CJ Baxter RB Kentucky |
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
| Jersey: #4 ROLE: DUAL-ROLE Back | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated: 08/03/2026 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Year: 2027 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FORTY time: 4.48 seconds (76%*) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Age: 21.1 DOB: 06/28/2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jersey: #4 | |
| ROLE: DUAL-ROLE Back | |
| Last Updated: 08/03/2026 | |
| Draft Year: 2027 | |
| Forty time: 4.48 seconds (76%*) | |
| Age: 21.1 DOB: 06/28/2005 | |
| Overall Rating: |
69.3 / 100
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| Average rating of opposition Defense player has faced | ||
| Defense Rating: |
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82% |
| Click the links below to view how player ranks vs other prospects. | ||
| Rushing: |
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66% |
| Break Tackles: |
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54% |
| Receiving/Hands: |
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62% |
| Pass Blocking: |
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49% |
| Run Blocking: |
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52% |
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DRAFT PROJECTION:
UDFA
Overall Rank:
#593
Position rank:
#27 (RB)
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| College Games: 21 College Snaps: 532 | ||
ESPN RATING: 87/100
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247 RATING: 98/100
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RIVALS RATING: 6.0 (98%)
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| Player Comparison* (Similarity level) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alton McCaskill - Sam Houston |
|
70% |
| Donald Chaney - Charlotte |
|
69% |
| Sevion Morrison - Tulsa |
|
65% |
Draft Profile: Bio
CJ Baxter burst onto the college football scene at Edgewater High School in Orlando, where he compiled 3,826 rushing yards and 57 touchdowns across his prep career. As a senior, he opened with six straight 100-yard games, including a 272-yard explosion against Don Bosco. 247Sports ranked him as the second-best running back nationally and awarded him five-star status.At Texas, Baxter became the first true freshman running back to start a season opener since Ricky Williams in 1995. His 2023 campaign produced 659 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 138 carries plus 24 receptions for 156 yards. When starter Jonathon Brooks went down with a knee injury, Baxter delivered his best performance with 117 yards on 20 carries against Iowa State, then totaled 64 rushing yards and a touchdown in the Sugar Bowl against Washington.
The 2024 season never materialized after Baxter tore his LCL and PCL during fall camp, requiring season-ending surgery. He has since been medically cleared and returned to practice, positioning him to reclaim a significant role in Texas' backfield for the 2025 season alongside quarterback Arch Manning.
Scouting Report: Strengths
- Former five-star and the No. 1 running back recruit of his cycle.
- Power frame at 227 with the patient, downhill style that earned freshman starts.
- Clean hands on twelve checkdown catches in the limited 2025 work.
- Kentucky offers a featured depth chart for the first time since 2023.
Scouting Report: Weaknesses
- A 2024 knee reconstruction and a 2025 hamstring have erased two seasons.
- Returned to just 193 rushing yards with no touchdowns and a fumble.
- Eighteen breakaway yards all season; the burst has not yet come back.
- Blitz pickup ranked barely average for a back with his mass.
- Three years removed from the freshman tape that built the reputation.
Scouting Report: Summary
The recruiting class ranked him the best back in America, and the freshman tape at Texas supported it: patient, downhill, starting-caliber. Everything since has been medical. A knee reconstruction erased 2024, a hamstring gutted 2025, and the return amounted to 193 yards, no touchdowns, eighteen breakaway yards and a fumble, the numbers of a player running on memory while his burst stayed in rehab.The frame is still 227 pounds of five-star architecture and the twelve checkdown catches came with clean hands, but the projection now rests entirely on regeneration. The blitz pickup ranked barely average for his mass, the explosive file is empty two years running, and the tape that made the reputation is three seasons old, an eternity in running back time.
Kentucky bought the lottery ticket anyway and will hand him the first truly featured depth chart of his entire college career, which is exactly the setting a reclamation file like this one needs most: volume, patience and usefully low expectations. Healthy, he is comfortably the most talented reclamation project in this group; anything else and the league will move on without granting the second look. He projects as an undrafted priority whose name recognition will comfortably outlive his draft position unless the burst returns, in which case this entire tier gets reshuffled.
How other scouting services rate CJ Baxter (Overall Rank)
All Scouts AverageOverall Rank
499.5
All Scouts AveragePosition Rank
6.0
*Percentile Ranking in Player's Position Group (NFL Combine Historical Data): This percentile reflects how a player's specific statistics rank
in comparison to historical performances at the NFL Combine, specifically within their position group. A higher percentile indicates a better performance.
For instance, being in the 90th percentile for a particular stat means the player outperformed 90% of their peers in that category.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.