Finding Broncos: Jerome Ford | RB

Measurements

Height: 5-foot-11
Weight: 220 pounds
Arms: 30-5/8 inches
Hands: 9-1/8 inches

Combine Results

40 Yard Dash: 4.46 seconds
Vertical Jump: 31 inches
Broad Jump: 118 inches

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Stats

Pros

He has good size and speed for the NFL game.
Has quick feet and solid lateral agility to make some quick cuts.
The production matches the talent.
Has the power to break through tackles.
Enough speed to be a home-run threat and showed that with multiple 75+ yard carries in college.
Feet keep churning through contact.
Doesn't have much wear and tear on his body with limited exposure.
Only a total of 319 carries
Does well in maintaining balance through contact.
Has solid hands to be a receiver out of the backfield.
Stays square to the line and into contact.
There is enough elusiveness to make defenders miss.
Has some good footwork and a good stop and go to make defenders pause.
Can get the ball when the pass is outside his frame with a good catch radius.
Has enough quickness and speed to make life difficult for linebackers to cover him.

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Cons

Not overly creative as a runner and can struggle to find his way.
Needs consistent patience as a runner and following his blocking.
Has some fumble history as a result of how he carries the ball.
He fumbled six times on 316 touches, which is a fumble roughly every 53 touches.
Pass protection is messy with poor technique and below-average strength.
Has poor timing with his runs.
Needs to run with a lower pad level.
Doesn't do the best reading the blocking upfront.
Struggles to make himself small through the hole.
Has to develop the techniques to be a running back in the NFL.
Vision is lacking.
May not have the best fit in schemes attacking the boundary in the running game.
There are multiple runs where he runs into the back of a blocker and has to bounce off of it.

Overview

Jerome Ford is a big running back that brings good speed and power. However, his vision is lacking and could limit him to being exclusively a north/south runner that works between the tackles. Without improving his vision, it would be hard to trust him tacking the ball to the outside, where he doesn't have much experience and looks rather uncomfortable.

Then you have his fumble issues, which will take time to fix and drill into Ford on how to carry the ball properly. A big reason for the fumbling problem is he carries the ball loose and not tight to his frame, making it a prime target to aim for. That would be an easier fix than his vision and inconsistent patience with the blocking up front.

Teams who love to attack inside in the running game will like what Ford offers and his ability as a receiver. For teams that are more outside-based (outside zone), it will be determined by how much they believe they can fix his vision.

Fit with Broncos

With Nathaniel Hackett, the Denver Broncos are going to an outside-zone running scheme, which makes the fit for Jerome Ford a bit rough. It would be wholly determined by how much the Broncos coaching staff believes they can fix his vision because where he is at now, it wouldn't work.

The receiving ability with Ford is attractive for Denver because that is something they still need from the position. Javonte Williams had some issues working out of the backfield last year, and even with improvements, they still need someone capable behind him.

For and Williams would give Denver an extremely powerful rushing duo, and Ford at least brings good long speed to provide an additional balance. However, both players have concerns with their vision, so Denver would already be working to improve Williams and Ford would be an addition to that.

With this running back draft class, there is a wide range of skill sets. As a result, Denver may decide to go with someone who is a more natural fit in the scheme and can be more of a counterpart to what Williams already brings to the offense.

Grade: Early Round 4

Where he Goes: Round 4

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