Is it time to worry about Antonio Gibson?
Washington Football Team running back Antonio Gibson has had a shaky 2021 campaign. From crucial fumbles to game-sealing touchdowns, it’s all been there for the former Memphis Tiger.
The talent is undeniable. Standing six feet tall and weighing around 230 pounds, Antonio Gibson has the size, the hands, the athleticism and the game-breaking ability to be your franchise running back. Despite the obvious tools, Gibson has yet to find a consistent output throughout this season, and with fumbles and poor pass-blocking now a concern, is it time for Washington to worry about their former third-round pick?
It’s shocking to be at this point considering where the Washington Football Team started with Gibson just one season ago. A fringe Pro-Bowl season that was as glamorous as “Gibby’s” iced out grill, you would have thought that version of Antonio Gibson was here to stay in D.C. no matter what came his way in the years to come.
But it hasn’t been easy, nor has it been something you expected. His rookie year started with a bang, as he was averaging close to five yards per clip on the ground, had 11 rushing scores and caught nearly 40 balls. It was without question, Antonio Gibson was Washington’s second-best offensive player in 2020.
In 2021, the numbers on face value look the same, but when you break down the context even further and you look at the young man on a snap by snap basis, you can see how they can be deceiving.
Through 13 games, Antonio Gibson has nearly 840 yards rushing, five rushing scores, 33 catches, and two receiving scores, in addition to a career-high in average yards per game. You’d imagine he’d be en route to a Pro-Bowl debut in 2021 and yet another fantastic season for the Burgundy and Gold.
If you’ve been watching, that has hardly been the case.
That isn’t to say Gibson has been bad, but there are some nagging issues with AG that were masked a bit coming off of his stellar rookie season. Still an unpolished true “running” back, in addition to his issues in pass protection, a brand new issue has arrived in the development of Antonio Gibson: that issue is, fumbles.
With that said, let’s take a deeper dive into the numbers, where Antonio stands nearly 85-percent done with this season, and whether or not Washington should begin to worry about their sophomore bell-cow running into some serious issues.