In today’s edition of Rookie Draft Prospect Faceoff, I’m excited to bring you all two of the most interesting RB profiles in this draft class: Cam Skattebo and Ollie Gordon III. Both are polarizing prospects in the Dynasty community; it seems people either love or hate them. Let’s find out which prospect is the better bet for Dynasty purposes. First, we’ll take a look at their analytics.
Cam Skattebo
Skattebo had a legendary season for Arizona State, leading the Sun Devils to a Big 12 championship and a CFP appearance while finishing fifth overall in the Heisman race. Skattebo rushed for 1,711 yards on 5.8 YPA, finding paydirt 21 times on the ground. Cam’s biggest strength is his pass-catching ability, posting 45 receptions for 605 and three receiving touchdowns on the year. In addition to his gaudy receiving totals, Skattebo was very efficient as a receiver, posting 1.92 YPRR on the year.
In terms of where Skattebo ranked amongst his peers, he finished 2nd in the FBS in PFF Run Grade in 2024, behind only Ashton Jeanty (min.100 attempts). Cam was 2nd in total rush yards, 2nd in missed tackles forced, T-5th in rushing touchdowns, T-10th in targets, and 2nd in receiving yards. Across the board, Skattebo can be seen atop the FBS ranks in terms of raw stats. Efficiency-wise, he wasn’t quite as impressive, finishing 21st in YCO/A and 91st in breakaway rate (min. 100 attempts). Cam’s game isn’t really centered around big explosive runs, which we’ll discuss later in the film portion.
Prior to Arizona State, Skattebo played for Sacramento State, where he rushed for nearly 1,400 yards as a true sophomore. He’s been a producer from Day 1, ending his four-year career with nearly 6,000 scrimmage yards and 51 TDs.
Ollie Gordon III
Ollie Gordon was a hot commodity in Devy circles following his true sophomore campaign in 2023, where he won the Doak Walker Award, given to the top college RB in the country. He rushed for over 1,700 yards and 21 touchdowns that season, making him a near-consensus Top 3 RB in the 2025 class entering this past season. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned in Year 3, as Ollie saw a massive drop in production and efficiency across the board. He finished the season with 880 rush yards on 4.6 YPA, scoring 13 times on the ground and once through the air.
Gordon ended the year 105th in PFF Run Grade, 91st in YCO/A, and 126th in breakaway rate (min. 100 attempts). There were 161 college RBs who hit the 100-rush attempt threshold, so Gordon was below average in these efficiency metrics.
I wanted to see how these numbers compared to 2023, and here’s where Gordon stood. Out of 157 RBs with 100+ rush attempts in 2023, Gordon was 22nd in PFF Run Grade, 39th in YCO/A, and 7th in breakaway percentage. He clearly was a much better RB in 2023, finishing in the Top 40 in all of these categories. And from a receiving standpoint, Gordon may not be on the same level as Skattebo, but he’s certainly above average. Through three years, he posted 80 receptions, 585 yards, and four receiving touchdowns.
Film
Cam Skattebo is listed at 5’11” and 215 lbs., but I wouldn’t be surprised if he is closer to 5’9″ and 220 lbs. Skattebo is a bruising back who uses his physicality and a low center of gravity to drag defenders for extra yardage. He rarely goes down on the first tackle attempt; you can see his competitive nature on every rush attempt.
Cam is more of a one-cut guy than someone who will put multiple moves on a defender. He displays some impressive vision and patience, waiting for his blockers to develop and create lanes for him. Cam loves to initiate contact and always keeps his legs moving with a forward lean. Skattebo probably has below-average lateral quickness and agility, and his long speed is not impressive, so we won’t see many 60-yard runs at the NFL level where he outruns the DBs. But he has the size, strength, and three-down skillset to become a legitimate asset on an NFL roster. He feels like a guy that NFL scouts will love – he’s confident and intense in everything he does. I think Skattebo would be better served to sit out of certain Combine tests like the 40, but something tells me he’s far too competitive to do that.
Ollie Gordon is the larger back at 6’2″ and 225 lbs., but after watching some of his 2024 film, I felt he didn’t use that size advantage to his benefit very often. The biggest red flag in Ollie’s game is his lack of patience and vision. Too often, he’ll take the handoff and immediately run into the back of his offensive line rather than sitting back and waiting for things to develop. He misses open lanes too often and is much less willing to take on contact than Skattebo. Gordon tends to stand too upright at the point of contact, which hinders his ability to break tackles. I think he’s a valuable asset out of the backfield and can be a dangerous weapon in the open field when he gets up to speed. However, he lacks some quickness and lateral agility in his game. Skattebo does as well, but he makes up for it with his physicality and aggression, whereas I don’t see that with Gordon.
And the Winner Is…
I have to take Skattebo here – he passed the eye test and was the better back from an analytical standpoint. That said, I do think the Dynasty community is overreacting to Gordon’s 2024 season. He was playing through multiple injuries he suffered throughout the season, including knee and leg injuries. You don’t just go from being one of the best rushers in the country to what we saw in 2024 without legitimate reasons. If Gordon can get healthy and stay healthy, he’ll have an opportunity to make an early impact at the next level. He’s an early declare, which tells us he probably got some good news regarding projected draft capital despite his poor season.
Skattebo feels like a gamble, as he’s not your typical NFL running back. He has a very unique skill set, but it’s worked for him thus far. NFL Mock Draft Database has him valued as a Day 2 prospect, which would firmly put him in Round 2 of Superflex rookie drafts for me. Both backs have their red flags, but Skattebo has fewer, so I’ll go with him.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article, and I hope you got some valuable information you can use for your fantasy team! If you’d like additional insight into Dynasty Football news and analysis, please follow me on Twitter at @jim_DFF. Until next time, keep grinding out there, DFF family! #DFFArmy #AlwaysBeBuilding
