Barnwell sizes up five rookie RBs: Could Croskey-Merritt see more work? Can the Raiders help Jeanty?

This is simply a peculiar people of rookie moving backs. Throughout the NFL draft rhythm this past spring, determination was a dependable watercourse of comments from draught analysts and squad executives alike connected the endowment and extent astir to deed the NFL astatine halfback. Organizations past drafted 25 moving backs successful Green Bay, including 4 top-40 picks. By the Jimmy Johnson worth chart, it was the astir draught superior teams had spent connected moving backs successful a fixed draught since 2018, erstwhile the Giants utilized the 2nd prime connected Saquon Barkley.

And through 5 weeks, those backs person been disconnected to a wildly awesome start. In my quarter-season awards column past week, I mentioned that rookie moving backs combined to rack up 737 rushing yards successful Week 4, the astir by immoderate acceptable of rookie backs successful immoderate week of September shot since the 1970 merger. Week 3 ranked sixth by that aforesaid measure, and Week 5 wasn't acold behind. It's uncommon to spot truthful galore rookie backs impacting games this aboriginal successful the season. Overall, rookie runners person racked up 2,542 rushing yards done Week 5, bully for the 10th astir of immoderate people since the merger.

Teams leaned much into the tally successful the past, of course, and truthful a much realistic measurement of their interaction mightiness beryllium the percent of RB unreserved yards from rookies arsenic opposed to veterans. Well, rookies person 18.1% of moving backmost yardage truthful far, the fourth-highest complaint for immoderate rookie people done 5 weeks since the merger. (And 2 of the 3 years up of them are anomalies: The 1987 play was deed by a September onslaught -- meaning galore of the "rookie" backs who stepped successful and racked up yardage were short-term replacement players -- and the 1993 play was the lone 1 successful NFL past with 2 bye weeks, starring to a agelong wherever immoderate of the league's starring seasoned rushers had aboriginal weeks off. Emmitt Smith, who had won the rushing crown the twelvemonth before, besides held retired for the archetypal 2 games of the year.)

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The lone rookie people that got disconnected to a hotter commencement than this year's clump was the people of 2017, which delivered a radical of superstar backs to the league. It's astir apt nary astonishment that eighth prime Christian McCaffrey emerged arsenic a franchise player, but determination were important difference-makers coming disconnected the committee each passim that draft. Dalvin Cook and Joe Mixon were second-rounders. Alvin Kamara, Kareem Hunt and James Conner were disconnected the committee successful Round 3. Aaron Jones Sr. fell to the Packers successful the 5th round. The Chargers adjacent recovered Austin Ekeler aft the proceedings arsenic an undrafted escaped agent. And that database does...