Drafting Anthony McFarland, Jr., who is more a change-of-pace back at No. 124, instead of workhorse J.K. Dobbins at No. 102, could mean the Steelers are planning for a running-back-by-committee approach in 2020.
Dating back to former head coach Bill Cowher, the Steelers have always been a team to ride a feature back — be it Jerome Bettis, Willie Parker, Le’Veon Bell or James Conner. Even as other teams slowly transitioned to rotating backs in recent years, head coach Mike Tomlin did not budge.
Last season, we saw a mix of Benny Snell and Jaylen Samuels mainly out of necessity due to Conner being sidelined with injuries. The experiment failed miserably, and the Steelers landed in the bottom five in rushing. It was a domino effect after quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger, and Mason Rudolph went down — the passing game took a hit, the offensive line struggled, and the run game was unsuccessful.
Utilizing multiple backs would be a smart move with a healthy Roethlisberger and an improved offensive line. Limiting Conner’s touches would actually get the most out of him. There’s still plenty of work ahead to determine how best to shuffle Conner, Snell, Samuels, and McFarland.
The best backfields feature different skill sets to exploit mismatches, and the Steelers stable seems prepared to do just that. Conner and Snell run with power and intensity, barreling into defenders in an attempt to gain extra yards. Samuels shows a more patient style, reading the blocks of his offensive line to create holes, and McFarland relies on his vision, explosiveness, and breakaway speed.
RB coach Eddie Faulkner seems to allude to McFarland being more of a complementary back and not expected to carry the load.
“[McFarland] is really explosive,” said Faulkner. “He sees a crease, he has the ability to hit the crease. He gets from zero to 60 really quick. Quickness, speed and has shown the ability to hit the long ball.”
“That is a little bit of a change from what we have. We have those people who are capable of doing it, but when you compare him to the likes of [James] Conner and Benny [Snell], he is a little different as a runner which I think makes us more valuable as a group.”
Faulkner seems to especially value that McFarland comes to the Steelers with little tread on the tires.
“That is definitely a positive,” Faulkner said. “When you are going through the process and speaking about each individual running back, you are speaking about their pros and cons. That was a pro in his regard. I think it doesn’t hurt him. I think he could be the beneficiary of it.”
Like many of the Steelers 2020 draft class, McFarland will need development. He declared for the NFL as a sophomore, with just 23 games under his belt.
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