The 2027 NFL Draft running back class is shaping up to be a fascinating three-player race at the top, and the early grades around the NFL reflect that reality.

With just a couple of weeks left in summer scouting before the college football season provides more game data and film, the class has a clear top tier: Ahmad Hardy from Missouri, Kewan Lacy from Ole Miss, and Jadan Baugh from Florida. All three are true juniors, all are expected to declare eventually, and each has received first-round feedback from NFL teams.

Beyond those three, the depth does not appear nearly as promising. But each of the top backs brings a unique selling point to the NFL game, creating a compelling debate at the top of the class.

After doing a deep dive into this running back group in preparation for next week’s edition of Best Pod Available, I have a firm understanding of how I personally view the top of the board.

Kewan Lacy (Ole Miss)

The former Missouri transfer left the Tigers after his freshman season and eventually made his way to Ole Miss, where he became the engine for one of college football’s most dynamic offenses led by former head coach Lane Kiffin. Lacy made an impact early in the season, and by the end of it, he was the player every opposing team knew they needed to stop. He still ran for over 1,500 yards and scored over 20 touchdowns.

Verified at about 5-10 and 205 pounds, the things you love about Lacy are his ability to get vertical in a hurry. His combination of explosiveness and home run speed is exceptional, which allowed him to create a lot of doubles, triples, and the occasional home run, even in the SEC.

He also has a nice feel for space and has shown the quickness and fluidity to make defenders miss in tight quarters. His vision is good, and he has demonstrated the ability to play in either an inside zone or outside zone running scheme. You want him to be creative and manufacture his own yardage, and he does that. He also catches the football out of the backfield and is a weapon when working in space.

The biggest negative in Lacy’s game is the overall lack of power. While he can break through arm tackles, he has a thin lower half and is not going to produce much in terms of extra-effort yardage. In a lot of ways, his game reminds me of former Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans running back Lamar Miller, although I do think Lacy runs harder than Miller ever did.

That explosiveness and ability to create big plays will be prioritized at the NFL level, which is why there are a lot of early high opinions of Lacy around the league.

Jadan Baugh (Florida)

After flirting with entering the portal this offseason due to the coaching change, Baugh opted to return to Florida for another season. At about 228 pounds, he is a much different player compared to Lacy, bringing a Le’Veon Bell feel as a runner. For a bigger back, Baugh is incredibly light on his feet and has good patience and vision in a zone running scheme.

He is not too quick to hit the hole, allowing things to open up in front of him. When he does hit the hole, he has the explosiveness to create some easy yardage, and he possesses the lower leg drive to churn out that hidden yardage we always talk about so highly.

My biggest hangup with Baugh is that while I think he is a good short-area athlete, I don’t think there’s anything close to dynamic. When I see people talk about him, I feel like they describe an elite athlete, and while he’s certainly a good athlete for his size, I don’t think he’s going to create a bunch of home runs or even triples at the NFL level.

While his game does remind me of Le’Veon Bell, there’s also some Najee Harris. Harris was a good player in the NFL, but there were some extreme limitations to his game in terms of creating explosive plays. That lack of explosives has me a little tentative, and I wish Ball would consistently finish runs a little lower, because his pad level does creep a bit high at times.

Ahmad Hardy, Missouri

Hardy is the complete opposite of what I just described.

He runs with great lower leg drive, great lean, and plays with good pad level overall. He is one of the best tackle breakers to come out over the last couple of years. Hardy is that high-effort runner who never goes down on first contact and has good short-area explosiveness to create easy yardage early in reps.

Like Baugh, Hardy does not have great home run speed, so there will be a lack of explosive plays. I do like his ability as a short-area runner better than Baugh’s, though, because of his consistent pad level and his ability to work through contact with the balance to create some outstanding runs.

Hardy checks in at about 208-210 pounds. He’s not as big as Baugh, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by the way he runs. That low center of gravity shows off in his game, especially with him being a shorter back compared to the other two.

The verdict

Of these three backs right now, Lacy is my favorite.

I think his game is incredibly translatable to the NFL. My running back 2 as of today is Ahmad Hardy, and third is Baugh.

I know I’m going to be in the minority on Jadan Baugh. I worry about his ability to consistently create explosive plays, and I’m not sure he’s an efficient enough runner for me to overlook that concern. In comparison, I don’t think Hardy is going to create a ton of explosives either, but I trust him on a down-to-down basis to generate that little extra yardage and keep an offense on schedule.

Baugh strikes me as more of a boom-or-bust runner, which is not something I’m going to value as highly as others based on his overall profile.