The 2025 NFL Draft offers an excellent class of running backs, something teams may find more attractive and cheaper than available free agents. We’re measuring the top prospects through a key skill set: the most difficult to bring down.
The 2025 NFL Draft running backs class is really good.
Is that a mirage? Maybe, but I think not this time.
College football reporters like me might be prone to overrate running backs entering the NFL, because so many of them are huge stars on campus before running into the difficult positional realities of the professional game, but I find this year’s class to be excellent.
Ashton Jeanty’s 2024 season was among the best for a running back in decades, and the draft class has a host of other tailbacks who are built like real three-down backs and could become the foundations of NFL offenses. At least four or five running backs in this class could be multi-year NFL starters, though guessing which ones (other than Jeanty) is difficult.
With the help of player-tracking statistics, here’s a ranking of this year’s running backs based on one critical running back trait: being hard to tackle.
The research focuses on the seven running backs who appear in the top 85 of the most recent consensus big board by NFL scouts, before a bit of a drop until the next running backs appear outside the top 100.
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Here’s how these key running backs stack up in… not getting stacked up.
1. Ashton Jeanty, Boise State
Standard worries about drafting a running back in the first round simply should not apply to Jeanty. The 2024 Heisman Trophy runner-up is as good as everyone says, and his numbers are comical.
Jeanty leads our group with 0.295 missed or broken tackles per touch. He also leads by miles in the counting stats “broken tackles forced” and “missed tackles forced,” with a combined 97.
Jeanty isn’t just slippery, he’s durable enough to make defenders miss again and again, even as he carries a heavier load than other running backs. His 374 carries last year led FBS college football by 64, and he averaged nearly 7.0 yards per carry while gaining 2,601 overall (the second-most rushing yards in an FBS season to Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders with 2,628 in 1988).
Everything about Jeanty is exceptional. He averaged 4.75 yards per run disruption; even on runs when a defender beat an offensive lineman and blew up a gap, Jeanty got about 5 yards per clip. He averaged 3.60 yards after contact.
All of these numbers are easily the best in the class. He even averaged 6.30 yards on carries when defenders in the box outnumbered blockers.
No need to overcomplicate this one: Jeanty is a star. Draft him early and let NFL defensive coordinators try to figure out how to tackle him.
Their college counterparts usually couldn’t crack him.
2. Kaleb Johnson, Iowa
It didn’t get a lot of fanfare, but Iowa’s infamous offense upgraded last year from “disgustingly bad” to “just pretty bad.” That’s a bigger achievement than it sounds, and Johnson was the biggest reason. He might have been the most underrated running back in the nation as he rushed for 1,537 yards and 21 touchdowns, and, more impressively, was his physical dominance in context.
On carries with eight defenders or more in the box, Johnson averaged 5.03 yards – not just better than Jeanty at 4.73, but a total outlier among anybody who carried the ball nearly as often as Johnson’s 95 rushes in those situations.
Overall, Johnson forced 0.222 missed or broken tackles per touch, which was third-best among the class’ top seven running backs. Iowa had a severely lacking passing game, and defenses knew they could key on Johnson, who had an absurd 59% usage rate when he was on the field (in contrast, Jeanty saw the ball on 53% of his snaps).
Defenses simply struggled to get Johnson to the ground.
3. TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State
Working in a timeshare with Quinshon Judkins for the national champion Buckeyes, Henderson averaged 3.20 yards after contact, best in this class behind Jeanty. Henderson’s 0.222 missed or broken tackles per touch ranked No. 3 in this group.
The numbers say he’s hard to tackle, and, more importantly, the tape says that. Henderson has a talent for getting a head of steam and then dusting a bunch of athletic defenders.
Consider this regular season touchdown run against Oregon, which only preceded him scoring on similar plays against both the Ducks and Texas in the College Football Playoff:
4. Cam Skattebo, Arizona State
Skattebo, whose 1,711 rushing yards ranked second to Jeanty, is a 5-foot-9, 219-pounder who looks like a bulldozer, but he actually has a track record of toasting defenders at top speed in the open field.
He posted a 58.5% burn rate on his receiving routes – second-best among these tailbacks – and was second at 0.251 missed or broken tackles per touch. Put those things together, and you get a 26.8% big play rate, or 5.0 percentage points better than anyone else.
5. Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State
That Judkins is this low on the list feels a bit silly, but this is a stacked running back class. Here’s why he’s down here, though: His 0.158 missed or broken tackles per touch ranks last among these seven runners, and his 2.84 yards per run-disrupted carry is below the group’s 3.26-yard average.
More than a few times in 2024, Judkins struggled in short yardage, which at one point was a weakness that could’ve derailed the Buckeyes. Chalk that up to noise because Judkins is 221 pounds and outrageously athletic, and he just may run people over at the next level.
Let’s consider this an area in which he’s likely to improve upon in the NFL.
6. Omarion Hampton, North Carolina
Again, it doesn’t feel quite right that Hampton is down here among key NFL Draft running backs. He was a hugely productive back at UNC, totaling 3,164 rushing yards over the past two seasons and serving as a consistent star for a program that had a miserable defense and some coaching turmoil (especially in 2024).
He did come in last among this group in yards gained per run disruption (2.64), while finishing second-to-last in burn rate as a receiver (38.6%) and third-to-last in missed or broken tackles per touch (0.204).
NFL teams probably should not worry a lot about Hampton, either. And it does not seem like they are because he has a chance to get picked in the first round, per some mock drafts.
7. Dylan Sampson, Tennessee
Sampson might become a good NFL running back, but he’s stuck in last place in this ranking on a technicality. The other six players faced a bad box percentage – the rate of their snaps on which the defense has more players in the box than the offense has blockers – between 42% and 57%.
Then there is Sampson, down at 27.3%.
What gives?
Tennessee’s offensive spacing is a unique strategic quirk. The Volunteers align their receivers way outside the formation and force the defense to spread itself as thinly as possible, allocating safeties, nickel cornerbacks and linebackers into areas where they can quickly defend deep and perimeter passes.
The primary beneficiary of that strategy was Sampson, who got to run against lighter defensive fronts than any of his peers in the NFL draft.
It doesn’t mean Sampson wasn’t great at Tennessee. In fact, he was the Vols’ best offensive player, and his 61.5% burn rate on receiving targets is the best of the NFL Draft running backs listed here.
But he’s last on this list not only in bad box percentage faced and yards after contact (2.29). He’s sixth out of seven in missed or broken tackles per touch (0.173).
Sampson’s work is cut out for him in the NFL, and it involves getting comfortable with carrying regularly against more-standard defensive alignments.
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NFL Draft Running Back Rankings: The Prospects Who Are the Toughest to Tackle Opta Analyst.
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