Okay yes.
Ward/Baker/Darnold/Chubb/Rosen
After that Barkley.
He’s worthy of a top 5 pick.
Nelson and McGlinchey are pretty good too..
And it's not just taking Barkley top 5. It's the fact that their team was barebones and that they could have traded down and still gotten one of those elite prospects (shit, they may have still been able to take Barkley
) in addition to valuable picks to help boost their rebuild.
If they don't nail their draft next year they are beyond fucked. That's the risk you take drafting a RB #2 overall when your team is a bunch of dudes.
A RB is a supplemental player in today's NFL. It's not somebody you build your team around. They aren't going to take you to the Super Bowl. But, on a great team, they could be the difference to help get you over the top. So if a great team was somehow picking in the top 5, then sure, taking Barkley would make sense.
It's honestly hilarious that an undrafted rookie has more rushing yards and averages a full yard per carry (!) more than Barkley. It's a perfect example of why you don't take RBs that high.
You don't see random undrafted QBs, DEs, CBs, OTs, etc playing at the top of their position. You just don't beyond an extremely rare case. Whereas at RB, every year there are random dudes out there providing the production you need out of the position.