Chris Rodriguez Jr. Scouting Report

Background

NAME: Chris Rodriguez Jr.

POSITION: RB

SCHOOL: Kentucky

HEIGHT: 5’11 5/8″

WEIGHT: 217

CLASS: 5SR

HOMETOWN: McDonough, GA

HIGH SCHOOL: Ola

DOB: 9/26/2000

GAMES WATCHED: Mississippi, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt

Career Stats

2018 (3 games): 2 attempts for 43 yards (21.5 per carry).
2019 (13 games): 71 attempts for 533 yards (7.5 per carry) and 6 TDs; 1 reception for 2 yards.
2020 (9 games): 119 attempts for 785 yards (6.6 per carry) and 11 TDs; 1 reception for 12 yards.
2021 (13 games): 225 attempts for 1,378 yards (6.1 per carry) and 10 TDs; 13 receptions for 61 yards and 3 TDs.
2022 (8 games): 175 attempts for 904 yards (5.2 per carry) and 6 TDs; 5 receptions for 41 yards.

Biography

Played on both sides of the ball as a running back and strong safety in high school. He redshirted his freshman year, seeing the field in 3 games, and had 2 carries for 43 yards in his debut. As a redshirt freshman he played in 13 games, and his 41.0 yards per game average ranked ninth among SEC freshmen. As a sophomore, he was named to the PFF All-SEC first team. Junior year Rodriguez broke out, earning First-Team All-SEC (AP, USA Today Network). In a down year this year, he was elected one of seven team captains by his teammates and coaches. Senior Bowl attendee.

Trait Grades

Creativity: 50 (Average)
Vision: 45 (Fringe Average)
Contact Balance: 45 (Fringe Average)
Pass Catching: 40 (Below Average)
Long Speed: 50 (Average)
Power: 60 (Above Average)
Explosiveness: 55 (Above Average)
Blocking: 55 (Above Average)
Durability: 60 (Above Average)
Ball Security: 55 (Above Average)

Analysis

Chris Rodriguez Jr. is a great college back no doubt about it. However, his lack of vision is going to hold him back in the league. A lot of backs that are successful in the next level, without vision are super creative, but Rodriguez is not. He can hit a hole, but he isn’t going to make his own path to the second level. If you are hitting Rodriguez head-on, you are in trouble, but if you tackle him from any other angle you can probably get him down. He poses little to no threat in the passing game. I just don’t see him as a 2 dimensional back, he has one mode, running through people. He is explosive by power and not by speed. Rodriguez is a super powerful back but doesn’t have more than a burst of speed. He can’t hold his top speed for very long. He is easily caught in the secondary. He is durable, but he does have a lot of college carries on him so I do worry a little bit about him holding up in the long term. There are some red flags with Rodriguez related to him missing four games earlier this year.