• Ashton Jeanty is one of the best running back prospects of the last decade: Bijan Robinson and Saquon Barkley are the only running backs to rank as high as Jeanty on both consensus big boards and the PFF big board.
• A potential first-round redraft selection: As long as Jeanty lands on a decent team where he can be the apparent lead running back, his ADP could end up among the top 12 players by August.
• 2025 NFL Draft season is here: Try PFF’s best-in-class Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2025’s top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

PFF’s fantasy football player profile series delivers the most in-depth fantasy football analysis available for the 2025 season.

Using PFF’s exclusive data, we evaluate player performance, competition for touches and how teammates and coaching staffs will impact each player’s fantasy football outlook.

Last updated: 7:15 a.m. Monday, April 21

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Player performance

Jeanty has been a genuinely dominant running back for Boise State. He earned a rushing grade above 90.0 in his first season, leading to a starting role in 2023. He averaged over 160 yards per game in 2023 and over 200 in 2024, unheard of by a running back. Of the top 11 projected rookie running backs, Jeanty had the highest avoided tackles per attempt rate, the highest percentage of his yards came after contact and the highest yards per carry. He’s avoided 85 more tackles than any other running back in the class. 

Some of his rate metrics weren’t as good as other running backs, but it’s challenging to lead the FBS in both volume and efficiency metrics when Jeanty averaged over 18 carries per game throughout his career. While his numbers in any specific situation were generally strong, he was most ridiculous on perfectly blocked plays and plays against seven-man boxes. The difference between Jeanty being a first-round pick in fantasy drafts and the second round could be how good the run blocking is on his new team and how much he could avoid eight-man boxes.

Jeanty also has the highest receiving grade in the group. In 2023, he put up elite numbers as a college receiver, and then in 2024, Boise State focused more heavily on his rushing ability. He ranks among the top 25 fastest running backs in the FBS from the last eight seasons, according to PFF’s tracking data. The combination of speed and experience makes him the best rushing running back in the class and the best receiving running back in the class.

Projected role

Jeanty will ideally have a feature role as a rookie. Our player comparison for Jeanty in our draft guide is Alvin Kamara, who started his career as a receiving back but quickly turned into an every-down player who consistently is among the league leaders in snaps per game by a running back. Jeanty played over 80% of the snaps in his final season and nearly 80% in every situation. 

Typically, teams feel the need to give their early first-round draft picks significant playing time, which should also benefit Jeanty. Every running back selected in the top 10 of the NFL draft in the last decade played at least 68% of their team’s offensive snaps as a rookie, except for Leonard Fournette, who dealt with injuries, which played a factor.

Most teams that are expected to draft Jeanty based on mock drafts will easily be able to get Jeanty to 68% of snaps. However, a team like the New Orleans Saints or San Francisco 49ers, who have an older running back, may decide Jeanty is too good a talent to pass up at their pick. In those cases, Jeanty may need to co-exist with another established running back for a season.

Most mocked teams

The Raiders changed starting running backs every few weeks throughout 2024. They added 33-year-old Raheem Mostert, who would be a fine backup to Jeanty in Chip Kelly’s offense. The Raiders have the sixth overall pick. The Raiders retained their top-five run-blocking offensive linemen and should be able to maintain at least an average level of play if they stay healthy.

The Bears have the 10th pick and would be the ideal landing spot for Jeanty. They invested heavily in their offensive line in March, so Jeanty should be able to play as many snaps as he can handle. Their new head coach, Ben Johnson, had a very successful run game with the Detroit Lions. They have the 10th pick in the draft.

The Broncos have the 20th pick in the draft and would likely need to trade up to acquire Jeanty. The future All-Pro running back reminds people of Alvin Kamara and the Saints’ former head coach, Sean Payton, who now coaches the Broncos. While Payton has utilized a committee as a running back for most of his career, he made an exception for Kamara when he was at his peak. Ideally, Payton would also create an exception for Jeanty.

Bottom line

In August, Jeanty will likely be among the top 24 picks in fantasy football drafts. He is the top option in single-quarterback and superflex dynasty rookie drafts. It will be more difficult to trade for the first pick in dynasty rookie drafts this year compared to others because of Jeanty.

Footnotes

• Statistics in tables and charts were generally chosen based on their ability to predict future fantasy performance on a per-game or per-opportunity basis or for their ability to describe the player relative to others at the same position.
• “Opportunities” are defined as passing dropbacks, rushing attempts and receiving routes run.
• Numbers are either by season or based on the past three years. For rookies, only college numbers are included. Only NFL numbers are included for non-rookies, even if they played in college during the previous three years.
• Because college competition is easier than NFL competition, most rookies will likely see a decline from their historic numbers.
• Only FBS data is considered for college players and comparisons.
• Kneel-downs are removed from rushing data to provide cleaner quarterback rushing rate statistics.
• The colors for all tables in this article range from blue (good or high) to red (bad or low).
• All percentiles or colors compare the given player to other players with a high sample of opportunities. Generally, the cut-off is one-third of the possible opportunities in the sample. If the player in question doesn’t have enough opportunities, they are still compared, even though they could look good or bad based on the small sample size, which might not be as predictive.
• Information on utilization classifications and their importance can be found here for running backs, wide receivers and tight ends. 

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