Running Back

Georgia Tech

5-11 229

40 time: 4.59

Draft board overall prospect rank: #60

Draft board running back rank: #6

Overall rating: 76*

2/28/10: Dwyer’s workout today proved what his weigh in showed and what people all around the NFL have been saying all week. He’s out of shape. At 5-11 229, Dwyer ran a 4.59, which isn’t awful, but when you consider his second time was 4.69, it looks a lot worse. He also only benched 15 reps, 3^rd fewest of all RBs.

2/26/10: He just looked like a fat guy at his weigh in. He was 5-11 229 which sounds good, but he did not look in shape at all.  

1/17/10: Excellent size, but he put on a lot of weight from last season to this season and looked a lot more sluggish this year as a result, though his stats don’t suggest he struggled. He also played in a weird offense that just isn’t used in the NFL so you have to wonder how he would have fared statistically being overweight and in a normal offense. However, he’s got all the physical tools and is still projected to run a mid 4.4 40 at 235 pounds which is amazing so someone is going to snatch him early on upside alone.

Update (11/2/09): Putting up great stats to go with his great measurables, 230 pounds, projected to run a low 4.4 40, but he plays in a weird style offense which is a red flag.

            6/28/09: Jonathan Dwyer is the closest thing to a feature back in this running back class. If this were 5 years ago when feature backs were still used, instead of running back by committees, Dwyer would be a top ten pick lock. Now, he is far from a top ten lock, though I’d be shocked if he dropped out of the first round. He has that great combination of strength and speed that feature backs need. He is 230 pounds of pure muscle and has amazingly strong legs to blow through the defense. He gets great leverage when he runs and is almost impossible to stop for a loss. Once he gets through the initial set of defenders, he has 4.4 speed. I wouldn’t call him a breakaway back, and he doesn’t have the quickness to make guys miss, but 4.4 speed at 230 is very dangerous in the open field. He can run over defenders. He isn’t great at changing directions in the open field and he doesn’t always see the running lines quite as well as you’d like him to. He’s not much of a threat in the passing game. Still, his combination of speed and size, along with his numbers from last season, speak for themselves. He rushed for 1395 yards and 12 touchdowns on a 7 yards per carry clip.

NFL Comparison: Ron Dayne

*For a breakdown of what this means, click here