The NFL’s operating again renaissance in 2024 has helped the place re-emerge as a vital piece to the team-building puzzle. With workhorse runners like Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs main the best way on playoff contenders, the league has quietly shifted again to its ground-and-pound roots with operating backs put in because the centerpiece to the offensive puzzle.
As groups in a copycat league plot out their 2025 plans with a playoff run in thoughts, all eyes are on Ashton Jeanty because the premier operating again prospect in faculty soccer. The Heisman Trophy runner-up has put collectively a powerful three-year run at Boise State that has scouts salivating over his prototypical dimension (5-foot-9, 215 kilos), abilities and manufacturing as a characteristic runner in a pro-style system.
With a resume that options 4,600-plus dashing yards and 50 dashing touchdowns, Jeanty is the high-achiever NFL offensive coordinators covet in an RB1. However he additionally shows the pass-catching abilities and manufacturing (77 receptions, 840 yards and 6 scores) to flourish in a hybrid runner-receiver position out of the backfield. As groups search for extra do-it-all playmakers with big-play potential, Jeanty has generated fairly the excitement throughout the scouting group.
[Related: 2025 NFL mock draft: Ashton Jeanty goes in the top 10]
“Robust child with nice abilities,” stated an NFC govt. “He performs with excellent stability and physique management, and might take it the gap at any time… He can catch out of the backfield and make performs in area. He’s precisely what you need in lead again in immediately’s recreation.”
Reviewing the sport tape from Jeanty’s sensational junior marketing campaign, I see a lot to love concerning the dazzling runner. From his dimension, physicality and energy, to his velocity, quickness and cat-like agility, the Broncos’ standout possesses the DNA of an elite runner. Jeanty performs the sport at a velocity completely different from his opponents, however he by no means seems to be uncontrolled or frantic. He slithers out and in of holes with endurance and precision, displaying distinctive imaginative and prescient, stability and physique management, making spectacular leap cuts to scoot out of the backdoor.
In Boise State’s hole scheme that includes varied guard-tackle and guard-tight finish counters, Jeanty’s slow-flow type permits him to cover behind the pullers earlier than bursting previous linebackers and safeties on the second degree. The mixture of endurance, consciousness and explosiveness offers defensive coordinators nightmares when crafting plans to neutralize the junior operating again.
Ashton Jeanty 2024 full season highlights
Jeanty’s imaginative and prescient, consciousness and wiggle additionally make him harmful within the open area. Whether or not hitting the nook on exterior runs or catching the ball in area on a display, the hefty jitterbug is aware of tips on how to arrange and run behind his blockers in area. Given the emphasis on perimeter runs and the display recreation in some offenses, Jeanty’s distinctive abilities and operating type allow him to suit into any scheme.
From a staff perspective, Jeanty’s stamina and relentlessness make him a pretty choice as an RB1. He has logged 20-plus carries 17 occasions in three seasons, together with eight video games with at the very least 30 dashing makes an attempt (seven in 2024). Contemplating how “old fashioned” runners have been anticipated to hold the ball 20-plus occasions in a run-centric NFL, Jeanty’s workmanlike strategy will endear him to offensive coordinators in search of a franchise again to construct round.
If the Boise State standout enters the draft as anticipated, he’s a first-round prospect with the expertise and potential to come back off the board as a top-20 decide. He jogs my memory of Josh Jacobs when he got here out of Alabama, with the mix of energy, wiggle and explosiveness. Given Jacobs’ success as an NFL dashing champion (in 2022 with 1,653 yards) and two-time Professional Bowler, Jeanty may shortly elevate a franchise along with his abilities.
With one other likelihood to dazzle evaluators within the School Soccer Playoffs, Jeanty may cement his standing as one of many potential franchise gamers obtainable within the 2025 NFL Draft.
Bucky Brooks is an NFL analyst for FOX Sports activities. He additionally breaks down the sport for NFL Community and as a cohost of the “Shifting the Sticks” podcast. Observe him on Twitter @BuckyBrooks.
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