The rotation will continue to be Small, Wright and Sampson this year (in any order you want to put them in). Like the good reports on newbies (we haven’t even seen Keith yet and he adds a big back dimension we don’t have), but highly unlikely they beat out the experienced backs. I’m convinced we are going to have our best rushing attack in years and may lean on it slightly more to complement Milton and to help sustain drives. Milton’s arm is going to frighten teams against the deep ball and they are going to have to make a decision. Do we protect against the big play with 2 safeties playing deep or do they take the risk that he overthrows our WRs? I suspect they will do the former and ask us to march down the field which will open it up for our RBs.
I also hope we use the RBs more in the passing game this year too. Small in particular may benefit in this role. He is the best in pass protection of the 3 and I think has the best hands. I think Sampson has the most upside and looks like the most natural rusher of the 3, but all are good solid backs. Wright is fast and shows some surprising strength despite size. Given Small gets banged up a lot I bet Wright starts, Small is more of a situational (passing downs, short yardage) back and Sampson gets similar amount of carries as Wright. If we punish some inferior teams on the scoreboard like I think we will, there is going to a lot of opportunities for the RBs to put a lot on film.
