Pittsburgh Steelers rookie running back Dri Archer might be roughly 20 pounds lighter than Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles, but offensive coordinator Todd Haley thinks the two have similar running styles, according to Judy Battista of NFL.com.
A few Steelers leftovers from today: Todd Haley told me rookie Dri Archer's running style reminds him of Jamaal Charles, minus 20 lbs.
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) July 28, 2014
Archer, the Steelers third-round draft pick out of Kent State, has had a lot of people excited all offseason and has already showed off that speed and elusiveness of his during the first three days of training camp.
Haley knows first-hand about Charles as he coached him for a couple of seasons when he was the head man with the Chiefs. While not quite as fast as Archer, Charles still remains one of the most explosive backs currently in the league and it’s resulted in him registering 62 explosive plays of 20 yards or more during his first six years in the league.
While Charles is bigger and built to be an every-down back, Archer is not. The two however, are adept at catching the ball out of the backfield and that’s one way Haley is expected to use Archer during his rookie season.
In Haley’s first season with the Steelers, the team drafted running back Chris Rainey, who like Archer was fast and undersized when he entered the league. While Rainey did have speed, he never showed that he could function as a serviceable running back and reliable pass catcher and that’s something the team hopes Archer will be able to do on a limited basis.
Hopefully that Charles-like running style results in yardage in chunks for Archer as explosive plays usually play a huge part in whether or not a team wins a game.
