2025 NFL Mock Draft: AFC East squad takes Bhayshul Tuten

Former Virginia Tech running back Bhayshul Tuten has made the rounds since the 2024-25 season ended.

Tuten established himself as one of the top runners in the nation as the N.C. A&T native tallied 17 touchdowns and 1,311 all-purpose yards averaging 6.3 yards per carry, often times taking the burden of being the output of a bleak Hokie squad.

Tuten was eventually nominated to All-ACC Second Team as a running back, and likely would have been a nominee for the first team if either Omarion Hampton or Brashard Smith weren't so highly touted.

Below were his electric stats from the NFL Combine.

• Height: 5'9"
• Weight: 206 lbs
• Hand Size: 9"
• Arm Length: 29 1/2"
• 40-Yard Dash:  4.32 (1.49 10-yard split)- (Best among running backs)
• Vertical Jump: 40.50"-(Best among running backs)
• Broad Jump: 10'10" (Fourth best among running backs)

NFL Analyst Lance Zierlein gave his pre-draft analysis for Tuten.

If you spend too much time focusing on the small inconsistencies of Tuten’s college game, you run the risk of overlooking the match he is for the pro game. He’s an explosive athlete with average size but a compact frame. He has elite straight-line speed and easy hips to make sudden cuts and turns. He’s fairly average at reading the front and running with early decisiveness but creates with wiggle, power and speed. Drops and fumbles are a concern, but runners with his contact balance, power and home run speed put tremendous stress on defenses over four quarters. Tuten could become a starting-caliber back with three-down value.

Strengths

• Rare track speed makes him a threat to go yard on any snap.
• Good plant-and-cut wiggle to side step open-field tacklers.
• Tough runner able to absorb contact and deliver punishment.
• Powerful hips tear through arm and angle tackles on second level.
• Can rocket around the corner and beat the pursuit angles by linebackers. 
• Scrappy “square them up” mentality in pass protection.
• Able to elude the first tackler and find the sticks on swing passes and leak-outs.
• Big-play potential in a kick-return role.

Weaknesses

• Ball security was an issue in both seasons at Virginia Tech.
• Lacks decisiveness and feel for lane development. 
• Would like to see him process and burst more quickly.
• Will bounce a run wide instead of trusting and working behind a lead block.
• Needs to learn to avoid the hellish contact and collisions he frequently takes on.
• Has trouble securing passes that are outside of his frame.

CBS Sports recently dropped a full mock draft for each team that is picking inside the top 10.

The New York Jets were pipped to select Tuten with the 186th pick in the sixth round of the upcoming draft.

Current Jets running back Breece Hall is going to be a lock for the top of the charts for the Jets in their chase to reclaim lasting momentum in a difficult AFC East.

New York Jets on SI recently published an article, potentially fueling a belief that Hall may be traded soon. The article states the Jets may be looking to trade Hall.

Whether or not this ever comes to fruition is still long away, however, the draft sits 17 days away, and there is still plenty of confusion on where the talented fleet-footed running back may land.

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