Who are the studs coming in 2019

[Titans95]

My GOSH David Montgomery looks so freaking pedestrian on tape... every few weeks I watch new film on him in the hopes that I see the prospect everyone raves about... I just don't see it. I watched every touch he had against WVU in the bowl game, and all I can say is his balance is solid and his vision is very good (MAYBE even great). But he's somewhat small, not fast, not explosive, not a nasty cutter, and his hands don't seem special at all... so what is he, a better Bilal Powell? A poor man's Kareem Hunt? I guess that's what everyone is hoping for - good luck.

I don't think he's some insane top level prospect but he has a lot of good things about him. A lot of what you're saying was exactly said about Kareem Hunt coming into the draft, great vision and balance but lacks elite athleticism....showed all those scouts wrong. IMO vision and balance are the two most important things a back can have.

[XxBallMeBlazerxX]

I think a lot of people are overlooking this class, especially the rb’s, which is good for the people who bought up picks or plan on buying up picks. Yeah there aren’t many, if any, players we would call elite or get hyped up over but there are a good amount of solid players that have potential to post wr2/rb2 numbers or maybe low end wr1/rb1 numbers in the right system. Some players have their question marks but what prospect doesn’t? Everyone is a risk and if that’s not something you’re comfortable with then you might be better off trading all your draft picks away every year for players in the league already.

If I was looking to trade my picks out of this draft cause I wasn’t sold on it, I would be looking to get players I think are on the rise back in return and I would wait until after the combine to trade and hope an owner gets excited over someone’s measurables. If I had the 1.1, 1.2 or 1.3, I would take the risk and wait until after the draft in hopes that a few of these players landed in what other owners think are favorable spots. I wouldn’t make trading for picks in next year’s draft my main focus because nothing is a guarantee and next year I am willing to bet that people will question whether 2020’s class is actually as good as it was hyped to be. So much could happen (lost starting job, suspended/cut from team, down year, injury, return back to school, etc.) from now until players declare for the 2020 draft.

Nothing is a guarantee, but I can reasonably presume 2020 will be better than this in terms of RB, it will also have greater clarity at the RB position with teams, consider the odd situation league wide in terms of RB since the '15-'18 classes essentially filled the RB starter position for more than 70-75% of the leagues teams. Who actually needs or could need a RB going into the '19 draft, for sure?

Buffalo: They seem almost like a lock, but have a lot of needs.

NYJ: They like McGuire

Miami: Who knows? Drake, Ballage? Again, no idea?

Baltimore: They've been getting by with Undrafted Free Agents the past two years, do they move on considering the design of their offense heading into '19?

Houston: Is it Foreman?

Oakland: There isn't a starter on the roster that they can feel confident in.

Denver: Lindsay's hurt, Royce was uneven at best.

Kansas City: They gave whatshisface a two year extension, but will they sit on the position with Ware looking done?

Jacksonville: Really, really irate about the behavior and injury issues of Fournette. Their own fault for insanely over drafting him when they needed a QB. Broke the team with that horrible draft pick.

Tampa Bay: Want to move on past Peyton, can't trust Ronald.

San Francisco: Never really got to see McKinnon in the offense, and Breida can't stay healthy.

Washington: Guice has that infection complication.

One could go on and on, but a ton of teams have their RB position absolutely locked in and of those that don't, most of them either just have ancillary issues and won't place a premium on the position in the offseason, or have enough talent to focus elsewhere, the only teams I'd be shocked to see pass on a RB would probably be Buffalo, Oakland, Miami, Houston, KC, and probably Tampa and that's it, and amongst those teams, the only teams that would excite me would be Houston, and KC.. The rest are bad teams with bad offenses or in Tampa's case, just a mess of problems and a bad OL.

This is not a fun RB landing spot draft like '17 and '18 could've been, and was in some cases. Too many teams solved their RB issues with the past four drafts.

Because of situation you’re saying this running back class takes a hit. Situation should trump talent? You could probably add Green Bay, Atlanta, New Orleans, Philadelphia to that list. Maybe even Pittsburgh and Indianapolis.

[FantasyFreak]

I think a lot of people are overlooking this class, especially the rb’s, which is good for the people who bought up picks or plan on buying up picks. Yeah there aren’t many, if any, players we would call elite or get hyped up over but there are a good amount of solid players that have potential to post wr2/rb2 numbers or maybe low end wr1/rb1 numbers in the right system. Some players have their question marks but what prospect doesn’t? Everyone is a risk and if that’s not something you’re comfortable with then you might be better off trading all your draft picks away every year for players in the league already.

If I was looking to trade my picks out of this draft cause I wasn’t sold on it, I would be looking to get players I think are on the rise back in return and I would wait until after the combine to trade and hope an owner gets excited over someone’s measurables. If I had the 1.1, 1.2 or 1.3, I would take the risk and wait until after the draft in hopes that a few of these players landed in what other owners think are favorable spots. I wouldn’t make trading for picks in next year’s draft my main focus because nothing is a guarantee and next year I am willing to bet that people will question whether 2020’s class is actually as good as it was hyped to be. So much could happen (lost starting job, suspended/cut from team, down year, injury, return back to school, etc.) from now until players declare for the 2020 draft.

Nothing is a guarantee, but I can reasonably presume 2020 will be better than this in terms of RB, it will also have greater clarity at the RB position with teams, consider the odd situation league wide in terms of RB since the '15-'18 classes essentially filled the RB starter position for more than 70-75% of the leagues teams. Who actually needs or could need a RB going into the '19 draft, for sure?

Buffalo: They seem almost like a lock, but have a lot of needs.

NYJ: They like McGuire

Miami: Who knows? Drake, Ballage? Again, no idea?

Baltimore: They've been getting by with Undrafted Free Agents the past two years, do they move on considering the design of their offense heading into '19?

Houston: Is it Foreman?

Oakland: There isn't a starter on the roster that they can feel confident in.

Denver: Lindsay's hurt, Royce was uneven at best.

Kansas City: They gave whatshisface a two year extension, but will they sit on the position with Ware looking done?

Jacksonville: Really, really irate about the behavior and injury issues of Fournette. Their own fault for insanely over drafting him when they needed a QB. Broke the team with that horrible draft pick.

Tampa Bay: Want to move on past Peyton, can't trust Ronald.

San Francisco: Never really got to see McKinnon in the offense, and Breida can't stay healthy.

Washington: Guice has that infection complication.

One could go on and on, but a ton of teams have their RB position absolutely locked in and of those that don't, most of them either just have ancillary issues and won't place a premium on the position in the offseason, or have enough talent to focus elsewhere, the only teams I'd be shocked to see pass on a RB would probably be Buffalo, Oakland, Miami, Houston, KC, and probably Tampa and that's it, and amongst those teams, the only teams that would excite me would be Houston, and KC.. The rest are bad teams with bad offenses or in Tampa's case, just a mess of problems and a bad OL.

This is not a fun RB landing spot draft like '17 and '18 could've been, and was in some cases. Too many teams solved their RB issues with the past four drafts.

Because of situation you’re saying this running back class takes a hit. Situation should trump talent? You could probably add Green Bay, Atlanta, New Orleans, Philadelphia to that list. Maybe even Pittsburgh and Indianapolis.

Marlon Mack has been very good, as has Hines in the passing game. They are fine at RB, IMO.

[Hawks Nest 12th Man]

Nothing is a guarantee, but I can reasonably presume 2020 will be better than this in terms of RB, it will also have greater clarity at the RB position with teams, consider the odd situation league wide in terms of RB since the '15-'18 classes essentially filled the RB starter position for more than 70-75% of the leagues teams. Who actually needs or could need a RB going into the '19 draft, for sure?

Buffalo: They seem almost like a lock, but have a lot of needs.

NYJ: They like McGuire

Miami: Who knows? Drake, Ballage? Again, no idea?

Baltimore: They've been getting by with Undrafted Free Agents the past two years, do they move on considering the design of their offense heading into '19?

Houston: Is it Foreman?

Oakland: There isn't a starter on the roster that they can feel confident in.

Denver: Lindsay's hurt, Royce was uneven at best.

Kansas City: They gave whatshisface a two year extension, but will they sit on the position with Ware looking done?

Jacksonville: Really, really irate about the behavior and injury issues of Fournette. Their own fault for insanely over drafting him when they needed a QB. Broke the team with that horrible draft pick.

Tampa Bay: Want to move on past Peyton, can't trust Ronald.

San Francisco: Never really got to see McKinnon in the offense, and Breida can't stay healthy.

Washington: Guice has that infection complication.

One could go on and on, but a ton of teams have their RB position absolutely locked in and of those that don't, most of them either just have ancillary issues and won't place a premium on the position in the offseason, or have enough talent to focus elsewhere, the only teams I'd be shocked to see pass on a RB would probably be Buffalo, Oakland, Miami, Houston, KC, and probably Tampa and that's it, and amongst those teams, the only teams that would excite me would be Houston, and KC.. The rest are bad teams with bad offenses or in Tampa's case, just a mess of problems and a bad OL.

This is not a fun RB landing spot draft like '17 and '18 could've been, and was in some cases. Too many teams solved their RB issues with the past four drafts.

Because of situation you’re saying this running back class takes a hit. Situation should trump talent? You could probably add Green Bay, Atlanta, New Orleans, Philadelphia to that list. Maybe even Pittsburgh and Indianapolis.

Marlon Mack has been very good, as has Hines in the passing game. They are fine at RB, IMO.

Mack is interesting. Not sold on his overall talent. Feel Luck at QB, system and top 5 offensive line ply major role. No reason for Colts to chase RB 2019 draft. Mack seems save to have low RB1 fantasy performance next season.

[tresskid84]

I think a lot of people are overlooking this class, especially the rb’s, which is good for the people who bought up picks or plan on buying up picks. Yeah there aren’t many, if any, players we would call elite or get hyped up over but there are a good amount of solid players that have potential to post wr2/rb2 numbers or maybe low end wr1/rb1 numbers in the right system. Some players have their question marks but what prospect doesn’t? Everyone is a risk and if that’s not something you’re comfortable with then you might be better off trading all your draft picks away every year for players in the league already.

If I was looking to trade my picks out of this draft cause I wasn’t sold on it, I would be looking to get players I think are on the rise back in return and I would wait until after the combine to trade and hope an owner gets excited over someone’s measurables. If I had the 1.1, 1.2 or 1.3, I would take the risk and wait until after the draft in hopes that a few of these players landed in what other owners think are favorable spots. I wouldn’t make trading for picks in next year’s draft my main focus because nothing is a guarantee and next year I am willing to bet that people will question whether 2020’s class is actually as good as it was hyped to be. So much could happen (lost starting job, suspended/cut from team, down year, injury, return back to school, etc.) from now until players declare for the 2020 draft.

Nothing is a guarantee, but I can reasonably presume 2020 will be better than this in terms of RB, it will also have greater clarity at the RB position with teams, consider the odd situation league wide in terms of RB since the '15-'18 classes essentially filled the RB starter position for more than 70-75% of the leagues teams. Who actually needs or could need a RB going into the '19 draft, for sure?

Buffalo: They seem almost like a lock, but have a lot of needs.

NYJ: They like McGuire

Miami: Who knows? Drake, Ballage? Again, no idea?

Baltimore: They've been getting by with Undrafted Free Agents the past two years, do they move on considering the design of their offense heading into '19?

Houston: Is it Foreman?

Oakland: There isn't a starter on the roster that they can feel confident in.

Denver: Lindsay's hurt, Royce was uneven at best.

Kansas City: They gave whatshisface a two year extension, but will they sit on the position with Ware looking done?

Jacksonville: Really, really irate about the behavior and injury issues of Fournette. Their own fault for insanely over drafting him when they needed a QB. Broke the team with that horrible draft pick.

Tampa Bay: Want to move on past Peyton, can't trust Ronald.

San Francisco: Never really got to see McKinnon in the offense, and Breida can't stay healthy.

Washington: Guice has that infection complication.

One could go on and on, but a ton of teams have their RB position absolutely locked in and of those that don't, most of them either just have ancillary issues and won't place a premium on the position in the offseason, or have enough talent to focus elsewhere, the only teams I'd be shocked to see pass on a RB would probably be Buffalo, Oakland, Miami, Houston, KC, and probably Tampa and that's it, and amongst those teams, the only teams that would excite me would be Houston, and KC.. The rest are bad teams with bad offenses or in Tampa's case, just a mess of problems and a bad OL.

This is not a fun RB landing spot draft like '17 and '18 could've been, and was in some cases. Too many teams solved their RB issues with the past four drafts.

I think this is a generally good point though. Often times, unless a rb is drafted in the first (maybe second) round, their value mostly comes from a combo of 1) opportunity, 2) quality of their oline, and 3) pass catching ability (which ties back into opportunity some). Obviously talent means a great deal in earning opportunity, but there are many situations where that opportunity likely just wont exist for 3-5 years.

[lukkynumber13]

Daniel Jones (QB) declared.
First I have heard of him but roto calls him a day one lock with top five potential..

Thoughts anyone?

Poor man’s Trubisky. Getting propped up big time due to a garbage QB class

[Cameron Giles]

But none of what you're describing here is depth.

As you said guys at the top of this year's class wouldn't even be in the discussion to be RB1 next year alongside Swift/Taylor next year or alongside Barkley last year, but that has nothing to do with depth. It's not Barkley or McCaffrey that differentiated the last two classes from the 2016 class, it's the day 2/day 3 guys that did. Mixon, Hunt, Kamara, Cook, Kerryon, etc etc. It's still early but most mocks have just as many RBs in the day 2/day 3 range this year as the last two years.

Ultimately the RB success of this class will be determined by those guys. But they are there. The depth is there. Heck people were more disappointed about Harris/Love returning to school last year than they would have been at the time if Penny, Kerryon, Sony, or Royce had returned last year and there are half a dozen guys that could be picked ahead of Harris/Love this year.

You could create a group of 10 below average to average RB's and call it "depth." But, I just don't see it as anything good. Will one of them overachieve? Sure, it happens all the time. But, RB is not a strength of this class in terms of stardom or depth.

[Vcize]

But none of what you're describing here is depth.

As you said guys at the top of this year's class wouldn't even be in the discussion to be RB1 next year alongside Swift/Taylor next year or alongside Barkley last year, but that has nothing to do with depth. It's not Barkley or McCaffrey that differentiated the last two classes from the 2016 class, it's the day 2/day 3 guys that did. Mixon, Hunt, Kamara, Cook, Kerryon, etc etc. It's still early but most mocks have just as many RBs in the day 2/day 3 range this year as the last two years.

Ultimately the RB success of this class will be determined by those guys. But they are there. The depth is there. Heck people were more disappointed about Harris/Love returning to school last year than they would have been at the time if Penny, Kerryon, Sony, or Royce had returned last year and there are half a dozen guys that could be picked ahead of Harris/Love this year.

You could create a group of 10 below average to average RB's and call it "depth." But, I just don't see it as anything good. Will one of them overachieve? Sure, it happens all the time. But, RB is not a strength of this class in terms of stardom or depth.

Is that any different than the "depth" of the last couple years, without the benefit of hindsight?

At this time last year guys like Kerryon or Royce weren't considered any better prospects than ~8 of the guys coming out this year, yet last year's draft was deep at RB because people were excited about being able to land Kerryon or Royce in the mid/late 1st. At this point two years ago Kamara/Hunt weren't considered any better than ~8 of the guys coming this year, but by the time the draft rolled around everyone was excited about the depth of being able to grab Kamara/Hunt in the late 1st of rookie drafts.

Likewise for Harris/Love. Last year's draft was deep because there were a bunch of guys in the same tier as Harris/Love. Now this year there are a bunch of guys....in the same tier as Harris/Love.

[Vcize]

Or another way to put it...

2018 wasn't considered deep at RB because of Barkley, it was considered deep because there were 8 RBs drafted in the first 3 rounds.

2017 wasn't considered deep at RB because of CMC, it was considered deep because there were 8 RBs drafted in the first 3 rounds.

2016 wasn't considered shallow at RB because of Zeke, it was considered shallow because there were only 4 RBs drafted in the first 3 rounds.

Obviously a TON can change between now and the draft, but right now most of the 3 round mocks I can find have 7-8 RBs going in the first 3 rounds of 2019. So if that holds up the depth is there.

[Cameron Giles]

Or another way to put it...

2018 wasn't considered deep at RB because of Barkley, it was considered deep because there were 8 RBs drafted in the first 3 rounds.

2017 wasn't considered deep at RB because of CMC, it was considered deep because there were 8 RBs drafted in the first 3 rounds.

2016 wasn't considered shallow at RB because of Zeke, it was considered shallow because there were only 4 RBs drafted in the first 3 rounds.

Obviously a TON can change between now and the draft, but right now most of the 3 round mocks I can find have 7-8 RBs going in the first 3 rounds of 2019. So if that holds up the depth is there.

2017 was considered deep because there were people in the middle of those groups who some felt were 1st-round talents:

Fournette
McCaffrey
Cook
Mixon
Kamara
Hunt
Foreman
Perine
Mack

Hunt and Kamara didn't come out of nowhere. Hell, I thought Foreman was one of the Top 3-4 backs in this class and he was drafted in the 3rd round. I remember Matt Miller of Bleacher Report talking up Kamara all season. There were threads here where people talked him up. I didn't see him in that same light though. But, what came out of nowhere was their perfect landing spots and elite immediate production.

I don't see that with this class right now. To me, RB's like Montgomery, Harris, Snell, Love are just alright RB's and the guys behind them don't strike me as anything special either. Will a few overachieve? Absolutely, but on paper it doesn't resemble good depth and I think most of them would not even be talked about if they were in next year's class, which has the potential to be loaded at RB.

[Vcize]

Or another way to put it...

2018 wasn't considered deep at RB because of Barkley, it was considered deep because there were 8 RBs drafted in the first 3 rounds.

2017 wasn't considered deep at RB because of CMC, it was considered deep because there were 8 RBs drafted in the first 3 rounds.

2016 wasn't considered shallow at RB because of Zeke, it was considered shallow because there were only 4 RBs drafted in the first 3 rounds.

Obviously a TON can change between now and the draft, but right now most of the 3 round mocks I can find have 7-8 RBs going in the first 3 rounds of 2019. So if that holds up the depth is there.

2017 was considered deep because there were people in the middle of those groups who some felt were 1st-round talents:

Fournette
McCaffrey
Cook
Mixon
Kamara
Hunt
Foreman
Perine
Mack

Hunt and Kamara didn't come out of nowhere. Hell, I thought Foreman was one of the Top 3-4 backs in this class and he was drafted in the 3rd round. I remember Matt Miller of Bleacher Report talking up Kamara all season. There were threads here where people talked him up. I didn't see him in that same light though. But, what came out of nowhere was their perfect landing spots and elite immediate production.

I don't see that with this class right now. To me, RB's like Montgomery, Harris, Snell, Love are just alright RB's and the guys behind them don't strike me as anything special either. Will a few overachieve? Absolutely, but on paper it doesn't resemble good depth and I think most of them would not even be talked about if they were in next year's class, which has the potential to be loaded at RB.

Where did I say Hunt and Kamara came out of nowhere? Obviously people were talking about them, but they were still considered mostly day 3 guys with upside. The same as 8-10 guys will this year.

I think we misremember how good of prospects guys were sometimes just because we heard their names a lot. There are 500 forum posters and 300 bloggers talking about 10 different RB prospects throughout the offseason, especially as the draft approaches. Then whichever ones hit, everyone remembers the people talking about those guys and acts like they were a much greater prospect than they were just because they remember their name being bandied about.

As we approach the draft this year there will be ~8ish RBs talked about at least as much as Kamara/Hunt/Kerryon/Royce type guys were.

This draft is undoubtedly weaker at the top at RB than prior years. The top RB will be much weaker than the top RB the last few years. The 3rd RB will be much weaker than the 3rd RB the last few years. But depth is really there at RB. There are 8ish guys projected with a day 3 grade or better just like the last few years, and if they land in a good spot like the day 2/3 guys did last year then this draft will be plenty deep at RB.

For instance just taking the first 3-round NFL mock I could find...

2.03 Oakland - Darrell Henderson
2.08 Buffalo - Justice Hill
2.25 Philly - Trayveon Williams
3.04 Jets - Bryce Love
3.21 Indy - Mike Weber
3.24 Balt - Rodney Anderson
3.25 Houston - Damien Harris

So if you have something like that you've got 7 guys right there that are pretty desirable going into rookie drafts and combined with all the WRs at the top this year you're looking at some of them being available in the late 1st/early 2nd. And that's before we get into the offseason stock risers like Penny (for whom someone like Josh Jacobs could easily be this year).

You're right that a lot depends on them landing in good spots but as players I don't think these guys aren't really any worse as prospects than Kamara/Hunt/Royce/Kerryon types were considered (especially at this point in the offseason in 2017/2018) which is what made those last two drafts deep, and the hype will only build as we approach the draft and we all start throwing this year's names around more often.

Maybe we're just not lining up on the definition of "deep". I consider last year's class great because guys like Royce/Kerryon were way down at 7/8 and the guys ahead of them were even better. This year's class is more like 7-8 guys in that same vein which still makes it similarly deep, but obviously much weaker since the guys in the top 5 or top 6 range are just more Kerryon/Royce types instead of guys who are a class above.

But that's still a lot deeper than the 2016 class where the 8th best guy was a 5th round pick in a crowded situation on a mediocre team.

[Lotto4Life]

Marlon Mack has been very good, as has Hines in the passing game. They are fine at RB, IMO.

Mack is interesting. Not sold on his overall talent. Feel Luck at QB, system and top 5 offensive line ply major role. No reason for Colts to chase RB 2019 draft. Mack seems save to have low RB1 fantasy performance next season.

Mack is something of a Joseph Addai 2.0

[Servo]

Daniel Jones, on paper, doesn't hold a lot of recent rookie QBs' jockstraps based on production but now he's being touted as a potential Top 10 or Top 5 pick. Sometimes I feel like Matt Miller is the sole cause for prospects jetting up draft boards.

But if he's drafted in the 1st RD, someone in a Superflex or 2QB is going to take him.

[Cameron Giles]

Where did I say Hunt and Kamara came out of nowhere? Obviously people were talking about them, but they were still considered mostly day 3 guys with upside. The same as 8-10 guys will this year.

I think we misremember how good of prospects guys were sometimes just because we heard their names a lot. There are 500 forum posters and 300 bloggers talking about 10 different RB prospects throughout the offseason, especially as the draft approaches. Then whichever ones hit, everyone remembers the people talking about those guys and acts like they were a much greater prospect than they were just because they remember their name being bandied about.

As we approach the draft this year there will be ~8ish RBs talked about at least as much as Kamara/Hunt/Kerryon/Royce type guys were.

This draft is undoubtedly weaker at the top at RB than prior years. The top RB will be much weaker than the top RB the last few years. The 3rd RB will be much weaker than the 3rd RB the last few years. But depth is really there at RB. There are 8ish guys projected with a day 3 grade or better just like the last few years, and if they land in a good spot like the day 2/3 guys did last year then this draft will be plenty deep at RB.

For instance just taking the first 3-round NFL mock I could find...

2.03 Oakland - Darrell Henderson
2.08 Buffalo - Justice Hill
2.25 Philly - Trayveon Williams
3.04 Jets - Bryce Love
3.21 Indy - Mike Weber
3.24 Balt - Rodney Anderson
3.25 Houston - Damien Harris

So if you have something like that you've got 7 guys right there that are pretty desirable going into rookie drafts and combined with all the WRs at the top this year you're looking at some of them being available in the late 1st/early 2nd. And that's before we get into the offseason stock risers like Penny (for whom someone like Josh Jacobs could easily be this year).

You're right that a lot depends on them landing in good spots but as players I don't think these guys aren't really any worse as prospects than Kamara/Hunt/Royce/Kerryon types were considered (especially at this point in the offseason in 2017/2018) which is what made those last two drafts deep, and the hype will only build as we approach the draft and we all start throwing this year's names around more often.

Maybe we're just not lining up on the definition of "deep". I consider last year's class great because guys like Royce/Kerryon were way down at 7/8 and the guys ahead of them were even better. This year's class is more like 7-8 guys in that same vein which still makes it similarly deep, but obviously much weaker since the guys in the top 5 or top 6 range are just more Kerryon/Royce types instead of guys who are a class above.

But that's still a lot deeper than the 2016 class where the 8th best guy was a 5th round pick in a crowded situation on a mediocre team.

If we're strictly looking at these guys without landing spots, I'm just not impressed with most of them. So, yes there are RB's that will get drafted, but I don't like the upside of most of them. I think very few of them will be drafted with expectations to be "the guy."

[bsp27]

I think the argument can be made for Dwayne Haskins as the 1.01 in superflex, especially if he lands with the Giants.