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Penny by contrast averaged 3.32 yards per carry, which led the draft class.
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The key stat that highlights this is that on runs when contacted at or behind the line of scrimmage last season, Barkley averaged fewer than half a yard per carry, which ranked 57th of 58 qualifying backs in this draft class. 230-pound backs don’t need to fear contact the way those that barely tip the scales at over 200 do. The same is true to some degree with Barkley, but the same tendency is a little less excusable in his case given the difference in size and power between him and Sanders.īarkley is over 230-pounds and all too often runs with the express purpose of avoiding contact. This was also the biggest criticism people had of Sanders looking back at his career, but it was always a case of being well worth the price of the special things he could do with the football. The big flaw in Barkley’s game is his tendency to try and emulate Barry Sanders – passing up three yards to try and find 25, and running himself into trouble, resulting in loss of yardage. He may not have quite the same dynamism as a receiver as Barkley does, but he does have Barkley beat in some ways on the ground. Penny is a prototypical NFL back who excels both on the ground and as a receiver out of the backfield. Let’s put to one side for a moment the more existential question of whether any running back is worth a first-round pick in today’s NFL – whether the position has that inherent value at all – and assume that they are and it does. Penny is a first-round talent at running back.
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One of those is San Diego State’s Rashaad Penny. Even among that group, there are the names everybody knows and underrated players that belong in the same conversation. Saquon Barkley is expected to be the first back taken, and the star of the group, but there are several players behind him that will make significant impacts from day one who they are pushing to be seen as first-round picks in their own right, and may actually be better pure runners than Barkley is. This might be one of the strongest running back groups to enter the draft in some years, despite coming on the heels of several other draft classes that have been able to make similar claims.