2025 Greatest NFL Operating Backs: Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry Lead High 10 Rankings

Last season, the running back position saw a spike in production and importance as teams with top-end talent, such as the Philadelphia Eagles with Saquon Barkley and the Baltimore Ravens with Derrick Henry, made significant playoff runs. 

So, coming into the 2025 season, which ball-carriers will have the greatest impact on their team, and this NFL season? The FOX Sports NFL Staff is helping to project that as they ranked the 10 best running backs entering the 2025 season.

Ralph Vacchiano: Put the NFL’s best running back behind the NFL’s best offensive line and you get exactly what you’d expect: Saquon Barkley’s remarkable 2024 season, which included 2,005 yards in 16 games (a ridiculous 125.3 yards per game) and 13 touchdowns. That included 11 games in which he rushed for more than 100 yards and one in which he hit 255. And he added three more 100-yard games in the playoffs (including 205 in the divisional round against the Rams). It was ridiculous. And as long as Barkley is healthy, he’ll likely be just as dangerous. The one thing to worry about is he ran the ball 436 times in 20 games last season and touched the ball 482 times. That beats his career-high by more than 100 touches. He’s 28 years old now and that’s a lot of pounding for even his body to take.

2024 rank 3rd (+2)

Ben Arthur: It appears that the belief that Henry was starting to hit the inevitable decline in 2023 was just a product of the Titans’ offensive line. In his first year with the Ravens, he registered his second career 1,900-yard rushing season. The 31-year-old Henry will fall off eventually, of course. But with how well he takes care of his body and the quality of Baltimore’s offensive line, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him perform at a Pro Bowl level for at least two more years.

2024 rank: 2nd (no change)

Carmen Vitali: It doesn’t get more dynamic than Gibbs. He may be a running back but he’s the reason the Detroit Lions’ offense is so versatile. Gibbs can go in motion and catch the ball out of the backfield, he’s shifty in between tackles and lethal with his speed on the outside. There’s a case to be made that Gibbs is steadily making his way to being the top running back in the NFL.

2024 rank 7th (+4)

Arthur: Alongside the Lions’ Jahmyr Gibbs, Robinson is shaping to be the preeminent, do-it-all running back of the NFL’s new wave of stars — doubling as a high-volume ball carrier and pass catcher out of the backfield. In 2024, his second season, Robinson trailed only Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry in rushing yards. He ranked fourth in scrimmage yards. Barkley himself believes no other back can cut like Robinson, who happened to work out with Christian McCaffrey this past offseason. Already a star, Robinson could be a household name by the end of 2025.

2024 rank: 4th (no change)

Eric D. Williams: The engine of the offense, San Francisco struggled with McCaffrey hampered last season due to an Achilles and knee injury. Now healthy, a rejuvenated McCaffrey should rev up the 49ers offensively this season. The only way to go is up statistically for the Stanford product. McCaffrey finished with just 202 rushing yards sand 146 receiving yards in 2024 – all career lows for his eight years in the league. However, all we need to do is look back to 2023 for what is possible for McCaffrey, when he led the league in scrimmage yards (2023) and total touchdowns (21).

2024 rank: 1st (+4)

Vitali: With injuries to Jordan Love last season and a rotating cast of receivers in Green Bay, Jacobs was the constant for the Packers’ offense. He had the second-best season of his career with over 1,300 rushing yards and set a new career high in single season touchdowns for himself with 15. With three Pro Bowl nods and an All-Pro under his belt, Jacobs belongs in the conversation among the league’s best runners.

2024 rank: 9th (+3)

Arthur: Taylor hasn’t been able to recreate the “high” of his 2021 campaign, when he won the rushing triple crown. But he’s still on the short list of elite running backs in the NFL. The league received a reminder of that this past season, when he put up 1,431 rushing yards (fourth) and 11 rushing touchdowns (11th). Health-enabling, Taylor’s production could be right back near the top of the league considering the Colts’ uncertainty at quarterback.

2024 rank: 6th (-1)

Greg Auman: How good was Irving’s rookie season in Tampa? Out of 109 times in NFL history where a rookie has had 200+ carries, his average of 5.4 yards per carry is third-best ever, behind Adrian Peterson (2007) and Clinton Portis (2002). Across the league, over the last eight games of 2024, his average of 5.7 yards per carry was second-best behind Saquon Barkley in yards/carry. How much better can he be with a full season as a featured back? His emergence was a big part of the Bucs going from the worst run game in the NFL in 2023 to top five in yards and yards per carry.

2024 rank: unranked

Williams: Give the hard-working Williams his flowers. Williams totaled career highs in rushing yards (1,299) and rushing touchdowns (14) last season, finishing with over 1,000 yards for a second year in a row to become the first running back for the Rams to accomplish that feat since Todd Gurly (2017-18). That’s pretty good company, and one of the reasons the Rams chose to sign the Notre Dame product to a three-year, $33 million contract extension during training camp. His 843 snaps on offense last season were the most by any running back in the NFL. However, Williams also could be sharing the workload in the backfield this year. Now in his second season, Michigan product Blake Corum looks more comfortable in Sean McVay’s offense and has a nose for the end zone in goal line situations.

2024 rank: 8th (-1)

Henry McKenna: In the passing attack, the Bills say that “everyone eats.” In Buffalo’s rushing attack? It’s James Cook. For the last two seasons, Cook has eclipsed 1,000 yards and, in 2024, he put up 16 rushing touchdowns. He might not be the biggest or fastest running back, but he uses his vision and quick feet to get himself through the sizable holes from Buffalo’s offensive line. When he entered the NFL, he seemed like he might be a change-of-pace back. But he’s now an everydown player who is a part of his team’s identity.

2024 rank: unranked

Honorable mentions:

2025 NFL Positional Rankings

2025-26 NFL Offensive Player of the Year Odds

Saquon Barkley, Eagles: +650 (bet $10 to win $75 total)
Ja’Marr Chase, Bengals: +950 (bet $10 to win $105 total)
Jahmyr Gibbs, Lions: +950 (bet $10 to win $105 total)
Bijan Robinson, Falcons: +1600 (bet $10 to win $170 total)
Nico Collins, Texans: +1700 (bet $10 to win $180 total)
Justin Jefferson, Vikings: +1700 (bet $10 to win $180 total)
Derrick Henry, Ravens: +1800 (bet $10 to win $190 total)
Puka Nacua, Rams: +2000 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
CeeDee Lamb, Cowboys: +2000 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
Christian McCaffrey, 49ers: +2200 (bet $10 to win $230 total)
Amon-Ra St. Brown, Lions: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Tyreek Hill, Dolphins: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Malik Nabers, Giants: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Brian Thomas Jr., Jaguars: +3500 (bet $10 to win $360 total)
Lamar Jackson, Ravens: +4000 (bet $10 to win $410 total)

These rankings were compiled by:

Ben Arthur (@benyarthur)
Greg Auman (@gregauman)
Henry McKenna (@McKennAnalysis)
Eric D. Williams (@eric_d_williams)
Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano)
Carmen Vitali (@CarmieV)

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