New on SI: 2020 NFL Combine: Running Backs Heap Praise on Each Other

Jonathan Taylor, D'Andre Swift, J.K. Dobbins headline the list of a very special rookie running back class in 2020.

The NFL Combine doesn’t just give NFL scouts, coaches and general managers the opportunity to evaluate the incoming group of rookie players. It’s also a great place for the players to evaluate one another.

If you ask this year's running back prospects about their peers, you quickly learn that, as Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor put it, “running backs are fans of one another.”

Taylor heaped praise on his fellow rookie running backs, including Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins and Georgia’s D’Andre Swift. Taylor, Dobbins, and Swift are

ranked as the top three rushers in this year’s class, according to Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Hanson.

But the flattery didn’t end with just those three standout playmakers. Arizona State’s Eno Benjamin, LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Florida State’s Cam Akers and others all received compliments from the very players they are competing against to get drafted.

This group of running backs is so deep and talented, it deserves comparison to the rushers from the 2017 class. The standouts from that draft class include Christian McCaffrey, Leonard Fournette, Dalvin Cook, Joe Mixon, Alvin Kamara, Kareem Hunt, James Conner, Tarik Cohen, Marlon Mack, Aaron Jones and Chris Carson. They have dominated NFL backfields the last few seasons. In just three years, that batch of backs has already produced six Pro Bowlers, an NFL leading rusher, and one of three players in NFL history to have 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in a single season.

How much success NFL players achieve is often affected by how early they're drafted. The backs in this group realize just how much potential is in this class. As Swift told us, he feels “blessed” to be part of this year’s group of running backs, which could turn into the next generation of great NFL rushers and playmakers.