Ashton Jeanty is the overwhelming favorite to be the first running back drafted. The Raiders are the favorites to draft the former Boise State star.
Via DraftKings, Jeanty is a -5000 favorite as the first tailback off the board. He’s a -130 favorite to go to the Raiders, who hold the sixth overall pick.
The Bears are next, at +250. The Cowboys are +800. The Jaguars are +1200. The Saints are +1300.
North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton is favored to be the second running back taken, at +1800. With Jeanty getting all of the buzz, it’s easy to overlook Hampton.
In his running back draft rankings, Simms has them closer together than most. And it’s not impossible to think that someone likes Hampton more than Jeanty — and that Hampton could potentially go before Jeanty.
Crazier things have happened. In 1999, with all the focus on Ricky Williams, Edgerrin James was picked before him. Two years ago, Jahmyr Gibbs was taken nearly as high as Bijan Robinson.
With 2024’s resurgence of running backs, plenty of teams might be looking at running backs differently in the draft. Especially the best of them.
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