To quickly address it, though, anyone that is not legally blind can look at KJ and know that he is not CB. As far as physical appearance and character, there are no Coolio-esque dreads, questionable trash-stache, perpetually-high droopy-eyed look, and no skinny little birdlegs for him worry about hurting so much that he tries to get to the ground as quickly as possible once he’s reached the line of scrimmage. Additionally, and more importantly, on that point, is KJ – in all of the newspaper and ESPN interviews I’ve seen thus far – has said all of the right things to make me think he’ll actually enjoy being a great football player, not just enjoy proving to everybody else that they were wrong. The only ounce of emotion I think we ever saw out of CB in an entire season was after his lone breakaway TD run in the Seahawks game (which, might I add, and that nobody ever mentions, didn’t involve him getting past a single defender as he had a wide open plain of blown coverage to waltz through), and even that came off much more as a “how do you like that?” to the fans and media than a legitimate love of the game. KJ will bring a completely different attitude to the huddle than CB did, and when/if he gains confidence in his knee during training camp, that attitude, work ethic, and talent will translate into something after the snap that looks nothing like CB.

Which brings me to my next point – both in response to that post comparing the two and for a standalone/worthwhile discussion point – on his talent and/or what type of contribution he can bring to a two-back tandem, preferably comparable to a successful tandem that currently exists in the league. I’ve checked out what little Youtube highlights there are of him as a Lion and as a stud at VT (I would post the link but can’t access Youtube at work… sorry), and I must say I’m pretty positive about what I see. He displays some respectable ability to cut back and change direction coupled with pretty impressive (subsequent) acceleration. He doesn’t seem to approach the LOS with his ankles turned outwards in anticipation of juking anybody out to slow himself down (like both CB and TJones always did), and seems to chose correctly between making contact or trying to avoid a defender (which CB could never, ever do). In reference to the lack-of-speed comment above, I think the only applicable note I would have is that he doesn’t seem to have good breakaway speed to avoid the catch-up tackles by pursuing defensive backs – that “play-making” ability, it seems, will have to be left up to Forte and, God willing, some day, Wolfe. His profile lends to the perception that he’s more compact (same weight as Forte while three inches shorter) and, therefore, more of a “power” back…

SO, while both he and Forte seem like they could be solid all-around backs and both reduce the predictability we suffered from last year when we put in any of our three backs that all excelled at only one or two things, I’m wondering how the two guys’ natural talent sets will influence their usage on the field. Despite KJ’s knee concerns, Forte looks like the more “fragile” back of the two (and that’s RELATIVELY speaking… I’m not actually calling him fragile), but at the same time he seems like he’ll be much more of the gamebreaker our offense will need to be able counter that of more-explosive opposing running games, such as AP in minnesota, Reggie Bush in NO, or what we expect Run DMC to be in Oakland. What I’m getting at, I suppose, is whether we can expect KJ to naturally drift towards being the short-yardage or GL back of the two WITHOUT necessarily being confined to short-yardage and GL situations, much like the Chester Taylors, the Deuce McAllisters, and the Justin Fargas’ of the world are / will be for their respective tandems.

Thoughts? Anybody have different (positive) expectations for or impressions of what KJ could bring to the table differently than Forte?

... being that the two heads of hair look nothing alike, I think the description was neither accurate OR culturally relevant.