Top 20 Fantasy Running Backs (2025 Draft)

Here's your Top 20 RBs to Draft this season.  After week 1 of preseason and all of the injuries, we get a pretty good idea of where we'd like to be in each round.  Don't be fooled by the hype, guys who got it done last year will still be successful this year (barring major injuries).

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Week One of the pre seasons in the books, and it's time to start getting our list together to get our draft so that we're going to talk about top 20 running backs this week. So hopefully you're pumped. I am. I love talking about running backs. Why? Because Jameer Gibbs is the best running back out there. Do I think he's number one overall, and we'll see. All right, like we talked about last year, when I'm coming up with my list, I'm thinking about potential and opportunity. Now, I do not try to bring in injury thought processes. I'm assuming that everyone's gonna get 1617, games, so I'm kind of keeping them all on an equal level. But I'm gonna throw in some injuries this time, because there are some people out there who have some real issues, and they need to be discussed, and you need to consider these before you're even drafted. All right, let's jump right into it. The number one running back from last year was Jameer Gibbs. I do not have him as number one overall this year, and we'll talk about why, but my number one overall pick for running back is Bijan Robinson. Now I love Robinson. He's on a team with a lot of potential. They give him the ball, so plenty of opportunity. They have an easy strength of schedule. There is literally no one behind him. Alger, I forgot who that guy is. I mean, honestly, there is nobody behind him. So he's going to get the rock. He's going to get over 300 carries, just like he did last year. He's going to see 72 maybe even 80 targets this year. I think his receiving touchdown numbers are going to increase, which is why he's going to overtake as number one, his easy schedule, combined with the fact that there is no one behind him, and the guy is a beast and Atlanta is only going to get better, makes him the number one overall guy. And number two, this is where I have Jameer Gibbs, and this is a tough one, because a lot of people are going to argue that saquon Barkley last year's number two should be number two or even number one. Now Gibbs was number one last year. Running backs don't repeat year to year. That's an anomaly. So the thing that Gibbs is going to be number one again this year. That's a stretch, plus he had 20 total touchdowns last year. That is really hard to repeat. So I think he falls back a couple of touchdowns this year, that plus literally the toughest schedule out there. I mean, a bottom five schedule for running back. I mean, they have to go away at every single top team this year. What it's just pathetic. The NFC North is just awful. As far as schedule is concerned, you can really tell that the NFL didn't want the lions or anyone else from the NFC North even getting close to the NFC Championship game. They just made it almost impossible. I digress, whatever, but Gibbs is number two. Too much opportunity. Yes, Montgomery is still there. But even with Montgomery there, he had 20 total touchdowns, almost 2000 total yards. The guy's a beast. He's awesome. Draft of confidence. Number three, I have Barkley, for all the reasons that you would think 2000 yard rusher, he's got a tougher schedule. Is hertz gonna throw the ball more because now that they've got a ring, he's like, all right, I don't have to feed it to this dude. He got his 2000 yards. You got yours? I want to get mine. Contract year coming up. I want my money. Barkley still going to be outstanding again. No one really behind him. He's got a tough schedule, though, and he's got a new offensive coordinator, so that's going to drop him down to three I think for me overall, still a very solid pick in the first round. The fourth overall guy I have is Derek Henry. Now everyone's like, what about janty? I don't understand. He's coming fourth off the board, and he's in the first round. Janty is a rookie. He doesn't know how to pick up solid pass pro. He is on the Raiders. Everyone is completely over hyping this kid. I talked about him in the rookie segment, but janty is not going to give you top 10 running back numbers of this year. Yes, he has plenty of opportunity and potential. It's still the Raiders. So where do I look? I look at Derrick Henry. What did he do last year? And the guy is like, 31 years old. He averaged 5.9 yards a carry on 325 rushing attempts in the history of the NFL. Only three running backs have ever averaged six yards or more with over 300 carries in a season. My man, Barry Sanders, holds the mark at 6.1 in the NFL record books with over 300 carries in a season, 1997 then you have OJ. Where's my Bronco? Simpson at 6.0 and then Adrian Peterson at 6.0 back in the day, that's it. And then there's Derek Henry at 5.9 this guy is a beast. His work ethic is amazing. He keeps himself in incredible health, and he plays a. On one of the best teams out there, and, oh, by the way, their schedule is easy, and there's nobody behind him. If you don't think this guy isn't going to get another 300 carries, you're wrong. He's going to get 16 total touchdowns, at least. Yes, he doesn't catch a whole lot of balls. So if you're in a non PPR league. And remember, we're talking PPR leagues here, because most leagues are PPR if you're in a non PPR League, first of all, switch to a PPR League. Do the smart thing. Second of all, Derek Henry is going to drop a little bit if you're in a non PPR League. Otherwise, go get him. I mean, even if you're non PPR and you pick him up with the fourth overall or as the fourth overall running back. That's still a steal. Moving on in the fifth position, I have Jacobs now. I know in the fifth position, McCaffrey is the one coming off the board in the first round. We've talked about McCaffrey and his injuries. I really don't need to go there. I'm not touching him this year. Same thing with janty. I'm going to let everyone else pick them in the first round, or I will pick someone else. But my number five overall running back is Jacobs. He's a three down workhorse back. He gets all the goal line carries. He has an easy strength of schedule. Last season, over 300 carries, 15 touchdowns, 1300 yards rushing, 43 catches and a touchdown. He's pushing almost 1800 yards total. There is no way that anyone is going to supplant that. No way. I don't care who they bring in. I'm like, oh, Brooks can do this. Oh, well, he can do this. Now, Jacobs is still going to dominate. He's your number five and number six. Bucky Irving, now, I love Bucky. Last year, everybody know I was hyping him up for good reason. He's a talented kid. What do we see or happen two days ago, white busted his groin, and then he went back into the game. This is the interesting thing, if you're watching the game, which I was live, I could see that he injured is growing when he ran out of bounds. His problem is he went back in there with the injury. You could see it. He had it and he ran the next play. The reason why he did that is he's afraid of losing his roster spot. You can see it if he's afraid of losing his roster spot, that means that, my man, Bucky, is all over. The number one, so Bucky, number six, opportunity potential totally there. I think he gets more carries. I think he catches the ball more I think he gets more touchdowns. This should be a huge, huge year for Bucky. And number seven, I have Kyron Williams now. Everyone's going to be like, Oh, but Blake quorum, oh, but this. Oh, but that. Yeah, they were saying the same thing last year. Here's a guy who is averaging 85% of the total snap count over the last three years for his team, and he's the only guy in the NFL who's done that. This guy plays every play. He is a three down back with the potential of 15 to 16 touchdowns and oh, by the way, Cooper cup is gone. All right, so they're gonna have to lean on Kyron even more. Blake Corum looked good in preseason, but that's preseason, and again, is the Kyron Williams Show. So I have him at number seven. No brainer in the number eight position. Last year's number 10 back is Chase brown. Now I'm a little bit worried about Chase brown, a little bit worried about his health. I mean, he played 16 games last year, so I'm not like terribly worried and chase Brown. The big thing about Chase Brown is he gets a lot of touchdowns and he catches a lot of balls. So last year, he had 11 touchdowns, caught 65 finished again as number 10. I think there's a lot of upside for him. There's really no backup at all this year, and he has all the opportunity and a super easy strength of schedule. I think this sets up for Chase brown to crack the top 10 and finish number eight this year, all right. And number nine, I have Devon a chain now, a chain is coming off pretty early. I mean, when you look at the draft board, he's coming off as the sixth overall running back. Correction, seventh overall running back. Of course, janty and McCaffrey are ahead of him, which I haven't even gotten to yet, but he's coming off in the early the second round, and that's the right place for him. He has an easy schedule. I think Miami takes a little bit of a step back offensively, but you can't deny the fact that last year he caught the most balls as a running back, 78 now he saw two less balls than Kamara, who's coming up here pretty soon, but he caught 78 for six touchdowns. That's where he does his biggest damage. He only saw 200 carries last year. Miami was hurting. They had to throw the ball a little bit more. I think if Miami can put it a little bit more together, he's ready for a top 10 finish again. I don't think he finished his top five like he did last year. At number 10, I have James Cook. This is a dangerous pick, because he's whining about his pain. Day, and he wants to get his and yeah, he had a huge season last year, 16 touchdowns, over 1000 yards. James Cook, legitimately should get paid. There is no question. However. Comma, sitting down ain't gonna help him. He's got an easy strength to schedule, same team, same playbook. He needs to get his vote back out there, and if he does, he's going to have a solid top 10 finish. The big worry here is, obviously, is he going to extend this hold out through the entire preseason, into the regular season? I don't think so. I think you can draft him with confidence, because in the end, he knows he needs to perform to get paid. All right, that's your top 10. Let's take a quick pause here. I know a lot of people are gonna disagree with my top four. That's fine. I don't care if Gibbs is four, if Henry's number one, or if Barkley finishes three or one, it doesn't really matter if you get any one of those top four guys, you're gonna dominate your league. Obviously, if one of them gets hurt, people get hurt. That's just the way it is. But you are going to dominate your league if you have one of those top four guys. And when you're looking at the first round, yeah, you have Jamar Chase as the number one overall. But if you want to go running back, I would get one of those four guys for sure. And then there, yeah, there's Jefferson CD lamb at neighbors. I think this year, little bit of a tangent here. I think this year, if you have an early pick, is the year to go get a running back. Love Jamar chase. The guy's a beast. He's going to be huge at the wide receiver position, but there is a significant drop off once you get past the top five six running backs in total points. And I mean, huge and yeah, you can make the argument that if Chase stays healthy, there is a big drop off in the wide receiver core, yes, but I can put together a wide receiver core that can make up for that. There aren't a whole lot of running backs that I can make up for a Bajan Robinson, Barkley or Gibbs, as last year, most of you all find out. Sidebar over, like I said, if I get any one of those top four guys, I am super happy if I get anyone in five through seven, five through eight, I'm happy as well. Eight, nine and 10. Yeah, they could go probably three or four slots down from there, but that's still a solid running back. Most of those guys you're gonna pick up in the second, third round anyway. So you probably started with wide receiver, if that's what you're up against. Or you just put two of those top 10 running backs together, and now you have a huge team because you went zero wide receiver. That is a strategy we'll talk about later. At number 11, I have breeze Hall. I struggle with this one a little bit, and I know he's coming off in the third round, in the middle of the third round, so his ranking is about Roer. He's coming off in the as far as ADP is concerned. Breece Hall is on a team with Justin fields. I'm not a Justin fields fan again, he looks at his first read and then he runs. So unless Brees Hall is intentionally his first read or it's a running play, directly to Brees Hall. This could be an issue for Brees Hall. I mean, he had Aaron Rodgers last year, who was not stellar, as we know, got 76 targets, 57 catches. That's a lot of targets. So in a PPR League, that's the kind of guy you want. I think fields might give them more opportunities at touchdowns, or at least he's going to lean on running backs more. I hope he does. But the bottom line is, I think breeze Hall, he finishes about where his ADP is at number 11 overall. At number 12, I have Alvin Kamara now. I kind of wanted to push Alvin Kamara back into the top 10 again. New Orleans is just a train wreck this year, as everyone knows. But the fact of the matter is, is, regardless if they're a train wreck like they were last year, he is the number one player, 89 targets, 68 catches. That's huge. Yeah, he went under 1000 yards, only got six touchdowns on the ground. But if you're looking for a PPR monster, this is a guy. I mean, he still was in the top 10 last year, finished number nine. That is huge. And where are you going to find Kamara right now you're going to find them late in the fourth round. That is huge. If you go zero running back for the first three rounds. This is the guy you're going to target in the fourth round. So go get him. And number 13, I have Aaron Jones. Now a lot of people are worried about Aaron Jones, because, yeah, you know, the Vikings went out and got Mason. I get it. There's a little bit of a concern there, but I still think he sees similar numbers to last year. I don't really see any kind of drop off, as far as he's concerned. That combined with his, you know, decent schedule, I think puts him in a position to be successful. Still has Justin Jefferson out there commanding a lot of the attention, and that gives him some open opportunities. And then Justin Jefferson, Addison, they're going to get him close to the goal line, and he's going to get his chances, right. I mean, last year, what did he do? He put up five touchdowns on the ground, not a whole lot, 1100 yards, but 62 targets, 51 catches. That puts him at a solid 13. That's a good. Got to go get all right at number 14, I have Tony Pollard. Tony Pollard had a huge year last year, over 1000 yards, five touchdowns, caught 41 balls for a really, really bad team. Now I know it's Tennessee, and they have a rookie quarterback. However, Taji Spears is hurt. I think Tony Pollard continues to get the same numbers that he had last year, maybe even a little bit more, maybe an extra touchdown, maybe an extra two touchdowns, which would put him solidly in the conversation for a top 20, top 15 finish. And I have him at 14 and number 15. Truth be told, this is not my favorite player. Jonathan Taylor. Now Jonathan Taylor continuously gets himself in the top 20. So you have to put Jonathan Taylor in the top 20, and I have him at 15. The quarterback position in Indianapolis is a training like, just like it was last year. Last year, Jonathan Taylor had 11 touchdowns, 1400 yards on the ground, and he caught 18 balls for another touchdown. That sounds like really, really good numbers, but he didn't look that good, actually, at all. If you dig deep into his schedule from last year, he got most of his touchdowns, six out of 11 in the last three weeks of the season. Now, if you had this guy riding the pine, and then you pulled him out in the fantasy playoffs, in the Super Bowl, congratulations, if you're in a basketball league. And he was like, not helping you out, and then all of a sudden, he won you a championship. Congratulations. But you didn't even make it to the playoffs in a regular League, because this guy couldn't get it done until the last three weeks of the season, you were thinking, oh, man, if I were in the playoffs, I would have won it all. Well, that's the problem with Jonathan Taylor. He wasted all of that in the last three weeks of the season, and there's a reason for that. They were playing for nothing. They had nothing to lose. They basically just went out there and rode him until he couldn't handle it anymore. He missed three games last year. He misses games every year, and that's a problem with Jonathan Taylor. Even though he misses games, he could still finish in the top 20. So even though I have him ranked at 15, if he finishes 17, 1819, it wouldn't surprise me, but he's still going to be in the top 20 at number 16. Here's where I have CMC. Everyone's thinking, Well, why are we even going to talk about Christian McCaffrey? Because Christian McCaffrey is going to play half a season, if he's lucky. His injuries are catastrophic. There's no other way to put it. If you draft him in the first round, you are going to be disappointed, just like you were last year. This kid is a beast. He's put his entire body through hell, but unfortunately, there's just no coming back from this. I really I hope and pray for the guy. I want the best for him. He seems like a really great dude. In the end, the injuries have caught up with this young man, and I just don't see it happening this year. If you draft him, you absolutely have to get grendo as a handcuff. I mean, that has to be a priority, because I'll tell you what I'm doing. I'm targeting grendo As soon as I can get him. Because when McCaffrey goes down and he will, unfortunately, Grendel is going to get 2025. Touches his game, all right? And Number 17, this is where I have janty. Yeah, I throw them all my way. I want to hear all the hate mail. Come on. Come on. I want to hear it all because, I mean, seriously, I deserve it. No, I don't. Absolutely not. He's a rookie. He's not going to be the number four overall running back. I'm not going to take him in the first round. It's like, I'm not going to take Travis Kelsey in the first round. Anybody do that in the last couple of years? Yeah? How did that work out for you? Yeah, I'm telling you right now, janty, don't take him in the first round. Let him go. I would rather have Henry 101 days out of 100 days. Yeah, those numbers don't add up. The reason is, is because it's so crazy to draft janty In the first round. I'm telling you, it's a huge mistake. I don't care how big his arms are. I don't I don't care. I know he's on the Raiders. I know he's probably going to get 300 carries. But if the Raiders are always behind, and their schedule isn't that great, by the way, if they're always behind, they're not going to be running to this kid. I mean, yeah, he's awesome at all. But Geno Smith is going to throw it to ball of hours. He's going to throw it to Myers. He's going to move the ball. Do I think janty is going to have a good season? Yeah, I do. I have him at 17. That's not a terrible place to be, but for a rookie, he needs to be able to protect the quarterback. There's nobody behind Geno right now, and pass Pro is very important. So if he doesn't improve, in that case, he's not going to get as many touches as we think. He's not gonna push 300 touches. I don't care what anyone thinks. It's not gonna happen. I'm thinking 250 touches, which puts him at a solid top 20. And I have him at 17. At 18, I have chubba Hubbard. I call him chubba, but I do that, you know, with reverence. Okay? It's Chuba. I got it. I like chubba. And no disrespect, I think he's awesome. He's playing for Carolina, Carolina young Ted. I mean, there's some there's some talent there, but Chubbs, correction, Chuba, I don't want the hate mail. I'm sorry, but I say that with reference. I'm just saying, okay, but Chuba is in trouble. They went out and got Rico dat. Don't ask me why. I have no idea. Gets over 1000 yards with Dallas. Are they looking at as a timeshare? Do they really think he's gonna supplant him? I think that Chuba big contract is still the starter. I see this as a two thirds, one thirds kind of timeshare, which hurts him. Last year, it was all him, so I still think he finishes in the top 20. I mean, he's a great running back, but this doubt will thing it really, it really impacts his opportunities to to run the ball, and I hope, I hope they don't get into a timeshare where Donald comes in to get the goal line touches and take all the touchdowns away from Chuba. I hope that doesn't happen. I mean, they paid Hubbard a lot more than Donald, but I mean, that still remains to be seen. And number 19, I have James Connor. And James Connor, he might be 50 years old. I don't really know people treat him like that, but the bottom line is, is is the guy pushes almost five yards of carry every season, still went over 1000 yards last year, played 16 games, so super healthy. He was targeted 55 times. Now, even he comes out and says, Oh yeah, Benson, he deserves more playing time. I heard all that last year, and guess what, he's still got like 280 touches. I don't really think that's going to change. Yeah, he might surrender a couple of touches to Benson, but every time I've seen Benson play, I don't see that burst of speed that well, you know, this guy's electric, amazing. Benson's not going to see a whole lot of carries. Again. It's still going to be the James kind of show. As far as I'm concerned. I don't think he's going to carry 250 times in the season. His carries my back off about 20, he might see like 10 less catches, but, I mean, that's why I haven't been to solid 19. I still think he's going to have a great season, you know, and if Benson gets hurt. Well, now here we go, James Connor once again with 300 touches. Okay. Finally, at number 20, I have David Montgomery and everyone I can hear it right now. Everyone's freaking out like, no way you can't, just because you're a Lions fan, you can't put them both in the top 20. Oh yeah, I did the same thing last year, and they both finished in the top 20. Shocker. They were one in 18. And guess what? Last year, when everybody thought David Montgomery was going to be nowhere. What does he do? 12 touchdowns, 36 catches. Yeah, he only had 775, yards rushing. But who cares, when you put up 12 touchdowns, that puts you in the top 20. He finished right behind Mixon, who everyone was like, Oh, he's having an amazing year, dude. He was one behind mix in who, by the way, his hurt and probably not going to play in, which case, this is why he's at 20. It's pretty much a guarantee. I still think he gets 10 touchdowns, I really do. And if Detroit lines schedule is as tough as everyone says it is, aka top five worst schedule out there for running backs. If it's really that bad, they need Montgomery in between the tackles. It's going to be a bruise fast. And there is nobody I would rather have with the ball needing one yard on the goal line than David Montgomery. And I think you agree that's the top 20. Let's take a pause here and just look at that last 1011, through 20. Every single one of those guys is pretty decent, but none of them are really going to win you this season, although I will say Kamara could easily finish in the top 10. Janty, he could prove me wrong in finishing the top 10. In order to do that, there would have to be some serious injuries, like a chain cook would have to sit out the entire season. Chase those guys, those kinds of guys would have to fall out for janty to crack the top 10. And if, again, if he's not his top 10 guy, I'm not touching him until the third round. There's some question marks in 11 through 20. There are every year. It's not perfect. Now, one of the things that came out in the news tonight was Stevenson in New England could potentially have some sort of injury from the preseason game. Now, what would that do that would elevate everyone's travion Henderson is going to be the next guy kind of attitude I tray on Henderson. Look first touching the NFL. He goes for 100 yards. That was awesome. Let me tell you something about that play if you are taking your top pick running back. And you're putting him on a kick return, which is one of the most dangerous plays to run. I'm not really sure they care that much about him. I mean, let's face it, every time you see a top flight wide receiver field punts, the only thing you're hoping is that he doesn't get hurt, because it's one of the most dangerous plays. There are kick returns as well. Everyone is running full speed, and the hits are brutal. And in pre season, all of the rookies, they're just trying to make a splash play. Travion Henderson, you put him out there like that and risked his season on a kick return in the preseason. That means they're trying to manufacture plays for him, because right now they don't have a whole lot of room for him as a starter. I think travion Henderson, great kid. I'm not sure he starts. And unless Stevenson is hurt for a long time. And with Gibson in there, he might only get 100 touches, and if they put him on kick returns, man, that kid's gonna get hurt, not because he's like, you know, weak or something, but it's a dangerous place to put a guy. So when you look at the pre season, you see stuff like that. You see igbuka, wide receiver, I know we're on a tangent here, but you know, just go with me. Igboko was returning punts. That's a bad idea. He was starting in the slot for Godwin, who, oh, by the way, we found out, is probably going to be out until at least week six, which, let me translate that for you. He's not going to play the rest of the season. Okay? The guy is too hurt. So you're putting that guy in punt returns in the preseason where some guy who's trying to make the team is looking for a splash play and looking to crush him. That is not smart. You're not going to use him in that position during the season. He's going to end up being your slot guy. So that worries me when coaches do that kind of stupid stuff. All right, I digress. And there's your top 20 running backs. If you agree, awesome. If you disagree, even better. Let me know in the comments. Let me know who you think the top 20 are. In the end, if it's exactly a two or Jacobs finishes exactly at five, I don't really care. I know who my top guys are. I know where I want to draft talent, and I know what I'm willing to reach for, and that's what the point of this top 20 is. That's what the point of these lists are. You could disagree with me within two or three picks or what have you, but look at the overall potential opportunity, look at the strength of the schedule, look at what the history has shown. Look at what these guys do in the regular season. Do they win you games every single week? Or is it like Jonathan Taylor who decides to wake up when the season is over? Okay? I don't need those kinds of guys in order for me to get into the playoffs and win a Super Bowl. I have to win the regular season games, if it's best ball, okay, that's different. Maybe I'll try to stack him in one of those leagues or whatever. But most guys don't play best ball, and if you are in a league where you have to win week to week, you need guys who consistently put up points. Thanks for listening. And as always, I give a shout out to the men and women in uniform who protect the freedoms that we hold dear. Thank you for your service and sacrifice and thanks for listening. If you like what you heard tonight, follow us on X YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, so you can stay up to date on the latest content. And until then, remember established dominance isn't just a catchphrase, it's a commitment. Are you ready? You.