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Steelers Rookie RB Benny Snell Jr. Enters NFL With Strong Short-Yardage College Resume

By Dave Bryan

Posted on May 11, 2019 at 12:34 pm

Are you excited about Pittsburgh Steelers rookie running back Benny Snell Jr.? It’s really hard not to be when you closely examine his college tape and his statistics. While we don’t yet know how quickly Snell will be integrated into the Steelers offense and what his role will be once he does start receiving playing time, the Kentucky product and this year’s fourth-round selection might be perfect for short-yardage situations to start with.

Snell enters the NFL as possibly one of the top and most reliable short-yardage running backs to be drafted this year. In fact, and as you can see in the table of stats below, of the running backs drafted this year, Snell had the most third down short-yardage carries (1-3 yards needed) in college with 78. Of those 78 third and short carries, in which 3 or less yards were needed, Snell converted 56 (71.8%) of them with 5 of those successful runs being touchdowns.

Obviously, there are a few other running backs who were drafted this year with better college career 3rd and short yardage conversion rates than Shell registered, but the fact that the Kentucky product had many more opportunities than all of the players listed ahead of him in the table below makes his percentage stick out. Additionally, it’s important to keep in mind that Snell registered a good portion of those stats in games against SEC teams.

Once again, the data below is only for 3rd and short carries in which 3 or less yards were needed. However, if we were able to compile other downs in which 3 or less yards were needed, It’s probably safe to assume that Snell converted a large portion of those carries successfully as well.

In case you’re curious, the Steelers running backs registered a combine success rate of 70.6% last season on 3rd and short carries in which 1-3 yards were needed. The one carry that Stevan Ridley registered in that situation last season came in the Steelers loss to the New Orleans Saints and not only did he lose yardage on that fourth quarter play, he also fumbled away the football.

College career 3rd and short rushing stats of 2019 drafted running backs

RND	PICK	PLAYER	POS	COLLEGE	NFL	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	1st	1st%
2	53	Miles Sanders	RB	Penn State	Philadelphia Eagles	17	95	5.59	2	14	82.4%
5	152	Qadree Ollison	RB	Pittsburgh	Atlanta Falcons	44	322	7.32	4	36	81.8%
7	218	Mike Weber	RB	Ohio State	Dallas Cowboys	41	257	6.27	3	33	80.5%
4	128	Tony Pollard	RB	Memphis	Dallas Cowboys	4	34	8.50	0	3	75.0%
7	234	Myles Gaskin	RB	Washington	Miami Dolphins	68	435	6.40	9	49	72.1%
4	122	Benny Snell	RB	Kentucky	Pittsburgh Steelers	78	380	4.87	5	56	71.8%
1	24	Josh Jacobs	RB	Alabama	Oakland Raiders	28	155	5.54	1	20	71.4%
5	140	Ryquell Armstead	RB	Temple	Jacksonville Jaguars	40	179	4.48	3	28	70.0%
3	70	Darrell Henderson	RB	Memphis	Los Angeles Rams	22	60	2.73	2	15	68.2%
5	154	Jordan Scarlett	RB	Florida	Carolina Panthers	31	131	4.23	3	21	67.7%
6	194	Dexter Williams	RB	Notre Dame	Green Bay Packers	15	90	6.00	3	10	66.7%
3	102	Alexander Mattison	RB	Boise State	Minnesota Vikings	42	141	3.36	4	27	64.3%
3	74	Devin Singletary	RB	Florida Atlantic	Buffalo Bills	49	328	6.69	8	30	61.2%
3	87	Damien Harris	RB	Alabama	New England Patriots	28	75	2.68	2	17	60.7%
6	182	Trayveon Williams	RB	Texas A&M	Cincinnati Bengals	38	157	4.13	1	22	57.9%
4	112	Bryce Love	RB	Stanford	Washington Redskins	28	125	4.46	1	16	57.1%
6	214	Darwin Thompson	RB	Utah State	Kansas City Chiefs	9	79	8.78	2	5	55.6%
3	73	David Montgomery	RB	Iowa State	Chicago Bears	34	76	2.24	5	18	52.9%
6	211	Rodney Anderson	RB	Oklahoma	Cincinnati Bengals	9	71	7.89	2	4	44.4%
4	113	Justice Hill	RB	Oklahoma State	Baltimore Ravens	26	71	2.73	3	11	42.3%
6	186	Ty Johnson	RB	Maryland	Detroit Lions	19	101	5.32	2	8	42.1%
7	222	Kerrith Whyte	RB	Florida Atlantic	Chicago Bears	15	23	1.53	0	6	40.0%
6	204	Travis Homer	RB	Miami (Fla.)	Seattle Seahawks	20	16	0.80	0	6	30.0%