I just keep hearing the term bell cow thrown around. Only one poster has actually put a number to what he felt that meant - 18-20 touches per game. However, the usage stats for Lacy over the last two seasons don't really bear out those numbers. Bell cow just seems to be one of those buzz words thrown around but with no real meaning behind it or no real concept as to the number of touches our #1 vs #2 back actually receives. Just seems like the right thing to say but I'm struggling to see the numbers to back it up.
In your mind does bell cow equate purely to size or actual usage? Any care to define their use of bell cow? Normally it's associated with heavy usage - put the offense on this guys back and let him carry us to victory --- Ezekiel Elliott or LeVeon Bell or David Johnson are undeniably "bell cows", but Lacy's touch stats are less than smaller backs like McCoy, Freeman, Gordon, Doug Martin... His per game number of carries over his 5 games in 2016 was 21st at 14.2 avg. In 2015 he was 26th in rushing attempts per game at 12.5. In 2014 he was 11th at 15.4. That's only including rushing stats - if you include receiving touches as well his usage numbers plummet as he only had 24 receptions over the last two years combined. The last time he could accurately be described as our bell cow was 2014 when he had 42 receptions as well as his 15.4 carries.
Lacy had 18+ carries in only 7 of his last 36 regular season games.
Montgomery is big, strong and has some wiggle. He's 220+ lbs and is solid muscle. He's bigger than 23 of the 33 RB's at this years Combine yet I think people view him as a dainty little WR, "a bigger Cobb." Montgomery's thighs are as big as Cobb's waist. Lacy gets touted by some posters for his 5.1 ypc in 2016 - yet Mongomery avg 5.9 ypc and had 97 more yards on only 6 more carries than Lacy, including 3 more TD's. Montgomery has an entire offseason to prepare to be exclusively a RB - he didn't have that luxury last year. He made the transition midway through the season with no offseason work or TC to prepare. By all accounts Ty is a dedicated, intelligent, diligent worker. He's going to have all offseason to re-make his body as needed for the rigors of the position and blocking techniques.