- Ashton Jeanty blows the remainder of the category out of the water: His 106 damaged tackles in 2024 have been 56 greater than second place, and his 163 compelled missed tackles beat out second by 43.
- Cam Skattebo, though a distant second, has a powerful tackle-shedding profile: The Arizona State product is broadly thought-about RB2 within the 2025 NFL Draft, partially due to his tackle-breaking capability.
Final week, we dove into the very best NFL working backs at forcing damaged tackles and missed tackles, a refined distinction, however one which exists nonetheless. This time round, we’re specializing in the 2025 NFL Draft and looking out on the working again prospects who have been the hardest to convey down this previous season.
As a reminder, a number of damaged/missed tackles might be compelled on one carry, and a damaged deal with and a missed deal with can happen on the identical run. This listing will solely characteristic working backs who seem on PFF’s huge board.
Damaged Tackles
| Rank | Participant | Crew | Damaged Tackles |
| 1 | Ashton Jeanty | Boise State | 106 |
| 2 | Cam Skattebo | Arizona State | 50 |
| 3 | Omarion Hampton | North Carolina | 41 |
| 4 | Kyle Monangai | Rutgers | 35 |
| 5 | Kaleb Johnson | Iowa | 32 |
| T-6 | Bhayshul Tuten | Virginia Tech | 29 |
| T-6 | Jarquez Hunter | Auburn | 29 |
| 8 | Damien Martinez | Miami (FL) | 26 |
| 9 | Jordan James | Oregon | 22 |
| 10 | Quinshon Judkins | Ohio State | 20 |
Ashton Jeanty had a season for the ages regardless of falling simply in need of profitable the Heisman Trophy. He was the one working again to eclipse 1,000 dashing yards (1,029) on carries that featured a damaged deal with in 2024, with the following closest being Cam Skattebo at 459.
Jeanty additionally scored 11 touchdowns on such carries, far forward of Bhayshul Tuten‘s 4 in second place. Jeanty’s 33 first downs on carries with damaged tackles virtually lapped second-place Skattebo’s 19. The listing goes on, however I feel we get the purpose right here. There’s a motive Jeanty is being talked about as a top-10 draft decide as a working again.
Talking of Tuten, maybe no one on this class saved extra busted performs than he did. On carries that featured a damaged deal with, Tuten’s common yards earlier than contact was by far the worst, as he averaged getting hit 1.1 yards behind the road of scrimmage on carries that featured a damaged deal with. Regardless of that, he averaged 11.8 yards per keep on such runs, that means he usually turned doubtlessly disastrous performs into enormous positive factors.
Whereas Jeanty averaged a rare 20.2 yards per keep on runs that featured a damaged deal with, that really isn’t the very best quantity on this listing. That honor belongs to Miami’s Damien Martinez, who averaged 21.5 yards per carry when breaking a deal with, although his mark got here on far fewer alternatives. However at 6-foot and 232 kilos, Martinez is the final man you’d wish to see coming at you within the open discipline.
Missed Tackles
| Rank | Participant | Crew | Missed Tackles |
| 1 | Ashton Jeanty | Boise State | 163 |
| 2 | Cam Skattebo | Arizona State | 120 |
| 3 | RJ Harvey | UCF | 86 |
| 4 | Dylan Sampson | Tennessee | 82 |
| 5 | Brashard Smith | SMU | 71 |
| 6 | Bhayshul Tuten | Virginia Tech | 66 |
| T-7 | Kaleb Johnson | Iowa | 62 |
| T-7 | Kyle Monangai | Rutgers | 62 |
| T-9 | Omarion Hampton | North Carolina | 56 |
| T-9 | Jarquez Hunter | Auburn | 56 |
If it weren’t for Jeanty’s unbelievable season, we’d be speaking about Cam Skattebo as the toughest again to convey down on this 12 months’s class. With out Jeanty’s otherworldly numbers, Skattebo would lead this group in damaged tackles compelled, missed tackles compelled, yards on such carries and first-down runs. Whereas Jeanty ran for greater than 1,500 yards on carries that featured a missed deal with, Skattebo was the one different again to smell 1,000 yards on such carries, dashing for 949.
RJ Harvey is an fascinating case right here. He carried out poorly on runs the place he broke a deal with however was among the many absolute best when forcing a missed deal with. Amongst draft-eligible working backs, Harvey’s 69.1 PFF dashing grade on carries that includes a damaged deal with was the second worst. But, on carries that includes a missed deal with, Harvey primarily earned an ideal 99.9 PFF dashing grade, which put him in a prolonged tie for first place. His 834 dashing yards on carries the place he compelled a missed deal with trailed solely Jeanty and Skattebo.
Dylan Sampson was one other spectacular again after creating missed tackles. Not solely did he drive the fourth-most missed tackles, however his 9 touchdowns on such carries tied Jeanty for probably the most amongst working backs on PFF’s huge board. Sampson additionally trailed solely Jeanty and Skattebo with 49 dashing makes an attempt that featured no less than one missed deal with.
