Standing around 5 feet, 11 inches, Jaylen Wright turned heads with his elite speed and burst (95th percentile) for his size. At 210 pounds, his 4.38 40-yard dash put him in the 98th percentile in the 2024 NFL Draft class.
Oh, and according to Austin Abbott, the first five yards of his 40-yard dash (15.16 mph) were faster than De’Von Achane’s (14.94 mph).
In other words, give him a hole and he’s off to the races, making him a constant house-call threat.
Wright steadily improved in Tennessee’s spread-tempo offense. His YPC grew from 4.81 to 5.99 to 7.39 from his freshman to junior season.
In his freshman and sophomore seasons, Wright caught a combined eight receptions. In his junior year, he caught 22 passes.
While not asked to catch the ball much, Wright has shown a natural ability to catch passes and run more routes than he was asked to in college.
Wright isn’t bulletproof. Despite being slick and stocky, he doesn’t break many tackles and struggles to create on his own. He is more of a straight-line runner, and hip fluidity and lateral agility are not his strong suits.
While his ability to trust his blocking and eyes is still a work in progress, his physical tools make him an NFL-caliber running back.
He also comes from Tennessee’s gimmick-based tempo offense that has, historically, not translated well to the NFL. To thrive in the NFL, Wright will need adequate opportunity and a system that allows him to glide through running lanes.
With only 398 touches through college, Wright doesn’t have a ton of tread on his tires. A Melvin Gordon-esque type of running back, if Wright can avoid a dreaded RBBC, he has a clear path to early fantasy relevance.
Wright is up to RB5 on our 2024 Dynasty Rookie Rankings.
