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Factoid

Bishop Sankey

Second-rounder put up big numbers at Washington

Bishop Sankey finished last year with 2,174 yards. There have been 55 running backs selected with first- and second-round draft picks in the last 10 years, and that’s the 5th-best of all of them. He was very productive at Washington.

All four of the guys selected in front of him, as things have unfolded, have had some success at the pro level.

So I decided to expand the scope a little bit. Below are the 23 running backs drafted in the first or second round that had over 1,800 combined yards in their final college season.

By my count, five of these guys are what you would call total butt kickers. If the team was able to rewind the clock and make the pick again, knowing how said player would perform, it would run to the podium with the player’s name on the draft card.

Forte, Rice, CJ2K, DeAngelo Williams and Steven Jackson. Those were the home-run picks. I’ve got them flagged with double dots ••.

Of the remaining 17, I will call four of them busts. Maybe these guys have some talent, but for each of these guys, if the team could rewind the clock, there’s no way in a million years it would ever consider said player.

And the largest group – the remaining 13 – I’m putting in the gray area. These guys have had some success but haven’t been superstars. Reggie Bush, for example, has definitely done some good things, but the Saints would pick him No. 2 overall again.

I’m in a good mood today, so I graded generously. David Wilson has the neck issue and has had some fumbles, so there’s no way the Giants are happy about selecting him, but he also scored some long-range touchdowns as a rookie and could still salvage his career; I’m giving him a dot. And Trent Richardson, as crappy as he played last year, went for almost 1,000 as a rookie and could still turn things around.

Gerhart has hardly played for Minnesota but went over 7 yards per carry last year. He’ll prove his worth one way or the other this year in Jacksonville.

ROOKIES COMING IN WITH OVER 1,800 YARDS
YearPickPlayerRunRecTotTD
200844••Matt Forte2,1272822,40923
200855••Ray Rice2,0122392,25125
20062•Reggie Bush1,7404782,21818
200927•Donald Brown 2,0831252,20818
201454Bishop Sankey1,8703042,17421
200544J.J. Arrington2,0181212,13915
200627••DeAngelo Williams1,964782,04219
200426Chris Perry1,6743672,04120
201051•Toby Gerhart1,8711572,02828
20123•Trent Richardson1,6793382,01724
200424••Steven Jackson1,5454702,01522
201261LaMichael James1,8052102,01519
20054•Cedric Benson1,8341792,01320
200823•Rashard Mendenhall1,6813181,99919
20084•Darren McFadden1,8301641,99417
201348•LeVeon Bell1,7931671,96013
200824••Chris Johnson1,4235281,95123
201012•Ryan Mathews1,8081221,93019
201358•Montee Ball1,830721,90222
201157Mikel Leshoure1,6971961,89320
200813•Jonathan Stewart1,7221451,86713
201232•David Wilson1,7091291,83810
200430•Kevin Jones1,6471611,80821

—Ian Allan

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