One of the main reasons that I felt running backs could go earlier than expected in the 2020 NFL Draft is that with a potentially shortened and complicated offseason, a running back potentially carries less risk in the short term and that could appeal to teams over the fact that they carry perhaps the least amount of value in the long term.
The result was that in spite of the fact that the first back didn’t come off the board until Clyde Edwards-Helaire at 32, there were 10 running backs selected in the first three rounds, the most since 2006.