Charles McDonald: It’s unlikely that a running back is selected this high come draft day, but Ashton Jeanty is absolutely one of the best players in this class.
Jeanty is built like a ball of steel and is incredibly tough to bring down when defenders get their hands on him. He bounces off of tackles with ease, showed he can carry a heavy workload and had some solid performances against the tougher teams Boise State faced.
Jeanty’s ability to break tackles made him a home-run threat and if he can continue to do that in the NFL, he’ll be a sweetener for offenses in the way veteran running backs were last season.
Nate Tice: A human highlight reel. Jeanty isn’t the tallest (5-foot-8 ½ inches), but he has a good build (211 pounds) and is a strong runner.
Jeanty has excellent speed and burst and is more than willing to do his work between the tackles where he shows off his rare contact balance and clean vision for running the football. He is also excellent at tempo-ing his runs, slowing to let blocks develop and then accelerating through the hole just as it opens, which show up on Boise State’s gap schemes featuring pulling offensive linemen.
Jeanty is explosive, tough, well-rounded (he’s a natural catcher of the football and has a great feel on screens), is a great pass protector, and has the size, speed and vision to handle any type of run concept.
He took on a lot of touches this past season (his 397 touches led FBS, and there were some tough touches in there) and running back value is always a discussion, but Jeanty is worth of a lottery pick. He can stay on the field and impact the game, in true gamebreaking ways, on every single down. That’s valuable.
