Monday, August 17, 2009

Red Zone Redman


Per this article in the Post-Gazette, undrafted rookie free agent Isaac Redman is creating quite a stir.

As you will recall, Redman was 2/2 in Goal Line drills against the second-team defense last week in camp.

He followed that up by finding the end zone twice against Arizona's backup defense in the preseason opener on Thursday.

But the question lingered: could he do it against a first-team NFL defense?

Coach decided to put him to the test today.

Redman ran 3 times against the #1 run defense in the NFL and scored on all 3 tries.

Coach kept pounding the kid in there, giving him 7 chances in total against the first and second team defense. Redman won 5.

Now, before we jump to conclusions and start calling him the next Jerome Bettis, let's remember that it's still very early in the season. That being said, Redman has excellent vision inside and does a very good job of seeing the hole and hitting it in stride. Beyond that, you will notice on both of the TDs he scored against Arizona, they had a chance to get him, but he kept churning his legs and pushing forward and broke through the arm tackles.

Redman is still locked in a battle with Frank "The Tank" Summers, Carey Davis, and Justin Vincent to make the team, but you have to like what the kid has shown thus far.

To be honest, from what I've seen so far, I'd rather keep Redman and Summers than Carey Davis. Davis has had some trouble locking guys up when he's in there as a blocking back, and (unless he's improved in this area over last season) lacks the leg power to drive through tackles and get those extra yards. Remember how many times Davis was stopped 1 yard short on a 3rd down play last year? Yes, he is a good receiver out of the backfield, but Sean McHugh can fill that "H-back" role. Summers showed he has some great blocking ability, and Redman has been tried out at fullback as well in camp. The one other area where Carey Davis has made contributions is on special teams. However, Summers was running with the special teams against Arizona, so it just might be that Carey Davis is on his way out.

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