8. A.J. Dillon, Boston College
Height: 6’0″ Weight: 247
40-Yard Dash: 4.53 seconds
Bench Press: 23
Vertical Jump: 41.0
Broad Jump: 131.0
3-Cone Drill: 7.19 seconds
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
60-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Bio: The grandson of College Football Hall of Famer Thom Gatewood, who was the first African-American team captain at Notre Dame, Dillon signed on with Boston College after playing for a BC alum in high school (Paul Zukauskas). He won ACC Rookie of the Year in 2017 with 1,589 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns on 300 carries. He let down a little in 2018 with 1,108 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on 227 carries, but fought his way back to an excellent junior season in 2019 with 1,685 yards and 14 touchdowns on 318 carries.
“I like to take bits and pieces from people’s game,” Dillon said at the scouting combine. “I look at Le’Veon Bell’s patience, Leonard Fournette, the way he runs a ball with speed… The way he runs, it’s an aggressive running style, Saquon [Barkley’s] explosiveness, Steven Jackson back in the day with the Rams, that’s how he ran to not really be denied yards. So, I mean, I’m constantly trying to develop, so I’m excited now have the opportunity to show teams that.”
Stat to Know: Dillon’s tape shows a guy who’s very hard to bring down, and the numbers prove it. He forced 198 broken tackles in 845 career rushing attempts from 2017 through 2019. Only Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor and Utah’s Zack Moss forced more over the last three seasons.
Strengths: Force multiplier in the run game from a power perspective. Uses his bulk and a nice array of moves to bounce off defenders and create extra yardage. Works well with leverage and quickness to spot and exploit open gaps, though he seems to enjoy creating them on his own. Not featured much in the receiving game, though he shows potential on simple screens and quick, angular routes. Willing blocker with the obvious tools to get that done.
Weaknesses: Dillon doesn’t have notable speed to the edge; he’ll get mopped up pretty quickly by gang tackles against better defenses when he tries to break outside. Doesn’t have the versatility of moves to cut his way out of dead ends — it’s pretty much power and short-area speed or nothing. For his size, you’d like to see him break out of gang tackles more than he does — he extends with push, but doesn’t always break away.
Conclusion: Dobbins is as old-school as running backs come. Were we in an era when bigger backs who could blast through contact and do little else were still a major component of offenses, Dillon might look like a first-round talent. But his limited use in the passing game, combined with his relative lack of creativity against contact, will limit him to a power-based zone or gap scheme. That’s not a bad thing; but he’ll be wasted in the wrong system.
NFL Comparison: T.J. Duckett. Duckett was the hammer for the Falcons’ league-leading run game along with Michael Vick and Warrick Dunn in the mid-2000s, At his peak, Duckett presented one challenging piece of an impossible offensive equation with his raw power, and Dillon could do the same. One wonders how he could light things up with the Lamar Jackson-led Ravens, for example.
Moss | Swift | Taylor | Edwards-Helaire | Dobbins | Akers |
Benjamin | Dillon | Evans | Perine | Gibson