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PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) - Former Steeler Jerome Bettis is a Hall of Fame running back but he has seen his position devalued over the past few years.
In the 2020 NFL Draft only one running back was taken in the first round, and even some were surprised that Kansas City took running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire out of LSU as the last pick in the first round.
Bettis says the reason is because a large majority of college programs moved toward a spread offense, asking quarterbacks to do more running.
“And when that happened the shift was at the running back position, they went from wanting 6’1”, 6’2” 225 lbs. running backs to wanting 5’8”, 5’9”, 5’!0” running backs at 210 and 215 lbs.,” said Bettis. “They wanted smaller running backs because instead of going north and south, a lot of the running game goes east and west and then north and south and so they wanted smaller running backs.
Bettis adds those smaller backs don’t translate to the style of play in the NFL.
He says Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and “maybe USC” are the only colleges that still run an NFL style offense with running backs.
“The offenses and what they’re looking for at the running back position is different from what you want in the NFL and as a result of it . . . everybody couldn’t go out there and get a feature running back, you had to settle on running back by committee,” said Bettis.
Bettis says only three quality running backs were selected in the draft this year, so if teams don’t select a back from one of those schools, they have to work with what they have.