The Atlanta Falcons signed running back Khalil Herbert to their practice squad in September, and through October, he hadn't done much. He spent most of his time on the practice squad until he got his big break.
Atlanta's incumbent RB2, Brian Robinson Jr., missed Weeks 7 and 8 with a hamstring injury though most didn't realize how serious it was. He was expected to return in Week 9, but after suffering a setback in practice, he was placed on injured reserve prior to the loss to the Bengals in Madrid.
Now Atlanta looks to it's new number two as they take on one of the hardest NFL schedules through the next four weeks. Most see this as a terrifying prospect for the lack of backfield depth but what he's done already gives me hope that it's not all over for the Falcons backfield/special teams.
Khalil Herbert has capitalized on his extra opportunities when the Falcons have needed him
He first hit the field with Atlanta in Week 6 against the 49ers where he played effective, supportive football with the team around him. Khalil had a couple nice returns equating to 65 yards including a special 38 yard return that had him literally bouncing off of tackles to start the 3rd quarter.
He showed out in the blocking game, flying around on kickoffs, even giving Zach Branch a huge block that set up his explosive 60-yard return. That's not all either. Herbert caught a delayed screen pass from Michael Penix Jr. that--after working around TE Nick Muse--Herbert almost turned into a touchdown, as he was tackled just short of the end zone.
He would finish the game with 19 yards receiving on one catch, and 2 carries for 9 yards that averaged him 4.5 a carry. Khalil Herbert did all that in his first game as RB2, and he didn't slow down the following week
Khalil Herbert has helped the Falcons on offense and special teams
Even with limited attempts in the loss to the Bucs, he he made use of his touches totaling 44 all-purpose yards that included a wonderful 29-yard kick return, four rushes for 12 yards, and three-yard reception.
Although he only averaged three yards a pop, the veteran back did what he could in horrific conditions against a line that had the Falcons number.
Khalil Herbert's shown he can support the Falcons in a variety of ways, but in Week 9 he gave a little more juice to one side of the ball--special teams. Yes, special teams was the keyword for Herbert through Week 9. The man who'd gone over 25 yards on all his kicks prior to the game stepped up in a major way for Atlanta. He totaled 6 return attempts for 157 total yards.
With a long of 39-yards, the former Bengal averaged 26 yards a tote against his old team. On top of that he picked up one carry for 7 yards and two catches for two yards adding to his yardage total of 166 all purpose yards against the Bengals in limited action behind Bijan Robinson--who went off.
So far in the last three games, Khalil Herbert has averaged 4.0 yards a carry on 7 touches, 6 yards a grab on 4 catches, and just around 28 yards a return on 9 total touches. He's not going to wow you but he'll get down and dirty, make a man miss, give you that edge in starting field position, and that reliability when he carries the ball. That's what you want to see out of a RB2/depth player.
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