Bishop Sankey the first running back selected in the 2014 NFL draft

Bishop Sankey, Washington (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images) For the second straight season, no NFL team took a running back in the first round, and the trend

Doug Farrar | May 9, 2014

Bishop Sankey the first running back selected in the 2014 NFL draft /

Bishop Sankey, Washington (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

For the second straight season, no NFL team took a running back in the first round, and the trend seems to be one that won't go away anytime soon. This year, the class of running backs had to wait until the 54th pick to see one of their own come off the board.

Washington's Bishop Sankey is the man, and he's deserving of the honor. (Two running backs came off the board in the three picks after Sankey went to the Titans.) Sankey totaled 3,309 yards and 36 rushing touchdowns on 616 carries in 2012 and ’13, adding 61 receptions for 553 yards and a touchdown for good measure. Often underrated in an offense that was uneven at best, Sankey broke out in his junior campaign with 1,870 yards, which ranked fourth in the nation, and 20 touchdowns, which also ranked fourth. The 5-10, 209-pound Sankey impressed and excelled despite an offensive line that did him no favors and general inconsistency from quarterback Keith Price.

Grade: B+

Sankey has limitations as a bellwether back, because he doesn’t have the physical dominance that such backs must have to succeed over time in the NFL -- at the professional level, the running game is a war of attrition more than anything else. But he’s not a boom-or-bust player in the

Chris Johnson

mold, either -- Sankey can do more than one thing on the field, and in the right circumstances (an offense that switches its backs often and situationally), he’ll be a major contributor. Specifically, I believe that he could have a bigger impact as a receiver in the NFL, though his impact as a rusher might not be the same as it was on the collegiate level. But he's an aware player who keeps his eyes open and is always looking for opportunities to help his team.

Published May 9, 2014

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.