Second and Third Year Player Development: Week Sixteen

In this weekly column, I dissect a few young players who haven’t made a consistent impact to date. Some of these players may be available on your waiver wire, while others may be available via a cheap or moderate trade. Acquiring or not acquiring one of these players could decide how well your dynasty or keeper team does for the next few years. This week I will be taking a longer look at Jacksonville Jaguars running back Jordan Todman and Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jarrett Boykin. I will focus on their most recent matchups to draw the majority of my insight.

Jordan Todman, RB JAX

The third year running back from UConn has made a few trips around the NFL in his short career.  He was a sixth round pick by the San Diego Chargers in 2011, spent some time on the Chargers practice squad, but ended up getting picked up by the Minnesota Vikings later that season due to injuries to the Vikings running back stable. Todman then found his way to Jacksonville in 2012 where he was so impressive that he got three carries for eight yards (joke).  However, the Jacksonville coaching staff saw something in him as they kept him on their roster.  When Maurice Jones-Drew went down, the young back stepped up against the Bills last week accounting for 153 yards on 29 touches.  He looked nimble and ran tough against a mediocre defense, but should dynasty owners be optimistic?

It is good to look into the past, before we can understand the future.  When Todman played for Connecticut, the young back demonstrated good balance dealing with defenders as he could avoid initial contact at the line of scrimmage.  He had the speed and burst to find a crease in the line of scrimmage for positive yardage.  There are times when he gets thru the line too quickly and then slows himself down too much to deal with the defense, instead of relying on his athletic ability.  Todman has decent power and downfield vision, but he is not an accomplished blocker and he is not a natural receiver.

He only caught four of his eight targets against Buffalo; however he pass blocked well enough to stay on the field for all three downs as the starter. With MJD slowing down, the Jaguars might be looking to pair these two backs together with Todman seeing an increased workload if they are both resigned for the 2014 season.

In the game against the Titans, it looked like it would be a 50/50 timeshare between the two backs.  That did not last long.  Drew started the game as the primary short yardage and third down back, while Todman seemed to be the 20 yard to 20 yard back on first and second downs.  The third year player stumbled in that role as he only ran the ball six times for six yards.  Speaking of stumbling, he lost his footing on a few occasions without being touched.  I was quite surprised to see him running east and west when the week before Todman was running north and south.

Jacksonville tried to split him out and have him run a few wheel routes, but that only resulted in a single catch for five yards. It is hard to describe his catching ability, but he fought the ball into his hands. I will say Todman does a good job in pass protection as he steps up and takes on blockers, which is something you can’t say about MJD.  It appears Todman’s game against the Bills may have just been a mirage and not like the decent casino in Vegas, either.

Jarrett Boykin, WR GB

Due to the injury to Randall Cobb in Week Six, the second year receiver out of Virginia Tech has made the most of his opportunities.  He posted five games with 89 receiving yards or more with his increased playing time.  Boykin is a good blend of the two Green Bay starters, Jordy Nelson and James Jones, as he is a deep threat, but is quite effective underneath as well.  While the young receiver is not a dominant physical force, he reads defenses well and finds open spaces in the zone.

He adjusted well to the many changes at quarterback that Green Bay has suffered through. Boykin has the speed, quickness and hands to continue to receive targets in the Packers offense even when Cobb is fully healthy.  It might be Jones that sees his playing time diminished due to Boykin’s rise.  This causes his long-term value to be difficult to decide at this point.

He lined up mostly in the slot, but spent some time lined out wide.  He is good at cracking blocking as he caught some Steelers sleeping during the first quarter.  Boykin catches the ball in stride and is willing to put his body on the line to make the difficult catch.  The wide out reaches full extension getting to the ball at its highest point. Once he has the ball in his hands, Boykin can make the first defender miss with his quick feet and loose hips.  He always knows where he is on the field and will give second effort trying to get the first down or find his way to cross the stripe.

Boykin does a good job of reading zone coverage and finds the soft spot to exploit. He had a few concentration issues as he heard footsteps on a few plays and got the ball knocked out of his hands by defensive backs on three occasions, including the last play of the game in the end zone. He has made the most of the changes at quarterback gaining Matt Flynn’s trust in the red zone.

On his best play of the day, Boykin leapt above a corner back to make a spectacular back shoulder catch for a touchdown. With the Packers tight end position unsettled, there might be more room for more four wide receiver sets in their plans.  Boykin has the talent to be a top two starter on most NFL teams, and he gets to play with an all-pro quarterback, Aaron Rodgers (when healthy).  I like that upside enough to invest in him if his current owner thinks he will fade too much when Cobb comes back. Buy him now if you can.

For follow-up questions or information, contact me on twitter @AndrewMiley