Tennessee running back Jaylen Wright climbing NFL Draft boards

Tennessee running back Jaylen Wright is already climbing NFL Draft boards as the focus moves this week to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. 

ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. previously had Wright ranked No. 10 among running backs in his position rankings, but has since then moved Wright up six spots to No. 4 overall. 

Only Jonathon Brooks (Texas), Trey Benson (Florida State) and Audric Estime (Notre Dame) were ranked ahead of Wright. ESPN’s Matt Miller has Wright as his No. 5 running back, behind Boorks, Estime, Wisconsin’s Braylon Allen and Benson.

ESPN has Wright at No. 97 overall on its best available ranking. He’s the No. 6 running back with a grade of 71.

Defensive linemen and linebackers will go through workouts today at the Combine, followed by defensive back and tight ends on Friday. Saturday is quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs and Sunday is offensive linemen. 

‘(He’s) just real springy and juicy, stop-star quickness, home run hitter, finishes runs’

NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah said last week on a conference call with reporters that Wright was one of his favorite backs in the draft and could go on Day 2.

“(He) is just real springy and juicy,” Jeremiah said, “stop-start quickness, home run hitter, finishes runs. He can get skinny though the hole. Really, really quick feet. He is 210 pounds, so he has a little bit of size to him. Enough size to him. He is probably the fastest, the most explosive of all these guys.”

Wright in November became the 19th running back in Tennessee football program history to go over 1,000 yards in a season. He ran 137 times for 1,013 yards averaging 7.4 yards per carry, reaching the 1,000-yard mark in 22 fewer carries than any other Tennessee running back before him.

Wright during his breakout junior season hit the 1,000-yard mark more efficiently than any other Tennessee back before him. He finished the regular season at 1,013 yards on just 137 carries, 22 fewer than any other Tennessee back that went for 1,000-plus.

His 7.4 yards per carry is also the highest among the 1,000-yard back, just above Charlie Garner’s 7.3-yard average in 1993 (159 attempts, 1,161 yards) and well north of the next highest, James Stewart’s 6.0 yards per carry in 1994 (170 attempts, 1,028 yards).

2024 NFL Draft: April 25-27, Detroit, ABC, NFL Network

Wright was a three-star running back prospect in the On3 Industry Ranking out of Southern High School in Durham, N.C. in the class of 2021. He was ranked No. 515 overall in the class, No. 35 among running backs and No. 26 in the state of North Carolina.

Jeremiah said on the conference call last week that the run on running backs in the draft could depend simply on when the first team picks a running back on Day 2, with the range dropping to the bottom of the second round or early in the third.

“I think day two is going to be the running back day,” Jeremiah said. “I’m curious to see — I have a little bit of a theory here. I have about six to eight running backs that are very closely graded. I don’t have any of them up to where we had Bijan (Robinson) or (Jahmyr) Gibbs last year with those type of grades. Six to eight really solid players. 

“I wonder if we’re going to see a game of chicken in the second round where teams are saying, well, we have the grade to take this guy here, but we don’t want to be the first one in line. We just need to make sure we’re not the last one in line.

“Does that push running backs down?” Jeremiah continued. “Maybe we could get to the bottom of the second, maybe even the top of the third round, and then once the first one goes, I think you’ll see all these guys come off the board.”