Green Bay Packers draft: The overrated and underwhelming Senior Bowl prospects
De’Veon Smith
De’Veon Smith (RB-Michigan): The 220-pound bruiser is the type of take-no-prisoners runner that loves putting his head down, running into contact and knocking defenders back for positive yardage.
But with that comes a total lack of vision to cut back or show any type of patience to find an open lane to run through.
In Saturday’s game, Smith gained six yards on five carries with much of his action coming early on.
A 2nd-and-10 play saw No. 44 futilely shifting his feet before surging into the teeth of the defense for two yards. Later on that same drive, Smith did nothing but run into a blitzing Cameron Sutton, who at 186 pounds was able to wrestle the bigger man down on a minimal gain.
The plodding back’s utter lack of burst and quickness on the play allowed the defensive back to easily corral his opponent.
On one of his three receptions, the ex-Wolverine couldn’t elude the oncoming Alex Anzalone, who stopped him for a four-yard loss in the one-on-one confrontation.
Watching Smith move may remind some of Boston College product Andre Williams, who the Giants comically blew a fourth-round pick on back in 2014.
In his three years in the pros, Williams has averaged 3.3 yards per carry and that’s that type of production one can expect from his Big-Ten clone if he becomes a member of some team’s committee backfield.
To his credit, he does have a reliable set of hands on your garden-variety screens and dump-offs, but in a year where running back may be the most plentiful position in the draft, Smith is barely worth a seventh-round pick.