2005 RBs by Gary Jones

[Skkorpion]

http://arizonasportsfans.com/storypage.php?Story_ID=553&Category=cardinals

 

[Crazy Canuck]

Thanks for the info....

 

[arthurracoon]

Thanks for the info!

Good stuff!

 

[az jam]

Nice update. Boy Arrington sound like the real deal. He may be the best of the lot. Some had suggested the Cards take him on the second round. IMO he will go in the first round.

 

[Red Dawn]

Nice summary, Gary....thanks for posting this.

 

[Harry]

Let me add a few names to your list to keep an eye on.

Brandon Jacobs - Southern Illinois.
Jacobs was the odd man out at Auburn, but not necessarily the least talented. He did rush for more than 5 yards a carry. He is a bigger back, more on the Bettis mold. Those of you who watched the E-W Shrine game saw him rush for over 100 yards on 11 carries. You rarely see a back get 100 yards in an all-star game. Several sites list his speed at 4.65, but I hear he was timed in 4.5 by at least one scout. This guy might be the steal of the draft if he lasts beyond round one.

Frank Gore - Miami
The injury factor has scared many off this potentially high quality running back. Scouts believe he is sound and will get a clean bill on the medicals. He never bounced back fully, but with many players it takes time. He is a great second day gamble if he lasts that long. He might have been the top back in this draft if not for injury and McGahee has shown backs can return to form with current rehab techniques.

Ciatrick Fason - Florida
Illinois will soon find they picked the wrong coach to lead them from the wilderness. Fason was one of many athletes lost in the confusion at Florida. Mark my words, many of these players will be bargains thanks to the Zooker. Faison has it all; speed, power, durability and hands. After scouts see a little more film, he will go in round one. One of my key draft rules is to look for good players on poorly coached teams.

A few other interesting names you'll hear are Alex Haynes from UCF (another program in disarray), Damien Nash sort of from Missouri (a head case with unlimited talent), and Maurice Clarett (the biggest head case of them all).

 

[black]

We're going to get us a nice RB! Yes I can't wait until draft day.

 

[Southpaw]

Vernand Morency and Frank Gore are the best values in this draft. Both can be had in the 2nd round. I see both of them showing up at the combines and blowing people away. The 1st round glamor backs won't show up and it will hurt them. Benson, Williams and Brown all have warts. There are too many good backs in this draft to waste an early 1st round pick on one of them.

 

[Garthshort]

Faison

Harry, did you mean round one or day one?

 

[ajcardfan]

Nice update. Boy Arrington sound like the real deal. He may be the best of the lot. Some had suggested the Cards take him on the second round. IMO he will go in the first round.

He's the man! My favorite RB in this draft. And, you are correct. He will NOT be there at #45 unless he runs a 4.7 40 in workouts. That wouldn't bother me a bit, I'd still take him.

 

[JeffGollin]

I thought Betterson looked pretty good yesterday. And Wimbush's run certainly qualifies him as mid-late round material.

Keep an eye on the forty times. If the ones you've posted hold true, the one thing about Brown that leaped out was that, in addition to being a tough runner with good size, he also runs a 4.46-4.47.

 

[Shuesters2]

If we pick up Travis Henry and LaMont Jordan before the draft it might be safe to assume the Cards won't go for a RB high. How about some day two steals like Melwende Moore that the Vikes got this year?

Shuesters

 

[Snakester]

Let me add a few names to your list to keep an eye on.

Brandon Jacobs - Southern Illinois.
Jacobs was the odd man out at Auburn, but not necessarily the least talented. He did rush for more than 5 yards a carry. He is a bigger back, more on the Bettis mold. Those of you who watched the E-W Shrine game saw him rush for over 100 yards on 11 carries. You rarely see a back get 100 yards in an all-star game. Several sites list his speed at 4.65, but I hear he was timed in 4.5 by at least one scout. This guy might be the steal of the draft if he lasts beyond round one.

Frank Gore - Miami
The injury factor has scared many off this potentially high quality running back. Scouts believe he is sound and will get a clean bill on the medicals. He never bounced back fully, but with many players it takes time. He is a great second day gamble if he lasts that long. He might have been the top back in this draft if not for injury and McGahee has shown backs can return to form with current rehab techniques.

Ciatrick Fason - Florida
Illinois will soon find they picked the wrong coach to lead them from the wilderness. Fason was one of many athletes lost in the confusion at Florida. Mark my words, many of these players will be bargains thanks to the Zooker. Faison has it all; speed, power, durability and hands. After scouts see a little more film, he will go in round one. One of my key draft rules is to look for good players on poorly coached teams.

A few other interesting names you'll hear are Alex Haynes from UCF (another program in disarray), Damien Nash sort of from Missouri (a head case with unlimited talent), and Maurice Clarett (the biggest head case of them all).

I have not watched Brandon Jacobs. If he is another strong back for this draft then thats all the better. Gore and Fason are both decent backs. I was not that impressed with Nash in the two games that I watched of him. Maurice Clarett is the biggest ? Who will take a chance on him and in what round. Because of all the hoopla that he has caused and not playing last year, I think he will fall to the fourth round before anyone will take a chance on him. If he has a great personal workout then that might bring him up a round.

 

[Snakester]

Nice update. Boy Arrington sound like the real deal. He may be the best of the lot. Some had suggested the Cards take him on the second round. IMO he will go in the first round.

I like Arrington a lot. The only reason he might last until round two is because this was his first year starting and he didn't make a name for himself until this year. Plus the more established backs like Benson, Brown and Cadilac have been in the spot light all year and there are not that many teams looking to draft a RB in the first round.

Two other RBs that I watched that would have been ranked are not coming out this year. DeAngelo Williams and Leon Washington would also have been picked in the first two rounds.

 

[azdad1978]

Great anaylsis Gary can't wait till April!!!

 

[Snakester]

If we pick up Travis Henry and LaMont Jordan before the draft it might be safe to assume the Cards won't go for a RB high. How about some day two steals like Melwende Moore that the Vikes got this year?

Shuesters

There are a handful of guys that might be there on the second day. Kay Jay Harris looked a lot better at the end of the year when he was finally healthy. Maurice Clarrett may be there to. Walter Reyes, Darren Sproles, TA McClendon, Eric Shelton and Lionel Gates.
Eric Shelton has great size and power. Reminds me of putting Marcell Shipp and Troy Hambick together in the same body. He's 6'3 248 and would be a great short yardage back. Or the kind of back you could use to just pound a defense. He may not get many twenty yard runs, but he will pound out three or four at a pop all day long. Gates is another that has good size 6'0 225 and overall ability.

Darren Sproles may be really short 5'6 180, but I think he would make a terrific third down back. He has good receiving skills and has great moves and speed in the open field.

TA McClendon is also a good overall back. His biggest problem has been injuries. He keeps getting nicked up and can't seem to stay healthy.

 

[Snakester]

I thought Betterson looked pretty good yesterday. And Wimbush's run certainly qualifies him as mid-late round material.

Keep an eye on the forty times. If the ones you've posted hold true, the one thing about Brown that leaped out was that, in addition to being a tough runner with good size, he also runs a 4.46-4.47.

The combine will give us all the details. Browns forty times are all over the web in the 4.5 to 4.8 range. If he runs a 4.6 at the combine, that will secure his first round statis.

 

[joeshmo]

Not sure if I like Arrington, and I hav seen him play a lot. He just screams one hit wonder to me.

 

[RobbleRobble]

Ciatrick Fason - Florida
Illinois will soon find they picked the wrong coach to lead them from the wilderness. Fason was one of many athletes lost in the confusion at Florida. Mark my words, many of these players will be bargains thanks to the Zooker. Faison has it all; speed, power, durability and hands. After scouts see a little more film, he will go in round one. One of my key draft rules is to look for good players on poorly coached teams.

This is a guy whose stock will continue to rise up until draft day. I fully expect him to be a first round pick and wouldn't be shocked if he went top 10. Harry gets it right above. From a measurable/skills perspective, Fason is the best back in this class hands down. The downside is that he is the most raw and things like blocking and receiving are going to take him some time to pick up. He's the biggest "boom or bust" RB in this class.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

The more people talking about taking a RB in the top ten when there will be comparable talent in the 2nd round while also proclaiming a cornerback as a possible top ten pick when CBs have been rendered impotent by rule changes makes me thankful ASFN is not running the team.

 

[Southpaw]

The more people talking about taking a RB in the top ten when there will be comparable talent in the 2nd round while also proclaiming a cornerback as a possible top ten pick when CBs have been rendered impotent by rule changes makes me thankful ASFN is not running the team.

1st assumption seems valid, 2nd one, on CBs seems invalid. Good CBs will still make a difference. It won't be pitch and catch if the CB is good. The lax rules have created CB imitations in the recent past. The good ones will be premium. IMO.

 

[Russ Smith]

There are a handful of guys that might be there on the second day. Kay Jay Harris looked a lot better at the end of the year when he was finally healthy. Maurice Clarrett may be there to. Walter Reyes, Darren Sproles, TA McClendon, Eric Shelton and Lionel Gates.
Eric Shelton has great size and power. Reminds me of putting Marcell Shipp and Troy Hambick together in the same body. He's 6'3 248 and would be a great short yardage back. Or the kind of back you could use to just pound a defense. He may not get many twenty yard runs, but he will pound out three or four at a pop all day long. Gates is another that has good size 6'0 225 and overall ability.

.

the guy on Louisville that I like is Michael Bush, he split time with Shelton this year, Shelton got more carries and had a higher YPC and TD total but Bush is a kid who's really just learning to play RB he was a QB and apparently this year they finally convinced him he's not going to be a QB.

He's 6'3" 240 and tough and fast, I think he will be one of the 5 best RB's in the country next year but we'll see if he handles getting the bulk of the carries.

 

[kerouac9]

The more people talking about taking a RB in the top ten when there will be comparable talent in the 2nd round while also proclaiming a cornerback as a possible top ten pick when CBs have been rendered impotent by rule changes makes me thankful ASFN is not running the team.

 

[Harry]

I meant round one on Fason. Expect him to shoot up everybody's boards. I like Bush, but the lousy competition makes him harder to evaluate. I agree we'll see how many carries he gets. I'm not a fan of Shelton, Sproles or Reyes. The latter two are role players at best. I like McClendon, but if a player gets hurt often in college, he rarely holds up in the NFL. Gates didn't wow me either, but showed more than Shelton.