OT: South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore declares for NFL Draft

Just because a player comes back fine from one injury doesn't mean he will from the next one. 

Injuries are also a major mental drain.  Rehabing back from an injury is tough, and doing it back to back years is that much harder.  Every time this kid has to battle back, he might have a little less drive knowing it might all be for nothing. 

He was a good RB, but if I'm a pro team, I'm not using a pick any higher than 6th on him.

For the guy who said there aren't many good RBs coming out, I don't agree.  Guys I would draft above Lattimore include:

Montee Ball
LeVeon Bell
Jonathan Franklin
Stepfan Taylor
Eddie Lacy
Kenjon Barner (maybe)
Also maybe Rex Burkhead

Point is, if teams are skeptical of Lattimore because of his injuries, there are some solid options out there who are proven and healthy.  The first five for sure. 
 

This is a huge injury to come back from, especially for a running back, due to the cutting/change-of-direction that accompanies the positiion, let alone the risk of further injury. 

Return-to-play is typically a year, if you're lucky (this is not an isolated ACL a la AP, this is at least a two-fer of the ACL, LCL, and probably meniscal tear)

The concern from a pro team's point of view would be associated meniscal/condylar cartilage damage from Lattimore's injury.  This seems to be correlated with worse long-term function, especially in pro athletes.

Would guess a low-round pick, if lucky, otherwise a FA.

He also wasn't killing it this year. Do you remember Brian's first write-up on South Carolina? They have had issues running the ball all year, even with him. He has killed some average and bad competition but has been shut down against really good SEC teams. It seems South Carolina has had some similar issues with running the ball that we have had. Also, that was as bad as a McGhee's injury except it was a second knee injury for a guy who made a lot of his bones for being able to run through tackles. Late round pick for someone who wants has a several 5-7 rounds picks and thinks that they can rehab him to the point of at least being a solid back up, if not better.

Lattimore is extremely overrated, in my opinion.  The guy only averaged 4.6 yards/carry this year before he got hurt.  He gets the yards that are there, and that's about it.  He's not particularly fast or strong or shifty.  I could see him having success for a team with a good passing game (like the Packers) because those yards are easier to gain without a bunch of guys in the box.  But if he goes somewhere like Pittsburgh or Baltimore where they really want to run the ball and defenses will stack the box, I don't see him being anything more than average.

This is a good move for him.  Very few Rbs that look like they have a chance to go in the first round if any.  Maybe Gio Bernard or Lacy if he comes out.  Other than that there is Franklin from UCLA, Monte Ball. Randall out of Ok St. if he comes out and Gillislee out of Florida.  

You're the third person to say this, but it's not exactly the same.  McGahee had a much better college career than Lattimore has, and McGahee's injury wasn't on the heels of a similar injury a year before. 

Also - from what I've read, McGahee's injury wasn't as bad at Lattimore's. 

Lastly - things have changed in 10 years.  Lots of teams picked RBs in the first round in McGahee's time.  The RB position has been de-emphasized nowadays, both between the increase in the passing game and in the lack of durability of RBs leading to teams using multiple running backs.