NFL Fantasy Live & Matt Waldman: Why Leonard Fournette Is Most Like Stephen Davis

[Saca312]

First off, congratulations to @WOW!! for figuring out the comparison.

Looks like another draftnik that I love agrees.

In this particular NFL Fantasy Live, they go over Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio; resource filled with solid analysis of most draftable players in this year's draft for WRs, TEs, QBs, and RBs. 

(For those of you who are obsessed with anything draft-related, it's a nice little publication concerning solid analysis on any player you could possibly conceive. On April 1st, Matt Waldman released his 2017 publication of the Rookie Scouting Porfolio. While the price will likely scare you away, all I can say is if you're into knowing the details of nearly every draftable player worth of note, this publication has a lot of goodies on the strengths, weaknesses, and fit of every pros.

Here's some more info related to this:

https://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2017/03/31/the-2017-rookie-scouting-portfolio-is-now-available-for-download/?utm_content=bufferabd75&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)

Anyways, that's beside the point.

Matt Waldman believes the best NFL comparison for Fournette would be Stephen Davis himself. I'm sure many of you remember him and his style, and the good ol' Delhomme days. Waldman believes Fournette's style is best compared to Davis'. They go over why and stuff within the podcast below. I recommend you listen in, it's some pretty good stuff.

http://www.nfl.com/podcasts?id=b3968120c8cf0898aa8dfb0761eb3e42

https://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2017/03/29/rsp-on-nfl-fantasy-live-podcast/

Quote

Why Leonard Fournette reminds me of Stephen Davis.

So, thoughts?

[uscgamecocks]

Not one I had thought of before, but that's a really good comp.  LF has more speed than Davis but very similar running styles and strengths/weaknesses.

The best thing about that comp is it can be used as support by both those for or against drafting Fournette at 8.

[The Lobo]

If he's our guy and does what Davis did for us, I'm all in.

[csx]

18 minutes ago, The Lobo said:

If he's our guys and does what Davis did for us, I'm all in.

I hope he has more than one good season for us if we draft him.

[The Lobo]

Just now, csx said:

I hope he has more than one good season for us if we draft him.

Davis was good for us, you know what I meant.

[csx]

14 minutes ago, The Lobo said:

Davis was good for us, you know what I meant.

Yes. I reread that and I didn't intend it to sound that smart ass. But in his 11 year career he had 4 good seasons and one decent year.

 

If he can be a tough inside runner with a knack for getting first downs and touchdowns I'd be happy. That was Davis strength.

[The Lobo]

7 hours ago, csx said:

Yes. I reread that and I didn't intend it to sound that smart ass. But in his 11 year career he had 4 good seasons and one decent year.

 

If he can be a tough inside runner with a knack for getting first downs and touchdowns I'd be happy. That was Davis strength.

Yeah when he came here it was later in his career but he was great for us. Getting a young Stephen Davis would be huge. Although, I don't like the idea of trading up for him.

[d-dave]

That's a very interesting comparison.  Though, just looking at youtube highlight, Fournette is more of a punishing runner. Davis had great balance and vision which allowed him to use his strength to defeat poor tackles.

Fournette is a freight train that runs with power.  He's looking to run dudes over.  He also has a nasty stiff arm.

While I'm not sure I think trading up to 2 is the best idea in this deep of a draft, I wouldn't complain at all if Fournette did land in our lap.  He could really help to change our offense, help balance Stewart before he takes over the reins himself.

[panthers55]

Like I said in the thread about this before, Davis was good when he could get north and south but wasn't good going laterally and had little shake and bake. Behind our roided line in 2003 he was a beast for that one year for us. Do I think the 2017 line is going to be like that other line? No way. Would Davis have done great this year behind this line. I have my doubts. So do I think Fournette is worth trading up to 2 to take? I have my doubts. I would rather stay at 8 and keep the draft picks.

[KSpan]

4 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

Like I said in the thread about this before, Davis was good when he could get north and south but wasn't good going laterally and had little shake and bake. Behind our roided line in 2003 he was a beast for that one year for us. Do I think the 2017 line is going to be like that other line? No way. Would Davis have done great this year behind this line. I have my doubts. So do I think Fournette is worth trading up to 2 to take? I have my doubts. I would rather stay at 8 and keep the draft picks.

Agreed - this is my stance as well. OL/blocking is huge for a runner like Davis (and by proxy, Fournette) and Carolina's blocking just doesn't inspire confidence in me at this time. Could "Expensive Kalil" return to rookie year form, "Original Kalil" stay healthy, Williams continue to improve, and an actual blocking FB/TE emerge? Sure. But at this point I'd rather hold on to the picks and take a guy like Howard that can improve the blocking situation for whatever RB might be back there while also offering another pass-catching option. 

Carolina's lead- and edge-blocking at the FB, tackle, and TE positions has been poor since Hartsock left and improving the blocking in this area would be a big boost for both the run and passing games.

[GoobyPls]

Nope, Fournette is a better prospect

[Salisburysean98]

6 hours ago, d-dave said:

That's a very interesting comparison.  Though, just looking at youtube highlight, Fournette is more of a punishing runner. Davis had great balance and vision which allowed him to use his strength to defeat poor tackles.

Fournette is a freight train that runs with power.  He's looking to run dudes over.  He also has a nasty stiff arm.

While I'm not sure I think trading up to 2 is the best idea in this deep of a draft, I wouldn't complain at all if Fournette did land in our lap.  He could really help to change our offense, help balance Stewart before he takes over the reins himself.

That's why I'd compare him to Marshawn Lynch, except slower than AP by maybe a hair or two, but the nastiness of a Lynch is there. Oh and Lynch could run out of the shotgun, so there's that. He played successfully with Russell Wilson, and they do run some of the read option wrinkles in that Pete Carrol offense. I could see Fournette being very similar to Lynch except with more speed. The only thing coaches would need to work on with Fournette is running out of various sets. Pistol, shotgun, ECT ECT.