Film Review: What the New York Giants Are Getting in RB Devontae Booker
The New York Football Giants made a curious move on the first day of unofficial free agency. It’s understood that the Giants needed to pursue a backup for Saquon Barkley, who will be returning from a torn ACL. What’s confounding is the contract given to a backup running back on day one of free agency.
The Giants signed the Raiders’ Devontae Booker to a 2-year, up to $6 million deal to a running back that played for a million dollars last season in a market that is significantly lower nonetheless. Allocating the Giants limited resources to a backup running back that is now being overpaid is questionable.
I can understand that the Giants wanted to add a running back that contributes to special teams because it essentially helps free up a roster spot. Still, I don’t believe many teams were clamoring to sign Devontae Booker, and that money is a lot for a guy who played just over 100 snaps last season.
The contract is a bit perplexing, but I want to focus on Booker’s skill-set. He had 93 rushing attempts (on 106 offensive snaps) for 423 yards (4.5 yards per carry) and three rushing touchdowns while catching 17 balls for 81 yards in 2020. Let’s take a look at some of the traits Booker can bring to the Giants backfield.
He’s not overly explosive on this clip, and you don’t like seeing him cough it up out of bounds, but he does have a good feel for running the football and adjusting his path.
He shows exceptional vision here to find the cut-back and pick up a good chunk of yardage on a play where he could have lost ground.
Overall, he has solid explosiveness. That’s on display above; he varies his speed and allows the backside guard to pull into the six-hole to locate that secondary force defender.
Running backs are told that the blocking is successful if they can make one man miss in the hole. Booker does just that above.
He finds the hole and jump-cuts outside for the longest gain of his career (43 yards). The cut shows impressive lateral agility, and that solid burst put him in a position where the alley defender was at an optimal point to make the tackle.
Similar to above, he makes the man miss in the hole. Booker takes the handoff, and the linebacker has a clear shot at him, but Booker gets skinny through the gap and avoids a clean tackle attempt; the result is a touchdown.
He had another touchdown in that Broncos game, his best 2020 affair; Booker rushed for 81 yards on 16 carries and the two touchdowns.
Booker showed enough patience, burst, and good vision to find that quick cut back lane and get to pay dirt. He adjusts well and fits with these zone concepts. But like the 43-yard run above, he’s not limited to just zone running schemes.
This is a good, hard-nosed, power/gap run where Booker follows the backside guard to the five-hole.
The guard locates the scraping linebacker and gets right behind the combo block to pick up physical yards as he lowers his shoulders and drives his legs. Booker typically does a good job falling forward once his momentum is built up, which is a good trait to have like a ball carrier.
Speaking of his physicality, Booker is an adept receiving threat. The clip above isn’t exactly indicative of that fact, but I do love how he finishes and runs with ferocity--he lowers his shoulders and takes on defenders.
This type of competitive toughness most certainly intrigues Joe Judge and this Giants’ coaching staff.
It’s on display in the clip above as well. He shows good patience to let the combo pancake block develop, and then he has very good vision and feel to explode into the right alley where he is met by a defensive back.
Booker then proceeds to punish said defensive back, albeit the defender inevitably made the tackle. The blocking was good on the right side of this play, but Booker still did a solid job finding the path and finishing in a powerful manner.
Pass Protection
The Raiders used several running backs in their third-down role: starter Josh Jacobs, Jalen Richard, Booker himself, and Theo Riddick. Richard was better in pass protection, as was Riddick, and Jacobs is more dynamic than Booker.
However, Booker was a solid receiving option who was physical in space and could make a man miss here and there. As a pass protector, though, he was hit or miss.
Here against the Jets, Booker locates a blitzing defensive back by crossing in front of Derek Carr and shoving the defender out of the pocket. A solid play by Booker against a defender who had a lot of momentum coming forward.
Booker’s pass protection ability isn’t maximized because of his anchor, stagnant play strength, and positioning.
It’s a similar blitz pick-up from the one above, and Booker’s strength is exposed. Booker takes a bit to recognize where the extra man is coming from, but he does end up in a solid position to execute the block.
He attempts to throw him inside shoulder into the defensive back, but it hardly affects the defender. It’s not the easiest block in the world, but it’s one you’d expect a third-down type of running back to make.
Booker gets bullied by a linebacker here as the running back adjusts to the twist; his strength and anchor are an issue again. He locates the Blitzer in the A-gap but just gets pushed backward despite winning the pad-level battle. There are worse pass protectors than Booker, but he’s not exactly someone to write home about either.
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Final Thoughts
The contract still doesn’t make much sense to me. Allocating already limited resources to an almost 29-year-old player that more than likely wouldn’t have garnered much on the market isn’t a sound process, especially not on the first day of free agency.
Patience can be a virtue. With that stated, Booker offers good physicality, solid vision, and enough burst to be a rotational running back to spell Saquon Barkley. He’s a capable receiver, but I do wish he was more consistent in pass protection.
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