It’s clear that some teams with a first-round running-back interest – Miami, New England, New Orleans, Seattle – are studying both players hard, and it could come down to whether they trust that Ingram’s knee won’t give him trouble for the next few seasons.

“The question is whether you think Ingram’s toughness and physicality sets him apart from Leshoure,” one coach said at the league meetings last month. “I’ve seen a lot of Leshoure being physical himself, and he [Leshoure] is faster to the corner. I think he’s going to have a very good career.”