Todd McShay declares 2025 running back class the best he has seen

After coming within 30 yards of eclipsing Barry Sanders‘ NCAA single-season rushing record last year on his way to a runner-up finish in the 2024 Heisman Trophy race, Ashton Jeanty firmly cemented his status as the likely first running back off the board in the 2025 NFL Draft. But the Boise State running back is hardly the only potential superstar tailback in this year’s draft class.

Jeanty might not even be the only running back taken in the Top 10 on the first day of the draft, April 24th. In fact, former ESPN draft expert and current Ringer podcast host Todd McShay believes the 2025 running back class could be the best in decades.

“I look back at just my 25 years of doing this and it’s the best running back group top to bottom I’ve ever seen,” McShay said on this week’s The Triple Option podcast with hosts Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram and Rob Stone. “Like, 2017 was a damn good class, that was Leonard Fournette, Christian McCaffrey … and the list went on and on. There were 30 running backs taken in that class, that’s the most in the last three decades, I think. … This year’s group is better because there’s more third-, fourth-round talent, whereas there were a lot of guys back-ended that year.”

That 2017 class included 26 running backs selected through the seven-round draft, beginning with Fournette to the Jacksonville Jaguars at No. 4 overall and McCaffrey at No. 8 to the Carolina Panthers. Dalvin Cook and Joe Mixon followed in the second round, with fellow future starters James Conner, Alvin Kamara, Kareem Hunt and D’Onta Foreman coming off the board in Round 3. For context, the Green Bay Packers selected multi-year starter Aaron Jones near the end of Round 5. Five more running backs were picked up as undrafted free agents, highlighted by former Chargers star Austin Ekeler.

McShay expects a similar turnout in the 2025 draft, with NFL.com ranking 14 different running backs with a 6.10-or-better grade, which signifies a “good backup with the potential to develop into a starter.” According to NFL.com’s grading system, Jeanty is the draft’s only “Pro Bowl talent” at running back with a 7.15 grade, though four others — UNC‘s Omarion Hampton, Ohio State tandem TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins and Tennessee‘s Dylan Sampson — have a 6.3 rating which designates they “will eventually be a plus starter” that are currently projected to be selected in the first two rounds.

Todd McShay gushes about NFL potential of Quinshon Judkins, Cam Skattebo

“With Jeanty and Omarion Hampton from North Carolina, they’re like legitimate, doesn’t-matter-the-year, first-round talents. TreVeyon Henderson, being able to see him in that system and the way he was utilized, … he’s just never going to be your bell-cow ‘back if you will, but like with Jahmyr Gibbs, look at his value in Detroit. You have a clear vision of what TreVeyon can be. … I just love Judkins, his run style, his acceleration, all those sorts of things,” McShay continued. “But then just some of the names … you’ve got Kaleb Johnson from Iowa, who I think people are underrating, (Arizona State‘s Cam) Skattebo, who I loved watching in college football this Fall — we all did, he’s just a special dude — and his tape’s actually even better.”

McShay also listed RJ Harvey, DJ Giddens of UCF and Kansas State, respectively, as potential third-round picks, followed by Sampson. He also named Virginia Tech‘s Bhayshul Tuten, Oregon scatback Jordan James, Miami bruiser Damien Martinez, as well as SMU‘s Brashard Smith, Texas‘ Jaydon Blue and Oklahoma State‘s Ollie Gordon as potential gems that will likely be available on Day 3.

McShay went on to point out the propensity of NFL defenses utilizing a two-deep safety look to try to counter the pass-friendly spread offenses rampant throughout the college and professional ranks has put a premium on talented running backs, and could result in a truly historic draft for the position.