2010 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Jahvid Best

Strengths:

Elite athletic ability

Lowers shoulders prior to contact

Outstanding at planting his foot and exploding out of cut

Great acceleration, explosion and speed

Nice agility and lateral movement

Quick feet

Very good vision

Runs with low center of gravity

Elusive

Confident

Keeps feet moving after contact

Nice hands and good pass catcher

Extremely fast

Hits hole quickly

Has a great second gear

Displays good effort

An overall great runner with ball in hands

Home-run threat

Solid inside runner

Weaknesses:

Could break more tackles

Poor pass protection

Lacks physicality in pass protection

California coaches take him out of game on obvious passing downs – they don’t trust him

Might try to improvise too much on player rather than take what is given

Doesn’t profile as a No. 1 back

Not very powerful runner

Summary: Jahvid Best is a great runner of the football, but he isn’t a great running back because he lacks some power running the ball and he is a poor pass protector. He has good hands and some very intriguing tools. Best is a great change-of-pace back and should come off the board in the late first to early second round. Running backs are a dime a dozen, so this hurts his draft stock as running backs are often drafted lower than their talent.

Player Comparison: Felix Jones. These two running backs have blazing speed, but I would say Johnson is further along in his pass protection. Johnson is probably also a little faster.

RELATED LINKS:

2010 NFL Mock Draft: Matt’s | Walt’s

2010 NFL Draft Prospect Rankings

2010 NFL Draft Scouting Reports

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