Hopefully his mommy doesn't sign him up for any of the Florida NFL team combines. He won't be RB1 there either and they might make him block.
To me, besides the RB position and the modern game, the other positions I see that are changed to something hybrid are O-line guards and an NBA center. What I mean, in all instances, is that what you need is someone to fill that position and many times you get them on the cheap. Plenty of them to choose from and it will work. BUT, if you have a great one THEN you can do things others can't and you can use it to your advantage. But unless they "prove" they are a difference they may make more money than their peers but not the crazy money. Barkley may re-invent the priority in the RB position, we shall see. But to me he is mainly Adrian Peterson 2.0; fun to watch but hasn't been a difference maker. For my money, the best RB in the modern game is McCaffery. Maybe he is just small enough to keep getting hurt (whereas Barkley is too fast and Henry too massive) and so he has run his course.
Nah, lots of contributing RBs in the league. McCaffrey, Pacheco, Gibbs, Kamara, even ATL’s BRob and a host of others. Lots of teams still like the ground game.
There's only a few that separate themselves from the pack though. Not too many are highly valued as far as monetary contracts
IMHO, ETN isn't in the same universe as an all-round RB with any of those guys. Not even close. It might be useful to recall that his real-world production at UF and UGA actually went down in his second and third seasons when compared to his rookie season. That isn't great. I personally think he'll be doing well to go in the middle rounds, with his average at best size/power, a very checkered history as both a blocker and a teammate, and good but not great speed. He's a "piece player" in the NFL, just like he was in CFB - that is if he's lucky enough to find the right spot and he can keep his head on straight. Time will tell.
He is a talented, elusive runner. He might be a good 3rd down back if he can prove to be effective catching the ball out of the backfield, but due to his known deficiencies, I don't see him as a productive every down back in the NFL.
I wasn’t referencing ETN, just responding to the assertion RBs aren’t as valuable anymore. I couldn’t care less what happens to ETN.
If he doesn't make it in the pros, his brother can lend him a couple of bucks when he's down and out.
Okay. Fourth round would be my guess. He's a good runner when he gets some space but that's not unique. His stats were slightly worse even when he had such talent in front of him at georgia. He doesn't seem that strong mentally or physically. Our guys punked him a bit last season.
ETN may have hurt his draft position a little by transferring. Got hurt and missed some games, which will cause NFL to have some durability concerns. Continued to have issues pass blocking so that is a liability. Could see him have some success with a zone blocking running attack in NFL