The 2023 draft season is officially over. For all of you who were tired of Mel Kiper’s 88th edition of his mock draft, you finally have a chance to breathe again. The conclusion of one of the most exciting times of the year comes with a new type of excitement. Instead of wondering which player the Vikings would take, we can all wonder if each player they took will end up a success. Sadly, history proves that the likelihood of every player being successful is slim to none. This leaves us to ponder, which was the best pick of the Vikings 2023 draft class? While there were many selections that are worth discussing, today I’m here to tell you why the Vikings 7th round pick, yes, you read that right, just might be the best selection of the draft. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you DeWayne McBride, running back out of UAB.
McBride was selected with the 222nd overall pick of the 2023 draft. McBride spent three seasons with the University of Alabama Birmingham. McBride’s time with UAB proved to be short but impressive. Throughout his three seasons with the Blazers, McBride rushed for a total of 3,507 yards paired with 36 touchdowns. The bulk of these stats came in McBride’s junior season in 2022, where McBride ran for 1,702 yards on the ground along with 19 touchdowns. These stats place McBride in the elite tier of running backs in college with some incredible highlights. So what should Vikings fans expect out of 7th-round sensation DeWayne McBride?
“I Just Hate Getting Tackled”
That is what McBride had to say about the way he plays football. This mentality is obvious in McBride’s tape. Often McBride struggles to go down from just one man. McBride was selected with a definitive purpose. With the expected breakup between long time running back Dalvin Cook and the Vikings, McBride was selected to fill Cook’s role on early downs. With McBride’s clearly next level contact balance, the ability to force misses is a skill valuable in NFL backfields.
McBride now joins the Vikings running back room with Alexander Mattison, a consistent back who looks to emerge as the starter for the time being and Ty Chandler, the perfect lightning to pair with McBride’s thunderous downhill playstyle. With the contract situation and age of Dalvin Cook, the McBride selection essentially puts a nail in the coffin on Cook staying in Minnesota. This makes the Vikings running back room far younger with McBride being 21, Mattison being 24 and Chandler being 25.
Expect the carries to start with Mattison taking up roughly 50% with McBride more likely to enter the mix on early downs or goal line situations with Chandler more likely to earn touches on later downs or in potential receiving scenarios.
Elite Company
With the context of the Vikings running back room and McBride’s introduction out of the way, what makes this selection Minnesota’s best? First and foremost, McBride has some of the most impressive stats in all of college football. Even when looking past basic counting stats such as yards and touchdowns. For starters, McBride is historically impressive in yards after contact. In his 2022 season, McBride ran for 1,072 yards after contact which is more yards than Lions first round pick Jahmyr Gibbs ran in his entire 2022 season. Yes you read that right, McBride ran for more yards after being touched by a defender than Jahmyr Gibbs ran on the ground in general. While this is not to suggest McBride is a better prospect than Gibbs, this is to suggest the incredible talent belonging to the Vikings new running back.
To prove the elite company DeWayne McBride finds himself to be in, I looked at PFF’s top 15 running back rushing grades for the 2022 season. The list of these running backs is as follows.
Josh Jacobs – 91.9
Aaron Jones – 90.7
Nick Chubb – 90.7
Tony Pollard – 90.0
AJ Dillon – 88.1
Tyler Allgeier – 88.0
Derrick Henry – 86.7
Devin Singultary – 85.1
Saquon Barkley – 84.9
Dameon Pierce – 84.8
Kenneth Walker – 84.8
Rhamondre Stevenson – 84.3
Travis Etienne – 82.9
Christian McCaffrey – 82.1
From there I looked at each player’s collegiate stats for their final year they played in college. When comparing DeWayne McBride to the mix, the results are astounding.
First up we have a comparison of all player’s “elusiveness rating per PFF” ; this rating is a quantitative metric on a player’s ability to force misses. The second axis of measurement is the player’s collegiate PFF rushing grade from their final year. When looking at these metrics, McBride finds himself to be at the top of both statistics. While it is worth acknowledging the fact that McBride played at a smaller school than the Derrick Henry’s of the world, this can serve to add to his case when considering the fact that no other players from UAB were drafted to an NFL team, meaning a pretty significant gap in talent allowed for teams to divert all efforts to stopping McBride. With this incredible company McBride shares, expect his talent and on field play to reflect it. Finishing with a more impressive grade than several first round picks shows the value Minnesota obtained with their day three selection in McBride.
So how much does McBride hate getting tackled?
This chart proves two important things about McBride,
1. He indeed does hate getting tackled
2. He is historically good at continuing to earn yards after contact
Why was McBride Available in the 7th Round?
McBride while being a truly special runner has his fair share of flaws that might have contributed to his day three status. The first and most obvious being his fumbling problem. McBride finished the season with five fumbles, a number far higher than most coaches would be comfortable with. While part of this could be attributed to his outright refusal to go down on runs, this is an issue that can lose games at times and is a significant opportunity for improvement.
The second weakness is McBride’s outright nonexistent receiving game. McBride finished his collegiate career with five receptions. In an era of position-less football with Christian McCaffrey earning over 800 receiving yards as a running back. For all of you plane connoisseurs, McCaffrey is a seaplane, McBride is a freighter. Both are technically the same thing, but one is more versatile and has a different list of abilities.
The third reason for his day three selection is the fact that he went to a small school. This is not a rare occurrence. Collegiate games that are regularly on national television and larger programs tend to bump the stock of a player purely due to exposure. This is nothing new and is not necessarily a slight on McBride, more of a statement on league wide scouting.
What to Expect?
While it is always important to keep expectations realistic, there is a very credible reason to be excited about the Vikings 7th round pick. With players such as Isaiah Pacheco last season, there is always a realistic possibility of a day three selection playing serious snaps at the running back position. Expect McBride’s energy on the field to carry over to US Bank. And next time McBride crosses the goal line with three opposing players attempting to drag him down, remember that this is nothing new for McBride, the man is simply acting upon his longtime tackle-phobia.
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