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2022 NFL Draft Prospect Profile: RB Dameon Pierce, Florida

The Giants are believed to have drafting a running back right smack in the middle of their to-do list for the draft. What, then, could Florida's Dameon Pierce offer?

Nick Falato

2022 NFL Draft Prospect Profile: RB Dameon Pierce, Florida
2022 NFL Draft Prospect Profile: RB Dameon Pierce, Florida /
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Dameon Pierce, RB

Height: 5’10
Weight: 218 lbs.
Class: Senior
School: Florida
Arm length: 30 ¾”
Hand size: 9 ⅜”

A former four-star recruit out of Bainbridge High School in Bainbridge, Georgia, Pierce was the eighth-ranked running back and the 25th ranked Georgian recruit during the 2018 cycle. 

Pierce was underutilized relative to his skill-set in Dan Mullins’ offense during the 2021 season; he only played 324 snaps (in 13 games) with 119 total touches.

Notables

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Pierce had 13 rushing touchdowns on 100 total carries, with three receiving touchdowns on 19 catches for 216-yards. He was wildly efficient with the football; the touchdowns weren’t just goalline carries, either. Pierce showed some intermediate receiving chops on seam balls while also running hitches on the boundary. He averaged 6.6-yards per touch and 5.7-yards per carry.

Pierce showed his skills at the Reese’s Senior Bowl, where he looked solid in pass protecting skills. He played in the bowl game against UCF. He was asked why he didn’t sit the bowl game out like many other seniors who were attending the Senior Bowl; his response: “Why? Because I’m a Gator, Bro.” Pierce went on to the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine. Here are his testing numbers.

  • 40-yard-dash: 4.59
  • Bench press: 21 reps
  • Vertical jump: 34.5”
  • Broad jump: 119”

Strengths

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
  • Good compact size, runs well behind his pads
  • Not overly fast, but provides solid juice/shiftiness when hitting interior holes
  • Solid foot-quickness and ability to change direction in space
  • A balanced runner with bowling ball rush attempts
  • Ran low, showed solid bend in his lower half to dip/hide when behind LOS
  • Does a good job finding cutback lanes against defenders who are undisciplined in their run-fit
  • Showed good overall vision and patience; squeaks through lateral blocks and does well to press the LOS and force second-level defenders to over-pursue
    • Vs Kentucky: Q1, 9:10, 2nd&1 (13-yard gain)
    • Vs Georgia: Q1, 1:21, 2nd&10 (19-yard gain) - showed exceptional anticipation to cut into the backside A-Gap
  • Is a solid between the tackles runner
  • Does a solid job extemporizing when blocks aren’t there; bounces outside well with solid overall foot-speed
  • Flashed quick shimmy heading outside against lateral flow
    • Vs USF: Q1, 12:13, 1st&10 - Quick feet to shift and deceive, good body control and balance to recenter with solid burst to gain edge
  • Very physical runner who runs through poor tackling attempts
  • Solid receiving upside; caught multiple seam passes over the MOF
    • Vs Samford: Q3, 10:34, 2nd&10 (26-yards)
    • Vs Vanderbilt: Q3, 12:17, 2nd&16 (61-yards)
    • Vs LSU: Q3, 12:53, 1st&10 (27-yards) - was more of a tight wheel route
  • Ran routes from the boundary (Gos, hitches, quick slants)
  • Was a flat option from the backfield
  • Overall, a good receiving option with less than ideal speed
  • Functional pass protector who is aggressive and physical
  • Has a low usage rate which means more tread on tires (could be viewed as negative - why wasn’t he used more. I think that’s more of a product of Mullen’s offense)

Can Improve

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
  • Lacks breakaway speed
  • Won’t win the edge consistently when bouncing runs outside
  • Modest elusiveness in space
  • A limited workload in college - only had two games over ten carries in 2021
  • Struggled to block in two-back sets, was discarded easily
  • Phyiscal pass protector, but one who is a bit too aggressive with his hands and leans

Summary

Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Overall, Dameon Pierce is a physical running back with good vision and feel to manipulate defenders - he plays the cat & mouse game well to create explosive plays. Unfortunately, he lacks desired breakaway speed.

Nevertheless, he was very underutilized at Florida, and he displayed the necessary traits to have success as a running back inside/and outside (albeit his speed could hinder the upside here), and he was a solid receiving threat when tasked to run seam routes to success. Pierce may not be too fleet of foot, but he makes a very good running back option somewhere early on Day 3.

GRADE: 6.27 

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Nick Falato
NICK FALATO

Nick Falato is co-host of the Big Blue Banter podcast. In addition to Giants Country, his work has appeared on SB Nation.

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