STRENGTHS
Zach is “The Natural”. He has excellent size, speed, vision, balance, lateral agility, and mental toughness to be a franchise running back at the next level. He is smart and knows how to set up his blocks and has that natural “quick twitch” athletic talent, that makes it hard to get a full hit on him when he runs between the tackles or in the open field. Zack shows the eye/hand coordination to make the tough catch down the field if used as a receiver. He is a willing blocker and he can gain the needed yardage from the backfield on third and long downs running or catching the ball. Zach will give your running game the explosive player most teams in the NFL need. Like I stated before, He is “The Natural”
CONCERNS
Let’s see…how can I nitpick teams into not selecting him…well, he runs high so, between the tackles you might have to block for him to get past the line of scrimmage to be able to explode into the second level. Oh yeah, he could get injured, and remember we don’t value the RB position high, in the NFL anymore. Oh yeah, and he is not a three-down back…oops, that’s right, I forgot…he catches the ball like a receiver so scratch that one.
BOTTOM LINE 1.54
What have Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley meant to their teams when healthy? Then ask yourself what have both those teams, (Titans and Giants) accomplished since both those players have been injured. Then ask yourself…what would those teams do who have Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, or any other excellent QB if injured? So, does that mean you devalue the QB position because you are afraid they will get injured? Or how about we start devaluing the offensive line positions because they get injured all the time. How about this…we take Jonathan Taylor off the Colts and then we see how good their offense might be. If I’m right about Zach, then he can become as valuable to the team that selects him as any of the outstanding running backs right now. So, if you want to pass on him because he might get injured and your team has “devalued” or because some media analyst suggested “you can get any running back in any round” …I can’t help you. For the record, I had a 1st RD grade on both Henry and Barkley and a 2nd RD grade on Taylor because I wasn’t sure Jonathan was a back who could go east/west and gain yardage, NOT because I “devalued” the position. Talent is talent and, in the draft, you do not devalue a talented player because they play a position. You might devalue the position because of need or offensive systems and maybe for cap reasons, but not because of talent.
