Knile Davis, whom the Steelers signed to a one-year deal Monday, saw such limited action in not one, but two injury-ravaged backfields this past season that it’s hard to imagine the Steelers consider him a viable option to replace DeAngelo Williams as the No. 2 running back.
Kansas City deployed him sparingly in early 2016 while starter Jamaal Charles struggled to get on the field because of lingering issues with a torn ACL. Spencer Ware and Charcandrick West got the bulk of the carries instead until the Chiefs shipped Davis to Green Bay in a trade Oct. 19.
And he didn’t get much love from the Packers either. Even with Eddie Lacy and James Starks out injured, they gave Davis just five carries in two games before cutting him Oct. 31. After a weird stint with the New York Jets in which he was claimed off waivers, then cut by the team within a day, he wound up back in Kansas City and continued to ride pine.
Add it all up and he gained 28 yards on 18 carries. All season.
Davis does have the potential to add value. He’s fast and has averaged 26.8 yards per kick return in his career. The Steelers managed just 21.5 last season, so if he can replicate that production, he’ll be providing a nice boost in field position.
He’s also caught a fair number of passes out of the backfield in his career relative to his playing time, so he could be another useful tool for offensive coordinator Todd Haley to use in the passing game, especially if Bell misses any significant time.
But let’s be clear. This isn’t a case of a player coming here with numbers that are underwhelming because he was buried by a carry-hogging star somewhere else, or because he got stuck in one coach’s dog house. Rather, his numbers are poor because two playoff teams decided he wasn’t good enough to play even when they were varying degrees of desperate for help at the position.
It just doesn’t make sense for that guy to then become the insurance policy on Le’Veon Bell, who has been injured and/or suspended in each of the past three seasons.
Williams, now a free agent, was a rock for the Steelers. He wasn’t a flashy runner and couldn’t mimic the degree to which Bell excels in the passing game. But over nearly 300 carries in two years, he averaged a healthy 4.2 yards per carry, giving the Steelers a reliable hand to turn to when Bell was missing.
Davis has never demonstrated the ability to produce consistently at that level. Even in his best season back in 2014, when he had a career-high 134 carries, he averaged just 3.5 yards per attempt for an offense that averaged 4.7 otherwise. Perhaps he’ll prove to be a better fit with this offense, but the Steelers can’t count on that.
If Williams is gone for good, which seems likely the longer he goes unsigned, it would be prudent for the Steelers to add another option either through free agency or the draft. They don’t need a star, but they do need someone they can trust in a pinch. If the Chiefs and Packers didn’t see that in Davis, the Steelers probably shouldn’t either until he demonstrates otherwise.
First Published: March 21, 2017, 1:08 p.m.
