Josh Jacobs - 2019 NFL Draft Scouting Report

Breaking the streak of Iowa tight ends, I am going to look at both a different school and a different position by taking a look at Alabama's Josh Jacobs. Jacobs has been getting a ton of buzz, and I wanted to see if whether I should buy into the hype or whether this was just a product of him being surrounded by such talented players that he is being overrated. I took a look at his games against Clemson, Mississippi State, and Tennessee.

The guy is smooth as all hell.

He starts the run by breaking through the leg tackle by a Tennessee linebacker, then jukes the poor safety out of his boots.

Jacobs rarely goes down on first contact.

This is a third down play where he gets met by a linebacker right at the line to gain. If the linebacker wins, it's fourth down. Instead, Jacobs bounces off the linebacker and charges forward for almost ten more yards after the initial contact.

He also doesn't shy away from contact.

He could scamper out of bounds without taking any contact, but what fun is that? Instead he delivers a hit to the safety to gain a couple extra yards on the carry.

But he's also smart enough to not take contact if he doesn't have to.

This is stupid. There are two Mississippi State defenders ready to tackle him for a loss as teh defensive end totally outplays the right tackle and the corner converges on the run. Jacobs is running right for them, and then he just plants his right foot in the ground to cut up field and ends up with a touchdown.

Although this play isn't going to make many highlight reels, it does a good job of showing Jacobs's vision.

A lot of times he is just following a very good offensive line and doing what the play asks, but on this stretch play, he has to make a decision about where to cut up field. While many backs may continue to go outside, looking for a home run, Jacobs sees a seam that he can use to get a first down and does just that.

Now combine the last two plays and you have this one.

Jacobs loses no speed when making his cuts, and it's runs like these that make it very easy to believe in the hype. But I promise the man is not perfect.

His blocking needs work.

I saw this multiple times in pass protection. Jacobs drops his head when trying to block, and it's really tough to hit something you can't see. He at least made some contact by spearing the defender in the chest, but that technique is not a recipe for success.

Luckily, I was rather impressed with him in the other facet of the passing game.

This is obviously a fairly easy catch, but he frames the ball with his hands as opposed to catching it with his chest, and he takes the time to see the ball in, tucks it, and runs to the end zone.

On top of having good technique, he can also make the tough catches.

This is a great adjustment on this ball. He gets turned around but focuses on the ball and makes the play. With these skills, there is no doubt that Jacobs can be a three down back that can hurt you in both the running and passing games.

The most impressive thing about Jacobs is that this was not against inferior competition. Mississippi State and Clemson have a pretty strong argument for being the best two defenses in college football this year, and he was still able to show off his skills against the best of the best. Outside of pass blocking, he basically excels at every other aspect of playing the running back position. On top of that, since he was at Alabama, there isn't a lot of wear and tear on his body which makes him even more appealing. He reminds me of Sony Michel in that he can do everything, and Jacobs has the advantage of not having any significant injury history. Michel was a late first round pick, and I can easily see Jacobs getting taken in the middle of the first round. The running back position may not be valued like it once was, but it's tough to see a situation where this guy doesn't make a team happy by taking a running back early.

Previous Scouting Reports:
Noah Fant - Iowa Hawkeyes - Tight End
TJ Hockenson - Iowa Hawkeyes Tight End

The 2018 XFL Mock Draft - Running Backs

In anticipation of Vince McMahon bringing the fun back to football (more concussions, woohoo!), Lukewarm Jonah and I went back and forth to do an XFL Draft. Admittedly, both Jonah and I did minimal research before the draft and did all of our analysis during the draft. This meant that there was little rhyme or reason to any picks past the first two rounds. So instead of breaking this down round by round, we are going to go by position groups. We also only did a two-team league, because I cannot imagine finding enough nerds to have a 12 or 16 team league. We did do a whole 53-man roster, so you could imagine these guys being spread around across the league. Today, we continue our list with the running backs.

Running Backs
Jonah: Denard Robinson, DeAngelo Williams, Barry Sanders Jr.

Joe: Reggie Bush, Trent Richardson, CJ Spiller
Fullback: LenDale White, Mark Weisman

Joe: A common theme with my team is college studs. I want pedigree over relevant talent today. Also, I figured if you were good in college that you would probably be good in this league since the talent level probably won’t be much better than a Power-5 conference. I have three top-10 draft picks at running back, so I feel pretty dang good about that.

Reggie Bush and CJ Spiller were both not only recently on NFL rosters, but they have great name recognition that will surely get people to tune in. We top it off with Trent Richardson who still believes he is going to get that gold jacket. Could he one day make the XFL Hall of Fame? Hell yeah, he could, and that’s why I’m happy he’s on my side.

Where Jonah ignored the fullback position, I embraced it. Sure, spread offenses like to score points, but our viewing audience is going to want smash mouth football, and that’s exactly what they are going to get. I started with LenDale White, a man who once bragged about losing 30 pounds by cutting patron out of his diet. This is the kind of attitude we need to be a success in the XFL.

For the other fullback position, I went with a less known name in Mark Weisman. Weisman was a walk-on at Iowa who somehow overcame the odds to become the starting running back. He was slow and white and universally loved as even I own a “Weisman For Heisman” shirt. I wanted an Iowa running back on the team and it came down to him and Brandon Wegher. Wegher definitely has the talent advantage, but Weisman has the nickname of the Hebrew Hammer, so we are going to make bank on those jersey sales.

Jonah: Even though I only have three, I love my running backs and I have more in mind in case changes need to be made or injuries happen.  Dri Archer is still out there and a favorite of mine, I just thought he was too similar to other running backs on my team to be a real difference.  Denard Robinson has name recognition from his electrifying college days as well as actually having multiple good games running the ball in the NFL.  He’s also going to be great for a bunch of trick plays as he was a quarterback in college, and his first official NFL position was “Weapon.”  He’s relatively young and has fresh legs, I’d imagine he can still do great things, especially against XFL competition.

Deangelo Williams had a pretty productive season filling in for Leveon Bell last year, so I’m not sure why he didn’t play this year, but that’s my team’s gain.  He’s up there in years, but had plenty in the tank when he had to start due to Bell’s suspension.  He’s my team’s between the tackles runner who can also catch the ball out of the backfield. 

Barry Sanders Jr. is Barry Sanders’ son, do I need to say more?  He showed flashes of brilliance at Stanford and at Oklahoma State both on the offense and special teams.  He’s probably my returner, but I’d love to see what he could do.  He would have been a rookie this season so he’s very young and boy does he have name recognition.

Joe: I definitely like your first two picks. Denard is a fine running back who isn’t over the hill yet, although if you ever saw Denard actually throw a ball in college, you might reconsider the trick play plan. DeAngelo might be over the hill, but his hill was much higher than most. As someone who added a few late career backs on his own roster, I can’t fault you for giving Williams a shot. As for Barry Sanders Jr. showing flashes of brilliance, I’m not sure if clapping for Christian McCaffery qualifies as brilliance, but to each their own I suppose.

Jonah: Sanders made some big plays, I mean he didn’t get much of a chance playing behind McCaffery but I’d take a flier on him especially with his genetics, I mean I’d still take a flier on Barry Sanders Sr. if I thought he would play.  Your running back picks were very good.  Bush would do well against a lower level of competition just like he did in college and maybe Richardson could find it again, but I think he’s done.  However, he brings great name value, college fans will still want to see him play.  CJ Spiller is a fun all around back, and I think he’s better than Richardson and probably Bush at this point.  Fullbacks are boring, they’re important but boring and no one needs two fullbacks when most NFL rosters have zero.  I do applaud reuniting Bush and White so we can remember the glory days of USC.

Joe: You would have been better off taking Barry Sanders Sr. And your talk of fullbacks just shows your West Coast Bias. Many people (me, Kirk Ferentz) think fullback is possibly the most important position on a football team. The only downside is that XFL fantasy players are going to be pissed when my fullbacks are definitely going to vulture touchdowns near the goal line. But the true fans are going to love my goal line package. I call them WW3 (White, Weisman, RG3), and the merchandise is going to be LIT.

But that’s all for today. Next time, we will continue with the glory boys out at wide receiver.

In case you missed it:
Quarterbacks

Chicago Bears 2015 Draft Breakdown: Jeremy Langford

Through the Bears first three picks, I thought the Bears were having an okay draft. I wasn't particularly excited, but I understood the logic behind the picks, as they were more necessary than they were sexy. In the fourth round, I started to swear off the Bears. They drafted running back, Jeremy Langford, out of Michigan State. This tweet summed up my feelings pretty well:

Stupid pick by the Bears. a total non-need, and not the best RB available, not even the best RB available in his own conference (David Cobb)

— Hott Joe (@HottJoe) May 2, 2015

The Bears had made me angry yet again. But I needed to calm down and see what the Bears actually got in Langford. I knew that although I watched a lot of B1G football, I may have underrated him since Michigan State did not play Iowa this year, so I didn't get a comprehensive look at him. Now it is time to right this wrong and watch his games against Purdue and Baylor to see if Langford is secretly B1G Todd Gurley (Spoiler alert: He's not).

The good news is he appears to be a patient runner who knows how to follow his blocks. He doesn't just run as hard as he can into a pile when a little patience might allow something bigger to open up. I will say that the patience isn't always a good thing, as he sometimes gets caught just tiptoeing around and is an easy tackle instead of attacking. He can wait to a fault, where he has to learn in the NFL, he is going to have lane one or a cutback lane; lane three is closed for repair.

Because of this dancing around in the backfield, he often doesn't generate much power in his runs, so he often gets driven backwards when tackled instead of falling forward for extra yards.

Another positive is that he has impressive speed when he gets into the open field. This run against Purdue is a good example of that.

He gets the outside, easily breaks the tackle from the defensive back, and then puts on the burners as he goes down the sideline. This makes sense as his 40 time was one of the best in this draft class. Unfortunately, his ability to cut and accelerate is pretty unimpressive as he was very poor in the shuttle and 3-cone drill. I think those latter drills are far more important for running backs where quickness is more important than speed.

I mean, if he plays Purdue every game, he should have an incredibly successful career. Is that possible? It's not? Oh. Well, then things may be slightly more difficult. I don't see a lead back in Langford, but I do think he could be a solid backup. Langford just simply doesn't impress me. On talent alone, it is not a good pick. Considering it was the fourth round, in this loaded draft of running backs, with David Cobb still available, when the Bears were fine at running back but have nothing but holes on defense, this was a very bad pick. I just don't get it.

Scouting The 2014 NFL Draft: Chicago Bears Selection Ka'Deem Carey

After being uninspired with the Bears first two picks, third round pick Will Sutton got my heart beating faster. I had butterflies in my stomach and wanted to give him heart-shaped candy that says, "Will You Be Mine?" Luckily, the Bears already drafted him, so he will be mine. But more importantly, I was hoping that this was a sign that the Bears were going to dominate the later rounds of the draft. Before we get to that next player, here are links to their first three picks.

Round One - Kyle Fuller - CB - Virginia Tech
Round Two - Ego Ferguson - DT - LSU
Round Three - Will Sutton - DT - Arizona State

Their next pick was in the middle of the fourth round when they selected Ka'Deem Carey from Arizona.  He had great production in his final two seasons in Tucson, but would the tape match the stats? I decided to break down his game against UCLA to find out.

Unfortunately, the first thing that shows up on tape is average acceleration as he goes through the hole. There are guys who get up to top speed quickly, but Carey doesn't appear to be one of them. I actually think it is less of a hindrance for him in the NFL than it would be in the spread offense he played in during college as the quick backs are usually the ones that succeed in those systems.

The good news is that he delivers hits in the hole. This is not a guy who is afraid to lower his shoulder and take on a defender. This should make him a good short yardage back while Forte takes the bulk of the carries.

Another thing that he shows is good balance.

A lot of running backs lose their footing when faced with that sort of contact, but he keeps chugging forward until there is no place for his feet to land and picks up an extra five yards after the initial contact.

I really liked what he did in both run and pass blocking.

The first play is a QB draw where he nails the safety who tries to come up and plug the hole. He laid down the boom to the point that the safety was slow getting up from the block. After that, he does a nice job of seeing the blitzer from the opposite side, crosses in front of the quarterback and takes out the blitzer before he can get to the quarterback.

The reason he was able to rack up all of those yards despite not being elite in speed or acceleration is that he showed a great ability to make strong cuts when he got in the open field.

He did show some nice burst by getting through the hole, but then does a nice job of making the safety miss. He is still immediately wrapped up by the trailing linebacker, but the linebacker pushes him forward and since he loses such little speed despite cutting to make the safety miss that his legs keep churning him forward even with a player wrapped around his waist.

The big flashy things like speed are not his forte, so his slow 40 time is not really a surprise, but the little things are where he excels. He will do everything to help his team gain an advantage, and although it may never add up to an explosive game-changing back, there is no reason it can't lead to a good one. If he was picked in the first round, I'd be very disappointed, but in the middle of the fourth round, this is good value and Carey should complement Forte well. 

Scouting The 2014 NFL Draft: James White

Anybody with even a passing interest in the NFL Draft knows that this is not the year to look for an elite running back. There just isn't that one guy that stands out above the rest of the class. I agree with this assertion, but like all drafts, I think there are diamonds in the rough that will make a team happy late in the draft. A guy that I have liked for a long time that has not gotten much hype is James White (Also, I have no idea why I seem to like Wisconsin players during their Freshman year; I should probably go to a doctor). Despite there being a lot of evidence to the contrary, I was always a much bigger fan of James White than his former teammate, Montee Ball. And thanks to Aimal Arsalla, I was able to check out his game against Illinois from this year to remind me of all the reasons I see a future for James White in the NFL.

When James White started at Wisconsin, he was behind John Clay and Montee Ball. Clay was a slow bruiser, and Ball was a more balanced back, but White was the quick one who was very adept at finding the holes that the big hosses up front were able to create. That's one thing that consistently showed up when watching him. He makes one strong cut and goes for it. There is no dancing, no stutter steps, he just sticks his outside foot in the ground and cuts up field. He rarely makes a bad decision on these cuts and can do it behind the line of scrimmage or down the field. This screen pass does a nice job to show his ability to make strong cuts in the open field.

He makes the first Illinois defender look about as bad as any defender can ever look. Then he sprints down the field, slightly alters his route to go inside his blocker and goes through that seam where the defender is forced to tackle him forward which gains a few extra yards.

He's not a powerful back, but what he lacks in power, he makes up by being slippery. He rarely takes a square hit, and because of that, he is usually able to fall forward instead of getting driven backwards. This is a good example of his shiftiness.

There isn't a lot of room to work with, but he makes the linebacker look terrible and even with a safety right there, he managed to pick up a couple extra yards.

Some people may look at it as a concern that he has always shared time with another back, but there is a positive in that where he has not taken as much abuse as other college running backs, so there may be more miles on that engine. He's not a powerful back, but he makes up for it with his other skills, as he makes smart cuts and he manages to be slippery on contact where he can fall forward without having to plow forward. I see a lot of Warrick Dunn in his game (that is obviously absolute best case scenario), and I think a team will be very happy if they play to his strengths. I really haven't seen much talk about him outside of a late round/undrafted free agent, but if this guy is available in the fifth, he can provide some excellent value. This may not be a great year for running backs, but there are always good running backs available late, and James White is one of those guys.