STRENGTHS
Joe could be one of the best pure runningbacks in this draft. He reminds me of the Vikings Adrian Peterson. He runs strong for his size with excellent balance, vision, speed and lateral explosion. He doesn’t make a cut that doesn’t move him north/ south instead of wasting movement going east/ west and then exploding up the field. Joe runs bigger than his size and stronger through the tackles than his size and is one of the fastest runningbacks in this draft in the open field. Once Joe breaks the line of scrimmage and because of his north/south cutting talent he is a threat to go all the way just like Adrian Peterson is. On the field Joe plays with the heart of a Lion working as hard as he can to make as much as he can out of each and every carry. He is a solid blocker helping out offensive lineman and doing a solid job picking up blitzing linebackers. But truly his running skills and “heart of a lion” running is what he brings to the table when he is on the field. Trouble is Joe seems to lack that “heart of a lion”… off the field.

CONCERNS
Biggest issue for Joe is to convince NFL teams that he is not going to quit on his teammates, coaches, GM, owner and fans like he did in college. It will be very hard for anyone to but their job on the line for a player who decided to retire from college football and only came back because someone else convinced him too. As I understand the story, the only reason Joe came back from retirement was not because he realize that he had made a mistake, missed the game, or any other personal reason. He came back because coaches asked him to and his sister convinced him too. This will affect what round teams are willing to select him in for sure. Also Joe needs to learn to catch the dam ball out of the back field so he can be used more in open space. He is very dangerous in open space.

BOTTOM LINE
Joe is without a doubt a player who has 1st round talent and I think his combine will show his speed and agility but if he can’t give a better answer in the interviews than “My Sister convinced me to come back”, I’m not sure how comfortable any team is going to be selecting him in the first three rounds of this draft. It’s really that simple. There are plenty of running backs in this draft that have the talent to make your team a threat in the running game so just because Joe has talent better or equal to the best, doesn’t mean a GM and Head Coach will risk their jobs selecting him. It comes down to this, are you willing to risk your job and select Joe in the first three rounds of this draft? Even with all of his talent he might be more of a risk to retire once again than the risk of selecting a player with off field issues that might get into trouble off the field once again. There is a maturity level for those players to come to their senses but for a person to retire or who is thinking about retiring…there is no level of maturity that would make him think of NOT retiring once again. Nevertheless, I can’t downgrade him too much because it’s not like he committed a crime! It’s not like he beat some woman or got a DUI, or was involved in a hit and run. It’s not like he did drugs or got arrested for shooting himself in the leg while at a bar or killed dogs and ran a gambling ring and went to jail. How bad is it that he took a step back to evaluate his life? On the field he plays with the heart of a lion and has talent to run the ball like Adrian Peterson. Isn’t that enough to select him as early as I have him rated? For me, I look Rob’s board see were he’s rated and don’t over think the process because It’s obvious that Joe has the talent to impact and that should be enough.

Drew Boylhart  FEB.2017