Thursday, July 16, 2009

Duckett wants to run

by: Chris Sullivan

TJ Duckett was on Mitch in the Morning yesterday and spoke about his desire to increase his role on the Seahawks' offense in 2009. Duckett said that he did not want to "settle with being a short yardage back," which he has been pigeonholed into because of his size. He seemed happy about his role in 2008, though would have liked to get the ball a bit more; still, "there's only one football to go around."

Duckett did discuss the zone blocking system at a bit of length, and said that the ZBS fits his style well. He is predominantly a one-cut back who can run hard downhill. He thinks he'll get a chance to run a fair amount more at different points in the game and not strictly third downs and fourth-and-short.

I wonder if Duckett looks at a guy like Brandon Jacobs and feels that he can be that guy. I don't know that he can, but I do believe he will see an increased role in Knapp's offense. Duckett is good at pounding the ball, but he does have a little bit of speed too. Key term there: little bit. Jacobs is a special (and injury prone) back. It's not likely that Duckett is going to put up career numbers this year barring an injury above him in the depth chart.

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