Throwback Thursday: NFL Draft Edition

"Throwback Thursday" is a popular weekly internet trend that is often featured on the various forms of social media where individuals and groups post pictures or videos that reach back into the past. It allows those individuals, both who participate and indulge in the trend, to take a look at what was and provide a comparison or potential contrast to what currently is today. Often times during the pre-draft process of the NFL, teams will look for a certain mold of player that resembles a player either currently or formerly in the NFL to fit into a specific scheme that their team utilizes or plans to put in place for the near future or upcoming season. More specifically, when a particular prospect is being evaluated a comparison is often drawn to a player currently in the NFL to provide a description as the type of player the prospect resembles physically and potentially in terms of production once they reach the next level. Regardless, a throwback version of most prospects can be drawn in some form or fashion when discussing and evaluating the upcoming draft class.

In this version of "Throwback Thursday" I will feature a player currently in the NFL and provide analysis from when they were set to enter the draft, as well as what they've been able to accomplish during their time in the NFL. At the end of the review for the current NFL player I will provide a comparison for a prospect that is set to be selected in the 2018 NFL Draft. Being that today is April 5 — being the fifth day of the fourth month —I've decided to choose one player that was taken in the fourth round, five years ago. I find it appropriate the amount of years since the player was drafted as most NFL players have established themselves and carved out a role and career by their fourth or fifth season in the league, while a decent amount of players taken during the same time frame have fizzled out of the league already.

Kyle Juszczyk, Fullback 

A native of Medina, Ohio, a town located about 30 minutes away from Cleveland, Kyle Juszczyk was a standout student-athlete at nearby Cloverleaf High School. During his time at Cloverleaf, Juszczyk had a tremendous scholastic career, participating in track and field, as well as basketball, in addition to playing football. He proved to be an all-around athlete, starting at point guard in basketball, while being named a two-time all-league selection in track and field as well as football, where he played multiple positions including quarterback, while also leading the team in rushing and receiving. Unsurprisingly, Juszczyk was a National Honor Society student before making his way to the Ivy League to attend and compete at Harvard.

Once at Harvard, Juszczyk immediately transitioned from the quarterback position to a more appropriate tight end/h-back position, where he contributed as a freshman, playing in all ten games totaling 11 catches for 124 yards and three touchdowns. He improved upon those numbers during his sophomore season, when he ranked second on the team with 25 receptions, accounting for 234 yards and a team-leading four touchdowns, for which he was recognized as a All-Ivy League honorable mention. The following season during his junior year is when Juszczyk began to really come into his own as potential NFL prospect. A first-team All-Ivy League selection in 2011, he led the Harvard and all Ivy League tight ends with 37 receptions, 512 yards, and seven touchdowns. His efforts helped lead Harvard to the Ivy League Championship. 

During his senior season in 2012 Juszczyk received numerous accolades both pre and post-season, while making it count during the season. After once again leading the team in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns, the tight end was named first-team All-American at the Football Championship Subdivision level (FCS), while repeating as a first-team Ivy League selection. At the completion of the season, Juszczyk was invited to various post-season all-star games, participating in the illustrious Senior Bowl, which annually puts the most players in the NFL of all the post-season events. Despite having put together a complete career and outstanding senior season, Juszczyk wasn't the 333 players invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, which seeks to invite the prospects with the most likely chance of being taken in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Having not been able to perform for scouts and personnel of NFL teams at the combine, Juszczyk went through positional drills and athletic testing at Harvard's Pro Day, running the 40-yard dash in 4.71 seconds and putting up impressive numbers in the broad (10'1) and vertical jump (37 inches). He also put up 24 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press, while measuring in at 6'1, 248 pounds. Garnering interest from multiple teams from the NFL, Juszczyk was selected in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft with the 130th overall selection by the Baltimore Ravens. 

Being selected by the Ravens, Juszczyk entered the league learning from and serving as a backup to one of the premier blocking fullbacks at the time in Pro Bowler Vonta Leach, as he primarily played special teams during his rookie season. The following season Juszczyk won the starting fullback job over Leach, resulting in Baltimore cutting the veteran, as Juszczyk started in 14 of 16 games and coming away with 19 receptions for 182 yards, with one touchdown. Over the following two seasons he compiled 78 catches for 587 and four touchdown receptions, while adding another score rushing on one of his seven carries. After being named to his first Pro Bowl following the 2016 NFL season — having played the most snaps at the fullback position with 465, over 100 more than the next leading fullback — Juszczyk became a sough after free agent, drawing interest and contract offers from multiple teams, before signing with the San Francisco 49'ers for four years and $21 million, with $7 million guaranteed — the largest contract for a fullback in NFL history. He was named to his second Pro Bowl after having 33 receptions for 315 yards and a touchdown in 2017.

NFL Draft Prospect Comparison: Donnie Ernsberger (Western Michigan)

Similar to Juszczyk, Donnie Ernsberger will enter the draft as a hybrid tight end/fullback out of college looking to make the transition to a full time fullback/h-back for a team who values a player that is capable of both blocking from various spots in the run and pass game, in addition to being a capable receiver, as well. Ernsberger was less of a receiver and more of a blocker than Juszczyk in college, which will likely cause him to go later in the draft, if at all. However, Ernsberger was acknowledged throughout his career for his efforts earning All-Mid-American Conference (MAC) honors in back to back seasons — third team in 2016 and second team in 2017 —while also being selected to play in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and receiving an invite to the NFL Scouting Combine. Serving as primarily a blocker during his first three seasons —where he was often the lead blocker for running back Jamauri Bogan in 2015, helping him win MAC Freshman of the Year and helping pave the way for Western Michigan to have the 22nd overall rushing attack in the country in 2016 —Ernsberger showed off his receiving ability in 2017. Entering his senior season with just 11 career receptions for 134 yards and one touchdown, Ernsberger put together his best season in 2017 as he totaled 34 receptions, 394 receiving yards, and four touchdowns, while also still being counted upon as a key blocker in the Western Michigan rushing attack that moved up one spot from the previous season to 21st in the country, at just under 225 yards per game. 

At the NFL Scouting Combine, Ernsberger performed with the running back group, signaling NFL teams preference of likely viewing him as a fullback, more so than a tight end — similar to that of Kyle Juszczyk. Additionally, some of Ernsberger's measurables were similar to that of Juszczyk at the time he entered the draft as Ernsberger weighed in at (6'2 3/4) 255 pounds at the combine, compared to that of (6'1) 248 for Juszczyk at the time of Harvard's Pro Day in 2013. Ensberger's official recorded 40-yard dash time of 4.78 was also in the range of Juszcyzk's 4.71, especially when taking into account a possible slight difference in times from the combine to that of a hand-timed 40-yard dash at a pro day. On the football field Ernsberger and Juszczyk both share an affinity as willing and aggressive blockers who are capable receivers at their size, while proving very tough to bring down with the ball in their hands and being capable of finishing through contact. Ernsberger will likely be selected on the third day of the draft, probably in either the sixth or seventh round, but should he land in the right situation that finds the best way to utilize his abilities, similar to the Baltimore Ravnes and then San Francisco 49ers with Juszczyk, four to five years from now we may be speaking of Enrsberger as productive NFL veteran.