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RB Jay Ajayi, Boise State -- Jay Ajayi is NOT Marshawn Lynch. I want to make that clear. Marshawn Lynch is a Hall of Fame quality, true force of nature RB. But one of the reasons Lynch is so good is because he has an insane sense of balance, anticipating contact, and leveraging that contact to benefit him in all ways at all times. I see a lot of this in Ajayi -- in particular, he has an ability to lower his shoulders, absorb contact, and spin off the tackler... He does this particular move a ton, it's a very Lynch move, and it makes him very hard to tackle. That's Ajayi's best quality, like Lynch. He's not particularly speedy, and he's not particularly gigantic (though he is a good-sized back at 6'0", 216 lbs). But he's very physical, breaks arm tackles, and demands more than one guy to take him down. Very much a poor man's Lynch, and while I think he probably works better in a committee than he does as a feature back, he still could have feature back potential if he times very well at the Combine. He's very productive in the passing game -- he runs WCO routes for the RB much like the Chiefs RBs run, so there is something to keep in mind. He's already pretty stout in pass protection, so he very much does have three-down capabilities at the next level. He also has a stupendous nose for the end zone: 28 TDS in 2014, 40+ over the past two years. His ability in the red zone reminds me a lot of Bernard Pierce, and honestly that is probably the career he'll have in the NFL. My biggest concern with Ajayi, outside of what seems to be his limited athleticism, is that he's had 700 touches over the past two years, including 400 touches last year. That never bodes well for a RB, especially a high-contact one like Ajayi. I have him down as an early 4th rounder.
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