Christian McCaffrey - RB - Stanford

ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS Smooth, controlled stride length with choppy feet for instant cuts and change of direction. Plus vision with above average anticipatory feel for opening creases. Hugs contours of the running lane and staggers and stutters his feet to maneuver in tight quarters. Protect football while running through traffic. Reads keys quickly on stretch plays. Sinks hips into sharp cuts. Equally adept darting inside or outside and is able to string moves together. Won't dance on short runs -- gets it downhill. Feet constantly in motion. Able to make defenders miss on all three levels. Willing to keep runs playside and alters his track seamlessly. Runs with multiple gears and is able to gear up or down instantly. Has experience in one-back, two-back and offset formations. Excellent hands out of backfield and can be used from slot. Devastating quickness out of breaks can mismatch linebackers. Experienced, capable punt and kick returner.

WEAKNESSES Lacks desired size of an every-down back. Has some tread worn off his tires. Logged 300-plus touches (including returns) in each of the last two seasons and was asked to grind the gears for short yardage carries. Benefitted from physical, downhill offensive line. Takes foot off gas into contact. Doesn't have NFL-caliber power to break tackles and create yardage for himself through power. Can shake tacklers, but lacks a twitchy burst to accelerate away after the cut. On stretch plays, can get too cute continuing to probe towards the perimeter rather than choosing a crease and committing. Average burst may not be enough to race past NFL speed on second level. Inconsistent squaring up blitzers in pass pro and ducks his head into contact.

DRAFT PROJECTION Round 1

SOURCES TELL US "I'll be his draft grades are going to be all over the place because some teams will see him as a complementary back and others will see him as a multi-touch guy. Teams who run a lot of three and four wide looks will like him because he can run those inside zone plays out of the gun and they can also motion him out of the backfield and just try and mismatch him." - AFC Pro Personnel Director

NFL COMPARISON Tiki Barber

BOTTOM LINE Multidimensional runner with flex appeal for teams looking for a player who can carry the ball 20 times or catch it 10 depending on the game plan. McCaffrey's size, power and speed are just average, but he is able to create yardage for himself with his vision and elusiveness. McCaffrey's ability to return punts and kicks could be the value sweetner that pushes his name into the first round.