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Bengals in Focus with PFF: RB performance

Paul Dehner Jr.
pdehnerjr@enquirer.com
Cincinnati Bengals running back Jeremy Hill (32) takes the field as he's introduced before the first quarter of the NFL Week 13 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Philadelphia Eagles at Paul Brown Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016.

Every week, we sit down to talk Bengals with a lead analyst at Pro Football Focus, an advanced analytics website headquartered in Cincinnati off Main St. in Over-the-Rhine. PFF is a service used by 19 out of the 32 NFL teams which analyzes every player on every play of every game to aid in game research.

This week, we talk to senior analyst Mike Renner about grades of the Bengals' running backs this season.

Renner on the numbers for Jeremy Hill:

“I don’t think Jeremy Hill has been much different of a guy than any other year. We always catch a ton of flack because we don’t grade him super highly. But he’s not a terribly elusive player. He doesn’t break a ton of tackles. In our elusive rankings, he’s in his 30s out of 40 qualifying running backs. He’s in the bottom half. He’s a guy who stops his feet a lot because he looks for big plays, he’s not always going to take the three or four yards because that’s the best you can do. He’s not terribly consistent but you could work.”

PFF statistic: Elusive Rating (rank out of 44)

  • Jeremy Hill: 29.5 (32nd), 18 broken tackles on runs
  • Giovani Bernard: 27.5 (33rd), 8 broken tackles on runs
  • Rex Burkhead: 142.1 on only 27 touches, 6 broken tackles on 19 carries

Renner on the season of Giovani Bernard before his injury:

“I had really high hopes for Giovani Bernard this year. He’s a guy that’s always been better than Hill in the elusive rating. He breaks a lot of tackles and is dynamic in space. This season he was actually worse than Hill in the elusive rating. Really took a stop back, only had one carry of 15-plus yards all year long. He just wasn’t the same guy we had seen during his career. He looked different.”

PFF statistic: Breakaway percentage (rank out of 44)

  • Jeremy Hill 35.5 (8th)
  • Rex Burkhead 31.1
  • Gio 4.9 (44th), 1 carry of 15+ yards

Renner on the small sample size of Rex Burkhead:

“Only 19 carries but already broken six tackles. Giovani Bernard broke six tackles in 91 carries, which is just crazy when you think about it. He looks good. Really has not got a shot before this. He was good at Nebraska, let him get some time to see what you have because he’s going to be a free agent. You don’t know what always translates, he could be the real deal but really been encouraging.”