Ranking Eagles RB prospects in NFL Draft after Bijan Robinson from worst to first
There’s a lot of work to be done at the NovaCare Complex. The Philadelphia Eagles don’t use the franchise tag often but now seems to be a good time to consider doing so seeing as how they have 20 impending free agents to make decisions on. They have until 4 p.m. EST on Tuesday. March 6th to do so if that’s their plan.
NFL stars, more often than not, hate being tagged. No one has forgotten one of the worst player versus front office standoffs the organization has ever seen, one involving Jeremiah Trotter. It’s doubtful that Miles Sanders will be tagged as Howie Roseman just doesn’t seem to value the running back position as much as he values others, and with Boston Scott set to enter free agency as well, now seems like a good time to discuss potential draft prospects at the position.
Here are the Eagles’ top ten NFL Draft prospects at the running back position ranked from worst to first once we look past Bijan Robinson.
Bijan Robinson is the cream of this draft class’s crop when it comes to the running back position. The two-time First-Team All-Big 12 nod (2021, 2022) was a Unanimous All-American that won the Doak Walker Award in 2022. Let’s talk about what the rest of the field looks like once you get past him.
Keep an eye on former Alabama Crimson Tide star Jahmyr Gibbs. He and Bijan Robinson’s former backup, Texas Longhorns tailback Roschon Johnson, spent time with the Eagles during the NFL Scouting Combine this past weekend. Currently, we place the former in our top ten. The latter sits among the top 15 prospects at the position, but he’s just outside our top ten.
Here are a couple of handfuls of guys you’ll want to keep tabs on from now until the end of April. That is if you haven’t been watching them already. For dramatic purposes, let’s count them down.
light. Related Story. Fastest NFL Combine 40-yard dash times among RBs
10. Deuce Vaughn, Kansas State
Here’s one of those guys that would be ranked higher if he were bigger. Deuce Vaughn is five-foot-six inches tall, and he tips the scales at 179 pounds. That makes him four inches shorter than Bryce Young and 25 pounds lighter in frame.
Every time he’s hit by a linebacker at the professional level and gets up would he will have defied the odds by displaying a fortunate set of circumstances, but following his Unanimous All-American nod in 2022, it feels like he deserves a mention.
9. Chris Rodriguez Jr., Kentucky
Chris Rodriguez missed the first month of the Kentucky Wildcats’ 2022 season because of a DUI arrest earlier in the year, but upon his return, he racked up 904 yards, six rushing TDs, and a 5.2 yards per carry average. If teams don’t see him and think ‘character concerns’, he’ll wind up on a pro roster ahead of training camp.
8. Kenny McIntosh, Georgia
This two-time College Football Playoff National Champion appeared in 38 career games for the Georgia Bulldogs. For his trouble, he collected 1,582 career rushing yards and 16 career rushing TDs to go along with 861 receiving yards and four more trips to the end zone as a receiver.
He’s all kinds of special.
7. Kendre Miller, TCU Horned Frogs
Kendre Miller collected 1,342 yards and 17 touchdowns for the Horned Frogs this season en route to a 6.2 yards per carry average. Some might argue, he should be ranked higher on this list, and we wouldn’t argue with that if someone provides a sensible argument. It feels like it’s pretty easy to make a few.
6. DeWayne McBride, UAB
Conference USA isn’t one of the NCAA’s Power Fice conferences, but DeWayne McBride gave new meaning to ‘big fish in a small pond’. Conference USA’s Offensive Player of the Year collected 1,713 yards rushing and 19 rushing TDs in 2022, giving him 3,523 rushing yards and 36 TDs for his three-season, 31-game career.
5. Tank Bigsby, Auburn
Tank Bigsby helped himself with a nice NFL Combine and a top-ten 40-yard dash showing among the participating running backs. During his three-season, 35-game career, he tallied 2,903 rushing yards on 540 attempts, 448 receiving yards on 62 receptions, and 25 rushing TDs.
4. Devon Achane, Texas A&M
Simply put, Devon Achane doesn’t seem to have the size to be a three-down starter in the NFL, but he can help in the receiving game or as a change of pace style of a player. He enjoyed a great season for the Texas A&M Aggies in 2022 and a nice 28-game career overall these past three college football seasons.
3. Zach Evans, Ole Miss
Zach Evans is another of those versatile backs (936 yards rushing, 119 yards receiving, and ten total touchdowns). Think of him as a Day 2 guy in the coming NFL Draft. If running backs were valued higher, he’d be a first-rounder.
2. Zach Charbonnet, UCLA
Zach Charbonnet can do it all. That is not an exaggeration. He raup cked a seven yards per carry average, 14 rushing touchdowns, and 1,359 yards rushing in 2022 along with 321 yards receiving on 37 receptions.
He’s fun to watch, and at six-foot-tall and 214 pounds, we feel more confident about his ability to absorb contact than some of the other guys on this list.
1. Jahmyr Gibbs, Alabama
Here’s another of those small guys whose health we’ll be monitoring every time he’s tackled. Jahmyr Gibbs can run, catch passes out of the backfield, and occasionally cash in with the long run, but he’s five-foot-nine and tips the scales at 199 pounds.
The Eagles like him a lot though, and so do we. With that being said, we probably shouldn’t complain too much.
Honorable mention
Chase Brown (Illinois), Sean Tucker (Syracuse Orange), Roschon Johnson (Texas), Eric Gray (Oklahoma)
All five of these guys are studs. If your list varies from ours and if you saw fit to place any of these guys in your top ten potential Eagles targets, we honestly wouldn’t give you a hard time. All deserve to be at someone’s training camp. They’re that good.
