Yahoo Sports' top 2019 NFL draft prospects: Penn State RB Miles Sanders

5-foot-11, 211 pounds

The lowdown: No, we’re not trying to compare Saquon Barkley to Sanders. Barkley is a rare talent and more physically gifted, but you might be shocked to find out that Sanders totaled 3 more rush yards in 2018 than Barkley, the No. 2 overall pick in 2018, had in his final season at Penn State. And yet there has been shockingly little draft buzz for Sanders in the media and among fans until just recently. Rest assured, NFL scouts are very much aware of his abilities and is well-regarded, even if it is a bit of a down year for RB prospects.

Sanders has excellent vision and balance, and while he doesn’t have the obvious, explosive highlight moves that his predecessor did, the results were quite impressive:

One of the biggest knocks about Sanders has been his shockingly high fumble rate, putting the ball on the ground on 2.88 percent of his touches. For context, that was the highest rate of any of the 28 backs invited to this year’s scouting combine, and the next closest was more than a percentage point below: Ohio State’s Mike Weber (1.74 percent). Still, this is viewed as a correctable trait by confident NFL coaching staffs.

Sanders catches the ball pretty well, but his blocking has come under some scrutiny. Still, there should be a role for him with his very good balance, shiftiness and ability to hit some doubles and triples through small windows.

Fun fact: Sanders’ mother, Marlene, asked her 7-year-old son what he wanted to be when he grew up. Sanders sat down and drew a picture of Jerry Rice and wrote “NFL” on the piece of paper. Now his dream is within arm’s length – and he hopes to reward his mother for everything she has meant to him.

“My mom means the world to me. I tell everyone that. Everyone knows that,” Sanders told the Centre Daily Times in October. “The reason why I’m doing all this is so I can retire my mom. ... I’m literally doing all of this for her.”