I was faced with my first real rookie draft decision of the 2015 season. I sat at 1.12, already with Kevin White and T.J. Yeldon under my belt and a stacked roster established. Ameer Abdullah and Phillip Dorsett have more juice than David Johnson. Dorsett has the Andrew Luck factor, plus a first round pedigree now post-draft. Ameer Abdullah has everyone thinking a young Reggie Bush with a wide open (at a minimum) pass-catching role in Detroit to start his career with upside for more.
The metric maven in me could not pass on David Johnson, however, as a trade did not transpire to move down with much incentive and Johnson is such a rare prospect in terms of size, athleticism, and production. Seriously, he is in the top-5% of all running back prospects in the projection model since 1999. Like Jerick McKinnon last year, I just cannot say no to that type of metric marvel, regardless of the price. I would have loved to consistently get Johnson outside the top-20 like Jerick McKinnon in 2014, but the reality is Johnson is a top-20 lock in rookie drafts this year and commonly going in the early second. With UTH subscribers in this league, and populating the next 3-4 picks, I could not chance Johnson with much of a trade down.
Back to the point of this article and the best pass-catching running back prospects of the last 15 years drafted on Day 2. Here is the list of all the backs with at least a +80% or higher grade in receiving by the projection model:
