section_path: Professional career/Pre-draft
section_name: Pre-draft
paragraph_text: Pre-draft
  
  Entering the 2018 NFL draft, Barkley was widely projected to be a top 10 NFL pick. In the weeks leading up to the NFL Combine, Barkley's stock rose even higher. By late February 2018, some mock drafts projected him as high as the second selection overall, the highest for a running back since Reggie Bush in 2006. ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr., who has history of not supporting the selection of running backs in the NFL draft's first round, said "Barkley is a once in a lifetime talent; teams that pass on this young man will be sorry."
  
  At the combine, Barkley had a performance that was widely praised, running a 4.4 second 40-yard dash and doing 29 bench presses of 225 pound weight, tying for the most reps by any running back at this combine. According to NFL analyst Ian Rapoport, the Cleveland Browns were "strongly considering" drafting Barkley first overall, which would have made him the first running back since Ki-Jana Carter in 1995–also of Penn State—to be selected first overall.
  
  Entering the 2018 NFL draft, Barkley was widely projected to be a top 10 NFL pick. In the weeks leading up to the NFL Combine, Barkley's stock rose even higher. By late February 2018, some mock drafts projected him as high as the second selection overall, the highest for a running back since Reggie Bush in 2006. ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr., who has history of not supporting the selection of running backs in the NFL draft's first round, said "Barkley is a once in a lifetime talent; teams that pass on this young man will be sorry."
  
  At the combine, Barkley had a performance that was widely praised, running a 4.4 second 40-yard dash and doing 29 bench presses of 225 pound weight, tying for the most reps by any running back at this combine. According to NFL analyst Ian Rapoport, the Cleveland Browns were "strongly considering" drafting Barkley first overall, which would have made him the first running back since Ki-Jana Carter in 1995–also of Penn State—to be selected first overall.