DJ Giddens Is The Running Back Prospect NO ONE Is Talking About | 2025 NFL Draft - video Dailymotion

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Can DJ Giddens be a star running back in the NFL? Joe DeLeone and Ryan Roberts break down the 2025 NFL Draft prospect from Kansas State football in their DJ Giddens scouting report

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00:00DJ Giddens is the running back prospect that no one is talking about. Here's what you need to know

00:10Ryan, I don't get how DJ Giddens is not getting hyped up more as a top five,

00:14maybe even top three running back in the 2025 NFL draft. Why are you so high on him?

00:20Well, I mean, it's what we just saw at the combine and people are starting to warm up

00:23to DJ Giddens because I think that this is a very explosive high cut runner who has the best

00:29combination of vision and patience in this class, Joe. Like for me, he evaluates first to second

00:35level defenders. He finds easy running lanes and he is really, really good in tight quarters. He

00:41can make guys miss in a phone booth. So I think that combination of patients, that combination

00:46of explosiveness and that combination of vision, when you put all that together, I think that he

00:50could be a high volume ball carrier on early downs, especially on the NFL level.

00:54He's one of those guys that's like mesmerizing to watch. You just watch him. You're like,

00:58oh my God, the way that he's evaluating what's happening in front of him. And then the plant

01:04and go the way that he just puts his foot in the ground and he goes, he's able to, despite being

01:09on the bigger side around six foot one over 210 pounds, despite him being on the bigger side,

01:14he still finds ways to slip through gaps, small gaps among his offensive line. I love the way

01:21that DJ Giddens plays the fact that he brings a big frame as well as the burst to win. He has

01:29everything that I think the modern NFL looks for in bigger running backs. Yeah. And I think the

01:33cool thing about him too, is I think that you're going to be able to save some tread on his tires

01:38because he's not going to create, he he's one of those guys that has a great ability to contort

01:42his body and avoid massive hits. Like he just doesn't take a lot of massive shots, which I

01:46think will be able to sustain success. And we'll be able to save his body a little bit on the next

01:50level. I mean, you, you, whether you pop on the Colorado game from this past year or any other

01:54game, for the most part, he is leaving guys hugging air a lot. He's leaving guys on their

01:59knees because they go to their knees to try to tackle them. And then he's able to plant and go

02:03laterally at an explosive rates. This is the ultimate player in this class that can make first

02:08and second level defenders look really silly in space. That's DJ Giddens. And that's the value

02:12that he brings to the NFL level. What are some of the weaknesses though, that you think are going to

02:17hold them back as a prospect pass blocking? It's like, number one, he's a very, he's a below

02:23average pass blocker. I think that that's what he can be. He's poor at times and it's just really

02:28bad. So I don't think that early in his career, you're going to leave him on a lot of third downs

02:32because I just don't think he's going to be able to protect on an NFL level. And then the weird one

02:36is in 2023, I thought he had a lot of upside as a pass catcher, but this past year he had five

02:41drops in 2024, which was very interesting. So we saw polar opposites as far as pass catching

02:47upside the last two years. So right now I think that we're talking about an early down ball

02:51carrier that needs to prove that he's able to stay on the field for third downs. His background's

02:56really interesting because he was rated as a zero star recruit when he committed to Kansas state.

03:02He's from junction city, Kansas. So he's staying in the same state where he decided to play in

03:07college, where he grew up. But it's crazy to see that this is a prospect who wasn't really on

03:14anybody's radar for the most part and ends up at Kansas state and having a tremendous career.

03:18Yeah. And like you said, he was great shirted that first year in 2021 out of junction city,

03:22but then the next three years he did a lot of great things. 2022, he was behind short King

03:27deuce Vaughn and did a lot of good things as his main backup the next two years. He's one of the

03:32best ball carriers, not only in the big 12, but nationally it was over a thousand yards each of

03:36the last two years. So he went from a under recruited kid for various reasons, zero star.

03:42So one of the best running backs in all of college football and one of the top

03:44runners now in the 2025 NFL draft. Now for a pro comp, I really like Le'Veon Bell as the

03:50comparison because the patience is where I see so many similarities, but you like Todd Gurley,

03:56who was one of the most prolific running backs in the last 20 years for the production that he had

04:01as a receiver and as a running back. Yeah. I think it's just the running style and the

04:07running form is more of like the Todd Gurley comp because Todd Gurley was actually a pretty

04:11dang good receiver coming out of the backfield during his Georgia days and into his obviously

04:15scene. I think he was St. Louis Ram at that time. Right. So it was even Los Angeles Rams at that

04:19point. But I do think that the running style is similar. They kind of have an upright running

04:25style. They have a leggy running style and they're really good at making guys miss

04:29in tight quarters and they have good acceleration to be able to take advantage

04:32of tight spaces. So it's not a perfect all the rounds player comp as a pure

04:37runner. I see a lot of Todd Gurley when I watched DJ Giddens.

04:40Folks, let us know in the comments below what team do you want to see draft DJ Giddens?

04:44Hit that like button and subscribe. We'll talk to you later.

DJ Giddens Is The Running Back Prospect NO ONE Is Talking About | 2025 NFL Draft

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