Sometimes the NFL draft news cycle makes you shake your head. From the constant chatter about the same 10 prospects to the petty invalidations of others, the NFL draft can be down right frustrating sometimes.

The nature of the NFL draft new cycle leads to great player going almost unnoticed until their name is in-evidently called on draft day.

Alabama’s T.J. Yeldon would appear to be immune to such a phenomenon. He was a five-star recruit coming out of Daphne High School when he committed to playing football at the University of Alabama, where he went on to put up 3,300 rushing yards and 37 touchdowns in three years. He was a second-team All-SEC in 2014 after being a first-team All-SEC member in 2013.

Despite all of these accolades and accomplishments, you rarely hear Yeldon mentioned during the draft process.

Executive director of the Senior Bowl Phil Savage believed Yeldon was going to more notoriety after teams got an up close look at him at his pro day.

“I think T.J. can really fit with whatever need a time has. He’s a big enough back to be a first or second down runner,” Savage said. “He’s a good enough pass receiver out of the backfield and good in pass pro, solid enough in pass protection that he can play on third down. So I think he may gain a little bit more attention after the Pro Day.”

Nevertheless, Yeldon’s pro day came and went with no significant uptick in coverage toward Yeldon.

One reason for this may be the fact that Yeldon has a “down” year in 2014 as he only ran for 974 yards, less than he had as a freshman, and 11 touchdowns. However, there is a good reason for this dip in production for Yeldon.

“Oh, I was about like 60 percent,” Yeldon said. “Yeah, it was really hard. I was limited, so I wasn’t really doing too much. It hurt pretty bad.”

“It” was a nagging hamstring injury that robbed Yeldon of some of his agility and explosiveness. When Yeldon is healthy, he is one of the best running backs in the nation and a top-tier running back prospect.

What separates Yeldon from others, in his mind, is his versatility.

“I have good vision, good cutting, I can catch the ball out of the backfield, I can split out wide and catch the ball,” Yeldon said. “It just depends on how they want to use me in their offense.”

Yeldon’s ability to step in day one and pass protect at a high level should be enticing for a lot of teams. One of the reasons running backs don’t play early is that team’s don’t trust them to pass protect. That won’t be the case with Yeldon, which should lead to him playing a lot of snaps early in his career.

Along with his versatility and ability in pass protection, Yeldon appears to be a perfect fit in a zone-blocking scheme. Yeldon has an astute understanding of how to read his key, vary his stride length, make one cut and explode upfield. He understands the pacing of the inside and outside zone running plays as he does a great job of letting his blocks develop.

Another problem with Yeldon is that he isn’t a very sexy running back prospect. He lacks the explosiveness or long speed to make the long touchdown runs; however, you’d be hard pressed to find a running back in this draft who can string together six and seven-yard rushes on a consistent basis.

The way Yeldon mirrors his eyes with his feet truly separates him from most of the running back class. He anticipates defenders’ movements before they happen and he understands how to layer together jukes and economical footwork to get out of the way of defenders’ path.

The lack of attention Yeldon has receiver should make you shake head in disappoint; however, if your team selects Yeldon that head shake will quickly turn into a head nod as they just acquired one of the best running backs in this draft class.