@bbedward said:

Our rookies are both around 4.5, plenty fast for a back IMO.

We do have WRs with breakaway speed which I think is more important.

West is low 4.5's. Crow is closer to 4.6.

Benji is our only unreal speed guy at WR... in the 4.3's IIRC.(yup... 4.31 at combine)

Gordon is probably a close-ish 2nd in the 4.4's. (yup... 4.43, but has a recorded low of 4.32)

Turns out Gabe is a 4.40 guy.

Hawk: also 4.38

Moore: 4.49

Faster on the whole than I knew...

Then there's Austin... doubtful he can still run the 4.47 he did coming out of Monmouth...

@tour2ma said:

Probably not... at least not on that basis. Left on good terms as I recall, so not much revenge factor there.

Probably will just come down to who practices best this week.

Most slow guys don't...

The context of the whole 40-time thing was our lack of a home run hitter... a back with breakaway speed.

We do have WRs with breakaway speed which I think is more important.

@mudfly said:

This week is Texas...... this might be a good week to start Tate.....let him take a shot at his old team?

Probably not... at least not on that basis. Left on good terms as I recall, so not much revenge factor there.

Probably will just come down to who practices best this week.

@darkside5 said:

I really don't put much stock in 40 times.

Most slow guys don't...

The context of the whole 40-time thing was our lack of a home run hitter... a back with breakaway speed.

@slowburn said:

... if you ain't excited about the Browns near feature you need to hang out with the lacrosse homo fans

Jim Brown is considered by many to be the greatest Lacrosse player ever...

thought I'd throw Gip a bone...

if you ain't excited about the Browns near feature you need to hang out with the lacrosse homo fans

I can be anything we want it to be.

Let's put it this way, none of the three: Tate, West, Crowell, are challenging JB for best Browns RB....at this point.

But, I think it is possible that West could work his way into Ernest Byner territory.

@calfoxwc said:

I think would have come as close to JB as anyone, had he not rejected the Buccaneers to play baseball and not gotten hurt. He was on the order of OJ Simpson.

@tiamat63 said:

I believe you won't find the 40 times of AP, Foster, Forte, Lynch, Martin, Lacy, Bell, Morris & Gore to be overly impressive either.

Not so much for debate points, but out of curiosity I'm going to dig up times for those you mention...but before I do have to say I know a couple are not "burners", but neither are they take it to the house guys, e.g., Foster and Lacy.

As a check I'll look at two longest, season leading runs for each. There may be longer 2nd runs in same season as the longest, but that's more digging than I care to do.

Combine 40 Time:

AP 4.40 -Foster 4.69 -Forte 4.44 -Lynch 4.46 -Martin 4.46 -Lacy 4.64 -Bell 4.56 -Morris 4.63 -Gore 4.55

2 Longest, Season-leading, TD runs as Pro:

AP 82/80 Foster 74/46 Forte 68/61 Lynch 77/56 Martin 70/28 Lacy 60/29 Bell 81/43 Morris 45/39 Gore 80/72

Besides being shocked that Bell is a mid-4.5's guy, only Gore's time vs. run length strikes me as being totally out of line, but the number of games he and AP have played eclipse the others on the list.

in the same category, if his career had been a longer one, and he had never been

badly injured....

The bulk of top 15 running backs in the NFL have 40 times ranging from 4.45-4.6. Notable speed merchants being Jamaal Charles, Reggie Bush, and Shady.

"Home run threat" Running backs (in terms of speed) are an extreme rarity. Most NFL teams want a back that can punish between the tackles, be reliable out of the backfield and

either run over or by LB's. That certainly isn't Charles, Bush or Shady.

@tiamat63 said:

I disagree. I think Crow and Tate have enough open field speed to take it the distance after they've cleared contact. Do I consider them "burners"? No.

Then again, most of the top backs in the NFL don't have elite track speed either.

Were we in court I'd object due to "facts not in evidence".

West has our longest run at 29 followed by Tate at 25 and Crow at 24.

But I'll stipulate that none have yet been in the clear... and the past is no guarantee of future performance

Out of Auburn Tate was "a burner" running in the low 4.3's... but the NFL takes a toll.

West is a low 4.5er at best... Crow an upper 4.5er.

I knew all my hours of "Law & Order" viewing would pay off someday...

Just don't see a game breaker in the bunch, but I'd be happy to be wrong...

Browns physically pummeled the homers last night

@tour2ma said:

I disagree. I think Crow and Tate have enough open field speed to take it the distance after they've cleared contact. Do I consider them "burners"? No.

Then again, most of the top backs in the NFL don't have elite track speed either.

@manzier said:

And I think we need 3 backs and will probably keep them another year. Gotta have 2 ready each game and the injury to Tate shows how quick they can go down. BUT, if Winston is as good as some think, then maybe one becomes expendable and can be trade bait at draft time. The only one I see as being valuable(trade wise) is West, who I think could get a 2nd rounder. Dont think Tate(and his 1 yr contract) or Crowell would pull anything close to that though.

Personally, West looks like the best one right now. Would hate to see him go.

Agree completely... would only add to your analytical mix 2015 prospects TBD...

Lotta good tape on our two rooks increases the chance of some team out there sees a member of our "committee" as a potential, feature back for them. It could get interesting.

@tour2ma said:

And I think we need 3 backs and will probably keep them another year. Gotta have 2 ready each game and the injury to Tate shows how quick they can go down. BUT, if Winston is as good as some think, then maybe one becomes expendable and can be trade bait at draft time. The only one I see as being valuable(trade wise) is West, who I think could get a 2nd rounder. Dont think Tate(and his 1 yr contract) or Crowell would pull anything close to that though.

Personally, West looks like the best one right now. Would hate to see him go.

@manzier said:

They are all under contract next year(Tate signed for 2 yrs).

Yup... thru 2015... and Crow thru 2016 and West thru 2017.

Only issue I see is we do not have a "home run" threat on our roster. Plenty of quicks, but no burner that looks capable of taking it to the house.

Similarly none appear to be true, "beast mode" types... with Crow coming the closest.

All are kinda the same with differences in their make-up, but the differences are not so great that you could not throw a blanket over them.

@clevfan4life said:

Crowell is a UDFA, West a 3rd round pick....both will be under contract. The only "difficulty" could be Ben Tate because...perhaps....he will be a FA again. I am not sure of his contract status.....1 year deal only?

I don't see it being a big issue. If Tate is not here, then the Browns go with West/Crowell. If he is here, there is no issue.

@clevfan4life said:

Our RB's are gonna be an issue next year. I don't see us able to keep all 3...

Why not?