Portis the one player not spoken of

I think that the weight he started at last year would be good at the start of this year. It could help him take the punishment a starting RB has to take and as the season wears on he might drop a little weight and be at just the right spot going down the stretch.

I would actually like to see him shead some weight, I believe his speed and quickness are his best assets, he will never be a move the pile kind of back, I felt he lost his quickness with the weight last season. Some players have the body type to add weight and not lose their speed and quickness, I don't believe Portis has that body type, I think he should try to enhance his best qualities [speed and quickness] rather than sacrifice those attributes to be a power runner which he will never truly be.
I thought the main reason he put on the added weight because every year before last year he missed at least 1-2 games with injury, and there was no question that he was a bit slower last year than in previous years but as the year wore on he played alot more injured than I think anyone led on. It seemed like every game he would go down for a couple of plays in pain and then come back in, which was a great show of toughness on his part.

Gibbs has used all kinds of different backs... Joe Washington, Ricky Ervins and Kelvin Bryant come to mind as guys who weren't bruisers.

I liked Kelvin Bryant a lot. I thought injuries just caught up with him.

We have a top 5 RB, Top 5 Line, Top 5 TE, TOP 5 WR set, and that leaves the ? mark on the QB. I know we don't have a top 5 QB and that is the only reason brunell takes shit. He is a top 16 starter.

Bigskin, We had a top 5 RB, a top 5 line, a top 5 TE, but not a top 5 WR set last year, which caused us to not have a top 5 QB. With our new Receivers, I agree with you that we should have a top 5 WR set this year and maybe that will get us a top 5 QB. I looked at the stats from 2005 and if you take out Bulger, Leftwich and Brad Johnson, who all did not play enough to throw for over 2500 yards, Brunell was a top 10 QB in terms of QB Rating. He threw for over 3000 yards and had a 23-10 TD/INT mark. He is as good as we need to win a Superbowl.

Sorry, I guess I hijacked this thread.

I just watched a highlight reel of Portis on youtube.com and one thing stood out to me.
There was a clip from the first against against philly where Portis took about 3 steps sideways to avoid a pile going full speed. He was quick enough on his toes that he was able to cut to the right about 5 feet and completely avoid the pile, which allowed him to run it the extra 5 or 10 yards for a TD. The very next clip was from the Arizona game, Portis was able to gain about 7+ yards while at least half the defense tried to bring him down.
I think where he was last season, weight wise, was perfect because he was still quick with his cuts and his open field speed, but with the added size he's really able to move the pile if he keeps his legs going.

There are a few smaller backs in the league that run between the tackles just fine. Tiki, Dunn, etc.

Portis is a guy who likes to bang inside, even when he was a bit lighter in Denver he was never one to shy away from contact.

I don't think we're going to ever see the Portis from Denver again. He's transformed himself into a stronger and better all around back in my opinion. Hard to argue with last year's results too. 1516 yards, 11 touchdowns, 30 catches.

Well those numbers don't bare that out, his numbers are down since he left Denver.

It's true both those players run hard for thier size, but they are not bulky backs, and Dunn runs in the same system Portis did in Denver, both use thier speed and quickness for success, not power, if you slowed either one down thier effectivness would greatly diminish.