Rookies to Know: TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins

Diving into the NFL Draft isn’t just for the Dynasty fantasy football crowd anymore.  Numerous rookies make an impact in regular redraft fantasy football leagues every season.  Just look at Malik Nabers, Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey, and Jayden Daniels in 2024, to name a few.  Leading up to the NFL Draft, we’ll look at two or three of the top prospects at their position in each Rookies to Know post.  We’ll ensure you know which rookies to keep an eye on when your fantasy football drafts roll around.

The second edition of the Rookies to Know series puts the spotlight once again on the Running Back position.  Ohio State has two ball carriers who should both be taken by day two of the draft.  Each brings unique qualities to the table, showing how they can impact your fantasy football team in 2025.

 

TreVeyon Henderson

 

Hometown: Hopewell, VA
5’10″, 202 pounds

Combine numbers:

40-yard dash: 4.43 seconds
10-yard split: 1.52 seconds
Vertical Jump: 38.5”

We’ll start with the back who feels like he’s been a Buckeye for a decade.  Henderson played all four of his college seasons in Columbus, something you rarely see these days.  As a frequent attendee of Rutgers football games, I remember him carving up my Scarlet Knights without issue, and he soon may be doing the same on Sundays.

Strengths:

Explosiveness and big-play ability highlight Henderson’s top qualities.  “Plodder” is no way to describe the 22-year-old, evidenced by a 94-yard touchdown against Oregon in the regular season and another 75-yard scamper to the house against Texas in the Cotton Bowl.  He has plus acceleration and bursts through running holes, is a patient runner, and has excellent stop-start ability.  Check out his 75-yard touchdown reception against Texas in the college football playoff and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

The Virginia native is more than just a check-down option in the passing game.  In this short breakdown of Henderson’s game by Connor Rodgers of NBC Sports, Henderson looks like a seasoned receiver, beating the DB on a double move.  Involvement in the passing game is huge for fantasy football as it gives him more opportunities to touch the ball.  He’s also one of the best pass-protecting running backs in this class, giving him true three-down ability and limiting his need to come off the field.

Weaknesses:

Durability concerns top the list of cons for Henderson, as he dealt with injuries in 2022 and 2023.  That brings up questions of whether he can be a true feature back and handle a major workload.  Only a handful of running backs are considered main feature backs these days anyway, but Henderson may find himself as the ball carrier with the higher snap share in a committee versus a true workhorse like Ashton Jeanty projects.  Of course, his landing spot will play a major role in where he gets drafted in re-draft and best ball leagues, but the questions surrounding durability and workload are one of the main reasons he’s not discussed in the same light as Jeanty, who could end up being a first-round pick in redraft/best ball leagues.

 

Quinshon Judkins

 

Hometown: Pike Road, Alabama
6’0″, 221 pounds

NFL Combine numbers:

40-yard dash: 4.48 seconds
10-yard shuttle: 1.51 seconds
Vertical Jump: 38.5”

Judkins played his first two college seasons at Ole Miss before transferring to Ohio State in 2024 and becoming a national champion.  The 21-year-old was instantly productive from the moment he stepped on the field at Ole Miss–more on that later.  He profiles a bit more as a workhorse back than his Ohio State counterpart in TreVeyon Henderson.  Let’s dive into what he does well, some things he can work on, and see how he can be a nice asset for fantasy football in 2025.

Strengths:

The former Ole Miss Rebel is a big-bodied back who punishes defenders and has superb stiff-arm technique.  He maintains great balance and has good acceleration in short areas.  The Alabama native seems to have a knack for the endzone, as the Buckeyes frequently relied on him inside the 10-yard line, leading to 14 touchdowns on the ground in 2024.  He had even more trips to paydirt in each of his first two college seasons with Ole Miss, registering 16 in 2022 and 15 in 2023.  Regardless of what NFL team he lands with, it seems like Judkins should get plenty of work around the goal line when his offense finds themselves with close scoring opportunities.  While we don’t want to bank on just touchdown production when drafting him in fantasy football, knowing that he’s consistently found his way to the endzone in each of his three college seasons at two different programs is important.

One of the most impressive aspects of Judkins is his elite production as a true freshman at Ole Miss.  Rushing for 1,567 yards was only second to Herschel Walker’s 1980 season for the most rushing yards by a freshman in SEC history and led him to the 2022 SEC Freshman of the Year Award.  Dominating SEC defenses one year out of high school is an excellent sign for his fantasy outlook as he’s not a player who only broke out as a fifth-year senior, for example.   It would be no surprise if Judkins adjusted quickly to the speed of NFL defenses and was productive as a rookie.

Weaknesses:

Unlike TreVeyon Henderson, Judkins’ pass protection is one of his weaker points.  He wouldn’t be the first rookie running back to struggle with pass protection, but that’ll have to be something he has to improve on to keep him on the field on third downs.  He was also never utilized prolifically as a receiver throughout his college career, another indication that he could struggle to stay on the field for third down.  Judkins isn’t quite the polished or fluid pass catcher (as this film breakdown suggests) that Ashton Jeanty is, who’s the cream of this running back class, but it doesn’t mean he can’t improve on that as an NFL player.

While he does exhibit good acceleration, Judkins’ efficiency wasn’t something to write home about.  He only averaged four yards per carry in five of his nine Big Ten games in 2024.  His 40 time was solid at the combine with a 4.48, but his scouting report suggests he lacks top-end speed to break away from defenders downfield.

 

Team Fits

 

It can be a little harder to find team fits for running backs since NFL front offices don’t think like fantasy managers.  The Saints, for example, may not care that they have Alvin Kamara if they view Henderson or Judkins as players who can add talent and youth to their backfield, spell an older Kamara, and take over as their feature back in the years to come.  But that might not help us too much in re-draft/best ball leagues in 2025, so let’s find some team fits for Henderson and Judkins where they’re more likely to make an impact this upcoming season.

The back end of the first round is probably the ceiling for where Henderson gets taken, and there’s a team that jumps out that could use some explosiveness and youth in their backfield.  The Chiefs, picking at 31, seem like a realistic spot in the draft and a team that could use some influx of young explosive talent.  But they just went to the Super Bowl for the 38th time in a row, why do they need to take a running back in the first round?

Well, Isiah Pacheco was never quite the same after his early season broken fibula and is also in the last year of his contract.  It’s safe to assume Andy Reid doesn’t want to rely on soon-to-be 30-year-old Kareem Hunt again for most of the season.  Henderson could at least make an immediate impact in the passing game catching balls from one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks in Mahomes and should be able to stay on the field on third down with his ability to pass protect.  This could end up being a situation like the Tampa Bay backfield from last year, where Rachaad White started the year as the primary back but Bucky Irving earned more touches throughout the season and became the mainstay in the backfield by the end of the year.  I trust Andy Reid to know how to use Henderson well and he could potentially be an extremely valuable fantasy asset as the season goes on and the Chiefs realize they can’t keep him on the sidelines.

Regarding Judkins, the second round is likely where the conversation starts for where he’ll get selected.  The bruising runner matches the physical nature the Pittsburgh Steelers want to bring to the table, and at Pick 52 in the second round, Judkins could be the perfect selection at that point in the draft.  Pittsburgh lost Najee Harris to the Chargers in free agency opening up a workhorse role in their offense.  Sure, Jaylen Warren is coming back, and they signed Kenneth Gainwell from the Eagles, but those guys profile more as change of pace and passing down backs and not as guys who can handle a major workload.  Landing in Pittsburgh on an offense that we know wants to run the heck out of the ball with Arthur Smith calling plays gives Judkins an excellent opportunity to make a real impact in fantasy football in 2025.  Plus, Warren and Gainwell aren’t prototypical goal-line backs, so when the Steelers find themselves around the goal line Judkins likely would be the back that they turn to punch the ball into the endzone.  Judkins scored plenty of touchdowns during his three-year collegiate career, and I think that would likely continue if the Steelers can get their hands on him.

 

Photo by Icon Sportswire | Design by J.R. Caines (@JRCainesDesign on Twitter and @caines_design on Instagram)