The four-year streak of a running back being among the top 10 picks in the NFL Draft will end with a thud next week. Alabama’s Josh Jacobs is generally regarded as the top available running back and he might be on the board for Oakland at No. 24.
Many teams continue to believe (rightly or wrongly) running back can be addressed in the final six rounds of the draft. But starting in 2015, five teams went against that philosophical grain: (10th to the Rams in 2015), Ezekiel Elliott (fourth to Dallas in 2016), Leonard Fournette and (fourth to Jacksonville and eighth to Carolina, respectively) and Saquon Barkley (second to the New York Giants last year).
Only Fournette can be labeled as a dud because of his injuries.
The value in this year’s draft could be in the third round, when Iowa State’s David Montgomery, Florida Atlantic’s Devin Singletary and Memphis’ Darrell Henderson would provide production and a lower salary.
The Broncos are in good shape at the top of their running back depth chart, but could explore a third-down option (Washington’s Myles Gaskin, Memphis’ Tony Pollard or Nebraska’s Devine Ozigbo) in the later rounds.
Jacobs is a fascinating case because he had only 252 rushes in 42 games (an average of six per game).
Combing their college totals, Gurley, Elliott, Fournette, McCaffrey and Barkley averaged at least 16.9 carries per game and 604.2 carries for their career.
Jacobs (5-foot-11 and 220 pounds) averaged 5.9 yards per carry and also had 48 catches (five touchdowns). He ran the 40 in 4.62 seconds at Alabama’s Pro Day.
“I’m a huge fan of his,” NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said earlier this offseason. “One of the knocks on him is he didn’t get a lot of touches at Alabama or as many as you would like because itap so crowded there. … I can spin that and say thatap a good thing (because) there’s still plenty of tread on his tires.”
Jeremiah compares Jacobs’ college workload to New Orleans’ , who had 210 carries in two years for Tennessee and was a third-round steal by the Saints.
“I don’t have any concern about the fact (Jacobs has) got vision, he runs with power, he can make you miss, he can catch the ball out of the backfield and he can block,” Jeremiah said. “There’s really nothing he can’t do.”
Jacobs is counting on what he did with the football in his hands — and not his lack of chances — to propel him into the first round.
“I didn’t have a lot of carries,” he said at the Combine. “But if you look at the production I had when I was in the game, it kind of speaks for itself.”
