Yep. That is why it is important to take in all information, digest it, and make your own conclusion. Any time you depend on someone else you will be disappointed more often than not. Have to think for yourself sometimes, which can be a hard concept for some of our younger people these days. I was just pointing out that many detractors from Jacobs seem to be just pushing aside the possibility of some of these scouts having inside information. Either that or they are digesting it and determining that it's not worth more than their eyes tell them. Which is fine. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions.
A bit of speculation on my part but this years draft class seems weaker at RB than the last two were. I don't
think too many people would want to argue about that.
Recently I asked ZWK if the RB group this year was weaker than the last two based on a couple metrics. He said it is weaker based on the metrics he tracks but he wasn't sure about the two metrics that I asked about.
In any case Jacons value in the eyes on draft pundits may be exaggerated because there are not any other RB who really stand out either. They need to generate some excitement to attract readers. JJ is their best story to sell.
I think a good way to try to answer a question about quality of draft class is to just rank the players from the last 3 draft classes together and see where JJ lands on such a list.
I would basically have all of my tier one RB prospects from the last two years ranked ahead of JJ right now but he would still make tier one.
Now what if we ranked JJ against the 2014 RB class?
2 54 Bishop Sankey RB 21 2015 0 0 1 6 6 29 0 0 0 0 0 199 762 3 32 272 1 1 Washington College Stats
2 55 CIN Jeremy Hill RB 21 2018 0 0 3 21 21 55 0 0 0 0 0 708 2898 29 68 490 1 5 LSU College Stats
2 57 SFO Carlos Hyde RB 23 2018 0 0 2 22 19 64 0 0 0 0 0 827 3300 26 119 667 3 Ohio St. College Stats
3 69 TAM Charles Sims RB 23 2017 0 0 0 13 13 47 0 0 0 0 0 245 958 2 129 1190 6 1 West Virginia College Stats
3 75 STL Tre Mason RB 21 2015 0 0 1 7 7 25 0 0 0 0 0 254 972 5 34 236 1 1 Auburn College Stats
3 94 CLE Terrance West RB 23 2017 0 0 1 12 4 43 0 0 0 0 0 465 1816 11 51 344 2 1 Towson
3 96 MIN Jerick McKinnon RB 22 2017 0 0 0 21 21 58 0 1 0 0 0 474 1918 7 142 984 5 1 Georgia Southern
4 103 ATL Devonta Freeman RB 22 2018 0 2 3 38 38 63 0 0 0 0 0 767 3316 30 198 1605 7 3 Florida St. College Stats
4 113 NYG Andre Williams RB 22 2017 0 0 0 7 6 41 0 0 0 0 0 332 1090 8 19 137 0 1 Boston Col. College Stats
4 117 CHI Ka'Deem Carey RB 21 2016 0 0 0 3 3 36 0 0 0 0 0 111 443 2 13 131 1 Arizona College Stats
4 124 KAN De'Anthony Thomas RB 21 2018 0 0 0 7 7 55 0 0 0 0 0 29 186 2 64 503 4 4 Oregon College Stats
4 130 NWE James White RB 22 2018 0 0 0 27 27 63 0 0 0 0 0 207 856 7 248 2164 19 Wisconsin College Stats
4 138 BAL Lorenzo Taliaferro RB 22 2016 0 0 0 3 3 19 0 0 0 0 0 82 339 5 16 153 0 3 Coastal Carolina
6 181 HOU Alfred Blue RB 23 2018 0 0 1 18 18 72 0 0 0 0 0 673 2407 8 69 470 2 4 LSU College Stats
6 186 WAS Lache Seastrunk RB 23 2014 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Baylor College Stats
I could see ranking JJ the top RB of this group. Maybe the 2019 RB group is more on this level of ability than the RB who have come out the last two seasons.
2015 had Gurley and Gordon who I would have ranked ahead of JJ pretty easily.