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Elusiveness
One of the things that really pops out at you while watching Abdullah’s tape is his jump cut. He has one of the best jump cuts I’ve seen, period. His is on the same level as Marshawn Lynch’s and LeSean McCoy. He almost pulls it out of nowhere. This quickness was also displayed by his combine times, where he led RBs in the 3 Cone Drill and 20 Yard Shuttle. He changes direction on a dime and breaks ankles. This makes him electric in space against overmatched defenders.
Balance
Abdullah’s small frame gives him a low center of gravity and he transforms that into great balance. He’s great bouncing off of would-be tacklers and moving forward, as well as staying on his feet when tacklers try to trip him up. As seen in the above gifs, this can get him 3 or 4 extra yards on any given run and can turn an average gain into a good one.
Turning the Corner
Like most one cut backs, something else Abdullah does really well is getting to the edge and turning up field for big gains. He has a plethora of examples above. While he does not have top-end speed, as I mentioned above, he possesses enough to get to the edge of the defense. He is also elusive enough to avoid tacklers around the LoS and get turned around the corner before he is taken down. His great vision, which I also mentioned above, allows him to pick the right time to turn it up field to maximize his gain. This will be very useful on outside zone and stretch plays in the NFL.
Pass Catching
Abdullah was used heavily in the passing game. He even lined up as a receiver a number of times, and is quite an accomplished route runner for a RB. He will be able to step in and contribute day one in the passing game for a NFL team. He even ran strong routes out of the backfield, as you can see in the third and fourth gifs above. He has solid hands, and catches away from his body. One downside is that he doesn’t have all that large of a catch radius because he isn’t very tall and there were a number of times passes sailed over him or in front of him because of this. However, this is mainly a problem when he runs a WR-like route, and he is also a useful tool when running more traditional RB routes (flats, screens, and checkdowns) out of the backfield, often taking those passes for many yards after the catch.
