Top 10 running backs in the 2019 NFL Draft

#8 Darrell Henderson, Memphis

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This kid put up just Ludacris numbers with over 2200 yards from scrimmage and 25 total touchdowns, averaging 8.9 yards per carry and 15.5 yards per catch in 2018.

Despite 80 more touches compared to the year prior, Henderson kept his rushing average and he never failed to reach 100 yards when he received at least ten carries in a game. To make this short and simple – he had a phenomenal two-year run.

Henderson offers great explosion and he truly was a threat to take it the distance on any given play, displayed by 55 runs of 10+ yards last season. While he has the burst through openings to bang his head against the goal-post, the stat monster can’t only do it going in a straight line.

He is also extremely dangerous when cutting across the grain and forcing defenders to adjust their angles, which prove to be the wrong ones for the most part. For as much as Henderson is known for those 70- and 80-yard runs that are mainly about his breakaway speed, he is a physical inside runner.

He can lower the shoulder into a tackler and then pop right back up to keep on going as well as anybody once he has built up some momentum. I have seen him run several off-tackle plays and just crush the initial defender.

When he is headed towards the end-zone and defenders make final attempts to grab onto some part of him, you feel like they fall off as if they were trying to hold onto a moving train. That’s why 1321(!) of his yards last season came after contact.

Henderson can also shift laterally when bouncing off tackles and not lose time to get back to running downfield. He doesn’t really run those outside zone plays by going upfield in one step, but he is excellent at maintaining speed and even accelerating through bending the run inside.

He also likes lining up as a wildcard quarterback, where his vision on the defense is expanded and he even threw a touchdown from that position last year versus UCF. While Henderson was used primarily as an outlet receiver, I have seen him go up the sideline and reach around for back-shoulder passes.

He also does a good job slowing down on screens and letting the blocking get set up. As far as his individual blocking goes, Henderson was asked to lead the way for his teammate Tony Pollard on several occasions and helped spring him loose by showing effort at the second level.

However, I didn’t see Henderson be used a lot in pass protection, which makes me think he didn’t excel in that regard and that would make sense due to some hip tightness. Henderson takes some unnecessary steps before receiving the handoff and makes some questionable decisions when he tries to bounce runs with the edge defender clearly in position to hold his contain.

Henderson is at his best when he can build some steam and is able to bend runs, since he doesn’t quite have the short-area quickness to jump around behind the line of scrimmage into a different lane.

He simply lacks some hip mobility to point his feet North and South from going sideways. Another thing that has marked his collegiate career are the ball-handling problems with three lost fumbles these past two seasons.

While a lack of mobility in his ankles and hips makes me believe Henderson should be much more effective in a zone-based rushing attack, you can’t really argue the numbers he has put up.

Last season he forced 56 missed tackles and led all running backs in college football with 5.6 yards after contact on average – that would be a good overall number for most college backs.