Gio Bernard: Has The Bengals RB Fully Lost His Job?

For a lot of NFL fans who paid attention to the Bengals in 2013, one of the biggest surprises of 2014 was that young RB Giovani Bernard essentially lost his job to newcomer Jeremy Hill. Bernard, a somewhat undersized runner from the University of North Carolina, took a few weeks to get adjusted to the NFL in his rookie season, but came on strong midway through the season and wound up looking like the feature back of the future.

Mixing the shiftiness inherent in a 5’9” RB that makes it to the professional level and a strong feel for the passing game, Bernard averaged a hair over 85 all-purpose yards per game and scored four TDs over the last eight games of his rookie season. Those aren’t staggering numbers by any means, and they were at times pretty evenly split between running and receiving production. But for a 5’9” rookie on a team that needed a runner, it was an exciting burst, and put Bernard squarely on the radar as a potential stud RB.

Then along came Jeremy Hill.

In 2014, the rookie out of LSU – who’s built and plays a bit more like your prototypical NFL running back – completely took over the status of the Bengals’ leading rusher. Granted, Bernard dealt with some issues from an injury at the time, but by the end of the year it was clear who the Cincinnati Bengals coaching staff saw as top dog. Hill ran 222 times to Bernard’s 168, accumulated 1,124 yards to Bernard’s 680 (topping him in yards-per-carry by 5.1 to 4.0) and scored nine rushing TDs to Bernard’s five (though Bernard did add two receiving TDs, whereas Hill had none). If Bernard’s 2013 rookie season was exciting, Hill’s was spectacular.

So on the cusp of the 2015 season – Bernard’s third and Hill’s second – the question many are asking is, has Bernard fully lost his role as a prominent runner? More specifically, is he about to be relegated to the kind of WR-disguised-as-RB position we’ve seen guys like Darren Sproles and Shane Vereen shuffled off to? And if so, will his future in Cincinnati lead to questions about whether or not the organization is wasting his potential?

It’s fair to ask. Frankly, the decision by the Cincinnati front office to draft a running back at all in 2014 was a little bit puzzling given the hype around Gio Bernard. Yes, Bernard is smaller than the average feature back, and that brings about concerns about giving him a heavy workload over the course of a full season. But if we’re judging by pure talent, he’s still one of the best young offensive players in the league. He topped 1,000 all-purpose yards as a rookie and duplicated that feat in his second year despite dealing with injuries and essentially being replaced by a rookie. The guy can flat out move the ball. He’s a playmaker.

But a combination of comparable skill, better size, and to this point better durability have made Jeremy Hill the more useful player (even if you still think Bernard might have a slight edge in raw talent). There’s no question about the depth chart heading into 2015: Hill is RB1 and Bernard is RB2. That said, for now it looks as if Bernard is nowhere near being relegated to a typical backup role.

According to recent quotes from Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson cited in SB Nation, the two are being seen as something of a duo, as opposed to one being ahead of the other. Asked about the hype surrounding Hill, Jackson opted to discuss his two runners as a unit, talking about the potential for the Cincinnati running game with the word “they” (meaning Hill and Bernard) as opposed to simply “he” (meaning Hill). If you’re in the camp that believes Gio Bernard needs to be on the field as much as possible, that’s pretty nice language to hear.

But as to whether or not Bernard will be able to factor in enough to justify being played alongside Jeremy Hill – instead of elsewhere as someone’s RB1 – only time will tell. Frankly, situations like this one have not worked out particularly well in the recent past. The Carolina Panthers tried a split backfield for years and wound up essentially ruining the primes of both Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams. Last year’s Eagles seemed to hold back both Sproles and LeSean McCoy, and Shane Vereen never quite seems to meet expectations because he’s always slotted in as a pseudo-WR alongside a legitimate RB1.

I’m not sure any of those examples adequately predict what we’ll see between Hill and Bernard, because these two seem to be more equal than most RB pairs that spend significant time together on the field. Again, there’s no confusion. Hill is RB1, and will get the bulk of the carries, while Bernard will be utilized more in the receiving game. For now, it looks like that’s a situation that might work, and no, Bernard has not fully lost his job. But if he keeps producing at the rate he’s set over his first two seasons, there might just not be enough run to go around in Cincinnati. It could make 2015 a lot of fun, but the future may be a little more uncertain.

[Image Credit sportingnews.com]