Dallas Cowboys select Jaydon Blue in fifth round of 2025 NFL Draft

Texas has a great streak of running backs making their way into the NFL in recent times. Jaydon Blue is next up as he was selected with the No. 149 overall pick in the fifth round by the Dallas Cowboys. One of the fastest players on the Longhorns last season, Blue is hoping that his speed translates well at the next level.

In 15 games this season, Blue rushed for 730 yards and eight touchdowns on 134 carries. Steve Sarkisian used him as a home run threat at times. Most notably in the College Football Playoff against Clemson, where Blue had scores of 38 and 77 yards.

“Yeah, the first thing, I want to give a lot to credit to the guys up front,” Blue said when speaking during the postgame press conference. “Those guys paved the way for me. But we made a big emphasis that we was going to have to run the ball in order to win this game. Like I said, I credit these guys. Those guys are the reason that those two touchdowns happened.”

Blue played high school football at Houston (TX) Klein Cain, where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 180 overall recruit in the 2022 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Another three-year player to come out of Texas since Sarkisian took over the program. And Blue just adds to the list of Longhorn running backs to hear their name called by Roger Goodell.

What NFL Draft analysts are saying about Jaydon Blue

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein provided a scouting report of Blue ahead of the draft. He was given a prospect score of 6.11, which means Blue can become “good backup with the potential to develop into starter” at some point. Zierlein did not provide a direct comparison to Blue but did believe he was a third-round talent.

“Blue played behind very good backs, so his carry count is lower, but he clearly has talent,” Zierlein said. “He’s a narrow-hipped, linear runner with good speed to threaten wide and attack downfield out of the backfield. He has adequate wiggle in the open field but lacks base strength to break tackles. Blue’s lack of tempo and vision inside gets him behind schedule and could limit how teams use him as a ball-carrier. While he can be labeled a “change-of-pace slasher,” his real value will revolve around his ability to mismatch linebackers and threaten defenses as a receiver out of the backfield.”