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 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Pick | Player | Run | Rec | Tot | TD |
| 2008 | 44 | ••Matt Forte | 2,127 | 282 | 2,409 | 23 |
| 2008 | 55 | ••Ray Rice | 2,012 | 239 | 2,251 | 25 |
| 2006 | 2 | •Reggie Bush | 1,740 | 478 | 2,218 | 18 |
| 2009 | 27 | •Donald Brown | 2,083 | 125 | 2,208 | 18 |
| 2014 | 54 | Bishop Sankey | 1,870 | 304 | 2,174 | 21 |
| 2005 | 44 | J.J. Arrington | 2,018 | 121 | 2,139 | 15 |
| 2006 | 27 | ••DeAngelo Williams | 1,964 | 78 | 2,042 | 19 |
| 2004 | 26 | Chris Perry | 1,674 | 367 | 2,041 | 20 |
| 2010 | 51 | •Toby Gerhart | 1,871 | 157 | 2,028 | 28 |
| 2012 | 3 | •Trent Richardson | 1,679 | 338 | 2,017 | 24 |
| 2004 | 24 | ••Steven Jackson | 1,545 | 470 | 2,015 | 22 |
| 2012 | 61 | LaMichael James | 1,805 | 210 | 2,015 | 19 |
| 2005 | 4 | •Cedric Benson | 1,834 | 179 | 2,013 | 20 |
| 2008 | 23 | •Rashard Mendenhall | 1,681 | 318 | 1,999 | 19 |
| 2008 | 4 | •Darren McFadden | 1,830 | 164 | 1,994 | 17 |
| 2013 | 48 | •LeVeon Bell | 1,793 | 167 | 1,960 | 13 |
| 2008 | 24 | ••Chris Johnson | 1,423 | 528 | 1,951 | 23 |
| 2010 | 12 | •Ryan Mathews | 1,808 | 122 | 1,930 | 19 |
| 2013 | 58 | •Montee Ball | 1,830 | 72 | 1,902 | 22 |
| 2011 | 57 | Mikel Leshoure | 1,697 | 196 | 1,893 | 20 |
| 2008 | 13 | •Jonathan Stewart | 1,722 | 145 | 1,867 | 13 |
| 2012 | 32 | •David Wilson | 1,709 | 129 | 1,838 | 10 |
| 2004 | 30 | •Kevin Jones | 1,647 | 161 | 1,808 | 21 |
—Ian Allan