Wayne Knight

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The Magic Word

Ronnie Rivers just went on IR with a calf injury. Rivers is a small RB who measured 5'7 1/2'' tall and 198 pounds at his pro day and ran 4.57 seconds in the 40. Rivers was an UDFA in 2022. To make the regular roster this season, he beat out fan favorite rookie UDFA, Dean Connors. Wayne Knight is a very small RB who plays for UCLA. He is almost universally projected to be an UDFA. On multiple boards, his name isn't listed at all. If the Rams signed him as an UDFA in 2027, my prediction is that he would leapfrog both Rivers and Connors on the depth chart (Rivers is on an expiring contract, so he might not even be in the mix anymore.)

Knight has the same name as a well-known comedic actor, who played "Newman" on Seinfeld and "Dennis" in the original Jurassic Park movie. One reason Knight isn't better known is he played for James Madison prior to transferring to UCLA. He's the offensive counterpart to another very small player that I like who also transferred from JMU to UCLA (Bob Chesney is the new HC for the Bruins and brought JMU guys with him), DJ Barksdale, who is a slot CB. Barksdale is projected to be a 7th round to UDFA prospect.

I suspect that some NFL scouts might be higher on Knight than the media scouting community, because late in the 2025 season, leading up to the playoff game between JMU and Oregon, the DC for Oregon was very impressed with Knight and called him a future NFL player.

Before you dismiss this thread just because Knight is a tiny guy and is ranked as an UDFA, consider this tidbit. PFN has an advanced metric called "impact score" for each position, attempting to measure the relative effectiveness of each player. So far in 2026, guess where Knight ranks in impact score among RBs. He's the best RB in the entire country. 1st out of 656 players.

 

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Part 1: Background

Name, School: Wayne Knight. 5th year redshirt senior at UCLA. James Madison 2022 to 2025. Studies sociology at JMU.

Size, estimated speed: Listed as 5'7'' tall and 193 pounds. Draftscout 5'6 5/8'' tall and 193 pounds, 4.40 seconds in 40. Listed by JMU as 185 pounds in 2022, then 189 pounds, 184 pounds, then 189 pounds in 2025.

Has 3 siblings. Older brother was a RB at Delaware. Younger brother played with him at JMU as a WR. Growing up, his football idol was DeSean Jackson and he aspired to be a WR but he was too short.

Lightly recruited out of HS in Delaware. Was committed to Stony Brook, then JMU offered right before signing day and he chose that school, because it was such a successful football program. Curt Cignetti was JMU's HC at the time.

In 2023, he was so low on the depth chart that he redshirted. The turnaround in his career coincided with Cignetti leaving for Indiana and Bob Chesney becoming the new HC. There were 3 RBs ahead of him to begin the 2024 season and he wasn't expected to get much playing time, but 2 of those RBs got injured. He had a massive breakout season in 2025.

Undisclosed injury spring of 2026.

2024 (13 games, 2 starts) 77-449-2 rushing (5.8 ave), 15-137-2 receiving
2025 (14 starts) 207-1,373-9 rushing (6.6 ave), 40-397-1 receiving, 19-180 punt returns (9.5 ave), 1 fumble. 79.5 PFN impact score, 50th in nation out of 269 RBs.
2026 (3 games) 39-345-8 rushing (8.8 ave), 5-53 receiving, 5-108 kick returns (21.6 ave), 99.8 PFN impact score, 1st in nation.

2 career fumbles (the other fumble was from 2022) on 422 touches, an excellent ball security rate.

Good natured but some of his answers to interview questions don't "read the room" correctly.

Sam Teets Day 3 tier but didn't make the cut for the top 200 to be included on the big board. So, presumably Teets has him as a potential late round pick.
Ian Cummings (PFN) 401 (UDFA)
Jacob Infante (PFN) 471 (UDFA)
Draftscout UDFA
FirstandTen not ranked among 415 players.
NFLMDD consensus board not ranked.
AtoZSports simulator not ranked.
DraftBuzz not ranked.
Drafttek not ranked among 450 players.
SticktotheModel not ranked.

As you can see, on most draft boards he doesn't exist. You have no option of drafting him in their simulators. Teets is the only expert who has him with a chance to get picked and he's only a fringe prospect on Teets's board. I won't hide the ball from you. I'm about to give Knight a higher grade than he got from any other expert, including Teets. My basis for his draft grade is there was a very similar RB who played for Sean McVay in Washington named Chris Thompson. One year, Thompson torched the Rams when they played us. Thompson played at Florida State and was drafted in 2013. Knight and Thompson are almost exactly the same size. So, I put Knight in the same round where Thompson was selected.

 

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Part 2: Strengths

While he's very small, he's strong for his size and has a dense build. Short, but squatty.

Fluid hips. Very sudden. Great body control. Good speed.

Excellent receiving threat. Smooth and quick releases out of the backfield to get into his route. Explosive routes. Versatile to align in the slot or use in motion. Remember, he wanted to be a WR. He's only playing RB because he didn't grow big enough.

Very difficult to cover at the top of the route. Super quick feet.

Electric cuts. Sudden burst. Good contact balance

Good KR and PR ability. Special teams value gives him a leg up trying to win a roster spot in training camp.

Almost no fumbles on his stats.

An aggressive and willing blocker. Scans appropriately in pass protection. Solid chip blocks.

Since he's a late bloomer who was buried on the depth chart early in his career at JMU, he doesn't have as many career rushing attempts as a typical 5th year player, so not as beat up.

Prototypical scat-back and return specialist. Knight is a niche, specialist RB who will never develop into a true RB1 or RB2. His skills and athleticism, however, fit very well for that defined, specialist role. In Detroit, Matthew Stafford played with Theo Riddick. Calling Riddick a running back is almost misleading, because the better title would be "receiving back". Riddick had far more receiving yards than he had rushing yards in the NFL. Similar deal with Chris Thompson, the guy who played for McVay in Washington. Thompson had far more receiving yards than rushing yards.

 

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Part 3: Weaknesses

He's an Eagles fan.

He doesn't like In-N-Out Burger.

Too small for the NFL. Poor frame and power for blocking. Not good in short yardage situations.

Gets stoned and can't drive forward through defenders to add yards after contact. Gets snared by ankle tackles and doesn't have the leg drive to get out of them.

A small target for the QB to hit with passes.

Limited ceiling. Not an every-down RB. His role likely would be limited to being a 3rd-down back, 2-minute drill type situations and maybe as a change-of-pace back if the starters needed rest for a series or a few plays. He's unlikely to play a high percentage of the team's offensive snaps over the course of a season.

Replaceable. There has been a proliferation of small and shifty RBs in college football in recent years. Even if a player like Knight made the roster, would he get signed to a 2nd contract? More likely, once he got older and wasn't as cheap, the team would move on. Maybe try to rent him on a vet minimum contract for another year if nobody else wanted him. Easy come, easy go. I don't think it is necessary to invest much into most players to fill the "Ronnie Rivers" role on the roster, whether in terms of draft capital or cap space, due to demand and supply ratio. It isn't difficult to find similar RBs, so if your guy gets hurt or becomes too expensive, just look for a new candidate. Consequently, I think there is a ceiling for Knight's draft grade. If you can reliably find RBs like Rivers and Connors as UDFAs, is it really necessary to use more than a late round pick to get a different RB?

 

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Part 4: Draft Grade and Pro Comp

5th round grade. (Tarik Cohen, 4th round 2017, Chicago Bears, North Carolina A&T)

Cohen had a great start to his career and made the Pro Bowl as a return specialist, but then he suffered a very serious knee/leg injury, then a couple of years later injured his Achilles. A sad ending for an electric and entertaining player. Cohen was 5'6 1/2'' tall and 179 pounds.

Other similarly sized players have been effective in the pros. Dante Hall is one of the greatest returners in the history of the NFL and at the end of his career played for the Rams. Hall and Knight are almost exactly the same size. Hall was a 5th round pick.

Knight is a "draft nobody" at the moment, but this could change as the 2026 season progresses. He's very explosive and quick and is particularly valuable in the passing game. An NFL team might draft him purely to be a returner and not care whether he ever plays on offense. I think he's a very underrated prospect who should be ranked much high on draft boards. Maybe that's not saying much, considering he isn't ranked at all on the majority of boards. We can't even put this guy in the top 400? Fine with me. I'll gladly take him as an UDFA.