The Florida State Seminoles, coming off their National Championship, have no shortage of talent ready to make the jump to the NFL.

Jamies Winston received all of the publicity for his play on the field which resulted in him being the second straight redshirt freshmen to win the Heisman Trophy.

However, he wasn’t the only weapon on that offense. Devonta Freeman proved that he was just as much a weapon as Winston. His increased workload in 2013 had no ill effects on his production. He rushed for 5.9 yards every time he touched the ball and 14 touchdowns.

Positives

Power: Freeman showed his power when he had the ball in his hands. Often times you will find Freeman lowering his shoulder to attempt to run through a defender. His power also makes him more difficult to bring down one on one. Defenses have to rally to the ball to bring him down. Freeman also uses his power when staying in the pocket to help block for his quarterback. He shows no regard for his body, throwing it into harm’s way to keep his quarterback off the turf.

Vision: One thing that stands out with Freeman is with the ball in his hand, he is always looking to make a cut and run through a hole. This one aspect when scouting a running back is often times more important than his 40 time or how many reps on the bench press. Vision means more than just finding a hole created by the offensive linemen, Freeman also finds holes as he runs down the field resulting with longer runs.

Negatives

Elusiveness: While Devonta Freeman shows great vision, he isn’t a very elusive back. He doesn’t have the jump cut that will make a defender stop dead in his tracks. He won’t try to elude the defender; instead Freeman will look to hit the defender.

This punishing style isn’t exactly a good thing. Running backs such as Adrian Peterson and Demarco Murray have had their issues with staying on the field because of it.

Lack of Top Line Speed: Scouts won’t confuse Freeman with backs such as Chris Johnson who can outrun a defender who runs a great angle to the ball carrier. With his frame he doesn’t have the long strides that most running backs with that kind of speed have. Where he lacks in speed, Freeman makes up for in other aspects of his game.

NFL Comparison

Ray Rice, Baltimore Ravens

Despite the falloff of Rice in the 2013 season, he is still quite the capable back. His lack of production has a lot more to do with who was calling the plays and less about the amount of talent Ray Rice displays on Sundays.

Freeman will play very similar to Rice. He is powerful back that can block and catch the ball out of the backfield. In a day in age that usually has two to three backs in a system, Freeman can be the go to guy in all scenarios.

Draft Outlook

Freeman is often overlooked but that may be mostly due to the fact that he played in a crowded backfield at Florida State. Running back seems to have become less of a priority in the draft over the past couple of seasons. Even though teams look for multiple backs to fill a role, Freeman is the type of back that should be a top 50 prospect and should be a second round selection.

Best Fit

Freeman could fit into any system so there isn’t a true best fit for him. However, a team like the Cleveland Browns who have three picks in the top 40 selections could look his way. As many will recall the Browns traded Trent Richardson to the Colts and running back could be a real need. Willis McGahee will be heading into his 12th season and the backups aren’t starter quality.