For two years, DeAndre Washington lead the Texas Tech Red Raiders in rushing. It wasn’t a paltry amount of offense either, in 2014 he rushed for over 1,000 yards and in 2015 he gained nearly 1,500 yards on the ground, statistics counter to the Red Raiders’ reputation as a pass-only team.
Washington was drafted in the 5th round, an almost afterthought, especially in a league that actively attempts to grind up running backs into a fine powder before they reach their 30s. The Raiders were already set at running back, with Latavius Murray coming off a solid 2015 season and Taiwan Jones providing a fresh body in backup. The expectation was that Washington would come in and learn underneath Murray, and one day develop into a feature back.
Right off the bat, we saw that the Raiders had different plans for Washington. The Missouri City native has played in every single Raiders game this year, and has started two of them in a two-back system. He’s still the “change of pace” guy, but that stigma is fading away every single time he carries the football. He’s ran it 62 total times for 302 yards, giving him a clean 4.9 yards per carry in his rookie year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C4w1_aI8EI
Washington is going to be successful in the NFL. Anyone who actually watched his game at Texas Tech and didn’t just sneer at another offensive weapon putting up big numbers in an Air Raid knew that. For Washington, it’s about how far he can climb. He’s elusive, possibly possessing elite acceleration and evasion, even in the NFL. He’s still a little smaller than big time running backs, and some of his breakaway speed can be lacking at times. He’ll get a shot at being a feature back at some point during his career, but not for a couple years at least.
Despite all this, Washington’s trajectory is up. He’s a young, elusive running back in an NFL that desperately needs good running backs. If he stays the course, Missouri City will have plenty more to be proud of.
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