GREEN BAY, Wis. —Georgia's Knowshon Moreno and Ohio State's Chris "Beanie" Wells of Ohio State, the leading running backs, symbolize the overriding theme of the 2009 National Football League draft.

After sizing up this group of running backs, director of player personnel Trent Baalke of the San Francisco 49ers put it this way: "There's value to be had throughout. There's just no superstar."

Moreno, 5 feet 10› inches and 213 pounds, is an energetic, attacking type of ball carrier who scored 32 touchdowns in his two years at Georgia .

"He's Walter Payton," said one AFC personnel man who was scouting when "Sweetness" came out of Jackson State as the No. 4 pick in 1975. "He looks like Payton, his attitude is just like Payton's and he's got Payton's balance and leaping ability."

Wells, 6-1 and 237, put up 30 touchdowns in his three seasons for the Buckeyes, breaking long run after long run with his see-you-later speed.

"Just like your Larry Johnson, your Steven Jackson," Chicago general manager Jerry Angelo said. "In that mode. Very gifted. He's got great feet for a big man."

Surely, then, both players must be ticketed for the first five or 10 picks in a draft that's so weak at the top?

It sure doesn't look that way four days before the drafting begins.

The problem, at least according to many personnel people, is that each player has a major flaw hindering his chance to become a game-changing back.

Moreno doesn't have great speed. Wells hasn't been durable amid whispers that he isn't tough.

"I thought this group was going to be better," another longtime scout said. "Then when they ran and didn't perform as well as they should . . . it's a very average group. But one of these guys will be the star."

At the combine, Moreno weighed 217 pounds and clocked in at 4.54 seconds in the 40-yard dash on FieldTurf. He was sick for pro day three weeks later, weighed 210 and ran 4.62 twice on a faster artificial surface.

For the purposes of comparison, let's assign Moreno a weight of 213 and a 40 time of 4.54.

A total of 15 running backs weighing 213 pounds or less were drafted in the first round from 1991-2008. Every last one of them ran a faster 40 than Moreno.

In chronological order, the list includes Vaughn Dunbar (4.48), Garrison Hearst (4.40), Robert Smith (4.48), Marshall Faulk (4.40), Greg Hill (4.44), Napoleon Kaufman (4.45), Tim Biakabutuka (4.45), Warrick Dunn (4.46), John Avery (4.39), Thomas Jones (4.48), Michael Bennett (4.38), Reggie Bush (4.41), DeAngelo Williams (4.50), Felix Jones (4.45) and Chris Johnson (4.26).

One has to go all the way back to the 17th selection of the 1990 draft to find a first-round back who was lighter and slower than Moreno. His name was Emmitt Smith, who, at 5-9 and 200, managed to do rather well for himself with his 4.55 speed.

Joseph Addai (5-11, 214) and Cadillac Williams (5-11, 217) are backs of recent vintage with comparable size and style to Moreno. But Addai ran 4.40 and Williams clocked 4.45.

"(Moreno) runs hard, he's patient behind his blockers and he's explosive," another AFC scout said. "But do I think he will be all-pro? No. He doesn't have great speed or great size."

Moreno finished No. 1 in a Journal Sentinel survey of 15 personnel men with a national orientation. Each was asked to rate the top five backs, with a first-place vote worth five points, a second worth four and so on.

In a close vote, Moreno edged Wells, 67-64, although each player had seven first-place votes. The other first went to Connecticut's Donald Brown, who totaled 37 points.

Following, in order, were: Pittsburgh's LeSean McCoy, 32; Iowa's Shonn Greene, 19; North Carolina State's Andre Brown, four; and Alabama's Glen Coffee, two.

The top five vote-getters all are underclassmen, a trend that is becoming stronger. All seven backs taken in the first round in the last two drafts were underclassmen as well.

Running backs know better than anyone else that they only have so many hits in them. Since the NFL first welcomed large numbers of juniors in 1990, 31 of the 63 (49.2 percent) first-round backs have been underclassmen.

Wells was called "kind of a drama queen" by one personnel man who grew tired of watching him come on and off the field because of nagging injury. He didn't miss any games until last season, when a toe injury in the opener knocked him out of the next three games.

Without Wells, the Buckeyes were annihilated by Southern California, 35-3.

"I think that really dinged him in the minds of many," one AFC personnel man said. "But the people at Ohio State that I talk to seem to think it was pretty legitimate. They liked him."

Given Wells' 4.45 speed and exceptional athletic ability, there is a lot to like.

Because of his size-speed ratio, some of the better comparables to Wells would be Ronnie Brown (6-0, 233, 4.44), Deuce McAllister (6-1, 221, 4.42) and Jamal Lewis (5-11›, 231, 4.45), and to a lesser extent Jackson (6-1›, 232, 4.59) and Eddie George (6-2›, 230, 4.55).

All five of those players, however, were known for hard if not punishing running. Wells, who galls some scouts by running out of bounds, isn't.

"You've got to learn to play 100 percent but not be 100 percent," George told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 2007 when Wells was nursing various bumps and bruises. "As the running back, the bell-ringer for the team, you've got to go out there and play, and play tough."

George, a former Buckeye, endured 2,992 touches without missing a game in his first eight NFL seasons.

It would seem Wells has a way to go in that department.