Oklahoma football: Why Rodney Anderson was the biggest steal of the 2019 NFL Draft

Oklahoma football running back Rodney Anderson somehow slipped all the way to the sixth round in the 2019 NFL Draft, not leaving the board until pick No. 211 to the Cincinnati Bengals.

It’s a spot that would have been almost unheard of just 15 months prior when Anderson cut through the vaunted Georgia defense for 201 yards rushing in the Sooners’ double overtime loss to the Bulldogs in the Rose Bowl or even further back into the 2017 season when Anderson put on one of the best all-around running back performances in Sooner history with four first-half touchdowns against TCU in a regular season win over the Horned Frogs.

In 2017 Anderson amassed 1,442 yards and 18 touchdowns from scrimmage. He averaged more yards per carry and reception than No. 2 overall pick and Pro Bowler Saquon Barkley did during the same season. His vision, speed, power and (perhaps most importantly in today’s NFL) ability to catch the ball and run run routes like a receiver made him a coveted

He came into 2018 as Heisman hopes and as the top running back on some draft boards.

Yes, Anderson tore an ACL just two games into the 2018 season that clearly cooled his draft stock, but it was the combination of that season-ending injury and his “past problems” with getting hurt that seemed to give pause to NFL scouts and GMs.

However, it’s not really a fair assessment. Though Anderson did only play one full season in college, a look over his injury history doesn’t exactly scream out “frail”.

The injuries

Yes, Anderson suffered three seperate season-ending events in his time with the Sooners, but none were related. Here’s a look back at Anderson’s injuries.

A 2015 fractured fibula occurred while covering a kickoff as a freshman for the Sooners. It’s an injury many in the NFL have suffered including Odell Beckham, Marcus Mariota and Derek Carr. He returned at 100 percent and has virtually no risk for re-injury in the future.

In 2016 Anderson suffered a fractured C5 vertebrae in his neck. A broken neck is nothing to scoff at, but it was another freak occurance that could have happened to any football player on any given play. Anderson made another full recovery and went on to have one of the best seasons of any running back in college football the following year.

In 2018 against UCLA Anderson tore his ACL, ending his final college football season just two games in. He is expected to be at 100 percent for all NFL team workouts after a successful surgery and rigorous rehab program.  Yes, ACL injuries carry with them a risk for another incident, but with the advances in sports science it’s a bump in the road to most professional athletes and far from the end of the journey.

The upside

If there’s one positive thing you can take away from Anderson’s injury history it’s this -there’s very little conventional wear and tear on his body from his college career. Anderson had just 200 collegiate carries and touched the ball just 217 times during his three years at Oklahoma. Running backs have a short shelf life in today’s NFL and getting a guy with so few carries in college is a bonus for any NFL team.

Add in the fact that he’ll share the load in Cincinnati with former Oklahoma football teammate Joe Mixon as well as Giovani Bernard and you have an ideal situation for a lengthy and productive NFL career. Anderson will likely ease his way into the Bengals’ system and even when he does become acclimated to it, he’ll still be able to lean heavily on Mixon who is quickly becoming one of the league’s best all-purpose backs.

In the black-and-blue AFC North it’s helpful to have as many running backs as possible ready to go, but the Bengals got far more than just another body to eat up carries. They may very well have a potential superstar on their roster.