Can We Trust Chad Simpson To Run the Rock?

Ask any player who has attended a professional football training camp and they'll tell you first hand that it's a grind. Practicing once a day during the season between games is tough at the best of times but twice a day is downright cruel. So when sophomore running back John White went down on day 7 of camp, most players would tell you it's just part of it.

Those same players probably didn't know how bad it was until White was put on the injured reserve list for the entire 2015 season with a ruptured achilles tendon.

I partially ruptured my achilles a few years ago and let me tell you from experience, it's very painful and not a fun injury to have. I was back at it in 6 weeks thanks to some ice, a few exercises and some TLC, but John White and the Eskimos won’t be as fortunate.

With the injury, the Esks were left with only a handful of candidates to fill the gaping void left by White but none of them can impact the game like White can.

The obvious choice would be long time Eskimo Calvin McCarty who had duties running the ball off and on since joining the Eskimos in 2007. With a 4.8 yards per carry average on 308 carries for 1,400 plus yards, McCarty is reliable if not durable but doesn’t have the game breaker ability that White does. McCartys strength is not his durability but his versatility. He’s proved to be more valuable on special teams or on short yardage situations than to step in to be a full time running back.

The next obvious choice if not second in line would be Kendall Lawrence. The 5'9 speedster filled in nicely when White was taking a breather picking up 414 yards on 65 carries in his rookie season. But Lawrence may have unknowingly been promoted to the Slotback position when he hauled in 41 passes for 437 yards as a receiver. His hands and speed were too much for opposing defensive backs to handle and with 4th year Slotback Shawmawd Chambers starting the year on the 6 game injured reserve list due to a leg injury suffered in the off season, and the departure of Fred Stamps to Montreal, the Esks are thin on the inside until Chambers returns to the lineup.

 

So what do the Esks do? Run by committee? Not likely. That’s not Hervey’s style. He prefers consistency at that position to help Mike Reilly who has rushed the ball more times than the Esks brass would like him to. It’s one thing to get punished in the pocket, it’s another to be tee’d off on by linebackers looking to seek and destroy.

Ed Hervey simply placed a call to someone no one wanted in 2014. And yes you read that right.

Chad Simpson, a 5’9, 205 pound running back who hadn’t played a single down in 2014 is the Esks answer to the starting running back position. Simpson who in 2012 ran the ball for one thousand plus yards in his rookie season with the Blue Bombers and was well on his way to another 1,000 yard season in 2013 when at the half way point he suffered a foot injury that kept him sidelined for the remainder of the season is an Eskimo. The Bombers opted not renew his contract following the 2013 season.

Simpson was signed June 8^th and was in the lineup for the first preseason game against the Roughriders June 13. Purely fueled by adrenaline after having a year off, Simpson carried the ball 5 times for 53 yards. His longest run was 14 yards and hardly looked out of place on short notice after being signed.  

A full week of practice and more reps leading to the Esks 2^nd preseason game against the lions had Simpson in the lineup once again. The team looked clumsy as did Simpson with 26 yards on only eight carries. Not a bad pre-season for a guy thrown into the fire on short notice but I’m willing to bet he’s not complaining.

Only time will tell if Simpson can find a home in the Eskimo backfield but I’m willing to bet he’ll do just fine. We’ll get to see how he does when the Esks start the season against the Argos on June 26 in Fort McMurray. 

I trust Simpson to run the rock as well as John White.

Do you?