Gio Bernard - The Forgotten Weapon

[*SHRacerX*]

(07-19-2020, 07:26 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Gio Bernard is a player that I feel like has kind of disappeared from discussion on here.  Unless we're talking about his contract it seems like he's rarely mentioned.  To be fair, I totally agree that his contract is a head-scratcher.  Although the reason I feel he is so overpaid isn't necessarily because I feel like he's not good enough, it's just that the production hasn't been there to warrant it.  But is that Gio's fault?  I don't think so.

Let's take a quick look at his annual totals in: Rushing Yards, Rushing TD's, Rushing Attempts, YPC, Receptions, Receiving Yards, Receiving TD's:

Rushing Yards - 695, 680, 730, 337, 458, 211, 170

Rushing TD's - 5, 5, 2, 2, 2, 3, 0

Rushing Attempts - 170, 168, 154, 91, 105, 56, 53

YPC: 4.1, 4.0, 4.7, 3.7, 4.4, 3.8, 3.2

Receptions - 56, 43, 49, 39, 43, 35, 30

Receiving Yards - 514, 349, 472, 336, 389, 218, 234

Receiving TD's - 3, 2, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0

Do you notice a trend here?  His usage starting going way down after his 3rd season, and pretty much all of his numbers continued to decrease each and every year.  It's as if the man peaked at the age of 23.  Why is that?  What happened?

Somewhere along the way it's as if Marvin and Co. forgot how to use him.  And somehow Zach Taylor continued with this usage.  They started using him less, and what time he did see it seemed to be more in a traditional role, taking handoffs in the backfield.  For the life of me I can't not figure out why they abandoned him being a specialty back.

You might think he's gotten old.  He's not. He's only 28.  You might think he's got to much tread on the tires.  He doesn't, he's only got 797 career carries (Mixon has 693).  You might think he's a liability on the 3rd downs due to his small size.  He's not, he's an excellent blocker.

IMHO, there are very few backs with the skillset of Gio Bernard.  He needs to used appropiately though, and not just like every other 3rd down change of pace back.  Think of a guy like Darren Sproles, or Austin Eckler.  The Bengals have to find a way to get this dude involved.  Hell, run a split backfield occassionally if you need to.

I'll be very curious to see if Taylor and Co. can improve on this in 2020 (if there is a season).  Because I think the last two years especially are almost unforgivable.  You can't let a talent like this rot on the bench producing 400 yards total.  It's a waste.  I really feel like if Gio landed in the right system he could be so, so much more than he is.

Don't sleep on this guy making a big difference.  Curious to hear what you guys think of him and his situation.  It's an odd one.

Love the guy, and I know the team loves him "in the locker room", but Gio has not seemed to have his "suddenness" in the field since the injury in 2015.   I don't know if it is still in his head, or what, as his body doesn't seem as though he has been through the ringer in terms of cumulative breakdowns.  

I really thought ZT's offense would be ideal for Gio, and maybe more 5 man protections where the RB is in a pattern will suit him even better, but they didn't turn to him last year when the rushing attack was struggling and they also didn't get him more involved when the receivers were largely injured or underperforming so I don't know how many opportunities the guy will get in this offense.  I would love to see a resurgence of Gio, but I am skeptical it will happen.