2014 NFL Mock Draft: The Ultimate 8 Part 3 (21-28)

Oct 26, 2013; Boulder, CO, USA; Arizona Wildcats running back Ka

Overall Player Evaluation
As the nation’s leading rusher, many have overlooked the pure speed and ability of Arizona’s Ka’Deem Carey. Since Carey’s days as a running back at Canyon Del Oro High School, everyone has known that Carey is something special. For example, in his junior season, Carey was able to rush for a baffling 2,738 yards and 45 touchdowns on 224 carries (12.2 yards per carry average) during Cayon Del Oro’s undefeated, championship-winning season. In the end of his senior season, Carey ended up compiling a grand total of 4,492 rushing yards and 71 touchdowns. After being named to the Tacoma News-Tribune Western 100, Arizona Republic All-Arizona, Arizona Republic First-Team 4A All-State, Arizona Daily Star First-Team All-Southern Arizona, Arizona Football Coaches’ Association First-Team All-State Top 25, and first-team 4A-I all-state and 4A-I all-conference, Carey decided to stay in-state and play for his hometown Arizona Wildcats at the University of Arizona.

As a true freshman, Carey was given a limited, but important role in the offense, rushing for 425 yards and six touchdowns, catching 15 passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns and returning 26 kicks back for an average of 21.1 yards per return. In his sophomore season is where Carey really exploded, rushing for an unbelievable 1,929 yards and 23 touchdowns on 303 carries (6.37 yards per carry) while catching 36 passes for 303 yards and one touchdown. According to the University of Arizona, Carey was “named to eight All-America teams, including Walter Camp, The Sporting News and the Associated Press, to earn consensus All-America honors from the NCAA  and was named to the All-Pac-12 First-Team.” Carey’s sophomore season as impressive as it was statistically was even more impressive considering November 10th against Colorado, Carey broke the Arizona Wildcat’s single-game rushing record by rushing for 366 yards and 5 touchdowns on 25 carries (average of 14.2 yards per carry). When looking back at Carey’s performances during the season, especially against top-tier teams such as Oregon, Stanford, USC, UCLA and Arizona State, there is no refuting the validity of Carey’s 1,929 rushing yards. What Carey did in his sophomore year was pretty sweet, however what he would pull off this past season would be nothing short of miraculous. In his final season as an Arizona Wildcat, Carey was arguably one of the best running backs in the nation. Due to some off the field run trouble, Carey was unable to play in all of Arizona’s games, however in the 12 games that he did play in, he made the most of those 60 minutes.

In 12 games for the Wildcats in 2013, Carey was able to rush for an astonishing 1,885 yards and 19 touchdowns while catching 26 passes for 173 yards and another touchdown. What was truly amazing about Carey’s season was not the fact that he was able to rush for 1,885 yards, but rather the fact that he was able to rush for 157.08 yards per game, almost 8.25 more yards per game than in 2012. Amazingly in literally every single game for Carey in 2013, the 5-9, 207-pound back rushed for 100 yards or more. Although Carey didn’t pull of another 366-yard performance like in his sophomore season, he was able to be consistently productive and thus is one of the reasons he has been rated so highly by me in this mock draft.

When looking at Carey from the outside looking in, he is a small back, however he is pretty strong for his height. For instance, Carey was able to bench press 19 reps at this year’s Scouting Combine. But that isn’t the only reason why he is suddenly tough. This season in particular, Carey has drastically changed his running technique, not being afraid to lower his shoulder pads and bowl through defenders. Not only is Da’Keem strong, but he has great control of his body and repertoire of spin moves, jukes and subtly head bobs and fakes that can catch any safety or corner off guard in the open field. In the grand scheme of things there really isn’t a knock on Carey besides his off the field issues with the police, however in the NFL these days, I’m surprised that NFL teams don’t do a background check on all of the players on their payroll. 

Film Analysis vs. Oregon (brought to you by draftbreakdown.com)
Setting: University of Arizona, November 27th, 2013.

In one of the best games of his 2013 season, Carey showed awesome skill and an unbelievable motor as the Wildcats upset the #5 Oregon Ducks in Arizona. In Carey’s second-highest rushing game, he was able to go for an amazing 206 yards and four rushing touchdowns on 48 carries (4.29 yards per carry average) against the fifth best team in the nation. Throughout the game, Carey was able to carry the ball with a total combination of a physical presence and a speed presence. Even though he only rushed for 4.3 yards per carry, Carey looked impressive against Oregon, using his great speed to burst through the middle or bounce it outside, bowling over tacklers along the way. Where I was pleasantly surprised from Carey’s performance against Oregon was in his ability to not only keep his legs moving through a huge pile of defenders, but also his ability to virtually run over defenders and not be afraid to lower his shoulder pad and be physical with guys.

On more than one occasion in this game, Carey was able to get to the second level of the Ducks’ defense and pick up some big yardage. On Carey’s third touchdown run, he was able to make a sick cutback move and fool the defense in order to pick up a key touchdown for the Wildcats. All in all, what really stood out to me was Carey’s physicality with defenders, especially in red zone situations. I’m pretty sure if you were to read through the dictionary that Carey uses, you could not find the word “quit” anywhere in it. His power a lot of times comes from his underrated speed and if he’s given the great offensive line talent that the NFL has to offer, then Carey should do just fine on the Browns.

Why He Fits in with the Browns
Since Peyton Hillis basically imploded way back when, the Browns backfield has seen as many running backs as a Las Vegas night club in the off-season (heyo!). In all seriousness though, the Browns have experimented with Trent Richardson, Montario Hardesty, Chris Obgonnaya, Willis McGahee, Edwin Baker and even Fozzie Whittaker, to name a few. Although their QB situation has been even more disastrous, their running back situation has long been an ignored problem in Cleveland and I believe that this year is when the Browns management stops ignoring the fact that they don’t have a franchise running back anymore. With the always exciting and physical Ka’Deem Carey, the Browns would be getting a quality running back who can play the smash mouth football that Cleveland fans are used to along with perhaps a new brand of Cleveland Brown’s football with a faster and quicker approach to the running game. First pick in the draft will be an offensive tackle/lineman, the second is naturally a running back to run behind said offensive lineman.