This is a special class of rookie running backs. Throughout the NFL draft cycle this past spring, there was a steady stream of comments from draft analysts and team executives alike on the talent and depth about to hit the NFL at halfback. Organizations then drafted 25 running backs in Green Bay, including four top-40 picks. By the Jimmy Johnson value chart, it was the most draft capital teams had spent on running backs in a given draft since 2018, when the Giants used the second pick on Saquon Barkley.
And through five weeks, those backs have been off to a wildly impressive start. In my quarter-season awards column last week, I mentioned that rookie running backs combined to rack up 737 rushing yards in Week 4, the most by any set of rookie backs in any week of September football since the 1970 merger. Week 3 ranked sixth by that same measure, and Week 5 wasn’t far behind. It’s rare to see so many rookie backs impacting games this early in the season. Overall, rookie runners have racked up 2,542 rushing yards through Week 5, good for the 10th most of any class since the merger.
Teams leaned more into the run in the past, of course, and so a more realistic measure of their impact might be the percentage of RB rush yards from rookies as opposed to veterans. Well, rookies have 18.1% of running back yardage so far, the fourth-highest rate for any rookie class through five weeks since the merger. (And two of the three years ahead of them are anomalies: The 1987 season was hit by a September strike — meaning many of the “rookie” backs who stepped in and racked up yardage were short-term replacement players — and the 1993 season was the only one in NFL history with two bye weeks, leading to a stretch where some of the league’s leading veteran rushers had early weeks off. Emmitt Smith, who had won the rushing crown the year before, also held out for the first two games of the year.)
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The only rookie class that got off to a hotter start than this year’s bunch was the class of 2017, which delivered a group of superstar backs to the league. It’s probably no surprise that eighth pick Christian McCaffrey emerged as a franchise player, but there were significant difference-makers coming off the board all throughout that draft. Dalvin Cook and Joe Mixon were second-rounders. Alvin Kamara, Kareem Hunt and James Conner were off the board in Round 3. Aaron Jones Sr. fell to the Packers in the fifth round. The Chargers even found Austin Ekeler after the proceedings as an undrafted free agent. And that list doesn’t include Leonard Fournette, Chris Carson, Marlon Mack and Jamaal Williams, each of whom managed 1,000-yard seasons during their time in the league.
Can the class of 2025 live up to that standard? There’s still obviously a long way to go, but let’s get a status update on some of the top RBs from this class and how they look after five weeks of football. I’ll also hit on some of the backs who haven’t yet made their mark, outlining reasons to be optimistic about what they’ll do in the months (and years) to come. Let’s start with the first back off the board in April who simultaneously leads all rookies in rushing and yet seems to be battling a frustrating start. (RBs are ordered here by rushing yards.)
Jump to:
Jeanty | Judkins | Hampton
Croskey-Merritt | Skattebo | Others
Drafted: Round 1, No. 6
Stats: 82 carries, 349 yards (4.3 per attempt), two rushing TDs
EPA per rush: minus-0.18 (26th of 34 backs with 40-plus carries)
Success rate: 41.5% (20th of 34)
It’s not always good to be the first back off the board. In that fateful 2017 class, the first RB selected was Fournette, who went to the Jaguars with the fourth-overall pick. He struggled during his three seasons in Jacksonville before getting cut and catching on with Tampa Bay, where he became a more efficient back in a much more robust offensive infrastructure. Playing with Tom Brady, Mike Evans and Tristan Wirfs is a lot easier than suiting up with Blake Bortles, Keelan Cole Sr. and Cam Robinson.
Fournette might have been overdrafted. There’s a huge opportunity cost taking a back this high in the draft, and that seems more obvious when a class has so many other talented running back prospects available in the later rounds. All of that can be true, but the most important problem at the end of the day is that the Jaguars didn’t have the personnel around Fournette, on and off the field, to get the most out of their investment. It’s no different than Saquon Barkley and the frustrations he endured with the Giants before moving to the Eagles (where things weren’t frustrating in 2024, at least).
It’s very clear that Jeanty can’t consistently transcend his very difficult surroundings, a problem I pin more on the guys around him than anything he’s doing himself. Here’s an example from Jeanty’s best game as a pro by a considerable margin. Facing the Bears in Week 4, the Raiders lined up to try to convert a fourth-and-1 in the first quarter. Geno Smith had been stuffed on a sneak on the prior play, so the coaching staff should have been prepared with a second call for what to do on fourth down. And given that this was early in the game in something close to a got-to-have-it moment, this probably should have been whatever run concept Chip Kelly felt best about running with his first-year back.
Even amidst what was a great day for Ashton Jeanty last week, the Raiders couldn’t help but sabotage their rookie back. This is fourth-and-1 and somehow the nose tackle and the middle linebacker shoot free into the backfield. Total blocking disaster. pic.twitter.com/bzfz6F2Xns
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) October 5, 2025
That was completely incompatible with offensive life. Even prime Barry Sanders was going to struggle to pick up the first down there, and he might’ve been the only one who’d have a shot. At the snap, center Jordan Meredith began to block to the left, ending up behind left guard Dylan Parham. Nobody blocked nose tackle Andrew Billings, who had a direct path to Jeanty in the backfield. Teams occasionally let a nose tackle through in a spot like that if they want to trap or “Wham” him, but there was nobody blocking the guy directly over the football at any point. And even as Jeanty shed Billings’ tackle attempt, there was also nobody blocking middle linebacker Noah Sewell, who forced a Jeanty fumble to end the play. This was inexcusably, unacceptably bad offensive football in a key spot.
Every team can have a bad rep. But Jeanty has a league-high 26 carries for no gain or a loss, four more than any other player. And overwhelmingly, those failures are on the players around him.
On one snap, the Raiders brought tight end Ian Thomas across the formation after the snap in split flow motion for what is commonly referred to as a sift block, where a tight end will kick out an unblocked defensive end. Offenses use this in the run game and then use the same look to manipulate linebackers in play-action. On this play, though, Thomas came halfway across the formation and simply stopped, like he was expecting the snap to be play-action and wanted to get in a pass-blocking stance. He didn’t block anyone, leaving the edge rusher to attack Jeanty. The young back might have had the speed to beat him, but on the other side of the line, Parham was being driven backwards into Jeanty, leaving him no escape. Both Bears defenders in the backfield tackled Jeanty for no gain.
Later in the game, the Raiders faced a third-and-2 trailing by one point and had an opportunity to run the clock down before kicking a field goal by just picking up a first down. The Bears put eight men in the box, while the Raiders responded with a five-man front, Bowers, Jeanty and Smith. If Smith’s a dangerous threat with his legs, the Raiders are fine. While Las Vegas did pick up a first down on a third-and-long speed option with Smith and Jeanty last week against Indianapolis, the 34-year-old Smith probably isn’t going to have his number called in this spot, giving the bodies advantage to the Bears.
Chip Kelly dialed up a gap scheme run with right tackle DJ Glaze pulling across the formation to block a defensive tackle, but with eight against seven and no penetration to the second level, Kevin Byard III was left totally unblocked to make an easy tackle for no gain. Vegas’ ensuing 54-yard field goal was blocked, and the Bears came away with the victory. Again: This was the best game of the season for the Vegas run game, as Jeanty went for 138 yards.
There’s a confluence of problems for the Raiders running the ball. They make too many mental mistakes. Their offensive line isn’t very good, so while there are occasional bright spots, they lose too many one-on-one blocks, preventing Jeanty from hitting a hole at the speed he wants and often asking him to make somebody miss before he has even accelerated. The execution is often sloppy; for instance, there’s no excuse for Jack Bech running directly into Jeanty on another split flow snap.
Kelly’s run scheme has been a major disappointment so far. There are just too many times where he expects his players, particularly his wide receivers and tight ends, to block defenders from difficult angles without favorable leverage. It’s one thing to do that at Ohio State, where your wideouts are superheroes and the opponent defenses don’t often have NFL-caliber players at every level. But asking Jakobi Meyers to be Puka Nacua isn’t a good solution. Great playcallers and schemes create favorable leverage for their blockers and make the run game easier. There are too many moments where plays are hopeless from the jump because the Raiders simply aren’t going to be able to make the blocks they need to make against the front they’re facing.
For a guy they drafted in the top 10, the Raiders also seem curiously disinterested in using Jeanty as a receiver. Sunday was the first time Jeanty topped 20 receiving yards in a game, and over the first month of the season, Kelly was leaning on Dylan Laube and Zamir White in passing situations and during the two-minute drill. Jeanty’s not Christian McCaffrey, but he’s an explosive playmaker and the team’s highest draft pick. It’s an odd time to take him off the field.
Most of these issues don’t fall on Jeanty. When it all comes together, we see the guy the Raiders wanted. Jeanty’s 64-yard touchdown on a zone run against the Bears was a great example. Meredith and Glaze were able to get across the face of their assignments and seal them off, allowing offensive linemen to get to the second level and take on Chicago’s linebackers. Tremaine Edmunds attempted to work underneath one of those blocks, creating a free lane at the second level for Jeanty, who hit the afterburners and maxed out just over 20 mph, per NFL Next Gen Stats, on his first long touchdown as a pro. (Edmunds flitting around blocks was also a problem on Raheem Mostert‘s 37-yard run later in the game.)
It’s too early to judge Jeanty’s true talent level independent of the offense he’s been playing within, but it’s clear that he was the wrong pick for the 2025 Raiders. This team doesn’t have the offensive line or passing game to make life easier for their rookie running back, both of which were problems even before starting left tackle Kolton Miller and star tight end Brock Bowers were forced off the field by injuries. And while there are still plenty of reasons to be excited about Jeanty’s potential, even great backs are going to struggle to be scheme-transcendent talents. It’s just not a realistic way to live.
At the same time, if the Raiders can grow into their scheme and do a better job of executing as the season goes along, nothing about what Jeanty has shown so far would make me think he can’t be an explosive NFL back. If your expectations held that Jeanty would be a wild success regardless of what was around him, those were too lofty. If you think he can be a successful back once the Raiders actually have a competent offense around him? Keep the faith.
Drafted: Round 2, No. 36
Stats: 72 carries, 347 yards (4.8 per attempt), two rushing TDs
EPA per rush: 0.05 (fifth of 34)
Success rate: 38.9% (23rd of 34)
Judkins’ NFL debut was obviously impacted by his offseason situation. He was caught up in the push among second-round picks to hold out for fully guaranteed contracts. Judkins was also arrested in July on domestic violence and battery charges, though those were later dropped by local authorities. As a result, Judkins didn’t play in Week 1 and only took over the lead role for the Browns in Week 3. It’s still unclear whether the league will suspend Judkins for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
On the field, he has been a valuable source of big plays for a moribund Browns offense. Judkins has already shown the ability to erase angles and break down opposing defenders. That’s a dangerous game to play, and rookies often try to rely on their pure athleticism to run past defenders after having done so at the college level, but Judkins has actually shown the horsepower to pull it off multiple times this season. When it doesn’t work, that’s going to lead to flattened gains and potential holding calls from linemen who aren’t expecting a run to be bounced outside, but there’s a balance to be struck.
Judkins has very good vision for creating extra yardage on successful plays. When he does make it through clean to the second level, you can see him quickly recognize the leverage and potential angles of defenders and run away to the open field. That seems simple, but it isn’t always guaranteed; some runners are too indecisive and don’t bounce runs quickly, while others just don’t have vision and run into or near defenders along their existing path.
There’s one play from Judkins this season that invokes a very promising comparison for Browns fans. Watch the end zone view of Judkins’ 32-yard run against the Vikings last week and you’ll see him set up Vikings safety Theo Jackson (No. 26) for a potential collision before using his quickness and the presence of a blocked defender to the outside to cut Jackson out of the play, escaping past the safety without ever needing to break a tackle attempt.
He’s not the only one who does it, but that’s a move I saw Barkley excel with last season in Philly. Here’s an example from the Eagles’ Week 17 win over the Cowboys, with Barkley setting up Andrew Booth and taking advantage of Jourdan Lewis peeking inside on a block to cut outside for extra yardage.
Judkins has also been able to move the chains. His 20 first downs as a runner lead all rookie backs, and he has generated five first downs over expectation (FDOE), which are second in the NFL behind Javonte Williams (Next Gen Stats). Judkins already has nine carries on third or fourth down with 1 yard to go, and he has picked up six of those attempts.
The Browns typically like using Judkins as part of a Full House backfield with two blockers alongside or in front of him. One is 281-pound undrafted free agent Adin Huntington, who made the team as a defensive tackle and moonlights as a short-yardage fullback. On a fourth-and-1 against the Vikings in London, Huntington came in motion and led the way on a sweep, just as the 49ers used Trent Williams a few years ago. It’s a fun wrinkle for a team that isn’t exactly redefining fun on offense each and every week.
To get better, Judkins needs to be a more consistent runner on first-and-10, where he has too many 1- or 2-yard runs that take the offense off schedule. So far, I like him better on zone concepts, where he can make his one cut and accelerate, than I do on gap runs, where Judkins can end up dancing a little too much at the line of scrimmage. He had a rough time finding those lanes in the Week 4 loss to the Lions, his least efficient start of the season so far.
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The Browns have to play their part. On Judkins’ very first pro carry, Cleveland pulled veteran guard Joel Bitonio right past Baltimore’s two unblocked inside linebackers, who converged on Judkins for a loss. A wildly inconsistent passing game doesn’t do Judkins any favors; according to ESPN Research, Judkins has run a league-high 34 times into boxes with eight or more defenders. He’s averaging 4.5 yards per carry on those runs, which is well ahead of the league average. Of the backs shouldering starter workloads from this class right now, Judkins has arguably been the most impressive on the field.
Drafted: Round 1, No. 22
Stats: 66 carries, 314 yards (4.8 per attempt), two rushing TDs
EPA per rush: 0.05 (seventh of 34)
Success rate: 43.9% (15th of 34)
Hampton was off to a promising start and appeared to have a path to an every-down role after Najee Harris went down with a torn Achilles, but it wasn’t meant to be. Hampton suffered an ankle injury last week against the Commanders when he tripped on Washington linebacker Frankie Luvu while running out into the flat. And while the injury didn’t seem serious at first glance, the Chargers placed Hampton on injured reserve shortly after their loss. He’s out for at least four games, with the offense seemingly turning to Hassan Haskins and/or Kimani Vidal as its new lead backs.
The replacement-level backs will be a meaningful downgrade. Hampton has been a very fun player so far this season, especially since stepping into the full-time starter role. He didn’t get off to an especially hot start against the Chiefs and Raiders, but between Weeks 3 and 5, Hampton was second among backs in yards from scrimmage behind Christian McCaffrey, who had 20 more touches over that span. Hampton was averaging 5.6 yards per carry as a back and a respectable 1.6 yards per route run as a receiver over that three-game span before the injury.
Hampton entered the league as someone who projected to be a bruiser, which makes it interesting that so many of his big runs have been all the way outside toward the sideline before turning upfield. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman has liked using him on outside zone and pin/pull concepts, which have produced some of Hampton’s longest runs of the season so far. Jeanty and Hampton are Nos. 1 and 2 among all NFL backs in yardage on outside runs through five games; that’s more surprising for Hampton than it would be for Jeanty.
Hampton has been a tackle-breaking machine, too. Per Next Gen Stats, he has broken 37.9% of the tackles he has faced this season, the second-highest rate among backs with 40 carries or more, trailing only Jaylen Warren. Some backs simply speed around tackle attempts or power through overmatched defenders, but Hampton finds all kinds of ways to ruin defenders’ days. Get Hampton going with some acceleration, and he’ll just start routinely skipping through ankle tackles at the second level like he’s trying to rack up a combo.
Hampton’s 18-yard run against the Giants was one of the more impressive physical feats of the young season. Hit by Paulson Adebo at the line of scrimmage, Hampton simply continued to run forward, refusing to go down. A second Giants tackler attempted to run through Hampton, which only made him angrier. Jevon Holland ran over to try and strip out the football, but now taking on nearly $90 million in free agent defensive backs, Hampton held onto the ball and shed an exhausted Adebo, who slid down the rookie’s back. Hampton then dragged Holland for three more yards before Darius Muasau, a fourth defender, finally came over to finish the job. I’m not sure anything has ever delighted Jim Harbaugh more.
That game against the Giants in Week 4 was the most impressive one of the season by any rookie back. Hampton carried the ball 12 times for 128 yards and a touchdown, scoring on a 54-yard scamper off a counter concept. Hampton showed excellent patience to let the two pulling blockers get to their men, but once the wrap blocker came through, Hampton was gone. He simply ran away from safety Tyler Nubin, maxing out at 21.3 mph along the way (Next Gen Stats). The only back who has hit a higher top speed as a ball carrier this season is Jahmyr Gibbs, who got to 22.3 mph.
It’s also fair to point out that the Giants are not the stiffest of competition for run games. They somewhat surprisingly rank 31st in EPA per play allowed against designed rushes this season, ahead of only the Ravens. Hampton has averaged fewer than 4 yards per carry in each of his four other games this season. He also fumbled against the Broncos on a 22-yard catch up the sideline, one where Hampton was notably holding the ball with the arm closest to the defenders as opposed to the one that was nearer to the sideline. It’s a little surprising that Hampton wouldn’t transfer the ball to his other arm in that situation, especially given that he had some space to work with before engaging defenders.
The sideline has been a dangerous place for Hampton this year. In Week 1, the debuting rookie cost the Chargers three points by going out of bounds on a third-and-16 run with 49 seconds to go in the first half and the Chiefs out of timeouts. Staying inbounds would have allowed the Chargers to run the clock down, kick a field goal and leave Patrick Mahomes with only 10 seconds or so to get into scoring range. Instead, the Chiefs had 40 seconds to work with and set up a 59-yard field goal just before the break.
That’s one frustrating moment, and it didn’t come back to cost the Chargers the game. The issue, though, is that it took just two weeks for Hampton to make the same sort of blunder again. Facing a second-and-20 against the Broncos with 22 seconds left in the first half, Hampton finished a 5-yard run by going out of bounds, saving the Broncos one of their two remaining timeouts. This wasn’t as significant, as the Broncos didn’t have a ton of time to score anyway, but it was a completely unnecessary move on a short run on second-and-forever and disheartening to see two weeks after a more notable and meaningful mistake.
The ankle injury obviously resets Hampton’s progress in the short term. We don’t know what he’ll look like once he gets back, if the ankle issue will linger, or whether he’ll have the same path to 100% of the running back touches and 88% of the offensive snaps, which is the role he played against the Giants in Week 4. In the big picture, there’s a lot to like about what we’ve seen from Hampton so far, though.
Drafted: Round 7, No. 245
Stats: 43 carries, 283 yards (6.6 per attempt), four rushing TDs
EPA per rush: 0.18 (first of 34)
Success rate: 60.5% (first of 34)
First in EPA per play and first in success rate? That’ll play. Croskey-Merritt hasn’t been given the lead role in the same way that these other backs have so far this season, but he has been incredibly efficient and effective in the role he has played. The last back chosen in the 2025 draft, Croskey-Merritt hardly looks like a seventh-round pick. After playing just one game in his final college season because of eligibility issues, it looks like the Commanders found a real jewel who slipped through the cracks of the draft process.
Everybody would love to gain 30-plus yards on their runs and keep hitting explosives game after game, but unless you’re Barkley in 2024, that’s not going to happen. There’s real value in being a guy who can consistently gain steady chunks of yardage, either picking up first downs or opening up the entire playbook on second- or third-and-short.
Croskey-Merritt has been that guy for the Commanders. Twenty-one of his 43 attempts this season have gone for six or more yards, a near-49% clip. To put that in context, nobody else with 40 carries or more has hit that 6-plus-yard figure on more than 35% of their rush attempts. All of those runs have generated positive expected points for the Commanders. That’s not going to deliver the sort of highlight-reel runs we’ve seen from guys like Hampton or Judkins this season, but it’s steadily driving value for the Commanders and putting them in advantageous spots, down after down.
There’s an obvious decisiveness and vision to Croskey-Merritt’s game. While he had a couple of touchdowns on outside zone runs against the Chargers in Week 5, he is typically driven to get upfield quickly. That’s not always great if the RB is beating his blockers or running into defenders, but Croskey-Merritt strikes the right balance between patient and accelerating quickly when he spots an opening. He has been effective at making the right cut at the line of scrimmage to get upfield and then, as needed, another cut or subtle move entering the second level to create extra yardage.
The Commanders have had some success using six offensive linemen with Croskey-Merritt on the field, and he has thrived in their counter game, where Washington pulls two players and asks Croskey-Merritt to find a running lane after it has struck. Even amid what can be messy blocking situations at times, Croskey-Merritt has a really solid knack for finding the right place to go with the football, turning what could be an indecisive run for no gain or 1 yard into a successful carry for five or six.
There’s not the same sort of highlight-reel speed or tackle-breaking ability from other players in this class, but Croskey-Merritt isn’t some one-speed zone runner, either. Watch his longest run against the Chargers last week and you see “Bill” shrug off a tackle around the neck from star safety Derwin James Jr., shrug off another tackle attempt, change fields and then run all the way to the opposite sideline for a big gain.
Outside of losing a fumble, last Sunday was Croskey-Merritt’s best game of the season, but he has been solid all season. Why won’t the Commanders give him a larger role? They don’t trust him on third down. Croskey-Merritt has played about 41% of the offensive snaps on first and second down this season, but he has been on the field for just three of Washington’s 52 third-down plays, all of which were third-and-1 rushes.
Even during his breakout year at New Mexico in 2023, Croskey-Merritt caught just seven passes all season. He did have a 28-yard catch on a completely blown coverage against the Chargers, which won’t hurt Croskey-Merritt’s chances of seeing more pass-game work, but he has taken only 15 snaps as a pass blocker through five games. It’s unclear if offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and coach Dan Quinn want to use anyone as an every-down back given how they’ve operated since joining Washington, and until Croskey-Merritt convinces them to think otherwise, he’s going to be limited to early-down work. Given how wildly efficient he has been in that role, I’m not sure that’s the worst thing in the world.
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Drafted: Round 4, No. 105
Stats: 63 carries, 240 yards (3.8 per attempt), two rushing TDs
EPA per rush: minus-0.28 (33rd of 34)
Success rate: 41.3% (21st of 34)
College football fans fell in love with Skattebo in 2024, when the 5-foot-9 back seemed to will Arizona State into the College Football Playoff with his physicality. He led the nation in carries (293) and rushing yards (1,711), scoring 24 times for a Sun Devils team that surprised everyone by winning 11 games.
After skipping everything but the jumping tasks at the combine, Skattebo ran a 4.57 40-yard dash at Arizona State’s pro day. While that’s not outlandishly slow for a 220-pound back, there were real questions about whether Skattebo’s athleticism and style would translate well to Sundays, where he was going to face bigger, better athletes on a weekly basis.
So far, those concerns seem warranted. Skattebo has taken over the Giants’ backfield almost by default after Tyrone Tracy Jr.’s shoulder injury, and he hasn’t yet been able to generate many explosive plays in the run game. Just five of Skattebo’s 63 rush attempts this season have gone for 10 or more yards, a rate which ranks 26th out of the 34 backs we’ve been using as our baseline. His first 20-plus-yard gain of the year came against the Cowboys in Week 2 on one of the plays the Giants were using packaged with Jaxson Dart snaps — a counter bash run where Dallas’ badly overmatched linebackers abandoned the middle of the field.
Skattebo’s success rate is fine. I’m just not sure there’s the same wriggle or ability to overpower defenders that we saw from him at the college level. Take one key moment for the Giants earlier this season. Facing a second-and-goal from the 1-yard line against the Chargers, Skattebo got the ball with a head of steam and had to beat Derwin James Jr. at the goal line. For a team that has the worst red zone offense for the second consecutive year, this needed to be a touchdown. With help from linebacker Troy Dye, James stood Skattebo up and prevented him from pushing through to the end zone on a drive that ended with zero points. Skattebo also lost a fumble in the red zone against the Saints last week, which ended up turning into a strip-six for New Orleans.
When Skattebo does get the second level with some burst, he looks fine. I’d also say it has been a little too easy for defensive linemen to slow down or tackle him with outstretched arms or ankle tackles near the line of scrimmage. Those are tackles that guys like Hampton have been able to run through or backs like Croskey-Merritt have been able to run away from so far this season.
To be fair, the Next Gen Stats model doesn’t see Skattebo getting the same caliber of opportunities as other backs. Their running back model projects that an average back with Skattebo’s touches and blocking would generate 3.6 yards per carry, a figure he narrowly tops right now. In terms of expected yards per carry, just eight of the 33 other backs we’re comparing these rookies to have faced more difficult situations. Skattebo has generated 11 rush yards over expectation this season, suggesting he’s basically getting what’s being blocked.
His best work this season has really come as a receiver. He has caught 28 passes for 143 yards and generated 1.8 yards per route run, the latter mark ranking fifth among all backs and just ahead of dual-threats like Barkley, De’Von Achane and Jahmyr Gibbs. Skattebo’s not running some sort of full route tree and most of his 10-plus-yard receptions have come on checkdowns to the flat and screens, but he has been better in those spaces, where he can accelerate and break through tackles with speed and space.
It’s still early in Skattebo’s tenure, and I want to see how he looks over an extended period of time with Dart under center, especially given the early impact Dart has had as a runner and what that can do to create lanes for running backs. I’m not sure he’s a three-down starter in the NFL based on what I’ve seen so far, but there’s still plenty of time to see more.
The rest of the bunch
It’s worth noting that many of the stars of the 2017 class hadn’t yet established themselves after five games. McCaffrey had only 96 rushing yards and was averaging 2.8 yards per pop. Kamara had 15 carries through five games and was mostly being used as a change-of-pace receiver. Conner had 12 carries as the backup to Le’Veon Bell in Pittsburgh and would finish with only 32 attempts. While they were all future Pro Bowlers, guys such as Samaje Perine, D’Onta Foreman and Tarik Cohen had larger rushing shares through five games. And while those backs all had meaningful careers, the likes of Perine and Cohen didn’t end up as long-term lead backs just because they were getting meaningful rushing workloads by Week 5 of their debut campaigns.
So, among the backs who aren’t getting a lot of work so far this season, who could emerge as an impact contributor down the line? Let’s quickly run through a few:
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Woody Marks seemed to be on the verge of breaking into a larger role for the Texans after he racked up 119 yards from scrimmage against the Titans in Week 4, but he managed only seven touches in the 44-10 win over the Ravens last week. Marks might not end up as the early-down runner in Houston, especially if Joe Mixon does return later this season. But Marks is a major upgrade on Nick Chubb and the other backs in that building as a pass catcher, which should get him on the field on a regular basis.
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RJ Harvey‘s time is coming. Both he and J.K. Dobbins have been impressive to start the year for the Broncos, with the rookie back generating 30 RYOE on 31 carries to open his pro account. Harvey also has 12 catches on the season, including one that stood out to me: a choice route out of the backfield for 16 yards against the Colts, the same sort of concept where so many Sean Payton backs have made a difference in the receiving game in the past. Harvey will always have a receiving workload in this version of Denver’s offense, but if he can get regular opportunities against linebackers on choice routes, that’s going to be a very valuable role. The Broncos can be wildly inconsistent with how they employ their playmakers on a weekly basis, but if the oft-injured Dobbins does go down for any stretch of time, Harvey could accelerate forward as a feature back.
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Bhayshul Tuten is the clear 1B to Travis Etienne Jr.‘s 1A in Jacksonville, though fellow rookie LeQuint Allen Jr. has captured about 20% of the snap share. Tuten was the best size/speed prospect in this year’s class, running a 4.32 40-yard dash at 209 pounds. He has shown some nice burst as a runner without racking up a carry of more than 9 yards so far as a pro, and he did have a 24-yard catch and an 8-yard score in space against the Bengals. Tuten’s vision in the open field is still a work in progress:
Liam Coen: I’ve dialed up a great call, we’re throwing a swing screen into a blitz, our blockers are going to do their job, all you need to do is beat one man in space
Bhayshul Tuten: what space pic.twitter.com/84zLiNKEhv
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) October 8, 2025
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Ollie Gordon II has established himself as a meaningful part of the backfield in Miami, albeit while averaging just 2.8 yards per carry on his first 21 carries as a pro. Mike McDaniel’s once-dynamic rushing attack ranks first in expected yards per carry and 29th in RYOE per carry, so there’s certainly opportunities for a productive back to rack up yardage here. If Tyreek Hill‘s injury requires De’Von Achane to get more involved in the passing game, Gordon could assume an even larger share of the backfield — though Gordon had only three carries for minus-2 yards in last week’s loss to the Panthers.
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TreVeyon Henderson should have a clearer path to a heavier workload. Antonio Gibson is out for the season with a torn ACL, while starter Rhamondre Stevenson has already fumbled three times in five games, likely costing the Patriots a win over the Steelers in the process. Henderson has been excellent as a receiver for Drake Maye, turning his 14 targets into 13 catches and 154 yards. The problem? The Patriots don’t trust Henderson as a pass blocker, and with good reason: He has struggled in pass protection so far this season, both with mental mistakes and being overwhelmed physically (the latter leading to a holding call against the Dolphins). I can’t imagine Mike Vrabel will just blindly stick by Stevenson if he keeps fumbling this often. But if the Patriots haven’t been willing to turn the lead role over to Henderson after this sort of start, I have to believe he’ll be in more of a situational spot than fantasy managers would hope to see.
