The Cleveland Browns are deep into OTAs, and the coaching staff has gotten a taste of how a significant portion of their roster looks in terms of athleticism and playbook digestion.
Today, we’re going to predict how many running backs the Browns are going to carry in 2025, a season where they could potentially be trying to get back to their past identity of focusing more on the ground game in neutral game scripts.
Let’s take a look at how many running backs the team carried in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 seasons, when they had one of the best run games in the NFL.
2020 - 4
2021 - 4
2022 - 4
Cleveland modified that in 2023 and 2024, only keeping 3, so it depends on their game plan heading into 2025.
Yes, the thought of getting back to a more run-heavy approach is technically just a rumor, but two specific moves this offseason have supported the actuality of the idea.
Mike Bloomgren, who was known as one of college football’s “ground game gurus” and a famous 21 personnel-user at Stanford between 2011-2017, was hired to be the new offensive line coach this offseason.
The team signed a true, experienced fullback for the first time since the 2020 season in Troy Hairston in January.
Both of these moves suggest that Kevin Stefanski might want to heavily rely on two of his 2025 NFL Draft picks, Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson, this season.
Cleveland carried three running backs plus a fullback from 2020-2022, so the aforementioned roster numbers (4) weren’t just “pure” running backs.
Judkins, Sampson, and Jerome Ford seem like the most logical options at RB, with Pierre Strong making a case to be in contention. From a financial standpoint, though, Ford just took a pay cut to stay with the team and releasing Strong would free up $1.1M in cap space.
Based on all of the reasons above, it’s more than fair to say that they’ll be keen to keep four players in the backfield in 2025.
Quinshon Judkins
Dylan Sampson
Jerome Ford
Troy Hairston (fullback)
Do you agree with this philosophy? Join fellow Browns fans in the comment section below.