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Rookie running back Jarquez Hunter could be the Rams’ sleeper pick of 2025
Kyren Williams has been the best day three draft pick at running of the last 10 years. Did the Los Angeles Rams strike it rich on day three again with Jarquez Hunter? Sean McVay obviously thinks so and the Rams could be splitting up their backfield reps as soon as this year.
Hunter, a fourth round pick out of Auburn, will have every opportunity to be a playmaker for the Rams from Week 1 and on.
The Rams head coach called Hunter “who I want” in the green room just prior to L.A. selecting him with the 117th overall pick.
“There’s no question that’s who I want,” McVay said to Rams’ general manager Les Snead in a video shared to X. “... I didn’t think we’d be able to get him today unless we did that. That was my top player for today.”
“We’ve loved your tape for a long time. You’re our kind of guy,” McVay told Hunter after drafting him.
McVay also praised Hunter as a “home run hitter” after he was secured by the Rams.
“(Hunter) can hit home runs for you, too. When you give him a vertical seam, he’s got the ability to run away from you. Some of the metrics that we have on him are really impressive...Les and his group had a real appreciation for him, and then once the coaches laid eyes on him, there was a collective buy-in,” said McVay in the immediate aftermath of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Hunter rushed for 1,201 yards in 12 games last season and he averaged 6.4 yards per carry, which is also basically the same as his four-year career average of 6.3 yards per carry. He has been extraordinarily consistent in that regard, plus he could add value as a receiver out of the backfield.
He was a more efficient runner in college than teammates Kyren Williams and Blake Corum, although it is impossible to compare players in such different situations. Still, inside and outside the tackles, Hunter was consistent across the board:
Corum would be an example of a running back who did not challenge Williams for playing time as a rookie, and he was drafted in the third round in 2024, but that does not mean that a different pick at a different time couldn’t produce different results.
Just as Williams himself surprisingly took and secured a job away from a former second round pick in Cam Akers.
No day three running back of almost the past 10 years has had a better season than Kyren Williams had in 2024. These are the top seasons by running backs (by rushing yards) who were drafted on day three since 2017:
