Bill Barnwell Oct 29, 2026, 06:35 AM ET

Close

Bill Barnwell is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. He analyzes football on and off the field like no one else on the planet, writing about in-season X's and O's, offseason transactions and so much more.

He is the host of the Bill Barnwell Show podcast , with episodes released weekly. Barnwell joined ESPN in 2011 as a staff writer at Grantland.

About a year ago, I wrote about the then-rookie class of NFL running backs and how excited I was to see them thriving. During Week 4 of the 2025 season , first-year rookie backs combined to run for 737 yards, the most by any set of rookie rushers during a week of September football since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. It looked like a class that was regarded by prospect mavens as one of the deepest and most compelling groups in recent memory was quickly taking over.

One year later, things aren't looking quite as rosy.…