Is Undrafted Rookie Branden Oliver the NFL's Next Darren Sproles?

Standing in the near or far reaches of Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego Chargers fans might have done a series of double takes when seeing diminutive No. 43 gashing the New York Jets defense on big plays in Week 5.

Alas, Darren Sproles was not back in Chargers uniform, though the comparisons were ubiquitous. It was little-known running back Branden Oliver donning the same number his predecessor wore as a fourth-round pick out of Kansas State.

The comparisons were inevitable for the undrafted rookie out of Buffalo.

“He reminds me so much of [Darren] Sproles,” Chargers tight end Antonio Gates said to U-T San Diego's Kevin Acee. “And I played with Sproles so many years. It’s crazy. He’s Sproles, with a little bit more power.”

Oliver		Sproles
5'7"	Height	5'6"
208	Weight (lb.)	187
4.62	40-yard dash (s)	4.47
33.5	Vertical jump (in.)	33
117	Broad jump (in.)	105
4.22	20-yard shuttle (s)	3.96
7.04	3-cone drill (s)	6.96
26	225-pound bench reps	23
114.9	SPARQ score	129.96

Oliver did much more than don a familiar number in "NFL extra small" size, however—he carved up a rather stout run defense in spectacular and unexpected fashion. Heading into Week 5, the Jets boasted the best run defense in the league.

Thanks to Oliver, that is no longer the case.

So how did we get here? Myriad ways, as it turned out.

Take Oliver's first touchdown, a 15-yard scamper, for example.

NFL Game Rewind

This was a standard draw play with 11 personnel on the field for the Chargers. Oliver started out wide, motioning into the backfield before the play.

Oliver showed good vision here, cutting to the hole his offensive line opened on the left side after it initially seemed like the Jets had plugged up the gaps. The good blocking got Oliver a good chunk of yardage, but Jets safety Calvin Pryor turned this into a touchdown by taking a bad angle to the diminutive ball-carrier.

NFL Game Rewind

NFL Game Rewind

Pryor diagnosed the play slowly and gravitated toward the left side of the defense for some reason—perhaps thinking Oliver would try to bounce outside or teleport through the nonexistent hole—leaving a trucking lane to the end zone for Oliver to drive through.

The 52-yard lightning bolt Oliver delivered in the third quarter was a nice illustration of his speed with a bit of thunder mixed in.

Instead of taking the handoff up the middle out of 11 personnel on this play, Oliver swept left behind his agile, fluid offensive line. 

NFL Game Rewind

By now, the Jets were being railroaded. The game was getting away from them, and the defense looked gassed.

Still, Oliver broke the play for 52 yards thanks to a nifty little stiff arm and a burst of speed.

“I’ve been running like that my whole life,” Oliver told Acee. “In the backyard with my brothers, they were always faster than me, so I had to...learn how to cut back, duck underneath people.”

On Oliver's second touchdown of the day, a combination of play design, bad defense and heavy hitting got him into the end zone.

Once again, Oliver lined up wide, only to motion into the backfield before the snap. The Jets didn't have a bad plan on defense—a hybrid coverage that had four defenders in a zone—but the play design exploited it.

NFL Game Rewind

In theory, Oliver should have been covered along with some zone help. He undressed Jets linebacker Demario Davis on his route, though, shaking loose over the middle.

Bad defense from Pryor again helped Oliver get into the end zone. This time he broke late on the pass, meeting Oliver at the goal line instead of somewhere further upfield. 

Pryor still had a chance to stop Oliver, but the undrafted rookie outclassed the hard-hitting first-round pick by lowering his pads and vaporizing the tackle attempt. When was the last time Sproles lit up a defender?

So is Oliver the next Sproles? Well, the comparison may only be jersey deep.

"I didn't like how 44 looked," Oliver told U-T San Diego's Michael Gehlken during the preseason. "I knew 43 was Darren Sproles' number, but I didn't think of it like, 'I'm trying to be like Sproles.' That's the perception that people are getting. I'm just trying to be me. ... I'm like 15 pounds heavier, physical. He's way quicker than me."

His tape confirms those notions.

Here you go, Scott—Dave Grohl sent me.

Oliver		Woodhead
5'7"	Height	5'8"
208	Weight (lb.)	197
4.62	40-yard dash (s)	4.38
33.5	Vertical jump (in.)	38
117	Broad jump (in.)	121
4.22	20-yard shuttle (s)	4.2
7.04	3-cone drill (s)	7.03
26	225-pound bench reps	20
114.9	SPARQ score	129.12

A better comparison for Oliver might come from his own current backfield—Danny Woodhead. The equally diminutive back was primarily on the field in passing situations for the Chargers, but a broken ankle has knocked him out for the season.

Woodhead's workout numbers are astonishing if this is the first you've come across them. Not even the new No. 43 can match that athleticism, but he isn't too far off. The duo's agility numbers from the 20-yard shuttle and 3-cone drill are remarkably similar.

Like Woodhead, Oliver seems to have created cache as a pass-catching threat out of the backfield, and that might be his ultimate role once Ryan Mathews and Donald Brown return from injury.

The latter two are slated to be back sooner rather than later, which may squeeze Oliver for playing time, regardless of his big performance.

This wasn't the first non-Sproles comparison, though.

In truth, Kevin Faulk may just be the perfect comparison for Oliver, a pass-catching threat with some power who was underappreciated in New England. Oliver has startlingly similar measurables to the retired former New England Patriot, and he has the all-around game to match.

Whatever he is, his performance against the Jets was the stuff of legends—if he can become one, that is. After all, this was only one game, and a fall back into obscurity is just as likely.

If he continues playing the way he did against New York, however, we haven't heard the last of Branden Oliver, who dealt the first hammer blow in chiseling a name for himself.

Follow @AlexMiglio