The Wisconsin football program, otherwise known as ‘Running Back U,’ sends star running backs to the NFL seemingly every other year.
Right now there are six former Badger running backs on NFL rosters—Melvin Gordon on the Broncos, Jonathan Taylor on the Colts, Dare Ogunbowale on the Jaguars, Garrett Groshek on the Raiders, James White on the Patriots and Corey Clement on the Giants.
Yesterday, TouchdownWire’s Doug Farrar put together the top 11 running backs in the NFL.
At No. 1 is Titans RB Derrick Henry…But at No. 9? Wisconsin and college football legend Jonathan Taylor.
New on @TheNFLWire: Do running backs still matter? Yes.
Is high-level survival more important than relevance at the position? Also, yes.
Here are the NFL's 11 best running backs… at least, for now. https://t.co/lyCEwWFs8t
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) July 8, 2021
Taylor is coming off a productive rookie season, especially considering it took a few weeks until he received the bulk of the Colts’ carries.
Here’s what Farrar had to say about his rookie campaign:
Colts head coach Frank Reich loves his two- and three-tight end sets, and Taylor benefited from those personnel packages, gaining 348 yards and scoring five touchdowns out of 12 personnel, and gaining 129 yards with two touchdowns on 32 carries out of 13 personnel…
Overall, only Derrick Henry and Dalvin Cook gained more rushing yards than Taylor’s 1,247, and Taylor added 12 rushing touchdowns on 253 carries in an offense that was pretty seriously limited with Philip Rivers at quarterback in Rivers’ swan song season. Not that we’re sure about what the Colts are getting in Carson Wentz, but we’re pretty sure that Taylor will continue to be the team’s bastion of consistency.
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