ESPN’s Kiper: This is the time to take a running back in Round 1

Mel Kiper Jr. isn’t someone who typically advocates for selecting a running back in the first round.

But that didn’t keep the draft analyst since time immemorial from projecting a pair of running backs to teams in the first 12 selections of the draft — which, of course, would ensure that neither Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty nor North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton dropped to the Denver Broncos if that scenario came to pass in reality.

The Broncos held formal interviews with both at the NFL Scouting Combine last month.

Kiper mocked Jeanty to the Las Vegas Raiders with the No. 6 selection and Hampton to the Dallas Cowboys with the No. 12 choice. Which obviously would ensure the Broncos would have to wait to answer their running-back question if it remains unsettled by the time the draft arrives next month.

 

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“My philosophy is don’t take a running back in the first [round],” Kiper said on a conference call with media from around the nation this week. “But they’ve gone. I mean, Bijan [Robinson] went high, graded high, went high, right? Christian McCaffrey, Leonard Fournette, the list goes on and on. Ezekiel Elliott, the guys that were graded high, Saquon Barkley, graded high, went high.

“So you grade on ability, you don’t grade on philosophy. And on ability — on where he’s ranked, fourth on the board — at six for the Raiders taking him, it wouldn’t be a reach.”

Nor would Hampton at No. 12 — even though running backs in Round 1 have become increasingly rare. The last 12 drafts have seen an average of 1.2 first-round runners per year — the lowest average for a 12-year span in the common-draft era. Last year saw no Round 1 runners.

This year should see both Jeanty and Hampton go — perhaps quite early.

“Hampton is not that far off from Jeanty when you talk to people in the league,” Kiper said. “He’s got the ability to run hard inside, run tough up the gut and bounce it outside. He’s got that burst. He broke a lot of tackles. He had two really productive years.

“He smells the goal line. He caught the ball well. He blocked. He’s ready to go, I mean, and he tested extremely, extremely well at the combine in terms of that speed to hit the home run.

“So, I think he’s in the mix.”

And while Kiper said there are 31 running backs with draftable grades on his board, in his mind, only Jeanty and Hampton are transformative. They are “a cut above,” as he said.

“Then a Kaleb Johnson would fall in third and [Quinshon] Judkins and [TreVeyon] Henderson and [Dylan] Sampson and [LeQuint] Allen. That group. It’s opinions all over the place,” Kiper said.

“… But I do think Jeanty and Hampton are the only two that I would say are special, potentially elite backs in the NFL.”

And for a team like the Broncos, either might represent a final piece of the puzzle. The question that faces the Broncos might be whether one is worth a trade up in Round 1, as neither may be available by the time their turn arrives with the 20th pick — the scenario Kiper forecasts.

Kiper mocked Jeanty to the Raiders at No. 6, but coming off a 4-13 season, they don’t appear to be one piece away.

“If you’re a team, the missing link to get you to the playoffs or get you over the hump like Saquon was at Philadelphia, got ’em to a Super Bowl. It’s a missing link,” Kiper said.

“…The argument with the Raiders, is he the missing link with the Raiders? OK, probably not. So, is Hampton the missing link in Denver? You could argue, ‘Hey, we got Bo Nix! Now you add Omarion Hampton.'”

That might be music to the Broncos’ ears.

 

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