2024 NFL Draft Deep Sleeper: Kendall Milton

Photo: USA Today Sports

The NFL Draft is soon approaching, and we are all excited to find out where our favorite prospects will start their NFL careers. I want to highlight a player I believe is a hidden gem in this year's draft class: Kendall Milton. He is a 22-year-old running back from Georgia who measures 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds and projects as a late day-three pick in the NFL Draft.

College Career

Milton came into Georgia as a four-star prospect and had an efficient college career but never saw the workhorse role for his team. After three years of slowly increasing workload, his senior year is where he really got going. In 12 games, he received 112 carries, put together 686 yards, and scored 12 touchdowns. Milton made minimal impact in the receiving game, with just four catches.

Strengths

While the yardage and opportunity statistics do not pop out, he shined in many other ways. Despite his large frame, Milton is explosive. His 10-yard split was in the 96th percentile of this running back class, and his 10-foot 4-inch broad jump was in the 84th percentile. Per PlayerProfiler, he ranked No. 2 in this running back class in athletic score, meaning he is extremely fast and agile for his size.

Per Pro Football Focus, in the 2024 running back class, he was 15th in 10-plus yard rushes and 43rd in rush attempts during the 2023 season. He gained 10 yards on his attempts at about a 22 percent rate, which was a higher rate than Breece Hall, Ken Walker III, Bijan Robinson, or Jahmyr Gibbs had in each of their final seasons in college. His ability to burst off the line of scrimmage is quite impressive.

If the statistics do not prove it sufficiently, it is easily seen on tape, too. Milton's ability to move like he can at his size is almost unfair. He is a gifted athlete.

Adding to his explosive nature, Milton is a highly physical runner. He is an absolute tank built to take a sizable workload and substantial hits. Among all running backs in the 2024 class, he ranked sixth in yards after contact per attempt with 4.12 and 31st among the class in missed tackles forced while being only 43rd in rushing attempts. Adding onto that, Milton fought for that first down every single play; 46 of his 121 carries ended in a first down for Georgia this past season.

You can also see his aggressive run style on film. He constantly battles and grinds for extra yardage and creates production due to his strength and toughness.

One last strength worth mentioning is his ability to pass block. Among the running back class with 100-plus attempts this past season, he was top twelve in PFF's pass-blocking grade. When playing for an NFL team, this could get him more snaps on passing downs, providing more opportunity for dump-off targets.