesn’t pick up the blitz very well, which doesn’t bode well for new QB Kevin Kolb.

I wouldn’t say Wells should be labeled injury prone quite yet, but all it is going to take is one injury for Williams to be able to step in and run away with the starting role. After all, he’s a great pass-catcher as well.

This is a make-or-break year for Beanie Wells and I believe it will be a break. He’ll perform enough to be a low-end RB2 or high-end RB3 initially, but once Williams gets rolling, I have to believe that his value will slowly erode.

I advise steering clear of him, but if he is still on the board in the eighth round, he might be worth a shot if you’ve been having a good day.

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