NFL Draft Profile: RB Bhayshul Tuten

Breaking down Virginia Tech RB Bhayshul Tuten

Earlier this week I broke down a few running backs that could be options for the Washington Commanders in the early parts of the draft. Omarion Hampton might not make it to their pick at 29, but he would be one of the top talents available if he did. TreVeyon Henderson looks like a perfect fit for the Commanders in a specific role, but his best value is likely somewhere between the Commanders first and second round picks. So what about a day three option? The Commanders don’t currently have a third round pick this year but do have a pick in the fourth round. That might be a good spot to land a running back in what is a deep class. So who might be available at that spot that also fits what the Commanders would want?

I think Virginia Tech running back Bhayshul Tuten would make a lot of sense for the Commanders on day three of the draft. Tuten is EXPLOSIVE and I don’t use all caps lightly. He’s short but fairly stocky for his size at 5-foot-9, 206 pounds, but he has game-breaking speed. He ran a 4.32 40-yard dash at the combine, which was the fastest of any running back in this class and the fifth fastest time of any position this year. His 1.49 10-yard split was joint fastest of anyone at the combine regardless of position. He was also one of the top performers for broad and vertical jump, which also measures explosiveness. So clearly, he’s an outstanding athlete, but does it translate to the football field? Yes, it does.

Here we see an example of Tuten’s explosiveness and home run hitting ability. Virginia Tech have the ball in their own half and run a wide zone run from the shotgun. Tuten takes the handoff and carries the ball to the edge before making his cut inside. He finds a crease in the defense and bursts through the hole at speed. He looks to get out to the sideline but finds the deep safety looking to get outside leverage against his receiver trying to block down the field. Tuten makes a sharp and quick cut back inside of the receiver, leaving the safety in the wrong position. From there, Tuten turns on the jets and sprints away from the defense, taking the ball 61-yards to the end zone for a touchdown.

Tuten has the speed and explosiveness to score from anywhere on the field any time he touches the ball. The situation doesn’t matter, it can be first and 10 or third and short, if the ball is in his hands and the defense makes a slight mistake, he can punish them.

On this play, Virginia Tech faces a third and one situation near midfield. They run a basic read-option play with the quarterback reading the back side defensive end and having the ability to pull the ball and keep it himself or hand the ball off to Tuten on an inside zone run. He ends up handing the ball off to Tuten inside and the picture doesn’t initially look great for him. The Miami defense does a solid job fitting the run on the front side of the play, but the linebacker (No.1) makes a mistake. He runs into the back of his own defensive tackle rather than just shooting the gap and making a play in the backfield.

That hesitation gives Tutan a chance to get through the line of scrimmage and pick up the yard he needed to convert, but that isn’t all. The linebacker manages to make contact with Tuten at the first down marker, but Tuten shows good contact balance to run through the arm tackle. After bouncing off the tackle attempt, Tuten gets into the open field. From there, he takes off sprinting and nobody is catching him, turning a third and one run near midfield into a 55-yard touchdown.

The contact balance he displayed on that run was impressive. Tuten is someone that is capable of running between the tackles and fighting through contact, but with his explosiveness I think anyone that drafts him would rather find ways to get him the ball on the edge, where he can make defenders miss and use his speed to run by defenders.