Kenyan Drake Brings Juice to Colts Running Back Room

Kenyan Drake brings a steady running back option to the depleted Colts.

The Indianapolis Colts announced that they signed veteran running back Kenyan Drake to a one year deal on Friday. This signing comes in the midst of a slew of running back injuries for the Colts, as star player Jonathan Taylor was placed on the PUP list to start training camp and replacement Zack Moss broke his arm just a week later.

Drake, 29, is a seven year NFL veteran that has rushed for 3,866 total yards across stints with the Miami Dolphins, the Arizona Cardinals, the Las Vegas Raiders, and most recently with the Baltimore Ravens. This past season in Baltimore, Drake amassed 571 yards and five touchdowns on 116 touches in a reserve role with the team. 

Despite being a veteran player at a position that sees a substantial drop off around his age range, Drake still brings plenty of juice and versatility to the backfield. He may not be the same player that he was early in his NFL career, but there is still enough to like in the veteran player's ability.

Today, let's dive into some of Drake's film from last season and look at his versatility in different types of rushing calls.

Pistol Formation

Shane Steichen's Philadelphia Eagles incorporated a lot of spread ideology into their offensive system for quarterback Jalen Hurts over the past two seasons. One of the prime formations used was the pistol formation.

Pistol is a look where the quarterback is in the gun with the running back still lined up behind them. Rather than having the quarterback five or so yards in the backfield, this formation sees the passer roughly 2-3 yards in the backfield with the running back closer to standard shotgun depth. This formation incorporates the box advantage of running out of the gun while also keeping the prime ball carriers closer to the line of scrimmage. 

The pistol formation is ideal for teams with mobile quarterbacks because it makes read option calls, or at least the threat of a read option, that much more dangerous. The Baltimore Ravens also utilized this formation quite a bit, with Kenyan Drake, due to the ability that their star quarterback has with the ball in his hands.

This formation is where Drake thrived last year, ripping off multiple chunk gains out of the pistol. His combination of quickness and his high level vision allowed for him to quickly diagnose the hole to attack and explode up field for massive gains. Around 14% of Drake's rush attempts last year broke off for a gain of 15 or more yards, and the pistol formation was the typical play design where these runs would occur:

Kenyan Drake has a little bit more juice left than I expected pic.twitter.com/1mriZfF7FC

— Zach Hicks (@ZachHicks2) August 6, 2023

Standard Shotgun

Kenyan Drake was also fairly effective out of more standard shotgun runs a year ago as well. He is past the point in his career where he can create opportunities for himself through missed tackles (just eight missed tackles forced all last season) but he has the vision and the athletic ability to attack downhill efficiently.

Playing alongside Lamar Jackson a year ago, Drake was able to take advantage of lighter box and preoccupied defenders out of the gun. With backside defenders having to account for the rushing ability of Jackson, Drake was able to be patient in picking his spots and wait for plays to develop in front of him.

Anthony Richardson may not immediately be the rushing threat that Lamar Jackson was with Drake, but he should be able to take enough attention away to give Drake favorable looks out of the gun:

pic.twitter.com/jeILFvpnIv

— Not Zach’s Burner (@NotZachsBurner1) August 6, 2023

Under Center

Drake was his most inefficient when rushing from play designs where the quarterback is under center, but he was still able to create some magic on these calls last year. His vision and his lateral ability give him the power to be a quick thinker in tight situations and he has a knack for bouncing runs to the outside.

Again, this desire to bounce runs out did lead to some stuffed inside rushes, but they did occasionally break out into chunk plays for the Ravens a year ago:

pic.twitter.com/XYIHCCEuq5

— Not Zach’s Burner (@NotZachsBurner1) August 6, 2023

The Bottom Line

Kenyan Drake is far removed from being the electric top 100 draft pick that he was back in 2016, but he still offers some juice to a depleted Colts' running back room. The best comp for him at the moment could be Eagles' reserve back Boston Scott, a player that may not be a game-changer at the position but is effective in limited carries due to his vision and lateral ability.

Drake is a needed asset in the current Colts' running back room and he has the potential to be a solid fill-in player while both Jonathan Taylor and Zack Moss are out with injuries.

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Follow Zach on Twitter @ZachHicks2.

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