Chris Johnson RB East Carolina
STRENGTHS
Chris is a natural RB with good size and excellent speed and quickness to impact at the next level. He shows great vision and lateral agility in the hole. Chris is a recurring nightmare to deal with when he catches a swing pass out of the backfield and is in open space. He has good hands to catch the ball down the field like a WR and excellent body control to adjust to the ball. Chris has the potential to impact at the next level just like Brian Westbrook and Reggie Bush have for their teams. He has the speed, burst, quickness, vision, lateral agility and eye/ hand coordination to be an impact player.
NEEDS TO IMPROVE
Chris has to learn to hold onto the ball, reducing his fumbles. He also has to learn how to block and how to play when he is hurting. Right now, Chris has shown no interest in blocking at all and that alone could keep him off the field and limit his ability to impact for the team that drafts him. He has to develop the mental toughness that it takes to be the player his talent suggests he can become. Chris, at the NFL level, is going to be hit and dropped to the ground for the first time in his life. When he is, it will resemble an express train hitting a stalled car on the tracks in the middle of a town the post office lost the zip code to. I think it will take some time for Chris to adjust, but I do believe he will adjust!
TALENT BOARD ROUND 2
The Philadelphia Eagles in the 3rd round of the 2002 draft picked Brian Westbrook (RB Villanova). Brian was about the same size as Chris is right now and everybody thought Brian would be an excellent third down back. But Brian fooled everybody! He bulked up and has become a franchise back because of his intelligence, his natural talent, his mental toughness and the ability to stay injury free. Chris has the same type of athletic talent as Brian. In fact, he just might be a little bit faster. He has been bothered in the past with injuries and does fumble at times, so he will have to bulk up and realize that to play hurt and to play with an injury are two different things. He has to learn to play hurt and to play through the pain. He has to learn when to go down and when not to push for more yardage. Chris is a natural runner when he runs through the tackles because he has good balance, vision, lateral agility and can break tackles with his speed and quickness. There is no doubt in my mind that Chris has the potential to be a franchise player. Give him the chance to touch the ball 15 or 20 times at different positions and special teams and Chris will be an impact player just like Brian and Reggie are for their teams. Chris is what is known in the game as a game breaker. He is the type of player that can score from anywhere on the field and on any given play. I going to call him Chris (Zip Code) Johnson because I think he can stand up to that train and re-establish that zip code the post office so conveniently forgot about.
- Drew Boylhart (thehuddlereport.com)
