NFL Player News

The Steelers selected Johnson in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, 83rd overall.

Johnson (6-foot-1, 224 pounds) is a bigger back who clearly fills the void left by Najee Harris, who signed with the Chargers in free agency. Johnson really broke out in 2024, his third season at Iowa, after showing some flickers of promise in his first two seasons. Johnson's box score was notable in 2024, producing 1,537 yards (6.4 YPC) and 21 touchdowns in 12 games, and now he'll compete for snaps against Jaylen Warren. Warren doesn't necessarily need the help -- Warren took workhorse workloads at Utah State and Oklahoma State in college -- but the Steelers will probably give Johnson every chance to at least work into a timeshare with Warren in 2025.

The Broncos selected Harvey in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, 60th overall.

The landing spot and draft capital are going to transform Harvey from a sleeper to a mainstream fantasy target. Denver was in need of a running back after it struggled in that facet last year and also lost Javonte Williams. Harvey had to battle plenty of competition for carries during his time at UCF but always won out. He took on 225 or more carries in each of his last two seasons and ran for 16 and 22 touchdowns in those years, respectively, while maintaining a yards-per-carry figure north of 6.0. At 5-foot-8 and 205 pounds, Harvey has a dense build similar to that of D'Andre Swift's coming out of college. His 4.4 speed at the combine and impressive broad jump (127 inches) verified him as a plus-athlete. Harvey has something of an incomplete grade as a pass catcher with just 61 catches over his last three seasons, but he did damage with his receptions at 11.8 YPR. He should immediately compete for a big role out of the Denver backfield and will be one of the more buzzy rookie running backs in fantasy draft season.

The Patriots selected Henderson in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, 38th overall.

Henderson is the fourth running back off the board and the second Ohio State back to be selected early in the second round after Quinshon Judkins went to Cleveland at 36th overall. A four-year player in Columbus, Henderson was an instant impact performer who rushed for 15 touchdowns as a true freshman. He battled through some injuries as a sophomore and junior and split work with Judkins during Ohio State's championship run in 2024. Henderson checks in at 5-foot-10 and 202 pounds with 4.43 speed that shows up on film with a number of long runs that earned him a label as a home-run hitter. His 75-yard touchdown catch against Texas in the College Football Playoff is a good snapshot of his ability to find space and turn on the jets. Paired with Rhamondre Stevenson, the Patriots now have a great 1-2 punch in the backfield.

The Browns selected Judkins in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, 36th overall.

Judkins (6-feet, 221 pounds) was a highly productive runner at both Ohio State (2024) and Mississippi (2022-2023), demonstrating uncommon explosiveness and three-down ability for a power running back. Judkins boosted his stock at the NFL Scouting Combine, where he demonstrated surprising speed with a 4.48-second 40-yard dash as well as a 38.5-inch vertical jump and 132-inch broad jump. Explosiveness like that paired with Judkins' power could give him uniquely high upside as an NFL runner in both volume and efficiency. Judkins probably won't be a league-leading receiver at running back, but he should have 40- or 50-catch upside in addition to league-leader potential as a rusher. Jerome Ford is highly qualified as a passing down back and is too good to send to the bench, but he's also in the final year of his rookie contract.

The Raiders waived Spiller on Friday.

Spiller, who the Chargers took in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, last saw regular-season action in 2023. With the Raiders having drafted RB Ashton Jeanty on Thursday, the team elected to part ways with Spiller, who will look to catch on elsewhere as a depth back.

Harris has new backfield competition after the Chargers drafted Omarion Hampton at No. 22 overall Thursday night.

At 6-foot, 221 pounds, Hampton is smaller than Harris but larger than most NFL lead backs, and with 4.46 combine speed to boot. It may not be long before he challenges Harris for the starting job, although the veteran almost certainly would retain a role in that scenario, if only for pass blocking and to help keep Hampton fresh. Harris signed a one-year, $5.25 million contract in March, with all of that money guaranteed and another $4 million available via incentives. Compared to other RBs, that can either be viewed as low-end-starter money or the top of the market for backups.

The Chargers selected Hampton in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, 22nd overall.

Even with the Najee Harris acquisition this offseason, Hampton was too good a value to pass up for the Chargers given the way the board fell. Hampton was the definition of a workhorse at North Carolina with at least 250 carries in each of his final two seasons. He maintained a 5.9 YPC average in 2023 and 2024 despite the degree of difficulty being ratcheted up in 2024 with Drake Maye no longer there to threaten defenses through the air. At 5-foot-11 and 221 pounds with 4.46 speed, Hampton has a great combination of density, low center of gravity, and power to his game. He isn't a standout pass-catcher, but he improved in that regard year over year in Chapel Hill. His talent and his fit within a Chargers offense that emphasizes running the ball should excite fantasy managers. However, Harris' presence in that backfield could lead to a frustrating workload split in 2025.

The Raiders selected Jeanty in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, sixth overall.

There was plenty of speculation earlier Thursday that Jeanty would be the fifth pick, but a shakeup at the top of the board changed the course of the draft and allowed the Raiders an opportunity to swoop in and immediately change their backfield. Jeanty put up video game-like numbers during his three seasons at Boise State with 4,769 yards and 50 rushing touchdowns to go with 80 catches for 862 yards and six touchdowns on 100 targets. He ran for a whopping 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns on 374 carries in his final season. To average 7.0 yards per carry when defenses spent the entire week gameplanning how to slow him down shows just how special of a running back Jeanty is. He didn't test at the NFL Combine, but the production and a look at the film suggest that he's an above-average athlete for an NFL running back. The fit couldn't be much better for Jeanty's workload projection, as the Raiders were dead-last in the NFL in rushing yards (1,357) and YPC (3.6) last season. Playing for a coach like Pete Carroll will also help solidify his usage. The Raiders' offensive line is a bit of a question mark, but even so, Jeanty's pre-draft status as the top fantasy rookie in redraft and in dynasty remains unchanged.

Chubb (foot) made a post on his personal Instagram account earlier this month suggesting that he has no plans to retire. "They've already wrote my ending when I'm just getting started," Chubb wrote in his post, which accompanied a video of him squatting over 500 pounds.

Chubb seems to have made some progress in his recovery from the season-ending foot fracture he suffered in mid-December. He didn't need surgery but still doesn't seem to have generated much interest in free agency this spring, with teams likely concerned he'll never come close to his prior explosiveness after suffering a multi-ligament injury in September 2023 to the same left knee he damaged in college. The 29-year-old running back isn't likely to get much guaranteed money but should at least find an opportunity to compete for carries at some point before training camp. The obvious fit right now is a return to Cleveland, where Jerome Ford sits atop the depth chart ahead of this week's draft.

McCaffrey is participating in the offseason program without any restrictions, ESPN.com's Nick Wagoner reports.

Coach Kyle Shanahan declared McCaffrey healthy in early April, which wasn't surprising after the running back told reporters in early January that he was already almost back to full strength. The 49ers then traded Jordan Mason to the Vikings and allowed Elijah Mitchell to sign with the Chiefs, leaving 2024 fourth-round pick Isaac Guerendo as McCaffrey's likely backup for 2025. McCaffrey missed the first eight games of last season with Achilles tendinitis in both legs, later missing the final five games because of a PCL sprain in his right knee. It was his third time in the past five years missing double-digit games, but he played either 16 or 17 regular-season games in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023. McCaffrey is under contract through 2027 after signing an extension last summer, albeit with no guaranteed money beyond 2025.