Heading into the draft, Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty sits at the top of most people’s boards at running back, but with this year’s class being the deepest in years at the position, teams will have plenty of talented backs to choose from even after Jeanty is selected.
North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton, Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson, and Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson are also among the top prospects at running back, and each has the potential to be a needle-mover wherever they land.
On the latest episode of “The Athletic Football Show,” Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen were joined by draft expert Dane Brugler to break down why attention should turn to Hampton once Jeanty is off the board.
A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on YouTube below or in “The Athletic Football Show” feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Robert: I wanted to have a category that was just the consolation prize. One where, if you miss out on Jeanty, this is the next back you would want. I feel like a consensus has started to form here about who that back is. It’s typically been in a lot of people’s minds, Omarion Hampton from North Carolina. As people are talking about who might miss out on Jeanty, it feels like there’s a little bit of buzz around Hampton as high as 12 to the Cowboys when it comes to mock drafts. When you look at the second-best back in this class, is Hampton clearly that guy for you, Dane? Or do you think it’s at least a conversation with him and some of the other guys that are going to be available?
Dane: I think it’s a conversation — and I like Hampton a lot. He is my number two running back, but if I ran strictly outside zone, and that’s the type of running back I wanted, Kaleb Johnson from Iowa would absolutely be part of that conversation. Because that’s where he got his master’s degree, outside zone. He’s just so adept at it. But with Hampton, he can do gap or zone, and he’d be fine in whatever blocking scheme you’re running, but he also has a lot of the physical traits that you want. He’s got a thick square build, he’s got speed, run strength. He can really tilt the field with that forward lean, so he’s going to barrel through tacklers. His burst for a 220-pound athlete is also really impressive. He is another guy that has some of the running back-specific traits in terms of his ability to read blocks, set up defenders, and cut back. He’s really strong off his plant foot, so he has speed in and out of his cuts, and he can catch the ball in the backfield. Those pivot routes they ran at North Carolina over and over and over again show that. The best compliment you can pay Omarion Hampton is that last year, he ran for over 1,400 yards with Drake Maye as his quarterback. This year, where it was basically the Omarion Hampton show and nobody else, he still ran for over 1,400 yards. He was still productive, even though the passing game was not there. So all-purpose rushing yards, it didn’t matter what was going on around him with the quarterback or offensive line, he was able to produce. He’s not the most creative back, but he has that mix of bruising speed and vision.
Robert: He has a lot of explosiveness. If you look at the jumps, 91st and 98th percentile in both of those categories. He was sixth nationally in missed tackles forced last season among every back in FBS with that physical profile. Derrik, what does the gap look like for you with Hampton and everybody else? Because I know he’s your number two guy as well.
Derrik: I would say it’s a half tier. The next guy after that for me is also Kaleb Johnson, and like Dane said, if you know you are running a strictly outside zone type of offense, like what the Falcons were doing, I’d probably rather have Johnson. But in a more general sense, I would rather have Hampton because he just checks so many boxes. This is a lofty comp, but when I watch him, I see a lot of the same things that made Nick Chubb one of the best running backs in the league. His balance, his patience for a guy his size, and his burst when he gets into the open field. He’s a bigger, thicker guy, but he has a pretty impressive ability to get lower, coil himself, and really be flexible and get to different angles. He’s just a very impressive runner. My biggest issue watching his tape wasn’t even his fault. It was just that in almost all of their run concepts, he was hip-to-hip standing with the quarterback pre-snap and shuffling into the carry, instead of being able to just get downhill and go. I would love to see what it looks like when he gets more carries right out of his stance where he can just go. I almost think there’s still a bit of untapped potential with a player like him. He’s a fairly comfortable pass catcher. Even though he’s probably not as good as Jeanty in that aspect, it’s still something he can do. He’s also a damn good pass blocker. And when you’re drafting a player in the first round at the running back position, it has to be a guy you can put out there for 60 snaps, and you know he can give you value no matter what the down and distance is. Hampton absolutely does that.
Robert: How high would you draft Omarion Hampton, Dane?
Dane: Somewhere in the late first round. If I’m Denver, for example, and I’m looking at my team and who’s available, even though Hampton’s 29 on my board, for a team like Denver, that makes sense. He could help transform their offense. One thing I really appreciated about that North Carolina offense was that they demanded their running backs to pass protect like Derrik was saying. So I have a good idea what I’m getting with Omarion Hampton. Running the ball, catching the ball and then acting as a blocker. He can also play any down. You can nitpick him for sure, but I don’t think there’s one glaring weakness to his game that would stop me from drafting him somewhere in the back half of the first round.
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