Mel Kiper Jr.: Many NFL Insiders Have Omarion Hampton 'Not Far Behind' Ashton Jeanty

Boise State's Ashton Jeanty is expected to be the first running back off the board in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft after his dominant 2024 season, but his status as the RB1 in the draft may not be as clear cut as most seem to believe.

According to ESPN NFL draft expert Mel Kiper Jr., "many people around the NFL don't see [Omarion] Hampton too far behind Jeanty in the running back rankings."

In his latest mock draft, Kiper had Jeanty going sixth overall to the Las Vegas Raiders, which was somewhat surprising given that Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders was still on the board in the mock.

Perhaps even more shocking, though, was Kiper mocking Hampton to the Dallas Cowboys at No. 12 overall.

Kiper noted that he has Jeanty as the No. 5 overall player in the draft and Hampton at No. 19, though, which suggests it wouldn't be a huge reach for a team to take Hampton in the middle of the first round.

Hampton played three seasons at North Carolina and put up superstar-caliber numbers in both 2023 and 2024.

In 2023, Hampton racked up 1,504 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground, while also catching 29 passes for 222 yards and one score. He followed that up last season with 1,660 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns, plus, 38 receptions for 373 yards and two scores.

As for Jeanty, he almost single handedly led Boise State to the College Football Playoff last season and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting by virtue of rushing for 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns in one of the greatest seasons ever by a collegiate running back.

Jeanty had only 23 receptions for 138 yards, though, which could be a sign that Hampton is a more complete back, but Jeanty isn't far removed from recording 43 catches for 569 yards in 2023.

The BR NFL Scouting Department is in agreement with Kiper's take regarding the razor-thin margin between Jeanty and Hampton, as Jeanty was at No. 9 and Hampton was at No. 10 on the latest BR NFL Scouting Department big board released earlier this month.

Running back value is often tough to nail down in the draft, as no running backs were taken in the first round of two of the past three drafts, while both Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs were top-12 picks in 2023.

Given that Saquon Barkley rushed for 2,000 yards and was the main offensive catalyst for the Philadelphia Eagles last season en route to winning the Super Bowl, perhaps teams are willing to place more emphasis on a star running back.

If that is the case, both Jeanty and Hampton have built strong cases to be early picks in the 2025 NFL draft.