Fresh off a dominant rookie debut that was cut short by an injury, Quinshon Judkins is poised to return to form and post an even better sophomore season for Cleveland Browns.
Quinshon Judkins was having a strong rookie campaign for the Cleveland Browns in 2025 before it was cut short due to a fractured fibula and dislocated ankle in Week 16. With his season abruptly over, the Ohio State product finished with 827 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns.
For most of the season, Judkins was the only real threat Cleveland had on offense. He constantly created something out of nothing behind an offensive line that was ravaged by injuries and with loaded defensive boxes in front of him.
He enters year two poised for even more and provided a taste of what's to come this spring, where he showed he's fully healed from his offseason surgery. Judkins looked electric day-after-day, granted the team won't put on full pads until training camp.
Still, Judkins looks poised for an even bigger season in 2026, in the form of becoming the first individual rusher to go over 1,000 yards since Nick Chubb did it in 2022. There are tangible reasons why Judkins will pull it off.
New Offensive Line
Andrew Berry made it priority No. 1 to overhaul the team's offensive line this offseason, and he succeeded in doing that. The question is whether or not he just addressed the unit or truly fixed it. It's an answer nobody will know until they take the field this fall.
At the very least, though, Berry raised the floor of the group, which in 2025 had aged out and proved to be on a downswing from the years when it was considered one of the best o-lines in football.
That alone will help Judkins have more room to create and fewer touches that start with him needing to elude would-be tacklers in the backfield. If Judkins was able to put up over 800 yards in just 14 games behind shaky o-line play, he should have no problem eclipsing 1,000 yards behind an improved one.
Improved Weapons
Mission No. 2 for Berry was to improve the offensive weaponry, and he did that by using two of his first three draft picks to select wide receivers. KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston are poised to play a prominent role in Cleveland's offense in their own right. Their mere presence will also make Judkins' job much easier though, as well.
If the defense has to account for more players on the perimeter, they can't stack the box and sell out to stop Judkins quite as much. The more the merrier when it comes to scoring threats on offense. There's a symbiotic relationship that exists between all of the Browns top weapons.
Todd Monken Philosophy
The other key to Judkins becoming a 1,000-yard rusher in 2026 is simply Todd Monken's propensity to run the football. In each of his three years as Baltimore's OC, the Ravens were a top-two rushing team.
Now it obviously helps having one of the best running backs of all-time in Derrick Henry, combined with one of the best dual-threat QBs of all-time in two-time MVP Lamar Jackson, but Judkins is poised to become one of the premier backs in football himself.
Monken has dropped hints all offseason about how much he values running the ball, from his emphasis on free agency starting in the trenches to his public request for a full back. He is going to lean on Judkins heavily this fall.
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