Top 10 running backs in the 2019 NFL Draft

#3 Devin Singletary, Florida Atlantic

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If there was a running back who dominated college football these last two years that nobody really talked about it was this guy.

Singletary broke the Conference USA record for rushing TDs in a season with 32 and racked up 1920 yards on the ground in 2017 while averaging 6.4 yards per carry and recording a crazy 36 rushes of 15+ yards.

His total numbers and averages went down a little last season, as Florida Atlantic went from 11-3 to a 5-7 squad, but Singletary continued to impress with less help around him.

At 5’9”, 200 pounds he makes a living off making the first defender miss consistently. Nicknamed “Motor”, the short back is one of the most active runners I have ever watched. Singletary is very patient in letting his blocks get set up and then darting through the hole. He keeps an eye on the backside of run plays constantly and has the range on his jump-cut to kill the pursuit with one move and get down the field. Singletary can manipulate defenders by shading one way behind the blocker and then hopping to the other side. He also has a way of forcing defenders to overrun plays and then cutting back underneath them.

Singletary is a little dynamo with videogame-like moves in the open field. He has a nice one-two-step and dead-leg to force misses, steps out on arm-tackles all day and is very slippery in general. Sometimes you feel like this guy is covered in Vaseline or something because of how defenders fall off him. Other times it seems like the little dude is dead to rights by how a linebacker leverages himself towards him, but then he jump-cuts outside and gets around the defender. He is a master at side-stepping tacklers and falling forward after keeping the hit to one side of his body, consistently getting that extra yard.

At 200 pounds on a good day, Singletary showcases incredible contact balance for a guy his size and lowers the shoulder going into contact. He was FAU’s primary option on the goal-line and showed good force to convert. Singletary packs unexpected power on his stiff-arm, where he lands his forearm on the defender and then shoves him off. In the 2018 season-opener versus Oklahoma Singletary’s numbers were nothing to brag about much less was the final result of 63-14, but when you watch the tape you see the young man evading tackler and finding a way to make something out of nothing over and over again. Three weeks later he was pretty much the only reason the Owls stayed in the game to some degree versus UCF.

His toughness is also on display when he isn’t carrying the ball as well. Singletary doesn’t mind putting in work as a blocker for his teammates, especially on those jet sweeps, and he is technically sound at cutting defenders across their body around the knees. Despite just 25 receptions over these last two years, Singletary shows good adjustments to passes thrown his way and doesn’t seem to have any issues tracking the ball over his shoulder as a receiver.

With a 4.66 in the 40-yard dash at the combine, Singletary proved once and for all that he is definitely quicker than fast. He will certainly not get the edge as often in the pros as he did in college. Singletary has a tendency of turning bad plays into worse ones when he is trapped in the backfield and at times I would like him to just run into the backs of his O-line instead of searching for a path to escape. At his miniature size, this guy obviously is a liability in protection if you ask him to pick up blitzers one-on-one and he is not the type of powerful runner who will push the pile or simply run somebody over in short-yardage situations.

With that being said, I see a lot of Shady McCoy-esque qualities in this kid. While he doesn’t quite have the top gear to run away from everybody at the next level, he is definitely fast enough to turn any play into a big gain. There are some limitations that come with his stature, but I am willing to work around those, especially since he is more of a threat to clear out space for one his teammates in the passing game anyway. Singletary finished second only to Montgomery in the entire country last season in terms of missed tackles forced with at a crazy 96, plus he picked up 79 combined first downs and touchdowns, while recording 42 runs of 10+ yards.