Top 10 Running Back Prospect Rankings: Who's Overvalued? (Ep. 132)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to the Fantasy Pros NFL Draft Show. I'm
your host, Derek Brown and with the happy Minnesota Man
man himself, the man that we got to discuss. We're
gonna look, We're gonna go through all the running backs today.
Thorn and I are going to talk about our top
ten running backs for this NFL Draft class. But we
got to leave this off at the top of the news.
Something that is going to impact not only the mood

(00:23):
of Thorn Eistro on this show, but all Minnesota Vikings
fans out there in the ether in general. Kirk Cousins
is gone. He is going to the Atlanta Falcons. Thore
your thoughts on JJ McCarthy and the Minnesota Vikings.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, this is one of the ten best days of
my life. Kirk Cousins just gone. I feel like I've
been chained down in purgatory and mediocrity the last six
years of my life. And that cap Hit has gone,
that Albatroz has gone, and the Vikings that you know
we're we are now clear of that and now the
roster can be remade and everything is clear and open now.

(00:59):
And yeah, that a quarterback target, I think is what's
gonna happen next in the draft. So in Minnesota now
everything is wide open. The draft the next couple of
months has gotten a lot more interesting. In my neck
of the woods. We're gonna be talking about running backs
on today's episode. The Vikings need a running back as well,

(01:20):
so that you know that's that's interesting as well.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
For our purposes.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
But yeah, it's it's gotten really interesting as far as
the draft goes for the Vikings.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Dude, it's all the things and stuff are churning right
now in free agency, so you got to be heading
the fantasy pros. Look at all our free agency ride ups.
All of these things are going to impact the NFL Draft.
We're already seeing some parts and pieces move. Like in
our last few moncks we've talked about maybe the Raiders
go with the tackle, not anymore. They just signed Christian
Wilkins to a big money contract. So as these dominoes

(01:50):
continue to fall, it is going to change the complexion
of the NFL Draft as well as teams that are
wrestling their running back needs right now with signing free agents,
So are they going to go that way in the draft.
But Thor, let's kick this off, baby, Yeah, all right, Thoris.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
So.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
On today's show, we talked about we're going to go
through our top ten rankings. But the way that we're
going to do this, man, is we're going to discuss
the consensus top ten big board, give our ranks, and
then we're at the end of this, we're going to
talk about some of the guys we might have in
our top ten or versus consensus might be in there
might not be. Let's kick this off, man, RB ten

(02:26):
Permockdraft Database dot Com. Right now is Ray Davis? Where
does he fall in your ranks? I'm a little bit
lower on Ray Davis.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Ray Davis a guy I've seen for years and years
and years. He has been around the block. We've seen
him at Temple, We've seen him at Vanderbilt, We've seen
him at Kentucky most recently. And he's been productive for
a long time. He ran for a thousand yards at
three different schools, and there's things to like about his game.
You know, he's one of those like bowling ball bill

(02:57):
guys that I typically like. He went into the combine
five eight and a half two hundred and eleven pounds,
ran a four five two six one two RAS decent athlete.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
The athletic profile was was only decent, but it was
about what you were expecting him to come in at. UH.
And it's sort of part and parcel of his game,
like where he's decent sort of at a lot of things,
but nothing really stands out about his game that that
includes him as a runner and that includes him as

(03:32):
a receiver. There there's no element of his game that
sticks out and and and I think that's what's gonna
go into the next level with Ray Davis. And that's
why I'm lower on him, you know, like when when
you're starting to stack him up against some of these
other runners, that's why you start to put guys over
him where they have the receiving utility, right like and

(03:53):
and and then also the early down guys. Like when
Ray Davis goes and you have him on an NFL roster,
I think you're going to have I struggle to see
when he's on an NFL roster that he's going to
be the best early down guy on that NFL roster.
And certainly he is never going to be the best
receiving down back on that NFL roster. There's certain things

(04:14):
to like about Ray Davis you know, I like some
of the early down grinding stuff with Ray Davis's game,
and and you know, just as far as the collegiate profile,
I like how he fought through all the way.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
You know, I mean, like early on his career.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
You know, when he was at Tempo, he's at Vanderbilt,
he was in some really hard situations and he fought through.
He was the belcow on those teams. Uh you know,
and and he was the marked man and he fought
through and whatnot, and he was the only source of
offense on those teams. And then you know, and he
broke through on a decent Kentucky team last year whatnot.

(04:51):
But uh yeah, as far as the NFL utility, I
just don't think you're getting a ton of value out
of Ray Davis. That's why he's further down on my
board down there at running back to Okay, I'm sorry,
running back thirteen on my board.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yeah, and we're not that far apart. Man, Like I
am in line coming the consensus. I have Ray Davis
as my RB ten. And this really comes down to
this entire class. And I really think that this is
a talking point basically outside of probably the top three
to four guys in this class. That ranks are going
to be all over the place and we're gonna see
where draft capital goes. Like, Ray Davis is a guy

(05:23):
I don't think that he goes any earlier than probably
round five in the NFL draft because, like you talked
about Thor like older prospect. Now we've seen that he
can handle volume, we saw him mobile, that he showed
out in the pass game drills, and because of Ray Davis, Like,
I know what I'm getting out of Ray Davis is

(05:44):
a guy that he can handle the volume. He can
be a three down back if you need him to be.
But is he going to walk into any NFL depth
chart and be the clear cut best guy for early downs,
the clear cut best guy for the pass game. No,
But can he handle all those things?

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (06:01):
And the thing that I really enjoyed about Ray Davis's
film is that I felt like even though he was
an older prospect, I felt like I So the reason
I came in higher than maybe can well, I'm in
line with consensus, but higher than you, is that in
twenty twenty three, I felt like we saw a different
version of Ray Davis. And you and I had discussed
this off air. It's like when you go back and
you watch his film at Temple at Vandy, he looked

(06:25):
like a different guy. This finally season at Kentucky, I
thought he looked trimmor. I thought he looked His burst
was a lot better. I do think that when you're
looking at Ray Davis's fit for the NFL, you're not
gonna want him in an outside or stretch zone scheme.
And a lot of that comes back to the testing,
but also just his intangibles, like the burst is not
there to where you want him running stretch zone for

(06:48):
most of most of the game, most of every week,
most of his carries. Get him in a gap in
power scheme and get him downhill, and you're gonna see
the best version of Ray Davis as you possibly can
in the NFL. So I think he's a solid back.
But this also goes back to speak about just this
class in general and the big giant tier breaks after
the top five, top seven guys, or maybe that's a

(07:09):
little bit different. We'll get through that later on this
show man, But coming in and this is a blasphemous ranking,
I'm just gonna throw that out there. This is absolutely
blasphemous mock draft database right now has Marshawn Lloyd as
their RB nine and consensus and I, yes, sir, he
is the RB nine in consensus. And I look that

(07:34):
that that's that's some kind of crazy sauce to me.
I and we'll well, I'm gonna let you lead this.
Like all, I kind of quietly, well not so quietly,
stew about this ranking the war. Where do you have
Marshawn Lloyd in your ranks right now? What do you
think about his game?

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Well, you say that my ranking of of Marshawn is blasphemous,
like that is that ranking is blasphemous to me? I
haven't seen these consensus rankings. That one is stunning to me.
The industry clearly has not caught up to certainly the testing.
That one indicates to me they haven't even caught up

(08:09):
to the tape. That that is stunning to me that
they still have him down at nine. That doesn't conform
to reality to me at all. Marshawn Lloyd is a
guy who is productive at two different schools, two different USC's,
you know, going back to South Carolina and then at
USC last year and then the I mean the thing
is he went and proved the athleticism question as well.

(08:31):
After he proved the receiving game thing. He is addressed
both of the questions about his profile during the pre
draft process. That's what we're looking for these prospects to do,
you know. I mean, you have the tape. That's the
most important thing for any prospect. And most prospects are
going to come into their pre draft process with some

(08:51):
sort of question, so, you know, some sort of doubt
about their evaluation, and you're looking for them when they
go to these All Star events and then the Combine
or their pro day to address those in some way.
With Marshawn, he had the self awareness at the All
Star event, Debro. You were the one from our team
that interviewed him. He directly addressed it right away in

(09:16):
your interview when you asked him what do you want
to prove during your pre draft process?

Speaker 1 (09:20):
He came right at it.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
He was like at the schools that I was at,
in those offenses, they did not utilize me as a
receiver as much as I would have liked. What they
did do was use him as the running back. They
used him quite a bit as that the slashing type guy.
We got to see that aspect of his game quite
a bit, both with the game Cocks then with the Trojans,
but they didn't throw them the ball as much as

(09:42):
he would have liked. In mobile, he was very very
smooth with that, both running the routes consistently, was shaking
the guys in the one on one drills, was very
smooth catching the ball. The hands were very good. And
then he would transition from the receiver into the runner,
transitioning up field very very smooth. So he proved all
that different stuff, and I loved his answer to your

(10:03):
question with regards to that. Then in he goes to
Indianapolis a month later, his rad score nine to nine.
And by the way, here's my public apology. I know
you wanted it. He brought it up last week with.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Fitz has been coming for some time. Baby. I'm just
gonna hang up and listen. Go ahead, Thorpe. Here here
it is.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
So I thought I thought Marsham was gonna run mid
four fives and perhaps even high four fives.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
That would be over for four or five three to
just be clear.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yes, okay, it was the one doubt I had about
his evaluation. I loved his slashing. I loved his agility,
and I love you and I both loved that power
and anger that he runs. And I loved the answer
he had to that question that you asked him about
the anger and the power.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
That he ran with that, he said, well that's you.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
Know, I come from Delaware and we had to we
assert ourselves. We come from Delaware, you know, and all
that stuff. But he ran a four four six. The
kid has a ninety third percentile athletic profile out of
four four six. I mean, he blew my socks off
with that, and in the thirty six vertical. I mean
like he was over the ninety percentile in all that stuff.

(11:14):
Of course, you know with the ninety third percentile overall
composite that with the tape that is a top five
back just objectively, you know, just the data.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
The tape backs that up. The industry will come around
to this. Those consensus rankings are obviously behind debro. The
last thing I want to say, and then I will
kick it to you. I mean, and this kid is
five nine two twenty. We are not talking about a small,
unfortified guy. He put that athletic profile up at two twenty. Okay,

(11:46):
he is over the side threshold. I have a comp
de bro for Marshawn Lloyd that that I like, and
and you're you're the the lead guy banging the drum
for Marshaan, So I want to I want to try
this on for size for you and see what you think. Okay,
D'Angelo Williams, what do you think?

Speaker 1 (12:06):
What do you think? Oh, that's that's that's absolutely just that.
That's pure gold. Dude.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
I love the load of the.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
Ground slasher and then you know, yeah he can he
can still, he still has that power, but I love
that slashing ability and you come in low and he
can he can do the bowling ball thing with you.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
I love the dichotomy of of those two things. And
I like that he showed us as well, both the
juice with the receiving utility, the two sort of questions
that that at least I had coming in Can he
prove those things? He proved those things. He's number four
for me. He might be in my.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Top three by the end of this process. I'm just
going to start this off with with respect on this
man's name. He's my RB one in this process. I'm
not backing off of a dude. I know that a
lot of consensus, and we're going to talk about Jonathan
Brooks and we're going to talk about Trey Benson. I
am not saying that they are not talented players. I'm
not saying that at all. But we need to put
respect on Marshall Lloyd's name for a player that over

(13:08):
the last two years has ranked top twenty four and
putting this out there for the people in yards have
to contact per attempt breakaway run rate PFF, elusive rating.
You match all of that with what he showed on tape.
And I think that his pass pro gets better with
better technique and he gets a consistency. He has high

(13:31):
end reps of pass pro on his film. Now as
the consistency there right now, no can it come and
he be a trusted pass protector in the NFL. Yes,
I fully believe that. I think he has a three
down skill set. He has the size and the intangibles
to be a three down back in the NFL. And
not only that, you talked about all the passing utility

(13:53):
and him showing out a mobile. Anybody go look up
the clips in mobile at Senior Bowl. This man closed
two straight practices running wheel routes or whip routes and
dusting fools in his wake. To me, this is a
back that can lead this class. I love his game.

(14:14):
I love what he brings to the table. He showed
all of that out in his testing. There is no
part of the process thor that Marshawn Lloyd has not crushed.
Do I want him to be a twenty five carry
guy every single week? No? Do I think he can
hold up to fifteen to eighteen carries per week. And
you get him the pass game utility and get him

(14:34):
up into that twenty to twenty two touches per week,
you surely believe. I do believe that man, Marshawn Lloyd
is my RB one in this class. Not backing off
of it. I think the dude is a stud. I've
had a third round grade on him before the NFL Combine.
That grade has not changed and people are going to
be surprised how high he goes in the NFL draft. Man, So,
I love the kid, But just to point out his

(14:58):
stature and how he weighed in at the next guy
up in consensus ranks, here is the RB eighth Aldrich
Estimate who weighed in a two twenty one went out
performed in the combine well in the jumps and the
broad and things like that, But he bombed the forty
thor where do you have him in your ranks right now?
Because I'll I'll tell you right now, dude, he's not

(15:20):
inside of my top ten with that forty He is
my RB thirteen. But where does he fall for you?

Speaker 2 (15:25):
He's still hanging inside my top ten barely. He's at
RB nine. I So, yeah, just hanging in there. Comes
into the combine five eleven and a half to twenty one.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
You mentioned that the good jumps, but yeah, five seven
the ten yard split was not very good as well.
He did have eight point five nine raz you know,
salvage by the jumps whatever. I like. The power that
he runs with that is the calling card with him.

(15:59):
He is an early down power back. That's what he does.
It's the vision. It is the tackle, breaking the patients
behind the line. That's the stuff that you like. He's
going to churn out those yards between the tackles.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
That's what he is going to do for you. The
rest he's gonna the piston churning legs. That's the dude.
He is the rest of it. He ain't gonna have
for you. He categorically lacks the long speed, he lacks
the burst. That's what you got. But the two things
I'll say for him. In addition, he is still only
twenty when he is picked, he will still only be

(16:36):
twenty ninety four point.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
Two PFF grade last year.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
But like I said, that utility going over to the NFL,
it is confined to that early down work between the tackles,
the power stuff.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
Yeah, and two big things that people need to understand.
One the reason you brought up ten yard split because
I want to illuminate this for people. Does the forty
yard dash is that the end all be all of
looking at running backs? So when the forty yard dash
is maybe a little bit disappointing, or a guy runs
in the four to six, we need to go back
to the ten yard split because one of the highest

(17:08):
correlations to tackle breaking goes back to what is your
ten yard split? And that speaks a lot to players
and when we're watching them on film as well as
their numbers, they're burst because once you get the carry,
you get the ball in your hands, what are you
doing inside of that first ten yards? Are you shot

(17:28):
out of a cannon or in the case of Addric
estimatey are you more like slow molasses? Considering his ten
yard split is only the fifty third percentile, So the
ten yard split gives him a little bit of life,
but it's not what you wanted to see in the
disappointing forties, like, Okay, well, how can I talk not
so much talk myself into it, but where is the

(17:49):
sliver of hope in the straight line speed that I
could still look at and say, Okay, the forty yard
dash is not great, but what is his ten yard split?
Estimate doesn't even offer for us hoping that And the
other part that you brought up that I want to
expand a little bit is he's going to have to
make his money on the early downs because we didn't
see any of the pass game utility coming out of

(18:11):
Notre Dame for estimate, he wasn't used in that. So
if you want to take the limited routes and reps
and targets that he had in that and as far
as that part of his profile, and you would expand
that and say, Okay, I think he can. I really
think you're just trying to paint a really rosier picture
for a prospect that really is there. So I like,

(18:32):
these are the drawbacks of the limitations. And this is
a lot of these guys in this class, man, where
it's like they're not stand out receivers. Some of these
guys that are standout receivers, do we have questions? Like?
There are very few And that's one of the reasons
I'm so high on Lloyd. There are very few guys,
if many at all, in this class where you could say, Okay,

(18:53):
he has the three down skill set that we covet,
he could be a sixty to sixty five percent snap
back at everything works out perfectly, not only the testing,
but the draft capital and all of that. Man. But
moving over to RB seven per coinsensus, will Shipley coming
out of Clemson. I'm gonna let you lean into this
thor because Will Shipley is a guy that right now

(19:14):
I'm mostly through his tape. I'm not enamored with him
like I've got him at RB sixteen. So consensus thor,
you're gonna have to tell me, like, what about his
game stands out? Where do you have him ranked? Right now?
Manh wow, he.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
Is way out of my top ten. This one's stunning
for me. I have him RB sixteen. I will go
as far as to say this, I don't think Will
was there handholding.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Then we're both at ARM sixteen.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Okay, Will Shipley was not the best running back on
Clemson's roster. Oh last year that was fakes to start
off here, baby, Yeah, you know Will Shipley, he's sort
of forwarded as you know, this dual guy. You know,
like he can he can catch, and he can run,
and he can return kicks and all this. UF I

(20:00):
don't think he's gonna be like the best dude at
any of that stuff on his NFL roster. I think
you can find a guy who's better at all that
different stuff. Plus he's coming off in a catastrophic knee
injury from his last game in the bowl game, which
was on a kick return where he like flipped over
and then he caught his knee by the sideline whatever.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
So everybody talking about fading Jonathan Brooks because of losing
the rookie season, keep that same energy for Will Shipley,
just for keeping it one hundred.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah, and it's again, it's a prospect that I wouldn't
liked much anyway, right, Like, yeah, it's an uninspiring like
Justin Jackson, remember him coming out of Northwest.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
Here, Like I actually really like Justin Jackson. He was
he was a powder keg man.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
Like a guy like Dad that returns kicks would sort
of be like that kind of phylum is sort of
who I'm thinking about for Shipley. But it's just someone
who's sort of decent at a merely different thing. But again,
when I'm projecting these guys forward to the NFL, I
want you to be the best at whether it's this
thing or that thing, or preferably multiple different things. I

(21:10):
don't see that out of Shipley. And he wasn't able
to go, of course, an athletically test because of that injury.
I don't think he would have tested as an elite
athlete either. That's certainly not what I saw when I
saw him on the field. I think he would have
tested as a decent athlete, not a bum one, but
definitely not the elite one that we needed to see
for him to force his way onto the field and

(21:32):
to be a difference maker. I'm surprised by that. I
think that that is indicative where he is on that
consensus ranking of the school he went to. His recruiting
pedigree and the way he was forwarded there, but not
his actual talent level.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
I don't disagree with anything you just said. I mean,
because Will Shipley, it's before I even get to the
film on a lot of these guys, I always start
with pulling up the metrics, and you're trying to marry
the film and the metrics together and create you know,
and I know you do this as well, So I'm
kind of speaking for both of us here, but we

(22:09):
try to marry both of these entities together and create
the most complete picture of a prospect and a player's
skill set that we can. So when I pull up
the metrics, like they kind of tell the tail on
some of the parts of a game of like, okay,
is this guy a tackle breaker? Is he somebody that
may be like ooh, I've really got to pull up
the film because the numbers are screaming at me. That's

(22:31):
not the case for Shipley. Man, He's got some rough numbers.
It's not great, dude. Like you're looking at his entire
collegiate career three point one yards of the contact per attempt.
That's not good, man, And especially when you look at
also his final season at Clemson two point nine yards
of the contact per attempt as well as his breakaway

(22:52):
run rates are not great either. I mean, it's just
his entire prospect profile from an analytics standpoint, is flooded
with some par numbers.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
He's gonna be your airback. His elusive rating last year
fifty one point five.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
It's not it's not good. And you talk about like
his pass game utility tour, his yards per route run
never went above one point zero six and actually was
below one point zero in his final two seasons. As
well as his breakaway run rates, we're at thirty four
percent or lower. And just for everybody context wise, that's
not good. Like that is middle to bottom end of

(23:27):
any class that you pull up.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
So and he's he's horrible in pass pro now, so
it's like you're trying to figure out what is he
how you.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
Get him onto the field, What is it? What is
that that gives him on the field. I don't see it, man.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
You know, honestly, I might have him ranked too high,
you know, at running back sixteen. I actually disagree with you, Like,
I mean, consensus ranking is absurd.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
It's it's very hard to find a part er piece. Besides,
again going back to the helmet scouting where you're like, Okay,
he really deserves this type of ranking as well as
I mean, really, what party are you you clinging to
to even rank him there? It's like it's not in
the analytics, it's not in the Royal counting stats. And

(24:14):
you got injury stuff on top of this, and the
pass per USUF like where where is it? Man?

Speaker 2 (24:18):
And and just like you know, when when you're thinking
about Shipley as a prospect, it goes without saying that
he's not going to be like the early down guy,
So it's like you have to think about like he's
going to have to make it as like the receiving
back who maybe he returns kicks. So you're you're comparing
him against the prospects like, uh, Dylan Lobby, Tyrone, Tracy,

(24:38):
maybe Grendo.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
Uh you know different guys like that, Uh wait, Acond,
even Michael Wiley, if you want to go, maybe Frank
goreb you know different, maybe Schrader.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
You're putting him above those guys.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
What can't Yeah, him.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
Coming off an injury and and his profile on his tape,
what what is is he done that is better than
those guys? Like I don't know how you can do it.
Some of those guys have tested like athletic freaks. They
all have the Some of those guys have the statistical
profile either that or they have tested like like freaks.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
Whatever.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
I don't know, I don't you know. Some people are
I think a lot of people. Certainly, the consensus feels
like he is a lot to get drafted. I don't
know about that. I would be more concerned about that.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
I'm with you, and I'm looking at so like when
you're on mock draft database, you can kind of go
into a guy's profile and see the range of where
he's at. Even more recent mocks and things like that
have him anywhere from like round four to round five.
I still think that's incredibly generous. Like I think you're
looking at a round six guy and probably more likely
a UDFA. I mean, do you disagree for her?

Speaker 2 (25:51):
The only way he's getting in that those late rounds
I think is on the name value or a personal
relationship with double Sweeney Clemson alum in a.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
Department Like yeah, and I don't want to bag on
the kid, like we want to see all these guys
get drafted have successful careers. But again, when we're talking
about their skills and stuff. It's like, where what's the
part or piece that any NFL team is going to
look at and say, you know what, that's the role
that you could fill for our team. That is the
special special sauce that you bring to the table and

(26:25):
how you're going to win in the NFL. Man, and
I just I really don't see it. But speaking of
special sauce and a guy that is basically like the
energizer bunny, he has crushed the entire process and this
consensus ranking. Again, I'm not gonna be alone in saying
this is blasphemous. The RB six right now, per consensus,

(26:46):
is mister Jalen Wright running back out of Tennessee. Or
I think I've effectively wound you up enough about Jalen Wright.
Go ahead, I'm just gonna unleash you upon the people. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
This this one is the opposite. This one is too low,
too too low. Yeah, Jalen Wright is my RB two.
The Yeah, the athletic profile demands that he's in the
top three. He's a guy who does not have any
tread on the tires. He's early on that developmental curve

(27:19):
and he just tested like an absolute freak at five
ten and a half two hundred ten pounds, nine point
eight raz four point three eight forty thirty eight inch
verts over eleven foot broad and last year ninety one
PFF grade overall, ninety one point two PFF run grade.

(27:43):
The pass pro grade was solid. The kid can catch,
he can do all sorts of different things. Now you
have to put in the you have to put in
a couple standard caveats with someone coming out of the
Tennessee offense. It's a Mickey mouse offense where they spread
with anyone coming out of the Tennessee offense with you know,
we've talked about the quarterbacks coming out of it, we

(28:03):
talked about the receivers coming up out of it.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
People did not like our Jalen Wright, our Jalen Higatt
takes last year. But you know I digress anyway, go
ahead back to Jaalen.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
Right, but we were right, right, yeah, But like with
the running backs, they are facing consistently thin boxes, right,
and so you know, right, you know, when he was
going in there, he was facing the thin boxes, and
so you know he got to face those when and
the lanes, you know, he got to face those, right,
and so then he would get to the creases and

(28:32):
whatnot like, and that's what he's looking for. He's a
straight line burner who is looking to hit the dingers.
He's he's sitting back in the batter's box. He's sitting
back there on his heels. He wants to hit grand slams.
You know, as a runner, you can probably think of him.
It's not wrong to think of him as as a

(28:52):
Tevin Coleman type.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
As a runner.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
He's sitting back there in the batter's box. He's looking
for that crease, and like I said, he wants to
run in that straight line, hit a thinger. He'll try
to make one guy miss if he has to. But
then he wants that straight line. He wants to start
a race in angles one by one, and boy can
he do it because he has world class wheels, as
he showed in Indianapolis. But he also he's gotten some

(29:15):
comps which are apocryphal. But he has drawn some comps
and also they're apocryphal. But also because of the Jersey
uh and also because of sort of the late breakout
and the lack of tread and the rotation he was
in to Elvin Kamara. But he don't see it at all.
I don't see it either at all. But he also
has some of that receiving utility he was in that

(29:38):
three headed monster thing.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
But I don't see that either.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
But you do have to say he does have some
of that receiving utility he was in the three Headed Monster.
The he you know again, he has less tread on
the tires whatnot, And the receiving utility he has more
of it than he was able to show. Because of that.
He is not Elvin Kamar. We have to say, you
know that straight away, But he's Tevin Coleman, I think,

(30:04):
with a bit more receiving utility than you got out
of Tevin Coleman, but not Elvin Kamara. But this is
a very very talented kid with not much tread on
the tires. Where the developmental arrow on this kid is
pointing way up.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
I love Jalen Right, like if if Marshawn Lloyd was
not in this class, he would be my RB one
in this class. We're hand holding man. The Jalen Right
is my RB two of this class. I freaking love
his game. He's eviscerated this entire process. We're looking at
a running back that was fifth and yards of the
contact per attempt, eleventh, breakaway rate thirteenth in PFF elucid rating.

(30:40):
And we are we already talked about he can pass
protect and he's an asset in the passing game. I've
heard heard some really good comps on him, the one
that kind of stood out to me, So I'm not
going to take credit on this one. Now, I will say,
as the caveat to this, I don't think that he
is as well refined as a route runner to truly

(31:02):
earn this comp because so what all we've seen so
far from him at Tennessee in the passing game was
utilized as a checkdown option. He wasn't in the slot,
he wasn't running wheel routes, he wasn't running angle routes.
If he did some of that stuff, it wasn't a
ton It wasn't a staple of his game. Is he
still a weapon? And can he evolve into possibly being
this type of player maybe the really interesting one that

(31:25):
I've heard thor recently because of his size and now
his testing, because you and I both knew beforehand he
was going to run in the four threes, and now
people are coming around with this The most recent comp
I've heard from him or heard about him was Jamiir Gibbs,
and I don't hate it, but I will say he
doesn't have the pass game chops at this point in

(31:46):
his career that Gibbs did when he was coming out,
So on it. And I'm gonna throw out my comp
for him, which I know you're probably gonna hate this,
because I know you were not a fan of this prospect,
But stay with me here. The juice that he has,
the tackle break ability and the four three speed. My
com for him right now is some hybrid of maybe
Jamiir Gibbs, but the guy that I think he's most

(32:08):
closely related to is JK. Dobbins. Go ahead, I'm prepared
for you to hate that. Well, you love JK.

Speaker 2 (32:15):
Dobbins, so I know that that's.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
The healthy He's talented, dude. I like talent.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
Well, okay, So just so people know that that's not
derisive coming from Debra. That is a big compliment.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
Yeah, it's a big compliment. Not so much from Thorpe,
but it's a big compliment for me. Man Like I
like Dobbins. Unfortunately hasn't been able to stay healthy. But
we cannot sit here and say that he's not explosive,
he can't break tackles, and he's not an incredible early
down runner. And I think, Jalen Wright, again, what kind
of grade do you have on him? Because for the
entirety of this process, I've had a third round grade
on Jalen Wright. Are you with me on that?

Speaker 2 (32:50):
I would say either.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
Four?

Speaker 2 (32:56):
No, I would say, la, you're higher, Well, yeah, I
would say late second.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Or early third. Yeah, yeah, all right, let's go. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
I mean, like you look at the boards of people
out there, you know, with Benson and right, you know,
way up there, and the athletic profiles of those two guys,
I think we're getting the first running back off the
board in the second round, and I think, you know,
the odds on favorite for that is clearly Trey Benson.
So you know, I think he's going to go in

(33:28):
the second round, and I think the second, you know,
running back is I would bet that he's going to
go in the second round. I think that there's a
decent chance that that's right. So yeah, I mean there's
a decent shot. I think that he goes late second
or early third. So that's that's what I think. Two
other contextual things that I'd say about right that I
heard that I can put out there.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
He had the risk injury.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
At the end of the season at Tennessee, which is
the reason that he couldn't go to Mobile. I heard
that that was cleared at the combine. He got a
total clean bale health and he was able to go
through all the the you know, obviously he had a
very good testing and everything like that, but he the
doctors totally cleared him. I also heard that his interviews

(34:11):
were really good. Teams. I thought he was a dog
and everything like that. So the interview process went very
well for him as well. So he was a big
winner during the process.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
He's a stud man. He's him and Marshawn Lloyd, I
think are two of the great and we'll get to
other running backs. I know you're a trade Benson lover,
like there are a small handful of running backs in
this class to where I feel like if you were
an INNFL franchising, you don't want to go out and
you know, open up the pocket book and sign one
of the guys that already has like a lot of
work on his ledger and maybe not as much tread

(34:44):
on the tire. There are guys in this class. Now,
I know everybody is not loving this RB class. I'm
not telling you that. You know, I'm head over heels
for it. But the top end of this class still
has a lot of really exciting talent and guys that
can make a difference. Man.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
But I have a I have a jailing right calm
free you that I would like to try right now.
It's it's not perfect. I'm still you know, workshopping a
little bit, but you gonna make no, it's not gonna
make you mad. It's a blast from the past with
with some local flavor here in Minnesota. It's not perfect
because it only works for one aspect of his game.

(35:21):
But I think as far as running in the athletic profile,
it works. He reminds me as a runner, and again
the athleticism of Michael Bennett.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
You remember, Oh that's a good one.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
He's a better receiver than Michael Bennett, which is why
that doesn't work.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
But like just as a runner and.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
And the body type and an athlete and the straight
line thing.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
The burner, that's where it works.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
But if you think about Michael Bennett coming out of Wisconsin,
if if that guy was a better receiver, and he
had to stay health right and could say healthy that
would be jailing right.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Yeah, I don't hate that at all. Man. And for everybody,
go go to YouTube, pull up the highlight clips of
Michael Bennett. Dude could play, just couldn't stay healthy, you know,
didn't have the type of career that probably his talent
profile should have allowed him to have. But getting off
of Bennett and look, man, I gotta tell people again
about Reality Sports Online. Man, if you are not playing

(36:15):
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Speaker 2 (37:21):
All right, Thor Debro, we might have to we might
have to do a league. I've been getting d ms
about Reality Sports.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Well, we're gonna have to leave. We're gonna have to
it out. Now, here's the thing. Should we have to
co manage the league? I feel like you and I
should have to co manage.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
I want to beat you.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
Oh you know, well, okay, you're gonna be sad. That's
not gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
No, I want to be I want to be in
the league.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
Okay, all right, Well you know when I'm actually in
the league, you can't call the team the Fighting Debros.
We know we know how this goes. Okay, you're not
going undefeated. You are going to have to sign some players.
This is not gonna go how you think it's gonna go,
or okay, okay, just so we're keeping it one hundred here. Okay,
let's see, let's getting off of thors L's and moving
over to the top running backs of this class man,

(38:02):
the top five. And I'm gonna say this right now,
this consensus is lagging. The RB five per consensus right
now remains to be Bucky Irving running back at the organ.
And I'm surprised by this only because like, look, dude,
I'm gonna toss this to you and let you wax
poetic about Bucky Irving and the unfortunate letdown of what

(38:27):
he did at the Combine.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
Yeah, we need we need price check on Aisle consensus.
Bucky Irving rank.

Speaker 1 (38:33):
Where do you have him rank before you get into
his game? Because I've got him at RB eleven and
I still feel like that's too high, Like I'm probably
gonna bump him down a little bit.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
Yeah, I have him at RB fourteen.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
Yeah, it's about right.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
I think I'm the people the people that are trying
to salvage him after the Combine performance are are tossing
out Kyron Williams, and I appreciate it. I appreciate the effort.
Kyraen Williams would be the one guy. You know, we
talked about that.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
You remember that, right, we talked about that when we
were talking about we previewed the combine and we said
that that was coming. Yeah, if he was if he
ran slow, people were going to toss out the name
of Kyrien Williams. Go back and check the receipts, people,
but anyway, go ahead them.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yeah, And it's because that's the one guy of the
last eight nine years at that size that tested that way,
that had success.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
So it's literally the only guy that you.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
Can point back to that had fantasy success that that
tested that way. Here's the problem though, Kyrien Williams. I
want you know, it's like Kyen Williams was a friend
of mine. I served with Kyrien Williams and and Bucky
you're you know Kyron Williams. Kyen Williams at Notre Dame
was a hell of a pass blocker for for one, Uh,

(39:45):
he did different things that that ky or that Bucky
did not do. Bucky is not that fortified. Uh, you know,
as far as his entire skill set right, Like, yes,
they're similar size and the similar athletic profile. Kyrone was
in my opinion. First of all, the skill set was,

(40:08):
like I said, more fortified, but also just like the
past pro thing was the one thing where you could
project with Kyron and it's like, okay, he's going to
be able to stay on an NFL field because of that,
along with the receiving skills. So I didn't think that
Kyrone was going to be able to be an early
down runner in the NFL because of the lack of

(40:29):
athleticism and lack of size. That was the thing he
was able to overcome, at least in my mind with
my evil, But because of his ability to pass, block
and receive, I did think he was gonna be able
to hang in the NFL. Bucky. The only thing he's got,
it's the receiving thing in the feet. He is a
terrible pass blocker and that is going to continue to

(40:50):
be the case. He doesn't have any functional strength. He's small,
He was a terrible pass blocker at Oregon. He obviously
lacks the athleticism speak to that. He measured in five
nine two in Indianapolis three point seven to two. Raz
ran a four five to five at that size.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Pretty bad.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
One five to four ten yard split, twenty nine point
five vertical.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Boy, I think you could match that. Possibly, maybe I
might be able to.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yeah, nine to seven broad jump. He didn't do the
three con. I'm sure we'll see that at his pro day.
He's gonna have to do good in the agility drills
to drum up some inner as just a really really
bad workout. Now, the things that you like about his game,
he is a good receiver. He is he runs good routes,

(41:44):
he has good hands, and he's an efficient player. And
I'll give this to him.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
You know.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
As far as a runner, he was even an efficient
runner between the tackles at Oregon and outside the tackles.
He was a good runner in college. I just don't
know how that translates. I don't think that that translates
to the NFL level.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
The way he was.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
Able to do it at Oregon was by making people miss.
He has good feet, he has really good feet. Without
the athleticism, how is that going to translate, Well, we'll
have to see it's it's probably gonna have to be
as a receiver in the NFL level. But you know,
again without the pass pro element to go with it,
the kyn had with him. But like I said, at Oregon,

(42:26):
he he can make people miss what whatnot. But yeah,
that's gonna have to be in space at the NFL level.
But that's what you like he brings with it a
bit of contact balance. Is that going to be a
quadruple a thing where you know, you know in college
he could do it, but you know at the NFL
level some of those arm tackles that he was able
to sort of get by. At the NFL level, everyone

(42:49):
is going to be able to take him down.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
We'll have to see.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
I like the feet, but yeah, that the lack of
athleticism could be negating at that size going to the
next level.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
I don't disagree man, And just high bo on Bucky
Irving going back to his ten yard split, I think
he gives you a little bit of hope or at
least Bucky Irving stands because it was sixty eighth percentile.
But again, when you marry this with his forty yard dash,
you marry this with the inability to have the burst
and the explosion, Like his vertical jump with four was

(43:18):
fourth percentile broad jump is twenty six percentile. Like his
profile when you look at it from an analytics standpoint,
kind of lays out exactly who he is as especially
as a runner, like did he put up good numbers
in the last two years but ninth and seventeenth in
yards out to contact per attempt? Yes, Now he can
run on the interior. He he does have the ability to.

(43:42):
He gets up to top speed fast. He's more quick
than fast obviously, as we're talking about here. And once
you get him into the second level of the defense,
can he shed arm tackles?

Speaker 2 (43:51):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (43:52):
Can he run with not power? But can he be elusive? Sure?
But if you get him within the first like two
to three yards of the line of scrimmage, before he
gets headed steam built up, he follows like a house
of cards man, And looking at the athletic testing and
his analytical profile, it all comes back to this, I
think personally, and I'm not one to seene here and

(44:12):
you know, kind of toap my own comps here, but
he really reminded me of this player who had a
very short window of NFL legitimacy. I love the guy
and I love what he was able to do in
a very short extint. But the guy that Bucky Irving
reminded me of was justin Forcet. So I mean, you know,
we're gonna we're gonna see where he goes in the

(44:34):
NFL draft. I don't think that he's gonna sniff round three,
round four. I think he needs the short area stuff
to even salvage like getting into round five. I would
not be shocked, considering this entire process, if he falls
out of the draft, but we'll we'll we'll see how
that plays out. Moving over to the RB four per consensus,
thoer a man that we've talked about on previous episodes

(44:56):
and he really just unfortunately was has come into the
NFL and the wrong era, and that is Braylan Allen.
What are your thoughts on Braylon Allen and where do
you have him ranked right now? I've got him as
my RB seven because I think there are parts to
his game that that you know, we can like. But curious,
where do you sit on Braylan Allen?

Speaker 2 (45:18):
Braylon he is in my top ten, but barely he
is my RB ten. All right, big hammer back, yeah,
six sixty uh one?

Speaker 1 (45:28):
Thing you like?

Speaker 2 (45:29):
He played in two vastly different schemes in college. You know,
he started out in Wisconsin's Classic I formation power run scheme.
Then Wisconsin brings in Luke Fickel, and then Fickle brings
in Philongo who had the shotgun spread throw it down
field thing which thins out the boxes. Uh so Braylan

(45:50):
Allen was able to run against some of those lighter
boxes out of the shotgun. I like that that Braylan
has lighter feet for his size, and he has some
long speed. He has good speed for his size. My
question with him is the vision. Uh some who is
the guy years ago? Do you remember Kaylin bolage.

Speaker 1 (46:15):
Cale when carry he ran like he had like he
was out of what was that movie bird box? Like
he had the blindfold one to save his life. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
I remember when Kylen Bolige came out. I I comped
him to uh mister Magoo because he had all the
physical attributes, but likeeez, yeah he he he looked like Adonis.
But every time he would run like a million miles
per hour right into the back of his guard offensive
guard when there was a hole like right next to it.

(46:46):
You know, that was like, you know the size of
whatever the Grand Canyon. Braylon Allen's not that bad, but
the frustration you feel sometime watching him, it's it's a
kin to that because he he's so talented and he
makes strading decisions behind the line like that. And you
got to see a little bit more last year in
the Longo system because it's more spread out in the

(47:08):
when with the system before a couple of years before that,
everything was so condensed, so uh, you know, you didn't
get to see it quite as much, although you got
to see the manifestations of it sometimes, but the the
vision and the decision making not quite as good with that,
and then the the versatility isn't there with him not

(47:29):
great in past pro. And as a receiver, he's merely
just the dump off guy, right Like you know when
when the quarterback is under duress, Braylan Allen's the guy
who's like standing there and then he just dumps it
off because the quarterback is gonna get sacked, and then
Brayleen Allen will.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
Get tackled right away.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
That's who he is like as a receiver corral and
then he'll get tackled right away. That's about it. I've
seen him get camped to AJ Dillon. I disagree with that.
AJ Dillon, yeah, coming out of Boston College was way
better than Braylan Allen coming out of Wisconsin. He was
a better athlete, he ran harder. Uh. AJ Dillon had

(48:11):
better vision, and AJ Dillon was also way more physical,
which is another nitpick I have about Braylon Allen. I
feel like Braylan Allen he has the size and he
has the power, and he has that size speed thing
where he should be able to just run people over.
But in the open field sometimes I see him trying
to like outmaneuver people and it's like, bro, just run

(48:35):
him over. You know, it's the shortest path, just you know,
in AJ Dillon had no errors about that.

Speaker 1 (48:42):
He would just.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
Lower the shoulder and run him over. I see Dylan
as more of like a ninety version of like a
James Connor coming out of Pitt is more what I
see him, and that that's why I have.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
I'm sorry, Braylan Allen.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
I see him as like a you know, a ninety
percent discount ract version of like James Connor coming out
of pet.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
Yeah, and I could see that man, and I think that, like, yeah,
we've talked about it off air, like the spots where
he tries to get a little bit too cute with
his footwork and instead of dropping your shoulder and the
size that he is running over somebody. And just to
put some respect on AJ Dillon's name, I know his
NFL career has not turned out how a lot of
people wanted it to, but still coming out ninety eighth
percentile speed score and burst scores. If Brylan Allen had

(49:27):
anything close in his back at the ranks, yes, thanks you.
He ducked that run, he would have tested.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
I feel like that alls us money for the old
we had on that those forty props he.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
Opened it, what four four nine four seven like or no,
it's four four nine in the four fours and I'm like,
there's no way he's gonna run this man like it.
Just I think he's probably got four to six speed.
I think that he does. I think he's a bit
better than yours.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
But he is not a four fours guy.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
No, he that's ludicrous. Yeah. Where his props open were? Yeah,
I do disagree on that. And then I think Braman
Allen does like fall into like as the early down
component of a committee in the NFL. I think that
with a guy his size. I think you wanted to
gate some of the happy feat and the dancing that
he does, which really just get him downhill, put him

(50:17):
in a gap, power him, get him downhill like that. Yeah,
and and really could he take his game to another
level if he were to make some of these changes possibly?
Is that still going to help him in today's NFL
where the pass game utility is not going to be there.
He's not going to be a weapon in the past game.
So can he actualize a three down skill set or
at least a three down roll? No, I don't see

(50:39):
that happening. So, Braman Allen, I'm sorry. Like, if you
would have come into the NFL in the nineties, yeah,
some team would have fallen in love with you. You probably
have gone round two around one of the NFL draft.
Everybody be talking about how you can handle three hundred
and fifty carries a year and all this kind of stuff.
But it's just the wrong iteration of the NFL. We're
not in that era. Yeah, he missed the era, like
and it is what it is. Man. So I think

(51:00):
the kid has skills, but to type cast him into
fitting into today's NFL, I think it's a little bit
tougher man. But moving over to the RB three per consensus,
Blake Koram. He had the testing, which I mean, well,
I'm not gonna say his testing was great, but I
don't think he totally bombed the NFL combine testing. He
has the box score measureables, all the counting sets that

(51:22):
you want, and he's coming out of the big school.
Or where does he follow in your ranks? Because I
want to say we're handholding here, like I've got him
at RB six, Where do you have him at same?

Speaker 2 (51:32):
I also have him RB six. Blake Coreham measured in
five foot seven and six eight, so just under five
foot eight, two hundred and five pounds with the raz
of eight five ran a four to five to three,
but with very good agility scores, which is not surprising
when you watch him. He's one of those guys who
hides behind the line of scrimmage, and then he's the

(51:54):
bowling ball guy with the darting agility, so that's sort
of his game. And then he runs with decent power
as well, so he's gonna run through the arm tackles
and he makes it difficult for you to square him up,
so you know, he can force the off angle attempts
and the arm angle attempts and you know, and again
he hides behind that the offensive linem until the last second.

(52:15):
Stuff like that. That's the stuff he does good. As
a receiver, he's just the guy. You know, he's the
outlet guy. He's not gonna run you know, dynamic routes
anything like that. He does have reliable hands, but he's
just you know, sort of the the tertiary dump off
guy when you need that whatever. Last season, he was
coming off the injury late twenty twenty two, had the

(52:35):
slow start to the season. He had a We talked
about this deebre offline very wonky statistical profile last year.

Speaker 1 (52:43):
Bybe because I'm gonna say it was bad.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
Yeah, well, I'm gonna call it wonky. He had, he
had the slow start coming off the injury, and then
he had the dominant run blocking offensive one of the
more dominant run blocking offensive lines you'll see Michigan had.
I think I'm citing this off of memory, it was
either seven or eight offensive lineman that Jim Nagy had

(53:06):
on the preseason so over the summer the senior ball
watch list, so not the five guys in the starting lineup.
They had either two or three backups. They were also
on the Senior Bowl watch list whatever. And that Michigan
offensive line was built to be a run blocking, mauling
unit and they were so, you know, and when people

(53:30):
talk about that that offense, the way it was constituted,
it was run on first down, run on second down,
and then when they threw they put McCarthy. It was
usually on third and long, you know, And that's what
what McCarthy was really good at.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
Whatever.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
But Blake Korum's stats, if you look at it, he
would get like four yards before contact, which is not
his fault. It's just Michigan's offensive line reset the line
of scrimmage four yards forward every single time. And then
you know that then that's where the sort of the
play started.

Speaker 1 (54:02):
Whatever. Blake krm.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
You love the agility, like I said, you you like
that that he can do that hide bind the line
of scrimmage, and then you like that he can make
a guy miss. I like his vision. I like his
feel a little bit limited in terms of the versatility.
Uh you know, I I don't know how much you're
gonna get of him as a receiver. I think you're
always gonna have someone on the roster who's better than him.

Speaker 1 (54:22):
As far as the.

Speaker 2 (54:23):
Passing down stuff, I do think he is going to
be his team's early down type guy. I've seen a
lot of the connections between him and Harbaugh with the Chargers.

Speaker 1 (54:32):
I think that would be cool.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Uh you know, I do think that, you know, he's
going to be the starter for his team as the
early down guy. But yeah, for me, he's RB six.
There are some limitations there. I comp them that Devin
Motor Singletary, a running back who I very much like
coming out of FAU. I got him RB six.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
Yeah, I mean we're we're kind of now. I went
a little bit higher him with the comp. I like
the Devin Singletary comp. I think the the Rolls Royce
version of that player is Frank Orr and that's who
have my com for Blake Korum and looking at his
skill set. The big thing that scares me about Korum,
and I know that everybody's gonna talk about, Okay, he
was dinged up in all A twenty twenty three, So

(55:11):
toss that out the window. You could toss it out
of all the window all you want to, but it
still happened and saying that he was dinged up and
saying that he was coming back from the knee injury.
Here's the other side of that optimistic coin. What if
he doesn't get that burst back. What if he doesn't
get that second gearback? Because if you watch Blake Koram

(55:31):
tape from twenty twenty one versus twenty twenty two and
twenty twenty three, he's a different back he didn't have. Now,
are is the footwork still there? Yes? Is the vision
still there? Yes? Is the creativity at the second level
still there? All things yes? In twenty twenty three, the
problem is is that he is not a top shelf athlete.

(55:52):
He is not a guy that could run a four
to three, four to four. So you lop off the
top part of that juice and what comes or what
was something that? Okay, it's above average Now he's matt
average to mediocre. In looking at what his burst looks
like and his tackle breaking ability, he legitimately in twenty
twenty three four was just a guy that got what

(56:14):
was blocked and that was it. And that's not me
being unkind to what happened to him. But in the
fifteen games he played in twenty twenty three, dude, in
nine of those games he failed to force two or
more mistackles two not a ton two on fifteen twenty carries,

(56:35):
all these types of workloads, and he didn't even surpass
even on a per touch basis in nine of those
fifteen games two point four yards of to contact per attempt,
which is in a terrible rate, an abysmal rate if
you look at twenty twenty three, and this trend started
even before twenty twenty three. So if you want to
even toss out the knee injury and say, okay, well

(56:56):
we'll give him a mulligan for twenty twenty three twenty
twenty two, out of all running backs with at least
one hundred carries, fiftieth in yards of the contact per attempt,
breakaway run rate again fiftieth, pff elucidrating fortieth. His tackle
breaking metrics have dropped in each of the last three
seasons at Michigan. You cannot just ignore that, explain it

(57:20):
away and pretend like it doesn't happen. I'm not saying
the kid is a bum. He has skills and he
has talent. But comparing this version of Blake Koram to
the version of twenty twenty one Blake Korum. Who if
if that was the version we were getting, and I
knew it one hundred and fifty percent knew that we
were getting in the NFL, the twenty twenty one version

(57:41):
of Blake Korum, he'd be a top four back in
this classroom me like top three, Like I would love
Blake Korm. I would have him ranked aggressively. I would
love him. But that's not the case, man. So just
talking about him being real about where he's at in
his career, how his career in college transpired, and what
those numbers look like. I'm gonna be blow consent. I mean,

(58:02):
you and me are handholding, but I think versus consensus,
we are obviously lower than consensus on Blake koram Man.
But enough talk about Michigan Wolverines on this We spend
too much time every week on Michigan Wolverines. JJ and Korum.
Love to the RB two of this class. A man
who comes in here still recovering from a massive knee injury,

(58:23):
Jonathan Brooks out of Texas, and he's in the top three,
top four running backs of this class. Some people have
him as their RB one in this class. I'm not
pushing back against that. What are your thoughts about mister Brooks.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
I have him RB three, okay, Yeah, it's too bad
that he's say them RB three as well. Yeah, it's
too bad. He had the ACL tear in November. We'll
see when he comes back from that. But it, you know,
not only do you have the injury which which could
delay you know, him coming, it deprives him the pre
draft process could delay you know him coming into camp

(58:57):
as well. He was stuck behind Bijon and Roshan obviously
at Texas. That also delayed you know, our ability to
see him period. He really only had you know, nine
or ten games to break out this past season, and
break out he did. He was very impressive in those games,
but then he tears the ACL. He's a very interesting

(59:18):
prospect in that there's not a ton of standout traits
except for things that that are hard to measure. He's
six foot tall, two hundred and sixteen pounds, so he's
right around the size threshold average athlete. We're not gonna
get confirmation of that, but that would be my supposition.
You know, I think he'd probably be around average speed.

(59:40):
The one thing that I think he'd probably be above
average in is the agility. Yeah, where I think we
would also agree. The thing he's very, very very good
at is contact balance. That's not something that we could
measure for in the in the testing. Love his feet,
which is another thing that they don't they don't test for.

(01:00:03):
He's a patient and slippery back.

Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
Again, speed his average, like the burst through the hole
that he runs with, and that plays up because of
his vision. You know, it's like he makes the decision
and and he's always making the right one. Then he
gets through really quick, so he's able to capitalize on
that immediately. Not a dynamic receiver in terms of the

(01:00:28):
route running, but he's very reliable. He knows what he's
doing and the hands are very good. He doesn't drop
the ball, so it's like he's above average and a
lot of different things. But the feel, the feat, the
contact balance, the different.

Speaker 1 (01:00:42):
Stuff like that are are are good.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
So it plays up those different things, the burst, the vision,
different stuff like that. It's too bad about the injury.
Different stuff like that gets him down to three on
my board with the stud athletes being one and two.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
It might make him a a little bit of a.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
Value we'll end up seeing where he goes once we
get to April. But yeah, he's he comes into the
process number three on my board.

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
Yeah, I've got him at RB three as well. And
just looking at his film again, we're not gonna get
because of the injury and stuff. We're not getting any
confirmation of you know, any athletic testing and things like that.
You'd like to see that. You know, he was a
workhorse back last year at Texas, handed at least twenty
carries in six of his ten full games. And he's

(01:01:29):
got the size to hold up under that volume. Now
I know, you know, we can talk about, Okay, well
he got hurt under that volume, but it's it's football.
Injuries happen, so I'm not going to ding him on that.
So he showed that he can hold up under the
volume in terms of the efficiency because he was twenty
first and yards oft contact for attempt ninth and elusive rating.
And I really like Brooks in the sense that it

(01:01:49):
all comes back to the contact balance man, And does
he have any one standout trait where you're like, home, man,
look at this guy. Go No, I think that he's smooth.
I think that looking at his footwork. Again, going back
to what you were talking about, I think the footwork
and he doesn't jump out when you're watching his film

(01:02:10):
as having these explosive plays, or he looks like he's
shot out of a can, and he's just he's smooth
throughout the entirety of his runs, and that comes down
as a reflection of his footwork, which I think is very,
very good, because you'll see him sometimes where he's navigating
the hole and whether it's it's a stretch zone run
or he's trying to bounce something outside because the the

(01:02:31):
interior was clogged, he could teleport two feet to the
left like that. That's nothing like did you see that
in his film throughout the entirety of it, where all
of a sudden he's he's scanning, he's scanning, and then poof,
he's all of a sudden towards the boundary and he's
up in his upfield and speaking to the contact balance.
I saw numerous runs on his film where the first
guy gets him, he's still not going down, like the

(01:02:53):
leg dry for him really stands out. There were two
or three runs all the top of my head where
I was like, first guy hits him and off balance,
he's still churning forward and he kicks up another five
to ten yards or after the first contact and the
first guy could hit him pretty well, and he's still
motoring ahead. And you always hear the term for these

(01:03:15):
running backs a guy that falls forward consistently, and that's
what Brooks does. But giving context to that, that goes
back to contact balance for guys and finishing runs and
leg drive. So can he hold up? Can he be
a volume runner if he comes back fully healthy and
some of those traits still cross over to the NFL?
I do believe that that happens, man, But it really

(01:03:37):
comes down to, like where a team comes down on
his medicals and if he were to test and said
the testing went extremely well for him, could he have
been a second round running back? Possibly? I think he
probably settles into the third round unless there's a team
that really loves him, like maybe the Cowboys, who have
been extremely close to that entire situation with one of
their own personal surgeons doing his surgery. So maybe that happens,

(01:04:01):
and maybe that's dal Dallas, you know, answers the running
back position in a committee to start out the year
for twenty twenty four. But Brooks is a guy that
does like considering what he did as a starter at
Texas does deserve some of the hype that he still
will garner. But onto the RB one of this class
per consensus, and I know, I believe he's your RB

(01:04:23):
one of this class, or Trey Benson. I know you
love him. How much do you love him?

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
Yeah? Yeah, I like him quite a bit. Being RB one,
Trey Benson goes to the combine and that's where he
locked it in. For me, he went there as my
RB one, but that's where he solidified it with the
nine to seven seven Ras ran the four to three
to nine at six foot, two hundred and sixteen pounds.
Last year a little bit of a down season after

(01:04:52):
the true breakout in twenty twenty two. Twenty twenty two
is when he broke the PFF charting record for force
missed tackles. That's when he really proved it and the
dual threat game. He can catch the ball too. Last
year there was some wonkey offensive usage, both with the
rotating the running backs Jordan Travis also cutting into the

(01:05:13):
running as well. They were trying to pass the ball
more as well. You know, Kean Coleman had gone there.
They also had Johnny Wilson, whatnot. I'm gonna forgive Trey
Benson a little bit for that. Certainly is a freak athlete.
He's proven that he came back from the devastating knee
injury that he had a couple of years ago at Oregon.
He had done that in twenty twenty two. But obviously

(01:05:34):
he is the premiere size speed running back in this class.
You love that when he gets into the when he
breaches the second level, watch out that that's when he
becomes truly dangerous and he can break the tackles like
we saw in twenty twenty two. So you love that
he has the one cut ability, the ability to evade

(01:05:55):
runs through those arm tackles. Love that different stuff. I
love the ability to catch the ball. He's a smooth receiver.
He has improved in that era that facet since coming
over from Oregon. Different stuff like that. You can line
him up outside as well for a screen. Florida State
likes to do that, sustable of what Norveld does. You

(01:06:17):
know recall for instance, going back to Memphis Antonio Gibson.
You know they like to do that with the running backs.
Different the age back, different stuff like that, motion them
out and then you throw the ball and then you
have the blockers out there. He saw different stuff like
that with Benson. Then you get him out in space
and then all of a sudden he's trucking up field.
Different stuff like that. So I think we're gonna see
Tray Benson. You're gonna see that he is a better

(01:06:40):
pro than he was in college. I think you've only seen,
forgive the metaphor, but the tip of the spear with
Tray Benson. I think he will be the first running
back that has taken in April, and I think he's
going to have a very promising pro career.

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
Yeah, and then we both came down on the same
player comp and I'm going to give you the hat
tip of this because you came to me with this
and I was like, oh, that fits man. But Ryan Matthews,
looking at testing, looking at his game, you're higher on
Benson than I am. And it's not by a ton
I like Benson, but he is my RB four of
this class. But the things about his game that I like,

(01:07:15):
you like the speed, you like the home run ability,
the knocks on his game, at least turning on the
film for me was like, he can get himself into
trouble behind the line of scrimmage when he's forced to
string multiple moves together and avoid defenders. That's the questions
where I had about like his ten yard split. Now

(01:07:36):
he answered some of that with the testing, but again,
when you have defenders coming at you, one of them dings,
you can you get back to top speed. I look
at Benson as more of a really big runway back
in the sense that he has the speed to hit
home runs. But the areas that I worry a little
bit is what kind of offensive line does he get
put behind? And with how I see his game. The

(01:07:59):
other part about it is I don't think he's a
very creative runner. Now, when you get him into the
second level and you have the cutback opportunities, there's a
lot of times where he'll barrel forward pick up a
few extra yards instead of trying to either bounce something
outside cut back against the grain. And some of that
just might he might know the limitations of his game,
who knows, But I don't see those were you're expecting. Okay,

(01:08:20):
he's got four to three speed and he can flip
the field and you're gonna see him just absolutely, just
like the creative stuff, like when Kenneth Walker came out,
Breese Hall came out, and we're looking at these guys
that had that type of speed and they're creating a
ton of yards for themselves against the grain and making
these big explosive plays. Can Benson hit the home runs? Yes,

(01:08:40):
but I do question some of those things with him.
But I know you're kind of chomping the big go ahead,
go ahead, and I could see your face. I know
you're gonna push back on this. Go ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:08:48):
No, I have a new comp for all.

Speaker 1 (01:08:53):
Go ahead, go ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:08:55):
I'd like to see your reaction to this one. Oh, dear,
my Ray Benson comp is DeMarco Murray. Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
I like that. I do like that both are upright runners.
I like I see it, man, I see it. Well,
you're looking at the size, you're looking at the intangibles.
I see it, man. And that also kind of comes
down to like you're talking about, I don't think he's
a he's a special player in the passing game. Murray
wasn't either. But how they could translate to the NFL
being volume backs and stuff like that, I could see it, man,

(01:09:25):
But that is the top ten consensus running backs. Now,
there are a few guys on our board that Thorn
and I are gonna run through real quick that did
not make the top ten. The one offs here. I'm
gonna start this off with my RBA to the class
Isaac Grendo, and Grendo's a guy that did not get
a ton of volume, did not get a ton of

(01:09:46):
playing time in college. Now, if you look at hit
the testing, he's automatically on everybody's board because of the
testing and what he did at the combine running the
four to three. But and you're gonna hear Isaiah Isaiah
pa Checko, You're gonna you hear that in the same
sentence with Grindo, I'm gonna throw this out right now.
He is not Pachecko. He doesn't run like Pachecko. He's

(01:10:06):
not Pachecko. But the good parts of Grindo's game he's
an upright runner. He's a linear runner, tighter hips than
maybe you won or you'd expect. But I think the
good parts of his game is for a player that
did not get a lot of volume, did not get
a lot of playing time. I'm gonna specifically point to
the last few games of his final season at Louisville,

(01:10:29):
he started to play with more confidence. So when the
gap is plugged and he's gonna say, Okay, I'm gonna
barrel for try to get the extra yard or too.
You saw towards the end and people go pull up
the film from the USC game. He ran with more
confidence down the stretch and you saw a player that
maybe we could see a second level to his game

(01:10:49):
in the NFL that we didn't see in college because
he didn't get to play a lot. And the numbers
on paper in his final season are pretty impressive thor
like fourteenth yards of contact for attempt eighteenth and breakaway
rate tenth in yards per route run. I don't think
that he's a wondrous, you know, weapon in the passing game,
but can he be a checkdown option? Does he have

(01:11:11):
soft hands? Yes, absolutely, but I think his hips being
a little bit tight is gonna limit what you could
do with him in the passing game. So probably just
a checkdown option. But looking at his game, man like,
I like him, and I think that the testing that
he put up at the combine, I believe that that
speed is real, and I think that what we saw
out of him in the final few games of his

(01:11:31):
collegiate career. If he was a guy that got had
had the starters run in multiple years, maybe we'd be
talking about a different player. But your thoughts on Grendo before,
I know, you want to bring up Dylan Lobby here next?

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
Yeah, for sure, I had Grenda twelve and obviously opened
eyes with the testing, so yeah, he's got to be
up there after that, Dylan Lobby. I had eight. The
pass game utility I think demands it being up there,
the fabulous receiver that opened our eyes and mobile opened

(01:12:04):
our eyes with the tape and then a nine to
two rats. So he proved the concept and one of
the few guys that did the agility drills. A lot
of people were ducking the agility drills at the combine
because in Indianapolis they put those at the very end,
so a lot of guys were gas and they didn't
do it, but Lobby did, so he did the full
gamut of it and still put up that the really

(01:12:26):
good testing profile. So I had him eight. Was one
guy we didn't hit on, Ija Davis. I had seven.
I think he was my my Oh no, actually he wasn't.
There's one other guy I gotta get to, but Ija
Davis one of my small school guys that I really
really like. I come Ija Davis to Tyler l Jeer.
I think someone's going to get a big value on

(01:12:47):
Ija Davis. Is Ja Davis six foot, two hundred and
eighteen pounds. He's a big, humvy back. Yeah, there's there's
not a ton of nuance to him, Like you know,
you're not gonna get the receiving who cares pair him
with Hell Parham, with Dylan Lobby or you know I
can pare him with any sort of receiving back you got. I.
J Davis is gonna be your meat and potatoes guy. Uh.

(01:13:10):
He is the power Like he's an upright Tyler Algier.
He's an upright running power back. He does some slalom
type stuff. Put him in his zone type thing whatever
whatever you like.

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:13:22):
The thing I love about his tape is like the
FCS defenders when they touch him, it was like touching
an electric fence, like someone was just like you know,
they just peel off them right, like you just get zapped.
So I really and he was just fabulous for this
undefeated colossus of a South Dakota State team. Uh so
he he is super undervalue just because he's coming from

(01:13:42):
the FCS and a super nice kid. We talked to
him down a mobile. The other guy that I had
on my top ten that was not in the consensus
criminal is comani Vidal.

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
And we're handholding. We're handholding. He's he's he's both of
our RB fives in this class.

Speaker 2 (01:13:57):
He keeps getting slept on. This kid dominated and he
was in the FBS. Yeah, down at Troy, five foot
five foot eight, just an eyelash, under five seven and
seven eights, two hundred and thirteen pounds, but dominated at Troy,
and he handled the workload over the past four years,
enormous workload. But then he was awesome in mobile. But

(01:14:20):
the surprising thing is now he went to Indianapolis and
he tested awesome as well. Was eighty eight percentile athleticism
four four six. He also did the full gamut of testing,
and people are still sleeping on him.

Speaker 1 (01:14:32):
I don't really get it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:33):
I have him as RB five. I loved kamani Vidal.
I comp them to Jalen Warren. I might like, that's
what I see when I watch his tape, you know.
And I brought this up to him when I was
I was talking to him and one of the similarities
there you have that both the body type and then
they both finished number two in the FBS in force
miss tackles there last season in the FBS that Warren

(01:14:56):
when he was coming out of Oklahoma State and then
Vidal coming out of Troy. They're testing though, might force
me to change that because Warren, the reason he went
undrafted was he tested poorly coming out. Vdal has now
tested very well, which is the reason that now Vidal
is probably going to get drafted. But yeah, I really
like Vandal. Vidala is my RB five.

Speaker 1 (01:15:15):
Yeah, I mean we're handholding. He's my RB five as well.
The testing really of mys for a guy that I'm
gonna have to amend my comp on him. I comped
him to Devin Singletary. I didn't give him enough respect
as far as the straight line speed because of you know,
we kind of we eyeball this based off of what
we see on film and stuff, and some of these
guys like Vidal, we didn't have access to, you know,

(01:15:37):
miles per hour and things like that, so you're really
going off of what your eyes tell you. And for Vidal,
I was like maybe high four fives. Now going out
there and run a four to four. I've got to change,
you know, the flavor of the coffee and stuff for him.
But again putting respect on his name, twenty first and
pff elucid rating last year three point five two yards

(01:15:57):
of the contact per attempt in the entirety of his
kally your career. Very good number. And you know to
your point, he's got the jews to run it outside
when needed. But I think that his his stuff is
he needs to get downhill. He pinballs off guys in
the second level, and he's a volume rusher. He proved
that he can be a volume rusher. He had at
least twenty three carries and fifty seven percent of his

(01:16:21):
final collision season games. So can he hold up considering
the size and did he put up the numbers where
we wanted to see it? Absolutely? Man, So I like
Vadal coming out of the process again, thorn I's RB
five of this class. If you're looking at all these
running backs listening to this episode and you're running mock
drafts on the mock Draft simulator for rookie drafts right

(01:16:43):
now on fantasypros dot Com Slash Simulator. Get those reps in, baby,
you're gonna need them for rookie draft season. It is
quickly approaching, Thorn and I gonna be back next week
to dive further into this NFL draft class. So tune in,
then we'll see it. Then we're out here. Thanks for
listening to the Fantasy Pros Dynasty Football podcast. If you
love the show, the best freeway to support us is

(01:17:05):
by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,
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