DJ Giddens

Kansas State was beyond fortunate to unearth Giddens as a walk-on recruit, because he would go on to be one of the all-time best players for the Wildcats. Giddens (6-0, 212) ran for 3,087 yards (6.0 YPC) and 23 touchdowns over 39 career games, and with 4.43 speed at his disposal it's easy to see that Giddens is a good athlete despite his walk-on background. With that said, Giddens visibly lacks anchor and to fully tap into his speed requires standing upright in a way that makes Giddens a big target for defenders. This means that while Giddens is otherwise competent at running through traffic, he can't hit the gas until he's well into the open field, because to open up his gait in the middle of traffic is begging for a clothesline or helmet-to-helmet collision. Giddens also appears dubious for passing-down purposes, because his 65.2 percent career catch rate is quite poor by running back standards. Giddens should be a productive off-the-bench rushing specialist in the NFL with some big-play upside, but his areas of concern are enough to make it appear that Giddens is better suited to the bench than a starting role, even in the distant future. For now he'll compete with Khalil Herbert and Tyler Goodson for the running back snaps behind Jonathan Taylor, and observers shouldn't be shocked if Giddens ends up fourth in that line. Read Past Outlooks