FanPost

Just how good is Legarrette Blount?

Legarrette Blount was one of the biggest surprises in 2010 for the Buccaneers. After being cut by the Titans before the regular season and signed to the Bucs, he never looked back.

Blount put up over 1007 yards with 201 rushes and appeared in 13 games. But was his success due to the offensive line and supporting cast, or is he the real deal?

Pro Football Focus released its Elusive Rating recently (full article and explanation of elusive rating here), and there were some surprising results. Legarrette Blount was one of the most elusive runners in the NFL. If you only factor in runs, as he was largely ineffective as a receiver, he was the most elusive runner in the NFL this year.

He had nearly 75% of his yards after contact, about 750 yards. He had the 4thmost missed tackles including receptions (without passes factored in, he had the most missed tackles in the NFL as a RB) ahead of guys such as Chris Johnson, Arian Foster, and Peyton Hillis.

Legarrete Blount LED the NFL in average tackles missed per touch. He broke a tackle roughly 1 in every 4 runs, which was the best by far. The back in 2nd, Fred Jackson, averaged about 1 broken tackle per 5 runs. Overall, Legarrette Blount had an 89.8 elusive rating, well ahead of Fred Jackson, who had had a 58.5 elusive rating. Blount was the most elusive RB this year by a large margin.

Going into 2011, the Bucs have concerns. They have offensive and defensive line troubles (hopefully fixed by the draft and FA); Aquib Talib might not be a Buc, and they have linebacker issues. One of their problems is not Legarrete Blount. He is an extremely elusive RB, and if he continues on this path, he is headed for superstardom.

He is the real deal.

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