John Abraham Shocks Teams With Demands
At the age of thirty-five, John Abraham is still out there on the market and almost everyone thinks he still has some gas in the tank so why hasn’t he been signed?
Jeff Legwold of the Denver Post wrote an article explaining how Abraham has shocked every team he has visited demanding that he play at least 60% of snaps on defense. Obviously every team (including the Patriots) views Abraham as a threat to the quarterback so he is most useful in obvious passing situations.
No team has found it in their hearts to offer 60% of their defensive snaps to John Abraham, but with the NFL now being such a pass-driven league, is it really that crazy of a thought? Almost every team passes as much as they run and the numbers might shock you.
The Vikings were ranked second overall in rushing with Adrian Peterson leading the entire NFL in rushing yards, but even with all that success they had a more balanced approach then you would think. They had 486 total rushing attempts with seven different players getting at least one attempt, but they also threw the ball 483 times this past season with Christian Ponder. That nearly 50-50 split with one of the best rushing teams in the league shows that Abraham wanting to be on the field isn’t that radical. The Vikings think run-first and still end up passing almost half the time, but most teams are shifting away from that style which would increase the percentage of pass plays.
The newer style offenses, like the number one passing rated Saints, threw the ball a total of 671 times while rushing attempts were at 370 in this past season. New England ranked number four in Passing offense throwing it 641 times and rushing it 523.
These are team stats people and it is clear that the most successful offenses are the ones that pass the ball more often. The league is trending this way and has been for some time, so again I ask why it is so crazy for Abraham to ask for 60% of snaps? The Saints threw the ball 64.4% of the time this past season. The more balanced Patriots passed the ball 55% of the time, which is nearly 60% still.
I’ve actually made a counter argument to my position which is to not promise him 60% of snaps. I agree with everyone that thinks it’s too much. He’s too old to be responsible for that much and if you throw him in on obvious passing situations, I feel like he could flourish. If you put him in on first down, he’s weaker against the run than a lot of lineman and it will put your team at a disadvantage. I’m also not a fan the attitude of making demands about playing time. It reminds me of how Eli Manning weaseled his way into New York after the Chargers wanted to draft him.
It seems like I was wrong initially and it is all about money to Abraham because the thing that more playing time gets you is more dollars. He wants to convince everyone he’s a three-down lineman, but he isn’t. He wants some team to fall for it just to make himself money. It doesn’t fit here with the Patriots philosophy, but I hear the Jets want to waste more money. Good luck to you.
I've presented two arguments. Tell us what you think in the 'comments' section below.
Josh Brown
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