How is Cadillac Williams much different than Kevin Jones of the Lions?

[Blade]

It's offseason and things are pretty slow, so thought I'd post something that came up in conversation. Admittedly, I'm not the biggest Caddy fan...and I've often compared him to Kevin Jones in Detroit. (flashes of greatness but always playing nicked up). Didn't know how eerie the comparison was until I pulled out the stats tonight. Keep in mind a few things:

Williams was the 5th overall pick in '05, was a College All-American at Auburn in '04 with 1165 yds rushing and 13 td's (4.9/crry)
Jones was the 30th overall pick in '04 was a College All-American at Vtech in '03 with 1647 yds rushing and 21 Td's (5.9/crry)



Kevin Jones (5'11" 221)

                 +--------------------------+-------------------------+
                 |          Rushing         |        Receiving        |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
| Year  TM |   G |   Att  Yards    Y/A   TD |   Rec  Yards   Y/R   TD |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
| 2004 det |  15 |   241   1133    4.7    5 |    28    180   6.4    1 |
| 2005 det |  13 |   186    664    3.6    5 |    20    109   5.5    0 |
| 2006 det |  12 |   181    689    3.8    6 |    61    520   8.5    2 |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
|  TOTAL   |  40 |   608   2486    4.1   16 |   109    809   7.4    3 |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+



Carnell Williams (5'11" 204)

                 +--------------------------+-------------------------+
                 |          Rushing         |        Receiving        |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
| Year  TM |   G |   Att  Yards    Y/A   TD |   Rec  Yards   Y/R   TD |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
| 2005 tam |  14 |   290   1178    4.1    6 |    20     81   4.0    0 |
| 2006 tam |  14 |   225    798    3.5    1 |    30    196   6.5    0 |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
|  TOTAL   |  28 |   515   1976    3.8    7 |    50    277   5.5    0 |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+

Alot of our faith in Caddy lies in what we saw his first year. But looking at the above, Jones' rookie campaign was actually more productive than ROY Carnell Williams. Putting aside the pewter colored glasses for a moment...is this a fair comparison? We can all only hope that Carnell's third year is much better than KJones...but someone give me the reason this is a realistic expectation. Our O-lines have been comparable....and our passing games comparable over these past few seasons. (If anything last year the Lions were actually more successful throwing the ball).  Anyone care to chime in?

Putting aside the pewter colored glasses for a moment...is this a fair comparison?

Yes.

I'm no fan of Carnell... he's average at best and one-dimensional. We passed on our stud in 04.

If you're speaking about Stephen Jackson in 2004 Hate - I fully agree; and that was a fair and good comparison to Kevin Jones Blade because they are very similar.

If you're speaking about Stephen Jackson in 2004 Hate - I fully agree;

It pains me to type his name. Thankfully, i have him on my fantasy team so i'm still able to root for him.

[JavaBuc]

This would be a good question for the Pewter Report staff to ask Marinelli.    If anyone would be able to compare the 2, it would be him.

[dalbuc]

Jones is a much more of a straight line runner. Caddy is a more natural football running back than Jones is. Jones is a very non-instinctive, front side runner. Caddy seems to have the ability to find holes even if they are not in front of his face. I have more hope for Caddy returning to form than I do Jones.

[Itchalot]

This would be a good question for the Pewter Report staff to ask Marinelli. If anyone would be able to compare the 2, it would be him.

Whats Marinelli going to say?  "Oh yeah Caddy is way better than Jones.  Jones sucks.  Oh crap I hope nobody in Detroit reads this!"

[alldaway]

Comparing a player 2 years in the league versus 3 years in the league is never a fair comparison (not to mention totally different offenses).

That is like saying company A made this much money in 2 years versus company B that made this much money in 3 years.  Only way you can compare them fairly is if you project both companies future monies to year 6.

But comparing 3 versus 2 will skew the results. So no that is not objective, nor a fair assesment.

[Rusty]

Until the offensive line is solid in run blocking and pass protection, it's really unproductive to compare RBs, WRs and QBs. I personally am tired of the status of the oline and now the dline. What is the point of all of these impact players when we can't even get out of the gate. it's really a flawed analysis. Hopefully this year(yawn) the line will start to gel.

[LtFox]

Caddy, in my opinion, is an average NFL back. Nothing special and probably not worthy of the 5th selection. Personally, I think that we never should have parted ways with Thomas Jones. I would rather have signed a known commodity (Jones) and drafted a different area of need. I have nothing against Caddy; I just don't think he is anything special.

[CadillacPower24_2006]

Jones is a much more of a straight line runner. Caddy is a more natural football running back than Jones is. Jones is a very non-instinctive, front side runner. Caddy seems to have the ability to find holes even if they are not in front of his face. I have more hope for Caddy returning to form than I do Jones.

decent assesment, but the OL has to at least make some type of hole for cady to go anywhere, last yr is a good indication of that, while hopefully Caddy does return to his rookie form i am starting to lose something for the guy

the onlt thing different is their weight and recieving yards really

[bradentonian]

Caddy is more of a natural runner, but Jones is a more complete back; better in pass-blocking and as a receiver.

Caddy is more of a natural runner, but Jones is a more complete back; better in pass-blocking and as a receiver.

yeah that is true

[Badabingnrt]

oh lord..i hope we arent giving up on Cadillac now too.  Let's see he won Rookie of the Year and had a sub par sophmore slump.  Those that have given up on Clayton are premature too.

Give our young guys a chance...