Kaleb Johnson NFL Draft Hub: Scouting Report, Player Profile, Projection, and More

A big-bodied running back coming off a tremendous 2024 season, Iowa Hawkeyes running back Kaleb Johnson projects as one of the top backs in the 2025 NFL Draft.

In a talented draft class for the running back position, Johnson proved in his All-American junior year that he’s a name to remember near the top of the group.

Kaleb Johnson’s Draft Profile and Measurements

• Height: 6’1″
• Weight: 224 pounds
• Position: Running back
• School: Iowa
• Current Year: Junior

Johnson’s Scouting Report

A three-star recruit in high school, Johnson attended Hamilton High School in Hamilton, Ohio. Though he initially committed to play college football at California, he flipped to Iowa and enrolled as a Hawkeye. As a true freshman in 2022, Johnson stepped into Iowa’s backfield rotation and ended as the top producer of the bunch. He ended the year with 779 rushing yards and six touchdowns, averaging 5.2 yards per carry.

In addition to his role at running back, Johnson served as a reliable kick returner for the Hawkeyes in Year 1. He returned 13 kicks back for 325 yards.

Johnson ended up missing three games in 2023 due to an ankle injury, and his production dipped as a result. He finished the year with 463 rushing yards and three touchdowns, averaging 4.0 yards per carry.

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It was in his junior year in 2024, though, where Johnson really got going. He finished the year with 1,537 rushing yards, averaging 6.4 yards per carry. He scored 23 total touchdowns, which broke Iowa’s single-season record.

By the end of the year, Johnson had been named a CSN second-team All-American, first-team All-Big Ten, CSN Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, and a Doak Walker Award finalist. Coming off a breakout year, he skipped his final year of collegiate eligibility and declared for the 2025 NFL Draft.

Strengths

• Big-bodied running back with long limbs and a powerful frame.
• Maximizes his well-proportioned strength with a willingness to lower the shoulder and engage in contact at the wrap-up point.
• Tough runner who churns his legs through contact and fights for every yard.
• For a bigger back, his short-area burst is quite good, allowing him to accelerate through open running lanes and pick up a big gain.
• Intelligent back who showcases ideal patience out of the backfield.
• Varies his tempo well behind the line of scrimmage, waiting for running lanes to develop and striking when the time is right.
• Has the experience and the physicality needed to take on a bell-cow role at the NFL level.
• Uses subtle footwork to cut upfield and shoot through an open running lane.

Weaknesses

• Significantly more experienced as a zone runner than he is in a gap system.
• Not a bad receiving back, but he doesn’t offer a deep route tree or tremendous agility with the ball in his hands.
• Runs with a high center of gravity, and while that doesn’t necessarily affect his contact balance because of how strong he is, it can affect his lateral quickness a bit.
• High-hipped running back who doesn’t change direction super easily for someone at his position.
• Inconsistent in pass protection.
• Range as a runner is relatively limited, as he doesn’t have the improvisational capabilities to bounce outside of the tackles and extend broken plays.
• Long speed is pretty average for a running back, as reflected by the 4.57-second 40-yard dash he ran at the NFL Combine.

Current Draft Projection and Summary

With his intelligence and power, Johnson is a reliable running back between the tackles.

Though his first two seasons in college were encouraging, Johnson put together a phenomenal year in 2024. He has above-average vision in between the tackles, utilizing patience and tempo to find the open running lane and work his way through the hole.

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Johnson’s strength and physicality allow him to run over opposing defenders, powering through smaller tacklers. The defenders he goes up against need to keep their tackling form down properly because he’s too big of a back to get lazy against.

There are clear limitations that Johnson has from an athleticism perspective. His short-area burst is solid, but he doesn’t have tremendous long speed to project as a home-run hitter at the next level consistency. His agility as a runner is average, as well.

Because his athleticism isn’t out of this world, Johnson probably won’t be selected in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He has all the other tools to be a reliable piece of a backfield rotation in Year 1, though, with the upside of developing into a full-time starter. He feels like a late selection in Round 2 or an early pick in Round 3.