League-Winning Rookie Running Backs: Bhayshul Tuten, RJ Harvey, and Brashard Smith

April 21, 2025

John breaks down three rookie running backs from the 2025 NFL Draft, Bhayshul Tuten, RJ Harvey, and Brashard Smith, and how they could be league-winners in fantasy football.

There's little question by now that this year's crop of rookie running backs is one of the best we've seen in many years. There are at least a dozen that have the skill sets to carve out major roles in whichever backfields they join within just a year or two.

But there are three in particular -- Bhayshul Tuten (Virginia Tech), RJ Harvey (UCF), and Brashard Smith (SMU) that have such talent in different areas of their games that, on the right team and in the right situations, they could win fantasy football leagues in 2025.

The term league-winner is thrown around pretty generously these days, but I use it with the utmost seriousness. Obviously, their landing spots will be vitally important, and the amount of volume they get will determine their production pretty heavily. But the potential is there. So let's break down each of these running backs and determine what makes them special enough to finish as top-10 players at their positions in 2025.

Bhayshul Tuten, Virginia Tech

Tuten's 4.32-second 40-yard dash showed the world what an absurd athlete he was. Yet he still is being undervalued in all formats, and he has the skills to become one of the league's better running backs. In particular, he'll enter the NFL as a top-5 athlete at his position from his first day on his new team.

Bhayshul Tuten outran two of the league's best RBs 👀

📺: #NFLCombine on @NFLNetwork
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/hiFn19Q6Xn

— NFL (@NFL) March 1, 2025

Tuten is faster than Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs. That's pretty shocking. While his game is rougher around the edges, and he's unlikely to immediately turn into a Gibbs clone in the league, he has remarkable upside. He isn't just an elite straight-line athlete, either. He's ridiculously elusive. The third-most elusive running back on a Power-4 conference team in college football, specifically.

Ashton Jeanty, Cam Skattebo, Bhayshul Tuten and RJ Harvey first team all analytics pic.twitter.com/zSXCpdA930

— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) March 18, 2025

It's not that complicated. A player with his elite athletic profile that can make defenders miss in a variety of ways will quickly find his way into the backfield of whichever team he joins.

He's valued incredibly low in redraft leagues, especially. His long-term upside might not be as elite as someone like Ashton Jeanty, since he won't get quite as good draft capital, but the potential for a rookie-year explosion feels high.

Bhayshul Tuten is a former high school sprinter with every down value. The compact and shifty @HokiesFB workhorse has great body control before and during contact to string together moves in congestion and earn himself yards at the end of tough runs pic.twitter.com/nMsWy0Y81M

— Shane Coughlin (@Shane__Coughlin) July 26, 2024

If Gibbs didn't teach fantasy managers to draft running backs that are elite enough athletes to return kickoffs for 98-99 yard touchdowns in college, I don't know what will.

Nothing to see here, just Bhayshul Tuten and Jahmyr Gibbs having the vision and explosiveness to return kickoffs 98-99 yards for touchdowns in college. The list of running backs who are 200+ pounds and can do this is very small pic.twitter.com/75huBVrG6T

— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) March 28, 2025

The rumors that Tuten's vision is bad are completely false. His game isn't perfect, but it doesn't need to be, and if he improves on his weaknesses, he'll be even better. Draft him in all leagues that you can.

Bhayshul Tuten is quickly becoming one of my favorite RBs in the class.

His vision is pro-ready and his elusiveness, explosiveness, and overall speed is phenomenal. Runs like these get me HYPED up. pic.twitter.com/mCcXwb7kQR

— Andy (@AndyyNFL) March 21, 2025

There's a lot of garbage analysis out there every draft season about players. Last season, it was the Brian Thomas Jr. hate. He was too sloppy of a route-runner and way too raw to be an elite WR1 in Year 1, according to some people. The sooner people accept that consensus will continue to get some players completely wrong every year, the sooner they'll choose better players in their leagues and win more.

RJ Harvey, UCF

Harvey is a player you can get for incredibly cheap in all formats next season. Dynasty, redraft, superflex, whatever. Because the logo on his helmet is that of UCF instead of something like Alabama, his absolutely elite production is essentially going unnoticed, which makes no sense.

In 2023, he rushed 226 times for 1,416 yards and 16 touchdowns, averaging 6.3 yards per carry. That's elite production. Then, in his senior season, he improbably improved on that by running 232 times for 1,577 yards and 22 touchdowns, averaging 6.8 yards per carry, and putting together an obscene highlight reel.

Running Back prospects explosive carries vs stacked and non-stacked boxes pic.twitter.com/EbSiZfqWFk

— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) April 5, 2025

I'm absolutely floored by the fact that he's ranked below Quinshon Judkins, Kaleb Johnson (who is a bust you shouldn't draft), Devin Neal, and Jordan James. DJ Giddens is ranked above him, and while Giddens is a good sleeper, he doesn't have the upside of Harvey. The UCF product is an explosive play machine with elite athleticism and elusiveness. He's also a wizard behind the line of scrimmage.

Every RJ Harvey breakaway run (15+yards) from 2024 (2nd NCAA behind Ashton Jeanty) #NFLDraft2025 pic.twitter.com/JIVBmlww7K

— Ray G (@RayGQue) March 21, 2025

He punches near Jeanty in terms of explosive play rate and missed tackles forced, along with Tuten, who was mentioned above. The fact that Harvey is one of the best backs in the class when he's forced to take on defenders in tight spaces and when the blocks don't align perfectly for him is massively important.

there is so much to love about UCF RB RJ Harvey's game

~ Phone booth creation vs unblocked DL/LB
~ Tempo behind pulling OL to maximize blocking
~ Juice and finish when given the second level pic.twitter.com/PdAAWKYo2U

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) March 14, 2025

I'm just at a loss to explain how Harvey is ranked this low. He showed off his elite production on a team that had very poor run-blocking, so what he did was even more impressive. Averaging nearly seven yards per carry on a bad team and carrying the offense on his back should earn him more credit than he's currently getting.

Look at RJ Harvey go!

The UCF RB runs a 4.41u 👀

📺: #NFLCombine on @NFLNetwork
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/9QuoPCeDoG

— NFL (@NFL) March 1, 2025

I don't think he'll rise much higher in the rankings. I don't even care where he lands; I'm drafting him in all my leagues simply because he's so cheap. Athletes who are that explosive and have as many positive traits as his position get work in the NFL quickly, because coaches are desperate to win as many games as possible.

I haven't even mentioned his receiving upside yet, but it's impressive. Getting him in space with the ball will be a goal of the offensive coordinator of the team he lands on, and it's a great idea. The one weakness in his game is his pass protection, but that can be improved, and it's the OC's job to figure out how to scheme around it.

Brashard Smith, SMU

The two traits that Smith possesses are elite pass-catching prowess for a running back and massive talent with the ball in his hands in space. Smith is the closest running back to Miami Dolphins RB De'Von Achane in the 2025 NFL Draft, and I don't make that comparison lightly. Smith has the best receiving upside of any running back in this class, and it's not remotely close.

Brashard Smith put up elite per-route data in his first season as a route-runner from the backfield:

27% target per route run rate
9.5% first down per route run rate
1.73 yards per route run

For reference, here are the rates Jahmyr Gibbs put up in his final season at Alabama:… https://t.co/0zZWknENkB

— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) April 10, 2025

Smith is a converted wide receiver, and while he doesn't have the size of typical workhorse running backs in the league, neither does Achane. His pass-protection is also better than you'd expect from a back of his size, so earning snaps won't be an issue. That's just where the fun begins.

He's excellent as a pure runner. He'll need a team that at least has competent blocking, as all RBs do, but he's able to exploit creases with his burner speed. He ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, so he's an elite athlete.

Brashard Smith is an undersized RB that can legitimately run routes from the pattern and win. Huge PPR upside. Not leaving fantasy drafts without him in any of my leagues. Explosive athlete too. pic.twitter.com/7GPfAWIBlE

— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) March 22, 2025

Smith made some absurd catches that were good enough to have shown up on a wide receiver's highlight reel. Yet because this year's RB class is so deep, he's not getting the recognition he deserves. He has incredible receiving upside. He's absolutely lethal running routes out of the backfield, and will be a nightmare matchup for linebackers trying to cover him.

He can win from the slot or out wide, too, which is insane to say about a running back. Smith's value in PPR leagues is insane. I wouldn't be surprised if he puts up a few massive, 25+ point games in PPR fantasy football formats next season, and becomes the waiver wire steal of the year in leagues where he's not drafted.

How explosive Brashard Smith is off balance with his first-step plant foot in a non-ideal position is huge here. It allows him to quickly change his angle of attack. Freezes the DB at the top left. Smith has enough juice to take this outside for a big gain. pic.twitter.com/KREQO8BHr2

— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) March 22, 2025

If you don't draft him in the later rounds, you are making a massive mistake. You should pick him up in 100 percent of your redraft leagues.

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