Marion Grice Struggles In First Preseason Game

Marion Grice, the San Diego Chargers’ sixth round pick, did nothing but struggle against a horrendous Dallas Cowboys defense on Thursday.

Go watch Grice’s college tape. He is a very versatile back that has awareness and agility. The problem that he has is the fact that he runs straight up into the holes that he is running into.

It works in college, but you cannot do that in the NFL.  Against the Cowboys, he had 14 attempts for 35 yards, roughly a 2.5 average.

After what I saw from Branden Oliver, Grice may be in trouble. If he wants to make the team he must somehow find a way to contribute through the air. He was very good at catching passes out of the backfield at ASU.

Putting that aside, Marion Grice must change the way he runs. He is a bit too slow (4.67 40 yard dash) to try to run into holes standing straight up. Now some will argue in Branden Oliver’s case as he runs a 4.62 yard dash (I know I was surprised too). But Oliver is different. He is very small height wise measuring in under 5’7 at Buffalo’s pro day so it is a lot harder to find him, just like Danny Woodhead. And I bet that Oliver’s 40 yard dash would be different if he ran it again today, not so sure about Grice.

It’s probably too soon to judge, there are still three games left of preseason. But Charger fans, being as we are, have already penciled in Oliver’s name in the 53 man roster leaving no room for Marion Grice.