• Bucky Irving with a strong showing across the board: Oregon’s top back, and a top-five back on the PFF big board, dominates many of the stable metrics for running backs since 2022.
• Jonathon Brooks delivers when given the opportunity: The Texas running back played behind Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson in 2022 but was still able to shine on limited touches and into 2023.
• Dig into the numbers for yourself: PFF's Premium Stats is the most in-depth collection of NFL and NCAA player performance data. Subscribe today to get full access!
Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
With the NFL offseason officially underway, so is NFL Draft season, and there are plenty of fantasy football general managers who are building their rookie draft boards for dynasty purposes.
Utilizing all information available is going to be key in building those draft boards, and looking at how each position stacks up against one another from an analytics standpoint is just one of the many tools to consider during the evaluation process. This series focuses purely on the key stable metrics that translate more often than not from college to the NFL and is a way for dynasty managers, and fantasy managers in general, to get familiar with this year’s rookie class.
A few notes about how this series will work:
- Rankings are based entirely on how these players performed in PFF’s stable metrics over the past two seasons.
- Athletic ability and size are not taken into account for this process. Again, this is just one of many evaluation tools to consider.
- This list includes all 27 running backs from the PFF big board but does not provide any weight to projected draft capital, competition level or their overall ranking, though that context will often be provided.
TOP-10 RUNNING BACKS IN PFF RUSHING GRADE SINCE 2022
| Running back | Rushing grade | Rush attempts |
| Isaiah Davis, South Dakota State | 98.1 | 500 |
| Bucky Irving, Oregon | 96.1 | 351 |
| Kimani Vidal, Troy | 95.4 | 538 |
| Audric Estime, Notre Dame | 95.0 | 369 |
| Blake Corum, Michigan | 95.0 | 510 |
| Frank Gore Jr., Southern Miss | 94.9 | 470 |
| Trey Benson, Florida State | 93.3 | 315 |
| Ray Davis, Kentucky | 92.6 | 441 |
| Jonathon Brooks, Texas | 92.3 | 220 |
| Jaylen Wright, Tennessee | 92.1 | 285 |
South Dakota State’s Isaiah Davis has posted some pretty outstanding rushing grades throughout his college career, never earning a PFF grade below 90.4 since 2020. However, Davis put up these numbers against less-than-stellar competition in the FCS. For context, Davis comes in as the 20th ranked running back on the PFF big board.
Oregon’s Bucky Irving comes in with the best two-year rushing grade among FBS running backs, posting back-to-back seasons with 91.0-plus PFF rushing grades. Irving is listed as a top-five running back on the PFF big board and is currently trending toward being a third-round pick. All the other top-five running backs on the PFF big board appear among the top-10 in two-year rushing grade as well.
TOP-10 RUNNING BACKS IN MISSED TACKLES FORCED PER ATTEMPT SINCE 2022
| Running back | Missed tackles forced per attempt | Rush attempts |
| Tyrone Tracy, Purdue | 0.41 | 134 |
| Bucky Irving, Oregon | 0.40 | 351 |
| Trey Benson, Florida State | 0.40 | 315 |
| Marshawn Lloyd, USC | 0.38 | 233 |
| Jonathon Brooks, Texas | 0.33 | 220 |
| Frank Gore Jr., Southern Miss | 0.33 | 470 |
| Miyan Williams, Ohio State | 0.33 | 180 |
| Blake Watson, Memphis | 0.32 | 354 |
| Isaiah Davis, South Dakota State | 0.31 | 500 |
| Carson Steele, UCLA | 0.30 | 464 |
Purdue’s Tyrone Tracy leads the group as one of the best running backs in this class at forcing missed tackles. Tracy’s 2022 season was the second-best in this class with 0.47 forced missed tackles per attempt, and he followed that up in 2023 with 0.40 missed tackles forced per attempt — also a top-five mark among this class over the past two years. It is worth noting that Tracy has the smallest sample size as a runner to work off of from this year’s class with just 134 total attempts over the past two seasons.
Bucky Irving appears once again among the leaders in the class, posting the third-best (0.43) and eighth-best (0.37) forced missed tackle rates in each of the past two seasons. Irving and Trey Benson are the lone top-five backs who finish among the top-10 over the past two years combined with Benson’s incredible 0.51 in 2022 being the best single season mark over the past two years among this class — and one of the best ever.
TOP-10 RUNNING BACKS IN YARDS AFTER CONTACT PER ATTEMPT SINCE 2022
| Running back | Yards after contact per attempt | Rush attempts |
| Tyrone Tracy, Purdue | 4.4 | 134 |
| Bucky Irving, Oregon | 4.2 | 351 |
| Blake Watson, Memphis | 4.1 | 354 |
| Jonathon Brooks, Texas | 4.1 | 220 |
| Jaylen Wright, Tennessee | 4.0 | 285 |
| Trey Benson, Florida State | 4.0 | 315 |
| Jaden Shirden, Monmouth | 4.0 | 428 |
| Marshawn Lloyd, USC | 4.0 | 233 |
| Audric Estime, Notre Dame | 4.0 | 369 |
| Carson Steele, UCLA | 4.0 | 464 |
Purdue’s Tracy once again tops the list, arguably as one of the best running backs with the ball in his hands among this year’s rookie class. Tracy’s class leading mark of 4.4 yards after contact per attempt in 2023 helped put him over the top with some great consistency after showing out with 4.2 yards after contact per attempt in 2022. Again, Tracy’s workload and sample size is smaller from a rushing standpoint, which is important context when comparing him to the rest of the class.
Texas running back, and the top running back on the PFF big board, Jonathon Brooks posted the best yards after contact per attempt mark in this class with 5.1 in 2022. No other player cracked 5.0 over the past two seasons. Brooks only had 30 rush attempts in 2022, however, and was unable to repeat that high mark in 2023 with his 3.9 yards after contact per attempt.
TOP-10 RUNNING BACKS IN RUSHING GRADE ON GAP SCHEME RUNS (MAN/DUO, POWER, COUNTER) SINCE 2022
| Running back | Gap scheme rushing grade | Gap scheme rush attempts |
| Bucky Irving, Oregon | 96.1 | 179 |
| Blake Corum, Michigan | 94.1 | 288 |
| Isaiah Davis, South Dakota State | 93.8 | 251 |
| Kimani Vidal, Troy | 93.4 | 246 |
| Marshawn Lloyd, USC | 92.3 | 131 |
| Tyrone Tracy, Purdue | 91.5 | 50 |
| Jaylen Wright, Tennessee | 90.3 | 169 |
| Ray Davis, Kentucky | 90.2 | 177 |
| Frank Gore Jr., Southern Miss | 89.9 | 222 |
| Trey Benson, Florida State | 89.5 | 169 |
Michigan’s Blake Corum spent the large majority of his past two college seasons in a gap-heavy rushing scheme and as a result, he has one of the more impressive marks among this year’s class in rushing grade within those concepts. Corum posted a class-leading 94.4 PFF rushing grade from gap-scheme run concepts in 2022, which continues to be his defining year. This past season wasn’t quite as impressive for Corum, but he still earned an 83.8 PFF rushing grade from gap-scheme run concepts last season.
Oregon’s Irving continues to show out in each of the key stable metric rushing categories, including here as his 94.1 PFF rushing grade from these run concepts in 2023 was the best of last season amongst this class. Two seasons ago, Irving thrived, as he earned a 90.6 PFF rushing grade within these run concepts, which was the second-best mark among this class’ running backs that season.
TOP-10 RUNNING BACKS IN RUSHING GRADE ON ZONE RUNS (INSIDE, OUTSIDE) SINCE 2022
| Running back | Zone rushing grade | Zone rush attempts |
| Audric Estime, Notre Dame | 93.0 | 151 |
| Isaiah Davis, South Dakota State | 92.8 | 183 |
| Frank Gore Jr., Southern Miss | 92.0 | 227 |
| Carson Steele, UCLA | 91.5 | 285 |
| Jawhar Jordan, Louisville | 91.0 | 243 |
| Jonathon Brooks, Texas | 90.6 | 243 |
| Kimani Vidal, Troy | 89.9 | 268 |
| Blake Watson, Memphis | 89.9 | 244 |
| Jaylen Wright, Tennessee | 88.1 | 108 |
| Jo’Quavious Marks, Mississippi State | 87.2 | 181 |
Notre Dame’s Audric Estime has earned the best PFF zone rushing grade from this class over the past two seasons, though his workload on zone rushes is relatively small compared to others coming out this year, as the majority of his work has been on gap-scheme runs.
Franke Gore Jr., Kimani Vidal and Jaylen Wright are the only FBS running backs to appear in the top-10 in PFF rushing grade for both stable run concept categories, which is a positive sign that they won’t necessarily be reliant on scheme as much in the NFL considering their success.
TOP-10 RUNNING BACKS IN PFF RECEIVING GRADE SINCE 2022
| Running back | Receiving grade | Routes run |
| Dylan Laube, New Hampshire | 91.4 | 737 |
| Blake Watson, Memphis | 83.3 | 617 |
| Isaac Guerendo, Louisville | 82.0 | 252 |
| Bucky Irving, Oregon | 74.5 | 538 |
| Jonathon Brooks, Texas | 74.2 | 225 |
| Will Shipley, Clemson | 74.1 | 516 |
| Jo’Quavious Marks, Mississippi State | 72.3 | 418 |
| Ray Davis, Kentucky | 71.0 | 505 |
| Blake Corum, Michigan | 70.5 | 279 |
| Frank Gore Jr., Southern Miss | 68.4 | 403 |
New Hampshire’s Dylan Laube makes his first appearance within the top-10 in one of the stable metric categories, where his greatest strength comes as a receiver. Laube is another FCS running back and has run more routes over the past two seasons than any other back in this class. As a result, Laube has also racked up more targets (148), receptions (117) and receiving yards (1,182) over the past two seasons than any other back in this class, albeit against FCS competition.
Memphis’ Blake Watson has made a couple appearances within the top 10 of some stable metric rushing categories, but his strength has clearly been as a receiver, coming in just behind Laube with the second-most routes run in this class since 2022, as well as targets (105), receptions (90) and receiving yards (797).
Blake Watson, Bucky Irving and Jonathon Brooks all crack the top five in PFF receiving grade over the past two seasons, as the only three backs to have also finished top-five at least once in the stable rushing categories as well.
TOP-10 RUNNING BACKS IN MISSED TACKLES FORCED PER RECEPTION SINCE 2022
| Running back | Missed tackles forced per reception | Total receptions |
| Jonathon Brooks, Texas | 0.48 | 27 |
| Marshawn Lloyd, USC | 0.45 | 31 |
| Blake Watson, Memphis | 0.43 | 90 |
| Frank Gore Jr., Southern Miss | 0.39 | 46 |
| Isaiah Davis, South Dakota State | 0.39 | 44 |
| Trey Benson, Florida State | 0.38 | 32 |
| Carson Steele, UCLA | 0.37 | 46 |
| Kimani Vidal, Troy | 0.35 | 43 |
| Bucky Irving, Oregon | 0.33 | 85 |
| Dylan Laube, New Hampshire | 0.29 | 117 |
Brooks leads the group here after finishing top-five in missed tackles forced per rush attempt as well. Again, Brooks’ opportunity in 2022 was much smaller than the rest of this class with just 24 routes run that year, though his 13 total missed tackles forced on receptions was the fourth-best among this year’s class.
Blake Watson played his 2022 season with Old Dominion where he racked up 16 missed tackles forced on receptions, which was the most among this year’s class during that season. He followed that up with 23 in 2023 on his new team in Memphis, which was tied for the best mark among the class last season. One of Watson’s strengths in these stable metrics has been at creating more with the ball in his hands as he also ranked third in rushing yards after contact per attempt (4.1) and eighth in missed tackles forced per rush attemp (0.32) since 2022.
TOP-10 RUNNING BACKS IN YARDS PER ROUTE RUN SINCE 2022
| Running back | Yards per route run | Routes run |
| Dylan Laube, New Hampshire | 1.67 | 737 |
| Jonathon Brooks, Texas | 1.46 | 225 |
| Isaac Guerendo, Louisville | 1.46 | 252 |
| Bucky Irving, Oregon | 1.34 | 538 |
| Blake Watson, Memphis | 1.32 | 617 |
| Trey Benson, Florida State | 1.27 | 307 |
| Marshawn Lloyd, USC | 1.21 | 357 |
| Frank Gore Jr., Southern Miss | 1.17 | 403 |
| Josh Williams, LSU | 1.14 | 299 |
| Jawhar Jordan, Louisville | 1.13 | 305 |
The largest (Laube) and smallest (Brooks) sample sizes from the past two seasons top the list here, both needing important context when comparing to the rest of the class. Laube with his production coming in the FCS and Brooks just doing so on a small sample size and almost all in one (2023) season.
Irving and Watson have the best two of the best sample sizes to work off of, as well as consistency in earning high marks as runners as well. Watson is just the 25th ranked running back on the PFF big board, however, Irving is fifth and has a lot of promising metrics behind him that could make him fantasy-relevant in the right landing spot.
COMBINED CONSENSUS RANKING OF ALL STABLE METRICS SINCE 2022
| Rank | Running back | PFF Big Board Rank |
| 1 | Bucky Irving, Oregon | 5 |
| 2 | Jonathon Brooks, Texas | 1 |
| 3 | Frank Gore Jr., Southern Miss | 17 |
| 4 | Blake Watson, Memphis | 25 |
| 5 | Isaiah Davis, South Dakota State | 20 |
| 6 | Trey Benson, Florida State | 3 |
| 7 | Audric Estime, Notre Dame | 6 |
| 8 | Marshawn Lloyd, USC | 8 |
| 9 | Tyrone Tracy, Purdue | 11 |
| 10 | Kimani Vidal, Troy | 12 |
| 11 | Jaylen Wright, Tennessee | 2 |
| 12 | Carson Steele, UCLA | 24 |
| 13 | Ray Davis, Kentucky | 7 |
| 14 | Isaac Guerendo, Louisville | 16 |
| 15 | Dylan Laube, New Hampshire | 15 |
| 16 | Blake Corum, Michigan | 4 |
| 17 | Jawhar Jordan, Louisville | 26 |
| 18 | Josh Williams, LSU | 27 |
| 19 | Will Shipley, Clemson | 9 |
| 20 | Jo’Quavious Marks, Mississippi State | 13 |
| 21 | Jase McClellan, Alabama | 18 |
| 22 | Jaden Shirden, Monmouth | 23 |
| 23 | Miyan Williams, Ohio State | 19 |
| 24 | Cody Schrader, Missouri | 14 |
| 25 | Braelon Allen, Wisconsin | 10 |
| 26 | Deshaun Fenwick, Oregon State | 21 |
| 27 | Rasheen Ali, Marshall | 22 |
Context
Oregon’s Bucky Irving comes up a lot throughout these stable metric ranks, not just as a runner but as a receiver as well. As a top-five back on the PFF big board, his landing spot and draft capital could be particularly interesting to keep an eye on come April.
Texas running back, Jonathon Brooks, comes in just behind Irving as the second-highest scorer across all stable running back metrics over the past two seasons. His sample size essentially comes from only his 2023 season after playing behind Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson in 2022, however, as PFF’s No.1 ranked running back right now, having those strong stable metrics behind him is another encouraging sign.
Frank Gore Jr. only finished outside of the top 10 once across all stable metrics (yards after contact per attempt), and has a healthy sample size of work over the past two seasons to examine as he aims to live up to his father’s legacy and long-time fantasy relevance. Gore Jr. comes in just 17th on the PFF big board, trending to be a Day 3 pick, so like many running backs, landing spot is going to be crucial.
Blake Watson is also much lower on the PFF big board, coming in as one of the smaller backs in this class, but has earned strong grades over the past two seasons in two different programs (Old Dominion and Memphis). One of his greatest strengths comes as a receiver, and being on the smaller side, may keep him relegated to a specific role in the NFL.
It was encouraging to see other top-10 backs on the PFF big board rank inside the top-10 across the stable metric categories, with Trey Benson, Audric Estime, and Marshawn Lloyd. No. 2-ranked back for PFF, Jaylen Wright, finished just outside the top-10 in the consensus rankings, and is trending to potentially be a Day 2 pick in the draft.
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