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Draftanomics
Prospect dossier

Justice Haynes

RB · Georgia Tech · via Alabama · 2027 NFL Draft class

Public Draft Board rank #106·4 contributing sources·Board as of August 31, 2026
Draftanomics scouting
Revised preseason edition · September 6, 20264 min readReport role: RB · Georgia Tech

Master scouting report

Justice Haynes brings a dangerous combination of patience and acceleration to the running back evaluation. He can allow an opening to develop, then change the pace of the play once he commits. That is the foundation of a useful NFL rushing role. The projection becomes less complete on passing downs, where route development, receiving consistency and protection remain important work. His explosive ability deserves serious attention without turning a productive but interrupted season into proof of an all-situations workload.

By Draftanomics · Sources & edition · Print report

01The corrected record

Haynes is listed by Georgia Tech at 5-foot-11 and 210 pounds after stops at Alabama and Michigan. His seven-start Michigan season produced 121 carries for 857 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2025, plus 13 receptions for 50 yards. Alabama’s individual season records list 25 carries in 2023 and 79 in 2024. Adding those entries to Michigan’s record gives 225 career carries for 1,473 yards and 19 touchdowns. The individual season entries resolve the inconsistent Alabama aggregate in a later biography.

02Patience with a purpose

Matthew Brown describes patience in reading the opening, while Anthony Licciardi identifies useful manipulation of second-level defenders and urgency between the tackles. The attraction is a runner who can change tempo without becoming indecisive. Waiting is useful when it changes the defender’s commitment or allows a block to form; it becomes costly when the opportunity closes. Haynes’ next-level value depends on preserving that distinction as the space gets smaller and the first available lane may be the only one.

03Acceleration and direction changes

Brown’s evaluation emphasizes burst, breakaway speed, quick jump cuts and effective one-cut running. Those tools give Haynes more than one way to exploit a developing crease. He can threaten an opening without needing every block to remain intact for a long time. The projection should focus on the timing of the change of direction as much as its visual sharpness: an efficient cut that keeps him moving toward available yardage is more valuable than an elaborate adjustment that allows pursuit to recover.

04Finishing the available run

Licciardi notes encouraging pad level and contact balance but is less convinced that Haynes will consistently drive a crowded pile. Brown also sees useful contact posture. This supports a distinction between surviving a glancing challenge and powering through a fully established tackle. Haynes can be a physical, productive runner without being assigned the role of an oversized short-yardage specialist. The useful developmental goal is keeping his balance and forward momentum when the lane narrows, rather than changing his identity into a different type of back.

05Earning the passing-down role

Both evaluations identify work in the passing game. Brown describes a limited advanced route background and problems with top-heavy protection; Licciardi also questions the completeness of the hands, routes and pass-blocking package. The receiving totals show involvement, but they do not establish a broad route tree or dependable protection against NFL pressure. This matters because a back’s presence can become a clue to the play call. More reliable passing-down execution would let an offense retain Haynes’ rushing threat without narrowing its options when he stays on the field.

06Workload and availability

Michigan’s game history records an early exit against USC and a return against Michigan State, while Brown reports a foot injury during the 2025 season. The available rushing sample is productive but short of a full season. That calls for a careful workload projection based on current availability and sustained participation, without supplying an unverified diagnosis, recovery promise or explanation for his subsequent transfer.

The case for the player

Strengths

  • Patience, acceleration and useful direction changes create a credible path to explosive rushing production.

  • Pad level and flashes of contact balance help him preserve the value of a crease after the first challenge.

The questions that remain

Concerns

  • Receiving development and protection must progress before a complete third-down role can be assumed.

  • A seven-game 2025 sample and a limited pile-moving projection argue against assuming every-down or specialist power-back usage immediately.

Building the fit

NFL role and scheme fit

Begin with a rushing role that rewards decisive one-cut work and lets him threaten space after the initial read. A complementary back can handle some of the protection burden while Haynes develops the full passing-down assignment. The best version of that plan expands because he earns more situations, rather than keeping an explosive runner permanently confined to predictable early-down calls.

The Draftanomics view

Bottom line

Haynes has a clear reason to be on an NFL running back board: his running style combines tempo, movement and acceleration with actual production. The decisive improvement would be a more complete, available player around those rushing strengths. That would make the explosive ability easier to use throughout a game.

Sources & edition

The Draftanomics assessment, synthesized from attributed reporting. Role and development language expresses scouting opinion.

Preseason assessment using college evidence through 2025 and subsequent roster, practice and scouting reporting. This edition does not evaluate 2026 regular-season games or claim a new Draftanomics film study.

Edition reviewed September 7, 2026. Corrects career arithmetic and current measurements, expands the running evaluation and keeps receiving, protection and availability limitations explicit.

The original August edition remains preserved. This is a revised Draftanomics assessment, with supporting sources attached to each statement.

View the 5 referenced sources
Read statement references

Every passage remains linked to its supporting sources. Open a section to inspect the assessment and its evidence.

Sources for scouting overview
  1. House assessment

    Justice Haynes brings a dangerous combination of patience and acceleration to the running back evaluation.

  2. House assessment

    He can allow an opening to develop, then change the pace of the play once he commits.

  3. House assessment

    That is the foundation of a useful NFL rushing role.

  4. House assessment

    The projection becomes less complete on passing downs, where route development, receiving consistency and protection remain important work.

  5. House assessment

    His explosive ability deserves serious attention without turning a productive but interrupted season into proof of an all-situations workload.

Sources for the corrected record
  1. Reported fact

    Haynes is listed by Georgia Tech at 5-foot-11 and 210 pounds after stops at Alabama and Michigan.

  2. Reported fact

    His seven-start Michigan season produced 121 carries for 857 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2025, plus 13 receptions for 50 yards.

  3. Reported fact

    Alabama’s individual season records list 25 carries in 2023 and 79 in 2024.

  4. Reported fact

    Adding those entries to Michigan’s record gives 225 career carries for 1,473 yards and 19 touchdowns.

  5. Reported fact

    The individual season entries resolve the inconsistent Alabama aggregate in a later biography.

Sources for patience with a purpose
  1. House assessment

    Matthew Brown describes patience in reading the opening, while Anthony Licciardi identifies useful manipulation of second-level defenders and urgency between the tackles.

  2. House assessment

    The attraction is a runner who can change tempo without becoming indecisive.

  3. House assessment

    Waiting is useful when it changes the defender’s commitment or allows a block to form; it becomes costly when the opportunity closes.

  4. House assessment

    Haynes’ next-level value depends on preserving that distinction as the space gets smaller and the first available lane may be the only one.

Sources for acceleration and direction changes
  1. House assessment

    Brown’s evaluation emphasizes burst, breakaway speed, quick jump cuts and effective one-cut running.

  2. House assessment

    Those tools give Haynes more than one way to exploit a developing crease.

  3. House assessment

    He can threaten an opening without needing every block to remain intact for a long time.

  4. House assessment

    The projection should focus on the timing of the change of direction as much as its visual sharpness: an efficient cut that keeps him moving toward available yardage is more valuable than an elaborate adjustment that allows pursuit to recover.

Sources for finishing the available run
  1. House assessment

    Licciardi notes encouraging pad level and contact balance but is less convinced that Haynes will consistently drive a crowded pile.

  2. House assessment

    Brown also sees useful contact posture.

  3. House assessment

    This supports a distinction between surviving a glancing challenge and powering through a fully established tackle.

  4. House assessment

    Haynes can be a physical, productive runner without being assigned the role of an oversized short-yardage specialist.

  5. House assessment

    The useful developmental goal is keeping his balance and forward momentum when the lane narrows, rather than changing his identity into a different type of back.

Sources for earning the passing-down role
  1. House assessment

    Both evaluations identify work in the passing game.

  2. House assessment

    Brown describes a limited advanced route background and problems with top-heavy protection; Licciardi also questions the completeness of the hands, routes and pass-blocking package.

  3. House assessment

    The receiving totals show involvement, but they do not establish a broad route tree or dependable protection against NFL pressure.

  4. House assessment

    This matters because a back’s presence can become a clue to the play call.

  5. House assessment

    More reliable passing-down execution would let an offense retain Haynes’ rushing threat without narrowing its options when he stays on the field.

Sources for workload and availability
  1. House assessment

    Michigan’s game history records an early exit against USC and a return against Michigan State, while Brown reports a foot injury during the 2025 season.

  2. House assessment

    The available rushing sample is productive but short of a full season.

  3. House assessment

    That calls for a careful workload projection based on current availability and sustained participation, without supplying an unverified diagnosis, recovery promise or explanation for his subsequent transfer.

Sources for strength
  1. House assessment

    Patience, acceleration and useful direction changes create a credible path to explosive rushing production.

Sources for strength
  1. House assessment

    Pad level and flashes of contact balance help him preserve the value of a crease after the first challenge.

Sources for concern
  1. House assessment

    Receiving development and protection must progress before a complete third-down role can be assumed.

Sources for concern
  1. House assessment

    A seven-game 2025 sample and a limited pile-moving projection argue against assuming every-down or specialist power-back usage immediately.

Sources for nfl role and scheme fit
  1. House assessment

    Begin with a rushing role that rewards decisive one-cut work and lets him threaten space after the initial read.

  2. House assessment

    A complementary back can handle some of the protection burden while Haynes develops the full passing-down assignment.

  3. House assessment

    The best version of that plan expands because he earns more situations, rather than keeping an explosive runner permanently confined to predictable early-down calls.

Sources for bottom line
  1. House assessment

    Haynes has a clear reason to be on an NFL running back board: his running style combines tempo, movement and acceleration with actual production.

  2. House assessment

    The decisive improvement would be a more complete, available player around those rushing strengths.

  3. House assessment

    That would make the explosive ability easier to use throughout a game.

College record & draft context

College production, measurables, experience, and the prospect's place on the sealed Public Draft Board.

Public Draft Board

Public Draft Board rank
#106
Position rank
RB12
Contributing sources
4
Movement since prior snapshot
Down 28

Sealed snapshot as of August 31, 2026 · equal-weight aggregation of public boards, minimum 3 sources for a rank · The Public Draft Board

College production

Receiving
StatisticSeason 2024Season 2025
Receptions1713
Receiving yards9950
Yards per reception5.83.8
Receiving TD00
Long1316
Rushing
StatisticSeason 2024Season 2025
Carries79121
Rushing yards448857
Yards per carry5.77.1
Rushing TD710
Long8575

Seasons of evidence: 2. Games played, snap counts, and usage shares are not in the retained data. An em dash means the value is not in the dataset, not zero.

Evidence notes

  • The retained data contains 2 seasons of receiving, rushing production (2024–2025).
  • Receiving yards decreased in each observed season (99 → 50).
  • The newest college season in the retained data is 2025; the 2026 season is not yet included.
  • No verified athletic testing is included in the sealed dataset for this prospect.
  • 4 contributing public boards rank this prospect; the Public Draft Board places him at #106.
  • The aggregate public rank fell 28 spots between the two most recent sealed weekly snapshots.

Each note restates a displayed fact. None is a forecast of NFL performance.

Experience and measurements

Listed height
5'11"
Listed weight
210 lb
Class
Senior
Age
Not in dataset
Recorded school
Georgia Tech
Former school
Alabama
Hometown
Alpharetta, GA
Jersey
#22
Recruiting stars
5-star
Recruiting rank
#25 nationally

"Not in dataset" means the value is absent from the sealed dossier dataset, not that it does not exist.

Athletic testing

Not included in the sealed dataset. No combine, pro-day, or RAS value is retained for the 2027 class; absence here does not mean no testing has taken place.

Listed roster height and weight (CollegeFootballData); no verified athletic testing is retained. Bio captured August 29, 2026.

Historical comparisons

Historical profile comparisons are being rebuilt.

Sources and methodology

  • Retained bio and measurements: Draftanomics prospect ingest (CollegeFootballData rosters and recruiting), retained seed data/seed/prospects_upcoming_full.parquet.
  • Retained college production: CollegeFootballData season statistics via the retained player cross-reference; position-relevant categories only; all-zero category rows dropped.
  • Age: unavailable — no birth date or age is retained for the 2027 class.
  • Transfer history: not retained — the page shows the current school and, where the frozen id names a different school, the former school.
  • Public Draft Board: sealed snapshot as of August 31, 2026; per-source ranks are not published under the aggregate-only source policy.

Board methodologyDossier methodologyResearch status

Board position reflects aggregated public opinion; the scouting report is a separate editorial assessment.