Jadarian Price has a fumble problem. He had one in college, and he has one in the NFL. That problem is dramatically reducing his value to this team. And unless he can address and significantly reduce the problem, he’s probably not going to work out for the Seattle Seahawks. All of that is clearly true. But let’s talk about the situation rationally.

The Missing Piece

First, there’s a lot more to Price than his fumbles. In most other areas of playing running back, Price is doing quite well, to my eye. He’s running with a good deal of speed, power, and elusiveness, while being at least capable on passing plays. The volume production isn’t there for various reasons, but this is not a bad player at all.

His ability to handle the outside zone runs, with the cutting and vision that such plays require, are also vital to this offense. George Holani and Emanuel Wilson can’t do what he does, and Zach Charbonnet fresh off an ACL tear isn’t doing it either. As someone who was tepid at best on the pick of Price in April, there’s plenty to appreciate in his game.

A History Of Fumblers

So the real question is, can Jadarian Price’s issues with ball security be fixed? Well, what we can say is that the history of the NFL is full of fumblers who figured it out over their careers. Barry Sanders, perhaps the greatest running back of all-time, fumbled 10 times as a rookie, and then 15 times over the next three years, and then just 16 over his final six seasons.

Eric Dickerson, another all-time great, was absolutely brutal with ball security early in his career. He lost the ball 49 times in his first four seasons. He reigned it in after that, with 29 over his last seven years. Walter Payton coughed it up 30 times in his initial three seasons, and got significantly better over his final ten with 56. But hey, different era, fiercer defenses, right?

Recent Examples

Let’s modernize a bit with Tiki Barber. After three years as a receiving back, Tiki became a lead back in New York in 2000, and proceeded to fumble 35 times in four years. After some coaching and adjustments, he figured it out and had just 9 fumbles across his last three. Or more recently, Adrian Peterson, someone who’s actually played football in the last twenty years.

Peterson came into the league with a big fumble problem, having 20 in his first three seasons. He found a solution with back-to-back 1 fumble seasons, relapsed slightly with 4 and 5, missed a year, then 7, missed a season, and then began his late-career whirlwind tour of the NFL with 3, 3, 3, 0, and 1. Some correlation to usage, but he definitely improved.

Can Price Fix It Fast?

Fumbles happen for a reason, and there are mechanical reasons why some players are more prone to them than others. If you carry the ball properly, you’re much less likely to put it on the ground. But you don’t just learn and internalize that in one week. It takes a lot of repetition and practice to adjust your running style to account for it. And we need Price now.

Some also speculate that the size of Jadarian’s biceps are to blame. His arms are so big, it’s difficult to secure the ball and not have it pop out in a way that exposes it (look up Melvin Gordon for an example of this). That won’t be fixed in a week either. So for now, all we can do is say high-and-tight, low center-of-gravity, and don’t fight too hard for extra yards.

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