Atlanta Falcons running back Tevin Coleman expects to see more touches in 2018, but given the breadth of weapons, is that really plausible?
There’s no question that Tevin Coleman has made the most of his touches throughout his first three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons. However, despite his production when the ball has been in his hands, the touches in terms of quantity haven’t been all that numerous.
Obviously that’s due largely to the presence of Devonta Freeman in the same backfield. Splitting time in the backfield with the also-talented Freeman explains why Coleman has just 361 carries and 60 receptions over three years in the NFL.
However, Coleman expects to be seeing more of the football in 2018 as he’ll be playing on the final year of his rookie contract. Per Kelsey Conway of AtlantaFalcons.com, the fourth-year back expects to line up out wide and to have offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian find more ways to get him the ball:
"“They are just going to use me more … lining up out wide and stuff,” Coleman said of his expectations for this year. “It’s going to be pretty fun.”"
Putting the ball in the hands of Coleman isn’t a bad strategy at all given how effective he’s been. For his career, he’s averaged 4.3 yards per carry and has 14 rushing touchdowns to go with six additional scores through the air and an impressive 12.2 yards per reception average.
However, there’s an issue with what Coleman is selling currently. Put simply, the Falcons have too many mouths to feed for him to see a noticeable uptick in his touches.
Going back again to Freeman, the Falcons made a long-term commitment to him last offseason, signing him to a five-year extension. It’s worth noting that they’ve made no such commitment at this time to Coleman. Thus, you have to believe that the organization wouldn’t pay and lock up Freeman only to decrease his touches in favor of Coleman, a player who they haven’t done the same for.
And even if that’s not an issue and the plan is indeed to move Coleman out wide more often, there are still questions about the plausibility of that. Not only does this team have Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu, but they also just used a first-round pick on Calvin Ridley as well. Throw in the underrated Justin Hardy, and again it’s hard to see Coleman getting a glutton of touches in that regard.
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Yes, getting Coleman the ball more seems like a great idea given his obvious ability. However, the group of weapons that Coleman is a part of just seems to make that impossible. Perhaps that’s wrong and Atlanta will indeed find a way to do so, but as of right now, it sounds more like lip service than anything else.