Your RB Ranking for the 2008 Draft

[Merk]

List out your top 5 and a late round sleeper

1.) D.McFadden Arkansas(1)
2.) J.Stewart Oregon(1)
3.) R.Mendenhall Illinois (1)
4.) R.Rice Rutgers (2)
5.) F.Jones Arkansas (1-2)

Just missed
-T.Choice (2)
-M.Forte (2)
-C.Johnson (2)

Late round Sleeper
Ryan Torain Arizona State (5-7)

[BBDAVE7]

Mines Pretty Much The Same. Exept I Would Switch Stewart And Mendenhall

[jaymitch84]

1. McFadden
2. Mendenhall
3. Jones
4. Stewart
5. Rice

[FinNasty]

No Kevin Smith in your top 8 Merk?

1. McFadden
2. Mendenhall
3. Stewart (Was #2 before the injury)
4. Smith
5. Rice

Just Missed:
Felix Jones
Choice
Forte

[Callaway]

1.McFadden
2.Stewart
3.Rice
4.T.Brown
5.Choice

[FinNasty]

1.McFadden
2.Stewart
3.Rice
4.T.Brown
5.Choice

Still feeling the sting from Mendenhall? ;)

[Merk]

No Kevin Smith in your top 8 Merk?

1. McFadden
2. Mendenhall
3. Stewart (Was #2 before the injury)
4. Smith
5. Rice

Just Missed:
Felix Jones
Choice
Forte


I've got Smith as a late 2nd early 3rd

Reason why
-He has a lot of big stats but they come in a weak conference
-The best D he faced all year, South Fla, he laid an egg against
-The number 1 reason though is that he got a ton of milage on those legs. Something in the neighborhood of 900 carries. Thats a lot for a college RB and I question how long he will last in the NFL

Outside of that I think he can be an 1,100 rusher in the league if put in the right system. I think if the Texans and Broncos would be great fits for him

[Merk]

Mines Pretty Much The Same. Exept I Would Switch Stewart And Mendenhall


Yea a lot of people like Mendenhall, I think Mayock has him #1 overall in his top 5 RB's


Personally though I've got Stewart and McFadden in a dead tie for the top RB spot and I'd have Stewart #1 if he didnt have his turf toe right now. To me Stewart is the most complete back in this draft. He can go inside and out, good hands out of the backfield, can pick up the blitz, and is a good goal line runner

[imontoya]

List out your top 5 and a late round sleeper

1.) D.McFadden Arkansas(1)
2.) J.Stewart Oregon(1)
3.) R.Mendenhall Illinois (1)
4.) R.Rice Rutgers (2)
5.) F.Jones Arkansas (1-2)


Same.

Kalvin McCrae from Ohio University is my late round sleeper.

[FinNasty]

I've got Smith as a late 2nd early 3rd

Reason why
-He has a lot of big stats but they come in a weak conference
-The best D he faced all year, South Fla, he laid an egg against
-The number 1 reason though is that he got a ton of milage on those legs. Something in the neighborhood of 900 carries. Thats a lot for a college RB and I question how long he will last in the NFL

Outside of that I think he can be an 1,100 rusher in the league if put in the right system. I think if the Texans and Broncos would be great fits for him

His stats are inflated, no doubt. I'll be the first to say it. But he isnt good b/c of his stats, its b/c of his abilities on the field.(Vision, cutting ability, balance, patience, leg drive, etc.)

About the USF game? The guy was getting drilled in the backfield half the time, as their front 7 DOMINATED our OLine. The game got out of hand very quickly. However, KSmith didnt put up those stats in a full game. He was pretty much pulled at halftime b/c the game was a blowout. And in only 1 half, he still put up 100 total yards against USF. That isnt "laying an egg"...

The team as a whole laid an egg against USF... not Smith.


And USF was not the best defense Smith faced last year. That would be Texas, who was #6 in the nation in rushing defense. Smith had 140 yards and 2 TDs against them.


And while he got a ton of carries last year, his milage isnt that bad b/c he still is only a junior. He didnt get the same kind of workload in previous years as he got this year. However, it allowed him to prove that he can take a beating and be the workhorse teams are looking for.

And Ray Rice, who you have #4, actually had more carries in college than Smith did...

[D-Rocafella]

McFadden
Mendenhall
Jones
Stewart
Harrt

[Merk]

His stats are inflated, no doubt. I'll be the first to say it. But he isnt good b/c of his stats, its b/c of his abilities on the field.(Vision, cutting ability, balance, patience, leg drive, etc.)

About the USF game? The guy was getting drilled in the backfield half the time, as their front 7 DOMINATED our OLine. The game got out of hand very quickly. However, KSmith didnt put up those stats in a full game. He was pretty much pulled at halftime b/c the game was a blowout. And in only 1 half, he still put up 100 total yards against USF. That isnt "laying an egg"...

The team as a whole laid an egg against USF... not Smith.


And USF was not the best defense Smith faced last year. That would be Texas, who was #6 in the nation in rushing defense. Smith had 140 yards and 2 TDs against them.


And while he got a ton of carries last year, his milage isnt that bad b/c he still is only a junior. He didnt get the same kind of workload in previous years as he got this year. However, it allowed him to prove that he can take a beating and be the workhorse teams are looking for.

And Ray Rice, who you have #4, actually had more carries in college than Smith did...


Statiscally Texas is better defense but in terms of toughness USF is better.

I watched the USF game and I saw Smith getting smacked and it rattled him he started second guessing himself and yea he was getting met in the backfield but I've seen the same thing happen to a guy you referenced Rice but I've seen Rice handle it.

As far as the carries go I put the same knock against Rice and thats one of the reasons I have him graded out as a 2nd instead of a 1st. Plus I dont have that big a grade difference between the two Smith I have as a 2-3 and Rice I have as a 2. Given the choice I'm taking Rice.

[FinNasty]

Statiscally Texas is better defense but in terms of toughness USF is better.

I watched the USF game and I saw Smith getting smacked and it rattled him he started second guessing himself and yea he was getting met in the backfield but I've seen the same thing happen to a guy you referenced Rice but I've seen Rice handle it.

As far as the carries go I put the same knock against Rice and thats one of the reasons I have him graded out as a 2nd instead of a 1st. Plus I dont have that big a grade difference between the two Smith I have as a 2-3 and Rice I have as a 2. Given the choice I'm taking Rice.

What do you mean by "second guessing himself"?

Smith is a very patient runner... its one of his strengths. However, this doesnt work well when the offensive linemen in front of him are getting dominated, no holes are developing, and defenders are already in the backfield.

When trying to be patient in a situation like that, it can be looked at as "dancing" behind the line. I'm assuming thats what you mean by "second guessing". Sometimes RBs "dance" b/c the hole isnt where it is designed, and they lack the vision to see the cutback lane that was opened. In this situation, it is the opposite. Kevin absolutly has the vision, except he is looking for somthing that isnt there... because the oline is getting so abused.

In that kind of situation, you dont try to wait and look for holes to develop. You just have to slam it up there, even if the hole isnt there, and just run into the back of your linemen and help them try to push for an extra yard. You are never going to be successful as a RB in a situation like that though, regardless of what you do.


Would he have adjusted and just started lowering his head and closing his eyes? Its not his style, b/c he plays with his eyes. But we dont even know if he would have because he never really got a chance to adjust because he was pulled at the half.

[Merk]

What do you mean by "second guessing himself"?

Smith is a very patient runner... its one of his strengths. However, this doesnt work well when the offensive linemen in front of him are getting dominated, no holes are developing, and defenders are already in the backfield.

When trying to be patient in a situation like that, it can be looked at as "dancing" behind the line. I'm assuming thats what you mean by "second guessing". Sometimes RBs "dance" b/c the hole isnt where it is designed, and they lack the vision to see the cutback lane that was opened. In this situation, it is the opposite. Kevin absolutly has the vision, except he is looking for somthing that isnt there... because the oline is getting so abused.

In that kind of situation, you dont try to wait and look for holes to develop. You just have to slam it up there, even if the hole isnt there, and just run into the back of your linemen and help them try to push for an extra yard. You are never going to be successful as a RB in a situation like that though, regardless of what you do.


Would he have adjusted and just started lowering his head and closing his eyes? Its not his style, b/c he plays with his eyes. But we dont even know if he would have because he never really got a chance to adjust because he was pulled at the half.



Rice is also a patient runner w/ great vision and when I saw him getting hit in the backfield against Louisville in 2006 he eventually adjusted his style to hit the hole faster and harder because they where closing quickly in that game. I saw Smith doing the same thing but he didnt adjust his style. Maybe he didnt have time but through the first quarter it should have gone off that the holes he was gettin where closing a lot faster and the cut back lanes that USF where taking away clearly were not going to be there all day so he shouldnt look for them


Look I understand you think K.Smith is great and everything and I already said he can be a good RB in this league but if you want me to say hes in the top 5 or above the guys I listed I'm sorry I dont think he is

[FinNasty]

Rice is also a patient runner w/ great vision and when I saw him getting hit in the backfield against Louisville in 2006 he eventually adjusted his style to hit the hole faster and harder because they where closing quickly in that game. I saw Smith doing the same thing but he didnt adjust his style. Maybe he didnt have time but through the first quarter it should have gone off that the holes he was gettin where closing a lot faster and the cut back lanes that USF where taking away clearly were not going to be there all day so he shouldnt look for them

Well, it also had to do with USF adjusting to Kevin Smith. I encourage you to watch the film again. In the first quarter, they were trying to stop them with just their front 7. He averaged 6.1ypc on them. This was the play by play of our TD drive in the 1st:

1st and 10 at UCF 44 Kevin Smith rush for 6 yards to the 50 yard line out-of-bounds. 0 10
2nd and 4 at USF 50 Kevin Smith rush for 13 yards to the SFla 37 out-of-bounds for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at USF 37 Kevin Smith rush for 5 yards to the SFla 32.
2nd and 5 at USF 32 Kevin Smith rush for 17 yards to the SFla 15 for a 1ST down.
1st and 10 at USF 15 Kevin Smith rush for 12 yards to the SFla 3 for a 1ST down.
1st and Goal at USF 3 Kevin Smith rush for 2 yards to the SFla 1.
2nd and Goal at USF 1 Kevin Smith rush for a loss of 1 yard to the SFla 2.
3rd and Goal at USF 2 Kyle Israel rush for 2 yards for a TOUCHDOWN. 6 10

See a pass in that drive? lol. He ran all over them.

In the 2nd quarter, they dropped the safeties and sold out run blitzing. Thats when he started getting smacked around, as our oline couldnt handle them.

It got ugly after that. And before he even had a chance to adjust, he was out of the game.

Look I understand you think K.Smith is great and everything and I already said he can be a good RB in this league but if you want me to say hes in the top 5 or above the guys I listed I'm sorry I dont think he is

Well, I was trying to clear up some of your concerns/flags that made you drop him down your board.

[bcw]

Where do you see Hart going, and what type of a role do you see him having on a team?

[C Darwin]

1. Hester
2. Woodhead
3. Hillis
4. Schmitt

[Blofan4life]

here's mine
1.McFadden
2. Mendenhall
3. Jones
4. Stewart
5. Rice
Same as Jaymitch.