Notre Dame RB Audric Estimé logged career-high production in 2023, and in the process, he further supplemented his 2024 NFL Draft scouting report. How does Estimé project as an NFL prospect, and what might he provide to an offense at the next level?
Audric Estimé’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 5’11 3/8″
- Weight: 221 pounds
- Length: 32 3/8″
- Wingspan: 76 1/2″
- Hand: 10 1/4″
- Position: Running Back
- School: Notre Dame
- Current Year: Junior
Estimé is a physical presence to behold. That was the case as early as his high school days when he was a 215-pound senior who ran for 10.5 yards per carry.
The four-star Estimé signed with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish out of St. Joseph Regional, and it didn’t take him long to make an impact in South Bend. Estimé played sparingly as a true freshman in 2021, but in 2022, Kyren Williams made the leap to the NFL, leaving Estimé as the lead back in his stead.
Estimé racked up 920 yards and 11 touchdowns on 156 carries while sharing touches with Chris Tyree. He also caught nine passes for 135 yards and a score.
Pray for Alijah Clark after this brutal assault from Notre Dame running back Audric Estime 🙏
— College Football Network (@CFN365) October 29, 2022
Estimé kept the starting role into 2023, and the sustained faith of his coaching staff led to career-high numbers in a ground-breaking third-year campaign. The Notre Dame star rushed for 1,341 yards and 18 scores on 231 carries — averaging 6.4 yards per tote — and also caught 17 passes for 142 yards.
The role waiting for Estimé at the NFL level might be a bit more confined than other backs, but there’s always a place for runners like him that can keep the chains moving and grate their way through physicality.
Estimé’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Bowling ball of a back at 221 pounds, with overwhelming mass, density, and leg churn.
- Can use his frame and smooth weight redistributions to shrug off direct contact.
- Forward-charging broken-tackle machine with high-level balance and aggression.
- Uses his dense midsection to absorb direct hits and stay on his feet.
- Incredibly instinctive at recollecting his feet amidst contact and re-accelerating.
- Shows off eye-catching explosiveness and accelerative capacity upon entering space.
- Possesses enough flexibility to bend upfield and sustain acceleration moving vertically.
- Flashes good one-cut agility and foot quickness behind the line for his size.
- Has the strength to pry through solo tackles and drive his legs vertically.
- Shows good patience and discipline between the tackles, following blockers closely.
- Possesses the baseline interior vision to snake through lanes with lateral adjustments.
- Has the instincts to plant outside, then redirect inside to tug defenders off-course.
- Can roll his shoulders to evade early contact threats and slide to outside gaps to adapt.
- Flashes excellent body control and focus as a receiver catching away from his frame.
- Physical pass blocker who lowers his shoulder into contact.
Weaknesses
- At times, can make better use of stride variations and split steps ahead of the line.
- Sometimes careens into blockers and doesn’t use tempo variations to manage space.
- At times, lacks full-field vision and fails to recognize wide open spaces outside.
- Sometimes fails to trigger on ideal backside C-gap opportunities on inside zone runs.
- Overall, not a natural improviser when the middle of the line is clogged up.
- Hips are a bit stiff, which can cause slight re-acceleration delays after sharp cuts.
- Largely a vertically-oriented runner who lacks high-end change of direction.
- Slight hip stiffness limits his ability to stack cuts and direction changes in succession.
- Sometimes runs with his pad level too high, sapping at initial acceleration through gaps.
- Lacks true breakaway speed and can be run down by defenders with superior range.
- Generally has sturdy ball carriage but can be prone to peanut punches in space.
- Despite flashes of ball skills, isn’t an overly flexible or versatile receiving threat.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Estimé grades out as an early Day 3 prospect on my 2024 NFL Draft. Based on his volume-back size, explosiveness testing, production, and age, he could sneak into the top 100. But in either range, he has the tools to be a solid early-down NFL back with volume ability.
Estimé does have limitations that constrict his projected versatility. His hips are a bit stiff, and he’s not incredibly free-flowing as a lateral mover. He also lacks elite foot speed and recalibration quickness, nor does he have exceptional creative instincts behind the line of scrimmage.
Estimé, instead, wins as a reliable volume back with great explosiveness — corroborated by his 38″ vertical and 10’5″ broad jump — good layered vision on the interior, passable one-cut agility, and an overwhelming physical profile that features dominating play strength, density, physicality, and hyper-elite contact balance.
With his solid processing ability, vision, patience, and discipline between the tackles, Estimé can find lanes through which to chisel upfield with his fleet-footed burst and savvy hip adjustments. And once he encounters contact, Estimé has the strength, leg churn, and contact balance to break through and finish forward on runs.
KEEP READING: Top RBs in the 2024 NFL Draft
Give Estimé a good offensive line, and he has the tools to be a David Montgomery-type yardage generator who can keep the chains moving when his team has a positive game script. The 20-year-old is well worth a mid-round pick and could exceed that draft billing in the right situation.
Draft with your friends today! PFN’s Mock Draft Simulator now supports multiple drafters during the same draft! Ensure your player rankings are up to date on the 2024 NFL Draft Big Board and you know what every NFL team needs before drafting.