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Gurley and Gordon

Comparing Gurley, Gordon to other recent running backs

I keep hearing the suggestion that Todd Gurley is the best running back prospect since Adrian Peterson. That is a cool and intriguing thought. But when I go back and watch his college work from last year, I don’t see it.

To me, Gurley looks pretty similar to a lot of the other running backs who’ve been selected in the first and second rounds in recent years. A little better in terms of on-field production, but he played only half of his final year and is coming off a torn ACL.

Eddie Lacy and Trent Richardson looked awfully strong coming out of Alabama.

For pure size and speed, Gurley definitely is just average in comparison with what we’ve seen recently from the top running back prospects.

I will concede that upon checking their college numbers, both of the running back selected in the first round grade out extremely well in terms of yards per carry. Both Melvin Gordon and Gurley are over 7.4 yards per attempt.

Since Adrian Peterson was drafted, only three other running backs have averaged 7 yards per carry in their final year of college ball, and all were inflated by spread-type schemes – Felix Jones, Carlos Hyde and LaMichael James.

Yards per carry ain’t everything, of course. It’s not necessarily even all that meaningful. Peterson averaged only 5.4 in his final year at Oklahoma, which would be below-average on this list. LeVeon Bell averaged only 4.7 his final year at Michigan State, and he’s about the best back in the NFL now. Ray Rice was at 5.3 at Rutgers, and he was one of the better runners on this list.

RUNNING BACKS SINCE ADRIAN PETERSON
YearPickPlayerAttYardsAvg
200822Felix Jones1331,1628.74
201515Melvin Gordon3432,5877.54
201510Todd Gurley1239117.41
201457Carlos Hyde2081,5217.31
201261LaMichael James2471,8057.31
201455Jeremy Hill2031,4016.90
201337Giovani Bernard1841,2286.67
201012Ryan Mathews2761,8086.55
201361Eddie Lacy2041,3226.48
200823Rashard Mendenhall2621,6816.42
200813Jonathan Stewart2801,7226.15
201030Jahvid Best1418676.15
201157Mikel Leshoure2811,6976.04
200824Chris Johnson2361,4236.03
20123Trent Richardson2831,6795.93
201232David Wilson2901,7095.89
200844Matt Forte3612,1275.89
200931Beanie Wells 2071,1975.78
201454Bishop Sankey3271,8705.72
200927Donald Brown 3672,0835.68
20084Darren McFadden3251,8305.63
20109C.J. Spiller2161,2125.61
200912Knowshon Moreno 2501,4005.60
201128Mark Ingram1588755.54
201051Toby Gerhart3431,8715.45
201162Daniel Thomas2981,5855.32
201250Isaiah Pead2371,2595.31
200855Ray Rice3802,0125.29
201058Ben Tate2631,3625.18
201358Montee Ball3561,8305.14
201156Shane Vereen2311,1675.05
201231Doug Martin2631,2994.94
200953LeSean McCoy 3081,4884.83
201059Montario Hardesty2821,3454.77
201362Christine Michael884174.74
201348LeVeon Bell3821,7934.69
201138Ryan Williams1104774.34

—Ian Allan

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