Last season, Josh Jacobs quickly established himself as the Raiders’ feature back. Despite never having that role at Alabama, he took to being a workhorse quite well, putting up 1,150 yards and seven touchdowns in 13 games while averaging 4.8 yards per carry. Even still, there was something missing – a complementary back.
Jacobs proved he can carry the load for the Raiders, but he shouldn’t have to do it alone. That’s a recipe for wearing him out and perhaps losing him to injury just as they did last season.
The team drafted Lynn Bowden Jr in the third round in the hopes that he could catch on fast enough to offer some relief for Jacobs, but in their eyes they lost faith the former college wide receiver and quarterback was going to successfully make the transition to running back at the NFL level. So, they traded him to the Dolphins.
With Bowden out, the competition would be between veterans Theo Riddick and Devontae Booker. And come the roster cutdown to 53 players, it was Booker who made the squad.
For Booker’s part, he had more time to learn the playbook, having been signed in May, while Riddick wasn’t signed until midway through camp. The thing is, though, neither guy had an offseason of practices, so being a quick study was key.
“I just think really just me picking up the playbook as quick as I can,” Booker said Wednesday over zoom conference call. “Coach Gruden’s playbook, it’s kind of hard to grasp for new players and stuff, and it’s a lot. But I came in here prepared from Day 1 and just was focused on getting that done and just translate it onto the field and help me play fast, and I guess that’s what they see.”
It’s possible that was the primary reason. In an offseason with no practices and no preseason, teams must rely on game film much more than they would otherwise. Hence the reason the decision came down to two veterans for the job.
“Difficult without the preseason games. They did not get any live action making the evaluation even more difficult,” Offensive Coordinator Greg Olson said of Riddick and Booker. “Theo Riddick came available and he came in and did some things that opened some eyes amongst the coaching staff. He brought in even more competition at that position, again that made it a little bit easier to make the trade of Lynn Bowden. The running back room is still very competitive. Obviously Josh is the lead dog in that room, but we like what the other guys bring to the table.”
Riddick was brought back to the practice squad, which this season has 16 players, six of whom are allowed to be vested veterans like Riddick. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t offer anything the team doesn’t feel they already have in Jalen Richard. The 5-11, 219-pound Booker, however, does.
“We liked his size, and we liked the way he hit the hole,” Offensive coordinator Greg Olson said of Booker. We thought he had a little bit more power. We felt like that when we evaluated him in the first place to bring him in here but we like the size and the power that he brings to the position, it gives you a bit of a one-two punch behind Josh and we’ve got obviously Jalen and Theo are more of the third down wide receiver type backs. But we liked the combination of the four of those guys.”
Booker’s body of work suggests a complementary role is where he belongs. He started six games as a rookie in 2016 and averaged just 3.5 yards per carry. Since then, his carries have gone down, and his yards per carry has gone up.
In the past two seasons, Booker has carried the ball just 36 times, but averaged 5.3 yards per carry. If they could get that from him on 3-4 carries a game, that could help out quite a bit. But make no mistake, Jacobs is still the straw that stirs the drink for the Raiders’ offense.
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