RB consensus: Huge offseason for Bengals' Jeremy Hill

Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk knows Jeremy Hill. Faulk is from New Orleans, Hill’s hometown. They’ve met. They’ve talked. They’ve discussed life as an NFL running back.

Following the low moment of Hill’s career, a fumble which set in motion the postseason meltdown at Paul Brown Stadium against Pittsburgh, Faulk immediately reached out to the Bengals running back.

“I sent him a message right after that,” Faulk said. “I said, ‘Listen, that fumble can define you or it can motivate you. You get to decide.’”

Jeremy Hill: 'I take the full blame'

The process of moving forward won’t officially begin until April when players return for offseason workouts. In the meantime, the Bengals must go forward plotting the process to return Hill to the track of his rookie season, where he led the NFL in rushing the final nine weeks of the season.

Hill’s yards per carry dropped from 5.1 in his rookie year to 3.6 his second season. Inside the organization, the staff battled Hill’s desire to break too many carries for home runs. Offensive coordinator Hue Jackson often spoke of a need to revert to the straightforward power style that defined his rookie year and - at one point late in the season - held a serious, face-to-face meeting about his running.

The final seven games of the season (including the playoffs), Hill rushed 111 times for 440 yards at 4.0 yards per carry. Those won’t be the numbers which will dictate his offseason. The next seven months will be all about moving on from the one play that so many across social media and even his own mind will have a hard time forgetting.

How to do that varies depending on who you’re asking. Few know better than former Giants running back Tiki Barber. He fumbled 36 times during a four-year period from 2000-03, before shaking the problem to enjoy his best seasons as a pro, topping 2,000 yards from scrimmage each of the next three years with only nine fumbles.

“Lot of people think it’s emotional or getting rid of the self-fulfilling prophecy of dropping the football but it’s actually purely mechanical,” Barber said. “Anyone can technically fix it. We are taught when we are young to hold the ball perpendicular to the ground. You actually need to hold it vertical to the ground. So that when it gets pulled away from you you can wrap yourself around the football as opposed to wrapping your arms around which actually still exposes it by going out the bottom.”

Jackson benched Hill in Week 2 against San Diego after committing two fumbles. One was a dropped pitch and the other a play where Hill appeared to be down on the run. Still, the concerns were noted. He fumbled once more against San Francisco and finally in the playoff game attempting to run out the game against Pittsburgh.

Bengals notes: Coaches react to Hill's fumbles

The strip by Ryan Shazier came just as Hill fell to the ground pushing for an extra yard on the first-down run.

“It’s awareness going to the ground which is the hardest things for running backs to think about in a moment after contact because you think that extra yard,” Barber said. “You reach, you get loose, because you are learning how to fall. Learning how to fall while protecting the ball is the greatest way to prevent that from happening.”

Hill fumbled five times his rookie season, and those plays drew the ire of Marvin Lewis on multiple occasions.

LaDainian Tomlinson will soon reach the Hall of Fame following an illustrious 11-year career. He fumbled eight times his rookie year, but only once had a season with more than three after that.

“I really don’t worry about guys that have fumbles here and there because I think fumbling or taking care of the football is something that you constantly work on,” Tomlinson said. “You learn from your experiences. You have to continue to be honest with yourself on what you need to work on. That’s what I hope Jeremy Hill does this offseason. Take a look at this past season, what he needs to work on and then go to work on it so he can perfect his craft because, let’s be honest, the guy has tons of potential.”

Running mate Giovani Bernard endured a similar fate as Hill, though not under the same microscope. Bernard talked often following his rookie season about frustration knowing he fumbled in the red zone just before halftime of the 27-10 playoff loss against San Diego. He’s only fumbled once in the two years since, not counting when he was knocked unconscious by the helmet of Shazier in this year’s playoff defeat.

Bernard and Hill have grown into fast friends, and relying on each other to push forward through any mental issues will be part of the occasion as well in the eyes of Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz.

“I think it takes support,” Munoz said. “If you truly have leaders on the team guys will rally around him. Here’s an example. We offer a character camp and one of the guys we talked to was Marv Levy about accountability. He says Scott Norwood misses wide right, I’m in my office, how am I going to go console this kid? I look up, Andre Reed walks up, hey Scott, if I would have caught that pass on third down … Darryl Talley, hey, if I would’ve … Four guys come up. The essence of accountability is team. They need guys to step up and say, Jeremy, come on, it wasn’t all you. They need to rally around him. That’s the key.”

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The Bengals and running backs coach Kyle Caskey run through ball security drills during every practice. Every piece of paper handed out to the running backs has “Ball Security” written on it somewhere. There will be no shortage of reminders as the process of moving forward continues.

For Barber, those drills and the daily monotony assuring technique mean much more than worrying about mental hurdles.

“If your car is mechanically sound you are never going to have an issue with it,” Barber said. “You can ride through the toughest weather, toughest environments and know you are going to be safe. Same thing happens with carrying a football. If you are going through contact, high and tight, vertical to your body and wrapped up, you don’t have to worry about it. That’s what I learned to do.  It takes an offseason to change a habit. You can make mechanically correct a habit. That’s how I saved, really, my career.”