'21 NJ RB Audric Estime (Notre Dame Signee)

[Edge]

Marist 3rd rd and Estime 12th RB taken
Who saw that?
NFL works in mysterious ways

 

[ThePiombino]

Does he still declare if he knows how late he gets drafted?

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[Henges24]

Does he still declare if he knows how late he gets drafted?

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Yes. RBs need to go nowadays when they know they can.

Especially if he runs the same 40 that he did at the combine.

 

[Te'o4Heisman]

The NFL gets shit wrong frequently at draft time and I think they will be proven to be wrong about Audric. The "slow to hit holes" and "not much wiggle" criticism he often receives is off base, IMO. What some see as "slow to hit holes," I see as patience. The proper amount of patience. Not the over-patience that Logan Diggs often had. If the hole was immediately there AE exploded through it. If it wasn't, he slowed down and waited behind his OL. He has great vision and was the best RB in ND's RB room at knowing when to explode and when to wait for something to develop.

His vision and nimble feet are also why the "wiggle" criticism is wrong. He isn't capable of a sudden change of direction like smaller backs but he sees things in traffic most RBs don't. His ability to make subtle shifts with his legs in traffic is elite.

I think the NFL sees AE as a straight-line power back. He's much more than that and I think he'll prove that in years to come.

He has great feet and patience yes, but 100% danced too much at times. Sometimes he needed to run like a 230 lb back when there wasnt a clean hole and he didnt. I love Estime and think he is a good back, dont get me wrong, but measurables and draft stuff aside that would be my one criticism of him.

 

[BobbyMac]

He has great feet and patience yes, but 100% danced too much at times. Sometimes he needed to run like a 230 lb back when there wasnt a clean hole and he didnt. I love Estime and think he is a good back, dont get me wrong, but measurables and draft stuff aside that would be my one criticism of him.

Right or wrong, he trusted the line at times to a fault as you are alluding to. It is also a fact that his patience approach led to a huge net positive in yardage over the course of the season. If this is how he's being coached, we can't really hang it around his neck.

 

[Irish4life]

The reason Estime was only a day 3 pick is that he ran a 4.7 40 at the combine. If he ran a 4.5 he's a day 2 guy.

 

[bumpdaddy]

He has great feet and patience yes, but 100% danced too much at times. Sometimes he needed to run like a 230 lb back when there wasnt a clean hole and he didnt. I love Estime and think he is a good back, dont get me wrong, but measurables and draft stuff aside that would be my one criticism of him.

Yeah, we definitely saw things differently.

Yes, sometimes he needed to run like a 230 lb back when there wasn't a clean hole, and he did that at times when he felt it was the best option. Other times he patiently trusted his OL. Sometimes that trust didn't pay off. It won't always pay off but a good RB has to pick and choose when it's best to do that even if the OL won't always hold up their end and AE was the best in the RB room at knowing when to explode vs. being patient. His YPC was best among the RBs by a good margin and that wasn't solely based on his ability to truck over people. I think a lot of it had to do with his vision and patience.

 

[NorthDakota]

I think he'll be just fine. He's a big cat who can move fine. He's not gonna be Adrian Peterson and that is OK

 

[BobbyMac]

 

[Irish#1]

Denver is going to be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Hautian Domer]

I don’t understand the “NFL got it wrong” takes. In case you haven’t noticed, it isn’t 1992 anymore. In the past 15 years, the game has drastically shifted to a pro-passing offense. Running backs are pretty expendable and frankly, Estime’s skill set doesn’t transition to the NFL well. He isn’t fast, he, at times, dances at the line of scrimmage, isn’t a receiving threat, fumbles from time-to-time, and won’t be able to bully or power through NFL defenders.

Jeremeiyah Love on the other hand … much better pro prospect.

 

[IrishLion]

I don’t understand the “NFL got it wrong” takes. In case you haven’t noticed, it isn’t 1992 anymore. In the past 15 years, the game has drastically shifted to a pro-passing offense. Running backs are pretty expendable and frankly, Estime’s skill set doesn’t transition to the NFL well. He isn’t fast, he, at times, dances at the line of scrimmage, isn’t a receiving threat, fumbles from time-to-time, and won’t be able to bully or power through NFL defenders.

Jeremeiyah Love on the other hand … much better pro prospect.

???

He displayed great hands out of the backfield imo

 

[#1rish]

The draft will always and forever be a crapshoot, and NFL teams as such still haven't figured it out. I mean, look at Kyren Williams. Everyone here knew he'd be a great pro, but was still drafted in the 5th. And look at his last season.

 

[PutuporShutup]

The draft will always and forever be a crapshoot, and NFL teams as such still haven't figured it out. I mean, look at Kyren Williams. Everyone here knew he'd be a great pro, but was still drafted in the 5th. And look at his last season.

Then the Rams select Corum in the 3rd round. Possibly a 1-2 punch to keep fresh for a full season.

RBs just aren't highly coveted in the NFL unless you are absolute game changer.

 

[PutuporShutup]

I like Estime but I thought his vision wasn't that great. Opposite of Kyren who has great vision.

Williams isn't great so Estime has a shot to win the job at least early down work.

 

[bumpdaddy]

I don’t understand the “NFL got it wrong” takes.

Because the 'NFL' gets it wrong frequently. What I don't understand is why anyone thinks that 'The NFL' is some monolithic entity whose infallible collective wisdom is self-evident.

There are some great NFL front offices and there are some truly awful front offices that get things wrong every year despite people being paid millions of dollars to not look like idiots. See the Atlanta Falcons and Michael Pennix this year.

Kyren's draft stock dropped because of his 40-time. He's a Pro Bowler now. The 'NFL' was wrong about him that year.

K Hamilton's draft stock (slightly) dropped because of his 40-time. He's now an All-pro. The 'NFL' was wrong about him that year.

Julian Love's draft stock dropped for some unknown reason (40-time wasn't fast but it wasn't slow either). He was a consensus All-American CB with position flexibility who was projected as a CB or S in the NFL, and yet he was the 19th DB taken. He's the only one of the 19 to make a Pro Bowl. Several of the DBs taken ahead of him are no longer in the league. All but 3 or so have had mixed careers at best. The 'NFL' was wrong about him that year.

Those are just some of the ND guys the 'NFL' got wrong. There are many, many more who came from other schools.

The NFL gets things right but they get things wrong too and I think they'll be wrong about AE being the 12th best RB in 2024's draft.

 

[stpeteirish]

???

He displayed great hands out of the backfield imo

I can't remember him ever dropping a pass. Only problem with him as a pass catcher is he is not particularly elusive after the catch. Just drag them a few yards until help arrives.

 

[ulukinatme]

It's funny how much stock they put in the 40 time still, it's never been a great indicator of how well a player executes in football. I get that you can't teach speed, but some players can't even learn technique or how to diagnose a defense.

 

[stlnd01]

It's funny how much stock they put in the 40 time still, it's never been a great indicator of how well a player executes in football. I get that you can't teach speed, but some players can't even learn technique or how to diagnose a defense.

It's crazy to me how much (some) NFL evaluators seem to prioritize physical measurables over, like, years of demonstrated experience helping to win high-level college football games.

 

[ulukinatme]

I mean, Bettis never turned in a faster 40 time than 4.7 and he's a Hall of Famer that didn't play that long ago. Audric is faster, not quite as beefy but has a tendency to fall forward and fight for yards the same way.

 

[Irish#1]

It's funny how much stock they put in the 40 time still, it's never been a great indicator of how well a player executes in football. I get that you can't teach speed, but some players can't even learn technique or how to diagnose a defense.

IMO 40 times and game speed are two different things. Everyone remembers when Kyree out ran that star studded Clemson defense for about 90 yards. I'll bet there were a couple of 40 guys on that defense.

 

[stlnd01]

IMO 40 times and game speed are two different things. Everyone remembers when Kyree out ran that star studded Clemson defense for about 90 yards. I'll bet there were a couple of 40 guys on that defense.

And, just, like, Kyren Williams was a fucking dawg. You saw that when you watched him play. I don't care what he ran. I want that guy on my team.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Lindy's had Estime 15th among RB. Athlon had him 9th.

When he was the 12th off the board, I figured that was right, but do I think he was overlooked because of the 40? Very much so. This isn't a track meet. You bulldoze your way to grinding down clock with a guy like this. I thought someone like the Ravens, Titans or Steelers might snag him.

 

[Green Mountains]

I like Estime and he might have a good career. As a Giants fan, I've lived thru Saquin Barkley dancing behind the line. He was always looking to get the home run, but sometimes the 3.5 yd run is a victory...take what's there sometimes. That was the criticism at Penn State....Barkley didn't take the hard 3/4, but looked for the homerun and lost 2.

The back that Estime reminds me of most.....Ron Dayne (again as a Giants fan). He danced and didn't use his 240 plus pounds to get the hard yards. Heisman Trophy, 1st round pick. Out of the league in 7 years with a 3.8 yard per carry average (less than 4,000 total yards).

 

[ulukinatme]

Lindy's had Estime 15th among RB. Athlon had him 9th.

When he was the 12th off the board, I figured that was right, but do I think he was overlooked because of the 40? Very much so. This isn't a track meet. You bulldoze your way to grinding down clock with a guy like this. I thought someone like the Ravens, Titans or Steelers might snag him.

I felt like he had a unique skill set/size. Maybe that hurt him because he wasn't a cookie cutter back. If I'm a team, I take him because he can wear defenses down and fights for those extra yards. He adds a different element to your offense.

 

[T-Boone]

I remember seeing somewhere here what he will earn. It’s not that much better than wit NIL would be from memory.

 

[greyhammer90]

Bunch of guys on here thinking that Estime is automatically going to run the exact same way in the NFL as he did in college

 

[Edge]

Rookie contract values/ signing bonuses

R1: Alt $33.16M/$20.94M
R2: Fisher $6.55M/$1.58M
R3: Liufau $5.69M/$959K
R5: Hart $4.38M/$355K
R5: Bertrand $4.37M/$349K
R5: Estime $4.36M/$338K

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Bunch of guys on here thinking that Estime is automatically going to run the exact same way in the NFL as he did in college

Very fair point. I think he's going to be brought in to do a specific job. That job doesn't entail him getting 15-25 carries a game, however.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Rookie contract values/ signing bonuses

R1: Alt $33.16M/$20.94M
R2: Fisher $6.55M/$1.58M
R3: Liufau $5.69M/$959K
R5: Hart $4.38M/$355K
R5: Bertrand $4.37M/$349K
R5: Estime $4.36M/$338K

Joe doing well for a skinny TE recruit lol