Big Board ranking: #65

Positional ranking: #5

 

Overview

Position: RB

College: Oregon

Class: Junior

Age: 21

 

Measurables

Height: 5’9”

Weight: 192 lbs.

Arm length: 29 1/2″

Hand size: 9 1/2″

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: 4.55 sec.

10-yard split: 1.54 sec.

Vertical jump: 29.5”

Broad jump: 115.0”

Bench press: N/A

3-cone drill: N/A

Short shuttle: N/A

 

Strengths

Tremendous contact balance. Phenomenal balance in general. Often gets a hand down to stay up and rebalance himself. Very elusive and instinctive. Outstanding acceleration. Excellent stop-and-start quickness. Great juke move and side-step move. Quick feet to make defenders miss in the hole. Can make guys miss in a phonebook and quickly plant and burst. Makes cuts and ball-carrier moves at full speed. Extremely tough inside runner. Will break tackles in succession while staying on the tracks. Extremely tough and physical runner at his size. Top-tier pound-for-pound strength. Sheds a ton of arm tackles. Finds his way out of the pile using strength and keeping his feet moving. Often has defenders bounce off like he’s a power back. Will go forward on contact. Quick and effective stiff arm. Excellent weapon in the passing game. Very smooth catching the ball in the flat. Crisp on angle routes. Has shown an out-and-up type move from the backfield. Great deceptiveness making a move with space after the catch. Experience lining up outside and in the slot. Solid and willing pass protector. Stands in to take on blitzers. Will make blocks down the field.

 

Weaknesses

Undersized in terms of height and overall size. Vision and patience through the line of scrimmage game be spotty. Will want to go when he sees a small opening but sometimes misses out on a clearer path. Could be better reading blocker son outside runs when close to the sideline. Drops some passes with defenders close. Has some failures in pass protection simply due to being unable to catch a big piece of opponents at his size.

 

NFL comparison

James White

 

Conclusion

Overall, Irving is a quick, tough inside runner with tremendous balance that will also make opponents pay as a pass-catcher. He should at least be a top-tier complementary option with the ability to be the lead back in a spread attack.