2023 NFL Draft Profile: Utah State RB Calvin Tyler Jr.
The hard-charging Aggies running back has a shot to hear his name called at this year’s NFL Draft.
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The Mountain West’s best running back prospect?
The Utah State Aggies have had a knack for developing running backs over the years. Calvin Tyler Jr. is just the latest example of that pipeline, worthy of a look as part of this year’s draft class.
A native of Beaumont, Texas, Tyler Jr. committed to Oregon State out of high school and played sparingly before transferring to Utah State ahead of the 2021 season. He became part of the Aggies’ surprising run to the Mountain West football crown that year by making 11 starts and rushing for a team-best 884 yards and seven touchdowns, then topped 1,000 yards in 2022 while earning a spot on the all-Mountain West second-team offense.
Measurables (taken from Mockdraftable)
Height – 5′ and 7 1/2″
Weight – 204 pounds
40-yard time – 4.52 seconds
10-yard split time – 1.61 seconds
Arm length – 28 3/8″
Hand size – 8 1/2″
Wingspan – 68″
Vertical jump – 34″
Broad jump – 9′ (or 108″)
Shuttle time – 4.34 seconds
3-cone drill time – 7.23 seconds
Bench press – 14 reps
Highlights
Strengths
Given his overall physical profile, it’s safe to say that tackling Tyler Jr. is sometimes like tackling a tank. His low center of gravity makes him difficult to bring down and his patient, tough running style makes for a lot of broken tackles: In 2021, Pro Football Focus credited him with 47 missed tackles forced, the most among Mountain West running backs, and he followed that up with 49 more in 2022 (fifth in MW).
While it wasn’t his primary responsibility in Utah State’s downfield passing offense, Tyler Jr. also has adequate hands as a pass catcher out of the backfield with just two drops on 40 career targets.
Weaknesses
The drawbacks to Tyler’s lack of overall size are the usual ones. In particular, The Draft Network’s Damian Parson notes that he’ll need to improve as a pass protector in order to better carve out a role in the pros, an observation which bears itself out in the fact that PFF graded him out at just 57.1 on that front last season.
Additionally, while Tyler Jr.’s 40-yard sprint time is better than that of peers like Titus Swen and Toa Taua, other metrics suggest it may not be more than just fine. Using Football Outsiders’ Speed Score formula, his 97.7 result would have been just below the middle of the pack among those at his position who ran at the NFL Combine.
NFL Comparison
Devin Singletary
Draft Prediction
I do think some NFL teams will be tempted to select Tyler Jr. as a late-round flyer, but my official prediction is that he’ll ultimately be a hot commodity as an undrafted free agent.
