As we barrel towards the draft, we’re taking a deeper dive into some of the Green Bay Packers’ 30 visits. Today, we’re looking at Mike Washington Jr, running back from Arkansas.
Washington is a 5th year senior, having played his final season at Arkansas. That was the best season of his career, rushing for 1,070 yards on 167 carries (6.4 Yards Per Carry). He played 1 year (2024) at New Mexico State and 3 years (2021-2023) at Buffalo.
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Washington measured 6’1”, 223 lbs at the combine and ran an eye-popping 4.33 40-yard dash (the fastest time among RBs at the combine this year). Mockdraftable has his closest athletic comp as Adrian Peterson (84.1% profile match).
If RAS is your thing, Washington came in at 9.87
The numbers all point to Washington as a freak athlete, so what does the film show?
The athleticism is certainly on display, but there’s a lot more to his game (both good and bad). We’ll start with the good.
The explosion is real. You’ll see him get tackled from behind on quite a few long runs, so he seems to run out of gas in terms of some of his long speed, but the short-area burst is impressive. When he finds a sliver of space, he’ll hit and be out the other side in the blink of an eye. He also shows some really nice contact balance.
It’s not just burst. Washington shows some great vision and patience. You’ll see him wait for his blocks to set up before shooting forward. There’s a nice pace to his game when he needs it. He’s also great at setting up his blockers, manipulating linebackers with subtle movements before breaking back behind the block. Some really advanced stuff from him as a runner. That suits him well as a between-the-tackles runner, but he has the explosiveness/feel to bounce the run outside if an opportunity presents itself. There were times he was a little too ready to bounce a run, but I chalk that up to the interior of the line getting demolished in a couple of the games I watched. He seemed to try to run between the tackles early in the game, but if it got blown up too many times, he started looking to bounce to the outside.
Though his athletic profile suggests he could work nicely as a power back, there’s not a ton of that on his film. Still, you’ll see the occasional truck stick in his game.
He’s not asked to do much as a receiver out of the backfield, but when he is, he is a natural catcher of the ball. He doesn’t have a huge route tree, but he has shown himself to be effective on the occasional vertical route from the backfield and checkdowns. It could be that he’ll only ever be a limited receiver, but I think there’s more to that side of his game that can be unlocked.
In the “concerns” section of his game, I have “pass pro” written largely with a red pen. While most running backs don’t come out of college with a fully formed pass pro game, Washington seems severely lacking. He’s not asked to do it a lot – and it was his first year in the Arkansas system – so those could be contributing factors, but there’s just not much there.
His main issue is that he doesn’t really attack the assignment. Yes, he’ll drop his eyes at time, but there’s a tentativeness to the way he approaches pass pro. Even when he successfully completes the assignment, there’s something lacking. Instead of putting himself in the best position and attacking, he’ll sit back and stop his feet, letting the rusher take full control of the rush angle.
The pass pro assignments themselves seemed simplistic. Instead of being a moving part of the plan, they would have Washington lock onto a specific player. He’s not reading anything: he’s locking onto a specific player and shadowing him.
During a meeting, these are some of the main reps I’d pull up. “What was your assignment here? What was the pass pro plan? What were the coaching points on these?” I’m certainly not saying that he is incapable of becoming a good RB in pass protection, but it’s certainly not something I would expect him to be even slightly-below-average at in his rookie year. That would take him off the field on a lot of your obvious passing downs.
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A couple other assorted notes before we finish up.
There’s a weird forward lean thing Washington will do just before the snap of the ball that looks like a false start, but, in the 4 games I watched, it wasn’t flagged a single time. To be clear, this is not a Washington thing: this is an Arkansas offense thing. They have this slow forward-lean pre-snap that will sometimes go to motion and sometimes won’t, which I think is why the refs keep the flags in their pockets. That will be flagged in the NFL, so that will need to get cleared up. You can see an example of it from the wide view of the next clip: just keep an eye on him in the backfield.
As far as the offense itself, that’s another “concern”. Arkansas runs an option-heavy, power-based running game. I praised Washington’s vision earlier, but the rushing offense is designed to point the RB at a specific point in the line, then send a lot of big bodies to clear the road. For as much as the Packers have worked to incorporate more power concepts into their running game, they are still primarily a zone run team. Some RBs work better in the power game. How will Washington work in a zone-heavy rushing attack?
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Washington also has an issue with ball security, with 10 career fumbles in his last 3 seasons. He had 3 fumbles during 2025. Is that something he can improve on?
Final small concern: when Washington’s part in the play is done, he just kinda stops. Play going the other way? He’ll stop what he’s doing and watch. You’re not going to see him running down the field to follow a play or try to cut off a potential tackler. I don’t mean this to be a knock on Washington, but it’s something else I’d ask when going through film. Some college offenses prefer their guys to do this to stay fresh when their number is called. I don’t know if that’s the case in Arkansas, but I’d certainly ask. Based on the way Washington plays, I don’t think he’s a half-effort guy, but this specific thing is a trend I noticed and something I’d be curious to hear more about.
Final thoughts
Washington is a stout, explosive runner with good initial burst, good contact balance and advanced feel/vision. With that combination, he’s a threat for an explosive play every time he gets the ball. I have questions about how he may fit in a zone-based system, but, with his combination of vision and burst, those concerns are not particularly loud.
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Due to his limitations in pass pro he wouldn’t be an every down player out of the gate. Per Dane Brugler’s The Beast, an NFL scout said that Washington, “put his head down and worked from the moment he arrived [at Arkansas],” which speaks to the kind of player who will likely work to improve in this area of his game. Still, that’s not something that turns around immediately, and some guys never quite get the feel. You don’t necessarily need him to be a brick wall, but can be be more than a traffic cone?
Washington is projected to be drafted in the 3rd round. If the Packers pick him in the draft, he will likely see limited time on the field as a rookie, but would be the likely starter in 2027. When he’s on the field in 2026 you could see a quick, exciting player who is likely to rip off a couple explosive runs. A limited role in his first year would allow him to work on the finer points of his game and give him time to learn how to be a more complete back for 2027.
The Packers have other needs, but they like to look a year ahead. If they take Washington in the 3rd, I’d be excited to see what he could add to the Packers backfield.
Games Watched (2025):
Week 5: Notre Dame
Week 6: Tennessee
Week 7: Texas A&M
Week 11: Texas
Albums listened to: Sister Ray Davies – Holy Island Baby; Nine Inch Nails & Boys Noize – Nine Inch Noize; Adrian Younge – Younge; Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
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