2025 Draft Board: Running Backs
The below information I included in the QB draft board yesterday, I'm going to include it for every board, but it will be identical on each.
If you've ever read one of my draft board articles before then you have an idea of what you'll see below, but there is a slight change. If you haven't read them, quick explanation, I use stats, athletic testing, past performance from current pro players, and formulas to try and determine the chances a prospect in the current draft has at succeeding as a pro. In the past I used a "PSR", and an "A Met" and "S Met" to give every player a round grade. Now, it all comes down to a Score. The scores differ by position, so before each draft board I will put what the high score was between the 2020-2023 drafts at that position. And at the bottom you will see a small blurb I wrote up for each position.
This will be updated as pro day results become available.
High Score: 87.00
My Draft Board
| Players | College | Score | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashton Jeanty | Boise State | 87.31 | Day 1 |
| Kaleb Johnson | Iowa | 69.98 | Day 2 |
| Omarion Hampton | North Carolina | 69.79 | Day 2 |
| RJ Harvey | UCF | 69.12 | Day 2 |
| Brashard Smith | SMU | 65.62 | Day 2 |
| Bhayshul Tuten | Virginia Tech | 62.17 | Day 2 |
| Devin Neal | Kansas | 60.53 | Day 2 |
| Tahj Brooks | Texas Tech | 58.48 | Day 2 |
| Cam Skattebo | Arizona State | 57.43 | Day 2 |
| Ollie Gordon | Oklahoma State | 56.71 | Day 3 |
| Quinshon Judkins | Ohio State | 55.68 | Day 3 |
| TreVeyon Henderson | Ohio State | 55.07 | Day 3 |
| DJ Giddens | Kansas State | 53.99 | Day 3 |
| Damien Martinez | Miami | 53.88 | Day 3 |
| Corey Kiner | Cincinnati | 53.34 | Day 3 |
| Dylan Sampson | Tennessee | 53.15 | Day 3 |
| LeQuint Allen | Syracuse | 53.01 | Day 3 |
| Kalel Mullings | Michigan | 52.52 | Day 3 |
| Woody Marks | USC | 52.30 | Day 3 |
| Montrell Johnson Jr. | Florida | 52.10 | Day 3 |
| Phil Mafah | Clemson | 50.91 | Day 3 |
| Jarquez Hunter | Auburn | 50.74 | Day 3 |
| Jordan James | Oregon | 49.63 | Day 3 |
| Donovan Edwards | Michigan | 49.57 | Day 3 |
| Trevor Etienne | Georgia | 49.42 | Day 3 |
| Raheim Sanders | Arkansas | 49.33 | Day 3 |
| Kyle Monangai | Rutgers | 49.19 | Day 3 |
| Jaydon Blue | Texas | 48.17 | Day 3 |
| Ulysses Bentley IV | Ole Miss | 47.28 | Day 3 |
| Marcus Yarns | Delaware | 46.37 | Undrafted |
| Ja'Quinden Jackson | Arkansas | 45.80 | Undrafted |
Things worth noting:
-This RB class is phenomenal looking. Only one player with an undrafted rating! I think that would change if Mullings or Mafah decide to run at their Pro Day, but for now I'm just going to marvel at how clean it looks.
-Although he didn't run, I'd say Cam Skattebo was one of the biggest winners at the Combine. He measured in bigger than I expected, and his jumps were really impressive. We already knew about how hard he's willing to fight, now he's got some measured explosiveness to back it up. His pro day forty hurt him a little on my board, but it wasn't enough to knock him from a Day 2 grade, it just dropped him down from 5th to 9th.
-TreVeyon Henderson has a lot of buzz right now, so my Day 3 grade on him is going to look questionable. Don't forget though, he missed chunks of time his Sophomore and Junior years due to foot injuries. As for Judkins, looking over his seasons, the only thing I can figure is his sophomore year with Ole Miss hurt him due to the inefficiency. If I was a GM planning to use an early pick on a RB, and was picking between one of these two, I'd go with Judkins.
-Soooo many Day 3 options, that I will add a little information to go with the success rate board you'll see below: Two of the three Day 3 guys that have succeeded so far, were drafted in the second round of the NFL draft. That's not to say it's a lock if they go in the second, nor is it to say they're screwed if they don't, I'm just pointing out the draft capital spent on the players, and the added weight it carries.
-I gave it some thought, and decided if I'm going to pick a sleeper at a position, it's not necessarily going to be someone with a Day 3 grade on my board, I'm going to go with players that aren't getting a lot of buzz that my numbers like. Here, that's Tahj Brooks. He weighed in over 210, and ran a 4.06 short shuttle and a 6.90 3-Cone drill. He was very successful at Texas Tech, and he quietly had a great Combine. My biggest concern for him is wear and tear, he did have almost 900 carries at Tech.
I've been tracking the success rate of each position individually based on my grades from 2020-2022, and I'm going to include that for each position. It might help shine a light on some of my "things worth noting."
