Is Echemandu the Answer in Houston?

Another running back to burst onto the scene this weekend is Houston's Adimchinobe "Joe" Echemandu, who ran 10 times for 62 yards, and caught 2 passes for 11 yards.
Echemandu was dinged up a bit early on in the game, and Texans coach Gary Kubiak said that had he not been hurting, Echemandu would have had even more of a load. By comparison, Ron Dayne had 18 touches in the game. If Ahman Green remains injured (and perhaps even if he is healthy), Echemandu could be good for about 15 touches the next few games, maybe even more if he is successful.

While the Texans' offensive line is not as bad as it has been in the past, it has not been opening huge holes in the running game. As a team, the Texans are only averaging 3.2 yards per rush. Ahman Green has had the most success, with a 3.7 yards per carry average. Still, a healthy young back may be able to get up near 4.0 yards per rush on this team.

Echemandu is in his fourth year, having spent time in Cleveland (2004), Minnesota (2005), and Oakland (2006-2007) before being picked up by the Texans. He only had 11 career touches with Cleveland before last Sunday's game, and has bounced between team's practice squads and active rosters. In the 2007 pre-season, he averaged 4.3 yards on 39 carries with the Raiders, who kept him until Dominic Rhodes came off of his suspension. Once the Texans picked him up, they saw fit to release Samkon Gado to make room for him on the roster. In 2003 at the University of California, he ran 238 times for a 5.0 yard average. JJ Arrington averaged 5.7 yards per carry on the same team. So Echemandu's overall talent level appears to somewhere between a practice squad player and a backup. Probably no more talent than Ahman Green at this point in his career.

The scheme is the same one that Kubiak brought over from Denver. Players can flourish in this scheme, but the Texans don't have anywhere near the offensive line that Kubiak had in Denver.

San Diego, whom Echemandu had his 73 total yards against, is only an average team against the run this year. Houston's next three games are against Oakland, New Orleans, and Cleveland, who rank 32, 8, and 18 against the run.

So it would not be surprising to see Echemandu go for 80+ yards against the Raiders this week, but I would expect his production to drop off after that. Still, some success might be enough to allow him to keep getting carries the rest of the year.

I would rate Echemandu only slightly ahead of this week's other waiver wire wonder, Ryan Grant of Green Bay.