File this one under, "He said what?" Have you heard of Brian Leonard? He was a FB for the Bengals last year and Rams two years before that. Me either. But that didn't stop a Staff Writer for the Dayton, OH, Daily News who said that Brian Leonard "reminds some of John Riggins." I wonder who "some" is? Stevie Wonder?
ProFootballTalk articulated it best:
Riggins may have had good hands out of the backfield, but he didn't use them all that often. In 14 NFL seasons, Riggins caught 250 passes against 2,916 rush attempts -- a ratio of run-to-catch of more than 11-to-1.
Leonard's run-receptions ratio is 2-1 and has never had a run over 31 yards in his career. Leonard watched a lot of film on Riggo as he was coming into the game, but I think the comparisons should stay at that until he does something, anything on the field.
Brian Leonard Career Statsmore
Season
Team
Rushing
Receiving
Fumbles
G
GS
Att
Yds
Avg
Lng
TD
Rec
Yds
Avg
Lng
TD
FUM
Lost
2009
Cincinnati Bengals
14
1
27
84
3.1
11
0
30
217
7.2
18
0
1
1
2008
St. Louis Rams
2
0
2
7
3.5
5
0
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
2007
St. Louis Rams
16
7
86
303
3.5
31
0
30
183
6.1
16
0
--
--
TOTAL
115
394
3.4
31
0
60
400
6.7
18
0
1
1
What does Brian himself think of the comparison?
"I'm my own person but do share some of the same similarities as Riggins," Leonard said, per Holmes. "He was a hard runner and had good hands out of the backfield. That's what I feel like I do, make one cut and get up field, break a few arm tackles and make a couple of guys miss. That's me. Hopefully, this is a breakout year for me."
Fair enough. A big white dude that can run with power. They both are/were at 230 lbs and they're separated by an inch in height.
This YouTube clip of him running at Rutgers is how I can see people make a comparison, but Riggo would have switched carrying hands and would have ran through the guy, not over him.
Rex Grossman is short and can throw on the run...let's start comparing him to Drew Brees! And I have to ask: How is there someone out there who doesn't know who John Riggins is?