Jon Gruden “Very Pleased” With His 29 Year-Old Muscle Hamster

Jon Gruden confirmed on Thursday that Marshawn Lynch will be the Raiders featured back this year, but he was careful to point out how impressed he has been with Doug Martin.

It’s been three years since Martin ran for 1,000 yards in a season, but Gruden seems to already have an interesting level of confidence in his 29 year-old ‘Muscle Hamster’ of a running back.

“We’re very pleased with Doug Martin, the man that we brought in from Tampa Bay who has been a two-time All Pro, very good runner and receiver,” Gruden said Thursday on a conference call with season ticket holders.

For what it’s worth, encouraging reports on Martin aren’t only coming from the team.

An interesting point that Gruden has made more than once (and did again in the conference call) is that he believes Lynch runs best with a fullback and even an extra blocking tight end.

Could Martin end up taking Lynch’s snaps on passing downs or three wide receiver sets?

And where might Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington fit into the rotation?

Gruden pointed to the Eagles as an example of why it’s important to have a stable of running backs so it’s possible that he’ll be tempted to keep all four.

Historically, Gruden has preferred a workhorse running back, but an early guess right now is that Lynch is going to going to come off the field quite a bit under his new head coach – which might be fine as long as they get back to giving the ball to the ‘Beast’ around the goal line.

twitter: @raidersbeat

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2 thoughts on “Jon Gruden “Very Pleased” With His 29 Year-Old Muscle Hamster

  1. With that age of backs, it would be smart to have an extra one on hand to share the load and in case of injury.

  2. Man, the season needs to start already. I can’t friggen wait. Raider Nation!

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