Rookie RB Anthony McFarland’s size not a deterrent in Steelers’ plans for him

The NFL’s leading rusher last year in the regular season and postseason stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 247 pounds.

The NFL often is a copycat league, but the incoming class of rookie running backs has little resemblance to the Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Henry.

Of the 16 running backs taken in last month’s draft, only two are within 5 inches of Henry, the 2015 Heisman Trophy winner at Alabama who emerged in 2019. And only A.J. Dillon (6-0, 247) is within 20 pounds of Henry. The Packers took Dillon in the second round.

In other words, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ newest running back has much more in common with his incoming rookie position classmates than he does with Henry, who gained 1,986 yards and had 17 touchdowns rushing over 18 games (including the playoffs) last season.

But the 5-8, 208-pound Anthony McFarland doesn’t have to use height to stand tall as a rookie for the Steelers.

“I know I am not the only small back that has played in the NFL,” McFarland said after he was taken with the 18th pick of the fourth round by the Steelers. “If people want to look at me like that (as a smaller back), honestly, it really doesn’t matter to me. I’ve seen all types of sizes of running backs play in league and get it done.”

Anthony McFarland had 298 rushing yards against eventual Big Ten champion Ohio State during a Nov. 17, 2018 game. He had runs of 75, 81, and 52 yards.https://t.co/iivW5CkTPk

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) April 25, 2020

Even after taking Henry out of the equation and judging McFarland only against his 2020 draft peers, he is a small running back. Of the 11 at his position selected before McFarland last month, just one is shorter and two lighter.

The first running back taken — LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who went to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs — was one of those players at 5-7, 207. The only other running back drafted who is lighter than McFarland was Darrynton Evans of Appalachian State (5-10, 203), who went to the Titans.

The three running backs ahead of McFarland on the Steelers offseason depth chart (James Conner, Benny Snell, Jaylen Samuels) weigh an average of 227.3 pounds and stand an average of about 6 feet.

That, in part, is what makes McFarland, as Steelers running backs coach Eddie Faulkner said, “a good complement to what is already on our roster.

“When you compare him to the likes of Conner and Benny, he is a little different as a runner, which I think makes us more valuable as a group.”

After the draft, McFarland said the NFL running backs he models his game after are the New Orleans Saints’ Alvin Kamara and the Carolina Panthers’ Christian McCaffery, two players who excel at pass-catching and fit the modern mold of what a pro running back is.

While small stature isn’t necessarily a mandatory component of that, McCaffery is 5-11, 205, and Kamara is 5-10, 215. That’s close to McFarland, who seems likely to play a complementary role as a pass-catcher and “home-run hitter” for the Steelers.

“Ultimately, it’s just about how bad you want it, running the ball,” McFarland said. “It doesn’t matter about the size. It matters the heart that you have. But me being little, I don’t really take that to heart too much.”

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