Thought by many to be the second best running back in the 2007 NFL Draft after Adrian Peterson, Buffalo’s Marshawn Lynch has delivered---and then some---on the expectations heaped upon him as the 12th pick of the first round.

Solidly built at 5’ 11” 215 pounds, the University of California product is a quick back with 4.45 speed who’s equally adept at breaking runs to the outside as he is hammering the rock up the gut. In addition, Lynch is a quality blocker with soft hands that have been compared with those of Marshall Faulk.

The 21-year-old was brought in to give the Bills a fresh start after shipping off Willis McGahee to the Ravens, who despite his proclamations of greatness, failed to become the consistent workhorse back the franchise hoped to develop when drafting him in 2003.

McGahee’s poor attitude was also a negative as demonstrated by the fact that he never took a liking to the city of Buffalo, and often decried its lack of entertainment venues. By the same token, the Bills coaching staff was similarly disenchanted with his poor grasp of the playbook.

By entrusting the role of lead runner to Lynch, fans have witnessed much steadier week-to-week production than that of his predecessor. In fact, Lynch has yet to fall below 64-yards rushing in any game this season and has impressively generated decent yardage against the upper-echelon run defenses of Pittsburgh, New England and Baltimore.

As a runner, Lynch shares some similarities to Washington’s Clinton Portis with his hard burst and ability to discern running lanes as they develop in front of him. Running behind a gargantuan offensive line averaging 334-pounds per man will also help the rookie accelerate into his stride, making him even harder to tackle.

While Lynch’s maiden voyage through the NFL may seem to be a successful one at this stage, it wouldn’t be far fetched to conclude that the young talent is being underutilized by his club even while averaging 20-plus carries in his last five contests.

In his seven games as a professional, Lynch has yet to record more than three receptions in any one week despite his extraordinary skills as a receiver. To put that in perspective, he caught 34 passes for 328 yards in his final year as a California Golden Bear, which beats Peterson’s receiving totals in his entire three-year collegiate career at Oklahoma.

Even with his seemingly endless potential, however, one must take into account that Lynch was never the hands-down feature back in college. He was, in fact, always forced to share the load with others.

Furthermore, one must also factor in a number of lingering hand and arm injuries he experienced in the past along with a congenital disc abnormality which may cause him trouble down the road.

That aside, Lynch remains an elite-level rookie that should be the centerpiece of Buffalo’s offense for the next five-to-seven years provided he stay healthy and exert greater patience by following his blocks and not falling prey to the temptation of cutting everything outside in search of the home run play. So far, the future franchise back has been sufficiently disciplined while proving to be quite the bruiser by breaking tackles and refusing to go down at first contact.

Although he hasn’t yet achieved the century mark in rushing yards in any of his games this season, Lynch will be presented with some prime opportunities to really explode in the coming weeks with dream matchups versus the defensively-challenged Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins (twice) and Cleveland Browns.