Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson (to name just 2 in a crowded room) would disagree. Teams just run these players in the ground normally, and most players can’t handle that abuse. But it has NOTHING to do with early round talent.
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Sure, but you can find guys from the mid-rounds to UDFA who can contribute to a championship-level running game. And in the process possibly stumble across some badasses like Kamara, Ekeler, Priest Holmes or Jamaal Charles.
Get an OL in the first or second and Deuce in the 6th. Done. If you take Bijon there is plenty of upside, you simply give him the 5th year and trade him. That, in fact, would be the infamous “Patriot Way”. It’s what Dallas should have done with Zeke. Move him a year too soon vs a year too late. So, after 4 seasons if he is the player we think, there’s a very good chance you get a 1st in a trade when your rental agreement is up.
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That can be said for any position on the field.
True, but when my window is opening, im not winging it on hopes and prayers. I have a great Oline, i want to take full advantage of it. I think it was Ben, talking about our 4-5 yd runs thst should have been 8-9 yd runs. With an elite back, those could be house calls
It can, but not at the same rate, and not with the savings to your roster that not drafting a RB early gives you.
I agree with all of that… with a mid-round RB.
That rookie deal made him one of highest paid running backs in the league
Did you check the careers of the other top picks? Or do we only evaluate RBs against mythical creatures?
There are picks up and down the draft in ALL rounds this happens to. Regardless of position. So it a wasted 5 rd pick, next might be our 1st. Next might be our 7th. Those picks still have to be used every year. Why not take who BH thinks might help the beat, for the longest.
LOL, see your willing to play the low odds, im more apt to take the surer thing.
There’s always risk involved for sure, but I’ve never seen a Barry, AD, Faulk picked in rd 3 or 4. That’s what im looking for
I feel like Zeke is a poster child for a second contract. Not a high pick. One ca argue that another player should have been taken there, but Zeke had quite an impact during his rookie contract. Two All Pros, three pro bowls. Led the league twice in rushing yards
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Only 1 player in the top 10 was “worth” a second contract with the team that drafted him.
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Two ACL tears in college, guaranteed Lion, probably round 4 or 5.
I’ve discussed ad nauseam why I don’t want to draft Bijan, it’s no secret. There’s literally thousands of articles talking about why running back is low value. You and the other want to draft Bijan despite all that, and that’s fine. To each his own. But that doesn’t make it good value.
Up front, it obviously matters that you don’t miss no matter who you pick. So yes, any pick around a RB who had a far worse career was a worse pick.
The idea though is to draft good players. You don’t go into a draft thinking well this guy I’m about to pick is gonna miss. Of course you recognize it’s a possibility, maybe even a likelihood, but if a GM doesn’t draft with confidence he won’t last.
So, given you’ve done your research and you believe in a group of guys, then you shift over to positional value. Why? Because drafting the EDGE player at 6 is gonna give us millions of dollars of savings over the course of his rookie contract, whereas a RB will give you virtually none.
Then you factor in all the elite running games without elite running backs or running backs that were cheaply gotten - which is really a staggering number - and it’s even more reason not to go RB.
Most Cowboys fans wish they would have taken Ramsey which we’ve already discussed, but for some reason you don’t think that’s a pertinent point. 
OK, that’s fine, believe what you want.
I will concede that you don’t find those guys, but my point is you don’t need them. And it hurts saying that because Barry is the reason I’m a football fan, but unless a RB’s coming out of college after a 2600+ yard, 37 TD season, I don’t think he’s worth a 1st round pick. That’s the bar for me.
Barry was pretty decent. lol those stats are okay, nothing special to be honest though
So what your saying then @Thats2, in all the RB’s that have come out of college since 1956, only Barry Sanders was worthy of a 1st round pick?
Ramsey is on his 3rd team and never completed his first contract with the team that drafted him. Zeke was the 2nd most successful pick in the entire top 10. I deal in reality. Not a fiction based view where we declare success as failure and a mythical scenario that never actually happened as the truth.
This thread was a backfire. Terrible example of the point.
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