DeAndre Washington bringing cautious optimism to Raiders
It’s early in Oakland Raiders training camp but there are already some names that are standing out. One of those has been fifth round running back DeAndre Washington. Currently the favorite to be Latavius Murray’s backup this season, the 5’8 back is playing bigger than his size early on.
In the first few days of camp, Washington has had a few big plays where he showed off not only his speed but also his ability to break ankles. That’s exciting news because the Raiders are in desperate need of more and better depth at running back. As I’ve pointed out probably too many times this offseason, Derek Carr was the second leading rusher in yards and attempts and that is simply not acceptable.
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So hearing that Washington is making a good impression early is positive, but the optimism needs to be tampered just a bit. Of all the positions on an NFL roster, running back is probably the one you can learn the least about when you aren’t playing full contact football. Washington has done some nice things while in pads which is good and shows more than when the players are in just shorts and t-shirts but it’s still not the same.
Running backs probably take the most physical punishment on offense after the offensive linemen. They take a lot of hits both while running the ball and as additional blockers. Knowing how a running back can react to, recover from and bounce off of hard, game speed contact is crucial to knowing how he will perform in the future.
So, it’s great to see Washington is doing good things because the one thing you can tell about running backs in low to no contact drills is if they simply can’t cut it. Whether if it’s because they are slow, can’t comprehend the playbook or aren’t shifty enough, those kinds of deficits can show up this time of year. That’s the positive, but it’s yet to be seen if Washington will be much of an upgrade to the run game once week one rolls around.
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