NFL reasserts run game, will Detroit Lions draft follow suit?

Candidates 2

Zack Moss, RB, Utah

Zack Moss is a former Utes runner with a strong resemblance to former Bevell running back, Marshawn Lynch, Draft Scout profile here. Moss has a strong lower body and is a natural power runner. He has the ability to make a move in the hole but isn’t the shiftiest runner because his low center of gravity allows him to run through arm tackles and keep going after initial contact.

At 5-foot-10 and 223-pounds, he is a battering ram. He’s not as fast as Lynch, clocking a 4.65 40-yard dash but his 1.62-second 10-yard split shows good burst and his production has been very solid, averaging 1,228 yards and 5.9 yards-per-carry in the PAC-12. His ability to plow through would-be tacklers is better than any running back in this class and he has been linked to the Detroit Lions throughout the draft process.

His abilities as a pass receiver and blocker have all been positive but Moss never caught 30 passes in any season in Salt Lake City. With the previous injury and lack of elite speed, Moss tracks as a future starter candidate with a third-to-fourth-round value.

Ke’Shawn Vaughn, RB, Vanderbilt

We’ve covered Vaughn before but he bears remembering. He has NFL size at 5-foot-10, 214-pounds, ran a respectable 4.51-seconds 40-yard dash, and has been a productive SEC running back. Vaughn has decent power but probably projects as a piece in the committee due to his limited athletic gifts. He’s a straight-ahead runner that doesn’t demonstrate much wiggle and isn’t an ideal short-yardage player, either.

The reason to list him is that he could continue to develop but will probably be able to contribute because he has enough requisite skills for an NFL runner that he could spell a feature back or at least keep one from being overworked. His value as a backup will see him fall to later in the draft, possibly to the fifth-round or later. In other words, he could help but probably won’t be a starter and that would be okay from a late-round pick.

A.J. Dillon, RB, Boston College

After verbally agreeing to attend the University of Michigan in March of 2016, A.J. Dillon would flip that commitment to Boston College nine months later.

Dillon is a physically large specimen at 6-foot, 247-pounds and has some similarities to the NFL’s leading rusher from 2019, Derrick Henry. While not quite as tall as Henry, Dillon is a bruiser as a runner who uses large powerful strides to cover ground quickly while knowing when to make himself smaller for contact.

What is perhaps most shocking about him is how nimble he is at almost 250 pounds. While he’s no Barry Sanders (who is), he reminds us a bit of Jerome Bettis in his ability to change directions smoothly with his larger frame. He has 4.53-second speed in the 40-yard dash, jumped an incredible 41-inches vertically, and showed surprising cut-back ability on the field.

Dillon has the stout frame with large thighs that many good power-runners are blessed with and he looks like a throw-back to an earlier era of I-formation football. Boston College uses a lot of 12-personnel, similar to the Detroit Lions, and Dillon has excelled with no true lead blocker. While he didn’t catch many passes in Newton, just 21 in three years as a starter, he has good hands and is a willing blocker.

Many pundits have Dillon in the fourth to fifth-round area of the draft. But for a team looking for a good power-runner, Dillon offers traits that have been very successful in the NFL.