Jay Ajayi: Week 9 Film Breakdown

I loved the trade for Jay Ajayi. Whereas some people thought he was a little overrated and just a one-year wonder, I saw a really good talent that was stuck on a bad team. My expectations for him are pretty high, not only for this season but for the next few as well.

Each week I will be examining each of his snaps and will break down all of the ones I find significant. I’ll be looking at not only his runs but how he does in the passing game as a receiver and a blocker as well.

Week 9 vs Denver Broncos

• Stats: 8 carries, 77 rushing yards, 1 TD

In his first game with the Eagles, Ajayi saw limited snaps as he was still learning the playbook and getting acclimated to the offense. Along with his few runs, he was in for some RPO plays (including the first TD pass to Alshon Jeffery) and was the checkdown option in the flat for some others.

2nd Quarter, 14:16 mark, 1st & 10

What I liked about Ajayi’s first run was how it displayed his quick feet right off the bat. For a RB his size, Ajayi has outstanding footwork and quickness. On this misdirection end around, he takes the handoff and starts to run off the left side of Vaitai. As Will Parks comes down to attempt the tackle at the LOS, Ajayi makes a sudden cut to his right and finishes strong by lowering his shoulder into Von Miller for a 6 yard gain. As good as the other RB’s on the team have been, none of them can make this type of run the way Ajayi can with his combination of superb agility and power.

2nd Quarter, 13:35 mark, 2nd & 4

One of the knocks on Ajayi was that he tends to bounce some of his runs outside instead of going upfield, and I think we saw an instance of that on this run. This play is an outside zone run, and the key for the RB is to watch the DE. If the DE, which is Von Miller here, attacks the inside shoulder of the RT (Lane Johnson) then the RB is supposed to take the run outside. However, Miller attacks Johnson’s outside shoulder, and you can see a hole open up between Kelce and Johnson. Ajayi might not have been confident in Kelce to maintain his block, but for whatever reason he chooses to bounce the run outside, which allows Miller to track him and make the tackle for only a 1 yard gain. The outside zone run is one of the staples of Doug Pederson’s offense, so Ajayi needs to get better at reading the DE and making the cut upfield when needed on a consistent basis.

2nd Quarter, 2:00 mark, 1st & 5

It’s tough to complain about this play because it does result in a 14 yard gain, but it’s likely that it could have been an even bigger gain had Ajayi hit the first running lane that was available to him. Brooks and Kelce do a good job of opening a hole up the A-gap, but Ajayi takes the run to the left side between Wiz and Vaitai. That being said, it’s still an impressive run because he breaks through Brandon Marshall’s tackle, lowers his shoulder on Bradley Roby, and finally pushes the pile forward for an extra couple of yards. His initial acceleration through the hole is also impressive and is part of the reason he’s able to slip through first contact.

2nd Quarter, 1:28 mark, 1st & 10

The last play I wanted to show is, of course, the 46 yard TD. There’s not too much to take from this outside of Ajayi’s remarkable burst to the 2nd and 3rd levels. The running lanes created by the offensive line on this play are big enough for almost any RB to take advantage of, but Ajayi’s big play ability converts this into a TD. Ajayi rarely got this much space to run in Miami so you can fully expect more big runs like this from him this season.

It’s tough to completely evaluate Ajayi when he only saw limited action and is still trying to get the playbook down, but what he did show is encouraging and exciting. As I said earlier, there’s no RB on this roster that is on the same level as Ajayi. Not only is he a great power back with great agility, but he is also a better pass blocker than what we had and an underrated receiver both out of the backfield and split out wide (he wasn’t used that way in Miami but was at Boise State). It’s very possible that we could see Ajayi’s role expand to a full featured role as soon as this upcoming game against the Cowboys.

Overall Grade: A-