Dark Horses - Saddle Up!

[Saccopoo]

Inspired by the "Forgotten Man" draft thread, list your top three Dark Horse prospects for the 2014 NFL Draft.

Mine:

1. Andrew Jackson, MLB; Western Kentucky: 6'1", 254 lbs.
- While the run stuffing thumper seems to be out of vogue this year as teams go more and more to spread/option offensive systems and de-emphizing the work horse RB, I think that there are still places in the NFL left for guys who fill up the holes and bring the lumber.

Jackson is one of those guys. Hits like a metric shit ton of bricks, does the dirty work of getting into the backfield on the ball carrier and plugs the gaps.

Averaged over 100 tackles per season and 14 tackles for loss. His production dropped a bit his senior year and that will drop him a round or two, but he's been a man amongst boys in the Sun Belt conference for his entire career.

Jackson playing against an offensive line comprised of high round NFL talent:


2. Cody Hoffman, WR; BYU: 6'4", 223 lb.
- Hoffman holds the BYU Career Triple Crown of Receiving Records: Touchdowns, Yards and Receptions. You throw the ball in his direction and he's coming down with it. He's also very long (33 1/4" arms and 9 3/4" hands) and extremely well built. Runs terrific routes as well and is elusive with the ball in his hands. He's got the natural inclination to immediately head downfield as soon as the ball is in his hands. He had a really good week of Senior Bowl practices as well. So, how is this guy a dark horse? Well, he ran a 4.65 40 and had a miserable 27.5" vertical, that's how. It's going to drop him on draft day to no higher than the fifth round and most likely sixth or even seventh round.

However, in the right system (such as a West Coast type of system *cough*), he's got all the tools to be a pretty solid possession type receiver.



3. Storm Johnson, RB; UCF: 6'0", 209 lb.
- A former U Miami highly regarded prep recruit, Johnson is a very talented running back with a lot of natural skills. People who paid attention to Blake Bortles this past season probably walked away thinking that he was the second best player on the offensive side of the ball for the Golden Knights. Johnson has a unique ability to quickly change pace mid-stride and can really hit holes quickly between the tackles. Has nice hands as well. He's going to be one of those guys who people will look back and say "How in the hell did this guy last to the sixth/seventh round?!" While watching him run, the name "Arian Foster" just keeps popping into my head.

(I apologize for the god awful music some schlep put with the highlights.)