2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Donovan Edwards

Last Updated: 8/31/2024

Career Stats

Summary 

Donovan Edwards is a former five-star recruit who despite limited touches has flashed immense talent. This year he will get a chance to lead the way for the Wolverines with the departure of Blake Corum. The last time he handled a lead role was two years ago after Corum went down, and he posted three straight 110-plus rushing yard games and averaged 7.1 yards per carry on the season, which led the Big Ten and was top ten in the NCAA that year. Last year, Edwards regressed with Corum’s return — he lacked efficiency, averaging a career-low 5.0 yards per touch. He only amassed 746 scrimmage yards and scored only 5 touchdowns.

Edwards is one of the top dual-threat running backs in the country. As a runner, he offers great patience and vision, allowing him to find the correct hole more times than not, no matter the blocking scheme. As more of a strider, he is best on the edge where he can have a runway to show off his top-end speed. On the flip side, he leaves us wanting more explosion to his game and often looks slow to the line and through the first level of a defense. Even with these short-area speed issues he manages to make defenders miss at times with some nimble footwork, but we would like to see more.

Inside the tackle box, he is very underrated as a runner. He marries his quick footwork and vision to navigate through small holes and lanes often emerging for chunk plays. In addition, he is unafraid of contact and has the contact balance and leg drive to push tacklers backward but does not run them over often. There is plenty of room for improvement at the point of contact as he often comes in slow and with his pads higher than we would like.

In the passing game, he has above-average hands that allow him to catch the ball no matter the placement. He is also very smooth in his transitions from catching the ball to becoming a runner allowing him to quickly pick up large chunks of yards after the catch. He has not been asked to run any extensive routes, so we do not have much to go off, but nothing says he can’t develop this skill.

Strengths

• Top-end speed
• Pass-catching ability
• Vision
• Contact balance               

Weakness

• Lacks quick acceleration
• Ball security
• Power at point of contact
• Open field elusiveness

Honors and Awards

• Big Ten Griffin-Grange Championship Game MVP (2022)
• Shared team Offensive Rookie of the Year honors (2021)

Athletic Testing

• 40-yard dash: TBD
• Vertical: TBD
• Broad Jump: TBD
• Three-cone: TBD
• Shuttle: TBD
• Bench: TBD

NFL Role Prediction

Donovan Edwards seems like the player to enter the league as a committee back who can work his way into a larger role potentially climaxing in a workhorse role. I hope to see some improvement in his overall game this year now that Blake Corum has moved on. With the new coaching staff in place, we could see Edwards handle a workhorse role for the first time in his career.  

Scheme Fit

Gap/Interior Zone

Fantasy Outlook

Donovan Edwards will have multiple paths to fantasy success, but this will be determined by the team that drafts him. He could be relegated to a pure passing down back or become an early down grinder or potentially a workhorse. His versatility is great for football but makes it hard to forecast his future role at this moment in time.

Player Comparisons

• Joe Mixon
• Rachaad White
• Zach Charbonnet

Injury Report