The New Orleans Saints continued their tour of the 2023 NFL draft’s running backs class by meeting up with UCLA Bruins star Zach Charbonnet for a private workout, reports KPRC 2 Houston’s Aaron Wilson. One of the nation’s leading rushers, Charbonnet is a constant big-play threat who led the FBS in all-purpose yards per game (168) last year. He reads the field very well and is adept at setting up defenders to take poor pursuit angles as well as identifying the blitz before the snap.
And he nails the height-weight-speed values the Saints maintain at running back, having measured 6-foot-1 and 214 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine with a solid time in the 40-yard dash (4.53 seconds). He weighed in at his playing weight of 222 pounds at the Bruins pro day but stood on his 40 time, posting adequate numbers in the three-cone drill and short shuttle. He’s drawn comparisons to Saints legend Deuce McAllister (who had the same height and weight but legitimate 4.4 speed coming out of school).
The Saints have done a ton of work on this draft class at running back. They’ve brought players to the facility like DeWayne McBride (UAB), Tyjae Spears (Tulane), Kendre Miller (TCU), Carlos Washington (Southeastern Louisiana), and Devon Achane (Texas A&M) while meeting many others around the country for private workouts on campus, like this example with Charbonnet. They also met with Auburn’s Tank Bigsby and Pittsburgh’s Israel Abanikanda at the combine and again at their school pro days.
It would make a lot of sense to draft some fresh legs to add to the depth chart behind Alvin Kamara and Jamaal Williams, especially if Kamara is expected to miss multiple games with a suspension stemming from his Feb. 2022 arrest in Las Vegas (for which he’ll go on trial on July 31). Charbonnet and Williams would form a dangerous tandem with experience on both rushing and passing downs, and they just might be a viable pivot for life after Kamara if the Saints decide his contract is untenable in the next year or two. Charbonnet is projected to be a second- or third-round pick.
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