It’s finally time to say goodbye to the Get Better at Dynasty Series and turn our attention to scouting for 2025 dynasty rookie drafts. Where dynasties will be created and torn down. We spent the last several weeks learning how to make a plan for our roster, how to value our draft capital, and how to deploy it. Now, it’s finally time to execute and nail our prospect evaluations so that we can leave our league mates behind.
While we all know drafting can be fool’s gold, we established in part IV of Get Better at Dynasty that to build a dynasty, you need to find a way to pay less than retail price for stud players, and one way to do that is to smash a couple draft picks. Now, it’s time to move past theory and get our hands dirty, learning all we can about the fantasy football futures of the prospects in the 2025 NFL draft class.
Let’s start off this series by evaluating the presumed cream of the crop of this year’s running back class, the position group that is itself widely considered the strength of the 2025 draft. Are they worth the hype, and will they be leapfrogged by players in future installments?
Let’s jump right in. The sections of this article will follow the categories laid out in the final part of the Get Better at Dynasty series, copied here for your convenience. Recall that the highlighting in the template reflects the relative importance of each trait, whereas in the actual prospect report it represents how strong they are in that skill.
Fantasy-Relevant Traits
Goal Line
All three of these backs thrive in this area, albeit in slightly different ways, and their college volume is proof of this. Kaleb Johnson and Omarion Hampton are the classic big backs who will be asked to punch the ball in from close range, and I expect they’ll stay on the field in goal-to-go situations. Jeanty, despite being smaller in stature, can often play bigger than his listed size, utilizing his dense, rocked up frame as well as his supreme balance and leg drive to fall into the endzone.
He also utilizes a nuance the other two lack, which is that he knows how to force the linebacker to commit to a gap before bouncing the run and easily gaining the corner, meaning he can finish a drive even if the defensive line plugs up the goal line nicely. Of these three, there is a slight risk that Jeanty’s team utitlizes a bigger, more traditional goal line back to frustrate dynasty managers, but there is hope he dominates his team’s usage and finishes drives too.
Pass Catching
Jeanty stands out the most to me in this area, despite rarely being asked to catch passes in his final season. He has naturally soft hands that comfortably catch the ball from all sorts of angles including down the field, which gives him the most upside as a downfield route runner out of this group. He is not solely a screen and dump off guy.
Kaleb Johnson actually pleasantly surprised me with his ability to pluck errant passes away from his frame. However, in the games I watched, he was used almost exclusively as a screen and dump off guy, and I don’t see the wiggle or long speed in his game to become a downfield weapon.
I think it’s most likely Johnson’s pass catching work will come on checkdowns on early downs, but not so much from designed targets or especially downfield work. He’s not a menace back there, but his receiving value will depend heavily on the preferences of his quarterback. He can definitely get the job done though.
Omarion Hampton is a bit in between Johnson and Jeanty. He fights the ball a bit more than those two, letting the ball hit his body, but he shows more yards after catch chops than Johnson. In particular, UNC frequently utilized a delayed release shovel pass play that would give Hampton acres of room in the middle of the field, and he showed enough vision, wiggle, and explosivenes to present unfavorable angles to safeties and create an explosive play.
The hope is that an NFL offensive coordinator sees this and keeps it a part of his usage in the NFL. That being said, Hampton is not able to get open down the field and struggled when asked to make a play on a ball away from his frame. I would also think he’s limited to catching the ball behind the line of scrimmage.
Elusiveness
To me this is the area that most separates the three prospects. Unsurprisingly, Jeanty is the most elusive of the group. He has the best contact balance I’ve ever scouted in a prospect, taking big shots and not even breaking stride. Even going low on him is a bad bet. He also has the most lateral agility of these backs, as he’s actually the only one of these three who I think did a good job picking times to bounce runs, and this plays up because he is good at setting up linebackers to commit to the wrong gap.
Finally, he can change direction efficiently without losing any speed. He’s not on the level of those “human joystick” types that make the rounds on Youtube, but when combined with his contact balance, he almost feels likely to lead the NFL in broken tackles at some point.
Omarion Hampton stands out for having speed, agility, and contact balance that are all above average *relative to his size*. They don’t make you jump out of your seat, but he gets the most out of his size and strength by having just enough of each skill to have a plus overall package of traits. No, he doesn’t have the lateral agility to juke a defender or make him look silly, but he has enough to turn what should be a favorable angle into an arm tackle.
He frequently makes the first man miss in a phone booth. No, he doesn’t have wicked jump cuts and explosion to dust safeties, but he has enough sideways agility and forward explosion to generate an explosive play once he gets into the second level. He has the contact balance to shrug off reckless tacklers and even drag defenders a few extra yards.
Kaleb Johnson’s elusiveness on the other hand leaves a lot to be desired. Let’s start with where he excels. Johnson brings a very impressive combination of size and initial explosiveness to the table. I think his long speed is the slowest of this group, but he looks genuinely fast getting from the line of scrimmage to the second level of the defense.
His size/explosion package is such that he will get the most out of whatever is blocked for him. However, there are times his physicality is almost a weakness. Sometimes, he focuses on trying to run right at a tackler and delivering a blow, but this usually means he’s going to lose speed and get gang tackled.
Although Johnson can ruthlessly take whatever space the defense gives him, he is not a creator. There is almost no lateral agility to his game. To the extent he breaks tackles, it’s when he has a head of steam. He will go as his offense goes, looking like a star player if he is schemed up enough space to attack downhill at a defense, while being painful to own if he’s on a bad offense.
That eval might seem unfavorable right now, but this is a profile that can win playoff matchups during the highs. Overall, he’s a formidable linear athlete lacking in reactive athleticism.
Explosive Play Ability
Ashton Jeanty won’t remind anybody of Jahmyr Gibbs when it comes to erasing an angle and taking it to the house. To the extent he generates explosive plays, it’s more so because he has such a strong package of elusive traits. Jeanty does bring good burst to the table to turn an advantage into an explosive run, but I would say his long speed and ability to beat a defender to the corner are merely fine for his size.
For a workhorse type of back, it’s more than enough, but he won’t draw Saquon Barkley comparisons in this area. As mentioned previously, Omarion Hampton has juuust enough juice to make it play up at his size. He is the farthest thing from a plodder, and has enough explosiveness and long speed to give defenses headaches at having to bring down such a strong back in the second level.
However, he won’t be known for his big play ability, and won’t generate fantasy points on long touchdown runs the way James Cook or Jahmyr Gibbs do. At his size, he doesn’t have to, and he’s a formidable player in the second level, just in a different way than those two.
Kaleb Johnson, while not a creator for the reasons mentioned previously, is always a perfectly blocked play away from an explosive run. Arm tackles won’t phase him, and defensive backs have a ton of trouble bringing him down until he’s way downfield and they can shove him out of bounds. I think he’ll generate more explosive runs than most running backs his size, and will look like a star on a team that has good pieces and play design.
Traits That Matter For Earning a Role
Ball Security
This is a bit of an orange flag for Jeanty, who fumbled the ball nine times over the last two years, including twice against Penn State in the College Football Playoff. However, he’ll get a chance to rewrite that narrative since he’ll walk into a workhorse role and get the chance to prove that’s behind him.
Kaleb Johnson is good in this regard, fumbling three times in three years, including never this past season. Meanwhile Omarion Hampton fumbled five times over his career, though only two of those were lost. With him shouldering a massive workload each of the last two seasons, you’ll live with it.
Early Down Rushing
All three backs excel in this regard. Hampton and Johnson project to get the lion’s share of the opportunities in this area, and both have a tendency to fall forward for extra yards. Jeanty due to his size might cede some carries to a backup, if the situation falls that way, but one would hope his team chooses to feed him because of his penchant for breaking tackles routinely.
Pass Blocking
As if there weren’t enough things going for him, Ashton Jeanty is one of the better pass blocking backs in this class, and most likely will stay on the field for two minute drills, unless he’s drafted to a team with a highly regarded role player. Omarion Hampton meanwhile has good strength and is willing to block, but his technique is pretty lacking and he has trouble squaring up blitzers.
Instead, he tends to deliver glancing blows that still result in a pressure. Kaleb Johnson sits between Jeanty and Hampton, where he seems to relish contact and usually manages to land some kind of punch, but rushers can brush past him when he lunges. I like his chances of developing into a reliable blocker in the pass game.
Short Yardage
All three of these players profile to consistently get the ball in these situations, though like before, Jeanty’s size leaves some chance that a role player is chosen to handle these duties instead. Of these three players, Hampton is the best at falling forward, often carrying a defender a couple yards after they’ve gotten their arms around him. However, he does tend to try to muscle his way through the pile when there are cases he might be better off remaining a bit more patient and finding a crease to get skinny through.
Ashton Jeanty is the most adept at probing around the A and B gaps before bouncing it and making the corner if needed. If he needs to go right up the middle, he’s excellent at contorting his body and driving his legs to make second and even third efforts to make the line to gain. Kaleb Johnson certainly profiles to stay on the field in these situations, and he won’t be denied if he has a head of steam, but the lack of agility and reactive athleticism means he doesn’t really have other options if you take away his fastball.
Still, he’s surprisingly good at making himself skinny through small gaps in the trenches, and he shows cases where he has strong vision zig zagging through the line when there is penetration he needs to avoid. I do think he goes down a little too easily if he’s not the one forcing the issue.
Rankings
Ashton Jeanty
Profile
Three-down back drafted to be one of the top two options on his offense. Only needs to come off the field to rest, but not to be hidden from specific situations. Should get elite draft capital.
Best Case
A league winner type who looks like a top two option on a strong offense, runs routes down the field, and finishes drives.
Worst Case
Ball security issues and size concerns lead to him being the 1A in more of a committee situation with a goal line back who is also a nuisance in early down situations.
Omarion Hampton
Profile
A high-end 1A alongside a role player who excels at blocking/running routes. Gets the overwhelming majority of rushing work on a team that wants to feed him the ball, but is still good for checkdowns and the occasional shovel pass. A lot depends on whether his athleticism continues looking “good for his size” as defenses get bigger and faster.
Best Case
Ends up in an offense that checks the ball down a lot and his elusiveness traits look above average at the NFL level relative to his size. The explosive plays keep coming in the same way he generated them in college.
Worst Case
The speed of NFL defenses makes his athleticism look more mediocre than it did in college, and he barely gets any receiving work. The shovel pass run-after-catch plays dry up entirely. He becomes a good-not-great running back who can consistently prevent negative plays but can’t generate enough explosives to be a priority to own in dynasty.
Kaleb Johnson
Profile
A run-first back who carries the load for a team that wants to impose its will on an NFL defense. Ideally he gets some pass game usage due to his solid foundation in blocking and pass catching. Lower floor but higher ceiling than Hampton.
Best Case
He punishes defenses, and is usually good for a back-breaking run against tired tacklers. He becomes a force multiplier on a good offense who elevates it with his downhill ability. He also takes that last step becoming a reliable pass blocker and puts his hands to good use in a thriving screen game.
Worst Case
Runs often but inefficiently on a bad offense with an overly traditional coach who is complacent with him racking up 18-60-0 lines. Gets a reputation for being an overly linear athlete who doesn’t create behind a mediocre line. Could end up being a poor value for 2025 dynasty rookie drafts.