Breaking down Washington’s running back battle after Derrius Guice’s release

Top Challengers: Antonio Gibson and Bryce Love

Over the past three drafts, Washington has taken three running backs. In 2018, they selected Guice in the second round. In 2019, they took Bryce Love with a fourth-round pick. And in 2020, they spent a third-round selection — their second pick overall — on Antonio Gibson.

The hope was that Guice, as the highest draft pick, would emerge as the best runner while the others would help form a formidable trio in the backfield. But with Guice gone, Gibson and Love now have bigger opportunities and will push Peterson for playing time.

Gibson probably has an easier path to playing time at this point. The rookie was selected by the new regime and fits Scott Foster’s offense as a pass-catching running back. Washington’s coaching staff has repeatedly compared him to Christian McCaffrey and while that may be premature, it does demonstrate his sky-high ceiling.

As a converted college receiver, Gibson will have a chance to fight for the third-down back role off the bat. His growth may be stunted a bit by the lack of an offseason but if he can lock down the role that formerly belonged to Chris Thompson, that would be a good starting point for him to establish himself as a part of the rotation.

That said, it’s unlikely that Gibson will shoulder a lot of carries in 2020. He had only 33 carries during his collegiate career and may need to 1) build up some endurance as a ball-carrier and 2) learn the intricacies of the position. So, he’ll be more impactful as a third-down playmaker.

As a result of Gibson’s inexperience, Love may well have a chance to battle for some carries in the Washington offense. Granted, Love doesn’t have any NFL experience; he spent all of 2019 recovering from a torn ACL he suffered at the end of his college career.

During his college days, Love was an unbelievable ball carrier. In 2017, he logged 263 carries for a whopping 2,118 yards and 19 touchdowns. He finished second in the Heisman voting and looked like a future first-round pick.

But Love regressed as a senior. His blocking wasn’t as good and he posted a career-worst 4.5 yards per carry. He was banged up, too, and ultimately suffered the ACL which tanked his draft stock. Washington decided to take a chance on him in the fourth round and it well may pay off.

Love profiles more as a traditional between-the-tackles runner and could have a chance to spell Peterson and eventually become the team’s lead back. He has more upside than the veterans on Washington’s roster and perhaps with a year and a half-plus to recover from his ACL tear, he will be ready to re-emerge as a player that looks the part of an NFL-caliber starting running back.

We’ll soon see what comes of Love and Gibson. But they do figure to be the top challengers for a bulk of playing time in Washington’s running back rotation. Though early on, a couple of the team’s veteran role players could see the field over them.