Sneak peek at
Pro Football Weekly’s Preview 2000
Analysis of Oakland’s running backs
May 23, 2000
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Editor's note: What follows is an excerpt from Pro Football Weekly’s Preview 2000
magazine, which hits the newsstands July 5. This is PFW personnel analyst Joel
Buchsbaum’s breakdown of the Raiders' running backs. Buchsbaum analyzes all 31 teams
in Preview 2000. Once a week, we'll showcase a different excerpt from the magazine on
ProFootballWeekly.com.
The Raiders don’t have a great back, but the combination of Napoleon Kaufman and
Tyrone Wheatley was awfully effective last season. The two backs complement each other
beautifully.
Wheatley is the big, strong power runner with speed to the outside, while Kaufman is
the speedy, tough outside/breakaway runner who can make a defender miss and make big
plays. Last season Wheatley rushed for a career-best 936 yards, averaged 3.9 yards carry,
had a long run of 30 yards and scored eight rushing TDs.
Kaufman had 714 rushing yards and an impressive 5.2-yards-per-carry average. Wheatley
also had three TD catches, just powering his way into the endzone on two of them.
FB Jon Ritchie is a very good receiver but does not block or run very well. Zack
Crockett has better running skills and can also be used as a tailback or one-back in a
power backfield.
Running backs’ grade: B-minus
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