The Green Bay Packers signed Josh Jacobs and brought AJ Dillon back. With that, they could be satisfied with their running back room. But that does not mean the team can't use the draft to look for another piece at the position.
After all, Dillon is back only because his market cratered — and it's a one-year deal. The idea behind replacing Aaron Jones with Josh Jacobs is to add durability and extra years of production. But NFL teams in general, and the Packers in particular, have tried to create backfield committees to avoid the wear and tear for runners.
And if the Packers do want to take a running back, Florida State's Trey Benson is the perfect fit in 2024.
Curiously enough, The 33rd Team compares Benson to Josh Jacobs, classifying him as a "bruiser with breakaway speed." He is the only running back in this class with a sub 4.4-40 yard dash and 20+ bench press reps.
A bruiser with breakaway speed
— The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) March 22, 2024
Trey Benson reminds us of the 2022 rushing leader, Josh Jacobs ⭐️ https://t.co/GSrA9JRBIt pic.twitter.com/ZgZafRaJV8
If the Packers share the thought of how similar Jacobs and Benson are, they would certainly love the prospect. When talking about his offseason moves, Brian Gutekunst praised Jacobs' style of play.
"He runs with a lot of violence, explosiveness. He's a bigger back, a durable back for the most part," Gutekunst said of Jacobs. "He's really a guy who can flourish in all phases as a runner, as a blocker, and certainly as a pass catcher. Really excited, not only to have the player but the person added to our football team."
According to A to Z Sports' College Football Managing Editor Travis May, Trey Benson is the best running back of the class. It's not a special year at the position, but Benson is the 44th prospect on May's top 50 board.
"There will be hot debate surrounding the RB1 conversation this year, but Trey Benson should be that guy," May wrote. "Benson has home run hitting ability with great speed and vision, even if he does have a bit of an odd upright running style."
On the consensus big board built by the NFL Mock Draft Database website, Benson is the 60th player, which means the Packers could realistically take him with their second second-round pick — with some luck from the team, he could fall to the third round.
If the Packers like strong athletic profiles, that's another area where Trey Benson is a good fit. He has elite speed for the position, with good size and explosiveness. His incomplete Relative Athletic Score is an elite 9.78 number — he didn't take the agility tests.
Trey Benson is a RB prospect in the 2024 draft class. He scored an unofficial 9.78 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 40 out of 1745 RB from 1987 to 2024.
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) March 2, 2024
Splits projectedhttps://t.co/syPUckHSTq pic.twitter.com/BNMDKJFH3w
Among the top prospects of this class, Benson is first in missed tackles forced per carry, fourth in yards per route run, and fifth in yards after contact per attempt. He is also first in breakaway percentage — percentage of all designed yards coming from 15+-yard carries. He's not only first in this class, but also second among every running back prospect since 2016, just behind Keaton Mitchell and close to Khalil Herbert.
Brian Gutekunst hasn't shied away from investing in the running back position — he gave big contracts to Aaron Jones and Josh Jacobs, and drafted AJ Dillon in the second round. If he intends to do that again next month, Trey Benson is probably his ideal target.
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