New York Giants Draft Prospect: RB Jaylen Wright
Jaylen Wright, RB
Height: 5’10
Weight: 210 lbs.
Class: Junior
School: Tennessee
Stats
A former three-star recruit out of Southern High School in Durham, North Carolina, where he was the 36th-ranked North Carolina recruit and the 38th-ranked running back in the 2021 recruiting cycle. Wright earned Second Team All-SEC honors in 2023. Here are his college statistics:
Wright was the first player since Jalen Hurd to record 1,000 rushing yards for the Tennessee Volunteers and the 19th player in school history to accomplish that feat. He averaged more rushing yards per carry than yards per catch, which was mostly a product of Tennessee’s offense and his usage as a receiver - mostly flare passes behind the line of scrimmage.
Wright averaged 7.4 yards per carry in 2023 with over 1,000 yards rushing. Of running backs that received at least 20% of their team’s carries, Wright ranked 8th in yards after contact with a 4.35 average. He also had 35 runs over 10 yards. He’s an explosive home run threat who can flip a game script in one carry.
Strengths
- Elite breakaway speed with very light feet
- Angle defeating speed to the sideline - home-run hitter
- Exceptional acceleration, change of direction, and agility
- Elite explosiveness to get to the second level
- Elusive and slippery with the football in his hands
- Quick cuts leave defenders a step behind
- Solid overall vision and feel for running behind blocks
- Good patience exercised when approaching the line of scrimmage
- Good footwork to press the line of scrimmage and react accordingly based on second level defender’s reactions
- Solid overall job anticipating second-level blocks in DUO/IZ
- Willing to finish with authority - solid in doing so
- Does a solid job identifying the threat in pass protection
- Will get in the threat’s way, albeit not perfectly
- Is not shy in pass protection and wants to be effective
- Limited usage as receiver, but capable with the role he was asked to play
- Experience running gap/zone out of shotgun (86 gap, 50 zone in 2023)
Weaknesses
- Looks much smaller than his listed weight of 210 pounds (pre-combine)
- Frame seems undersized
- Won’t be a pile mover
- Had some indecisive reps under his belt
- Vision is solid, but indecision did limit his upside on certain plays
- Doesn’t consistently fall through contact
- Only adequate play strength
- Adequate ability in pass protection
- Lunged at his target too frequently, susceptible to be beaten around the edge
- Limited receiving experience and route tree
- Most of his experience is running out of shotgun
- Suffered an undisclosed injury that held him out of the Senior Bowl
Summary
In today’s NFL, explosive plays are paramount on offense, and Jaylen Wright does a great job flipping the field for the offense; Wright had 34 explosive runs, 43 missed tackles forced, and averaged over nine yards a carry in five games through the 2023 season.
Wright is explosive with breakaway speed, light feet, and the mentality to run through opposing tacklers. He’s not going to be a pile mover in the NFL, and I wish he was used more as a receiver in college; I believe there’s more meat on the bone with his receiving ability, but Josh Heupel’s offense didn’t feature the running back in their passing attack.
Wright can improve in pass protection, but his ability to identify and locate is sound - he just needs a bit more help with his overall technique of absorbing the contact and steering the defender away from the pocket. Wright is an excellent change of pace back who is very elusive.
He has the upside to eventually be a 1a in a running back by committee but may need to start as a valuable second option with game-changing ability. The value of speed in an offense carries a lot of weight, and Wright provides ample speed.
GRADE: 6.24
Nick Falato
