Leads me to believe yards per scramble isn't a very insightful stat lol. I don't even know how many true scrambles he's had in 6 weeks, as I feel like most of his rush attempts have been designed. I think dropback EPA and rush EPA are better measurements personally. I would guess he's only behind a handful of guys in the latter.
17 scrambles out of 55 carries. I don't think anyone posts rush EPA for QBs but given that Pro Footballs' Reference successful carry stat is just "positive EPA yes or no" as best I can tell, it's 52.7% which is 5th for QBs and 27th for all rushers so it's probably good.
But lots of successful plays and no massive plays only gets you so far. Would he get more massive plays in a better environment? Probably. But, like so many things put into this offence, his results feel underwhelming compared to possibility.
I suppose if one doesn’t value 1st downs or TDs then Fields’ run game so far has been no big deal?! You are well spoken but dear god I wish you could see how harsh you are in your assessment of Fields. While you have certainly softened your tone/approach, maybe try zooming out and appreciating the forest instead of zeroing in on one goalpost tree after another.
I value 1st downs. I have no idea whether the amount of 1st downs that Fields has got in situations where he's decided to scramble is good or bad compared to what other QBs achieve with their legs and arm in similar positions.
I zoom out and I see a guy who is, touchdowns aside, not as good at rushing as he was at his old team. I can zoom in and give reasons why but that is the long and the short of it. Fields' results here as a rusher are generally worse than his results in Chicago who were nobody's idea of an offensive playground.
Do I think that's his fault? Almost definitely not. But did I expect more? Yeah.
And as such, do I think the value he's providing to the team with his rushing is perhaps less than his reputation? Yeah. It's great he's lethal in the red zone but the team needs to get there more often and part of why they're not is they're not getting the best out of Fields' legs.
eta: Disappointing and no big deal aren't always the same thing either. Muth's stats are decent for a TE, but still kind of disappointing after all the hype about how much Smith loves him some TEs. Fields' stats are far from awful, but for a guy who's maybe the most talented running QB in the league after Jackson, they're a bit disappointing.
And I will always be harsh on every would-be starting QB this team has that's past what I consider the major development window at 3 years because it's the one position you can't really bullshit your way through with 'good enough'.
But I will add this as what is hopefully the most important point - I am disappointed in the team's usage of Fields on this score much more than I am disappointed in Fields' himself.
