NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - Early 2026 NFL Draft RB Rankings

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

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He's halfway to AARP, but Akeem Messador has been sick this year. Guess how old he's going to be on draft night, 25. Yeah. Akeem leather helmet messador. That's a good helmet. I'm sorry, but I'll never not think of that within the rest of my life. Come to the opening. of the NFL of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast.

Trevor Sick. I'm O'Connor Rogers here for another positional breaking breakdown episode of the 2026 NFL draft. Today we were talking about running backs. We're not quite at edge rushers, so we can't talk about Akeem, leather helmet, Messador quite yet. But, Connor, I know you caught the college football playoff game. Oh, nutty.

Messador is cooking. Leather helmet at all. That was a blast. Ong still got it, man. Unks still got it. Doing a little jump rope thing. It was awesome. Dude, him and Ruben Bain were sick.

Actually, this whole college football playoff week, the quarterfinals, was a wonderful week for defensive line play. You had Bain. Story of a lot of games. Even with Oregon winning, you're watching tech and you're like, how many NFL defensive linemen are on this group? Dude, insane. Ruben Bain Jr. had a monster game.

A key mess door looked unblockable. And then you mentioned in that Oregon and Texas Tech game, Like, even Mateo Ui Unglo-Lay looked pretty good for Oregon, but then David Bailey was unstoppable. Ramello Hyde looked unstoppable. Lee Hunter, their defensive tackle. He's a lot of fun to watch. I've been slowly catching up on him, and I'm like, I'm intrigued.

Dude, this dude, I mean, he might be a top 50 pick. He could be. It's crazy. He could be. A lot of talent, a lot of talent. We know, we're not here to recap every game that we saw in the college football playoff. But, you know, just sprinkle a little college football playoff talk here

as we get into our early running back ranking. So what we're going to do here on the show is we will give you our top eight. We'll also give you some honorable mentions that we'll talk about here in a second. Guys, it didn't quite make our top eight. But we'll break those guys down. I have not seen Conner's list. He has not seen mine. So we keep the surprise and the intrigue alive as we are revealing these.

But we'll give you guys all of the reasons why we have certain players ranked where they are. We'll talk about the film notes. We'll give you some great PFF data. We'll talk about some background information, you know, how old these guys are, whether they're redshirt sophomores all the way to. the seventh year seniors. It's crazy enough that we have that. College football's got to get to the bottom of us,

to be honest with you. But Connor, forgot to ask you, my friend, how are you doing for the first time here in 2020? That's right. Welcome to the New Year. Happy New Year to you and everybody watching the show

and listening to the show. Man, this is, it's so fascinating when you're like hovering around the declaration time. You and I each had a player on our top eights, different players that we had to pull from the top eights. because they went back to school or in the portal. Love that. Love that. A guy I have watched, but did not put in my top eights because he hadn't made up his mind yet.

As we pressed the record button just now, Darius Taylor from Minnesota is going back to Minnesota. Okay. For 2006. I didn't watch him, thankfully, because I kind of thought he. It felt like it was leaning that way or to transfer. But like running back is the position, I think, with the most volatility with these guys. guys, because you have some really good players that just end up going back. You have some players that weren't very productive, that leave.

Right. They're running back. So interesting show today, and it'll be fun to kind of watch it update over the next couple months. Bryce, $5 super chat. It said, man, crazy. I haven't watched these nerds since last year. Welcome back.

It's such a long time. There we go. There we go. We haven't aged like the Strangers Things cast yet. We still look the same. Have you watched the finale? I did. okay all right i have two and um we're not going to talk about it because that's going to be the entire

hour and a half and i don't need to for yeah and spoilers and right i don't want to mess with the spoilers but if you guys have any chats that you want to say for the after the episode part of things uh maybe we'll talk a little bit of stranger because then if you if you don't want it spoiled you can you have a cutoff point exactly exactly yes shout it to everybody who's gotten some super chats already here in the show um like we've talked about the last couple of episodes what we're doing is we'll read some of the topical super chats that we see throughout the show but most of them we will save for the after the episode portion of the show but of course if you guys aren't watching live those will be posted as sort of like a you know fan mailbag type of episode

we'll we'll collect all of those and we'll give you a one-off so even if you're not watching it live you'll be able to see it on the youtube channel so look out for that shout to everybody who's in the nfl s e discord we almost have 3,000 people in the nflessie discord it's so much fun in there. Honestly, popping in during the college football playoff games. I know during all the NFL games that we're going to have this weekend, it's so much fun to just talk to the addicts, talk about prospects, talk about teams. There's individual NFL team channels that you guys can get in on. So if you're not in the NFLSE Discord, the link to it is in the description here of the show. And I want to be better about this, but we will be better about posting these on our

social media so you guys can get in there because we're having a lot of fun in there. So come join us if you are into Discord at all. whatsoever um i think that's all the housekeeping stuff you want to just get into it it's about that time huh all right okay so we're doing so we're doing top eights here and before we do the top eights i'll give a couple of honorable mentions here some guys that did not make my list uh desmond reeds the first one for pittsburgh brother how fun is disman reed a lot of fun man like he is he is so much fun but he will be the all ultimate litmus test of how small is too small.

Right. He is 5 foot 8, 175 pounds, but he's such a great receiver. He's got such great separation skills. Really nice. Miss tackles forced per attempt averages just because he's so shifty. The arts after contact obviously isn't great for him. But I think like even just as it like a scat back receiver back out of the backfield, he's got some good tape.

But wanted to shout him. Just on all over again, that combo? I think he's a different player. I think he's better than Deuce Fawn, though. Yeah, and at least Deuce did go in the sixth round. Reid'll be drafted on day three. Lou said those are NFL. I see host measurements.

Watch your mouth. Watch your mouth, Lou. All right, easy now small fry. Who's somebody else that, oh, Levyon Moss. Is he in your top eight? He is not. Okay.

So I like Levyon Moss a lot. He'll be at the senior ball, which is good. Which is great. He's been banged up a little. bit, especially over the last couple of years, you've been tough for him. But when he's out there, man, I think he's not the fastest dude, but I think he's got adequate speed. He's not the quickest dude, but I think he's got adequate quickness to him. Strength breaking tackles. I think that's there for him too. I like his vision at time. So he just missed my top eight, but he's somebody

that I wanted to shout out there. And then a couple of the other players, I think, are in, like, Ketron Allen just missed my list. Really? Yeah. Like, he's nine. He's nine for me. Wow. We're going to, I feel like we're going to have some different names then. Okay. All right. So Kay Tron Allen just missed my list. Nick Singleton also missed my list. Is he on your eight? He is and it was really close for me. Nick Singleton made my list because I think he's really good at one very important thing. In an uninspiring, in my opinion, so far. Being athletic.

Uninspiring running back class. I like the, I like the two guys from Indiana, Roman Hemby. Kaelin Black. I like both of those guys. I think that Roman Hemby is, he's got really nice third down ability. I think he can be really good in pass protection. He's had some misses this year and I think he needs to get a little bit stronger to really shore up his anchor ability in pass protection. But I think he can be a really nice pass protector at the NFL level because you see it like you see he cares a lot about it. He's into the the discipline and the details of

being a good past protector. I just think he needs to get a little bit stronger. But as a receiver. He's pretty good and pretty nuanced out of the backfield. And so not a super dynamic runner, but I think that he could be a third down guy at the NFL level. And then Kaelin Black, I don't know, I don't know if he's ever just going to have the top end athleticism that's going to allow him to be a long term early down type of a back, even in a committee type of rotation. But I think this is a guy who could stick around the NFL for a while. I really do. I think he's just got some nice all around ability. He's just not the best athlete from what I saw on film. But I like the Indiana.

guys and i really do think that we're going to talk about a lot of these other players here within i think so i just wanted to uh light grenade in the chat asks is hollywood smothering or transferring he's transferring he is transferring yes so if you don't hear a name on here today there's a chance he's in the portal he hasn't decided um so relique brown from arizona state was the other guy who he he did declare and then an hour before this show thankfully He went to, he went in the portal. So I think he's just going back in the portal now. He's not going to be in the NFL trap.

Justice Hayes from Michigan is undecided. Yeah. I didn't, I didn't watch him because of that. I didn't either. Yeah. So I didn't watch him. Now, if he did declare, obviously, he'd come to the forefront. I had to take Mark Fletcher Jr.

out of my top eight. Yes, because he has said that he's going back. And after the, like, is this going to be a great playoff for him? And then he's like, you know what? Screw it. maybe because he's having a hell of a playoff. Yeah, man, and he looks and I don't know what

what's left for him ceiling-wise in his game. I don't know. You know, obviously that's a school with a lot of NIL money. Right. But yeah, that was one for me just to let everyone know he would have been in my top eight and he decided to go back. I wonder if at this point

because they're about to be in the semifinal. Like if they lose in this next game or even if they lose in the national championship, I think he'll go back. because I think he'll be like, we're close and we're going to win. Right. But if they win the national championship, I think he leaves. Yeah, and I've heard that for a few players that are still deciding.

And that's such an, like, yeah, makes sense. Right. You win a Natty. What do you have left to prove if you're not, if you're not really, you know, a player that's developing still necessarily. Yeah. Isaac Brown, somebody mentioned he entered the transfer portal. He isn't draft eligible, so we wouldn't have been able to watch him.

There's a lot of, there was so many times I had to. I had to Google a running backs when I was going through our system of like the highest metrics and everything. Yeah. Not just a mod Hardy. There's like five guys that I was like, man, sophomore, sophomore, sophomore. Yeah. That I think are a lot better than a lot of these guys. The two guys from Texas, CJ Baxter and Quatrabian Wisner, they're in the transfer portal.

So they're not in this draft. Texas has a ton of guys in the portal right now. They're just going to be one of those teams where in and out. That's just, yeah. Or you feel it out. It's like free agency now. I know. Because you could just go back.

You just field offers and then you go back to school. So those are some honorable mentions, some guys I wanted to bring to the table just because I figure that we get some ass about them. But the way we'll do this show here is we will reveal our rank 8 to 4. Right. We'll both do that. And then what we'll do is I kind of want to let the conversation just go as we naturally want it to go. So if you have a guy that's way higher on your list than I have him on my list or don't even have him on his list, we'll talk about those guys right away because I want to have the most compelling conversations.

But I will make sure that I am reiterating where these guys are in our rankings, especially before we get to our top threes in the second half of the show. So, Connor, I'll let you kick it off here, eight to four. Yeah, some early running back rankings. You mentioned your nine and you're outside looking in. Nine for me was Seth McGowan from. Okay. And I think you liked him.

so I wasn't surprised you to mention him. I watched McGowan. He was nine for me. So eight for me, Jamari Taylor at Virginia, who like McGowan has also accepted a senior ball invite. Another guy on that list, right at seven,

Mike Washington, Jr. The last player that I watched for this assignment. Is that right? And I'm very glad that I did. Me too. This is someone that pretty well, traveled in college football he is somebody i'm at the point where like searching through my doc right now is an adventure um but he's somebody that new mexico state and buffalo i think four years at

buffalo yeah so yeah he's somebody that he's he's been around and he's had his best year yet i can't wait for us to talk about him you see nick singleton there at six from penn state this was not a good year for nick singleton he could argue that if he declared last year he would have went higher than what's going to happen with him this year. But on the other side of things, he's still a really good athlete and I love him in the past game. I think that's the calling card I mentioned earlier. And I think Penn State was a disaster this year. And you need to be careful how much you dock a guy for being absorbed in a disaster situation, which is why you see K. Tron Allen at four. I'll get to him in a second. Emmett Johnson at five from Nebraska is probably the biggest running back

breakout in terms of how far he really went, like from where he came into the year to how he finished the year. Obviously, having him at Nebraska, we had a lot of him covering the Big Ten for NBC. And Emmett Johnson just impressed the hell out of me, man. Like, he just, the way he can cut back, make people miss. I loved so many things about his game. He was so productive. He was so productive for that Nebraska offense. They put such a big workload on him. I was really, really impressed. So, yeah, this is a group where it's cool to see some new faces.

I know talked about Jamari Taylor and both Penn State guys over summer, but I didn't have Mike Washington, Jr., who had a really good year at Arkansas, and Emma Johnson, who had a fabulous year at Nebraska on my summer scouting list, and I thought both guys just blew up this year. UA's University of Arkansas, by the way. Which, I'm not going to lie, made my brain completely melt while I was talking. because I went to Albany, and I know it's Albany. It's a small, small small. Small school, but not like, Albany's not that small.

It's probably 20,000 students. My brother, Jared Version went there. One of the best, one of the best pass. One of the best defense events in the NFL went to Albany. Thank you. Thank you for having my back. So we call it UA. So I'm like, Mike Washington didn't go to Albany.

But yes, it's Arkansas. We need a save space on the graphic. The cook knows what he's doing. Yeah. That's why he's in charge here. And I'm merely just an idiot with a microphone. Also, also Penn, it's Penn State, not. not the

not the University of Pennsylvania which if they had two backs in your top six of the University of Pennsylvania boy the NIL would be flowing if they got those two players there okay that is your eight to four I'm going to read my eight to four

and then we fight these guys yeah yeah we will fight ready fight yeah number eight for me is Mike Washington Jr. Oh let's go. Yeah I truth be told I had him just outside of my top eight and then really

Brown from Arizona State said that he was going into the portal and so we had to adjust on the fly. Mike Washington gets in, but that's good because we get to talk about him more indefinitely with both of us having him here on this list. Demone Claiborne from Wake Forest. I have him at number seven. Judarian Price from Notre Dame. It says Penn. It should say Notre Dame. That is he he has had an unbelievable year that I thought would have never been possible with the fact that Jeremiah love is there. Like he, he has been really, really good. Amazing. I know that you are a big fan of his. And so I have to imagine that that name is probably coming a little bit later in the show. Maybe you even have both of the

Notre Damebacks is one and two. We'll see. We will see. Emmett Johnson, I agree with you. I have them right at number five. You love when a plan comes together. You love when we get to agree like that. And then L.J. Martin for BYU. Have you watched L.J. Martin? No. So this is the first guy on your list that I haven't seen. Yes. L.J. Martin from BYU, I think, is a hell of a football player. Do you just want to start there? I think we should just start there. I'd love to hear about him.

That's probably the most compelling one because you didn't have him on your list. You haven't watched him yet. I got to him. Truth be told, I didn't really know a lot about him as the season was going on. But he was one of the players that declared early. So I was like, okay, that's kind of strange. He's a true because I hadn't really heard of him, but that's on me. much more on me than it is on him. So he is a true junior. He is listed at six foot two,

220 pounds. That's 97th percentile and 61st percentile for the position. He was a three star running back from El Paso, Texas. Not only did he play running back in high school, he also ran track. He ran the 100 meter. He ran the 100 meter. High jump, long jump, and the triple jump. So this guy wasn't just like, hey, you play football. You're fast. Why don't you come on the track team and just be a sprinter for us. This dude was a track and field participant. All the long jumps, so many different sprinting races that he participated in. So track is a legit background for this guy. Committed to BYU, started five games, his true freshman season, started eight games in his sophomore season, and he started 13 games this past year as the full-time starter. Fun fact about

him. Loves to play Madden. One of us, baby. one of us we got to get him in the NFL to see madden dynasty actually i'll hit him up i'll see yeah let's see if he'll do it yeah he'll probably he probably will right the the obvious is the legit NFL frame right when you see him when you see him in the back field you go okay this is absolutely an NFL player but it's Tyler algear again on this team what happened well why do they keep getting these huge no Tyler out year is a little bit shorter a little bit stockier but yeah it's just probably legit 235 You remember when Algier also played linebacker for them when they needed him to?

Yes. That was crazy. That was like, whatever. It's a maniac. Yeah, okay, I take a bunch of hits as a running back. Sure, let me also dish out hits as a linebacker. Sure, coach, I'll do whatever you need. That's a football player right there.

That's why I love Tal Lager. I had him, I am RB3 that year. Humblebragg had him RB3 because of that reason, to be honest. So you look at a back like this and you say, okay, given the size that they have, you're really looking at two things. One is the non-negotiable with him. If you are 6'2-22 pounds plus, you have to be a bruiser.

You have to be able to take contact. You have to be able to dish out contact. And you have to just breaking tackle sort of a bruiser ability as a runner. You have to have that. To me, that's a non-negotiable. If you're going to have the size, I need you to be that kind of a player.

Because more often than not, the reason why I need that from you is because I'm not going to get the other stuff. The bigger, the body, the tougher it is to move. And so the heavier the feet can be, the stiffer your hips could be, just your knees, your agility overall. Sometimes even your playmaker mentality, if you've grown up your whole life being bigger

than most of the kids that you're playing against when it comes to this game, you think to yourself, I'm a north to south runner. So normally when I get these big backs, first and foremost, I need to see that you have the strength profile to compete. And he absolutely does. 3.63 yards after contact per attempt. You guys see that on the screen.

That's the 72nd percentile. So you love that that percentile is high there for those yards after contact. But then the size adjusted athleticism for him, Connor, I think is really nice. He is somebody who gives you a little bit of an extra wiggle. He's got that fluidity. He's got that top speed from the track days. Now, is he going to be running like a 4-3, a 4-3-5? No, that's not what I'm talking about.

But for a size-adjusted player at 6'2, 220 pounds, he's got some getaway speed to him. He's got a little bit of wiggle between the tackles. And I think you see that in his missed tackles force per attempt averages as well. Sure, a good amount of that is breaking off of arm tackles because that goes into it. But he'll make you miss every now and then. He's got good balance as well to take on contact and get those yards after contact. I think he's a very high potential pass blocker,

given his frame, the strength that he has. has, the core strength, the balance. I think the technique, the effort is all there for him. So not only is he an early down back and a short yardage back, but now you're talking about him with having three down ability as well. He has a really high career snap count, which means that he has been durable, he has been reliable, he has been healthy despite a pretty violent run style that he has, it is very physical to him.

I still think that there are times when the vision's a little bit shaky for him or not as decisive as you would want or anticipatory as you would want. But he's a true junior. You know, I think that that's well within the realm of you being able to understand that with him being like 20, 21 years old, whatever his official birthday is. I don't know if his official birthday. But I actually think that he could stand to trust his speed a little bit more. I think that he could bounce to the outside even a little bit more.

And you see his grades behind both power, man and gap scheme run blocking concept as well as zone blocking concepts. he's really good in those areas so this is a player to me who I think a lot of what you would want from a lead back at the NFL level is all there for him and I have to believe he has gotten that feedback from the NFL because if not I don't think you declare as a true junior so a big fan of LJ Martin I think he's a future back early early player comp for him a Zach Charbonnet type of a player, you know, somebody who's got that bigger size,

but also some plus athleticism for him. So that's sort of the mold of what we're talking about here with him. And if Charbonnet wasn't sitting behind Kenneth Walker, I think he'd have a lot more production even right now than he has in the NFL. Yeah, this is an interesting one. I'm not shocked he declared with the kind of year he had. And I think he had a surgery to end the season, I believe. I know he didn't play in the ball game.

I'm pretty sure. No, I don't think so. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he had a surgery. Well, you know, this is kind of the case of somebody that when you have that big year, like save your legs and go, right? Like you said, going back to the feedback, you just said, if he got good feedback and he's going to be a riser and now we see a lot of the All-Star games add the underclassmen in the final stretch when they round out the roster.

So maybe there's still opportunity for him there because he hasn't accepted an invite. anywhere yet, right? Like an All-Star? Yeah, yeah, for a senior bowler, I don't think so. I don't think he can't. When is that window open? They had a ton of underclassmen last year. Oh, yeah, but don't you?

Oh, yeah, I guess you're right. It's totally changed over the last year. Now there's like underclassmen galore. We got hit with a wave of them because you can't influence. It's like they're not supposed to influence their decision. So you can't invite them, I think, until after the window or something along the lines of that. wait, he'd be a guy that should be at the top of that list. Yeah.

Harry's saying in the chat, Naji Harris, comp type, kind of. I think like that three down ability type of player, I could see, I like where you're where your heads at with him. So yes, I think to answer the question, is that the type of or realm of player that we're talking about? Yes, that's kind of where I would put him. Yeah. A lot of people were wondering if his name is just L.J.

And then Frosty Power said his father is John Martin. and so he might actually be Lil John. Yeah. So Dylan said he reminds me of a girthy Austin Echler. I mean, he is so much bigger than Echler. Yeah, and I don't think he's that. I don't think he's quite that as a receiver. Yeah, that's where Echler makes his aim.

With a classic, a mix between Fergie and Jesus, child stepbrothers. Oh, man. No, his name's actually LeBron Jane. Yeah, LeBron James Martin. Yeah, it's just LeBron James Martin. Oh, man. I'm excited to get to him, man, especially since you have him in your top five. That's really, really high praise for him and somebody that I'm excited to see.

I'll wind back here to Mike Washington because I feel like a lot of our listeners haven't heard about him yet. Reminds me of Mike Evans. This guy reminds me of Mike Evans. It never gets old when you just say it like that. Oh, my God. It's so good. Mike Washington, Jr., Arkansas. Like I said, he was on New Mexico State last year in Buffalo for a couple of years before that. So a well-traveled fella. 6-2-2-25. This fits the bill. There's a lot of big back. 6-2-28 right there in the graphics. So he's fluctuating somewhere between 225 and 230. And boy, as he look at, it's a class of a lot of really big, dense running backs. It is. I mean, there's plenty. Like I said, Fletcher for now is going back to school. But he fit that bill that bill as well.

I mean, this dude averaged over six yards for carry this year. He also chipped in 28 catches. You see the grade even higher in gap. I just wrote down great size and overall mass for the position. Long strides and his big build helps him bounce through contact at the second and third levels of the field. You constantly see arm tacklers just fly off this guy's hips and upper body and even his legs because he has those long strides that they kind of struggle to wrap him up. 79 percentile in yards after contact per attempt. And then, you know, you look at the, and that was in 2025, by the way.

The stats we're showing are the last two years. So one year, New Mexico State one year at Arkansas. I kind of leaned in on the metrics of this year. Breakaway rate is not a stable metric. So you always need to be careful of utilizing it. But the fact that he had an 82nd percentile on breakaway rate this year, like for a really big running back, he gets beyond the line of scrimmage and gets rolling a lot where it's like wow like once again it goes back to the long strides and bursting through contact i was really surprised by his feet

his footwork like that i was like damn man for his size his ability to kind of change direction or chop his feet or just set because this happens all the time with second and third level defenders they're looking at this guy coming downhill and you kind of got to figure out how you're going to tackle him in a one-on-one situation. And he has a good understanding, because he's a guy that's played a lot of college football, of when to be a bruiser and when to kind of use his elusiveness in his footwork and change direction or kind of wiggle around somebody. And I thought the initial explosiveness was good.

Like you watch him get the ball and hit the hole, and that's why that gap grade is over an 80 right there, there is no hesitation to get downhill. A lot of these big guys that do have good feet, they get kind of cute with being a scat back, even though they're in a powerback's body. I think his ability to decipher when to be a powerback and when to be light on his feet is borderline pro level kind of stuff. So I like Mike Washington Jr. a lot, man. I think he's ready for some NFL carries right out of the gate.

He, I'm very glad that I got to his film. And he's somebody who, is he at the Triang Bowl or Senior Bowl? Senior Bowl. He's at the Senior Bowl. So I'm really excited to see him. I agree, you know, you look at his frame. And it's sort of the same conversation that I was having with L.J. Martin. 6'2, 228 pounds.

Okay, can you run behind your pads? Do you create that speed to power athleticism within a first couple of steps? And he does. You see on the screen, the 64th percentile yards after contact per attempt averages. But the more I watched, the more I actually really liked his vision and feet as well between the tackles. I mean, there are times when he's, I would say that he lacks general flexibility. But when it comes to, you know, those quick little hops behind man in gap scheme, like power concepts, like any sort of polar, like, duo as well,

where like you're sort of like creating this rush lane that you have to be a little bit patient before. And then maybe you're making a quick cut or a quick hop to be able to see it and get up the field. He's pretty good at that. And vision and spatial awareness are two traits that I absolutely emphasize for running backs. but especially if you're a bigger back and you have those things, that's just we don't really get that very often in these guys. So Mike Washington, I think what I really wanted more from him as well is a little bit more reliability and consistency and impact overall on third downs

because I really do think that this guy could be the power or bigger back in a one-two running back committee that could take on some of those third down responsibilities. But as you guys see right there, like the yards per route run he didn't have a ton of production as a receiver just wasn't really used that way a ton over the last couple of years um in pass protection his grades were okay like some reps it's great because you just see the frame and you you see him pass protect really well but other reps it's not quite there for him i i think that he's rb eight for me right now i wonder if he just

ends up higher like i wonder if we get to see him in person at the at the senior bowl and i just go man he just sees it so well he's so quick for a big back and i wonder if i get him closer to like where i had l j martin that number right the the only thing that i'll call out here is seven fumbles over the last two years that's a big number third percentile and how how high his fumble rate was so got to fix that but um man he is good i i like him i like him and i'm glad that you got him in your top eight uh as well so we could have this conversation about him if you like bigger backs with a lot of athletic potential he's going to be for you yeah this guy's going to be for you. Garrett was in the chat earlier and was

saying, Connor, who's your Kyle Manung guy of this class and why is it Catron Allen? So I feel like that's a good that's a good time. Now he's Ketron's going to. So here's the, and I love the question. I saw even a little bit of this on Twitter. I think there's rules now with the

Kyle Monong guy. Like we all knew Kyle Monongai was not going in the first three rounds. Did I think he would go at the end of the entire draft? No. And I think the NFL looks very stupid for that. I think Ketron is viewed too highly to be him, unless I'm wrong. I think Ketron Allen is going in the first three to four rounds, like pretty easily. I can see him as a third round pick. I could.

Yeah. So my Kyle Benang guy of this year probably isn't in the top eight. It needs to be like, it needs to be like RB 13 that I just love. Yeah. So yeah, I'll get there. I didn't I didn't find one in this group yet. Like I said, you got to keep digging through. But Ketron Allen, who obviously I'm much higher on because I had him fourth and he didn't make your top eight. I mean, you look at the contact balance with K. Tron Allen and there was really a turning point of Penn State's season this year with him. They basically after everything went nuclear, they fully just leaned into K-Tron Allen and things kind of changed for him and their offense. You see the grades as a runner, obviously scheme diverse kind of player,

which is you look at the body type 511 219 and the man we say his nickname is fat man I mean I wouldn't we didn't come up with that by the way no that's what he goes his mom said that I believe it was his mom okay I know he's gone by it for a long time I mean he looks bigger than 219 he's got a he plays bigger 219 too he's got a big body and much like Mike Washington the feet and the bounce shock you sometimes with him And once again, this year he got really better at deciphering when to be that guy versus when to just run through the line of scrimmage with pure force. Because what this guy could do to second and third level defenders from a violence

perspective is straight up embarrass you. He can absolutely embarrass you. He takes care of the football as you see the fumble rate right there, 86 percentile. This was an offense that as they should have, Nick Singleton is the past catching back. and I could briefly go through Nick Singleton later on. And Ketron Allen was the guy that had to have the big work share as a runner. But he's played in some big football games, as we said over summer scouting. You look at the end of the year last year,

you know, he was the guy in the playoff and the Big Ten championship. I think he's a very creative runner. He's somebody that when things get congested, like he can turn like no gain into four. He can turn a two-yard gain into six. which I really value that in a running back because that kind of decifers how efficient of a runner you are on your own.

So I like Ketron Allen a lot. I think this is what the NFL kind of looks for in a runner that can kind of take your will and you can lean on to close out games. And I don't think I had a comp for him yet, but I definitely will land on one. But man, if I'm looking to build a one-two kind of punch and I have a good pass catcher in my backfield,

I can fire up Ketron Allen for 15 to 20 carries to wear out of defense in any scheme. I think he has good feel in zone, too. I think that my early comp forum, by the way, was you remember Ben Jarvis Green Ellis, the law firm? Of course, dude. How could I forget? That's kind of who I thought of when I think of Ketron Allen.

Him being at nine for me is simply just a matter of, I just don't really trust any sort of getaway speed that he has. Right. And if you do all of this work as an offense, of line and as a running back and the goal is always to get to open space and then you don't really have the ability to make the most out of open space sometimes I can I can be kind of harsh on your overall value as a running back then at that point I've said I've said before on this podcast that that home like home run speed like four three speed stuff like that like seeking

that stuff to me is overrated but I agree you still have to have the speed to like get into space and then make the most out of space. There are times when I watch Trey, K-Tron Allen, and I didn't feel like he had that gear that I wanted him to have. But basically everything else is there.

Right. Everything else is there for him. I, you know, going back to that elite one point, uh, or sorry, 91.8, um, Russian grade behind gap scheme running blocking concepts. I think a lot of people look at man and

gap scheme, run blocking concepts, and they just think, oh, these are for guys who like just go north to south and they just get the ball and they just run as fast as they can, like in a straight line, that's it. For you to have that good of a rushing grade, you have to be quick on your feet. You have to be super light on your feet because there's all sorts of clutter. There's all sorts of chaos. And Ketron Allen is pretty good at that. So I think for him, he is definitely going to be a beauty as in the eye of the beholder type of a back in this class. And I think that just goes for not only draft evaluators, but also NFL teams. Like, I think that you'll look at some NFL teams, and somebody mentioned David Montgomery

earlier in the chat. I don't remember who it was. But this is a player who independently, if you looked at David Montgomery and the lack of athleticism that he just has overall, there's some teams that would go, yeah, okay, a very determined runner, breaks a lot of tackles, good short-yardage guy, but will probably be replaceable for us every single year. Like he's somebody who we could probably move on from every single year.

And then you'll get teams who operate like the lions do where they go, this guy is an integral part of how we move the ball and how we have success on offense because of his exact skill set. So I think that Ketron Allen's going to be that type of a player for NFL teams. You're going to get some teams that go, yeah, give me Ketron Allen like back end a round two early round three.

And then you're going to get other teams who might go, eh, you know, fourth round, something like that. but I think that's going to be the conversation with him. I think it's going to be pretty wide for how you see him. Yeah, I think so too. I just, man, I'm way higher on the floor. But you're leaning into the strengths, which is totally fine. I'm higher on the floor.

Yeah, I just think his ability from the zero to eight yards is what makes him an NFL, at minimum, a committee back that could be your starter. And I think a lot of people just often make the mistakes with it. Because he has the pound for pound strength with the feel and vision. in my opinion. If you don't have the feel and vision, then doesn't matter if you're big because you're just aimlessly wandering

and you're getting wrapped up by four different defenders. But I think this is somebody that's really evolved in both schemes. And I think he just loves contact, man. Like you either are about that life or you're not. And this dude for multiple years right now has shown he's about that life. Robert said in the chat,

Travis being a hypocrite, he loves scataboo. Right. But I, it's remembers, Treve. But I liked Scataboo more, just like as an athlete. I thought Scadaboo's athleticism was underrated. I really did. Again, like, did he have, that's why I made sure to say, like, I'm not shying away from the fact that I'm often the guy that says home run speed doesn't matter. But you still got to be able to do something when you get into space.

And I felt like there were too many times where I felt overwhelmed with Ketron Allen in that regard. I never really felt that way with Scataboo. So same type of player, but I felt as though Scataboo did more in space, that's why I liked them more. And those type of backs, I'm more wary of anyway. So if I think that you're a little bit weak in that category, I'm probably going to be easier to be like more out on you overall. But anyways, this early running back rankings, well, I'd love to see what he tests.

Obviously, the combine's going to be huge for him. If he puts up way more athletic, better athletic numbers than I expect, now all of a sudden there's so much else that I like about his profile, I just wonder what kind of an athlete he is. We'll see. We will see. You want to talk on Singleton really quick? Because he was also on your list and he was not on my mind.

Yeah, Singleton for me, in a one-dimensional way, makes the list because I think he's going to be a very effective third down running back in the NFL, which is kind of funny. When you look at he's a great athlete in terms of his north-south speed, like straight line speed he'll probably do really well in the jumps he's six feet tall 224 pounds i i really like him in the past game notably the fact that i think he's good in pass pro um i think he uses his size and physicality in pass pro i mean he had 52 targets in 2024 and caught 41 balls

He had 24 catches this year. So this is somebody that's caught 65 passes over the last two years. And he's been productive in space. I think he's pretty natural pass catcher. Once again, the fact that he's a natural pass catcher that's a good straight line athlete and meets blitzers with physicality consistently gives him a significant NFL role.

It's not a workhorse back, a superstar back, but a legit third down back on a team. He just, man, like, he's lost in the zone run game when you watch him. 20th percentile miss tackles force per attempt. Because he has no. You're too athletic for that, man. He has no feel or vision, so it never matters. Yeah.

It never matters. It's so frustrating because you look at him. And when you watch his best plays, especially going downhill, you're like, man, he's explosive. He could drive his legs. But you don't get crazy athlete. Crazy athlete. Everybody's going to go nuts over him after the combine. Yeah.

And this is to me just exactly who he is. Like he's RB6 for me right now. I wouldn't be shocked if I find a running back or two that I like a little better because they're more complete. But I think in the right team, he would be a good third down NFL back because he can pass protect and almost none of these guys can. He's an NFL level athlete and he's a pretty natural pass catcher. So at some point of the draft, you start to look for role players, man. I agree. that place is day three, in my opinion.

RB6 in this draft is probably a day three. Probably day three. Like this, I hope it gets better. The last two weeks I've been watching guys, I'm like, oh boy, this is just a very okay class. I think that the rankings are going to be all over the place, which is I think it's a nice little, how we're doing these running back rankings here at the beginning of 2026 here,

beginning of January, of what you guys start to hear from other analysts as well, and running back rank is just going to be all over the place. By the way, do you see the neck names that they're giving K-Tron Allen in the chat? Fat Man Begins. That's really good. For Batman Begins, obviously. That's really good.

Tony said the dark fat night. That one doesn't work as well. But somebody also said Fat Man or Robin. If we ever get a one-two duo in the NFL, It's got to be fat man or robin. Did they call him in Nick Singleton that? I don't know. I hope they did.

I don't know. That's incredible. That is really good. Peter was saying in the chat, Singleton's David Johnson, but I think David, I see from the past catching perspective, but I thought David Johnson was a better runner. He was. David Johnson had that, like, you run outside zone with David Johnson. Yeah.

And he'd get to the edge and stick his foot in the ground and everybody would be like, holy shit, what do we do? Right. I never feel that way this year with Nick Singleton. Yeah, yeah. So the past catching and size comp, yeah, I get it. Spark in the chat saying, where do the Penn State guys fall on the running back,

same year duo spectrum, closer to Auburn's Cadillac and Ronnie, or Arkansas's run DMC of Felix-Jone, somewhere in between. I'd take both of those classic duos over the guys in Penn State. All due respect. Of course. Yeah, I mean, the guys that you listed there are, those are legends.

Those are absolute legends. Don't forget about Brandon Jacobs, who was also on that Auburn team, by the way. My God. Yeah. Yeah. He didn't finish his career there, but at one point they had Cadillac Williams, Brandon Jacobs, Ronnie Brown. And the run DMC and Felix Jones team had Peyton Hillis.

Oh, yeah. Everybody, why does everybody forget that? I could never forget Madden Cover legend Peyton Hillis. Yeah, there's the famous picture of, uh, I think there's a picture of them three. And it's so funny looking back at it right now. Yeah, there's the picture. There's a lot of pictures of them three together.

But like, Peyton Hillis was on the Madden cover. And all we did was talk about Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. That's true. Wisco's in the chat. Okay, this is a good one. You guys throw out a lot of these and they are funny and I want you to keep doing it. But Wiscoe said Nick Singleton is the Trent Richardson of Chris Johnson's. That one kind of right.

the Trent Richardson of Chris Johnson's that one's kind of correct because Nick Singleton's going to fly at the combine yeah oh yeah I mean it's like Penn State strength and conditioning on full display okay Connor in the chat saying fat man and Dobbins could be that's so good see you later RJ Harvey that might be that that might be some uh whoa hold on wait oh way Wait, wait, that just clicked in my mind. Hold on, wait a second. Yeah, see what you're celebrating. If that happens, we might have to make some NFLS E merch about it. Fat Man and Dobbins? That's, it's really good. That's pretty incredible.

All right, so I have Claiborne. Let me talk about Claiborne really quick. So, Claiborne, I have at RB7. Running back from Wake Forest, he is a senior this year. So he's 5'10, 195 pounds. I wonder if he's closer to 5'5. he's just a little bit shorter of a player um he also had a great track background former four star running back in the 2022 recruiting class um 10 6 1 100 meter dash um won the hundred meter dash

title as a senior and then he was runner up into 200 meter so like this guy's got some legit speed played in 10 games of true freshmen started to the next year started 11 in 2024 and then started um all of his games this past year that he played as well really good Top gear for the NFL. I mean, this guy's got some burst. He's got some top speed. So if hitting home runs is what you like from the running back position, if that's something that you consistently gravitate towards,

this guy's going to be able to do it from you. You can really cover some ground once he sees daylight. I think he's best behind those zone blocking schemes. This is somebody who, if you're running mid and outside zone, you're giving him an aiming point where he can start to get his momentum moving, and then you give him the ability to put his foot in the ground and fire up field, get a little bit closer towards, the numbers in the sideline, man, I think that that's when he's really at his best.

I know his grade wasn't as good there, but I think that was a Wake Forest thing a lot more than it was a Desmond Claiborne type of thing. I think he's got pretty good work as a receiver as well. You see almost 50th percentile in yards per route run, but that mistackles force per attempt. When he becomes a receiver, he remains a playmaker. And I think that's not always a guarantee for past catchers out of the backfield. Sometimes you get these backs where, and I think Seth McGowan might be one of these guys, which we're going to talk about. in a little bit, in a little bit, but his mistackles force per attempt is like really high as a runner, but then when he's a receiver, it's almost like he turns off the playmaking part in his

brain and he's just like trying to get up the field as fast as possible. Claiborne remains a playmaker at all times, which is good. I think he's light as a pass blocker as you would expect with him being sub 200 pounds, but at least he has some good vision and pride that he takes in pass protection. Got some special teams experience as a returner, which we're seeing running back. be kick returners a lot more with the new kickoff rules because it's much more about reading blocks than it is about just, you know, pure speed like it used to be. So I think that that could be in the cards for him to have strength to make the bottom part of a roster and stick around and

maybe get into a running rotation there. He had too many fumbles in 2025. I think he had five fumbles into 2025. That was a big thing I didn't like smaller and fumbles a lot. It's always scary. But he, to be fair to him, I think the previous three years combined, now not as much of a workload, but he, I think he had one total career fumble before he had five this year. So I'll give him a little bit of grace there. That could just be a really bad year from him, but obviously that's something that you can't repeat. He's not going to give you a ton of yards after contact.

You see 36 percentile there. So if he gets hit, it's kind of going down pretty quickly against sub 200 pounds. But scatback type of a player. I think that I could absolutely see him as sort of the jitterbug type of a speed guy. If you're a team that likes to be very balanced, you're running between the tackles, you're running mid and outside zone. Like he's the kind of guy that you put in if you want to get to the sidelines, if you want to attack a team with their corners,

make their linebackers run to the sideline. I think he's somebody that could get defenses in trouble with how quick, how explosive that he is in those zone blocking concept. So a little bit of a smaller back, but if this is your type of guy, you know, there's more like compact dudes who just are the, those violent one-cut, burst, good top-speed players, I think that he's somebody who you could like. I like it.

All right. Who did we... Is Emmett Johnson the last guy that we hit? Yeah, Emmett Johnson. I think we covered everybody else. Because I have Judarian Price at 6, but you've got him in the top three. Yep. All right.

So Emmett Johnson. So let's talk about Emmett Johnson to round things out here for our four through eights. Emmett Johnson is a redshirt junior from Nebraska. He's 5 foot 11, 200 pounds. So it's right around 51st percentile in height and then 16th percentile for the running back position overall is 200 pounds. So a little bit smaller.

Former three-star running back from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Rush for more than 2,500 yards and 42 touchdowns in his senior season. Pretty nuts. Ran for nearly 6,000 all-purpose yards. Also had more than 130 tackles on defense. Because of that. He was named 2021.

Minnesota, Mr. Football, ends up committing to Nebraska. Played in four games, his first year there, redshirted, started six games next year, five games the next year, and then all 12 this past season. He's played a lot of football, over 1,000 snaps over 2024 and 2025. You see that number that I always lean into and love, and that's that mistackles force per attempt averages, whether he is a rusher or a receiver. You mentioned the sweet feat that he has, that playmaker mentality, the agility, the agility, wanting to make guys miss in small areas and even in open space 80th percentile

mistackles force per attempt as a runner 78th as a receiver so that playmaker mentality is always there for him the fact that he had an 85th percentile fumble rate over the last two years means that he is not putting the ball on the ground you see all of the yard the yards per route run is 70th percentile those mistackles force per attempt numbers were really good and because of that you see a pretty good you see w aa that's wins above average that we have at pro football focus and a point two two is one of the highest numbers that we have from any running back because it doesn't fumble because he makes you miss he gets yards above expectation and he is a plus in the passing game that's it you want to have true value as a running back you have to be those

things and as a smaller but quick really good vision uh really good footwork type of playmaker this guy, I think, can be a contributing and even impactful back at the NFL level. I like Emmett Johnson a good amount. Yeah, we see him the same. We both have him RB5, Emmett Johnson, man. All the run game ability is great, but the fact that he's become a three-down player

is what makes him such a promising NFL prospect, dude. Like the fact that you watch the tape, he could track the ball down the field on deeper throws. He's got legit receiving ability. if they want to push the ball to him down the field. He's got some of the most creative run style tape out of any of these guys. You see the jukes.

You see a spin. He'll cut the run out. You know, he'll get past the line of scrimmage, cut the run out to the sideline. Then instead of going out of bounds, he cuts back in and makes two more people miss. Really fun player to watch. And the fact is, he's a three-down player, man.

And honestly, I think there's even more left for this guy. I think if he gets a little stronger, it's going to be dangerous. because the slender build can limit his power at times. He has no problem taking on contact, but if he gets a little stronger this offseason and starts to really fill out an NFL body, all the raw ability is already there.

So Emmett Johnson breakout season, and it's helped him for the draft for sure. Yeah, I think that somebody in the chat pointed out that he's not getting past pro. You're not really expecting a 5 foot 11, 200 pound running back to be good in pass pro. So that's, that's, even though you would like, like for him to be better in pass protection, that's not a part of his game where I would go,

all right, let me ding him a ton here because given the frame that he has, given the style of running back he is the type of athletic ability that he has, you wouldn't really naturally say, okay, because you are this, I would expect you to be a good pass protector. In fact, it is the opposite and it is more of like what he is good at, where you go, okay, this is the type of back he is, this is how he has built, this is his athletic skill set. I would like for him to be a good receiver. And he is. So he checks those boxes the way that he needs to. Yeah, a big fan. I'm a big fan of his. Got him RB5. Might be even higher when it's all said and done. Remind me a little bit. I don't know if this is the final comp that I'm going to go with here, but Ryan reminded me a little bit

of Tage Spears. How Tash Spears was when he was out of two lane, really good receiver, really good top speed, really nice footwork, somebody who can make you miss pretty quickly. So I think that's the type of back that we're talking about here. I'll go through Jabari Taylor real quick at eight because he's somebody had yeah shouted him out that you hadn't hit him yet i don't know if jamari taylor is going to hold this spot down because honestly i originally had mark fletcher junior in the top eight and then taylor slid up but he to me kind of a in a good way a boring runner like he's a gritty downhill runner good vision he's played a lot of college football he's got a big jump cut to elude tacklers uh he has little fear of dropping his pads like he'll lower his

shoulder through contact when he has to in a one-on-one situation took care of the football pretty well i wrote down my notes like this guy does not skip arm day when you watch all these running backs he is absolutely jacked out of his mind and he uses that upper body physicality whenever he can it's just he's got average size for a power runner i always worry how that translates at the next level it's like you ran with a lot of power in college but you're not built like the power backs of the NFL. Now, he has maximized his body in the weight room. And I tip my cap to that because that shows work ethic for this guy who transferred up to Virginia from NC Central. So that speaks a lot to his character. You know, he's not overly explosive and doesn't really have long speed. I'd like to

see him knock out some of those concentration drops on swing passes. So there was just way too many of those where I'm like, man, just catch the ball and get forward for a couple yards. So yeah, Jamari Taylor, a day three prospect, you know, kind of a boring in the best possible way prospect, but another guy that'll be at the senior ball and can help himself out. I don't know. I think it's just because we called them jacked, but in the chat, we've got a Jamari creatine uncrustables Taylor. We've got.

Do you want to hear this? Juiced accountant Taylor. Listen to this. So I'm not eating an uncrustable on today's show because I already had one. Because we haven't done the ad read yet. No, but I really didn't even bring. one up to my, my office. I was at work today.

Okay. And I was walking from our, like, makeup dressing room area to the studio with an uncrustable. And one of our awesome employees at NBC was very funny was like, is that an uncrustable? And I was like, yeah. And she goes, what are you eight years old? I was like, I just felt like I got handmaker. I was like, excuse me, this is an apple cinnamon on. uncrustable with 12 grams of protein

then walked away oh no this is the this is the antibiotic steroids version and then you just keep walking ma'am there's trend in this yeah leave me alone not now chief I'm in the zone and you just keep walking

and just take a bite of it no no no that's not that's not that's not child behavior we've got to be able to take some things you got to be able to take some things that we had from our childhood that you've got to realize just that they transcend the moment of your life that you're in as a child that doesn't mean that it's just a childlike activity yes you can enjoy an uncrustable when you're 99 years old I never had him as a kid so I'm making up for

lost time you are making love for all the last time Matt in the chat said she called you champ yeah kind of yeah kind is that an uncrustable small fry yeah she kind of yeah it's something I could do I had no response. I was owned. You know it was tough. We're going to do an ad read, and then we're going to do the top three in a second. But you know it was tough for me growing up?

Well, I say tough. My mom wanted to make sure that we started our days, like, very healthy. That we didn't start our days with a ton of sugar and all that kind of stuff. You've never seen a box of cereal. So when all of my friends were getting cookie crisp, oh, no.

Reese's pieces, or Reese's puffs, Like all the good stuff? Pop-Tarts? Even Captain Crunch. No, no, no, no. But I would sneak Pop-Tarts because I'd get them from the Vennie machine at school. But school was a pillar for absolute garbage. Like we had an ice cream machine.

You could have pizza every day. I don't know if this is an unhinged take. When I was in, when we were in soccer season, whenever it was game day, brown cinnamon sugar, Pop-Tart, and a lemon. and lime Gatorade. Like literally every... I don't know if those two... That's not unnormal at all.

Okay, I didn't know if those two flavor... I mean, I can't speak to that. The choice is a little odd. Okay, so that's what I was wondering. I was wondering at the free flavor profiles were a little different. Yeah, it's a little strange, I would say. Look, I'd smash one the second this podcast is done.

Aloha Panda said my whole job is selling healthy food in the schools. Nice job. I feel like that has changed since we were kids. I mean, when we were kids, you can go get like Chalk of milk, slice of pizza and ice cream every day for lunch if you wanted. So many of my friends did that and I was so pissed. I was so pissed.

Wait, so what would you eat for breakfast? I'm sorry, I cut you off. You didn't have cereal, you couldn't have Pop Tarts. What would I eat most of the time? Eggos? Was that okay? Yeah, but really. I had Angos all the time for breakfast.

Although syrup and butter on them. Sometimes. To be honest, I'm going to keep it a buck with you. probably just some sort of protein bar that my mom like that's what I would do I mean she was way ahead of the game she was super ahead of the game yeah

yeah yeah she was super ahead of the game not a single ounce of microplastics in that woman she's been she's been way ahead of it aluminum never even heard of it man all right before we get to our top three here our game plan of the week other than you know not eating a ton of sugar

for breakfast presented by Western Southern financial group, a game plan for your financial future. This week's game playing in the week, I'm going to go to the NFC South Battle, Panthers, Buccaneers, Part 2. We talked about this a little bit before, but can the Panthers stay aggressive on first down? Whenever they've done that, it feels like they've had a lot of success. Will they put the ball in Bryce Young's hand specifically on first down? And if they don't, will they actually run a lot of deception and play action in order to complement how much they might be running the football throughout the game? So what the Panthers are going to do and the game plan that they have on first down,

I think we'll go a long way into crowning the NFC South champion, whoever's going to host that game between the Buccaneers, or host the playoff game between the Buccaneers and the Panthers. Just like every team wins starts with a great game plan. Your future should too. With life insurance built like a championship roster, Western and Southern, helps protect your family so you can focus on winning today knowing that tomorrow is covered. Whether you're just starting out, building a dynasty,

or looking to lock in long-term protection, their coverage options are designed to match your game plan. Visit westernsouthern.com backslash pf to get your free life quote and start building your financial game plan today. Western and Southern built to win backed by over 130 years of helping people protect what matters most. Aloha, Trev, I wish my mom kept me from the sugar, almost 30, and I still can't get abs.

Brother, I can't either, and I didn't even have the sugar. Yes, yeah, don't blame me. be so hard on yourself there all right the cut starts today i just i you know what you know what i just i just made it my mind the cut starts today okay three through one running backs here early rankings 2026 NFL draft what are all right one by one no i think we're going we're doing the same thing felt them out i think that's the way the chef the chef uh coordinated i mean this is this is kind of anticlimatic anyway so it's fine uh okay three for me and boy three and two i'm going to call it a tie i flipped them back and forth and then don't do that coward it's a total

cowardly move but i i can't decide three for me is jadarian price okay so you do have him at three i haven't three jonah coleman at two from washington and jeremiah love at number one who arguably could have even won the heisman he was so good this year um and these three to me are sort of like, Jeremiah, I love probably a first rounder, obviously. But Jonah Coleman and Judarian Price warrant being day two selections. And then it kind of gets into being a day three class. Price, man, there's a world right now where three years from today we're sitting here and we're like, wow, Jedarian Price is one of the best running backs in the NFL.

Really? Like, he is not calling him a Jamir Gibbs or Bijon Robinson talent. But with what he was asked to be this year, he was amazing, amazing. Over the last two years, he's averaged six yards per carry. Yeah. He's a former four star out of Texas.

So it's not like, this isn't the screenshot I'm seeing everywhere of like Trinidad Chamblis and Fernando Mendoza having no recruiting power at all. Jadarian Price was supposed to be a good player. Yes. He's an awesome player. He just plays behind the guy in the entire country

in Jeremiah Love. Very muscular, athletic NFL body. at the position. I love him in zone. Like you watch him in zone. He's got breakaway wheels. 82nd percentile yards after contact this year. So you see that.

The pound for pound strength to me, I was really impressed with his ability to just stay on his feet and churn through contact when he needs to. You look at him in pass pro, active hands, low center of gravity, high effort. And I said this before on the show, He's a borderline elite kick returner in NFL's rules today.

I mean, he brought two back for touchdowns this year on 12 attempts. He averaged 38 yards on the kick return. I think he brought one back two years ago. I mean, straight line speed is what he does. If you give him a crease, I mean, he could take it an absolute mile. But I think he has, like we brought up the straight line speed for Nick Singleton. I think Judarian Price actually has feel and vision in zone, where that's what's made him so dangerous.

is that he can find the whole, he can really just shoot by you. I was so impressed with him all year, Trevor. So impressed with him all year. And another guy like Jamari Taylor, you see it right there, like doesn't miss an hour on Arm Day. He's got an NFL upper body,

an NFL lower body. I think it wouldn't shock me if both Notre Dame guys are the first two backs taken in this draft. No, it wouldn't shock me either. He's listed at 511, 210. He looks way bigger than that. He looks 220 when he,

easily. Yeah, I agree. I agree. No water weight 2.20. You mentioned the background, four-star running back. So, I mean, he was a highly tout to recruit. He also competed in the 4-1-100, the 4-by-200 relays, and that's like, that is sprinting. And when you were

in relays, you are just a sprinter. And then the long jump as well. Missed his entire freshman season in 2022 because he tore his Achilles. And then he had 13 games in 2023, 16 and 2024. And then obviously he was, he's behind Jeremiah. I love. And so it's not like he's going to start, but at least a lot. But there is, there's

so much potential engineering price. And over the last two years, look at that yards after contact per attempt. Over four, four point two two yards after contact per attempt. The reason why is because when this guy puts his foot in the ground, the speed to power conversion is unbelievable. I mean, he becomes a wrecking ball that you are trying to slow. down let alone tackle. Right. I think that there's so much of what you said that makes sense with him where he's shrugging off of arm tackles. If you give him a crease, he's taking it to the house. He's got good kick return ability as well. When you talk about total athletic potential, this dude absolutely has it. Where I'm torn on Judarian Price is when I watched him at the beginning

of this year, I thought that there were too many times when I didn't think he saw the line of scrimmage the way that he needed to that he was hesitant that he didn't anticipate the way that he needed to he didn't see the rush lane open up he'd be running into the back of his offensive lineman i just didn't see that vision from him the last like month and a half of the season that's yeah like it clicked for him because he's finally playing football and and that's the thing is is i might come to your conclusion to just say like no no no whatever was the latest of him is what we're going to get eventually at the NFL level. And if that's the case, yeah, man, I think that he's probably a top three back in this class. I just, I'm a little bit shaky that I

doubted his vision basically until the last six games he's played. And the last six games were just excellent from him. So that's a, that's a little bit of a soul searching journey I need to go on personally, you know, go on the Aaron Rogers Wilderness Retreat. centered around Judarian Price and his ranking here for the 2026 NFL draft. But very clearly the NFL is high on this guy. He doesn't declare if he gets anything less than a day two grade, right? Because he would have been the man at Notre Dame. The NIL money would have gone up.

I mean, if he would have put his name in the transfer portal, he'd have been the highest paid running back to the transfer portal. He would have been a Heisman contender next year. I mean, I think that we would have talked about him like that. So very clearly, they got feedback from the NFL, and the NFL is like, hey, buddy, why don't you come on over? Why don't you get one, want you to, want you a cannonball into this class real quick? And I think that that's because the NFL is probably closer to where you are on the rankings

of having him as a top three back in this class, whereas I was a little bit lower just because I'm a little bit shaky still in the vision. But two things for me that are shaky. one not proven in the past game enough because of opportunity correct right that was another part of i thought he was i liked him in past pro but actually thrown the ball right too right and fumbles which and the fumbles yeah the fumble rate i think he had three this year with a limited workload he's got to cut those down so and that'll be big jeremy said jedarian price is the connor rogers of bill crossy merits i think he's just i think that's not i can't crack

I think that's a compliment to your deadlift, to your deadlift scores that you talked about. Wow, thank you, Jeremy. Yeah, I think that's a comment. We're going to go with that. Do you want to drop yours? Yes. No, so my top three,

and then this makes sense because we're both hitting on our top, our number three guys. Can I guess it? Sure. You're going to have Jonah Coleman third, Seth McGowan second, and love first. Close. Flip Coleman and McGowan.

Yes. Yeah, I have Seth McGowan as RB3. Okay. So I have Seth McGowan from Kentucky is RB3. Jonah Coleman is RB2 and then Jeremiah, I love it number one. So we'll talk about Coleman and love here in a second. But I do want to talk about Seth McGowan, who is a redshirt senior at Kentucky this year, six foot tall, 215 pounds.

So 73rd percentile in height, 56 percentile in weight. So built the way that you want a future NFL running back to be built. He was a former four-star running back in the 2022 class. So he is a much older player. He's a redshirt senior. I think he's a sixth year. Is he? Two one.

Zero two. Well, he had the weird, like he didn't play football for two years. Right. And the reason why is because he played when he was a true freshman at Oklahoma, actually looked pretty good, got in the running back rotation. And then in 2021, he pled guilty to a felony charge, spent three months in jail, was removed from OU's football program. And I'll get to that more.

I'll get to more of that in a second. when he got out of jail and when everything cleared with him, he, in 2022, enrolled at NAA's Texas College, didn't play a single game, though, transferred to Butler Community College in 2023. Then he transferred to New Mexico State in 2024, played in all 12 games, or all 12 games in 2024. And then he transferred to Kentucky in 2025. He battled through a ton of injuries this past year, but he didn't miss any of their 11 games that he played through. And so before I talk about the ability from him, obviously you're not just brushing off a felony charge in which you had to spend jail time from. Right. Obviously,

that is something that happened in his life. But from the people that I know within the Kentucky football program, they love this dude. They speak so highly of him. The interviews that I have watched from him, the articles that I have read from him where he's talked about things like that he really he was really at a point in his life where he obviously when he's at oklahoma you're a former four star you're playing well you're already playing as a true freshman you think you're the man you think you're going to the NFL all this kinds of stuff and football got completely taken away from as his life got turned upside down because of his own choices and that was something that when you listen to him talk and when you talk to people who

have talked to him since like it's something that truly rocked him and obviously i've never talked to him myself, but the Kentucky people rave about who he is as a teammate, who he is a person, how he has changed, how he has changed his life, his new outlook on everything, which obviously was very much a necessity from him to get out of the dark place that he was in and the mindset that he was in that got into a place where he was spending three months in jail. Now he actually has a second chance of football, which he was never sure that he was going to be able to get because what I read, I can't remember if I read, of this or if it was an interview that I watched of him, when he got the, like him and Lincoln

Riley were great. Obviously, like, he commits to Lincoln Riley. He thought he was going to be a star under Lincoln Riley at the Oklahoma football program. And hearing Lincoln Riley tell him, like, yeah, you're not in the program anymore was something that was truly part of what got him to a place where he realized how deep he was in all of this and how football truly was taken away from him and how it might not be something that he ever gets back again. So it's been a long journey for him to not just get back to playing top tier D1 football, but also just him as a person. And from all accounts, from what I have heard, he is just a totally different personality, has a totally new outlook and motivation on life. That's obviously the boxes that you have to check

first and foremost, given the pass that he has. When you get into the ability, I think this dude is an NFL back. The yards after contact per attempt, below 50th percentile, but the miss tackles force per attempt, 78th percentile. I love this dude's footwork. I think he's got the frame for the NFL level. He's a fast processor. I think, you know, who are we talking about? Mike Washington, a little bit like Mike Washington,

or like how good his feet are and how quick he is between the tackles. Seth McGowan's the same way, but I think he's got even more juice to him. I think he's got even more athleticism to him. He's got impressive burst and play speed as well. Some guys have play speeds, I think, are really, underrated part of playing the position where a lot of people a lot of people will look at a guy be able to put his foot in the ground and get upfield but they don't always play that fast sometimes they play really slow and then when they see it okay now i can go mcgowan's one of

those guys where he has burst agility body control all of that and he just does it very fast he's a very fast processor he has the athletic ability to match um i think he's super explosive with his cuts between the tackles, I think he's got the frame and the strength to be a reliable pass protector, although the technique and the consistency is still there, it still needs work for him. He's got a little bit of a fumbling issue, and he really wasn't used a lot as a receiver, but even when he was used as a receiver, I thought that he showed potential. This is a player who just, obviously it's been a long time for him to play against legit competition to get back up to this level.

So really this last season is all we have, and that obviously goes against him a little bit because he's an older player. But with the shelf life for running backs being short in the NFL anyways, I think I could put this dude in the NFL and he could be a difference maker next season. And that matters into the age equation as much as anything else, in my opinion. So just a crazy journey, how much the Kentucky people rave about this dude, the change in mindset and motivation that he has for himself in the game of football, and then the overall ability that he has, I think, is pro caliber. And so all of that mixed in makes me believe in what this guy could be in the NFL. And so I just, I just loved a lot of what I saw

from Seth McGowan this past year at Kentucky. So you brought up Mike Washington, which is funny, because that's who McGowan split carries with at New Mexico State last year, 50, 50. You're right. On New Mexico State, McGowan had 152 rushing yards and carries in 2024. Washington had 150, 57, 50-50, they were the backfield of New Mexico State, and they each went their own ways to bigger programs in the SEC and benefited from it significantly this year. Now, I liked Washington better. I wasn't a huge fan of McGowan for a couple of reasons.

And I think he's a draftable player, assuming. Oh, we used to were draftable. Assuming everything's okay on his journey and background, and it's been a long time since that. And he's been, like you said, he's been very open and public about all of that. You were my concerns just him as a player. I thought he was like leggy and upright very often. And that's naturally a taller running back.

You brought up the yards after contact per attempt. He doesn't really have breakaway speed. I think in the past game, I just didn't see it. It was the fact that I agree there's effort and intensity and protection, but so many mental lapses and technique lapses that he got beat. he doesn't adjust well to off target throws or really passes in general. They did try to spam the angle route to him and that, you know, I thought he ran the route pretty well.

Like that's where you see the footwork. I just don't see any kind of ceiling in the past game at all for him. And the fact that he puts the ball on the ground and isn't the most creative runner concerned with me with him overall as a running back. So I'm going to be fascinating to see his process. And like getting a senior ball invites really good for the character stuff. Yep. Because the senior bowl is not going to invite you if they're not.

okay with any of that. And it seems like he's kind of tried to, you know, put that behind him. But yeah, I was not really my type. But, you know, I give him a lot of credit for, you know, coming a long way. And he had a good year at Kentucky. He really, really did. You see the gap, the balance of the grades right there in the different schemes. I just, the lack of, if you're not a creative runner, I need you to do something in the past game. And I just didn't see either of those things with him i thought see i i am with you on the the the past game stuff that is more potential than anything yeah i thought he was pretty creative as okay i thought he was and i think that's the big that's why there's such a big difference here is you didn't see him as a creative runner i did and very

much it no matter who you talk to if a running back lacks creativity they're not really valuable there's there's too many there's too many NFL level athlete running backs that come through every single year to where if you don't have a playmaker's mentality, I could pretty much replace you every single season. So if you don't think a guy is creative, I can absolutely see him being where he is on your rankings. I did think he was creative. And so that's, I think, the big gap that we have here.

Kjo said, Connor, he tries really hard, but he kind of stinks. Harry said this is Connor's Bucky Irving. Oh, mate, I, if this happens again, I give up. we'll see we will see folks okay uh jonah coleman by the way there was somebody in the before we get to jonah coleman and jeremiah i love there was somebody in the chat who said uh no justice hans on these top eights is bumming me out i haven't watched justice hans we don't know if he's going to be in the class so we're kind of at the point right now we're that at the top if you're like i think yes we did say that at the top college football is such a mess right now

that we're trying to get through so many scouting reports of players that i don't want to watch a player, spend a lot of time watching a player who's just going to go back to school. So for the most part, we're only watching guys that are upperclassmen who don't have eligibility left or that we know are going to declare who have declared already. So maybe we'll get to Justice Hayes, obviously, if we could, you know. We're going to do this again. We'll do this again for final rankings, yes. Jonah Coleman and Jeremiah Love.

Let's touch on Jonah Coleman really quick. What do you like about him? Jonah Coleman's the peak so much better than the numbers kind of guy. although the mistackles force per attempt 90th percentiles are really so this is a 2012 he was amazing and i thought this year he was really good they weren't as good as a team and he dealt with some injury stuff um he had a lower body injury the second half of this year that really hurt his production and overall and everything but man like jonah coleman 59 220 he is such a pain in the ass to tackle such a pain in the ass lower center of gravity

arguably pound-for-pound strength, the strongest back in this class. He is very creative. He's got these tap dancing feet. He'll run over you. He'll jump over you. He doesn't fumble the ball. He had one fumble loss this year. He didn't have any fumbles at all in 2024.

He's got really soft hands as a pass catcher. And then when he's in space, total pain in the ass once again because he's got this full array of moves. He's not going to run a 4-4-40 or anything like that. But my goodness, man, like his power and smarts and quicks and ball security and past game work, Jonah Coleman's the real deal. He's so much fun. He's so much fun to watch.

I love him in his own blocking scheme inside and outside zone, right? Get the offensive line moving a little bit in one direction. You mentioned he's got that good footwork where I think he can be good behind man and gap scheme, more like power run style between the tackles. But if you get the offensive line moving a little bit to the left or the right, you get Jonah Coleman moving a little bit to the left of the right. He'll put his foot in the ground and go. And when he has that momentum, it's that bowling ball style.

90th percentile mistackles force per attempt over the last two years, 89th percentile yards after contact. And then as a receiver, 72nd percentile mistackles force per reception, 72nd percentile yards per route run. He's just such a steady good football player. You talk about a David Montgomery type of player. This is a David Montgomery type of player, in my opinion. Where basically the only thing that you don't love about him is the top speed.

And if you're okay with that, great. But that's the sort of realm that we're talking about for him. I think he is a day two pick all day long. Now, I think it's probably going to be much more of a late second to late third. type of range. I don't think he's going to creep into that top 50. I don't think we're going to get another running back at top 50. We might not even get another running back.

Maybe Judarian Price. I could see Judarian Price potentially being a second round pick just because the athletic gift he has. Like I can absolutely see an NFL team loving him in that regard, maybe even in the top 50, to be honest with you. But outside of that, Jonah Coleman, I think is more of like a third round pick is probably to be safe. What we're talking about here.

But this guy, he'll be fun in the NFL. He's got a place in the NFL. There's no doubt about it. And then Jeremiah Love is the last guy that we're talking about here. Not only, Connor, do I think that Jeremiah Love is a first roundback? I gave him an all-pro grade. I gave him a top 10 overall grade type of a player. Four-star running back from St. Louis, Missouri.

I played football, basketball, ran track. He was the Max Prep Missouri High School Football Player of the Year. He was the Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year. In the state championship game in football, he had 3707, total yards 211 rushing 100 to 6 receiving and five total touchdowns dude's insane in track he won the state title in the 100 meter with the 10 7 6 100 meter dash started one game as a true freshman for doder dame and he started every game that he's been healthy in his sophomore and junior seasons you see some of the numbers on the screen on on the screen elite Russian grade behind

gas team run blocking plays elite Russian grade behind zone run-blocking concepts as well. That mistackles force per attempt. It says ninth, that's my bad. These are my bad. These are typos that I wasn't paying close enough attention to. I believe that is 98th percentile, is what that should say. I think that's 98th percentile of mistackles force per attempt.

98th percentile yards after contact per attempt. 93rd percentile yards per route run. 89th percentile mistackles force perception never puts the ball in the ground has a crazy in-game athleticism score the way that this man at a listed six foot 215 pounds the way that he puts his foot in the ground and gips up field is nuts he is such a natural receiver out of the backfield in his routes and with his hands he has a determined rushing and blocking mentality although like consistency could be cleaned up but the mentality is there for him. He is such a quick processor. I mean, he's Bijon Robinson levels of just quick processing

behind clutter and chaos between the tackles. It's just so fluid and explosive in his movements. Somebody in the chat was like, hey, where would you have Jeremiah Love with Aschen Gentie and with Omari and Hampton last year? I'd have Jeremiah Love as RB1 if he was in last year's class. I would have him above Ashen Gentie and I would have him above Omarian Hampton because to me, he is closer to Omari and Hampton in terms of the size, speed, strength, athleticism type, but he's better. He's a better receiver.

He's a better runner. He's got quicker anticipation. He's lighter on his feet. And I loved Hampton. Hampton, I had his first round type of back. I'd have him over them. I wouldn't have him over Bijan. No, no, no.

I don't think so. No, no, no. I would have him over Action Gentie and Omari and Hampton, but I would still have had Bejohn Robinson. He still got a higher scouting grade from me. But all that to say, give Jeremiah love a top 10 grade and a future all pro talent type of grade. This is, this is, this player, I would be shocked if he is not a top three player on my

big board when it's all said and done. He's got it all, man. He really, really has it all. And I love, you know, very quietly, something he doesn't get enough credit for because of how good he is and how easy he makes it look at times. He plays with incredible, incredible passion and determination on and everything they ever ask him to do. So that stands out to me.

I said this over summer, but it goes back to like you watch even when he's asked to lead block at times and he puts everything into that. But he is so physically gifted. He's strong. He has breakaway ability, which is so rare, true breakaway ability. And he never has to come off the field. Such a nightmare for any defender in a one-on-one situation. Scheme proof, gap zone, the feel, the urgency, patience when he needs to be patient,

urgency when he needs to be urgent. A great player, man. He's a no-brainer, and that's why he'll be a Kansas City chief in the first round. Alfie's saying, if we considered the lack of competition that he faces in his conference. Obviously, poking fun at Notre Dame not being in a conference, but also, no, no, not at all. There was somebody else who says, like, is he Jamir Gibbs level? That's my comp for him. Interesting.

Yeah, I mean, I just think that he's, and he's bigger than Jamir Gibbs is. And yet he plays about as fast and is as explosive as Jamir Gibbs is, which is pretty insane to say. Yeah. Jeremiah loves the real deal, man. Jeremiah loves insane, man. He's awesome. Okay, recap. You want to give your eight through one as a quick recap?

Yes, to recap this group right here. I know we're going to show it as well. Eight, Jamari Taylor from Virginia. Seven, Mike Washington, Jr. from Arkansas. Six, Nicholas Singleton, Penn State. Five, Emmett Johnson, Nebraska. Four, K. Tron Allen, Penn State. Three, Judarian Price, Notre Dame.

Two, Jonah Coleman from Washington. And one, Jeremiah Love from Notre Dame. Eight for me was Mike Washington. Washington Jr. from Arkansas. Seven was Demone Claiborne from Wake Forest. Six, Judarian Price from Notre Dame. Emmett Johnson from Nebraska was number five. L.J. Martin from BYU is number four. Seth McGowan from Kentucky was number three. And then Jonah Coleman from Washington number two before the man himself, Jeremiah Love from Notre Dame at number one. We would love to hear from you guys. Let us know what you thought of our opinions here on this running back

class. Any of the players that maybe we didn't mention that you would like for us to mention, Like Connor mentioned, this isn't the last running back episode that we're going to have. We're going to have a final running back episode when we get into March and April when we're doing our final rankings there. So there would probably be a lot more names. Somebody in the chat was like, hey, top eight, what are we doing here? Because we're talking about the depth of it. But so much of the issue is the fact that there's so many players that we don't know if they're going to be in a class or not. So when we get through the final rankings, we'll give you guys a lot more.

Hit us up at NFLC show on Twitter, on Instagram and TikTok, all that good stuff. I'm at Tampa Bay Tray. That's at Connor J. Rogers, so you could hit us up there as well. Join the NFLSE Discord where the conversation about the running backs in this upcoming class will continue from a general perspective. And then also from a team perspective, because you guys can get in on the team channels for your favorite NFL team. The hats are still on their way. I do not have them yet, so we have not restocked the store, but the hats are on their way. I promise they're coming.

So I wore the hat here on this show to remind you guys. Rub it in their face. We haven't forgotten. I have a hat on. Screw you guys. No, no, no. That's not the purpose. Trying to pump it up, Connor.

We're trying to pump up sales. It's called marketing. It's called marketing. I think it's about it. Do you, dude, we have 41 super chats. I have to run for another show. I don't know if you have time to run through them. If you don't, we can save all of them.

Oh, no, let's, I'll do them because I owe you like 20 of these. Okay. I will hammer down the super chat. So stay with me, people, if you want to hear a super chat read. Appreciate you. He's a man of the people, folks. Make sure you give them your undevoted time and attention for the super chats that you gave there, which we obviously appreciate everybody for giving us.

By the way, I'll answer one super chat that we had. Destiny 1, somebody asked what my main class was. They said that they were a Titan main. I was an OG hunter man. So I was Hunter first. And then when the game changed the meta for warlocks to be unstoppable when trials of Osiris came out, well, I wanted a shotgun attached to my hand. So I switched to a warlock main.

So those were my classes when I was playing Destiny 1. Appreciate you guys. Thank you guys so much for watching and listening to another episode of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. We'll see you guys next week.