D.J. Giddens was not a sought-after recruit coming out of high school, but he was able to emerge as one of the most electric running backs in college football over his final two seasons at Kansas State. Giddens was able to back up his performance on the field with an impressive showing at the combine, yet still lasted until the fifth round of the NFL Draft before being selected by the Colts.
Giddens’ landing spot is by no means ideal, as he will be playing with two mobile quarterbacks who could limit his high-value touches. That’s assuming Giddens even makes it onto the field, as Indianapolis’ depth chart also places him behind a workhorse back in Jonathan Taylor. With plenty of roadblocks standing in the way of Giddens reaching fantasy relevance, is he still a player we should be looking to add to our rosters in best ball and dynasty?
If you want to dive deeper into the 2025 rookie class, pick up the 2025 RotoViz Rookie Draft Guide and check out the rest of our rookie preview series:
Quarterbacks
Running Backs
Wide Receivers
- Emeka Egbuka
- Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel
- Matthew Golden
- Tre Harris
- Pat Bryant
- Tetairoa McMillan
- Kyle Washington
Tight Ends
D.J. Giddens’ NFL Comps
Giddens came to Kansas State as a zero-star recruit in 2021 and redshirted during his first season with the Wildcats. While playing behind Deuce Vaughn in 2022, Giddens was able to display some of his signature explosiveness, albeit with a limited workload of fewer than 100 touches. Once Vaughn was out of the picture, Giddens was fully unleashed, putting up over 1,200 rushing yards and 1,500 scrimmage yards in each of his final two collegiate seasons.
Giddens’ advanced stats as a runner don’t jump off the page but are generally solid across the board. While his 0.175 rushing points earned per play from 2024 only comes in 11th among this year’s rookie class, it is still better than highly touted prospects like R.J. Harvey, Quinshon Judkins, and Omarion Hampton. Giddens was also able to surpass a 20.0% rushing evasion rate in each of the past two seasons, showing a balance of agility and power in his broken tackle and forced missed tackle rates. He has also been reliable with the ball in his hands, fumbling on only 0.4% of his touches over the past two years.
While Giddens was able to put up some strong receiving numbers over his final two seasons at Kansas State, his reliability as a pass catcher is still questionable. His 83.3% on-target catch percentage and 17.9% drop percentage from 2024 were both the worst in the 2025 rookie class, while the rest of his advanced receiving metrics generally graded out as average when compared to NFL-caliber RBs over the past couple of seasons.
The one aspect of Giddens’ game that stands out on film is his athleticism, and he backed it up with a dominant performance at the combine. After getting a glimpse of some of the numbers Giddens put up, it is not surprising that he pulls in an impressive list of athletic comps, including one of the freakiest RBs we have seen since the turn of the century, Adrian Peterson.
Unfortunately for Giddens, his elite athleticism could not propel him higher than the fifth round of the NFL Draft. After accounting for his draft capital in the RB Prospect Lab, Giddens’ score of 57 ranked 13th in a loaded draft class. Despite the disappointment of his mid-Day 3 draft slot, it did not entirely dampen his comps in the Box Score Scout.
