INDIANAPOLIS – While players like Chase Young and Jeff Okudah have received the lion’s share of the first-round NFL Draft news, don’t sleep on JK Dobbins for sneaking into the first day of the draft as more and more mock drafts have him right on the cusp of being in the top-32 picks of the 2020 selection.
Dobbins has three years of tape to show the NFL brass what he is made of and coming off of the first 2,000-yard rushing season in Ohio State history is certainly a difference maker. But as we know, the NFL Draft process is much more complex and detailed than just popping in a few tapes and making decisions solely off of that.
Even with all of the trappings of the combine, Dobbins was asked about his final collegiate game, Ohio State's loss in the Fiesta Bowl, a game where Dobbins got off to a great start until an injury derailed his success on the ground.
"It definitely affected me a lot," Dobbins said. "It was a significant injury. It was a very high ankle sprain. It was tough, just to even go back and battle through it, it hurt a lot. I just wanted to win the game for my team and try to get to the national championship."
This week’s NFL Scouting Combine is a huge step for so many draft eligible players and Dobbins is making the most of his time in Indianapolis to show teams why they need to grab him in the draft while they can, instead of watching their defense try and grab him when he is lining up against them. Dobbins is still not sure if he will do all the drill work at the combine or will wait until Ohio State's Pro Day in late-March. He said that he feels pretty good but stopped short of saying that he is 100-percent yet after that ankle sprain and does not want to put bad work on tape if he is not feeling like a full-go.
Obviously, the goal is to be the first back off the board and Dobbins feels that he has what it takes to be that guy.
"Yes I do," Dobbins said. "I think that I have tremendous vision and I can do it all. I can be explosive, and I can grind it out and I am also a leader. I think that I make everyone around me play better whenever they are playing with me."
There has been a lot of debate over the recent years on taking a running back in the first round or not. For many years, the NFL really devalued the running back in the first round, especially when it came to the general length of career of a running back in the league.
Players like Ezekiel Elliott and Todd Gurley have caused a lot of teams to change course. But even with that, there is no consensus when it comes to the strategy of drafting running backs, especially when you look at how the San Francisco 49ers split up work between Raheem Mostert (undrafted) and Tevin Coleman (3rd round – No. 73). Teams would be getting a top-flight back in Dobbins and would expect a lot if they made that early commitment to drafting him.
"If I was to go first round it would show that the value of the running backs are not really down, a lot of people think that but I honestly don’t, because we do a lot of things on the field and I think we help our teams win," Dobbins said. "You can see the Titans, Chiefs… the Chiefs closed it out on a running play."
This week at the combine will go a long way in the process. What is Dobbins hoping to leave with the NFL teams that he speaks with over the course of this process?
"Just how athletic I am," Dobbins said. "I am a pretty athletic guy, I am pretty fast as well. A lot of people try to say that I can't catch because I accidentally took my eyes off the screen pass in the (Fiesta Bowl) but I had more than 70 catches, so I think I can catch pretty well."
No back at Ohio State had a season like the one that Dobbins is coming off of. But even with all of that Dobbins was not completely satisfied with his own performance.
"I always feel like I have something to prove," Dobbins said. "Even when I ran for 2,000-yards, I felt that I could have proven a little more."
