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Who are the top 10 rushing duos headed into the 2025 NFL season?

Who are the top 10 rushing duos headed into the 2025 NFL season?

Fox News05-06-2025
The NFL has seen the running game featured heavily of late, and several running backs are getting new, high-end extensions. This development comes in the wake of Saquon Barkley breaking the league's combined single-season rushing record, Derrick Henry having a huge first year with the Baltimore Ravens and Christian McCaffrey balling out with the San Francisco 49ers before an injury-plagued 2024.
There are also a handful of quarterbacks whose rushing ability is a featured part of their respective team's offense. That said, who are the best overall rushing combinations in the NFL — running backs and/or quarterbacks?
Here are the top 10 rushing duos heading into the 2025 season, according to FOX Sports Research.
Las Vegas' 2025 offense looks to feature a potent rushing attack, headlined by Jeanty, whom the Raiders selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, and Mostert, who rushed for 1,012 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2023. Jeanty was the runner-up for the 2024 Heisman Trophy Award after rushing for a nation-best 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns at Boise State. Ironically, the Raiders were last in the NFL in rushing last season (79.8 yards per game), but Jeanty's grueling skill set and Mostert's proven track record give them a plausible one-two punch.
The Washington Commanders have a lot going for them, but their rushing attack stands out first and foremost. Robinson has been a steady force across his three years (2022-24) in the league, averaging 776 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 4.1 yards per carry; he punched in a career-high eight rushing scores last season. Of course, Washington tripling its win total from 2023 to 2024 and making the NFC Championship Game was primarily due to the outstanding play of Daniels, who won 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. The 2023 Heisman Trophy winner threw for 25 touchdowns, posted a 100.1 passer rating, completed 69.0% of his passes and added 891 yards and six touchdowns on the ground.
The Carolina Panthers stumbled into a running back room that has two players who rushed for over 1,000 yards last year. Hubbard has continued to produce and increase his production, rushing for a career-high 1,195 yards and 10 touchdowns on 4.8 yards per carry in 2024. Meanwhile, Dowdle, who signed with the Panthers after five years with the Dallas Cowboys (he missed the 2021 season due to a hip injury), became the team's starting back in 2024 and rushed for 1,079 yards and two touchdowns on 4.6 yards per carry in what was his first time getting the majority of the running back reps. Prior to his 235 carries in 2024, Dowdle's career high was 89 carries (2023).
The Atlanta Falcons have built one of the best running back rooms in the league. A fifth-round pick in 2022, Allgeier rushed for 1,035 yards on 4.9 yards per carry in his rookie campaign. Then, Atlanta took Robinson with the eighth overall pick in 2023, and he became the team's featured running back. Still, Allgeier has rushed for 664 yards per season from 2023-24. Meanwhile, Robinson was a Pro Bowler in 2024 after rushing for 1,456 yards and 14 touchdowns on 4.8 yards per carry. He also totaled 61 receptions for 431 yards.
The Seattle Seahawks have drafted well, and their running back room epitomizes that notion. Walker, a 2022 second-round pick, came on strong in his rookie season, rushing for 1,050 yards and nine touchdowns on 4.6 yards per carry, which he followed up by rushing for eight scores in 2023. Granted, Walker rushed for just 573 yards across 11 games in 2024. Charbonnet, a 2023 second-round pick, had his bright moments as a rookie and then rushed for 569 yards and eight touchdowns in 2024, while tallying 42 receptions for 340 yards. The Seahawks have a pair of quick running backs on rookie deals.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are another team that has drafted well and has the running back room to prove it. Tampa Bay selected Irving in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, and he became an integral part of its offense from the jump; Irving rushed for 1,122 yards and eight touchdowns on 5.4 yards per carry in his rookie campaign while reeling in 47 receptions for 392 yards. His 1,122 rushing yards were the most for a Bucs player in a single season since Doug Martin rushed for 1,402 yards in 2015. Meanwhile, White has been a balanced threat in Tampa Bay's offense, both bouncing to the outside and serving as a reliable part of the team's passing attack. In three years, White has rushed for 695 yards and three touchdowns and reeled in 55 receptions for 411 yards and four touchdowns per season.
The Buffalo Bills love to run that football, which is what happens when arguably your two best offensive players can rip it up on the ground. A Pro Bowler in two of his first three years, Cook has emerged as one of the better backs in the league, rushing for 1,066 yards on 4.8 yards per carry per season from 2023-24 and rushing for 16 touchdowns in 2024. Meanwhile, Allen is arguably the most physically imposing quarterback in the sport, bulldozing defenders at 6-foot-5, 237 pounds. Allen, the 2024 NFL MVP, has rushed for 592 yards and nine touchdowns per season over his seven-year career (2018-24) and posted 13.5 rushing scores per season from 2023-24.
Already a perennial Super Bowl contender, the Philadelphia Eagles brought in Barkley and created a physically imposing backfield of historical heights. After rushing for 1,000-plus yards in three of his six seasons with the New York Giants (2018-23), Barkley became the ninth running back in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards, posting 2,005 yards and 13 rushing scores in 16 games last year. Then, he rushed for five touchdowns in the playoffs, with three of those scores going for at least 60 yards. All the while, Hurts, the Super Bowl LIX MVP and a two-time Pro Bowler, has been a force to be reckoned with on the ground, rushing for 695 yards and 13 touchdowns per season from 2021-24, while being at the center of the "tush push" execution.
The Detroit Lions' offense is a well-oiled machine, as it ranked second in the NFL in passing yards (263.2 yards per game) and sixth in rushing yards (146.4 yards per game) last season. A Pro Bowler in each of his first two campaigns, Gibbs has been an electric force as both a rusher and pass-catcher. Last year, Gibbs rushed for 1,412 yards and an NFL-high 16 touchdowns on 5.6 yards per carry, while racking up 52 receptions for 517 yards and four scores. Montgomery has missed three regular-season games in each of the past two years for the Lions but has been a battering ram with the ball in his hands, averaging 12.5 rushing touchdowns per season from 2023-24 and totaling 341 receiving yards in 2024. Detroit has ranked in the top six in the NFL in rushing in each of the past two years.
The Baltimore Ravens have finished in the top three in rushing in each of the past seven seasons and first in the past two. That's what happens when you add Henry to an offense that already includes a two-time NFL MVP in Jackson. Henry, a five-time Pro Bowler, rushed for 1,921 yards and an NFL-high 16 touchdowns on a career-high 5.9 yards per carry in his first year with the franchise (2024). He also led the NFL with 19 carries for 20 or more yards. Jackson, who posted a career-high 4,172 passing yards, 41 passing touchdowns and a 119.6 passer rating in 2024, continues to kick up dust, also rushing for 915 yards and four touchdowns. Since 2019, Jackson has averaged 913 rushing yards and five rushing scores per season.
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