The ’23 Draft: Running Backs

JACKSONVILLE – There’s front-line talent at running back. A lot of it.

Whether that means the position will be treated as such during the 2023 NFL Draft is a different question.

Bijan Robinson of the University of Texas is considered the best of a talented ’23 running back class and is an elite player. But with the league increasingly devaluing the position, even a player as talented as Robinson may not be selected in the Top 10 come the end of April.

“It’s a really solid group of running backs,” NFL and Jaguars Media analyst Bucky Brooks told jaguars.com recently. “They’re guys that are probably undervalued because of the trend in the National Football League. But these guys can play.”

NFL Network Draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah called the running backs in the ’23 class “Really solid. It’s a really deep group.”

The draft’s unquestioned top player at the position is Robinson, who Jeremiah calls “not only the best running back in this class, he is one of the five best players in this class.”

“He is elite,” Jeremiah said. “He is, no doubt about it to me, one of the premier, premier players in the draft.”

Brooks called Robinson the one running back in this class with “Saquon Barkley-type” ability.

“He can run, he can catch, and he can do special things with the ball in his hand,” Brooks said. “He has the size and all the other things you look for in a workhorse back.”

ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. praised Robinson’s balance and called him a “natural runner.”

“He’s very instinctive,” Kiper said. “He’ll block. He’ll catch out of the backfield very effectively. He’s anywhere from No. 6 to no. 9 on the Big Board. You grade on ability. You don’t grade on philosophy. It just depends on what team values that player.”

Jeremiah, speaking on a pre-draft conference call, then said even as good as Robinson is it’s unclear just where he will be selected. He said he has asked officials from multiple teams that question.

“All of them say, ‘I have no idea,”’ Jeremiah said. “Does he go…