Packers Positions of Need: Top 10 Running Backs
Wait a minute. Running back is a need? With Aaron Jones coming off a monster season and Jamaal Williams being a more-than-competent backup? Not all draft needs are immediate. Both players will be entering their free-agent seasons. Spending a lot of money on a running back can be a losing proposition. With that, here is our early look at the top 10 prospects at the position. (Underclassmen are noted with an asterisk.)
D’Andre Swift, Georgia (5-9, 215)*: Swift earned first-team all-SEC honors with 1,218 rushing yards (6.2 average) and seven touchdowns and 24 receptions for 316 yards and one more score. In three seasons, his 2,885 rushing yards rank seventh in school history. He also posted an impressive 73 career receptions. According to Pro Football Focus, he had only two drops. He averaged a school-record 6.56 yards per carry for his career, even though he battled some injury issues early in his career.
His high school coach called him a once-in-a-lifetime kid, let alone a once-in-a-lifetime player. “God got up one morning and decided to make a great running back,” said Gabe Infante, who coached Swift at St. Joseph's Prep in Philadlephia. "And then he gave him this great name, too. D'Andre is the best player I've seen – not just coached – in 22 years of coaching.” He learned well after sitting behind Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. “Those two guys — I can't say enough about them. They're amazing role models and big-brother figures. They told me to be patient and to seize every opportunity. They tell me all the time that I'm next up, and that's how I work. They would do anything for me, and I would do anything for them.” The Philadelphia native fell in love with the Georgia campus after his junior year in high school when he took a service trip to Athens. Swift helped paint, built paths in the community garden, ran Meals on Wheels routes and visited with clients in a senior center.
Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin (5-11, 219)*: Taylor had one of the great careers in college football history with a three-year total of 6,174 rushing yards (6.7 average) and 50 touchdowns. As a junior, he rushed for 2,003 yards (6.3 average) and 21 touchdowns and added career highs of 26 catches, 252 yards and five scores to be a unanimous first-team All-American. His 26 total touchdowns led the nation. He twice won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back. His three-year rushing total is almost 600 more yards than Herschel Walker, who previously topped that list, and he’s the only player with three seasons of 1,900 rushing yards. Two red flags are wear and tear and ball security. Taylor led the Big Ten in carries all three seasons. Between rushes and receptions, he had 968 touches. He fumbled throughout his career, with six in 2019 – five in the last eight games – and 18 in three seasons.
Taylor is more than just a star football player. When Taylor was a senior in high school, he received a special graduation present from his family: a telescope. Pressed to his eye and pointed to the heavens, the high-tech gadget became an extra appendage. Says Taylor's father, Jonathan James, “That's when I knew he was different.” He considered going to Harvard. "I had to find a place that was going to put me in the best position to maximize everything," Taylor says. "I wanted to have a great athletic experience. I wanted to challenge myself and play against the best. Wisconsin did that—and had a top-20 academic institution on top of it. That was it for me.” During the summer, he interned at Merrill Lynch. "The financial world is something that a lot of average people, they don't understand until you really go behind the scenes and learn exactly what is going on," Taylor said. "That's one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to go behind the scenes - so I could build my financial literacy, just because if I'm in that situation, I want to be prepared.” He majored in philosophy and carried at 3.3 GPA. “Philosophy is the study of, how do we know what we know?” said Taylor. “There’s also the study of reality. Like, what’s real? And there’s also a study of ethics. You study different historians and philosophers. You look at what they studied and learned and try to apply it to today’s world; that’s applied philosophy. You have the philosophy of the mind.”
J.K. Dobbins, Ohio State (5-10, 217)*: Dobbins had a remarkable career. In three seasons, he rushed for 4,459 yards and caught 71 passes. He topped 1,000 yards in each season, including 2,003 yards (6.7 average) and 21 touchdowns on the ground and 23 catches for 247 yards and two more scores through the air to finish sixth in the Heisman Trophy race. He finished his career with 5,104 scrimmage yards.
In 2017, Dobbins became only the sixth true freshman to start a season opener for Ohio State and turned in a record-setting performance. Said linebacker Jerome Baker before the 2017 season: “He’s played like he’s been here for a few years. He’s definitely a good guy, he’s fun to be around. But on the field, he’s a monster.” He was a monster in middle school, too. In fact, the varsity coach at La Grange (Texas) High School knew about Dobbins when he was a seventh-grader. Dobbins’ father died of a stroke while in jail; he was only 33. "My dad taught me a lot of things through actions and through words," Dobbins said. "Seeing what he was doing, and the trouble he got in, I didn't want to be like that and he told me he didn't want me to be like that. So that's how I see it. I didn't want to go to there.” His mom was his guiding light. She had J.K. when she was only 18, ending a promising volleyball career, but commuted 100 miles to Houston to earn a degree in accounting. “I said that if you want to pursue this football dream, you have to work at it all the time and it’ll eventually pay off,” Mya Grounds said. “He listens to me. I say stuff and don’t think he’s listening to me, but he is.”
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Cam Akers, Florida State (5-11, 212)*: Akers had the best season of his career in 2019 with 1,144 rushing yards (5.0 average) and 14 touchdowns, 30 receptions for 225 yards and four more scores and 4-of-6 passing to earn second-team all-ACC. His three-year totals included 2,875 rushing yards – sixth-most in school history – and 69 catches.
Akers was the top running back in the 2017 recruiting cycle. At Clinton (Miss.) High School, he finished his four-year varsity career by passing for 8,140 yards and 78 touchdowns, while rushing for 5,103 yards and 71 scores. As a senior, he accounted for 5,233 yards and 65 touchdowns. In the state title game, Akers promised he’d put the team on his back. So, he scored seven touchdowns. He was called a “legend” when he was 12. Part of his relentless style comes from his mom. She was diagnosed with breast cancer when he was 10 but emerged victorious. “That instilled something in Cam,” said his father, Conni. “He learned that if his mom can go through that type of something, there is nothing that can stop him from getting what he wants.” His toughness was obvious as an eighth-grader. Instead of going to a hospital because of dehydration, he puked in a garbage can and re-entered the game. He’s not tall but he’s so strong and explosive that he can dunk.
Zack Moss, Utah (5-10, 222): Moss piled up 4,067 rushing yards, 38 rushing touchdowns and 66 receptions during a superb four-year career. The yardage and touchdown total set school records. “When I came here, my goal was to be the best running back of all time and be one of the best players to ever walk through this university,” the Miami native said before the season. “And now sitting here, having the opportunity to do that, it's something I couldn't pass up on, no matter what. I wanted to solidify that — not just be talked about being one of the best, but be the best. And, obviously, shatter the records and be the most successful team in Utah history.”
As a senior, he produced career-high totals of 1,416 rushing yards, 15 rushing touchdowns and 13.9 yards per catch; his 28 receptions were one off his career high. He was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year and earned some All-American honors. He had three consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons to cap his career. He missed the final five games of the 2018 season with a knee injury sustained at practice.
Before the 2018 season, the expectations were made clear. “We told him that his practice habits had to be a little bit better,” lineman Jackson Barton said. “He didn’t take offense to that; he’s really taken to heart. We told him, ‘You can be the dude this year. And if you practice like the dude, you’re going to be the dude.’ I’ve seen him taking that mentality, and it’s helped him tremendously. I love blocking for that dude.” He was a candidate for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award. Moss, quarterback Tyler Huntley and receiver Demari Simpkins were teammates at Miami’s Hallandale High School. A snowstorm during a recruiting trip clinched their path to “the other U.” Said Moss: “In the grand scheme of things, the snowmobiling was actually a big thing. It was my first time seeing snow. Having fun in the snow like that the first time, being an 18-year-old kid, will do some things to you. I’m happy that snowmobile trip definitely pushed me a little bit more.” He has NFL genetics. He is a cousin of Santana Moss, an All-American at Miami who had more than 10,000 yards receiving during a 14-year NFL career, and Sinorice Moss, a second-round draft pick out of Miami who spent six years in the NFL.
Ke’Shawn Vaughn, Vanderbilt (5-10, 218): Vaughn rushed for 1,024 yards in two seasons at Illinois and 2,272 yards in two years with Vanderbilt. His best season came in 2018, when the junior rushed for 1,244 yards, averaged 7.9 yards per carry and scored 14 total touchdowns. He rushed for 1,028 yards and had a career-high 28 catches as a senior. He’s one of only three players in Vandy history with a pair of 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
Vaughn grew up just a few miles from the Vanderbilt campus, so his transfer was one part getting more playing time and another part returning home. “I knew I wanted to get back home. I felt I had my college experience enough. Coming back home would be great for me, being able to play at an SEC school, get a great degree from an outstanding university. You’ve got to work for everything you get here, in the classroom and on the field. It’s what you make it.” He led the SEC with 7.9 yards per carry in 2018. "Ke'Shawn proved when he stepped on the field a year ago that he's one of the best backs in the country," coach Derek Mason said. "He's a three-dimensional running back who can run, block and catch. I mean, he can do it all." He could have entered the draft last year, with his size and breakaway speed making him a potential top pick. “It's hard to scout me, because I'm able to run you over, run past you and also juke you. Those are three things that every running back can't do. I'm able to gain speed the more I run," he continues. "I'm able to get through holes quick. That's why my linemen know they don't have to block three or four seconds for me. You can block a second, maybe a second-and-a-half, and it's a touchdown." He started his football career on the offensive line. In high school, a documentary about Vaughn was produced. He worked the McDonald’s drive-through window. “I work here to earn extra money for my family, to help my mother pay the bills.”
Clyde Edwards-Helaire, LSU (5-8, 209)*: Edwards-Helaire turned a solid sophomore season and a monster junior year with 1,414 rushing yards (6.6 average) and 16 touchdowns and 55 receptions for 453 yards and one more score. He was voted LSU’s MVP and team captain, first-team all-SEC and a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award. His three-year rushing total was 2,103 rushing yards.
Edwards-Helaire, a three-star prospect, was overlooked in recruiting because of his diminutive stature. "I feel like I'm the miniature Swiss Army knife. Whatever you need me to do, I'm there—no matter the situation, in life or in football." He added: "I would go to camps and test off the walls. I would do everything I needed to do, and then someone would write that everything was amazing about me except my stature. They have all these rankings, and I knew ultimately my height was why I wasn't at the top. It was simple as that." He scored four touchdowns in a huge win at Alabama, then engaged in a memorable embrace with his father. For more than a decade, Clyde's stepfather, Shannon Helaire, was the only father Clyde knew, as Edwards served time for a drug-possession charge. "I can't even explain the feeling I had," Edwards-Helaire said. "It took this game, as far as everything that went on, it took this November day, on this Saturday for everything to kind of come into play, for everybody to see everything that I've been through, everything he's been through, everything my family has been through. And it all came down to that day, this moment." In December 2018, Edwards-Helaire and a teammate met an 18-year-old to sell him an electronic device. The 18-year-old tried to rob them but was shot and killed by the other athlete. Hunting is his other passion; he went duck hunting immediately after a game. “We drove to Venice, two-and-a-half-hours. Slept 30 minutes and was right back hunting, and I stayed up the whole day. I was good, but that’s something I’m always ready for especially growing up hunting and what not. It’s just second nature.”
Eno Benjamin, Arizona State (5-10, 210)*: Benjamin had two huge seasons, with 1,642 rushing yards (5.5 average), 16 rushing touchdowns and 35 receptions as a sophomore and 1,083 rushing yards (4.3 average), 10 touchdowns and 42 receptions as a junior. He earned All-American honors as a sophomore – a season that included a school-record 312 yards vs. Stanford – and academic all-district as a junior. With 2,867 rushing yards and 82 receptions, his three-year totals were 3,492 scrimmage yards and 31 touchdowns. Benjamin and Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor led all FBS running backs with six fumbles.
At Wylie (Texas) East High School, Benjamin totaled 7,546 rushing yards and scored 111 total touchdowns in four seasons. Eno is short for Enotobong, which is Nigerian for “God’s Gift.” Benjamin learned well from his brother, Ubong, who is three years his senior. Ubong ran into trouble in high school and never recovered. "He learned a lot," Ubong said. "Things to stay away from. ... My growing up, it was hard. It was hard for me. My parents weren't really as happy, but my brother, it's like, 'Wow.' It's good to see my parents happy.” He learned a wicked spin move from a Hall of Famer. “I think a lot of it comes from playing soccer I would say back in the day,” Benjamin said. “And then, I also used to work out at home and I used to train a little bit with LaDainian Tomlinson, so he kind of coached me up on the spin move.” Benjamin is competitive, driven and humble. “I know I’m not the biggest or the fastest or the strongest, but I can get the job done. I take a lot of pride in that and being able to put my team in the position to win.”
Antonio Gibson
Antonio Gibson, Memphis (6-2, 221): Gibson played two seasons at Memphis. A receiver/runner, Gibson didn’t get many opportunities but he was a big play waiting to happen. In 2019, he caught 38 passes for 735 yards (19.3 average) and eight touchdowns and carried 33 times for 369 yards (11.2 average) and four scores. He also averaged 28.0 yards with one touchdown on kickoff returns. As a senior, only one player had more 50-yad plays than Gibson. For his career, 14 of his 44 offensive touches wound up in the end zone.
He is a man without a position, which is less of a problem today than in the past. He played running back at the Senior Bowl and carried 11 times for a game-high 68 yards but will work out with the receivers at the Scouting Combine. “I talked to a lot of teams that want to use me around. I don’t feel like they just want me to be a running back. You have to label me as something going into the draft and felt like this would be the best thing.” He showed a wicked spin move in the Senior Bowl. He started his career in junior college. “I’ve learned many things along the way and made way more family then I could ever imagine. At JUCO, I learned that everyone wants the same thing you want so you have to work 10 times harder to stand out and you can’t do it alone. When I got to Memphis, I had to learn that everyone had talent so what is going to make me get on the field. I had to take criticism and you can take that to heart or you can take it as motivation and go to work.”
Javon Leake, Maryland (6-0, 206)*: Leake had only 145 carries and 10 receptions in his career. Most of his production came in 2019 with 736 rushing yards (7.2 average) and eight touchdowns. He’s a dynamic kickoff returner with career marks of 24.5 yards per runback and a school-record three touchdowns. As a senior, he earned the Big Ten’s Rodgers-Dwight Return Specialist of the Year. “As soon as you see that he gets into space, you know it’s a touchdown,” Terps quarterback Josh Jackson said. “You can just put your arms up because he’s got it.”
He received only 44 offensive touches his first two seasons before getting his chance in 2019. “I learned a lot about myself going through that,” Leake said during the spring. “I knew what type of player I was, I knew I could always bring something to the table. I just needed the opportunity. I waited. I prayed a lot. I just waited for the opportunity and any time I got a chance, I tried to do my best. And it worked out for the best. Everything’s falling into place now.”
Leake’s father, Joel Simpson, is working on earning an associate degree while serving a five-year prison term in New York. Their story was told by the Washington Post: “Simpson isn't Leake's biological father, but he filled that role through the running back's childhood, building what Simpson calls the "best relationship I've ever had with another human being." The two have held onto the bond, despite the distance and the circumstances, but Leake's dad has yet to watch his son play football in person. With an early release date expected in May, next season's opener will likely be the first time he watches his son from the stands.”
