Top 10 running backs in the 2021 NFL Draft

Honorable Mentions

# 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Javian Hawkins (Louisville)

[5’ 9”, 195 pounds; RS SO]

Javian Hawkins

Speaking of productive ACC backs – after only logging three touches as a freshman - Javian Hawkins exploded for 1525 rushing yards and nine touchdowns in year two and went for almost another 1000 and eight scores last season as a redshirt sophomore.

He is certainly a little undersized but has a low center of gravity, is very shifty laterally and finds his way through small openings.

Hawkins has the burst to get the edge routinely to go with his speed to finish runs in the end-zone.

You see that explosion, where most guys would get taken down from the side, but Hawkins rips off chunk plays. He excels in the outside-zone run game and keeps his vision all the way to the backside, where he does an excellent job of pointing his toe to make that one hard cut upfield.

His start-stop quickness is pretty absurd, and with his rapid footwork, it is oftentimes tough for defenders to read what he is doing. However, I appreciate how there is no dancing in the backfield and how willing he is to run in between the tackles.

When he gets to the second, he brings a ton of juice and can make those hard cuts across the grain. Moreover, he loves the spin move in one-on-one situations, but he also sort of bends and pivots off either foot very well, which he combines with dipping the shoulder away from defenders.

Hawkins breaks a lot more tackles than you’d expect for a guy his size as he pulls his knees up high and keeps his pads over them. And you see him kick those legs up high to avoid being tripped up by diving tackling attempts, I love the way Hawkins throws his body around in protection, and he doesn’t shy away from putting hands on defensive tackles also. Moreover, he uses good technique on cut-blocks, where he works across the legs of charging blitzers.

Hawkins had a 75-yard house call against Pitt in 2020 but was bottled up the rest of the day, finishing with 79 yards on the ground and a fumble. While he only fumbled once during the 2019 season, in the other nine career games and 152 touches, he put the ball on the ground four more times.

That’s in large part because he swings too far away from his body. More importantly, despite his size indicating that he’s a scat-back, Hawkins has only caught 20 passes over the last two years. That doesn’t mean he can’t do it, and I didn’t necessarily see anything alarming in that regard. But it makes you question why a coaching staff wouldn’t put the ball in the hands of such a dynamic player in space and get him more involved in the screen game.

Even though he definitely runs hard, you see Hawkins just go straight to the ground when he gets smacked from the side.

So I think Hawkins could be a high-quality addition to a backfield that offers a change of pace for the defense and can be a true home-run hitter. He was one of my favorites to watch and will be one of my favorites to follow for whoever grabs him on day three, most likely.

# 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Rhamondre Stevenson (Oklahoma)

[5’ 11” ½, 230 pounds; SR]

Despite being the RB3 behind Kennedy Brooks and Trey Sermon (who was lost for the rest of the season from November on), Rhamondre Stevenson went for over 500 yards and six TDs on 64 carries in 2019 averaging eight yards a pop. With Brooks opting out last year, Stevenson took on lead-back duties and averaged 146 scrimmage yards while reaching the end-zone seven times in six games.

Stevenson is a wrecking ball when he gets going downhill. He is quick to ID defenders flashing through a gap and adjusting his running lane, as he seems to be very comfortable operating in tight spaces and working around defenders.

Oftentimes, you will see him spin off contact and produce a nice burst, but he can also plant and bounce wide very well for such a big back. Stevenson understands how to hesitate just a little bit to get a defender to one side of a block and open up a lane for himself the other way. And when he gets in the open field, he can really bring the thunder as defenders try to catch-tackle him.

With the way opponents slip off him, you feel as if somebody has put grease all over him at times. He can also be deceptively shifty in terms of side-stepping tacklers.

While his total numbers are overly impressive, catching 18 passes in just six games last year isn’t bad. Stevenson doesn’t let the pass come into his body and once he secures the catch, he has a good awareness for defenders around.

As a pass-protector, he doesn’t shy away from engaging with big defensive linemen, and he has good take-on technique, paired with anchor strength, to pick up blitzers.

He really stood in pass-pro drills against the linebackers during Senior Bowl week, where he squared those guys up, delivered a strong punch and shoveled his feet to stay in front. His running style definitely has a cumulative effect on opponents, and defenders at some point just don’t want to tackle this guy.

While Stevenson does bounce off a lot of hits, he needs to do a better job of getting his feet off the ground to get out of the trash. You see him get chopped down low on quite a few occasions.

In terms of reading the blocking scheme, he is a little too eager to get going with a puller out in front, and he has a tendency to bounce out wide when he sees one of his linemen being driven backwards. That doesn’t pair well with his limited burst, as he will be run down by too many scraping linebackers or D-linemen working around their blocks. And that also translates to his missing pull-away speed, as you see him get caught from behind by slow safeties and even linebackers routinely, as only 2.4% of his career carries at Oklahoma went for 30+ yards.

This is a big boy with some juice. Stevenson is fun to watch in that Eddie Lacy-mold of player. However, we rarely see those guys enjoy sustained success at the next level.

He doesn’t have great burst or long speed, but he does read defenses pretty well and has the quality of getting away from tacklers. If you already have a more dynamic option in the backfield and you’re looking for a short-yardage and power back as a complement, Stevenson could be an intriguing option to have.

# 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Demetric Felton (UCLA)

[5’ 8”, 200 pounds; JR]

Demetric Felton finally redshirted his first year with the Bruins and then only touched the ball 37 times over the next two years as a wide receiver on the roster officially.

In 2019, he caught 55 passes for 594 yards, to go with another 331 on the ground, with a combined five TDs. Last season, he transitioned into more of a full-time RB role when he reached the end-zone eight times in half as many games (six) but about 100 scrimmage yards less, with a 132-to-22 split between carries and receptions.

Demetric Felton became a stronger runner as a senior, breaking tackles and churning out yards after contact. He utilizes the spin move incredibly effective well to get away from defenders in the backfield, and he can really take advantage of limited space, shifting sideways right behind his blocker to slip through between him and a pursuit defender.

Moreover, he has to use his off-arm to keep his distance from tacklers. Demetric Felton is very shifty when he gets to the open field and is a unique mover, side-stepping or jumping-cutting around defenders, hesitating and beating defenders with sudden bursts.

And he excels in stringing all those maneuvers together while rarely allowing defenders to get a clean shot at him. When he can’t get out of it anymore, he has gotten much better at working those feet through wraps and extending himself forward.

Demetric Felton caught a ton of angle and option routes to go with clearing space with swings and wheels. The Bruins split him out wide and put him in the slot quite a bit. However, I saw during Senior Bowl week, when he basically played receiver exclusively. He naturally got in and out of his breaks with great quicks to go along with effective head-fakes. Felton is kind of doing the invert Antonio Gibson transition, and he could be a nightmare to cover if you attack certain matchups with him.

However, Felton only carried the ball 234 times in his career, and he is quicker than fast, illustrated by just eight carries of 18+ yards last season. He doesn’t really have the size or game to be an in-between the tackles lead-back, so his best position in the NFL could be as a slot receiver and change-of-pace back.

I don’t really trust Felton in short yardage situation, where he tries to make people miss when there’s penetration, rather than just taking his head down and trying to get past the marker. And there’s definitely a lot of sauce to his routes, to the point where it will be hard to sustain that in a timing-based passing attack.

That really comes down to the tweener or versatile weapon discussion. I don’t think Demetric Felton deserves to quite be in the top ten at running back or receiver. But I personally like the skillset he presents a lot, and he also returned some kicks for the Bruins, including a touchdown in 2019.

I could see him being used more split out as a receiver early on and then move into the backfield more for passing downs as he develops as a pass protector.

The next names up:

Rakeem Boyd (Arkansas), Trey Ragas and Elijah Mitchell (Louisiana), Pooka Williams (Kansas), Chris Evans (Michigan), Jaret Patterson (Buffalo) and CJ Marable (Coastal Carolina)

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