Running backs have gone from the belle of the ball to an ugly stepchild in the last generation. Guess what? It’s time to become reacquainted with the men that pound the rock.
Everybody in the scouting world seems smitten with Clyde Edwards-Helaire, the little big man who played a major role in LSU’s undefeated national championship season. Georgia’s D’Andre Swift, Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor and Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins join CEH in a formidable foursome atop most draft boards.
Stealthily creeping beneath the hype meter are another dozen or so backs who have the chops to do some damage as well. Everyone knows the position has been devalued in the last decade, but the fact that backs aren’t being selected as high anymore clearly hasn’t diminished their ability to play if not excel.
“There’s no Zekes, but does that even matter anymore?” said an executive in personnel. “You just want a good back, really. The (Todd) Gurleys, the Zeke’s (Elliott), does that even matter?”
It does, and it doesn’t. Just nine backs have been drafted in the first round over the last five years, and teams have gotten it right. Not one of the nine has been a bust, and at their best Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, Melvin Gordon, Leonard Fournette, Elliott and Gurley were impact players.
That doesn’t begin to tell the story, however, about the influx of good players from the previous five classes of running backs.
In 2015, David Johnson and Tevin Coleman arrived in the third round, Jay Ajayi in the fifth and Raheem Mostert in free agency.
In 2016, it was Derrick Henry in the second round, Kenyan Drake in the third and Jordan Howard in the fifth. In 2017, the haul included Dalvin Cook and Joe Mixon in the second round, Alvin Kamara, Kareem Hunt and James Conner in the third, Marlon Mack and Tarik Cohen in the fourth, Aaron Jones in the fifth, Chris Carson in the seventh and Austin Ekeler as a free agent. In 2018, the second round included Nick Chubb, Ronald Jones and Kerryon Johnson while free agency produced Phillip Lindsay and Gus Edwards. Last year, Miles Sanders was a second-round pick, Devin Singletary, Alexander Mattison and David Montgomery were thirds and Tony Pollard and Benny Snell were fourths. Others have produced for teams as well.
Some of them had more fanfare than others. In some of those years, not many people were talking pre-draft about it being a banner year for running backs. As the wide receivers, tackles and, of course, quarterbacks dominate the chatter on the offensive side this spring, beneath the surface many teams detect another bumper crop of ball carriers awaiting destinations.
“It’s been proven that you don’t necessarily have to take a running back super high,” an AFC personnel man said. “There are some good ones, and they’re coming in all shapes and sizes. The NFL has become a different game that way in terms of what’s acceptable for a running back. Four different guys could be classified as the top guy this year.”
Edwards-Helaire is short, but he’s not small. Swift is the best receiver of the upper crust whereas Taylor is the fastest and Dobbins could be the most complete.
All or none could get into the first round. It doesn’t matter. Teams seem confident all four will be producers, barring injury.
“Unless you’re Saquon Barkley or Ezekiel Elliott, you ain’t going in the first round,” said another executive in personnel. “That’s because you can get somebody late second or third round, sometimes in the fourth round, that is a good running back. It’s the new NFL.”
The height of backs also has changed over time. Ten years ago, seven of my top 10 backs stood at least 5-11. This year, Boston College’s A.J. Dillon is the only one that does. “They’re all 5-8, 5-9,” said another scout. “The game has changed.”
The shortest of the top 25 backs is LSU’s Edwards-Helaire. He’s a shade over 5-7, a 1,448-yard rusher who also found time to catch 55 passes for the prolific Bayou Bengals. “Love him,” an AFC personnel man said. “If Joe Burrow was the star, (Edwards-Helaire) won the Academy Award for best supporting actor. He’s a little engine that could. He is a terrific football player.”
LSU went with journeyman Nick Brossette (5-11, 210, 4.70) in their 10-3 season of 2018. An undrafted free agent in 2019, he’s out of football. Edwards-Helaire had to be content with 146 carries and 11 receptions that year. “I don’t think they knew what they had,” said another AFC scout. “Last summer, I missed him, too. He’s 5-7, sharing reps, and you think he’s just a good little college player. He’s just been overlooked because of the way he looks when he gets off the bus.”
In chronological order, here are the names and height-weight-speed entering their drafts of seven players that have been compared in some form or fashion to Edwards-Helaire by at least one personnel man: Kevin Faulk (5-7 ½, 205, 4.48), Darren Sproles (5-6, 187, 4.48), Maurice Jones-Drew (5-7, 207, 4.39), Danny Woodhead (5-7 ½, 197, 4.41), Cohen (5-6 ½, 177, 4.41), Austin Ekeler (5-8 ½, 198, 4.48) and Devin Singletary (5-7 ½, 201, 4.65).
One significant difference is Edwards-Helaire ran just 4.59 at the combine, a least one-tenth of a second slower than six of those seven success stories. “But he has maybe the best play speed I’ve seen in like five years among running backs,” said one scout. “His game against Alabama and even his combine workout … his first step is full speed. It’s absolutely crazy how fast he plays.”
My poll of 18 evaluators asked them to rank their top five backs. As always, a first-place vote was worth five points, a second-place was worth four and so on.
Swift led with 77 points and 10 firsts, followed closely by Taylor (63, five), Edwards-Helaire (51, one) and Dobbins (50, two). The other vote-getters were Cam Akers (11), Zack Moss (seven), Dillon (five), Ke’Shawn Vaughn (five) and Darrynton Evans (one).
Even beyond the leading dozen, there are down-the-liners such as Miami’s DeeJay Dallas, Florida’s Lamical Perine, Cincinnati’s Mike Warren and Illinois State’s James Robinson that scouts have studied more than just casually.
It’s a good bet that the next Aaron Jones or Phillip Lindsay is sitting deep on draft boards just waiting to explode in the NFL. Running backs are very, very much alive and well. “It’s a good class,” an NFC decision-maker said. “There are interesting backs all the way through.”
Perhaps for the first time, several teams say college football hasn’t sent forth a conventional fullback of merit. So if you’re a club that needs one, it’s a game of projecting shorter tight ends to do the dirty blocking work from the backfield.
