The 2021 draft's running back rush aged worse than the receivers taken as afterthoughts

Eight running backs went off the board to open round 1 of the 2021 draft. Four years later, three of them are off the fantasy radar entirely.

PatBerry's Christian McCaffrey at 1.01 still grades out as advertised — an elite RB. CapitanKampana's Derrick Henry and cplabarge's Saquon Barkley are weekly starters, and ssbradley40 closed the round with Jonathan Taylor, also elite, proof that Sam's self-deprecation has never matched his actual drafting.

Everyone else has less to point to. dray04's Dalvin Cook, DamnBrit's Najee Harris, connorolson's Ezekiel Elliott, and jhen's Nick Chubb are all off the fantasy radar now. Trotter0's Alvin Kamara and CCreech's Aaron Jones survive only as bench pieces with standalone value. vaniano broke from the RB run to take Tyreek Hill at pick 9 — that's now a depth piece. cbbrew's Travis Kelce at 11 became a flex-worthy TE, a modest outcome for a top-12 selection.

The real draft happened later. dray04 answered the Cook whiff by landing Josh Allen, now an elite QB, at 3.27. jhen followed Chubb's fade with A.J. Brown, a weekly WR starter. vaniano quietly paired Tyreek Hill with CeeDee Lamb, another weekly starter. CCreech turned one round-1 running back into two useful ones, adding Josh Jacobs behind Aaron Jones.

Best value of all belongs to connorolson, whose Ezekiel Elliott pick has nothing left to show — but whose round-7 flier on Ja'Marr Chase turned into an elite WR. Four rounds after the first round stopped mattering, that's the pick still paying off.