The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Jaylen Wright.
Wright is one of the best running back prospects in the 2024 NFL Draft class. His relatively complete skill set includes dynamic explosiveness to score from anywhere on the field, which makes him a weapon just as much as he is a back (think Jahmyr Gibbs, although the analogy is not exact).
Wright has good size in a well-proportioned frame. While he is not a power back, he was featured on inside runs in Tennessee’s offense (although many came versus light boxes), and he showed the functional power and drive to drag tacklers and finish runs.
What makes Wright a higher-level prospect, with starter potential as a primary back (different from a foundation back who is the offense's starting point), is his short-area burst through small creases at the POA.
When you combine that with his patience, tempo, vision and velocity, you have an explosive runner who can not only sustain offense but produce big plays. Wright also brings added value as a receiver. He can line up in the backfield and detached from the formation. Plus, he showed he could pass protect.
Overall, Wright is a higher-level running back prospect with game-changing impact traits. That kind of back will be in demand because he is a weapon in an offense from multiple locations in the formation.
Wright came out of North Carolina as a 3-star recruit. In addition to being a sprinter in track and field, he led Tennessee in rushing in 2022 and 2023, finishing with an outstanding 137 carries, 1,013 yards, a 7.4 average per carry and four touchdowns in 2023.
Wright ran exclusively out of the shotgun in 2023, with all 137 of his carries out of the gun. Tackle pull (or tackle trap as some call it) was a featured concept in the Tennessee run game. Wright ran against a lot of light boxes given Tennessee’s true Air Raid offense, which had its higher-percentage spread formations with receivers lined up outside the numbers.
Wright showed all of his running traits vs. Texas A&M when he recorded 19 carries for 136 yards. A 75-yard TD versus Georgia was a defining snapshot of his explosive breakaway speed.
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