If Birds pass on RB in 1st, then McCoy is a Steal in Second

Let me first preface this by saying, that I'm a Pitt grad and saw LeSean McCoy play in person twice and on TV probably 15 times. And for all the knocks against him, I think he will be an above-average running back in the NFL for one simple reason - he can make tacklers miss. It sounds simple, but few RBs can do it.

McCoy has a stutter-step move that makes him very hard to tackle in the open field. And his cut-back ability reminds me a little of Barry Sanders or Terrell Davis. He's got vision. He doesn't have sprinter's speed, but what does straight-ahead speed really mean for an RB anyway? He's run a 4.5 before, which is fast enough.

Also, McCoy was definitely hurt by his program. Pitt's passing offense during his two-year career at Pitt was horrible. As a freshman, Pitt had back-ups play QB the entire season and mostly went with a true freshman who was inconsistent at best. And last year, a scrub named Bill Stull played the position. Every game, McCoy faced 8 and 9 man fronts and dozens of run blitzes and he still put up spectacular numbers. I've rarely seen a running back turn so many losses into positive plays. If he would have played with a better passing game, he probably would have rushed for 4,000 yards in two seasons.

I'm not saying McCoy is the best RB in the draft, but have serious doubts about Wells because of his injury history and he played behind OSU's line, which opened gaping holes for him. Moreno is a quality back, but he too played on a balanced offense with a good Oline and doesn't have the vision and elusiveness of McCoy. Donald Brown is quality too, but he's projected to go in the first. The whole point of this is that McCoy played on a suspect offense and saw very few holes in his two years at Pitt and still put up huge numbers. He has what few RBs do, incredible vision and the moves to make defenders miss and get extra yards - which is key in the west coast offense.

Watch the highlight film and see how many times he gets a handoff or a pass and there is nothing there, but he makes something of it. And many of the mock drafts I've looked at have him going in the 50s.