4. Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles
The 2024 Offensive Player of the Year had a dropoff in production last season, but that doesn't change the fact that he's one player you have to circle as a defense every time you're on the field.
Barkley may not have been able to repeat his 2024 success -- which would have been impossible to begin with -- but he still had a really solid year last year with over 1,400 yards from scrimmage. But the Eagles (and everyone else) expect a lot more out of Barkley.
This is a player capable of racking up over 2,000 yards from scrimmage when he's on top of his game, and that's what we've all come to anticipate from him. They are lofty expectations, but Barkley has played himself into that tier.
3. Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions
It almost just doesn't feel right to have a player like Jahmyr Gibbs this "low" on a list of running backs. To say he's the 3rd-best running back in the NFC feels like an insult. But I want to make it clear that my thoughts on Gibbs are anything but insulting.
He's one of the biggest game-changers in the entire league. This year, he's going to be handling the full-time workload of the Lions' backfield without David Montgomery. We'll see what happens, but I'm not anticipating Isiah Pacheco getting the same type of workload Montgomery used to get, so Gibbs should be getting ready to be absolutely unleashed.
He is a threat to score from any part of the field, and no matter how hard defenses try, they can't really stop him. You can only hope to contain him.
2. Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons
If you were able to construct the ideal running back in a "football lab", he would look like Bijan Robinson.
Robinson is everything you look for at the position with his combination of size, speed, vision, natural feel for the game, playmaking ability, soft hands; You name it, he can do it. Among running backs with at least 230 carries last season, Bijan Robinson was one of just five players to average more than 5 yards per carry (5.1).
He finished last season with nearly 2,300 yards from scrimmage, meaning he accounts for 135.1 yards per game. That's why you get named an All-Pro when the running back position is in a renaissance of sorts. Robinson stands out among the crowd in a big way.
1. Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers
The term "generational" gets thrown around way too loosely these days, but Christian McCaffrey is truly one-of-one at the running back position. He feels like a rare player who could very easily be a star player at both the running back position and the wide receiver position if he were to do either full-time.
And McCaffrey no longer returns kicks and punts, but he would probably be one of the best in the league if the 49ers asked him to do that as well.
He already has five seasons in his NFL career with at least 1,800 yards from scrimmage, and it speaks volumes to his ability that his 2,126 yards from scrimmage last season -- along with 17 total touchdowns -- are the second-best figures of his career so far.
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