Top 11 Running Backs for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft

North Carolina Tar Heels running back Omarion Hampton (28) rushes for a touchdown during a college football game between the North Carolina Tar Heels and Florida State Seminoles on November 2nd, 2024 at Doak Campbell in Tallahassee, FL.
TALLAHASSEE, FL – NOVEMBER 02: North Carolina Tar Heels running back Omarion Hampton (28) rushes for a touchdown during a college football game between the North Carolina Tar Heels and Florida State Seminoles on November 2nd, 2024 at Doak Campbell in Tallahassee, FL. (Photo by Chris Leduc/Icon Sportswire)

We are now less than 24 hours from the opening of the 2025 NFL Draft, and the oddsmakers in Las Vegas have running back listed as the position that the Denver Broncos are most likely to select in the first round.

Even if they don’t target a running back in Round 1, they’ll almost certainly draft one with one of their first three selections in the draft.

Who should they target and why? Let’s look.

NFL Draft Wide Receiver Rankings
No. 11 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft -- Cam Skattebo
No. 11 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft — Cam Skattebo

Overview: With a remarkable 2024 season and standout postseason run, Cam Skattebo quickly became America’s collegiate running back darling.

Skattebo’s game is the personification of grit and determination, as he is near-certain to steamroll past any defensive player who doesn’t meet him with a perfect form tackle. Skattebo runs the football like Jason Voorhees slaughters innocent campers — unrelenting, unstoppable, with an insatiable thirst for the opposition’s blood.

In 2024, he forced 103 missed tackles, the second-most in all of college football, behind only Ashton Jeanty, and 30 more than Omarion Hampton, who ranks third in the draft class in that statistic. Plus, with his low-to-the-ground, high-energy running style and outstanding strength, his power should naturally translate to the next level.

His violent play shows up on passing downs too. Whenever asked to pass protect, Skattebo looks like he’s auditioning for ESPN’s early-2000s ‘Jacked Up’ segment. Sometimes, that leads to a highlight-reel-worthy hit that pancakes an unsuspecting blitzer. Other times, it leads to a bad whiff and Skattebo’s quarterback eating turf. Still, you like to see the willingness and the potential.

Skattebo’s more valued impact for the Sun Devils’ passing attack came as a receiver. He is an above-average route-runner for the position and has soft hands, which quickly made him one of the team’s go-to targets. He finished the year as the team’s No. 2 receiver in both receptions and receiving yards.

All that said, Skattebo’s projection to the next level is a tricky one, because he doesn’t have the athleticism you expect from the position.

Too often, against porous Big 12 defenses, you would see Skattebo have just barely enough juice to beat a defender to the edge, or slip through a crease before the blocks caved in behind him. In the NFL, against dramatically faster defenders and much better defenses, a lot of those near misses could easily wind up being run-stuffs or negative plays.

We already saw this problem rear its head, to an extent, while Skattebo was in college. Despite being a positive outlier for how many missed tackles he was creating, Skattebo ranked 21st overall and ninth in the class in yards after contact per attempt. The reason for the disparity in how tackles he was breaking and how many yards they ultimately created was primarily his lack of short-area quickness and long speed.

Skattebo needs a long runway to get up to speed, which allows defenders to regularly cross the line of scrimmage before he does. Then, Skattebo is forced to make a fantastic play to prevent a loss of yardage. Plus, even when he does get up to his maximum velocity, it’s pretty underwhelming, so he’ll struggle to create explosive carries at the next level.

If Skattebo’s athleticism translates better than anticipated, he could be one of the steals of the class, but his athletic limitations could keep him from ever becoming more than a situation short-yardage presence.

For the Denver Broncos: There is a lot to like in Skattebo’s game, as it relates to a pairing with the Broncos.

Sean Payton is sure to love his physicality and high football IQ, and his presence in the passing game should only heighten how appealing that is.

That said, the Broncos need to dramatically upgrade their rushing attack from a year ago while adding more explosiveness. Skattebo’s movement concerns make it hard to picture him being a dramatic upgrade, and he certainly won’t satiate the team’s hunger for a big-play threat.

Value for the Broncos: A solid 4th-round pick, but not an exceptional value there. Should stick around in the league a while, but limited ceiling.

No. 10 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft -- D.J. Giddens
No. 10 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft — D.J. Giddens

Overview: With some major holes in his game, D.J. Giddens will likely always have to be part of a two-headed monster in the backfield for his talents to be maximized. Nonetheless, he is so refined in some elements of playing the position that he’s still a very appealing target, despite the lack of a well-rounded skillset.

Starting with that large gap in his game, Giddens has yet to prove to be a receiving threat. Over the last two seasons as the Wildcats’ lead back, Giddens was targeted just 72 times and reeled in merely 50 catches. Also, while his 6.3% drop rate in 2023 was concerning, his 20.0% drop rate in 2024 is vomit-inducing. The drops look bad on film too, as he is often wide open, in the backfield, with grass in front of him, and he can’t complete the routine play.

To make matters worse, he’s also a limited pass protector, often failing to plant and stick against oncoming pass rushers. Now, Giddens’ frame could stand to add on some more muscle, which would also make him a more dangerous rusher, so an NFL staff should be able to make him an above-average blocker, but he won’t come out of the box that way.

Yet, in spite of those flaws, Giddens is still very likely to be selected at some point in the first four rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft, and that should give you an idea of how dynamic a runner he is.

Giddens has fantastic vision and a natural feel for how his blocks and lanes will develop. He does a great job of surveying the landscape, picking the right lane, and slipping through it like smoke through a keyhole. Giddens’ body control and shiftiness make him deceptively elusive, considering his size, as he’s able to slice his way through the defense, rather than plowing over it.

None of it is flashy, but Giddens simply knows how to ‘get on base’ and keep his offense ahead of the sticks, rarely being tackled for a loss.

Then, once the Kansas State product slips through that crack, he makes the most of it, racking up 25 explosive carries, good for the sixth-most in this class and notably more than hyper-explosive ball-carrier TreVeyon Henderson.

Giddens has quality contact balance and often runs through tacklers who fail to properly square him up. That said, when a defender does get a good shot off, Giddens’ upright running style makes it relatively easy to level him at times. Still, generally speaking, Giddens is a very difficult tackle. His 4.16 yards after contact average ranked seventh among this year’s RB draft class.

For the Denver Broncos: The Denver Broncos need a lot of help at running back, and Giddens’ need for development on passing games would mean he could only partially remedy their problems.

That said, if they’re able to find the right pairing for him, like TreVeyon Henderson — or R.J. Harvey, if they want the discounted version — it could make for an incredibly potent backfield.

If the Broncos have conviction about Audric Estime, though, they’d be unlikely to pair him with another shaky receiver, like Giddens.

Value for the Broncos: A solid 4th-round pick, so long as it’s paired with a back who can help fill the gaps on passing downs.

No. 9 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft -- Damien Martinez
No. 9 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft — Damien Martinez

Overview: If you want a powerful running back on Day 3 of the NFL Draft, it’s hard to do much better than human steamroller Damien Martinez.

Martinez is a muscled-up back who has excellent vision, runs low to the ground and makes defenders work for every single tackle and suffer some pain in the process. This makes him an excellent short-yardage back, as he tunnels through the creases in the line and has the willpower and strength to push the pile across whatever threshold is necessary.

His never-say-die run style is sure to infatuate coaches and stands out, even among a class of powerful runners. Only Ashton Jeanty averaged more yards after contact per carry than Martinez among the running backs in the 2025 NFL Draft.

He doesn’t offer a ton of juice and likely won’t create many explosive runs at the next level, but he did test much faster than anticipated, with a 4.51 40-yard dash at the combine. That said, he needs a runway to fully get up to speed and struggles on runs outside the tackles as a result. It also limits the amount of force he’s able to carry through the first level of the defense, which limits just how much power he can generate.

Martinez also has limited ability to contribute on passing downs early in his career. He’s very inconsistent as a pass-protector right now, and those demands will only become more difficult at the next level. As a pass-catcher, he’s little more than a checkdown option.

Still, you can’t teach his strength and mentality, but you can further develop his ability to pass-protect. If placed in the right role, he could be an extremely useful contributor to a running back rotation.

For the Denver Broncos: Sean Payton needs his lead back to be a bigger factor as a pass-catcher than Damien Martinez will likely ever be, but he could be an excellent counter-punch to whoever that lead back winds up being.

As a ball-carrier on early downs, there aren’t many runners in this class who can offer what Martinez does, and he’s almost certain to be able to carve out a role in short-yardage situations. If Denver is already having buyer’s remorse about the Audric Estime pick, Martinez could be a quality remedy.

Value for the Broncos: A high-upside fourth-round pick who should be relegated to a rotational role on early downs as he develops his blocking skills.

No. 8 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft -- Dylan Sampson
No. 8 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft — Dylan Sampson

Overview: There aren’t many running backs in this draft who have their speed jump off the screen quite like Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson.

Sampson is an extremely twitchy back who plays much faster than his tested times of 4.42 in the 40-yard dash and 1.58 in the 10-yard split. His frenetic play style makes it feel like he’s able to see the game in slow motion, and he glides and slices through opposing defenses, like Quicksilver in a late-2010s X-Men movie.

He routinely beats defenders to the edge and has the jets to frequently create explosive runs, with 37 in 2024 alone. The most impressive aspect of his quickness, though, is how he utilizes it to make defenders miss. He has a wicked spin move and quick feet to cut past defenders or slam on the brakes to let a tackler whiff. Sampson forced 70 missed tackles in 2024, which is just three fewer than Omarion Hampton and the fifth-most in this draft class.

All of those are a result of his elusiveness too, as he has very little power in his game. He runs hard and fights to stay off the turf, which helps him generate extra yardage, but he doesn’t shake off tackles either, and contact can knock him off rhythm fairly easily.

One of the other serious concerns in Sampson’s profile relates to how much he’ll impact the passing game. He creates separation easily, with his body control and speed, but he doesn’t catch the ball naturally, and was seldom used as a pass-catcher in Tennessee’s offense as a result. Plus, with his lack of size and strength, he’s likely to always be an underwhelming pass-blocker.

Finally, the last blemish in Sampson’s game is that he struggled to hold onto the football. Considering he also struggled with drops, this could be a product of his below-average hand size, which would make this problem somewhat unsolvable and even more of a worry.

That said, while there are some sizeable gaps in his game, Sampson is an extremely elusive back and a big-play threat anytime he touches the ball.

For the Denver Broncos: The questions about Sampson’s ability to affect the passing game as a rookie make it hard to picture him fitting Denver’s offense well early on in his career.

That said, he’s such a dynamic runner and has the upside to be a similarly impactful receiver if given time to develop. He wouldn’t fix the problem in the running back room right now, but he could be an extremely dangerous force down the road.

Value for the Broncos: A high-upside fourth-round pick who should be relegated to a rotational role as he develops his receiving skills.

No. 7 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft -- Devin Neal
No. 7 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft — Devin Neal

Overview: Devin Neal is one of the most physically imposing running backs in the 2025 NFL Draft, with a densely built 5-foot-11, 220-pound frame, which he uses like a bowling ball to plow through and roll over smaller defenders.

Yet, despite that stature, Neal’s game doesn’t feature the type of physicality and violence you would hope for, especially considering he’s not much of a space player, with his 4.58 40-yard dash. Neal is a strong runner, and when he comes across an unfortunate defensive back or a poorly executed tackle, he shrugs it off with ease, but he hasn’t leaned far enough into that strong point of his game yet.

Right now, his game is predicated on his mastery of tempo and vision. Neal has an excellent feel for how to adjust his pace as the play develops, slowing his feet when he needs to let blocks develop ahead of him, and then slamming on the accelerator once a crease presents itself.

Neal’s natural feel for that timing isn’t limited to the start of the play either. He’s a creative runner who can easily spot cutback lanes and open space as he runs down the field. He also has enough wiggle to make defenders miss their tackles fairly regularly, and he knows how to set up his blockers to create extra yardage, too.

He’s also a surprisingly helpful running back in the passing game too, despite his physical profile.

Neal is a smooth catcher of the football, who can often guide the ball into his grasp without breaking stride. His route tree isn’t too developed, but he still has enough skill as a receiver to be an impactful presence. He also has flashes of strong pass protection, and, while his technique has to get better for him to improve his batting average, he has all the physical and mental traits to make you believe he can develop those facets.

For all he does well, Neal likely won’t be a home-run hitter in the NFL. His vision and tempo should consistently keep his offense ahead of the sticks, but he doesn’t have the necessary long speed to crack a 60-yard scamper without being chased down from behind by the faster defenders.

He also has to learn to use the remarkable amount of force his body can generate more regularly. Neal should be one of the most bruising runners in his class, given all his tools, but he’s closer to mediocre in that facet now. That said, whether or not Neal can dial up that physicality has yet to be seen, so it shouldn’t be assumed he flips a switch in the pros.

For the Denver Broncos: Devin Neal wouldn’t single-handedly solve the team’s running back need, but he could play a large role in solving it.

Neal is an excellent early-down back who can keep the offense ahead of the sticks while still impacting the passing game when necessary, but he’s not going to tear off many chunk plays, and explosive plays are more valuable than gold in the modern NFL.

Pairing Neal with a back like TreVeyon Henderson, who would give the offense some big-play juice and is an even more dynamic pass-catcher and pass-protector, would be perfect.

Value for the Broncos: A steal in the 4th round, and an acceptable pick at 85

No. 6 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft -- R.J. Harvey
No. 6 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft — R.J. Harvey

Overview: R.J. Harvey is another home-run hitter out of the backfield, and his nose for field-flipping runs is rivaled in this year’s draft by only Henderson and Ashton Jeanty.

In fact, he tore off a run of at least 10 yards on a greater percentage of carries than any other FBS back. He has legit 4.4 speed and can pull away from defensive backs in the open field, rarely ever getting chased down from behind.

When he is faced with contact, though, Harvey’s squatty, 5-foot-8, 205-pound build makes him surprisingly difficult to take down. He has above-average contact balance, excellent spatial awareness, and plenty of creativity in his runs, which combine to make him quite the escape artist in congested spaces.

He’s not a powerful back, but he isn’t an easy tackle either. With 69 forced missed tackles in 2024, he had just one fewer than the aforementioned Dylan Sampson, and four fewer than Omarion Hampton.

Sometimes, Harvey can bet too much on his slipperiness to get him out of a jam, and stall out, rather than just taking whatever yardage he’s able to before the walls close in, but his hit-rate his high enough to stomach those misfires.

Harvey is also an adept receiver, with the potential to get a whole lot better.

He has a better-than-average feel for the soft spots in coverage and how to manipulate leverage, relative to his peers, potentially as a result of his quarterback background. With his movement skills, he could be a nightmare to cover out of the backfield with a little more development.

That said, the pass-protection is subpar, and he might only ever max out as an average pass-blocker, considering his mediocre strength.

For the Denver Broncos: Over recent weeks, Broncos Country has begun clamoring for TreVeyon Henderson, because he’s an explosive rushing threat and can be the type of receiver out of the backfield that Sean Payton has been pining for since arriving in the Mile High City.

That said, landing R.J. Harvey in the third round is probably a better solution to that puzzle than selecting Henderson at Pick 20.

He offers a lot of the same positives, save for the pass-blocking talent, without some of the injury and workload concerns, and could immediately solve Denver’s RB need if paired with the right partner.

Value for the Broncos: A no-brainer starting in the 3rd round, but could be excusable earlier given the right circumstances.

No. 5 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft -- Quinshon Judkins
No. 5 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft — Quinshon Judkins

Overview: Quinshon Judkins is one of the more overlooked backs in the class, and his often bland play style, being paired with the Carolina Reaper that is TreVeyon Henderson, is a big reason why. Still, it would be foolish to overlook him, as he’s still one of this draft’s 50 best prospects, and started the 2024 season widely viewed as the best back in the loaded class.

Ohio State relegated Judkins to a fairly simple role that saw him used as a battering ram between the tackles to soften up opposing defenses and create a cleaner runway for Henderson’s home-run threat. That role didn’t allow Judkins to show off all of his ability, but he still played it beautifully, converting goal-line carries into touchdowns and keeping the offense ahead of schedule on early downs.

That might not sound meaningful, but in a class featuring talented players like Luther Burden III or Will Johnson — who seemingly checked out in a non-ideal situation, knowing the draft awaited them — it speaks to Judkins’ character that he played a reduced role to help his team win, knowing it would likely hurt his draft stock, and he did so with a smile.

Judkins runs with a pissed-off temperament, often seeming to inflict more pain on the defense than they’re able to dole out. He powers into and through collisions with an explosive pop that suggests a genuinely special degree of fearlessness. Despite the sizeable hits he experiences, Judkins has been extremely healthy throughout his college career — never missing a game — and he has yet to fumble the football.

That said, his violence can often get the best of him, as he can be far too impatient and rush into a lane that’s still developing, leading to an unsuccessful carry. Right now, he only operates at one speed, and he’ll have to learn how to adapt his tempo on the fly to maximize his tools.

At the combine, Judkins demonstrated he’s faster than most expected, turning in a 4.48 40-yard dash, which suggests he’s more than just a sledgehammer. You won’t draft him for his ability to generate big plays, but he’s more than just the five-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust runner that Ohio State made him out to be.

Looking back to his tape at Ole Miss, which made him such a hyped up prospect heading into the 2024 season, Judkins demonstrates much more creativity as a runner and can break runs outside the tackles and slip past defenders with elusiveness that isn’t on his Buckeyes film.

With Henderson being a boom-or-bust runner and Judkins being such a steady presence between the tackles, it’s easy to imagine Chip Kelly coming to Judkins and asking him to just make sure he’s keeping the offense on schedule with his runs, to balance out some of the other inconsistencies. If you buy that reality, it’s easy to buy into Judkins’ upside.

For the Denver Broncos: Quinshon Judkins would be an excellent back for the Denver Broncos on early downs, but he’s far too unproven in the passing game, where Sean Payton’s running backs have to contribute, for him to be the lone addition to the backfield.

While he has all the necessary size, strength, and vision to be a quality pass-protector one day, he is very inconsistent in that facet as a prospect, and he’s also relatively unproven as a receiver.

The only other concern regarding his fit in Denver is that his skillset would be duplicative of Audric Estime’s, and selecting him would likely spell doom for the second-year Notre Dame back. That’s not ideal, but Estime was a healthy scratch for the Broncos’ playoff game and didn’t demonstrate enough last season to meaningfully impact their draft strategy.

Value for the Broncos: If he’s there at 51, he’d be a great selection, so long as Denver understands the short-term limitations he could suffer as he leaps to the NFL game.

No. 4 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft -- Kaleb Johnson
No. 4 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft — Kaleb Johnson

Overview: In a few years, we could all look back at Kaleb Johnson as one of the biggest steals of the 2025 NFL Draft class, considering he’s an awesome talent with more question marks than true red flags.

Johnson packs a punch as a runner, with a physical style that regularly punishes and imposes his will on the defense. He has the contact balance to pinball through mobs of would-be tacklers, churns his legs, and uses his momentum to consistently fall forward to pick up extra yards. His 4.42 yards after contact per carry ranked fourth among his peers in this year’s draft.

That said, he’s not an elusive back, so if he’s going to create extra yards, it has to be through contact.

The Hawkeye running back also demonstrates appealing burst and often flies into the second level of the defense. He can get chased down from behind by defensive backs, but his ability to rapidly accelerate from zero to 60 makes him an explosive presence nonetheless.

As a runner, he also seems to have good vision, but it’s hard to know if that will translate well to the NFL level, as he saw a fairly limited set of run plays in college. Iowa was one of the most zone-dominant run-schemes in college football last season, which led to Johnson having 191 zone-scheme rushing attempts, compared to just 48 attempts in gap-scheme concepts.

He can also impact the passing game early in his career, though he will largely have to focus on his pass-catching skills while his ability to pass protect continues to develop. His physical strength and general size lead you to believe he should be able to improve his blocking quite a bit, but it’s a work-in-progress for now.

Still, he’s an effective pass-catcher. He quickly transitions into a threat after securing the pass and is a pain to tackle for the defenders he encounters in the open field.

He would be a stellar second-round selection, and, had he played in a more balanced scheme, he might have even been viewed as a first-round selection.

For the Denver Broncos: Sean Payton’s large and diverse assortment of run plays makes Kaleb Johnson a trickier projection in Denver than in most NFL offenses, though he has leaned more into zone concepts in recent years, and the attack leaned 57% towards zone last year.

Johnson would have to thrive in a lot of unfamiliar situations to be a down-to-down weapon as a rookie, but if the Broncos can find a solid pairing for 2025 and are willing to be patient as his vision adjusts, he could be a high-end lead back for several seasons.

Value for the Broncos: If he’s there at 51, he’d be a great selection, so long as Denver understands the short-term limitations he could suffer as he leaps to the NFL game.

No. 3 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft -- TreVeyon Henderson
No. 3 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft — TreVeyon Henderson

Overview: In a draft class loaded to the gills with tantalizing running backs, no other back outside Ashton Jeanty is easier to fall in love with than TreVeyon Henderson, considering how high the highs are.

Henderson’s best plays stack up with anyone else in this class.

When he spots his rushing lane, he quickly flies upfield and has enough contact balance that the defense has to legitimately worry about him matching up with a cornerback in space. Oftentimes, once he gets that crease, Henderson is making a house call for six. His acceleration is tremendous, and his top speed is among the best in the class at any position.

That said, he is very much a boom-or-bust runner. When Henderson has a clean, well-defined, running lane, he is as dangerous as any back in this class. However, on those plays when not everything goes to plan, and there’s a little extra traffic or muck he has to sort through with his vision, he often hesitates and gets dragged down for an unsuccessful carry.

Another positive in his game is that he’s also arguably the best blocker in this RB class. He’s intelligence helps him sniff out opposing blitzes, even those shrouded in a complex disguise, and he packs a surprisingly potent punch for his size, regularly stonewalling and occasionally flattening defenders.

Pair that blocking ability with his pass-catching talents that are rivaled only by Ashton Jeanty, and you have an idyllic passing-down back. Henderson is one of the few backs in this draft who is a respectable option when split out wide and asked to run real routes. He can also win from the backfield, and in either situation, he creates separation with ease. Plus, he’s a natural catcher of the football, making him an excellent safety blanket for his quarterback.

Unfortunately, Henderson’s usage concerns limit how much an offense can truly capitalize on his tantalizing gifts.

Henderson has yet to stay healthy through an entire college season that saw him take more than 53% of his team’s snaps. Those injury-plagued campaigns were 13-game seasons against collegiate players, the overwhelming majority of whom won’t even have a cup of coffee in the NFL. Will his body suddenly be able to manage more wear and tear, coming from greater physical forces, as he leaps to the next level? It seems unlikely.

As a result, Henderson probably requires a high-end backfield pairing for his talents to be maximized. For any player projected to go in the top-20, that’s a big red flag, but it’s especially concerning for a team like Denver, which isn’t flush with draft capital and also has nothing even close to resembling a quality partner for Henderson, unless Audric Estime takes a massive leap.

At 51, the need for further investment is excusable, making him a marvelous second-round selection, considering his high-end upside and tremendous fit with the team. Unfortunately, he just has too many red flags to warrant a first-round selection that doesn’t also feature a trade down, because moving back would help negate some of the added costs associated with Henderson.

For the Denver Broncos: TreVeyon Henderson’s limitations would make it difficult for him to completely solve the Broncos’ need at the position, but he’s also the best answer to address certain specific aspects of those needs.

Denver’s offense needs to become more explosive, and Henderson would help that tremendously. They need a back who can be a dangerous receiving threat and a reliable pass-protector for Bo Nix, and Henderson is a fantastic prospect for passing downs.

Now, considering Payton has had a running back finish in the top-12 of total touches in five of his past six seasons, the Broncos also need someone who can play a lot for them and handle the largest role of any other skill player on the offense. Henderson has yet to demonstrate he’s up to such a task, and the few times he was asked to, he’s gotten injured.

Value for the Broncos: A 1st-round trade-down would be great value for TreVeyon Henderson, and him falling to the 2nd round would be a dream scenario for Denver.

No. 2 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft -- Omarion Hampton
No. 2 RB for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 NFL Draft — Omarion Hampton

Overview: With the recent trauma of Javonte Williams, some Denver Broncos fans will unfairly pinch their nose at the idea of selecting another powerful running back out of North Carolina high in the NFL Draft, but they should look past the helmet to Hampton’s on-field efforts. His tape easily ranks among the best RB draft prospects we’ve seen since 2020, with only Ashton Jeanty and Bijan Robinson having a clear leg up.

Hampton might not be elite in every aspect of his game, but he’s an incredibly well-rounded running back prospect.

As a ball-carrier, Omarion Hampton is the personification of a runaway freight train. He’s the answer to the question, what if the University of Colorado’s Ralphie V was trained to play running back?

With 220 pounds of pure muscle on his frame and a 40-time one-hundredth of a second slower than Jerry Jeudy, Hampton is an absolute nightmare to bring down once he gets rolling, and he gets up to speed in a hurry. With his blend of vision, short-area burst and contact balance, Hampton climbs to the second level of the defense with ease, and once he’s there, he has enough juice to launch through a seam and run down the field for a massive gain, or run a defender over to turn a four-yard carry into a seven yards.

Hampton’s intense physicality wears on opponents as the game goes on too, making him even more dangerous in the fourth quarter, as tired and battered defenses don’t have enough left in the tank to corral him.

One hole in Hampton’s ability as a runner is his ability to rapidly decelerate and then quickly slam his foot back on the gas to pull away from the herd. Hampton can fly when he’s rolling, butt when that process gets broken up, he takes a second to re-gain momentum.

As an excellent pass-blocker and quality receiving threat, Hampton is also a fantastic option on passing downs too. On 94 pass block reps in 2024, Hampton allowed just six pressures and one quarterback hit, while not surrendering a single sack. He’ll never be a dynamic route-runner, but he has soft hands, and his talents in space make him devastatingly effective on screens and dump-offs. Despite being viewed as a much lesser receiver than Henderson, and a less explosive ball-carrier, Hampton averaged just one yard per reception less than the Ohio State star.

Hampton will immediately raise the floor of whichever offense that adds him, while also providing a regular diet of game-changing plays, to improve the unit’s ceiling.

For the Denver Broncos: The Denver Broncos’ rushing attack was generally solid last year, ranking 15th in both rushing success rate and EPA per rush, yet the run game still felt painfully anemic, and they ranked 21st in yards per carry.

That’s because the Broncos’ running backs were getting precisely what was blocked for them, and nothing more.

Omarion Hampton, with his ability to consistently create meaningful yards after contact, will take those low-wattage four-yard gains and turn them into eight-yard gains, while also providing explosive runs at a healthy rate. He raises the floor of the run game too, as he’s able to create positive plays when things aren’t perfectly blocked up or schemed up, and that wasn’t on the table last season.

He is the perfect presence to keep Bo Nix out of third-and-long situations, and that’s incredibly meaningful for a quarterback who is still developing.

Another element that makes Hampton an appealing fit is that he’s one of just six running backs in the draft class who had over 100 zone-scheme runs and over 100 gap-scheme runs in 2024. Sean Payton implements one of the most diverse buffets of run plays of anyone in the league, so knowing Hampton already has experience reading out a wider assortment of run concepts than most of his peers means he should be able to make a quicker impact than most.

Value for the Broncos: A great selection with the 20th overall pick.

Overview: Ashton Jeanty might just be Sean Payton’s dream running back, with his blend of explosiveness, power, vision, and remarkable prowess in the passing game.

Jeanty’s 36 explosive carries in 2024 were the most in college football, and 12.5% greater than the next highest total (R.J. Harvey with 32). He’s able to tear off those massive gains with tremendous burst and long speed that allows him to comfortably pull away from the defense.

He is a highly intelligent player too. You rarely see Jeanty try to bounce a run he shouldn’t, choose the wrong run lane, or miss an assignment. He’s not a boom-or-bust runner, and consistently kept his offense ahead of the sticks.

Jeanty is also a converted wide receiver, and that’s not surprising at all when watching how well he works in the passing game. He wasn’t used much that way in 2024, but Boise State was trying to get him the single-season individual rushing record by feeding him boatloads of carries, and they didn’t want to further add to that physical toll by making him a receiving focus also. Still, his 2023 tape is so good, coaches should have no problem imagining him as a highly impactful receiver, with cashmere-soft hands, eyes that track the ball like an outfielder’s, and all the movement skills necessary to be a devastating route-runner.

The most special gift Jeanty has to work with, though, is his contact balance. Jeanty’s ability to fight through contact seemingly unfazed, thanks to his bowling-ball-like 5-foot-8, 215-pound body, and a never-say-die mindset. His legs are constantly churning, and, unlike Cam Skattebo, a similarly determined rusher, Jeanty has all the burst and long speed necessary to leave defenders in 20 yards in the dust if they dare him to slip free for even a moment.

Trying to zero in on negatives or concerns in Ashton Jeanty’s game is extremely difficult. The biggest one is that Jeanty’s game was largely special because he was able to almost always physically dominate his opponents with his talent level, but he was also playing in the Mountain West. However, over four games against power-conference opponents in 2024, Jeanty had 118 carries for 776 yards and forced 53 missed tackles. DJ Giddens played in a power conference and had 55 for the entire season, so it seems like Jeanty’s game should survive a step up in competition.

Jeanty has had an abnormally large workload for a college back, but, to his credit, his shiftiness and low center of gravity make it so that he doesn’t often take large hits, which should prolong his NFL career and minimize some of the usage concerns.

For the Denver Broncos: Ultimately, no player in this year’s NFL Draft would have a greater immediate impact on the Broncos than Ashton Jeanty, outside of maybe Travis Hunter, and that’s only because he’s an elite player on both sides of the ball.

Jeanty would fill Sean Payton’s coveted ‘J*ker’ role, with his receiving talents, and he’s also able to help support the pass game as a quality blocker too.

He would also give Bo Nix a backfield partner who should almost always keep him out of third-and-long, and can frequently score from almost anywhere on the field

Value for the Broncos: Honestly, a trade into the top-10 for Jeanty could be justifiable, and that’s insane to think about, considering we’re talking about a running back in a loaded RB class.

Picture of Zach Segars
Zach Segars