Alfred Morris
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

The New York Jets have a new opening in the backfield. Here’s why Alfred Morris could actually be the perfect fit for the team. 

Well, the grim reaper has claimed his first casualty of New York Jets training camp and that’s Elijah McGuire.

The talented second-year back suffered a foot fracture in the first day of training camp and his status for this season is completely up in the air.

It seems as if it was a non-contact injury, head coach Todd Bowles simply said it happened when McGuire made a cut. So now the Jets are exploring other options, one of those options is a talented veteran running back named Alfred Morris.

It’s honestly shocking that Morris isn’t on a roster on one of the 32 NFL teams’ 90-man rosters. Alfred is a supremely accomplished running back and people tend to forget that. In his first three seasons with the Washington Redskins, Morris ran 876 times for 3,962 yards and 28 touchdowns. So in other words, he averaged nearly 300 attempts for over 1,300 yards and nine touchdowns a season. To put it in context, that would’ve led the league in rushing last season.

The other way you can look at it is from 2012 to 2016 he exponentially decreased his yardage each season, his last season with the Dallas Cowboys being the outlier.

He’s been on a bit of a downward trend, which could explain his latest and longest free agency tour in the pros.

Morris could be the perfect third wheel in the Jets backfield. They already have their pound between the tackles guy in Isaiah Crowell, their change of pace guy in Bilal Powell, now they need a new guy to step up with McGuire done for what could be the season.

Also with Jeremy Bates taking over the offense after John Morton’s firing, the expectation is the team will rededicate themselves to the run game. That is of course until Sam Darnold is ready to take the reigns through the air, but Jets fans are just hoping they’ll see him at training camp. Hey, baby steps am I right?

People call me Boy Green for my unwavering dedication to all things New York Jets. I work at The Score 1260 in Syracuse and I'm extremely passionate about sports. I aspire to continue my rise through the business and hopefully I'll end up working for the New York Jets in some capacity.