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- Thread starter bigdog3300
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Yeah, that wasn't eye popping, but I think a lot of his hype is based around his "football speed" or speed with all the gear on. When he broke into the open field in college, he was pretty much gone.
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A 4.4 at 220+lbs is pretty eye popping! Not to mention doing 29 bench press reps(though we mostly all knew that he was a workout freak) and having a 41' Vert. He put up elite numbers all across the board. And I'm in full agreement on the "football speed" comment, he's making NFL GMs think hard about the top 3 picks now
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That's what I love about the combine, four years of film go into the toilet. A guy does a whole lot of non football stuff, puts up great numbers, and everyone forgets he's got 4 years of film showing him lose yards every other carry and shying away from contact on others. Too bad Al Davis isn't still alive, the Raiders would find a way to get Barkley come hell or high water after yesterday.
Did some WR who's weakness is that he can't catch run really fast yesterday too?
Did some WR who's weakness is that he can't catch run really fast yesterday too?
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AuTX Buckeye
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Al might but with us anymore but Mark strikes me as just as crazy.
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Barkley was probably the most versatile RB in CFB last year. If your argument is a player who lost yards on "every other carry", then you can throw Leonard Fournette into that argument too. He barely showed up in big games, and was yearly held in check by Bama, and he did alright as a rookie. Todd Gurley has had a heck of an NFL career and he had a number of bouts of injuries. Trent Richardson looked great on film throughout his CFB season, and well, Cleveland Browns fans know the rest...
I'm sure film AND the combine numbers go into drafting. Barkley is nothing like any of the "combine warriors" that Davis drafted, IMO. Not saying that he's destined to be a first ballot HOFer, but the kid went into the combine as the top RB, and has done nothing to quiet that
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Buckeye513
Stable Genius
Everyone knew he was going to blow up the Combine. He can be the top RB and also not be anywhere near worthy of #1 pick money for five years or the next LaDainian Tomlinson, which is where the hype train has taken him.
I think he can be a very good player as a complimentary piece somewhere. If a team is going to take him top 5 with the plan to give him 350-400 touches/season, they're probably going to very disappointed. If you want to give him 10 carries in the 4th quarter to try and kill the clock, again, probably going to be disappointed. Zeke has that ability and, as much as I love Zeke, Dak is the only reason more people aren't talking about taking him over Ramsey being a mistake.
I wouldn't say Barkley is John Ross-ing, but I would say his Combine numbers are being used as a justification for people overlooking his obvious flaws. He's seriously benefiting from this being an awful draft.
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My point in bringing up the other RBs I did, is because they also had obvious flaws in college too, and have been successful in the NFL. Heck Leveon Bell was considered just a big bruising RB(6'1'' 230lbs at combine) with sub par hands and pass protection skills, and look at him now. Barkley has flaws, like all RBs do coming from the college game to the NFL, but he has as much ability as Zeke, if picked by the right team(Cleveland probably ain't that). Zeke was blessed with being drafted to a team with arguably the best O line in the NFL and an offense set on feeding him the ball, would we be talking about him if he was drafted to Cleveland, NYJ, NYG or Cincinnati? I don't really think so. I agree that Barkley can excel in a platoon, but honestly the same can be said for almost 90% of the RBs in the NFL. Most offenses(outside of maybe Pittsburgh, LA Rams, Dallas, KC, Buffalo and LA Chargers) work better with multiple RBs.
But honestly, this all moot, and won't be answered until at least 3-4yrs. Hell, the story on Zeke still hasn't been written yet, he's dooming his own career with immaturity, and teams knowing that Dak isn't nearly that good and just stacking the box against him
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Buckeye513
Stable Genius
Bell was 245 lbs at the Combine. He is who he is today because he dropped 30 lbs and totally changed his game. He also went 48th. Jacksonville could have gotten production similar to what Fournette gave them later in the draft. Trent Richardson always had no acceleration and no vision, but those things were overlooked because the theory that Trent Richardson was actually Jim Brown incarnate was more appealing. I think that's what we're seeing again with Barkley/LT.
If I'm taking a runningback that high, they have to be as close to a sure thing as possible that I can give the ball to 30 times without thinking about it and can carry the offense if needed. Whether it was the right choice for Dallas or not, Zeke is that guy. The only knocks on Zeke coming out of college were that he had 600+ touches in his last two seasons at OSU, he sometimes doesn't know when to avoid contact, and he's immature. Barkley is a good receiver and he can take it 80 yards when he has the room, but he's not a good runner up the middle, he takes too many negative plays, and he avoids contact. Are those things that are likely to be fixed in the NFL, and while he's playing on a not-so-great team with QB issues? I doubt it.
If he can change his game and become a better runner, good for him, but taking an outside runner who can catch and doesn't like taking easy yards 1st overall and comparing him to LaDainian Tomlinson is insane to me. Right now I just don't see it.
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If so, they'd be the perfect complement to our other Combine WR who ran fast 40s but never learned how to run routes.
Just like that time we used a #3 pick on Braylon stone hands Edwards.
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I think that you’re underrating that Zeke waS blessed to go to a team with a great O line and a QB that surprised the NFL in his first year. Who you’re drafted to has as much to do with a players success as their own abilities.
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I think Barkley's going to make a fine pro. My comment didn't have as much to do with Barkley as it did with the ridiculous amount of importance people put on the combine. If it were up to me, I would not take Barkley all that high. A sure first rounder, I do not dispute, but not a top 5 pick, in my IMO. A running back who loses yards and shies away from contact just doesn't get me too excited. But, like I said, 4 years a film told me there's an awful lot of good he can bring a team too.
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So let's run with that mindset. Not only is a good line and passing game a necessity for the RB to have success, but we saw Saquon look quite average regularly this year when his line struggled (and that was with a pretty good passing game, except for the protection).
If you take Barkley, the QB & WR positions will likely remain poor (you're not getting cousins). The OL will be okay but not awesome.
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