Despite Injury, Myles Jack Remains 2016 NFL Draft's Top Linebacker

Over the past five or so years, the media has discussed to death the devaluing of the running back position. But for every action on offense, there's a reaction on the defensive side of the ball.

For example, when an emphasis is put on developing larger receivers, the NFL then begins to focus on netting taller cornerbacks to play on the outside. Everyone wants to find the next Richard Sherman, and players like Dorial Green-Beckham are being drafted in the top 50 as stretch red-zone targets.

With the way the game is changing, there is one linebacker who stands above the rest in this upcoming draft class: Myles Jack of UCLA.

This isn't your grandfather's NFL. Like it or not, teams just aren't grinding the ball like they used to. Now, flexible running backs who can run, catch and pass block are crucial.

Take the San Diego Chargers for example. Melvin Gordon is their best pure runner on the team, but with the way their offensive line functions and the way Philip Rivers is able to eliminate receiving options quickly, a player like Danny Woodhead is a much better fit from an efficiency standpoint to play on a down-by-down basis. Twenty years ago, Woodhead would return punts and Gordon would be receiving a majority of the team's impact touches, even as a rookie back.

The NFL has simply changed, and the way we evaluate players needs to change as well. With pass-catching running backs like Woodhead, Darren Sproles, Shane Vereen, Matt Forte and Dion Lewis providing molds for the "next generation" running back, the league also has to respond with linebackers who can cover these threats in man coverage.

Jack can mirror these elite running backs, as he was bred as one. In high school, he was a track and football star, playing both tailback and linebacker for Bellevue High School in the Seattle area of Washington, which features alumni like David DeCastro of the Pittsburgh Steelers and plenty of state championships since the turn of the century. If you're looking to develop as a football player and live in the Pacific Northwest, there's really not a better situation to find yourself in than playing both sides of the ball for Bellevue.

Instead of sticking in the rain up north, he headed for the sunshine down south and signed on with UCLA. As a true freshman, he saw time both at linebacker and running back.

Shaq Thompson, who took the opposite route and left California to play football for the Washington Huskies, is a similar player to Jack from this standpoint. Both let it be known that they are defensive prospects first and foremost, possibly because they've come across the earning potential and longevity of running backs in the NFL, but are viewed as quality linebackers with tremendous upside in coverage. Thompson, who the Carolina Panthers drafted in the first round in 2015, couldn’t have fallen into a better position, as the Panthers emphasize coverage ability in their linebacking unit to free up their safeties. This allows their cornerbacks to be more aggressive, which could translate to Josh Norman’s big breakout year. There are dominoes in football which often go unnoticed to the untrained eye.

The NFL as a whole wants better athletes at the position. The Minnesota Vikings moved Anthony Barr, who was an edge defender at UCLA, to a true linebacker role, and the New England Patriots did the same thing with Jamie Collins. By both of their sophomore seasons in the league, they were considered some of the best space linebackers in the NFL, which shouldn't be a shock since pass-rushers are generally considered the best athletes on the football field.

To put Jack's athleticism into perspective, he's currently listed as a 4.56 40-yard dash athlete on NFL Draft Scout. Last season, Stephone Anthony, a Clemson linebacker who was drafted 31st overall by the New Orleans Saints, also ran that time. According to Mock Draftable, for inside linebackers, he ranked in the 95th percentile, meaning Jack is already projected to be a top-five percent athlete in the NFL at the position.

Anthony has been able to do amazing things in coverage this season, even as a rookie. He's locked down backs out of the backfield on wheel routes and even taken burner receivers like John Brown toe-to-toe on deep routes.

It's hard to explain how big of a chess piece a coverage linebacker can be. If you've ever played some version of Madden, you know that you can basically throw the swing route or checkdown option, as it's open for a reason: The NFL's defensive coordinators generally take a "bend, don't break" approach over a more aggressive playing style. Someone who can move, be it Thompson, Barr, Collins, Anthony, Clay Matthews or Luke Kuechly, essentially eliminates checkdown threats into the curl-flat zone by simply existing as a world-class athlete who can close on the ball with impeccable timing.

Jack can be the next of that breed. He can make tackles in the open field. He can break up passes. He might even be able to carry the rock for you. He has issues staying clean off of blocks, but he also just turned 20 years old in September. If you're going to pass on a player who was an All-Conference player twice in his teens because of his arm extension, you need to find better and more confident positional coaches.

There is one glaring fault that he has, though. He only played football for a month in 2015 before his meniscus fell to a non-contact drill. Again, if we look at Jack as a prospect from the old, traditional style of scouting, that keeps him out of the first round. You don't want to hinge your franchise on someone who might not be the same guy.

As the running back-linebacker body type has shown us, though, these guys are recovering quicker and quicker. Adrian Peterson returned in less than a season and won the NFL's MVP award. Todd Gurley became the first top-10 running back in NFL history coming off of a knee injury in 2015. As long as nothing is stalling Jack's rehab, there's no reason he shouldn't be in the running for a top-five draft selection.

Outside of Joey Bosa, a defensive end out of Ohio State, and Laremy Tunsil, an offensive tackle out of Mississippi, I'm not sure there's a player in this class with the positional upside that Jack has. He's already signed with Octagon Football, an agency, according to Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal, which means he's ineligible to return to college football. He withdrew from school fairly quickly for a reason: He had already proved he was an elite prospect, healthy knees or not.

The NFL is a constantly reshaping monster, a league which has franchises forever searching for what the next market inefficiency is. In the same breath, it's a copycat league. Teams are going to look at how almost every double-digit win team at the moment has a super athlete at linebacker. Kuechly (Carolina), Matthews (Green Bay), Collins (New England), Brandon Marshall (Denver) and Deone Bucannon (Arizona) all fit the mold. The only 10-win team without one is the Cincinnati Bengals, who are the deepest team in the league outside of that unit.

One reason for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' quick rise from the worst team in the league last year to a respectable one this season? Their young leader. Jameis Winston isn't the only rookie being signaled plays, as Kwon Alexander, considered "just an athlete" coming out of LSU, has started 12 games for the Buccaneers at middle linebacker and racked up 93 total tackles. Alexander, like Jack, was also very young during the draft process and just turned 21 years old in the August before his rookie year.

There are signs in every direction that point toward players like Jack becoming the future norm in the NFL, but not everyone is buying the hype. Traditionalists might end up liking Notre Dame's Jaylon Smith or Alabama's Reggie Ragland more from an off-the-ball linebacker perspective, but with the way the NFL is trending and the hit rate at developing even the rawest of talents, like Collins, at the position, you'd be hard-pressed to get me to move off of my stance. Jack has a massive edge in the athleticism department, and that should be the determining factor in war rooms in April.

Jack played two years and change in the Pac-12. During that time, he was the most talented defender in the conference, even when being compared to players like Leonard Williams, the former USC defensive end who was drafted sixth overall this past season; Thompson; and Marcus Peters, the former Washington cornerback who looks to have the inside track on Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

If you're in the market for a 3-4 inside linebacker, 4-3 middle linebacker or strong-side linebacker, your list starts with "Myles Jack" circled, underlined and bold.