- Quinshon Judkins got his wish: Judkins transferred to Ohio State to win a national championship, and he accomplished this in one season with the team.
- Can Judkins be more than a two-down back?: Judkins didn’t play in passing situations often at Ohio State, which could remain true with the Cleveland Browns.
- Final chance to claim 25% off PFF+: Use code DRAFT25 and unlock access to player grades, fantasy tools and the 2025 Draft Guide
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. Tuesday, April 29
Click here for more draft tools:
NFL Draft Big Board | Mock Draft Simulator | NCAA Premium Stats
2025 PFF Draft Guide | Mock Draft Hub | Prospect Data Profiles
Draft Position Rankings
Player performance
Judkins started his career as Ole Miss’ feature back, averaging over 120 yards per game in his first season. After two seasons, he opted to transfer to Ohio State in pursuit of a national championship. He accomplished that goal but had to split the backfield with fellow NFL prospect TreVeyon Henderson. While his volume stats changed throughout his three-year college career, his efficiency measures stayed roughly the same, which included his PFF rushing grade hovering between 87.1 and 90.7.
A significant positive for Judkins over his career was ball security, as he fumbled just three times over his three seasons as a runner or receiver. Judkins did not stand out in any particular situation, as he was generally above average regardless. Our draft board notes that he lacked creativity in running and essentially got what the offensive line gave him.
Judkins did not grade well as a pass blocker, although our draft board notes he has “high pass-blocking potential.” He wasn’t used much as a receiver throughout his college career, managing around 10 yards per game. In his one season at Ohio State, he was running notably fewer routes but became more efficient and generally graded well on his limited opportunities.
Projected role
The Browns had four great years of a Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt duo. The last four years weren’t as productive – Jerome Ford was the primary back, while Pierre Strong Jr., Hunt, Chubb and D’Onta Foreman mixed in. Cleveland moved on from Chubb and Foreman this offseason, and invested in running back twice in the draft, with Judkins in the second round and Dylan Sampson from Tennessee in the fourth round.
This backfield will be very difficult to predict heading into the season, as training camp and the preseason likely will have a significant impact on how these roles unfold. Ford has primarily been used as a receiving back, but he’s graded better on early downs. Sampson has the least experience as a receiver but also has the most yards per route run and receiving grade. It’s also worth noting that while Sampson was drafted a complete two rounds after Judkins, we had Sampson ranked slightly higher on our big board.
At a minimum, we should expect Judkins to be the Browns' primary early down back. Cleveland clearly wanted a change after spending two of their first six at running backs. The Browns also clearly view Judkins ahead of Sampson since they drafted Judkins first. His strength is the run game, so that leaves him as the top rusher.
Judkins has experience as a third-down back at Ole Miss, so there is a chance Judkins could be used in a feature role. There is also a chance that Sampson can overtake Judkins at some point in time. There is a lot of grey area between those, but a baseline of Judkins receiving the most carries is a strong starting point.
Impact of teammates
Kevin Stefanski is Judkins' head coach. On the bright side, the Browns consistently rank high in the number of plays per game they run, regardless of the quality of the offense. They are also fine playing to their offense's strength, and based on their investment at running back, the strength should be in the run game this year.
However, the Browns have very rarely utilized a feature back. Jerome Ford was used in this role for a few games early in the season, but that occurred at a time when both Chubb and Strong were dealing with injuries. However, this philosophy could be almost entirely based on the team's reluctance to play Chubb on passing downs. In Stefanski’s one year as the offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, Dalvin Cook played 68% of Minnesota‘s offensive snaps when healthy.
The biggest concern for Judkins and the rest of the Browns' running backs is the offensive line. At its peak, it was arguably the best line in the league. Cleveland has stuck mainly with the same players, who have progressively declined. Joel Bitonio, Wyatt Teller and Jack Conklin all had run-blocking grades above 85.0 just a few years ago but were below 62.0 last season and will be at least 31 years old by the end of the season. Ethan Pocic’s run-blocking grades never reached those heights, but he’s graded below 70.0 in the run game each of the last two seasons, and he will be 30 years old before the start of the season. That leaves Dawand Jones as the only offensive lineman under 30 years old, and he’s never reached a 60.0 run-blocking grade in a season.
Cleveland added guard Teven Jenkins and tackle Cornelius Lucas in free agency. They were paid like backups, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see either crack the starting lineup this season. They would be upgrades. However, the Browns didn’t spend any draft picks on rookies, so there is at least a chance Judkins' entire offensive line two years from now will consist of five players who aren’t currently on the roster.
Bottom line
The Browns spent a lot of draft capital on Judkins, making it likely he will be one of the 32 running backs to lead their team in carries. His value will be better than some other running backs in committees. He could be a top-15 running back, depending on his role, but his offensive line and lack of receiving production will likely hold him back from being an elite back in the short term.
Footnotes
- Statistics in tables and charts were chosen based on their ability to predict future fantasy performance on a per-game or per-opportunity basis or to describe the player relative to others at the same position.
- “Opportunities” are defined as passing dropbacks, rushing attempts and routes run as a receiver.
- Numbers are provided either by season or based on the past three years. For rookies, only college statistics are included. For non-rookies, only NFL statistics are considered, regardless of whether they played in college within the previous three years.
- As college competition is easier than NFL competition, most rookies are likely to see a decline from their historical 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 table colors in this article range from blue (indicating good/high) to red (indicating bad/low).
- All percentiles and color codings compare the given player to others with a high sample of opportunities. Generally, the cutoff is one-third of the possible opportunities in the sample. If a player does not meet the threshold, they are still included in the comparison, though their results may appear better or worse than expected due to the smaller, less predictive sample size.
- Information on utilization classifications and their importance can be found here for running backs, wide receivers and tight ends.
© 2025 PFF - all rights reserved.