- Ashton Jeanty blows the rest of the class out of the water: His 106 broken tackles in 2024 were 56 more than second place, and his 163 forced missed tackles beat out second by 43.
- Cam Skattebo, although a distant second, has a strong tackle-shedding profile: The Arizona State product is widely considered RB2 in the 2025 NFL Draft, in part because of his tackle-breaking ability.
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
Last week, we dove into the best NFL running backs at forcing broken tackles and missed tackles, a subtle distinction, but one that exists nonetheless. This time around, we’re focusing on the 2025 NFL Draft and looking at the running back prospects who were the toughest to bring down this past season.
As a reminder, multiple broken/missed tackles can be forced on one carry, and a broken tackle and a missed tackle can occur on the same run. This list will only feature running backs who appear on PFF’s big board.
Broken Tackles
| Rank | Player | Team | Broken 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 despite falling just short of winning the Heisman Trophy. He was the only running back to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards (1,029) on carries that featured a broken tackle in 2024, with the next closest being Cam Skattebo at 459.
Jeanty also scored 11 touchdowns on such carries, far ahead of Bhayshul Tuten‘s four in second place. Jeanty’s 33 first downs on carries with broken tackles almost lapped second-place Skattebo’s 19. The list goes on, but I think we get the point here. There’s a reason Jeanty is being talked about as a top-10 draft pick as a running back.
Speaking of Tuten, perhaps nobody in this class saved more busted plays than he did. On carries that featured a broken tackle, Tuten’s average yards before contact was by far the worst, as he averaged getting hit 1.1 yards behind the line of scrimmage on carries that featured a broken tackle. Despite that, he averaged 11.8 yards per carry on such runs, meaning he often turned potentially disastrous plays into huge gains.
While Jeanty averaged an extraordinary 20.2 yards per carry on runs that featured a broken tackle, that actually isn’t the best number on this list. That honor belongs to Miami’s Damien Martinez, who averaged 21.5 yards per carry when breaking a tackle, though his mark came on far fewer opportunities. But at 6-foot and 232 pounds, Martinez is the last guy you’d want to see coming at you in the open field.
Missed Tackles
| Rank | Player | Team | 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 talking about Cam Skattebo as the hardest back to bring down in this year’s class. Without Jeanty’s otherworldly numbers, Skattebo would lead this group in broken tackles forced, missed tackles forced, yards on such carries and first-down runs. While Jeanty ran for more than 1,500 yards on carries that featured a missed tackle, Skattebo was the only other back to sniff 1,000 yards on such carries, rushing for 949.
RJ Harvey is an interesting case here. He performed poorly on runs where he broke a tackle but was among the very best when forcing a missed tackle. Among draft-eligible running backs, Harvey’s 69.1 PFF rushing grade on carries featuring a broken tackle was the second worst. Yet, on carries featuring a missed tackle, Harvey essentially earned a perfect 99.9 PFF rushing grade, which put him in a lengthy tie for first place. His 834 rushing yards on carries where he forced a missed tackle trailed only Jeanty and Skattebo.
Dylan Sampson was another impressive back after creating missed tackles. Not only did he force the fourth-most missed tackles, but his nine touchdowns on such carries tied Jeanty for the most among running backs on PFF’s big board. Sampson also trailed only Jeanty and Skattebo with 49 rushing attempts that featured at least one missed tackle.
This news was originally published on this post .
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