Instead of Armstead in the 4th, I would rather draft Xavier Turner in the 7th or get him as an UDFA. Both seem to be "A tough, physical, between the tackles type. I call them “Meat and Potatoes Runners” who will be backups.
Let's take a look at some of the top RBs and compare them to Turner.
A workhorse needs a bit of
weight to make life tough on people:
looking at some RB weights, Singletary is the lightest at 203, then Tra Williams at 206, then Henderson at 208, Sanders at 211, Armstead at 220, Montgomery at 222 and Turner at 226. Turner is the heaviest RB of the bunch, though 3 of them are pretty damn close.
Speed kills so let's take a look at some
40 times (fastest times):
Armstead leads the pack with a 4.40, followed by the expected Henderson at 4.42 who is tied with, wait for it, Turner, Williams had 4.43, Sanders 4.44, Montgomery is at 4.53 and Singletary is at 4.55. Being tied for the 2nd fastest time is impressive, especially since he is the heaviest of the bunch.
Let's take a look at the
10 second split which is usually more important than the 40 times (using hand held times to be fair with Turner):
The fastest is Armstead at 1.50, then Sanders at 1.52, then Turner at 1.56, then Williams and Montgomery at 1.58, Singletary at 1.63 and Henderson at 1.66 (calling the Henderson time BS because he had the fastest timer time of 1.42). Again, Turner has a respectable time for a 225+ RB.
3 cone drill time:
Sanders had an outstanding time of 6.89, Armstead next at 7.02, Henderson at 7.03, Turner at 7.10, Montgomery at 7.12, Singletary at 7.32, and Williams at 7.44. Turner again was respectable.
Vertical jump:
Sanders leads the pack at 36, followed by Singletary at 35, then a three-way tie of 33.5 inches for Henderson, Montgomery and Turner, Williams had 33 and Armstead had a lowly 30 inches.
Bench press:
Turner leads the pack with 26 reps, then Armstead and Henderson had 22, Sanders had 20, Williams had 19 and Singletary and Montgomery had 15
Other Turner information:
he averaged 5.1 and 6.4 rushing average in 2017 and 2018. He is just a dump-off type of back. He only had 4 receptions in 2018 but strangely had 31 receptions in 2017 (though only a 5.6 yard receiving average).
Turner is an under-the-radar type of player. He combines top of the class weight and strength to go along with above average athleticism. The best thing is that he can be had for a late round pick (which will not stop the Bears from drafting another RB earlier in the draft if they wish).
Here is a video that shows that Turner has a bit of speed to him. I believe that he would be a good addition to the back end of the roster.