Now that the NFL Draft has come and gone we can begin to breakdown the eventual impact most players will have in their NFL career. One position of intrigue is the future production of running backs being drafted on the final day of the NFL Draft, or more directly the fourth round. The fourth round and the running backs drafted in it over the years hoard big names with massive production on their college resumes. We like to think the parallel of their college career (and production) is going to transition easily into the NFL, but as you will find out that is simply not the case.

Since the year 2000, their have been a total of 64 running backs drafted in the fourth round. The 2015 NFL Draft added three more players to the list with the selections of Jeremy Langford (Chicago Bears, 106^th overall), Javorius Allen (Baltimore Ravens, 125^th overall) and Mike Davis (San Francisco 49ers, 126^th overall). Among the previous 61 running backs selected only four players eclipsed the 1,000 yard barrier in a single season. The list includes Rudi Johnson (three times), Brandon Jacobs (two times), Domanick Williams (two times) and most recently the Miami Dolphins Lamar Miller (one time). Miller is the first fourth-round running back since Jacobs (2008) to reach 1,000 yards rushing.

That leads us to last year’s group of fourth round backs. The group consisted of the Atlanta Falcons Devonta Freeman, the New York Giants Andre Williams, the Chicago Bears Ka’Deem Carey, the Kansas City Chiefs De’Anthony Thomas, the New England Patriots James White and Baltimore’s Lorenzo Taliaferro.

Each of those players in their own right was extremely productive in college.

During Andre Williams last year at Boston College he went on to set a school record with 2,177 rushing yards and earned the Doak Walker Award given annually to the nation’s premier running back. In his rookie season with the New York Giants he finished with 721 yards rushing and split time in a crowded backfield. To his credit he finished with the third highest amount of rushing yards (721) by a rookie in 2015.  The rest of the fourth round running backs failed to out-rush Jacksonville Jaguars rookie quarterback Blake Bortles (419 yards), leaving the onus on the rest of the 2014 draft class to step it up.

But that will be hard to do.

The potential for several other running backs drafted last year became a little bleaker after the conclusion of the 2015 NFL Draft. The idea of Devonta Freeman being the so-called “Man” in Atlanta came to an abrupt halt after the Falcons drafted former Indiana running back Tevin Coleman in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft. Both the Baltimore Ravens and Chicago Bears used fourth round picks on running backs in back-to-back years. Baltimore drafted Lorenzo Taliaferro (2014) and repeated the positional selection drafting Javorius Allen (2015), while the Bears added their second fourth-round running back Jeremy Langford (2015) one year after drafting Ka’Deem Carey. Now instead of fighting for the No. 1 spot in the backfield they all will be fighting not to be inactive on Sunday afternoons.

We all remember former Dallas Cowboys Marion Barber and his hard-charging running style. He is another fourth round fraternity member who came darn close (975) to 1,000 yards in one season, but in the end it was a number he could never reach in the NFL. Another famous or maybe most infamous fourth round running back is former Minnesota Vikings Onterrio Smith, also known as the “Whizzinator” after being detained at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport with a device that contained dried urine and a kit to beat drug tests.

He played three years in the NFL before a brief stint in the CFL. Other notable running backs include Michael Bush, Tashard Choice, Mike Goodson and Le’Ron McClain, all fourth round backs that have proven to be perfect replacements like many other fourth round back before them, but none seem to be able (or are ask to) become the workhorse back the team needs.

When the starters are on the sidelines for a quick breather or longer, these are the guys who can fill the short term void. That in a nutshell is the value of the running backs being drafted in the fourth round.