A question of style: Evan, Roy or Tim?

[GTripp0012]

Royster has the best vision of the three. I mean, I probably didn't see enough Royster to conclude that unconditionally, but Hightower really leaves a lot of yards out on the field and I don't feel Helu is blessed with great vision, at least based on what he displayed as a rookie. You'd want to put Helu in the open field and let his elusiveness take over rather than asking him to find the open field himself.

I'd still say Helu is the best of the three by a considerable amount (for all the talk about how Hightower is an excellent pass protector -- and he is -- Helu was almost as good by the end of the season), but he isn't blessed with that great vision, and if the offensive line were to become one of the five best in football, it'd be Royster who would pick up the most yards behind that group.

Here's why Helu is so critical: those bootlegs that Kyle is practicing with RG3 just won't be that effective against NFL defenses unless: he's willing to put Helu at tailback on up to 75% of run down snaps, and then give him the ball on the stretch run a steady diet. It's too easy to cheat on the bootleg (and get free shots on RG3) if you know it's coming and you're simply not worried about the stretch run to the frontside.

So while it seems like Griffin will be deadly on boots, if Kyle just sends Hightower out there every first and ten for every first quarter of the game, and then fakes it to him on boot action, RG3 isn't going to even get out of the backfield after the second game of the season. Teams know that you can stop Hightower on the stretch run with seven guys. So then there's always going to be an unblocked defender (strong safety or slot back typically) clean through to Griffin.

In the past, Kyle hasn't been good about getting his best backs into the game on first and ten. That's four years running now. For Griffin to be at his most dangerous, that needs to change this year. Helu must dominate early down snaps in the first half of games.