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Devin “Motor” Singletary is listed at 5’8” 203 lbs. He’s been a touchdown machine in college, tallying 33 in 2017 and 22 in 2018. He’s also forced an absurd amount of broken tackles. According to Pro Football Focus back in December, Singletary had 89. That was 26 more than the next guy.

Out of all the running backs in the 2019 I’ve studied so far, probably the most intriguing prospect to me is Florida Atlantic’s Devin Singletary.

Devin “Motor” Singletary is listed at 5’8” 203 lbs. He’s been a touchdown machine in college, tallying 33 in 2017 and 22 in 2018. He’s also forced an absurd amount of broken tackles. According to Pro Football Focus back in December, Singletary had 89. That was 26 more than the next guy.

Singletary’s best trait is his widescreen vision and ability to see the field from sideline to sideline. He can see any cutback lane that develops in any level of the field, whether it be behind the LOS, the 2nd level, or 3rd level of the defense. And he pairs this ability with great footwork, using a great run path when approaching the LOS. This enables him to create some of those running lanes and get to them with ease. He can run both zone and gap schemes but is more suited for zone.

Singletary does get caught trying to make something out of nothing a little bit too often though. There are times when he needs to be more decisive and take what’s there, especially when he’s running gap schemes, but that’s often a tendency that a lot of runners like him tend to have. His decision making does need to improve in this area.

The biggest weakness I see in Singletary’s game is that he doesn’t seem to be an elite or great level athlete. He has good athleticism, but it doesn’t pop off the screen the way it does with elite runners like Saquon Barkley, Todd Gurley, and LeSean McCoy when he was in his prime. His lateral and vertical/linear explosiveness, while good and not in any way horrible, doesn’t look to be overly impressive on tape for a player who’s running style is reliant on making defenders miss with elusiveness. He’s able to run the way he does because of his exceptional footwork, agility, and sharp cuts more so than he does with overwhelming burst out of his breaks that create separation. And he lacks great top-end speed to break away from defenders at the 2nd and 3rd levels, which means he’s not someone who can be a consistent threat to take it to the house on any given play.

But even though he might not have crazy explosiveness, he is still able to stop on a dime and string together multiple moves seamlessly. His agility in open space is top notch because he knows how to lower and open his hips. You pair that ability with his widescreen vision and that’s why he’s able to make so many highlight reel plays where he’s juking defenders left and right. He also possesses close to elite level contact balance and can keep his center of gravity when fighting through tackles. Those are huge reasons why he’s been so difficult to for defenders to get to the ground.

The one aspect of Singletary’s game that I’m still undecided on is his receiving ability. Although I’ve seen flashes and reps of him running routes and catching the ball well, I am curious as to why he was used less and less in each of his seasons at FAU. Was that merely a scheme thing, or was it because Singletary never really developed that part of his game as much as the team was hoping? If Singletary can show during the Combine drills that it was the former, then a player with his skillset can absolutely be a dangerous weapon for a creative offense, much like Brian Westbrook, Reggie Bush, Darren Sproles, and Alvin Kamara have been.

The NFL Combine this weekend will be more important for Singletary than any other running back prospect in this year’s draft class. If he puts up subpar numbers, the concerns about his athleticism will be warranted, making him a possible early Day 3 selection. But If he can test well in his 10-yard split, broad jump, agility drills, and receiving drills then the question marks about his athleticism will be quieted a good amount and should raise his draft stock. He has the potential to be a 2nd round target, maybe even the 2nd RB taken after Josh Jacobs.

I see him and Memphis RB Darrell Henderson as the best fits for the Philadelphia Eagles amongst the whole RB class this year (outside of Jacobs).

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