Cleveland Browns Backfield Debate: Quinshon Judkins, Jerome Ford, or Dylan Sampson?
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With the carousel of quarterbacks on the Cleveland Browns' roster often being the hot topic around the franchise, the questions around their running back room often get overlooked. With the departure of their lead back for the last several years, Nick Chubb, there is no clear pick on who will fill Chubb’s role out of rookie backs Dylan Sampson and Quinshon Judkins, and fourth-year player Jerome Ford. Here is a breakdown of the likely fantasy impact each of the three players will have in 2025.
Jerome Ford
Jerome Ford will likely get the nod for the bulk of the carries in Cleveland to start the season. On the current depth chart, he is listed as the running back one. With Chubb suffering major injuries throughout the last few seasons, Ford has had experience in this role. In 2023, he had some solid performances, recording 100 yards or more rushing in two games. Last year, Ford, despite having the most rushing yards on the team, did not see great volume. He had 565 yards over 14 games, and his highest carry total throughout that was in week one against the Dallas Cowboys, where he got 12 carries. Ford’s overall fantasy value is ticking down. With Cleveland devoting draft capital in the 2025 draft (a second and fourth-round pick) to bring in two RBs, the upside in taking him in fantasy that was there last year is no longer there.
Quinshon Judkins
The story of the offseason has not been whether or not the Ohio State rookie Quinshon Judkins is a good player; the question is whether or not he will play. On July 12, he was arrested with a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence and battery. On August 14, those charges were dropped, but whether he still receives a suspension is up in the air, with the NFL still conducting its own investigation. Judkins has also not signed his contract yet, but there have been some rumblings that he will do so within the next week.
If Judkins does not get a suspension and gets his contract signed, he has the most fantasy potential out of the Browns’ running backs in 2025. In his time playing college football, he was one of the more explosive and twitchy running backs. In his two seasons at Ole Miss, he recorded 2,725 rushing yards over 26 games. At Ohio State, he had 1,060 yards over 16 games, sharing carries with the New England Patriots' rookie RB, TreVeyon Henderson. Judkins, although it is slight, has shown the more receiving upside over Ford and Sampson. If he can develop his pass-catching a little bit more, he has all the makings of a three-down back.
Dylan Sampson
Rookie out of Tennessee, Dylan Sampson, showed what he could do as a workhorse back in his latest year with the Vols. He had 1,491 yards rushing over 13 games. In those contests, he averaged 19.8 carries a game. And although his last season in college was impressive, it does not appear that the Browns plan to use him as a featured back, at least initially. With him being listed as the third running back on the depth chart, they will probably use him as more of a change-of-pace back to give their opponent's defense different looks throughout the course of a game. Until proven otherwise, the fantasy potential for Sampson in the 2025 season should be seen as unviable, given there are no injuries.
In 2026, things may be different, but for now, out of the three Cleveland RBs, Judkins has the most value in fantasy for this season.
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Gray Deyo is a Nashville-based sportswriter who graduated with a sports management bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He has covered prep sports, college sports, the WNBA, and the NBA for the past four years. In addition to writing for SI, Gray also currently contributes to Prep Girls Hoops