The Pittsburgh Steelers have a need to fill at running back, and the 2025 draft class has plenty of quality players at the position. Pittsburgh prides itself as an offense that takes care of the football, with avoiding fumbles as a rusher obviously part of that equation.
Today, I wanted to provide and examine 2024 fumble rates for draft RBs who were at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, including rush attempts for quantity context:
For starters, we see that one player stood out from the pack negatively: Texas RB Jaydon Blue. While he is a big-play threat who would be refreshing to see pan out in Pittsburgh, the Steelers’ priority in taking care of the football doesn’t ideally align with him on paper. A whopping five fumbles was most of all 31 qualifiers, on just 135 carries (26th).
If the Steelers choose matching speed, two other players with sub 4.4 40-yard dash times were SMU’s Brashard Smith and Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo. They didn’t top the fumble rates, instead landing closer to the mean on above-average attempts last season. All three project as Day 2/3 prospects, where most expect Pittsburgh to address the position.
Three players land on the top right with no fumbles in 2024. Kyle Monangai of Rutgers had the most carries of them (256, sixth), followed by Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson (240, seventh) and Oregon’s Jordan James (233, eighth). As anticipated, the Steelers have shown interest in all three. Though he has less athleticism, Johnson fits the mold of past Steelers lead backs best.
This would likely require the highest draft investment, but Pittsburgh lacks a second-round pick (currently) where several expect him to go. Speaking of early projections, a few stand out. North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton had only one fumble on the fourth-most attempts (281), ranking eighth in fumble rate, impressively.
The Steelers have also eyed Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson of Ohio State. Both land on the top left of the visual, with plus fumble rates on lesser opportunities in their committee backfield. Important context and matches the role they’d play in the Steel City. I’d vote Hampton or Judkins, both of whom are big backs with respectable speed.
Texas Tech’s Tahj Brooks also had an above-the-mean fumble rate, but on much more volume (third-most carries). Interestingly, Pittsburgh hasn’t shown much interest to date, but I like him as a later-round option.
Four players complete the above-average results: Syracuse’s Lequint Allen Jr., Kansas’ Devin Neal, Clemson’s Phil Mafah, and UCF’s RJ Harvey. Mafah has the Steelers’ attention most and also maxed the scales at the position at 234 pounds. However, speed and lack of athletic testing are a concern for the Day 3 prospect.
Here’s the complete list of players with positive fumble rates but below-average carries: Henderson, Judkins, Michigan’s Kalel Mullings, USC’s Woody Marks, Miami’s Damien Martinez, Delaware’s Marcus Yarns, and Ole Miss’ Ulysses Bentley IV. The linked players are largely late-round projections, with Martinez arguably a worthy Day 2 pick.
Players on the bottom right of the visual (high volume, below-average fumble rates) didn’t stray too far from the mean, encouragingly. Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty is this year’s top RB prospect, and he led the group with a whopping 375 attempts (second place was 294). Four fumbles, though, landed him just below the mean among his peers.
Here’s the rest of that list: Skattebo, Smith, Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson, and Cincinnati’s Corey Kiner. The latter was barely above the average number of attempts (204), seemingly an undrafted possibility. Skattebo and Sampson project higher than Smith (Day 3).
In regard to this article, here is the list of players you’d want to avoid (low attempts, high fumble rate):
Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II
Auburn’s Jarquez Hunter
South Carolina’s Rocket Sanders
Virginia Tech’s Bhayshul Tuten
Arkansas’ Ja’Quinden Jackson
Georgia’s Trevor Etienne
Michigan’s Donovan Edwards
Texas’ Jaydon Blue
Gordon, Tuten, and Blue have garnered the most Steelers interest of this tier. They each have nice traits, but fumble rate from their 2024 season isn’t one of them, and I would avoid them with stacked depth in this RB class.
For context, former Steelers RB Najee Harris had 252 attempts and two fumbles his final college season. That would’ve landed him at seventh in carries and 16th in fumble rate in this study. Jaylen Warren remains in Pittsburgh and had a very comparable 256 attempts with two fumbles. This may suggest that running backs with average fumble rates (or better) may be who Pittsburgh targets.
To close, I will list those players once again in order of various projections: Omarion Hampton, Quinshon Judkins, TreVeyon Henderson, Kaleb Johnson, Devin Neal, RJ Harvey, Damien Martinez, Kalel Mullings, Kyle Monangai, Tahj Brooks, Marcus Yarns, LeQuint Allen Jr., Jordan James, Woody Marks, Phil Mafah, and Ulysses Bentley IV.
While fumbles are just one piece of the puzzle, it’s an important one to how Pittsburgh plays. I personally hope the Steelers select one from this list and can’t wait to see how it pans out later this month.
