In recent years due to the evolution of a pass heavy offensed league, the Running Back position has been somewhat "devalued". Some believe that a Back shouldn't be taken at all in the first round. In the last 2 years, 4 rare backs have come out of college football. 3 went in rd 1 and 1 went early in rd 2. The backs are Todd Gurley, Melvin Gordon, Ezekiel Elliott, and Derrik Henry. 4 pretty good players. 4 of the best young backs in the NFL. The general consensus is wait til later rds to find a RB bc it's a devalued position and get you a David Johnson in rd 5. That said it is a lot more of a long shot to get a probowl level back in rd 5 then 1. in this draft the Jaguars have the 4 th pick with 2 top notch, rare running backs staring them in the face, and two later on in rd 2. One of the two rds we should get our guy. Ppl say oh look at the playoffs no really good backs were there, that is mostly true. The Jaguars have no really good backs and sat at 3-13 too. Great running backs help, a lot. The best Jaguar Years we had Fred and MJD two fast physical backs who took control of games. They gave Brunell and Garrard much easier times passing. We need a run game to help Blake or any other qb we have, it's just to much to have our QB and our defense shoulder that much weight while our highest rusher half the games is our qb, and our D is on the field 40 minutes. If Fournette, cook or Mccaffrey is your guy at 4 or 35 go get him.
Its easier to establish a run game than it is to find a pass rusher, taking a rb at 4 just isn't necessary.
also this has been discussed ad nauseam in like every other thread we probably couldve discussed this somewhere else
I'm looking at RBs in much the same way that I'm looking at TEs. Both are incredibly deep positions in this years draft, and both are a distinct need. In other words, you know we're drafting one of each.
There's enough depth here that I'm certainly not reaching for one in the first round. In round 2 it would take a first round talent falling out of the round for me to bite. At TE there's a slight chance Njoku falls, and I'm grabbing him if he's there. At RB, it's the same with Mixon and McCaffrey, and maybe Kamara if he's truly as great as his most recent hype suggests. Otherwise I'm looking at round 3 to get the best available RB or TE, and then best remaining at the other position in round 4.
Tied into this is OL, because we need to get an OL in rounds 2 or 3. ...round three if we get a TE or RB in round two. ...otherwise we should get the OL in round two (unless a top four qb falls).
BTW ... this is also said to be a very deep CB class, so in rounds 4 or 5 I'd have to look at CB. I'm not going any later than round four for a RB, but I could see going round 3 - RB, round 4 - CB, and then round 5 - TE ... there still should be one or two good TEs left when we pick in round five.
I think you could say the same thing about running backs as you can about any position in the draft - it's possible to get a perfectly good player in the later rounds.
But, your chances of getting a really good player are better if you are able to pick in the first round.
If you're quite happy to make do with average RBs for a few years until you hit on a good one, then fine.
But I think last season showed this offense needs a lift - and a really good RB could do that.