2025 NFL Draft: Ranking top 5 running backs, tight ends and wide receivers

Joel Klatt

Lead College Football Analyst

The countdown to the 2025 NFL Draft is on.

Monday marked one month until Day 1 of the draft, and I’m really excited about this year’s event. Even though the draft might not be great at the top, I think this is a really deep draft class and teams will get good players in the second and third rounds. That’s evident at the running back, tight end and wide receiver positions.

That said, here are my top five players at those three positions, plus a player who could be a potential sleeper pick.

Running back

Johnson was highly productive for Iowa, who leaned on him a lot. One of the things you’ve got to keep in mind when talking about these prospects is what type of offense they come from. In Johnson’s case, he’s coming from an NFL-style offense. He’s running exactly what he’s going to be asked to run at the pro level, so all the skills that he possesses and that he worked on day in and day out — patience of running zone, pressing the front side before looking for the cutback, reading the guard, reading holes on the front side before going backside, reading duo — at Iowa are exactly what he’s going to do in the NFL. I think that’s going to pay dividends for him.

I think he’s got to catch the ball better out of the backfield, but as a runner, he’s NFL-ready. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was pretty productive as a back early in his career.

Hampton is a guy who can make you better in a lot of different areas. He’s got home run ability. I love the fact that all these guys from No. 4 and up are guys that can hurt you as a wide receiver as well and are explosive as pass catchers. That’s important at the next level as offensive coaches start to emphasize this more. The best running backs in the NFL are the ones that can do more than just run between the tackles.

Don’t get me wrong, you’ve got to be able to do just that and have the requisite ability to be an old-fashioned back, but there has to be this extra ability, at times, to be a weapon in the passing game. I think Hampton has that ability.

Judkins is a hell of a player, and coming out of Ole Miss, it looked like he would be a sure-fire first-rounder. He still could be, but he went to Ohio State to lessen his workload and play for a national championship. He was able to do that, and when Ohio State was healthy upfront, he was dangerous. He was knocking off long runs every single week. It felt like Judkins was scoring long touchdowns week in and week out. It was a little bit different after a few injuries to the offensive line, but I thought Judkins showed his mettle late in the season. He closed the Penn State game. Judkins can get the tough yards between the tackles and has got home-run ability on the outside.

I think Henderson and Judkins are interchangeable. Henderson has this electricity about him — we saw what he did this past season in his first fully healthy year since he was a freshman. You talk about speed and acceleration, and Henderson was electric in the playoff. Some of those screen passes showed he can be dangerous as a receiver. He showed his home-run ability as a runner against Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

The thing NFL decision makers will actually drool over? Henderson’s ability to block. A lot of the big passing plays Ohio State had last year wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t pick up a blitz.

There’s a reason why Jeanty was second in the Heisman Trophy voting: he does it all. This guy has incredible speed, vision, balance and strength. I love watching him play. I wish he would’ve played at a bigger school in a better conference because we would have had a better understanding of exactly how good he is. If he did, he likely would have won the Heisman if he was as productive as he was for Boise State.

I think Jeanty is one of the six or seven best players in the entire draft. He didn’t catch it a lot this past year, but Boise State was trying to help him win the Heisman, so Jeanty chased Barry Sanders’ rushing yards record to improve his Heisman stock. Boise State didn’t throw it to him often, but he had some good receiving production in previous seasons, so don’t let last year fool you.

Potential steal: LeQuint Allen, Syracuse

Ashton Jeanty, Quinshon Judkins lead Joel Klatt’s top five running backs

Tight end

Arroyo had some knee injuries that hurt his production, and frankly, some of his film from earlier in his career. It’s hard because he doesn’t have the body of work the others have, but he’s certainly fluid. Some of the speed returned. I thought he was a much more dangerous player late in the year than he was earlier. He’s got good skill and size.

Ferguson had great production. It’s easy to overlook it because a lot of his catches were at or near the line of scrimmage. There weren’t a ton of down-the-field catches, with some catches coming up the seams. Oregon ran tight end screens a lot. He’s a fluid pass catcher, not a great blocker, though. I think he could be more of a flex guy (an H tight end) in the NFL. I could see him being a quality player in that role.

Taylor is 6-foot-2 and 252 pounds with 129 catches in his career at LSU. He’s smooth, and I think he’s still underdeveloped. You can see that in a couple of years, he could be a 260- or 270-pound tight end and still move well. That’s a matchup nightmare in the NFL. He’ll be like a rising stock going into the draft, and I can see Taylor getting better each season. Of course, he’s also the son of NFL Hall of Famer Jason Taylor. Talk about an NFL bloodline.

I had Warren being the first tight end off the board in my mock drafts, but those are more of a prediction, while this list is a true evaluation. Let me be clear, though: Warren is a top 10 player in this year’s draft.

He’s a more creative tight end than the player I’ve got at No. 1. He’s more of a Travis Kelce-type, and you can build an offense around him. He was the focal point of what Penn State did offensively this past season — moving around pre-snap to getting the ball from the snap, on occasion. He’s terrific with the ball in his hands. He’s very good at making contested grabs. His ball skills are exquisite. He isn’t a traditional in-line tight end, but you can create things with him.

Ashton Jeanty, Tyler Warren in Joel Klatt’s Mock Draft 2.0

Loveland is more of a traditional tight end. He’s so fluid as a pass catcher and route runner. In fact, he’s so fluid in his route-running ability that he’s almost a wide receiver and can flex out. He’s a matchup nightmare because of that.

Loveland was a high-quality blocker for Michigan, too. He could move motion and flex as a blocker, allowing the Wolverines to be versatile with him. I think Loveland can do everything, even playing a Warren-type role, but Michigan didn’t do that because Loveland was very good in the traditional sense.

Potential steal: Luke Lachey, Iowa

Wide receiver

This guy just wins on the outside, and a lot of it is just pure acceleration. He’s so athletic and twitchy. I think he could be an excellent slot player at the next level. Burden needs to do some refinement with his route running, though. He can create with his space just from his God-given ability, but you need more than just pure talent to be a successful receiver in the NFL. He needs to clean that up, but a creative offensive playcaller can make him a weapon right away.

Golden transferred to Texas for the 2024 season, and he was the focus of its passing game by the end of the year. He’s a great player, and he never shied away from the big moment. He made big plays in big moments in the Michigan game, the SEC Championship Game and multiple CFP tilts. Texas trusted Golden’s ability to be in the right spot, which isn’t always the case with transfers.

I think Golden could be that trustworthy of a receiver in the NFL. He’s probably a better fit in the slot, but we’ll see where he ends up.

If I had to describe Egbuka’s game in one word, it’d be polished. He’s another one of those Ohio State wide receivers who seem bound to succeed in the NFL because of who coached them in college. Brian Hartline is the best position coach in college. He has his receivers running NFL routes throughout their entire Ohio State tenures, and they’ve learned the nuance it takes to succeed in the passing game.

Egbuka’s surgical in the way he plays. He’s more explosive than people give him credit. He’s great at catching the ball. He’s going to be perfect for a creative offensive coordinator.

Travis Hunter, Emeka Egbuka in Joel Klatt’s top five wide receivers

McMillan didn’t have the best season, but it’s hard not to put him at No. 2 when you look at his frame. He’s a true No. 1 threat. He’s a scoring threat, a red-zone threat and a third-down threat because of his frame. Sure, Arizona forced him the ball a little bit, but you would, too.

McMillan could use some polish. He isn’t surgical like Egbuka. However, he’s got a frame and athleticism you can’t teach, which allows him to beat defenders. I really thought he was a touchdown waiting to happen during his time at Arizona, playing with fantastic leverage. It’s like he’s boxing out in basketball with the way he plays sometimes.

I’d have Hunter at No. 1 even if he didn’t play defense, so this isn’t a complete holistic evaluation as a player. This is just an evaluation of him as a wide receiver.

There have been some people who’ve taken shots at Hunter’s receiver skills, which I don’t get. He’s innately incredible when the football is in the air. His ability to win, regardless of where his body is at, is remarkable. He can jump. He understands leverage. His cornerback ability really helps him, and he’s polished with his technique. His ball skills are just incredible. Hunter has the best traits that the other four wideouts have in his game. He’s just a remarkable player.

Potential steals: Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, Iowa State; Elic Ayomanor, Stanford

Joel Klatt is FOX Sports’ lead college football game analyst and the host of the podcast “The Joel Klatt Show.” Follow him at @joelklatt and subscribe to the “Joel Klatt Show” on YouTube.

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