I think Imani gets dished into irrelevancy because of his body type and previous contributions. He got somewhat looked over at times in previous seasons, a lot of that was due to AA's talent, but also Cross' abilities, IMHO. Combine that with what people THINK Riley will run this year, in terms of the type of offense, and Cross may just not be the guy needed on most downs.
I also heard from two people who watched practice yesterday that Cross didn't look good catching passes in the backfield. In fact, he dropped four of them in the first hour. That said, I heard quite a few people had problems yesterday. First day of practice so shouldn't read too much into it, though. Just observations from yesterday.
His contribution? He's been steadily more productive as time has went on through his career with both ypc and tds where he got quite a few (10?) Last year.
He has not been steadily more productive through his career. Cross' contributions WERE increasing until 2014, when he dropped off in every major category - attempts, YPC, total yards and TD's, compared to 2013. Now, as I stated, a lot of that was because AA was just so good, AA needed to be on the field. But, that's also because I just don't think Cross is a guy they want in there on most downs. He only had 5 TD's in 2014, btw. He had 10 in 2013.
Cross and Newby had only had about an 8 carry difference in 2014 with a similar number of touchdowns. Cross had more YPC and more total yards. You'd think Cross would have seen more carries and opportunities by this point if that's what the coaches wanted. Instead, he split them almost identically with Newby.
Cross also has a grand total of 4 career catches for 14 yards, and RB catching ability will likely be more necessary under Riley, though not guaranteed. I'm not trying to insult Cross - just stating facts.