The Little Things
While Anderson’s power is impressive, what allows him to be so consistently effective is his quickness and vision, the first of which signifies a significant upgrade over Stewart. For a man his size, Anderson shows a remarkable change of pace, which allows him to turn unexceptional running lanes into long gains. On both of the following plays, Anderson accelerates quickly through the gap, allowing him to generate a positive gain before the gap can close:
It also allows him to get upfield and past the first wave of defenders before they are able to make a play, which is especially useful on draw-type plays like the following:
Finally, it allows him to take runs to the house which Stewart would simply not have been able to:
This is especially impactful when combined with his willingness to run between the tackles. On many plays which other running backs would look to bounce outside, Anderson seems content to simply take what’s there and gets downfield quickly and effectively.
While this might limit the number of big plays he is able to generate, it also prevents the offense from getting substantially behind the chains. Given the number of times the Panthers were forced into third-and-longs last season, this particular tendency will be an extremely useful addition.
This doesn’t mean that Anderson doesn’t have the ability to bounce runs outside, as he does so effectively on the following play:
But rather than doing that on a consistent basis, he avoids taking unnecessary risks, a pleasant departure from some of the worst tendencies of the Mike Shula offense.
He also shows an ability to read and manipulate running lanes, such as on the following plays where he is able to spot the backside running lane:
Or here, where he is able to hesitate inside to hold the linebacker before hitting the outside running lane:
Anderson is not the perfect running back, he doesn’t generate a huge number of long plays and while his vision is good, he is not the second coming of Le’Veon Bell. However, for a team that already has plenty of big-play weapons, the addition of a running back who can consistently churn out inside yardage is very valuable. What’s more, it should be noted that he has been able to average over four yards per carry every season of his career despite playing behind one of the worst offensive lines in football, leaving him open to hopeless carries such as the following:
The Passing Game
Jonathan Stewart’s contribution to the passing game was a mixed one, as while he was an effective pass protector for a running back – which was valuable on long third downs and some red zone situations – he was so poor as a receiver that he was often forced into pass protection when on the field for passing downs, even when the extra blocker only served to further the Panthers’ mathematical disadvantage in terms of receivers while not adding anything to the protection scheme. In this regard, Anderson is a significant improvement, both because he was the highest graded running back in pass protection last season by PFF, but because he is a significantly better receiver than Stewart ever was. Not only does that mean that the Panthers can run screens like the following without worrying about a horrific drop or a deflection into the arms of a defender:
But that you have a power running back who can also be a genuine plus receiver when required, such as on plays like this:
No, he is not Christian McCaffrey when it comes to pass catching and route running, but the value of a running back who can be used as a receiver against the blitz outside of long third downs cannot be overstated.
Whether Anderson is a better player than Stewart in his prime is hard to say, but he is certainly more valuable in the all-important passing game, and while he doesn’t run with the same astounding physicality, he does offer more in terms of quickness. He is unlikely to have a thousand-yard season again in 2018 while sharing carries with McCaffrey and (to a lesser extent) Artis-Payne, but if Anderson is able to be his usual efficient self for fifteen or so carries a game with a couple of receptions and some pass protection snaps, he will be more than worth the investment the Panthers have made in him.
Add in a big play here and there, and he’ll be worth much more than that.
