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Here’s a look at ESPN’s top available running backs ahead of Day 2 of the 2023 NFL draft.
Two running backs were selected within the top-12 picks of the 2023 NFL draft. Continue reading “Top running backs available on Day 2 of the 2023 NFL draft”
Do running backs still matter? They do in the draft, and here are the 11 best in the 2021 NFL draft class.
When we say that “Running backs don’t matter” in today’s NFL, I would opine that the more accurate slogan would be, “Running backs don’t matter if they don’t give an offense clear and definable traits and attributes.” It’s a bit clunkier, and you’re not going to see it on a T-shirt, but the running backs who come into the NFL with skill sets to help their professional offenses hit a different level will always be valuable, no matter how fungible backs may been seen at any given time.
Look at the running backs selected in the first round since 2016. That gives us a five-year view, and in that five years, the majority of NFL offenses have moved further and further away from the running back as the force multiplier of an offense. Eight backs have been taken in the first round in that time, and outside of Ezekiel Elliott, Christian McCaffrey, and Saquon Barkley, they haven’t been bellwether guys. Moreover, McCaffrey and Barkley have seen their overall value diminished due to injuries, and before Dak Prescott got hurt last season, the Cowboys were doing everything possible to put the offense in Prescott’s hands.
So, maybe it’s smarter to target the backs in later rounds who you think can accentuate what you want to accomplish schematically and philosophically. Few backs have been more valuable to their teams — in very different ways — than Derrick Henry and Alvin Kamara. Well, the Titans, who took Henry in the second round of the 2016 draft, want to beat you up and take your lunch money. Henry is the perfect back for that. Conversely, Sean Payton prefers his backs to be multi-positional tone-setters, and Kamara has proven to be the logical extension of Reggie Bush in Payton’s playbook. Which made him a ridiculous bargain in the third round of the 2017 draft.
The Seahawks got Chris Carson, their zone power back, in the seventh round of the 2017 draft, and the Packers took Aaron Jones in the fifth round that same year — which was before we understood what a perfect fit he’d be as a more versatile player in Matt LaFleur’s offense. Former head coach and offensive shot-caller Mike McCarthy didn’t understand Jones’ value, but LaFleur saw it right away.
Moving to the 2021 draft class of running backs, there’s a lot of specific talent here, and let’s not diminish any of these guys just because they’re not 300-carry dominators. Look closer and see just how they can help specific offenses.
How they can, in effect, matter.
Note: The percentiles in parentheses listed next to pro day data are compared to all historical athletic testing (combine and pro day) at the respective position of the player. Kudos to Pro Football Focus, and their Pro Day Schedule and Results Tracker, for this. As there was no scouting combine in 2021, and pro day schedules vary, we may not have all testing information for all prospects at publication time.
NFL Combine measurements for Georgia football RB Brian Herrien.
Brian Herrien, a fan favorite in Athens during his career at Georgia, underwent measurements on Tuesday at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
Douglasville native Herrien, who was able to put together a productive career as a backup in Athens, is viewed as a guy who will likely go undrafted or be taken in one of the later rounds.
But one thing that’s for sure is that whoever does get Herrien will be getting one of the hardest working players in the entire draft class.
Herrien’s measurements are as follows:
Height: 5-11 and 1/8 inches
Weight: 209 lbs
Hand: 9″
Arm: 29 and 3/4 inches
Wingspan: 73 and 3/4 inches
NFL.com’s overview of Herrien is as follows:
Hard-charging, backup-caliber running back with adequate size and plenty of toughness but missing feel and finesse. Herrien is loose-limbed and has some elusiveness, but the tape is littered with runs where he tastes squared, punishing contact. With that said, he has one fumble over 296 attempts and through all the contact, he rarely seems deterred from squeezing out additional yardage by any means necessary. His lack of decisiveness is apparent when watching him follow teammate D’Andre Swift, but success in short-yardage carries and kick-return experience might help his cause.
Good news came the way of one of those exact players Tuesday as Tony Jones, Jr. posted the following to Instagram
As we continue to prepare for the NFL Draft, the next step welcomes the top prospects in the 2020 NFL Draft to Indianapolis for the annual combine.
40 yard dashes, vertical leap, bench press reps, interviews and everything else will be used in Indiana’s capital city to help teams decide who they ultimately select and who they avoid.
Notre Dame figures to have several representatives with a few others remaining tossups as to if they get invitations or not.
Good news came the way of one of those exact players Tuesday as Tony Jones, Jr. posted the following to Instagram:
I hope Jones turns heads and gets himself selected. When we looked at Matt Miller of Bleacher Report’s Seven Round Mock Draft, he had Jones going in the seventh round.
That will probably remain a tossup but here’s to hoping he turns some heads. One part of his game he unfortunately won’t be able to highlight these coming days in Indy will be his pass-protection. I truly feel he isn’t just acceptable at it but legit good. However they don’t so much do pass-protection drills to showcase running backs at the scouting combine.
Knock em dead, 6.
In 41 career games at Wisconsin, Taylor failed to reach a 100 yard rushing total just nine times.
When Notre Dame takes on Wisconsin on October 3 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay they’ll be taking on a Badgers football team playing without their best player of the last three season.
That’s because all-world running Jonathan Taylor announced Friday night via Twitter that he’ll be leaving school a year early and entering the NFL Draft.
2️⃣3️⃣Thank you Madison!❤️2️⃣3️⃣ #onwisconsin pic.twitter.com/P95PFTMxlS
— Jonathan Taylor (@JayT23) January 4, 2020
Taylor goes down as not only one of the best Wisconsin running backs to ever do it but one of the best in college football to ever play the position.
In three seasons Taylor ran for 6174 yards and 50 touchdowns and never for less than than the 1977 yards or 13 touchdowns he ran for his freshman year.
He had a career high in rush yards with 2194 as a sophomore and a career-high in total yards by one this season as he ran for 2003 but caught a career high 252 yards worth of passes, resulting in five more scores.
In 41 career games at Wisconsin, Taylor failed to reach a 100 yard rushing total just nine times.
Wisconsin will still be in fine shape come October as their eight ten-plus win seasons since 2009 say as much, but it takes a lot to stay at the same level as an offense when you lose a talent like Taylor.
