Three RB’s Who Disappointed at the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine

The 2017 NFL Scouting Combine has had several impressive showings, but on the flip side, there have also been players who disappointed. Here are three running backs that underwhelmed.

With the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine getting wrapped up, much will be said about individual players and position groups — who impressed, who disappointed and so on. The Oakland Raiders could be in need of a running back if Latavius Murray skips town, so let’s focus on that position for now.

Specifically, we’ll take a look at which running backs had disappointing showings at the Combine.

Dalvin Cook

Starting with a projected first-round pick, former Florida State running back Dalvin Cook was the most notable back that underwhelmed in Indianapolis.

With the debate for the top running back in the class being a three-man race — Cook, Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey — Cook did himself no favors to solidify himself at the top.

Measuring in at 5’10” and 210 pounds, those measurements rank Dalvin in the 30th and 31st percentile amongst all running backs in the NFL. So he’s in the bottom third in terms of size.

Cook’s 4.49 second 40-yard dash is certainly a good number, although most expect him to be in the low 4.4’s.

Where Dalvin disappointed the most is in the agility tests. Cook’s 7.27 3-Cone drill is an awful mark, with 90 percent of running backs having a better mark.

Cook’s 20-Yard Shuttle was also terrible at 4.53 seconds, which puts him in the 8th percentile.

Now, these numbers aren’t an end all be all, but when they are this bad, that certainly paints a negative picture. Especially when Cook’s peers had impressive days.

Cook will have an opportunity to improve on these numbers at his Pro Day, and for the sake of his draft stock, hopefully he does.

Kareem Hunt

A popular mid-round option at running back is Kareem Hunt, out of Toledo, who many analysts expected to climb into the round two conversation with a strong showing at the Combine.

But unfortunately for Hunt, the opposite happened. He had an underwhelming showing, and likely solidified himself as a round three or four pick.

The University of Toledo official website generously listed Hunt at 6’0″ and 225 pounds, and on film, he looked the part of a back with notable agility to boot.

So as a bigger back that could move, Hunt’s draft stock was naturally on the rise. But then Hunt measured in at 5’10” and 216 pounds, and wasn’t nearly as fast and agile as most draft analysts (and surely, NFL teams) had hoped.

Kareem’s mediocre 4.62 second 40-yard dash puts him in only the 38th percentile. And his strength also was lacking, with his 18 bench press reps putting him in the 33rd percentile.

So to summarize Hunt’s combine performance — smaller than expected, slower and less agile than expected, and weaker than expected.

Not the best day at the office.

D’Onta Foreman

This may not be fair to D’Onta Foreman, but he certainly has to go down as a player who disappointed at the combine.

And it has nothing to do with his performance — well, because he didn’t perform at all. Foreman was expected to run all the drills at the combine, but it was revealed that he had a foot fracture.

With most of the running backs failing to impress, this would have been a tremendous opportunity for Foreman to entrench himself into the conversation as one of the best running backs in this draft class.

But instead, it remains to be seen just how good of an athlete he is, and not only that, but his Pro Day might be in jeopardy as well, if this injury is serious.

It’s not expected to be a serious injury, but nonetheless, it’s disappointing that he wasn’t able to go.

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But hey, if this hurts his draft stock and he falls in a mid or later round to a team like the Raiders, he could end up being a steal.