If Jeanty is available at 9, we take him. No brainer. (4 Viewers)

[TruSaint]

Could we start a new prerequisite for

As I've said numerous times, the difference between Jeanty being 5'8.5" and several other top tier RB's at 5'9" is negligible at best. With that said, I'll play this game as the writer obviously didn't "study" this as in-depth as he maybe should have. Here's a list of players that have 5,000+ yards from scrimmage (rushing/receiving) along with recent players from the past few years that have stood out.

Under 5'9"

Barry Sanders 5'8"- 18,000+ yards from scrimmage
Priest Holmes 5'8"- 11,000+ yards from scrimmage
Emmitt Smith 5'8"- 23,000+ yards from scrimmage (read below for more info on his "exact" height)
Warrick Dunn 5'8"- 16,000+ yards from scrimmage
Joe Morris 5'7"- 7,000+ yards from scrimmage
Kevin Faulk 5'8"- 8,000+ yards from scrimmage
Brian Westbrook 5'8"- 11,000+ yards from scrimmage
Darren Sproles 5'6"- 9,000+ yards from scrimmage
Maurice Jones-Drew 5'6"- 11,000+ yards from scrimmage
Justin Forsett 5'8"- 5,000+ yards from scrimmage
Ray Rice 5'8"- 10,000+ yards from scrimmage (career cut short after 6 years due to being an idiot off the field)
Gio Bernard 5'8"- 7,000+ yards from scrimmage
Devonta Freeman 5'8"- 7,000+ yards from scrimmage
Austin Ekeler 5'7"- 9,000+ yards from scrimmage
Devin Singletary 5'7"- 6,000+ yards from scrimmage
D'Andre Swift 5' 8"- 5,000+ yards from scrimmage
Jaylen Warren 5'8"- Averaged 1,000 yards from scrimmage the past 2 seasons
Devon Achane 5'8"- 1,500 yards from scrimmage this past season


Within 1" of Ashton Jeanty's height:

Travis Henry- 7,000+ yards from scrimmage
Dominick Davis (Williams)- 4,400 yards in under 3 seasons. Knee injury ended his career.
Julius Jones- 6,000+ yards from scrimmage
Frank Gore- 20,000+ yards from scrimmage
DeAngelo Williams- 10,000+ yards from scrimmage
Ahmad Bradshaw- 7,000+ yards from scrimmage
Mark Ingram- 10,000+ yards from scrimmage
Doug Martin- 6,000+ yards from scrimmage
Duke Johnson- 5,000+ yards from scrimmage
Aaron Jones- 10,000+ yards from scrimmage
Alvin Kamara- 12,000+ yards from scrimmage (slightly over an inch bigger 5'8.5" vs 5'9.6")
Kenneth Walker- Averaged 1,100 yards from scrimmage the past 3 seasons
Kyren Williams- Averaged 1,500+ yards from scrimmage the past 2 seasons
Jahmyr Gibbs- 2,000+ yards from scrimmage last year
Chase Brown- 1,300+ yards from scrimmage last year
Bucky Irving- 1,500+ yards from scrimmage last year

I highlighted the RB's in bold that I felt were true top tier difference makers at RB at some point in their career. To me exceeding 1,500 yards from scrimmage in a season is often a pretty solid barometer of that. In looking at this list, Jeanty is within .5 of an inch of the 2 of the top 4 rushing leaders in NFL history and within an inch of 3 of the top 4 rushing leaders in NFL history. There's likely others from the 80's/90's that I didn't list on here, but this seems like a pretty extensive list of RB's that are either the same size (under 5'9") or within 1 inch of Jeanty. It's also important to note that outside of Barry Sanders and maybe Emmitt Smith, Jeanty is the highest regarded prospect on this entire (above) list coming into the draft.

All of these heights were pulled directly from combine/pro day data via Draft Scout. Emmitt Smith is generally listed at 5'9" however, the only "exact" measurement I could find lists him at 5'8.8", which is hardly discernable from Jeanty's height.

Draft Scout 2002 NFL Combine RB Results

27 Days, 27 Picks: RB Warrick Dunn

In 27 Days, 27 Picks, Bucs Wire will analyze the last 27 Tampa Bay Buccaneers first-round draft picks, one for each day leading up to the 2023 NFL draft. We’ll take a look at the player’s college stats, their pre-draft numbers (either via the NFL Combine or…

bucswire.usatoday.com

Priest Holmes RAS

Priest Holmes went undrafted for the NFL out of Texas in 1997. This player was selected to at least one pro bowl in his career. This player rushed for 1,250 yards or more in a single season at leas…

ras.football

Emmitt Smith Birthday

Emmitt Smith is one of the greatest icons in the history of American football.

nationaltoday.com

priest Holmes was 5’8”??? Always thought he was like 6’1” lol

 

[inetnawlins]

Running back can’t do anything without a solid offensive line. That’s the pick. Build the trenches.

 

[3ParStillDriver]

Running back can’t do anything without a solid offensive line. That’s the pick. Build the trenches.

Not true. There was a very big difference in the Giants offense and Daniel Jones play with Barkley then without. Almost as drastic as a difference as Barkley going from Giants to Eagles.

 

[St. Geezy]

Height doesn’t matter much at all for backs. They’re not being asked to do anything with their height, or better put, very rarely would they find themselves in a situation where their height would matter other than in the passing game, and typically those guys are only passed to when they’re wide open, so they’re not seeing too many jump balls to where their height would play a role.

What matters more is weight, healthy muscle weight.

Now, that being said, it’s a causality thing…most guys under 5-10 aren’t packing on enough good, healthy 210+ pound weight to be effective RBs that can take a pounding while also having effective agility and speed to play the pro game.

That’s what makes short backs rare. It’s not that they’re short and it makes the game harder for them; it’s the skill set for the pro level generally wouldn’t be present. This isn’t the case with the short back greats referenced in the previous post, or Jeanty.

This wouldn’t dock his stock because he has the necessary weight, and it’s good weight, and he has the skill set, which has been displayed on the tape.

Usually for a short back, they can only maintain their speed and agility by not having a lot of weight on their bodies, so they tend to become scatbacks at the NFL level, usually. But every once in awhile, you get the rare 5-8 to 5-9 guy that is built like a rock yet still has the elite agility and flexibility traits the league requires for the position.

Short backs don't fail because they're short; they fail because they don't have the necessary elite skill set for the NFL generally. The shorter you go, the lower the odds are that the weight they carry is healthy and leaves them with room to be flexible and agile at an elite level. They tend to be too stiff, and aren't twitchy enough.

 

[tyler735]

Apparently you just guessed at everyone's height for the sake of your argument!
But thanks for helping out the original article...

This isn’t going to age well for you lol.

I going to say it again...
Jeanty may or not be the next Barry Sanders...
We will see.

It was literally right there and you still decided not to read it. By this logic Ashton Jeanty is 5’9” as that is his “listed” rounded up height on many publications.

Ashton Jeanty - Boise State Broncos Running Back - ESPN

View the profile of Boise State Broncos Running Back Ashton Jeanty on ESPN. Get the latest news, live stats and game highlights.

www.espn.com

I provided exact combine and pro day heights for every player I listed via Draft Scout website. You didn’t do so at all in your response.

For the 3 players that predated Draft Scout, I attached an RAS for Priest Holmes. An article with a listed combine height for Warrick Dunn, and the most detailed measurement I could find for Emmitt Smith that wasn’t a rounded number.

Here’s the previous post again to help educate yourself a bit better on these players.

As I've said numerous times, the difference between Jeanty being 5'8.5" and several other top tier RB's at 5'9" is negligible at best. With that said, I'll play this game as the writer obviously didn't "study" this as in-depth as he maybe should have. Here's a list of players that have 5,000+ yards from scrimmage (rushing/receiving) along with recent players from the past few years that have stood out.

Under 5'9"

Barry Sanders 5'8"- 18,000+ yards from scrimmage
Priest Holmes 5'8"- 11,000+ yards from scrimmage
Emmitt Smith 5'8"- 23,000+ yards from scrimmage (read below for more info on his "exact" height)
Warrick Dunn 5'8"- 16,000+ yards from scrimmage
Joe Morris 5'7"- 7,000+ yards from scrimmage
Kevin Faulk 5'8"- 8,000+ yards from scrimmage
Brian Westbrook 5'8"- 11,000+ yards from scrimmage
Darren Sproles 5'6"- 9,000+ yards from scrimmage
Maurice Jones-Drew 5'6"- 11,000+ yards from scrimmage
Justin Forsett 5'8"- 5,000+ yards from scrimmage
Ray Rice 5'8"- 10,000+ yards from scrimmage (career cut short after 6 years due to being an idiot off the field)
Gio Bernard 5'8"- 7,000+ yards from scrimmage
Devonta Freeman 5'8"- 7,000+ yards from scrimmage
Austin Ekeler 5'7"- 9,000+ yards from scrimmage
Devin Singletary 5'7"- 6,000+ yards from scrimmage
D'Andre Swift 5' 8"- 5,000+ yards from scrimmage
Jaylen Warren 5'8"- Averaged 1,000 yards from scrimmage the past 2 seasons
Devon Achane 5'8"- 1,500 yards from scrimmage this past season


Within 1" of Ashton Jeanty's height:

Travis Henry- 7,000+ yards from scrimmage
Dominick Davis (Williams)- 4,400 yards in under 3 seasons. Knee injury ended his career.
Julius Jones- 6,000+ yards from scrimmage
Frank Gore- 20,000+ yards from scrimmage
DeAngelo Williams- 10,000+ yards from scrimmage
Ahmad Bradshaw- 7,000+ yards from scrimmage
Mark Ingram- 10,000+ yards from scrimmage
Doug Martin- 6,000+ yards from scrimmage
Duke Johnson- 5,000+ yards from scrimmage
Aaron Jones- 10,000+ yards from scrimmage
Alvin Kamara- 12,000+ yards from scrimmage (slightly over an inch bigger 5'8.5" vs 5'9.6")
Kenneth Walker- Averaged 1,100 yards from scrimmage the past 3 seasons
Kyren Williams- Averaged 1,500+ yards from scrimmage the past 2 seasons
Jahmyr Gibbs- 2,000+ yards from scrimmage last year
Chase Brown- 1,300+ yards from scrimmage last year
Bucky Irving- 1,500+ yards from scrimmage last year

I highlighted the RB's in bold that I felt were true top tier difference makers at RB at some point in their career. To me exceeding 1,500 yards from scrimmage in a season is often a pretty solid barometer of that. In looking at this list, Jeanty is within .5 of an inch of the 2 of the top 4 rushing leaders in NFL history and within an inch of 3 of the top 4 rushing leaders in NFL history. There's likely others from the 80's/90's that I didn't list on here, but this seems like a pretty extensive list of RB's that are either the same size (under 5'9") or within 1 inch of Jeanty. It's also important to note that outside of Barry Sanders and maybe Emmitt Smith, Jeanty is the highest regarded prospect on this entire (above) list coming into the draft.

All of these heights were pulled directly from combine/pro day data via Draft Scout. Emmitt Smith is generally listed at 5'9" however, the only "exact" measurement I could find lists him at 5'8.8", which is hardly discernable from Jeanty's height.

Draft Scout 2002 NFL Combine RB Results

27 Days, 27 Picks: RB Warrick Dunn

In 27 Days, 27 Picks, Bucs Wire will analyze the last 27 Tampa Bay Buccaneers first-round draft picks, one for each day leading up to the 2023 NFL draft. We’ll take a look at the player’s college stats, their pre-draft numbers (either via the NFL Combine or…

bucswire.usatoday.com

Priest Holmes RAS

Priest Holmes went undrafted for the NFL out of Texas in 1997. This player was selected to at least one pro bowl in his career. This player rushed for 1,250 yards or more in a single season at leas…

ras.football

Emmitt Smith Birthday

Emmitt Smith is one of the greatest icons in the history of American football.

nationaltoday.com

 

[tyler735]

Just for good measure lol:

Priest Holmes RAS

Priest Holmes went undrafted for the NFL out of Texas in 1997. This player was selected to at least one pro bowl in his career. This player rushed for 1,250 yards or more in a single season at leas…

ras.football

Emmitt Smith Birthday

Emmitt Smith is one of the greatest icons in the history of American football.

nationaltoday.com

I’ll concede that this one may or may not be accurate, but it’s the only “exact” measurement I could find for Emmitt that isn’t a rounded number as some of these older players are hard to find combine data on.

Warrick Dunn | Combine Results | RB - Florida State

NFL Scouting Combine and Pro Day scores, percentiles and metrics for Warrick Dunn, RB, Florida State.

nflcombineresults.com

2002 Draft Scout Brian Westbrook - RB - Villanova

2002 Draft Scout Brian Westbrook - RB - Villanova

draftscout.com

2008 Draft Scout *Ray Rice - RB - Rutgers

2008 Draft Scout *Ray Rice - RB - Rutgers

draftscout.com

2013 Draft Scout *Giovani Bernard - RB - North Carolina

2013 Draft Scout *Giovani Bernard - RB - North Carolina

draftscout.com

2020 Draft Scout *DAndre Swift - RB - Georgia

2020 Draft Scout *DAndre Swift - RB - Georgia

draftscout.com

 

[tyler735]

Continued:

2017 Draft Scout Austin Ekeler - RB - Western Colorado

2017 Draft Scout Austin Ekeler - RB - Western Colorado

draftscout.com

2020 Draft Scout *DAndre Swift - RB - Georgia

2020 Draft Scout *DAndre Swift - RB - Georgia

draftscout.com

2023 Draft Scout *Devon Achane - RB - Texas AM

2023 Draft Scout *Devon Achane - RB - Texas AM

draftscout.com

Now maybe all of these RB’s magically grew in their mid 20’s, but I’m a bit skeptical of that

 

[Merl]

Not true. There was a very big difference in the Giants offense and Daniel Jones play with Barkley then without. Almost as drastic as a difference as Barkley going from Giants to Eagles.

They feed off each other. No one portion of a team can do its job all the time without adequate play from others portions. I. E. An offense constantly put in bad situations by bad play of the defense will fail more often than not and vice versa. That Aldo extends into sub groups of a unit. A good running game makes the passing game better because the opposing defense is gearing up more to stop the run. I can keep going on and show how buffet groups are benefited by others.

In other words football is a TEAM sport. As is most of the other popular sports.