Biggest risers and fallers from the 2023 NFL Combine

Running backs

Alabama's Jahmyr Gibbs

Riser: Jahmyr Gibbs, Alabama

First and foremost, we knew Texas A&M’s Devon Achane could fly, and the 4.32 he ran is great – but that was pretty much my expectation (as crazy as that sounds). Texas’ Bijan Robinson had a great all-around workout, particularly with how naturally he caught the ball and how he never seemed to be straining.

However, my guy here is Alabama’s Jahmyr Gibbs. When you look at different draft evaluations, the comp you see over and over again is the Saints’ Alvin Kamara, and I see a lot of that from Gibbs. But Kamara ran a 4.56 at his combine – Gibbs was two-tenths of a second faster than that, which put him behind only Achane among running backs.

Along with that, he just made the entire workout look almost effortless. So easy stepping over and navigating around the bags, not stuttering his feet or slowing himself down at all. Several RBs seemed to have issues with the Deuce Staley drill, but Gibbs just went through it as if he didn’t even have to think about it. On top of that, the reactionary suddenness to immediately cut as he got directions from the coaches was different than most of the group.

Perhaps most telling about him as a player though is what he did as a receiver. There was no wasted movement as he ran routes. He cleanly got out of his breaks, never even had a bobble with the ball and the only one he didn’t catch was thrown by a scout once they sent the throwing QBs off, where the ball was just a tad off. And, of course, Gibbs hauled in that final wheel route on the re-do.

Bijan has been RB1 was all along, but this guy is firmly entrenched as the next guy I believe, and he still has a good chance of going late in the first if a contending team feels like they can maximize his skill set.

UCLA’s Zach Charbonnet is the third name in this discussion, and he checked another box. His 4.53 in the 40 at 214 pounds is really good, and the 1.54 10-yard split is especially what you want to see. He was also fifth in the vert and seventh in the broad jump. On the field, he was effective with his cuts and caught the ball naturally.

NFL Combine

Faller: SaRodorick Thompson

Now, let's get to the final name I have to bring up in a negative sense. Thompson came in a bit lighter than I expected at 207 pounds after the Red Raiders had him listed at 220, and he measured a half-inch short of 6 feet, with some of the smaller hands, right at 9 inches. The testing across the board was subpar. His 4.67 in the 40 was ahead of only Utah’s Tavion Thomas, who outweighs him by a full 30 pounds.

Thompson was also bottom five in both the jumps and surprisingly took part in both the agility drills, where the only other RB to even follow suit was Northwestern’s Evan Hull, who easily bested Thompson by more than three-tenths of a second in both. In fact, his 4.7 flat in the short shuttle was the worst mark of any non-offensive or defensive lineman at the entire event – with multiple of those guys in front of him, too.

He caught all the balls thrown his way and didn’t stumble over his own feet or anything like that, but it does take a beat for him to turn upfield after catching the ball, and he didn’t make any explosive cuts that would make you feel better.

Thompson had a solid Senior Bowl week after filling in for Texas' Roschon Johnson, who got hurt on Day One, and you have to admire the willingness to compete in all areas. But in an extremely deep RB class, a performance like this may lead to you not getting drafted.

Camrun Peoples from Appalachian State also stepped on the bags and tripped over them. He looked overwhelmed on the Deuce Staley drill, where he didn’t pick the right hole when the trainers indicated where he should go with the upright bags.

He didn’t drop any passes, but he clapped at the ball on a few of them and didn’t have his hands aligned properly. In Mobile, Alabama, I thought he caught the ball pretty well until a couple of blatant drops in the Senior Bowl. So, with extremely limited receiving production in college, that’s an area he’ll need to prove himself to NFL teams.

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