• King Henry stays on his throne: Derrick Henry enters the 2025 NFL season as the league’s top running back, even at 31 years old.

• Bucky Irving cracks the top eight: A standout rookie season has the Tampa Bay running back ahead of Christian McCaffrey and De’Von Achane, among others.

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Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

PFF’s pre-season positional ranking series rolls on with the running backs. It’s a tougher position to rank, given the razor-thin difference’s in talent and how each brings facets of the game (rushing, receiving, pass blocking).

Here’s a list of the top 32 backs for 2025. Be sure to check out all of PFF’s 2025 NFL pre-season rankings (QB, WR, EDGE, LB).

Even at 31 years old, King Henry is deserving of this list’s No. 1 spot. He led the NFL in PFF rushing grade in 2024 (93.5), winning PFF’s Best Runner award.

Henry also boasts the highest PFF rushing grade in a three-year sample size going back to 2022 (94.2). Last season, he forced the most missed tackles (89) and ripped off the second-most runs of 10 yards or more (53).

Highest-Graded NFL Running Backs in 2024

Barkley is a big reason why the Philadelphia Eagles are the reigning Super Bowl champions. He earned an 82.7 PFF rushing grade in 2024 and talied the most runs of 10 yards or more (55). He also led the NFL with 2,504 rushing yards.

Robinson not only recorded the second-best PFF rushing grade in the NFL last season (92.1), but he also flexed his talents as a receiver, earning an eighth-ranked 82.2 PFF receiving grade. That combination led him to be the league’s most valuable running back in 2024, per PFF WAR.

Gibbs is a big play waiting to happen on every snap. He placed in the top five in forced missed tackles (68) and runs of 10 yards or more (46) in 2024. He also racked up the second-most receiving yards of any running back last season (587).

Jacobs’ 93.0 PFF rushing grade over the past three seasons trails only Derrick Henry. He earned a 91.3 PFF rushing grade in 2024, with an equally impressive and impactful 89.2 PFF receiving grade. He’s the total package.

Irving was sensational as a rookie. He didn’t quite have the volume stats of other running backs in this list’s range, but his efficiency scores were that of a top-10 back.

He earned a 90.0 PFF rushing grade with 62 forced missed tackles and led the NFL with 3.93 yards after contact per attempt (among running backs with at least 150 carries). He also posted a 90.2 PFF receiving grade, the second-highest mark at the position.

We don’t need to tell you how good McCaffrey is when healthy. He owns a 91.0 cumulative PFF rushing grade over the past three years and led all running backs in PFF WAR in 2023. All of his fully healthy seasons have yielded incredibly high volume and efficiency numbers.

But 2024 was once again a season riddled with injuries. McCaffrey played in just four games due to calf, Achilles and knee ailments, and he will be 29 years old this year.

Conner’s 92.1 cumulative PFF rushing grade over the past three years is tied for fifth best in the league. His 0.20 PFF WAR mark in 2024 ranked seventh among running backs, and he forced 68 missed tackles.

Achane in 2023 became one of just four running backs to ever record an elite PFF rushing grade as a rookie (93.1). He followed that up with an 82.1 PFF rushing grade and an 80.2 PFF receiving grade in 2024. He also racked up the most receiving yards at the position (592).

De’Von Achane’s Career PFF Grades

Williams’ 2024 PFF rushing grade (74.3) wasn’t all that impressive, but he rushed for more than 1,400 yards and generated the fourth-highest PFF WAR figure among running backs, helped by having seven games where he earned a PFF pass-blocking grade above 80.0.

Walker earned a 91.3 PFF rushing grade and a 72.9 PFF receiving grade in 2024. His 92.5 cumulative PFF rushing grade over the past three years ranks third at the position.

His grades alone could have moved him higher on this list, but his 3.7 yards-per-carry average last year drops him in the rankings. He has also steadily declined in both yards and yards-per-attempt averages over the past three years while missing time due to injury each season.

12. JAMES COOK, BUFFALO BILLS

Cook earned an 88.6 PFF rushing grade in 2024 with more than 1,200 rushing yards on the season. He also recorded 26 runs of 10 yards or more, which was good for the 14th most in the NFL.

Only four running backs in the PFF era have earned elite PFF rushing grades as rookies: Adrian Peterson (2007), Alfred Morris (2012), De’Von Achane (2023) and Bucky Irving (2024). Jeanty could very well be the fifth, and the third in a row.

In 2024, he set PFF college records with a 96.6 PFF rushing grade, 1,970 yards after contact and 152 missed tackles forced.

Taylor has the volume stats, with more than 6,000 rushing yards over the past five years. But he also owns just a 74.4 cumulative PFF rushing grade across the past three seasons. He recorded the lowest PFF rushing grade of his career in 2024 (64.1). 

15. BREECE HALL, NEW YORK JETS

Hall has started 16 games in each of the past two seasons but still hasn’t rushed for more than 1,000 yards. After earning an 88.9 PFF receiving grade in 2023, he garnered just a 49.5 mark in 2024 to match the 48.8 grade he recorded as a rookie.

Hall is a talented back and will need to hit the ground running with the Jets’ new coaching staff if he wants to stay in New York.

Hubbard ranks eighth among NFL running backs for PFF WAR generated over the past two seasons. He posted an 86.3 PFF rushing grade with a 3.46 yards-after-contact average in 2024. His 39.5 PFF receiving grade is what holds him back from placing higher. 

17. JOE MIXON, HOUSTON TEXANS

Over the past three seasons, Mixon has produced an 87.6 PFF rushing grade the seventh-highest PFF WAR mark among running backs. He is a solid player who can contribute and be efficient on all three downs. 

Pollard’s 73.5 PFF rushing grade in his first year with the Titans was the lowest of his career. However, he has generated the fifth-highest PFF WAR figure among running backs over the past three seasons.

He also earned just a 51.6 PFF grade as a receiver in 2024, although much of that can be attributed to a roster that earned the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Best Running Backs in Yards After Contact in 2024

Jones ranks 10th among running backs in PFF WAR over the past three seasons. His 91.8 PFF rushing grade in that span ranks eighth. But recorded had just a 75.6 PFF rushing grade in 2024 and will be 31 years old during the 2025 campaign.

Kamara was once the gold standard of versatility — someone who was guaranteed to rack up rushing yards, produce efficiently after contact and provide fantastic outputs as a receiver.

He is still all of those things, just at a less impactful level at 30 years old. Kamara eearned a 76.6 PFF rushing grade in 2024.

Montgomery gutted out a knee injury that could have removed him from the Lions’ playoff plans, earning an 80.1 PFF rushing grade and the highest receiving grade (90.7) of any running back.

This may seem like a high ranking for what many would consider a backup running back, but that title is insulting to Allgeier’s consistency. He ranked 11th among running backs with at least 100 attempts in PFF rushing grade (85.7) last season. He also has a very high career yards-after-contact average, well above 3.00. His 0.34 PFF WAR mark since 2022 ranks 21st at the position

Pacheco missed a significant chunk of time last season due to a fractured fibula in Week 2. He has been a solid player for the Chiefs over the past three seasons and is not afraid to lower his shoulder and secure tough yards. His 80.2 PFF rushing grade in 2023 was a career-best figure, but his yards-after-contact average has still been below 3.00 in each of the past two years.

Hampton’s placement here is in flux, since he has not taken an NFL snap yet. But we know running backs can break out early, and Hampton has the talent — and landing spot — to do that. He earned PFF rushing grades of 88.7 and 88.4 in each of the last two seasons at North Carolina.

Brown earned a 73.8 PFF rushing grade and a 76.6 PFF receiving grade last season to give him three-down value for the Bengals. That combination of skill helped him produce the 16th-highest PFF WAR mark among running backs in 2024.

Harris joined Los Angeles after spending four years in Pittsburgh. His career PFF rushing grades to this point — 71.5, 75.2, 77.2 and 77.5 — represent slight improvement each season but no big steps forward.

Judkins is just a rookie, which always makes it tricky to place a player appropriately ahead of a season. He will likely be the RB1 in Cleveland after earning PFF rushing grades of 88.2, 83.4 and 88.8 in his three seasons of college football.

Henderson was Quinshon Judkins’ teammate at Ohio State for the team’s 2024 national championship campaign. He was the speed element of the duo, earning PFF rushing grades of 90.0 and 88.4 in the past two seasons, respectively. He also recorded more than 220 receiving yards in each of 2023 and 2024.

Stevenson has generated 0.36 PFF WAR over the past three seasons, good for 18th in the league. His 70.3 PFF rushing grade in 2024 was a career high, and it came behind the NFL’s worst offensive line.

Tracy enjoyed a solid rookie campaign in which he recorded 839 rushing yards with a 69.6 PFF rushing grade. As a former receiver, his 40.9 PFF receiving grade was disappointing, but expect that to bounce back.

Robinson’s stats don’t wow, but he’s a hard-nosed runner who has recorded yards-after-contact averages of 2.93 and 3.0 in the past two seasons, respectively, with yards-per-attempt averages of 4.1 and 4.2, as well.

Etienne struggled in 2024, recording just a 63.5 PFF rushing grade, but earned 83.2 and 78.4 PFF rushing grades in the two seasons prior.

His 0.40 cumulative PFF WAR since 2022 ranks 12th among running backs, so we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that his 2025 campaign will be better than 2024.