The Jets will enter the 2020 season with one of the most experienced backfields in franchise history. Between Le’Veon Bell and the newly-signed Frank Gore, New York will have more than 20 combined years of NFL experience running the football.
However, that experience didn’t help either last season. Bell and Gore were, separately, among the least successful rushers in football.
Bell finished his first season in New York with an abysmal 42.4 percent success rate, per NFL Next Gen Stats, meaning his rushing attempts resulted in a positive play less than half the time. That ranked 28th out of 29 running backs with a minimum of 150 rushing attempts. Gore, meanwhile, finished only slightly better than Bell despite playing less than half as many snaps. Gore ended his season in Buffalo with a 44 percent success rate, which ranked 27th.
The numbers look even worse when you dive deeper into the more metrics.
Gore and Bell ranked 43rd and 44th, respectively, in Defensive-adjusted Yards Above Replacement out of 45 rushers with a minimum of 100 carries, per Football Outsiders. In Defense-adjusted Value Over Average, Gore and Bell finished 42nd and 44th out of 45, respectively.
This isn’t to say Bell and Gore are bad running backs. Rather, they were clearly used incorrectly and/or played behind suspect offensive lines. This was obviously the case with Bell, as the Jets finished 31st in Football Outsiders’ Adjusted Line Yards, which takes rushing attempts and assigns responsibility to the offensive line. The Jets also finished with a 21 percent stuff rate – the percentage of runs stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage – which ranked 25th in the league.
As for Gore, a lot of it has to do with situation and age. Gore turned 36 in 2019 and saw his third-fewest single-season rush attempts in his 16-year career year. He also played in the fewest snaps of his career and ran mostly on 1st and10 plays. The Bills offensive line ranked middle-of-the-pack in 2019, but there’s no question Gore looked like he lost a bit of his power as the season progressed.
Bell’s and Gore’s 2019 seasons aren’t necessarily an indication of their 2020 potential, though. The most successful rushers this past season played behind the best offensive lines, and Joe Douglas did as much as he could to upgrade the Jets’ line by signing Connor McGovern George Fant, Greg Van Roten and Alex Lewis and drafting Mekhi Becton in the first round. Those five should all play roles on the offensive line this season, and all are better than their 2019 counterparts.
The Jets will also be healthier and denser at pass-catcher this season with a healthy Chris Herndon and by bringing in receivers Breshad Perriman and Denzel Mims. Another season with Gase should also help Sam Darnold better command the offense and understand how to alter his protection. All of these improvements help running backs.
There’s no telling how Gase will use the duo of Bell and Gore this season – with a sprinkling of fourth-round rookie La’Mical Perine, too – but the running backs figure to play key roles in the Jets offense early on in the season. Gase said he expects Bell and Gore to “do some damage together,” but gave no indication as to how. Bell is a better pass-catching rusher who thrives on finesse, while Gore is a more powerful runner great in short-yardage rushing situations. Gore ran well the last time he played for Gase when both were in Miami in 2018, but Gore is two years older now with a lot more tread on his tires.
Either way, both Bell and Gore will need to be better than they were in 2019 if the Jets are to compete this season. The Jets have done a lot to ensure the potential for that future this upcoming season, but it’s on Bell and Gore to play up to that level.