Who Should I Start? Jerome Ford or Cam Skattebo

Friday, May 2, 11:25 PM

Cleveland Browns rookie running back Jerome Ford agreed to a pay cut with the team on Friday, reducing his 2025 salary from $3.486 million to a guaranteed $1.75 million, a league source told The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mary Kay Cabot. It means that free-agent RB Nick Chubb will likely not be re-signing with the Browns this offseason. The move to reduce Ford's salary comes after the Browns selected former Ohio State RB Quinshon Judkins with the 33rd overall pick in last week's NFL draft. Cleveland also added to the RB room and took former Tennessee rusher Dylan Sampson at No. 126 overall. Ford, a fifth-rounder in 2022, led the team with 565 yards on 104 carries (5.4 yards per carry) and three touchdowns with Chubb coming off a serious knee injury in 2023. The 25-year-old Ford is technically still atop the team's RB depth chart, but his reduction in pay is a clear sign that Judkins will have the opportunity to become the RB1 sooner than later in 2025.

Monday, May 12, 4:16 PM

SNY's Connor Hughes says not to be surprised if New York Giants rookie running back Cam Skattebo ends up being the team's third-down back in 2025. Skattebo is a capable blocker and was very good as a receiver out of the backfield for Arizona State in 2024. The 23-year-old's dad was a receiver and used to drill him on the fundamentals of route-running, so he could already be the team's most talented pass-catching back. Hughes also writes that there were comparisons after the NFL draft of Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Skattebo recreating the team's old backfield of Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs. Skattebo is stocky at 5-foot-9, but he's not the physical back that Jacobs was. The fourth-rounder has unique fantasy upside as a potential powerful workhorse down the road, but the presence of Tracy might make him fantasy relevant only in PPR leagues in 2025.