Assessing Washington Redskins first-round options: RB Derrius Guice
By Ian Cummings
Where Derrius Guice can improve
As good as Guice may be, even he has his own deficiencies.
Much like Kelley and Perine, Guice sometimes leaves yards on the field by lowering his head and trucking defenders, rather than keeping his eyes up and searching for cut lanes to lead him upfield. Unlike Kelley and Perine, however, Guice doesn’t do this on every play. But nonetheless, it’s an issue that deserves some monitoring from running backs coach Randy Jordan.
Going off of this, Guice may choose to do this, rather than stretch to the outside, because he doesn’t quite have the speed to beat the edge on outside runs. In open space, he has the breakaway speed to best defenders in a race to the end zone. But running to the side and waiting for a window to cut upfield might not be in Guice’s skill set. Not consistently, anyway. Guice can create for himself going up the middle, but in these kinds of situations, he won’t be as dependable.
Returning to Guice’s ability as a receiver, he has no trouble with catching and running with the ball. Rather, Guice’s issue with pass catching lies in his ability as a route runner. In this regard, Guice can only be described as subpar. His route tree is very basic, and while its not Guice’s primary function to be a route runner, there are other running backs who have this ability. Without this, Guice might not be freed up as often when splitting out as a receiver, and work must be done to help him improve here.
Last but not least, Guice has mild injury concerns that prevented him from consistently finding the field in 2017, and as far as pass protection goes, he’s no better than average. He has a willingness to protect, but he sometimes relies on tripping up the rusher, rather than engaging them with his power.
These aren’t reasons not to draft Guice, but these are also factors that shouldn’t be forgotten, even by the most fervent supporters of the LSU running back (this guy). So now we know what Guice brings to the table, and what he lacks. Now the question is simple. Is he worth the No. 13 pick?