The Denver Broncos will enter the 2025 NFL Draft looking for a new running back. The team has all but confirmed that it will draft a running back with one of its seven picks, but when will that pick come?
Mock drafters have the Broncos taking North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton with the No. 20 overall pick in the draft in nearly every mock that has been produced lately. But will the team really use its first-round pick on a running back when this class is extraordinarily deep at the position?
Broncos insider Jeff Legwold of ESPN recently listed five running backs that the team seems to be paying extra attention to, and it’s unlikely that any of them would be taken in the first round.
Denver Broncos potential running back targets in 2025 draft
Dylan Sampson, Tennessee
College stats: 2,492 yards rushing, 35 TDs
Top physical traits: Burst through the hole, short-area quickness
Trevor Etienne, Georgia
College stats: 2,081 yards rushing, 23 TDs
Top physical traits: Elite vision, hands as a receiver
Cam Skattebo, Arizona State
College stats: 2,494 yards rushing, 30 TDs
Top physical traits: Physical runner with non-stop motor
TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State
College stats: 3,761 yards rushing, 42 TDs
Top physical traits: Patience and sudden explosiveness
LeQuint Allen, Syracuse
College stats: 2,359 yards rushing, 26 TDs
Top physical traits: Ball security, outstanding skills as a receiver
If this is the list of players that Sean Payton is interested in, it’s a versatile list that gives the several options. They could even be interested in taking more than one of these guys.
But it could also be the kind of pre-draft smokescreen Payton is looking for because the guy he really wants is Hampton. Remember last year when Peyton Manning talked about how interested the Broncos were in Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy? That was an obvious smokescreen for a team that was desperate to be able to get Bo Nix.
This will become the biggest question for the Broncos in the 2025 draft. How early do they select a running back?
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