I asked Seattle Seahawks running back Jadarian Price about his versatile usage in the passing game after the team’s Week 9 win over the Arizona Cardinals. His response gave me valuable insight into how his perception of the situation is different from ours as outside observers.
Q: “Jadarian, you were a crucial component of the passing game today. Got a variety of different catches, a variety of different targets, how does it feel to be in open space and show the diversity of your skillset?”
Price: “It feels really good, because you get the opportunity to get in space one-on-one and show what you can do — I haven’t had many chances to do that this season so it was fun.”
Film watchers around the league have been taking notice. One tape breakdown
from Saturday Morning Inspection right here lauded him as “Becoming A Star” in the video’s title after noticing what he did when he was able to work as a “space player” in Sunday's game. The breakdown begins by showing an out route which Price turned into a 17-yard gain despite three Cardinals defenders converging on him. This was a play-action pass in which quarterback Drew Lock was able to take the easy route — something the Seahawks’ typical starter, Sam Darnold, has been looking for in the six games he’s operated the offense during this season, too.
Price’s open-field ability has the upside of being relatively unknown. He has limited college tape and has barely scratched the surface of his potential in his first half-season in the NFL. As he said, he just hasn’t had many chances yet. However, with the way he looked in the open field on Sunday, offensive coordinator Brian Fleury might be preparing for takeoff.
Price ran just seven routes in Week 9, yet received four targets and racked up 54 yards. That efficient box score was good for the third-highest receiving EPA (Expected Points Added) among running backs in Week 9, according to NFL Pro’s Next Gen Stats. When watching those seven plays, the Cardinals ended up covering him with linebackers consistently. That’s as good of a mismatch in Price’s favor as you’ll find in this league. By being that consistent and reliable in that threatening role, Price can open Pandora’s box for this Seattle offense. Wide receivers like Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Tory Horton and Cooper Kupp and tight ends like AJ Barner, Eric Saubert and Nick Kallerup will find more room to work with as a result of him threatening to come out of the backfield. Price’s receiving skillset adds a whole other dimension to the passing attack.
Price seems as patient a human being as he does a runner — just enough to wait for his opportunity, but sudden enough to take off once he anticipates it. Injuries forced him to wait half his rookie season to become the consistent space-player-out-of-the-backfield the Seahawks’ brass envisioned. Now it’s happening right in front of our eyes — and we’ll get to witness Price having fun with his opportunities.
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This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks RB Jadarian Price talks open-field role after Week 9 win
