2019 NFL Draft: Alex Barnes is the NFL Draft’s strongest RB
By Joel Deering
RB Alex Barnes is the NFL Draft’s strongest RB. He proved it during his NFL Combine performance, but let’s take a look at his other great qualities.
Kansas State RB Alex Barnes wasn’t a well known name heading into the NFL Combine, but his workout earned himself not only attention from several scouts, but the title of the NFL Draft’s strongest RB.
School: Kansas State
Year: Junior
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 226 lbs
The NFL Draft’s strongest RB title now belongs to Alex Barnes, who did 34 bench reps at the NFL Combine. No other RB at the NFL Combine came close to Barnes, as the next best RB on the bench put up 27 reps, seven less than Barnes.
For a player who wasn’t well know, earning the title of the NFL Draft’s strongest RB is quite impressive. His impressive NFL Combine showing has Barnes rising up draft boards. Let’s take a deeper look into the NFL Draft’s strongest RB.
Strengths:
- Size and strength
A lot of RBs in this draft class come with the size concern. That’s not the case for Barnes. He stands 6’0″, 226 pounds. That’s the typical size teams are looking for in their RBs. They want backs who can handle the beating the NFL will give them. Alex Barnes has the perfect body to do so.
His size is impressive, but his strength is perhaps the most impressive thing about him. At the NFL Combine, Barnes proved he is the NFL Draft’s strongest RB by posting 34 reps on the bench. Just to put that into perspective a little bit more, his 34 reps was tied for 4th out of all the NFL Combine participants.
Only three players posted more reps than Barnes on the bench, and those three players were an offensive lineman and two defensive lineman. The player tied with Barnes was also an offensive lineman. Barnes is a running back with lineman strength. Barnes is the NFL Draft’s strongest RB.
- Power runner
As evidenced by his 4.59 40 time, which we’ll talk about later, Alex Barnes isn’t a speed runner. Instead, Barnes uses his strength to make big plays. As the NFL Draft’s strongest RB, this only makes sense.
It’s not often you’ll see weak tackles take down Barnes. 99% of the time, an arm tackle isn’t taking him down. In order to take Barnes down, defenders have to wrap him up. Take a look at the second play of this video to see just how powerful of a runner Barnes can be.
Barnes likely won’t outrun many defenders, but he sure can run through them if that’s what it takes.
- Production as a backup and starter
One thing I love about Barnes, is his ability to produce in whatever role he’s given. Barnes wasn’t always the starting RB at Kansas State, yet he produced every year. As a freshman, Barnes had just 56 carries in 10 games, but with those 56 carries, he posted 442 rushing yards and six TDs. As a backup who received very limited carries, those are very good numbers.
Barnes took over as the starter as a sophomore in 2017, where he carried the ball 146 times for 819 yards and seven TDs. In his final season at Kansas State, Barnes carried the ball 256 times for 1,355 yards and 12 TDs.
As you can see by his numbers, Barnes was able to produce in his role as both a backup and starting RB. This is crucial for Barnes as he heads to the NFL, because he’s not seen as a guy with starting RB potential. Instead, his role will likely be as a backup. His numbers say he’ll have no problem producing in that role.
- Proven ability to improve
I just went over Barnes’ numbers year by year, but now I want to focus on his numbers just as a starter. 146 carries for 819 yards and seven TDs is what he posted in 2017. In 2018, he had 256 carries for 1,355 yards and 12 TDs.
Barnes was productive as a first year starter, but his numbers weren’t spectacular. In his second year as a starter, you can see how much his numbers improved. He rushed for 536 more yards and five more TDs as a second year starter. Improvement. That’s something I love to see from a player at any position.
Barnes was able to take a huge step from year one to year two as a starting RB, carrying the workload for Kansas State as a junior. His proven ability to improve should keep him around in the NFL for a long time, regardless of if he’s a starter or backup.
- Blocking
Barnes, the NFL Draft’s strongest RB, showed he’s more than capable of being an impact blocker while at Kansas State. As a powerful RB with good size, it makes sense he would be an effective blocker.
I don’t think Barnes is the best blocker in this class, as he does need some work on his technique with his hands, but he is a capable blocker who’s more than willing to do so. It’s not just pass protection he can do either. Barnes showed a good ability to block for QB runs. In today’s NFL, with QBs such as Deshaun Watson and Lamar Jackson, the blocking ability of Barnes could come in handy for the right team.
Weaknesses:
- Breakaway speed
As already noted, Barnes is the NFL Draft’s strongest RB. What he’s not, is the NFL Draft’s fastest RB. Barnes ran a 4.59 at the NFL Combine, which isn’t exactly breakaway speed. His 40 time was actually better than anticipated, which helped his stock a bit, but his stock won’t jump too far up with a 4.59 40 time.
If you skip to about 34 seconds in the following video, you’ll see the lack of breakaway speed Barnes has.
Yes, Barnes did score on the play, but you could clearly see the Oklahoma defender catching up to him. Had the defender not made such a poor tackle attempt, maybe Barnes would have gone down before scoring.
Barnes isn’t going to run away from defenders when they’re in pursuit. If the field is too long, defenders will catch up to him. Teams are looking for the guy who, once he gets past the defenders, is gone. That’s not Alex Barnes.
- Acceleration
Another thing that limits Barnes’ ability to run away from defenders, is his acceleration. Barnes can make great cuts and has some nice shiftiness, but he doesn’t accelerate out of those cuts as well as you’d like him to.
If Barnes is running full speed, but then stops to make a move on a defender, it’s going to take him longer than you’d like to get back up to full speed. His best speed comes when he’s a straight line runner, but even then, he’s not the fastest guy on the field.
- Gets what’s blocked for him, not much more
This weakness was somewhat surprising to me. The reason for that is because I felt like I saw several good cuts by Barnes not only on tape, but during his combine workout. I thought he moved really well.
Although he has nice cuts, he doesn’t seem to be able to use those cuts as often as you’d like. There are times when Barnes was able to get creative and make something out of nothing, but I mostly saw a guy who got what was blocked for him.
It’s not a bad thing to be good at following your blockers, unless the blocks aren’t there. Barnes doesn’t seem to have that ability to create when the blocks aren’t there consistently.
- Catch adjustments
Barnes did a nice job as a receiver at Kansas State, but there was something I noticed he needed to improve when it comes to being a receiver. When the ball doesn’t come straight to him, he’s a little inconsistent.
There were times when Barnes made some great catches, but there were also several times he didn’t because the ball was thrown away from his frame. This isn’t a huge deal, but of course, teams like receivers who have the ability to adjust to balls. Throws aren’t always going to be perfect, so Barnes can work on his adjustments a little more.
Pro Comparison: Alfred Morris
Looking back at the NFL Combine performance by Alfred Morris, it’s clear Barnes is much stronger (16 bench reps for Morris). Barnes did twice as many bench reps. However, their speed was similar. Morris ran a 4.67, while Barnes ran a 4.59. These two RBs are also both guys who are thicker backs who have a natural ability to break tackles.
Morris was very underrated in his draft class, as he was a sixth round selection. I believe Barnes will be drafted higher than the sixth round because of his NFL Combine performance, where he earned the title of NFL Draft’s strongest RB. Despite his stock being up, I still think Barnes is still underrated.
Although Morris was underrated in his draft class, he came into the league and made an immediate impact. In later years, Morris has been a nice backup RB. This is similar to where I see Barnes. He has the potential to be a good starting RB in the league, but I think he’ll be a quality backup for the majority of his career.
Best Team Fits: Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers
These three teams all have QBs who can run. They’re also all teams Alex Barnes has interviewed with. This doesn’t mean he’ll end up with one of these teams, but if he does, I think his ability to block in passing and running situations will come in handy.
His abilities as a blocker could allow teams to call designed QB runs and help Barnes get on the field early in his career.