Tauren Poole was a profile request from twitter. He is still kicking around the NFL (on the Carolina Panthers practice squad at the time of publishing) and had his fair share of supporters leading up to the 2012 NFL Draft. Poole ended up going undrafted, but players, especially running backs that stick on rosters or practice squads for multiple seasons have enough going for them to warrant fantasy owners’ attention. Here is the projection model view of Tauren Poole:
Athleticism
The strength of Poole’s prospect profile is his physical ability. He has above-average long speed and burst for his size. One glaring weakness was his three-cone time of 7.36, which adjusted for his weight was in the bottom-5% of running back prospects since 1999. Here are some comparable prospects based on Tauren Poole’s size and athleticism:
- Charcandrick West
- Josh Harris
- Andre Ellington
- Ronnie Hillman
- Cyrus Gray
- Chris Polk
- Bilal Powell
- Darius Walker
- Alonzo Coleman
- Damien Anderson
This is actually a decent list for an off-the-radar running back, which explains why Poole is still kicking around. Andre Ellington, Ronnie Hillman, and Bilal Powell are likely the best face-value comparables of the bunch, but are middle-of-the-road in the projection model’s athleticism section of the data.
Production
Tauren Poole’s age-weighted production is off-the-rails poor by the numbers. He had four seasons of data, including two seasons of forgettable involvement to start his career, topping out at 80 rushing yards per game as a 20-year-old, and fading to finish in his final season. Add to that his 4.5 yards-per-carry average for his career and Tauren Poole is a classic case of more athlete-than-producer at running back. His rushing score of 7 added to a receiving score of 21 put him in the bottom tier of the 700+ backs in the database. Based solely on aspects of his production profile, here are the comparable players for Tauren Poole:
- Juwan Thompson
- Michael Cox
- D.J. Harper
- Stevan Ridley
- Shaun Draughn
- Montario Hardesty
- Kenny Irons
- Thomas Clayton
- DeShawn Wynn
- Domanick Williams
- LaBrandon Toefield
Domanick Williams is the only hit of this group, who was a very situationally-valued asset in the zone-blocking haven in Houston about a decade ago. The two highest drafted backs on the list, Montario Hardesty and Kenny Irons, were non-contributors after coming out of college with limited production and on the old side.
Both list point to a rotational role, at best, for Tauren Poole. The Carolina Panthers mark a decent depth for a flyer running back as Jonathan Stewart is held together with tape, DeAngelo Williams is as old as tape, and Mike Tolbert needs to be taped following a failed weigh-in a la the military. There are certainly worse flyers out there than the above-average athlete Tauren Poole when creating a watchlist in leagues of close to 30 offensive players. Poole’s lack of impact, whether college or the NFL, now that he is more than 25 years old is a pretty solid warning sign that the light is not coming off. Monitor the Panthers depth chart into the offseason for movement, but Poole is a firm long-shot (likely in the 3-6% range) in terms of developing into a fantasy starter for any meaningful period of time down the line.
