2025 NFL Draft: Who are the best running backs in an excellent class?

This is a great year to get a running back

Let’s get this out there up front: The running back class in the 2025 NFL Draft has the potential to be special.

We’ll definitely see at least one running back drafted in the first round — Ashton Jeanty out of Boise State — and could see UNC’s Omarion Hampton go in the first as well. But draft position doesn’t quite capture how good this class could be. We’ll likely see impact players and future starters selected into the third day.

We’re only listing the consensus Top 10 runners here, but there are far more than ten good running backs in this class.

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Also receiving votes in the top 10: D.J. Giddens (Kansas State), Damien Martinez (Miami), Trevor Etienne (Georgia)

10. Ollie Gordon, Oklahoma State

Gordon was considered one of the top running backs in the country along with Omarion Hampton and Ashton Jeanty coming into the 2024 season. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to follow up his 1,700-yard, 21-touchdown performance and his stock took a significant hit over the course of 2024.

Gordon is a big back (6-foot-1, 226 pounds) with great power and solid contact balance. He doesn’t have the speed or agility to be an off-tackle or cut-back runner, but he’s tough to stop when he can run north-south.

9. Bhayshul Tuten, Virginia Tech

Tuten is a compact and dynamic runner who shouldn’t be underestimated.

He might not look like much at 5-foot-9, 206 pounds, but he’s one of the fastest players in this draft and a definite weapon with the ball in his hands. Tuten’s 4.32-second speed shows up on the field and more than half (54 percent) of his total yardage came on breakaway runs. He has the contact balance and vision to find open field, and more than enough speed to break angles.

Tuten might not be a “bell-cow” back, but he can be an explosive change-of-pace weapon for any offense that uses a backfield rotation.

8. Devin Neal, Kansas

Devin Neal has a real chance to emerge as a starter at the NFL level, or at least as the lead back in an active rotation. He has solid size at 5-foot-11, 213 pounds, fantastic vision, and great contact balance to go with good agility and start-stop quickness.

Neal isn’t as explosive an athlete as some of the other runners in this year’s class, but he’s also the type of runner for whom that isn’t a big deal. He runs with great patience and smoothly changes speed to manipulate defenders before cutting on a dime to break angles and ankles.

He might not be a home-run threat or a between-the-tackles banger, but Neal should be a consistent producer for whichever team drafts him.

7. Cameron Skattebo, Arizona State

If there’s one word to describe Cam Skattebo’s game it’s probably “Bloodyminded”. He’s a tough, physical, determined runner who’s incredibly difficult to get on the ground. He has a powerful lower body and seems to relish the physical side of the game, looking for opportunities to punish defenders.

Skattebo is a limited athlete, but is patient behind the line of scrimmage and has shades of Marshawn Lynch once he gets going. It isn’t much of a surprise that he was second in yardage last year with 1,711 (as well as 21 touchdowns). He’s also a capable pass catcher if an offense wants to force defensive backs to (try to) stop him.

6. Dylan Sampson, Tennessee

When you think of “SEC Running Back”, you typically think of big bruisers, pounding opposing defenses into submission. Players like Derek Henry, Mark Ingram, or Leonard Fournette typically leap to mind.

Dylan Sampson is very much not that player at 5-foot-8, 200 pounds, but that didn’t stop him from leading the SEC in carries, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns. Sampson is highly athletic and combines lightning-quick feet with very good vision and contact balance. He’s incredibly elusive and consistently manages to flow through a defense like water.

5. Kaleb Johnson, Iowa

Kaleb Johnson is a very intriguing back to pair with a modern offense that weaponizes spacing.

He’s a one-cut runner with prototypical size at 6-foot-1, 224 pounds, and a very instinctive feel for the running back position. He does a fantastic job of giving his linemen time to establish blocks, as well as using his path and tempo to manipulate defenders on his way to the line of scrimmage.

Johnson has the strength and balance to disregard poor tackle attempts, as well as the ability to get skinny and turn good tackle attempts into near-misses. He should be a high-volume runner early in his career and a dependable option to keep an offense on schedule.

4. Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State

Judkins transferred from Ole Miss prior to the start of the 2024 season, and in doing so became one half of a dynamic backfield duo.

Judkins is a generalist with good size (5-foot-11, 221 pounds), speed, and power. He has enough agility and burst to exploit cutback lanes, as well as the toughness to bang inside or run through arm tackles. He has the potential to be an every-down bell cow at the NFL level, and does pretty much everything well.

Judkins and Henderson could both realistically be viewed as “RB3”, with their exact value being in the eye of the team scouting them. One of our voters had Judkins in second place, in fact.

3. TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State

TreVeyon Henderson is the other half of that Ohio State duo and was a very effective counter to Judkins’ punishing style.

Henderson is much more of a “scatback” who trades in quickness, agility, and speed rather than power. He was a very low volume runner at Ohio State, only once exceeding 160 carries, but he made the most of every opportunity and averaged 7.1 yards per carry and topped 1,000 yards in 2024. Henderson might not be an “every down” back in the NFL, but he could be a real weapon if he goes to a team that’s willing to maximize his skill set.

2. Omarion Hampton, North Carolina

Omarion Hampton would comfortably be “RB1” in pretty much any other draft class. Hampton has prototypical size (5-foot-11, 221 pounds), good speed (4.46) and burst (38-inch vertical, 10-foot-10 broad jump). He has great vision and balance, and the ability to be a regular contributor in the passing game. He was incredibly productive for UNC, with 3,164 yards (5.9 per carry) and 30 touchdowns over the last two years.

He really is a “complete package” in the backfield.

Hampton is a smooth athlete who can contribute on any down and distance, and his team will never feel as though they should take him off the field. The fact that Hampton isn’t RB 1 isn’t a slight on him, and he’ll be a very good NFL player with Pro Bowl upside.

He just happens to be in the same draft as our top running back...

1. Ashton Jeanty, Boise State

Even in a class this good, Ashton Jeanty stands apart. The top pick on every ballot, he was unsurprisingly our unanimous top prspect.

He doesn’t have Christian McCaffrey’s incredible movement skills or Saquon Barkley’s explosive athleticism. But what he does have is truly incredible vision, contact balance, and core strength, as well as the quickness and agility to capitalize on the smallest opportunity. He doesn’t so much “out-athlete” opposing defenders as instead seem to utterly reject realities in which he could be tackled.

At 5-foot-8, 211 pounds, Ashton Jeanty ran for 2,601 yards in last year, and of those, 1,970 came after contact. To put that in perspective, Omarion Hampton (our No.2 running back) ran for 1,660 yards total.

Jeanty is, simply put, one of the best football players in this draft and the best running back in an excellent class.

All of the SB Nation 2025 NFL Draft positional rankings

• Quarterback
• Running back - coming soon
• Wide receiver
• Tight end - coming soon
• Offensive tackle
• Interior offensive line
• Defensive tackle
• EDGE rusher
• Off-ball linebacker - coming soon
• Cornerback - coming soon
• Safety - coming soon
• Special teams - coming soon