With the 2026 NFL Draft officially in our rearview mirror, NFL and college football analysts alike have wasted no time setting their sights on evaluating the next crop of draft-eligible prospects. One position group seemingly set to feature an increase in talent between the 2026 and 2027 draft cycles is the running back position, with one Big 12 back already drawing rave reviews.
Why BYU’s LJ Martin Could Be a First-Round Pick in the 2027 NFL Draft
Resident PFSN analyst Cam Mellor recently heaped some noteworthy praise on BYU’s LJ Martin. A former three-star recruit from El Paso, Martin has blossomed into one of the most productive runners at the FBS level with more than 2,500 rushing yards in his three-year career.
“If I’m an NFL decision maker I’m drafting Martin in the first round”@CamMellor on LJ Martin’s draft stock next year pic.twitter.com/WEwuLjPt4y
— BYUtv Sports Nation (@BYUSportsNation) April 30, 2026
Martin is currently the third-ranked player at the position on PFSN’s 2027 initial big board and 47th overall, on the back of a stellar 2025 season that saw him finish with the second-highest PFSN CFB RB Impact Score among FBS running backs. Atop the rankings was Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson, a fifth-round pick by the Kansas City Chiefs last week.
The BYU Cougar ranks behind Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy, who has tallied an eye-popping 3,000 yards on the dot in just two collegiate seasons, in both career rushing yards and ranking on the 2027 big board. Mellor references Hardy as the potential leader in the clubhouse when it’s time to standardize the rankings of the running backs in the 2027 draft class but notes that had Martin declared in 2026, “he could’ve potentially been a first-round draft pick, or at least an early Day 2 draft pick this past season.”
Mellor’s stance on Martin is rooted in “the size, the athleticism, what he produces out of the backfield as well … There’s a lot that he can do, and then when he’s in the open field, it’s bye-bye, see-ya-later.” The eye test is supported by Martin’s analytical profile as well, with an elusive rating in the 77th percentile and his 255 receiving yards, which placed him in the 93rd percentile among running backs last season.
It’s set to be an enticing year for the running back market, an NFL market that essentially had nowhere to go but up following the 2026 draft.
Martin and Hardy will potentially join the likes of Florida’s Jadan Baugh, Rutgers’ Antwan Raymond, and Ole Miss’ Kewan Lacy, among many others, in an effort to repeat a first round with multiple running back selections. That trio ranked third, fifth, and seventh, respectively, in RB Impact Score last season.
