Given the way NFL running backs flourished in 2024, especially when it came to veterans performing for new teams this past season, there’s really no shame in being left out of any positive Top 10 ranking.
Via Jeremy Fowler, ESPN recently did a survey of the league’s best performers for 2025 at a total of 11 different positions. NFL executives, coaches and scouts were involved in the process. When it came to the Top 2 spots at running back, the answers were obvious. Philadelphia’s Saquon Barkley and Baltimore’s Derrick Henry were 1-2, respectively. The Super Bowl LIX champion, 2024 NFL Offensive Player of the Year and ex-New York Giant led the NFL with 2,005 on the ground. The 2015 Heisman Trophy winner and former Tennessee Titans’ workhorse wasn’t far behind with 1,921 rushing yards.
There was a total of 16 running backs to run for at least 1,000 yards this past season. One of those performances came from Carolina Panthers’ workhorse Chuba Hubbard, who enjoyed a career campaign in his fourth NFL season. He totaled 250 carries for 1,195 yards and 10 touchdowns—this despite missing the final two games of 2024. That yardage total ranked eighth in the league this past season.
When it came to ESPN’s Top 10 ranking, Hubbard did receive at least one vote. On the other hand, Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson and New Orleans’ Alvin Kamara finished fourth and 10th, respectively, in the survey. Tampa Bay’s Bucky Irving, a fourth-round pick by the Buccaneers in 2024, received honorable mention status.
Does that make Hubbard the fourth-best running back in the NFC South? A closer look at the numbers shows that Robinson (1,887), Irving (1,514), and Kamara (1,493) all finished with more total yards from scrimmage than the Panthers’ performer (1,366) this past season.
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