William Powell 2012 Season Outlook

[Cmilne23 10,544]

To me, his floor is basically Donald Brown. His ceiling is potentially much higher.

That is asinine to even suggest. Donald Brown is a clear cut #1 RB with zero competition for carries and is coming off a larger sample size of success last season (134 carries at 4.8 YPC). Powell has 2 other hands in the pot right now for carries behind the worst offensive line in the NFL. Right now he is just a stash player, lets stop labeling him and giving people misinformation for what his floor, or ceiling are. Nobody knows that. Only thing we can analyze is what his role may be, and the type of performance one can expect given the offensive line in front of him. As seen with Chris Johnson, does not matter how good, or fast you are, if you have no offensive line in front of you, and defenders are in the backfield before you even have a chance to run, you will not be successful.

[owenmills 5,326]

His floor is Kregg Lumpkin. His ceiling is really talented version of Kregg Lumpkin.

[bsong71 103]

Unless you're aiming solely for 100-yard rushing bonuses, I think William Powell easily qualifies as an RB2 with upside.

There's a good chance that because of the O-line, Powell will see frequent checkdowns this season. Do we really think that this version of Kolb that we've seen so far, suddenly throwing downfield with aplomb, is the Kolb we'll see for the rest of the season? I don't. I think if Kolb begins to feel that he has a legitimate checkdown option in Powell, he'll go to him more frequently as the season goes on. I don't think that Kevin Kolb will perform at a high level the rest of the season. When he begins to regress, I think that he'll revert to his Captain Checkdown tendencies, especially if he has a playmaker in Powell.

To me, it doesn't matter if my RB rushes for 50 yards and gets another 50 yards receiving and a receiving TD. That's still 100 yards and a TD. I'll happily take that from my RB2.

To me, his floor is basically Donald Brown. His ceiling is potentially much higher.

Also, there's absolutely no guarantee that Beanie Wells is coming back this season. Players are more and more frequently being IR'ed (for the ENTIRE season) for cases of turf toe. There's a *chance* that Wells will be ready to return later in the season, however that could very well be rushing his recovery and leave him vulnerable to re-injuring his toe. I'd say there's probably only a 20% chance at best that Wells returns this season.

The only reason they'd bring Wells back is if Powell can't handle the workload. If Powell can't handle the workload, we'll know that long before Wells is eligible to return, so Wells being activated won't come as a surprise - IF he does get activated.

Keep it up! Sooner or later Rotoworld will wise up and give you a job when they realize that you are right and their writers are dead wrong:

"William Powell is a mediocre talent likely to be mired in a committee attack. I wouldn’t expect the Cardinals to establish a reliable ground attack at any point this season." [Rotoworld writer]

For those non believers, just watch the man in action here:

Edited October 9, 2012 by bsong71

[Robrain 3,283]

To me, his floor is basically Donald Brown. His ceiling is potentially much higher.

That is asinine to even suggest.

Donald Brown is a clear cut #1 RB with zero competition for carries and is coming off a larger sample size of success last season (134 carries at 4.8 YPC). Powell has 2 other hands in the pot right now for carries behind the worst offensive line in the NFL.

Right now he is just a stash player, lets stop labeling him and giving people misinformation for what his floor, or ceiling are. Nobody knows that.

Right now William Powell is just a stash player?????

Right now William Powell is a starting RB in the NFL.

Man, talk about hyperbole.

Hyphen will likely eat into Powell's carries about as much as Vick Ballard. Alphonso Smith didn't even make the team this season.

Donald Brown isn't exactly a stud:

Week 1: 9 carries, 48 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD

Week 2: 16 carries, 45 rushing yards

Week 3: 18 carries, 62 rushing yards / 1 reception, 39 receiving yards

Week 4: BYE

Week 5: 17 carries, 84 rushing yards / 2 receptions, 8 receiving yards

It's asinine to suggest that William Powell could put up those numbers as a floor?

You must have some really inflated notion of Donald Brown's worth to make the statement you just did O_o

[Deadpool 2,110]

To me, his floor is basically Donald Brown. His ceiling is potentially much higher.

That is asinine to even suggest.

Donald Brown is a clear cut #1 RB with zero competition for carries and is coming off a larger sample size of success last season (134 carries at 4.8 YPC). Powell has 2 other hands in the pot right now for carries behind the worst offensive line in the NFL.

Right now he is just a stash player, lets stop labeling him and giving people misinformation for what his floor, or ceiling are. Nobody knows that.

Right now William Powell is just a stash player?????

Right now William Powell is a starting RB in the NFL.

Man, talk about hyperbole.

Hyphen will likely eat into Powell's carries about as much as Vick Ballard. Alphonso Smith didn't even make the team this season.

Donald Brown isn't exactly a stud:

Week 1: 9 carries, 48 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD

Week 2: 16 carries, 45 rushing yards

Week 3: 18 carries, 62 rushing yards / 1 reception, 39 receiving yards

Week 4: BYE

Week 5: 17 carries, 84 rushing yards / 2 receptions, 8 receiving yards

It's asinine to suggest that William Powell could put up those numbers as a floor?

You must have some really inflated notion of Donald Brown's worth to make the statement you just did O_o

No one knows if he's even the starting RB.

Hyphen is penciled in as the starter, for what it's worth.

And yes, it's crazy to think Powell can put up those numbers as his floor.

[kobe24 597]

People really need to stop bringing up preseason stats. They mean nothing. Everyone can run on those vanilla defenses.

Exactly, using preseason stats for football is like trying to analyze baseball players based on there spring training stats. 100% worthless.

i could not disagree more. you obviously cant put too much stock into preseason/spring training but to say it is 100% worthless is foolish. i remember people saying the same thing in the anthony rizzo thread and they missed out on very nice pick up

[Cmilne23 10,544]

To me, his floor is basically Donald Brown. His ceiling is potentially much higher.

That is asinine to even suggest.

Donald Brown is a clear cut #1 RB with zero competition for carries and is coming off a larger sample size of success last season (134 carries at 4.8 YPC). Powell has 2 other hands in the pot right now for carries behind the worst offensive line in the NFL.

Right now he is just a stash player, lets stop labeling him and giving people misinformation for what his floor, or ceiling are. Nobody knows that.

Right now William Powell is just a stash player?????

Right now William Powell is a starting RB in the NFL.

Man, talk about hyperbole.

Hyphen will likely eat into Powell's carries about as much as Vick Ballard. Alphonso Smith didn't even make the team this season.

Donald Brown isn't exactly a stud:

Week 1: 9 carries, 48 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD

Week 2: 16 carries, 45 rushing yards

Week 3: 18 carries, 62 rushing yards / 1 reception, 39 receiving yards

Week 4: BYE

Week 5: 17 carries, 84 rushing yards / 2 receptions, 8 receiving yards

It's asinine to suggest that William Powell could put up those numbers as a floor?

You must have some really inflated notion of Donald Brown's worth to make the statement you just did O_o

Who said he was the starting running back for the Arizona Cardinals, got a link to that for us?

And just because someone is a "starter" doesn't mean they are worth anything in fantasy. See Deangelo Williams. He is the "starter" but he splits with Jonathan Stewart rendering them both just about worthless to use on most weeks.

Brown faced the Bears and the Vikings in 2 of those matchups, the Bears are 3rd in the NFL against the run, the Vikings are 7th. Brown has much better matchups ahead. Can't say the same thing for Powell and the Cardinals running attack, who gets Buffalo, Minnesota, San Francisco, Green Bay, Atlanta, St. Louis (already dominated the Cardinals pathetic line), Jets, Seahawks, Lions, Bears, San Francisco.

The Cardinals have arguably the toughest schedule for the remainder of the season for running backs. Only Buffalo and probably the Jets are matchups on paper that look good.

Edited October 9, 2012 by Cmilne23

[Robrain 3,283]

To me, his floor is basically Donald Brown. His ceiling is potentially much higher.

That is asinine to even suggest.

Donald Brown is a clear cut #1 RB with zero competition for carries and is coming off a larger sample size of success last season (134 carries at 4.8 YPC). Powell has 2 other hands in the pot right now for carries behind the worst offensive line in the NFL.

Right now he is just a stash player, lets stop labeling him and giving people misinformation for what his floor, or ceiling are. Nobody knows that.

Right now William Powell is just a stash player?????

Right now William Powell is a starting RB in the NFL.

Man, talk about hyperbole.

Hyphen will likely eat into Powell's carries about as much as Vick Ballard. Alphonso Smith didn't even make the team this season.

Donald Brown isn't exactly a stud:

Week 1: 9 carries, 48 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD

Week 2: 16 carries, 45 rushing yards

Week 3: 18 carries, 62 rushing yards / 1 reception, 39 receiving yards

Week 4: BYE

Week 5: 17 carries, 84 rushing yards / 2 receptions, 8 receiving yards

It's asinine to suggest that William Powell could put up those numbers as a floor?

You must have some really inflated notion of Donald Brown's worth to make the statement you just did O_o

No one knows if he's even the starting RB.

Hyphen is penciled in as the starter, for what it's worth.

And yes, it's crazy to think Powell can put up those numbers as his floor.

Hyphen is not penciled in as the starter. William Powell is the RB that will be seeing the majority of the carries.

Hyphen is essentially Dexter McCluster at this point. He's not going to suddenly tote the rock 10+ times a game for the rest of the season when they have more capable RB's that can handle that workload.

William Powell would have to faceplant in order for them to toy with giving Hyphen a serious amount of carries for fantasy consideration.

[Cmilne23 10,544]

People really need to stop bringing up preseason stats. They mean nothing. Everyone can run on those vanilla defenses.

Exactly, using preseason stats for football is like trying to analyze baseball players based on there spring training stats. 100% worthless.

i could not disagree more. you obviously cant put too much stock into preseason/spring training but to say it is 100% worthless is foolish. i remember people saying the same thing in the anthony rizzo thread and they missed out on very nice pick up

100% may of been a bit strong, but for the most part spring training stats are worthless. For a variety of reasons, hitting environment of Arizona and Florida vs. where most teams will be hitting in the cold April weather in most parts of the country, hitting against scrubs, pitchers not using there full arsenal and only using spring training to get there arm loose and ready for the season/working on new pitches. There is very little you can take away from spring training statistical data to use it towards projecting it to the regular season. And the same goes with the NFL as well for preseason statistics of teams playing just vanilla schemes, and using players in the 2nd half, a large majority of which do not even make rosters.

[nosoup4crr 143]

is there any evidence that powell will be the starter? or is it just speculation based on past production? all rotowire has is a an interview with wisenhunt saying that he's happy w/ the RB's he has and won't be adding any more.

[kobe24 597]

People really need to stop bringing up preseason stats. They mean nothing. Everyone can run on those vanilla defenses.

Exactly, using preseason stats for football is like trying to analyze baseball players based on there spring training stats. 100% worthless.

i could not disagree more. you obviously cant put too much stock into preseason/spring training but to say it is 100% worthless is foolish. i remember people saying the same thing in the anthony rizzo thread and they missed out on very nice pick up

100% may of been a bit strong, but for the most part spring training stats are worthless. For a variety of reasons, hitting environment of Arizona and Florida vs. where most teams will be hitting in the cold April weather in most parts of the country, hitting against scrubs, pitchers not using there full arsenal and only using spring training to get there arm loose and ready for the season/working on new pitches. There is very little you can take away from spring training statistical data to use it towards projecting it to the regular season. And the same goes with the NFL as well for preseason statistics of teams playing just vanilla schemes, and using players in the 2nd half, a large majority of which do not even make rosters.

here are some names that dominated preseason last year:

antonio brown

aaron hernandez

kendall hunter

bjge

mat stafford

http://nfllabor.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/9-3-11-preseason-stats-leaders.pdf

[wholefnshoe 142]

he had a concussion seemingly on thursday, does he even start this upcoming sunday?

[Wombat 1,532]

It's funny that Donald Brown was referenced as his floor. To me, when I saw RW injury news, I thought of Brown as a reasonable comparison for what Powells CEILING could be if everything were to go right. This was before I remembered of the existence of the Hyphen. That comp was basically purely based on Brown being a RB that has some value purely because of volume and being the one guy who gets carries on his team (again, this was before I remembered about hyphen) and just natrually falls into some fantasy production.

Powell might be worth a small bid this week, I am going after Alex Green ahead of him though and have not decided on hyphen and Starks.

[nosoup4crr 143]

there's way too much doubt on this guy to be a safe start this week for me -- even against buffalo.

[WesternSociety 74]

Be hard unless Wells AND Williams went down with injury (which is always possible), but then he'd be in a committee......

As a returner, Stephens-Howling is pretty safe and will have his small place on offense as a 3rd back.

On another note, can you please denote the year in the title when you start these threads? Really helps folks that are doing a search to post in the proper thread. We get multiple PMs about this a week. Thanks so much.

Wells down for most of the season and Williams out for the whole season....let's see powell LIGHT IT UP !!!!!

[bsong71 103]

Here's what I'm thinking. A number of Wi-Po supporters have gone "all in" by staking their reputation to the idea that he is (a.) pickup of the year, (b.) an RB2 with upside, or (c.) a potential stud in the making with the FLOOR of a starting RB like Donald Jones. It sounds wild to some readers, but bear in mind that the hope here is that someone posting on a message board can make a name for himself and get a job with Rotoworld or, gasp, ESPN, both of whom have suggested that Powell is an average talent at best.

Hang in there with your superior insight! When you are proven right, all the hours spent posting will be worth it! As much as we'd love to have your talents in the field of medicine or alternative energy, you will have much more fun on Sportscenter when your bold predictions are finally proven true, and at the same time discrediting the professional writers ...

__________

William Powell, RB, Arizona Cardinals (0.1 percent): I could just as easily have started this section with LaRod Stephens-Howling (0.4 percent) or Alfonso Smith (0.0 percent), because it's unclear how Arizona will replace the missing Williams/Wells combo. LSH is the most proven commodity here, with 111 career touches from scrimmage and a reputation as one of the NFL's best kickoff returners, but he's 5-foot-7 and 185 pounds and likely wouldn't hold up to an every-down pounding. The rookie Powell beat out Smith during training camp this summer but may have suffered a concussion in Week 5, and has eight career touches. Smith, the biggest member of the trio, is a practice-squad talent who could be asked to bang near the goal line. The problem all these guys have is that the Cardinals' rushing game has averaged 63.4 yards per game and a league-low 2.7 yards per carry. The offensive line that got Kevin Kolbmassacred against the St. Louis Rams last Thursday isn't any better opening holes. So while the desperate fantasy owners among us should probably take a shot at one or more of these guys on the small chance that one of them busts out, expectations should be low. If I had to choose one, it would be Powell, the most complete back of the troika. But you know what? If Iwere the Cardinals, I'd call the Saints about Chris Ivory (0.3 percent). I'm not a reporter, so I have no idea if this is in the works or even possible. But Ivory would be an improvement over all these guys, and would be addable in all leagues.

Edited October 9, 2012 by bsong71

[Robrain 3,283]

Who said he was the starting running back for the Arizona Cardinals, got a link to that for us?

And just because someone is a "starter" doesn't mean they are worth anything in fantasy. See Deangelo Williams. He is the "starter" but he splits with Jonathan Stewart rendering them both just about worthless to use on most weeks.

Sorry, but the current CAR RB situation has more to do with Cam Newton than it does a timeshare between DWill & JStew. Kevin Kolb is not Cam Newton.

Kent Somers ‏@kentsomers

“@GOcards0922: @kentsomers and Powell has a concussion right?” Think he's going to be able to play

Darren Urban ‏@Cardschatter

Again, I know everyone is looking for Cards to get RB. Don't see it happening right now. Maybe down the road. LSH, Powell, Smith for now.

Darren Urban ‏@Cardschatter

Depends on health, I'd think. It'll be RB-by-committee RT@Rotoinfo_com: @Cardschatter Darren what do u expect out of LSH at RB moving fwd?

The Cards have to hope Stephens-Howling is healthy after missing two games with a hip injury, and everyone waiting for Powell to get his chance is now going to see it.

http://blog.azcardinals.com/2012/10/08/rb-ryan-williams-out-for-the-season/

Whisenhunt would not commit to adding another running back at this point.

“I feel good about the guys that we’ve got,” he said. “We’re always going to look to get better at every position and if that opportunity is there, then we’ll certainly try to act on that.”

http://www.azcardinals.com/news-and-events/article-2/Williams-Upbeat-Despite-Season-Ending-Surgery/b79ab91f-4198-47f7-ab56-56fc3739a161

Stephens-Howling is not viewed as an every-down back. The Cardinals think he tends to wear down during the season, and with his small size (5-7, 185), he's not built to carry the ball 15 times a game.

Stephens-Howling likely will get more carries than usual now that Williams is out with the injury to his left shoulder. (Coach Ken Whisenhunt would not say what type of injury Williams suffered). But I can't imagine Stephens-Howling would step in and carry the same work load as Wells or Williams.

http://devwww.azcentral.com/members/Blog/KentSomers/172760

---------------------

And lastly:

http://www.azcardinals.com/news-and-events/article-2/William-Powell-Primed-To-Play/312f8b5a-34a5-4f11-ab42-6d8e7d71ed55

“If it wasn’t for the fact that we had other backs that were good backs, Powell would’ve been playing and contributing this year. We knew at some point probably he would have to do that.” - AZ Cardinals Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt

That article / quote was posted on September 27th, after Wells was placed on I.R. Now, Ryan Williams has also been placed on I.R. You honestly think that by the statement "If it wasn't for the fact that we had other backs that were good backs", they were referring to Hyphen?

Hyphen's simply not the same mold of back as Beanie Wells, Ryan Williams, and William Powell. Context is King. When Whisenhunt was talking about "other backs", he was referencing Wells and Williams, who would be the two obvious candidates ahead of Powell. He definitely wasn't referencing Alphonso Smith as a "better back", since Powell beat out Smith this season for the job. Now that both of Beanie Wells and Ryan Williams are gone, that makes Powell the clear candidate for starter's carries.

[tucker26 2,324]

Speculation is perfectly all right, but if you stay there you've only founded a superstition.

At this point all pros and cons have gone so far into superstition.

And the battle will rages on...Optimists and Pessimists...

[dsmoke1986 128]

At this point, what is there to lose??

I'm thin at RB, and hope that Powell can contribute, we'll see what happens.

Is my season banking on him?? Hell no, but if he pops, he could be a nice play.

You never know, there are always Samkon Gado's out on the wire lurking somewhere...This kid's going to get an opportunity, and that's all I can ask for. Give me 12-15 carries from Powell on Sunday, and I'll be thrilled.

[tts42572 920]

Personally, I don't know who wil lemerge out of this group.....

But I do think somebody from the Cardinals backfield wil lhave a decent game vs the Bills. No idea who....But the Bills made the Jets offense look potent in Week 1....And hasn't looked much better since.

[tucker26 2,324]

Samkon, great comp...

[Robrain 3,283]

It's funny that Donald Brown was referenced as his floor. To me, when I saw RW injury news, I thought of Brown as a reasonable comparison for what Powells CEILING could be if everything were to go right. This was before I remembered of the existence of the Hyphen. That comp was basically purely based on Brown being a RB that has some value purely because of volume and being the one guy who gets carries on his team (again, this was before I remembered about hyphen) and just natrually falls into some fantasy production.

My point when making the Donald Brown comparison was that Brown really hasn't seen a consistent, heavy workload this season, and his yardage totals have been nothing to phone home about.

If we skew Donald Brown's yardage totals somewhat more into the receiving category as opposed to the rushing category (which is what I expect Powell's production to more closely resemble), then we have this kind of a floor set:

Week 1: 9 carries, 33 rushing yards / 2 receptions, 15 receiving yards + 1 general purpose TD [48 total yards - not including return yards]

Week 2: 7 carries, 20 rushing yards / 3 receptions, 25 receiving yards [45 total yards - not including return yards]

Week 3: 15 carries, 62 rushing yards / 4 receptions, 39 receiving yards [101 total yards - not including return yards]

Week 4: BYE

Week 5: 15 carries, 64 rushing yards / 4 receptions, 28 receiving yards [92 total yards]

I think those estimates are easily attainable for William Powell as his floor. I based each of those estimates just now off of Donald Brown's performances each week so far this season - same exact total yards, I simply adjusted how the total yards were split into rushing and receiving categories.

In PPR, I think the production estimates above are a serviceable floor for an RB2 that you'd be plugging in during bye weeks.

[c_dilip 113]

People have provided the case for Powell being a better RB than LSH and Alphonso Smith. Agreed. Why isn't anyone answering the concussion question on William Powell ? Has NFL suddenly become lenient on concussions ? Just so you know, Jahvid Best is one of the best RBs today but his concussion is what is preventing him from playing. If there is any news that William Powell's injury is just a head injury and NOT a concussion, you have a clear winner here

[Robrain 3,283]

People have provided the case for Powell being a better RB than LSH and Alphonso Smith. Agreed. Why isn't anyone answering the concussion question on William Powell ? Has NFL suddenly become lenient on concussions ? Just so you know, Jahvid Best is one of the best RBs today but his concussion is what is preventing him from playing. If there is any news that William Powell's injury is just a head injury and NOT a concussion, you have a clear winner here

A single concussion isn't really cause for concern. As stated above, the Cardinals beat reporter expects Powell to play this week - Powell gets 10 days instead of the normal 7 to clear concussion protocol because their game was on Thursday.

I could name a MASSIVE list of players who have received a concussion in the NFL. That does not make them comparable to Jahvid Best's concussion issues, not even close.

One concussion, especially a minor one, isn't something to be concerned over, as long as the player is cleared to play. Repeat concussions are where you start to get concerned.

[Robrain 3,283]

Has NFL suddenly become lenient on concussions ? Just so you know, Jahvid Best is one of the best RBs today but his concussion is what is preventing him from playing. If there is any news that William Powell's injury is just a head injury and NOT a concussion, you have a clear winner here

To expand upon what I just said with some video examples...

Jahvid Best's concussion issues began in college with this MASSIVE concussion he received when landing on his head after vaulting his way into the end zone:

Best has gotten at least two concussions in the NFL since that huge one.