I received a lot of flack during the '11 college football season by indicating that Doug Martin would eventually be a first-round pick in April of 2012 and perform up to the level of Trent Richardson as a rookie. My long time readers and listeners already know this because I don't let an opportunity go by without mentioning it. Yes, the mirror does look pretty darn good. 

Okay, now that I am done with that disturbingly absurd attempt at lifting up my ego, let's take a look at a running back that I am nearly as high on, Stepfan Taylor from Stanford. 

Strengths

Power: Taylor is a powerful, thick running back. He churns those legs at the line and can go beast mode past defenders, even in his first gear before he gets going. Defenders will not be able to arm tackle this running back. He is strong at the point of contact and used a low center of gravity to create an advantage at first contact.

Pass Catching: Taylor is one of the best pass-catching running backs in the draft. Not only does he possess one of the best sets of hands, he knows how to lay down against coverage and create a throwing lane for the quarterback on the outside. This makes him extremely effective, even outside of the screen-passing game. 

Surprising Second-Gear Speed: A lot of experts don't give this Stanford product enough credit for the fact that he is able to get to his second gear relatively quickly past the line of scrimmage. While Taylor doesn't possess break-away speed, he will be able to get past the initial the front in short order. 

Patience: Taylor is great at following blockers at the line and on the outside. He draws out screens and sweeps with the best of them. These two things are hard to teach, you either have them or you don't. Coming out of Stanford, Taylor has these skills. 

Weaknesses

Edge Speed: Taylor will not beat defenders to the outside on a consistent basis. He is not an outside-the-hashes running back and never will be. This is not where his strength is at. Once to that second tier of the defense, Taylor can be brought down from behind. 

Strength: Taylor isn't going to knock run through larger defenders at the line. While he is able to utilize a strong stiff arm, he doesn't possess the brute strength that we see from some of the top running backs in the NFL. Adrian Peterson comes to mind first. Will struggle in short-yardage situations. 

Bottom Line

While Taylor may not be elite at one specific thing, he is damn good at nearly every aspect of the game. The reason that he hasn't got a lot of press by mainstream media is because he doesn't stand out as an electric performer on tape. We saw the same thing with Doug Martin in the months leading up to the 2012 NFL Draft. 

The Stanford product will be a productive starting running back at the next level. In the process, he will provide value to the team that is lucky enough to pick him up in the second or third round. One of my favorite under-the-radar offensive players in the entire draft.