After winning the national championship with the Florida State Seminoles, running back Devonta Freeman was snatched up by the Atlanta Falcons with the 103rd pick of the 2014 NFL Draft.
NFL Draft results 2014: Devonta Freeman taken by Atlanta Falcons
After becoming a national champion with the Seminoles, Freeman looks to bring that winning pedigree to Atlanta.
Freeman was one of the unsung heroes of the Seminoles, living in the shadow of Heisman Trophy quarterback Jameis Winston and receiver Kelvin Benjamin. At 5'9 and 203 pounds, Freeman is a little undersized, but runs with an unmistakable toughness. Last year, the Miami native ran for 1,016 yards on a 5.9 yards per attempt with 14 touchdowns.
One knock against Freeman is not having big games against the best teams. Freeman only gained more than 100 yards three times in 2013, doing so against Nevada, Bethune-Cookman and Syracuse. However, Freeman had a nose for the end zone on a consistent basis, the only teams he didn’t score on at least once were Pittsburgh and Boston College.
In the national championship, Freeman ran hard against Auburn, picking up 91 yards on 18 carries and scoring once. Freeman came in at No. 96 on SB Nation’s top 200 big board, making him seventh among running backs.
Combine results
40-yard dash: 4.58 secs
Vertical jump: 31.5 inches
Broad jump: 118 inches
3-cone drill: 7.11 secs
20-yard shuttle: 4.26 secs
In our scouting report of Freeman, Dan Kadar notes the youngster’s ability to dodge would-be tacklers:
In the open field, Freeman can be dangerous. He can effortlessly put a move on a defender without losing any speed on his run. Freeman's elusiveness helps him turn short gains into moderate ones. Everyone likes a home run running back. Freeman is the steady type who rarely gets negative yards because he can make opponents miss.
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