When you talk about a running back going second overall, it just feels like a different time. And it was. Though Saquon Barkley was drafted second overall only two years ago, he is nothing less than an exception of circumstance, if not an exception of talent.
In the 1960s, 10 running backs were drafted in the top 3. Truth be told, the success of those players wasn’t much different than the success we’ve come to expect from the most recent 10 running backs to get selected that high in the draft. O.J. Simpson was the final of those 10 in 1969 and he is the only one of them in the Hall of Fame.