Player

Quinshon Judkins

RB · Browns

A 65% touch share is top-decile workload for any RB in a single season, let alone a rookie operating behind a two-QB rotation on a broken offense — it shows the coaching staff had zero alternative plan.

FanIQ Research · May 10, 2026 · 6 facts, every one from the play-by-play

Cleveland handed him the keys in Week 2 and he never gave them back — 231 carries, 65% of all RB touches on a team with no clear QB.

Trend

Browns 2025 rushing snap distribution

Player	Rushes	Role
Quinshon Judkins	231	Rookie RB1
Dylan Sampson	65	Rookie backup
Raheim Sanders	27	Practice-squad call-up
Jerome Ford	24	Former RB1
Trayveon Williams	7	Depth
Shedeur Sanders	22	QB scrambles
Dillon Gabriel	14	QB scrambles
Joe Flacco	6	QB scrambles

Cleveland's 2025 backfield was a wide-open competition entering camp; Judkins (Round 2, pick #36) walked into 65.4% of all RB rushes by season's end — 231 of 353 total RB carries.

That workload is louder when you consider the QB chaos around him: Shedeur Sanders and Gabriel combined for 36 designed-rusher attempts because of how broken the passing game was. He carried the offense in raw volume on a team that scored fewer than 17 points per game (16.4 actual).

Why it matters. A 65% touch share is top-decile workload for any RB in a single season, let alone a rookie operating behind a two-QB rotation on a broken offense — it shows the coaching staff had zero alternative plan.

Inside the 10 he's a 32% TD machine — every third carry is a score.

Split

Judkins 2025 rush splits by field area

Zone	Rushes	Yds	YPC	TDs	TD %
Outside Red Zone	198	771	3.89	1	0.5%
10-20 yard line	14	30	2.14	0	0.0%
Inside 10	19	28	1.47	6	31.6%

6 of his 7 rushing TDs came inside the 10-yard line on just 19 carries — a 31.6% TD rate that's elite at the goal line.

The trade-off: outside-the-RZ efficiency is 3.89 YPC (slightly below league average), and the 10-20 yard range was a dead zone (14/30/0). The coaching staff figured out fast that he's a closer, not a creator — feed him the chains, lean on Sampson for change-up.

Why it matters. The 10-20 yard no-man's-land (0 TDs on 14 carries) shows Judkins is not yet a scheme-beating runner between the hashes — he needs the walls to close before his power comes through.

3-TD game in Week 7 against Miami — one of only two rookie RBs to hit that mark in 2025 (Skattebo being the other).

Milestone

Judkins's top single-game TD totals

Wk	Opp	Car	Rush Yds	Rush TDs	PPR
7	MIA	25	84	3	26.4
12	LV	16	47	2	16.7
3	GB	18	94	1	16.5
4	DET	21	82	1	21.5

The Week 7 Miami game (25 carries, 84 yards, 3 TDs) was the breakout — a 26.4 PPR night on a team that scored 31 points total (CLE 31, MIA 6). Cam Skattebo (Week 6 vs PHI) also had 3 rush TDs; no rookie RB topped that in 2025.

The Week 12 vs. Las Vegas game (2 more rushing TDs) gave Judkins 2 multi-TD games — tied with Jacory Croskey-Merritt and RJ Harvey, behind Henderson's 4. His longest rush in the MIA game was a 46-yard TD (not a short-yardage grind), yet his other 24 carries averaged just 1.6 yards — feast-or-famine in a single game.

Why it matters. A 3-TD performance on a team averaging 16.4 points per game proves Judkins can be the whole offense when Cleveland schemes the goal line around him.

Most carries of any rookie RB in 2025 — 51 more than Henderson despite worse teammates and a dysfunctional QB room.

Comparison

2025 rookie RB class — full-season production

Player	Pick	Car	Rush Yds	YPC	Rush TDs	PPR
Ashton Jeanty	#6	266	975	3.67	5	245.1
RJ Harvey	#60	146	540	3.70	7	206.6
TreVeyon Henderson	#38	180	911	5.06	9	206.2
Quinshon Judkins	#36	230	827	3.60	7	169.8
Kyle Monangai	#233	169	783	4.63	5	146.7
Omarion Hampton	#22	124	545	4.40	4	135.7

Judkins led all 2025 rookie RBs in carries by a wide margin. Henderson (#38 — two picks later) ran for 911 yards on 180 carries (5.06 YPC) and 9 TDs in New England's functioning offense; the YPC gap (3.60 vs 5.06) is the story, not the volume.

The context cushion: Cleveland's offense averaged 16.4 points per game; New England's averaged 28.8. Judkins posted 7 TDs and 827 yards while being the only real weapon on the field — Henderson's efficiency edge comes with a much easier scheme around him.

Why it matters. Carry volume on a broken offense is a mixed signal — it proves trust but masks scheme limitations; the YPC gap between Judkins (3.60) and Henderson (5.06) is the clean readout of how much environment matters.

Zero carries over 20 yards across his last 122 carries — after his 46-yard TD in Week 7, he never broke the second level again.

Anomaly

Explosive-rush profile

Player	Rushes	10+ Rushes	20+ Rushes	40+ Rushes	Long
Quinshon Judkins	231	18	4	1	46
TreVeyon Henderson	180	18	6	4	69
Ashton Jeanty	266	24	3	2	64

After a 46-yard TD run in Week 7, Judkins went 122 consecutive carries (Weeks 8-16) without breaking 20 yards. Not a single explosive run in the final 8 games of his season.

The Browns offense ran without a real passing threat — defenders crashed downhill — but the lack of breakaway speed is the Year-2 question. He's a power, between-the-tackles closer; he is not (yet) the explosive cut-back back. Henderson had 4 carries over 40 yards; Judkins had 1 all year.

Why it matters. A 122-carry shutout of the second level in the back half of a season is not a scheme problem alone — it raises a real question about whether Judkins can generate explosives at the NFL level without optimal blocking.

Out of Ohio State AND Mississippi — transfer-portal back who carried both a national-title contender and a 16-PPG offense.

Rare

Judkins college pedigree

Schools	Height	Weight	Draft
Ohio State; Mississippi	6'0"	219 lbs	2025 R2 (#36)

The transfer-portal story (Ole Miss → Ohio State for a national title run) didn't slow him down at the next level. The Browns landed him at #36 — a Day 2 value pick partly because of the shared workload at OSU with TreVeyon Henderson (literally drafted 2 picks later).

The rookie season validated the price tag: 65.4% of Cleveland's RB carries, 7 rushing TDs — Day-2 RB production with first-round usage. The Henderson-to-NE pairing made 2025 a split-verdict on how the OSU coaching staff deployed their backs: Henderson got the efficiency, Judkins got the volume.

Why it matters. Playing 1,000+ yards at two blue-blood programs and then leading a struggling NFL team in carries is a uniquely compressed résumé — he's proven he can shoulder a workload in low-support environments at every level.

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