New York Giants featured running back Devin Singletary was dealt a crushing blow to his ego and his productivity from the 2023 NFL season in a recent NFL running backs ranking.
Singletary was placed as the worst starting running back in all of the National Football League by former standout running back Maurice Jones-Drew. The former Pro Bowler in Jones-Drew, who played in the league from 2006 to 2014, was twice named a First-Team All-Pro running back and Second-Team All-Pro in 2009.
The former NFL Rushing Yards Leader has the credibility and the firsthand experience to know what goes in to a star running back. Nevertheless, his ranking of Singletary may have teetered on harshness.
Giants’ Devin Singletary named NFL’s worst starting running back
Jones-Drew, who is now an analyst with NFL.com, had this to say about Singletary and why he believes that New York’s Bell cow does not make as much noise as his contemporaries out of the backfield (h/t Sam Kirk of Big Blue View):
“The Giants were poised to take a step back in the run game the second Saquon Barkley left for the rival Eagles. Singletary was fine in Houston last season, posting career highs in carries and yards, but he won’t demand attention from opposing defenses. Plus, I question whether New York did enough to boost its offensive line. Big Blue’s run game faces an uphill battle,” Jones-Drew wrote.
Singletary did finish with 898 rushing yards on the previous campaign for the Houston Texans and added to that four rushing touchdowns. Though he may not have reached the end zone with volume, compared to some other backs in the NFL he did sport an average of 4.2 rushing yards per carry that out-paced several running backs that came in within Jones-Drew’s top-10, such as Philadelphia Eagles superstar Saquon Barkley and Green Bay Packers star Josh Jacobs. Nevertheless, his face value numbers only tell part of the story.
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Is Singletary truly the No. 32 overall starting RB?
Per Player Profiler, the Florida native did not blow the NFL world away with his execution. Singletary boasted 10 breakaway runs in 2023. This greatly exemplifies a player’s ability to find holes at the line of scrimmage and beat defenders for sizable gains down the field. His 10 breakaways ranked No. 15 in the NFL, but in other areas, he did underwhelm. The 26-year-old created 733 yards of offense which ranked No. 28 overall at his position. He also ranked No. 25 overall with 39 evaded tackles and sported a juke rate of 15.9 percent, which came in at a forgettable No. 39 overall at his position, shedding light on the nuances behind the footwork he put on display for the Texans last year.
Singletary is expected to give the Giants a fringe-1,000 yard rushing season and approximate some of the star value that Saquon Barkley left on the table when he departed for the Philadelphia Eagles to begin the 2024 NFL offseason. While the Florida Atlantic product will do most of his damage carrying the football, it is worth noting that he also ranked in the bottom 10 among all backfield producers in 2023 with a run-blocking rating of 36.9 which placed him at No. 26 overall. In the receiving department, his 78.9 percent catch rate and 6.4 yards per reception, while both strong peripherals, also came in at No. 20 and No. 22 respectively among the pack.
Thus, there are grounds for Jones-Drew’s assessment. However, when taking all things into consideration, Singletary will likely give the Giants production that will be conducive toward a potential playoff berth when lining up behind Jones and what they’re hoping to be an improved offensive line in 2024. If Singletary can reduce the amount of times he stuffed on runs, and the coaching staff puts him in the best possible positions to gain major yardage in a variety of offensive formations and against defensive sets that he performed well against such as base front formations, which only one other running back saw more carries at in 2023, then he should be exactly what New York invested in, regardless of outside opinions.
