Who is Silas Redd?

Jaron Foster

redd

After featuring receivers each of the last three weeks, the focus shifts to a running back this week. Silas Redd was signed by Washington immediately following the NFL Draft and is currently third on the team’s running back depth chart. While not a household name in his young NFL career, Redd may be most recognized as a name from a 2011 college football controversy.

Redd began his collegiate career at Penn State in 2010. As a backup in his freshman season, he rushed for 437 yards on 5.7 yards per carry and two touchdowns to go along with four receptions for 27 yards while he also contributed as a kick returner. He became the lead back as a sophomore in 2011 and ran with the opportunity, rushing for 1,241 yards (third in the Big Ten) and seven touchdowns in addition to nine receptions for 40 yards. Touching the ball more than 250 times, Redd totaled more than 100 yards on the ground in six of his twelve games (including five consecutive) despite being slowed by a collarbone injury late in the year and earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors.

While Penn State thought they had Redd for at least one more season, sanctions levied against the football program as a result of the Sandusky scandal prompted him to transfer to the University of Southern California (USC) despite growing up a fan of the Nittany Lions. Given the circumstances, the NCAA waived the usual requirement of sitting out a year upon transferring programs.

At USC, Redd had a difficult time staying healthy and only carried the ball 248 times in two years. He totaled 1,281 yards and ten touchdowns on the ground with 19 receptions for 158 yards and two touchdowns through the air in his two years on the west coast.

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At the NFL combine, the 5’10”, 212 pound running back ranked ninth with a 37-inch vertical jump and tenth with a 10’2” broad jump. He did not rank among the top 15 at the position in any other category, including the 40-yard dash where he posted a 4.70. Though many already had Redd rated as a priority free agent as opposed to projecting a draft round, primarily due to the lackluster end to his career at USC, his poor combine performance all but solidified this fate.

Signing as a free agent put a chip on Redd’s shoulder, as it does with most players who feel they deserved to be selected. Unlike most undrafted rookies, however, he was able to turn his uphill battle into a roster spot with a fantastic preseason. Redd led the Redskins with 34 carries and 157 rushing yards to go with a touchdown, beating out Evan Royster, 2013 fifth-round pick Chris Thompson and a more highly-touted rookie in Lache Seastrunk.

Redd has drawn some comparisons to Maurice Jones-Drew, though is not quite as compact as he is three inches taller than the current Raider, as well as Ronnie Hillman. He is aggressive out of the backfield, driving for yardage after the contact, while he simultaneously displays deceptive quickness for a player of his stature and has good burst off the line. Though he wasn’t utilized much as a receiver out of the backfield in either college offense, Redd’s hands and pass-protection abilities are promising to keep him on the field in third-down situations. He is considered a good teammate with a tenacious work ethic.

As you can infer from his combine results, Redd is far down on the list of running backs if you are looking solely at metrics. While he can cut quickly to evade defenders, his speed leaves much to be desired. Perhaps his two biggest weaknesses are his propensity for fumbling (no doubt he was off the Patriots’ draft board after fumbling five times in his junior season) and inability to stay on the field due to injury, missing time because of his collarbone, knee and ankle among other ailments.

Now healthy, Redd took advantage of his lone opportunity to date in the 2014 season, rushing for 41 yards and a touchdown on eight carries in garbage time against the Jaguars in week two. While he was handed the ball only after Roy Helu was unavailable due to injury, head coach Jay Gruden praised him as a “complete” back with skills as a runner, blocker and receiver. Though Redd has subsequently gone several weeks without a carry, the coaching staff has liked what they have seen and appear ready to insert the rookie should lead back Alfred Morris get hurt.

In the short-term, Redd is contributing on special teams and is playing sparingly as the clear third option on the depth chart. Given his between-the-tackles power running style, he’s a more natural backup to the similarly-built Morris to play on non-passing downs. As a result, though his only action has been with Helu hurt, it is unlikely he will get significant snaps with Morris in the picture.

As a seventh-round pick in 2012, the lead back is signed to a very team-friendly contract through 2015. After rushing for over 1,600 yards and 13 touchdowns as a rookie, Morris regressed to 1,275 yards and seven touchdowns last season. This year, despite continuing to get a heavy workload, he is only averaging 3.8 yards per carry and is on pace for just 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns.

While these are still respectable numbers, Washington could look to get Redd more involved later in the season and in 2015 to see what he can do. With a new coaching staff that made Redd a priority free agent and is talking him up after a strong preseason, he’s worth a stash in deeper leagues for Morris owners.

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jaron foster
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