As I remember, Steve Slaton did not have a very good speed score per PFP 2008. Not sure what that means, if anything.

The only people I know that are fired up over Slaton are the guys at PFT, and that's only because they are WVU fans and have such an obvious hard-on for Slaton simply because of that.

As #1 pointed out, he's a small back who's not very fast, a deadly combination in this league. Some people love to talk about how he is a great fit for a one-cut system because that is what he did at West Virginia, but while in Morgantown he was also running through holes big enough to drive a Mack truck through. There will be no such luxury in the NFL.

All I'll say is that if the Texans are going to have to depend on Slaton to carry the rushing attack, that will get ugly soon. I still think the only reason he left WVU in the first place was because he was afraid Noel Devine was going to take away his playing time in 2008 and cause his draft stock to fall faster than a share of Enron.

Two words: Chris Taylor

I'm with #3, with some Chris Brown sprinkled in.

Once Slaton gets up to top speed, he can fly. Unfortunately, his acceleration is substandard, and he'll rarely get to use that top gear. There's a lot of tackles for loss in his future.

:: Mike — 7/22/2008 @ 11:07 am
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that's four words

I make it a policy to stay far away from Denver and Houston RBs. You give up some value, but you also save yourself a lot of heartache.

Domanick Davis. Woooooo!

I'd bet against Slaton. His college production doesn't translate well to the NFL, he was not very durable.

I'm about to start an on-line Madden 'dynasty' league as the texans, so welcome any advice about which RBs to use...'much of a muchness' springs to mind.

Chris Brown would be a great running back, if only his body weren't made of glass. The JAX game in Week 1 last year, where he had like 19-175, may have been the only game in the last three and a half years he's looked fully healthy.

Re: 10

I think that's what really separates franchise backs from backups and committee guys, and why the claim is wrong that franchise backs are fungible. They may not be better than their backups, but they can stay healthy on a heavy workload, which most backs can't do.

As a Texans fan, let me warn you on your prediction: Kubiak has one huge pet peeve, and it's fumbling the football. Which apparently Slaton has a tendency to do all too often.