Top 21-40 Fantasy Running Backs (2025 Draft)

Part 2 of our Running Back series and it's full of players who have issues.  Grab the one with the least amount of problems and hope he comes through.  Or listen to my analysis and Establish Dominance!

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You. Welcome back, everybody. Tonight, we're going to talk about the second half of our running backs, running backs 21 through 40, and we'll give you a couple of bonuses at the end. We're going to talk about why these guys are huge this year, and we're also going to show you why drafting running back heavy early on makes the most sense. Now, what do all these running backs have in common? They all have issues. They all, or most of them, have injuries. A lot of them are not even starters, and most of them have a backup that is chomping at the heels to come after them. So this list, 21 through 40 is complicated. It's not going to be perfect, and I guarantee you these guys are going to move at least five spots, if not 10, in one direction or the other. So it's not a perfect science here. What I want you guys to take away from this is kind of like what we talked about in the wide receiver show. If you really like someone, it makes sense for your team, it's a good fit for your bye weeks. You like rooting for them, and you're not paying too much. Then go ahead and grab that guy. If it's too much risk, if it's too much to pay for, if you're not sure about his injury, then move on to the next one. I guarantee you that in this running back 21 through 40, there's going to be about a differential of somewhere between 20 and 30 points either way. So if you're wrong by just a little bit, it's not really going to cost you an entire season. These are the guys who are going to sub in for you, or these are the guys that are going to be you know, your injury replacements, until you get your number one back healthy. I will say, however, that this list is going to absolutely prove that running back heavy is the way to go this year, and you'll see why. We'll also talk about who you should be targeting if you don't go running back heavy, and if you go wide receiver heavy, or we call it the zero running back approach. These are the guys you're going to have to target because, well, everybody's going to be gone because you picked wide receiver, wide receiver, wide receiver, in three straight rounds. All right, so let's get into it. Let's start with number 21 I put it out on my ex account, so you should already have seen it, but it's Kenneth Walker. Now, a lot of people have Charbonnet here, and I don't disagree with that. KENNETH Walker is very talented, but he's the starter, and Charbonnet is very talented. They almost did a split last year, but there were a lot of injury problems, and in the end, Seattle starts Walker. They just trust him a little bit more. And I mean, that's why you need to go with him. That doesn't mean you shouldn't target Charbonnet. We'll talk about him later. But from the standpoint of this, if I can get a starter at number 21 I'm going to go get him. And again, if you are zero running back approach, you need starters. So Kenneth Walker is probably somebody on your list, and he's going in the fourth round from ADP. And Number 22 I have Tracy out of the giants now. He's going in the eighth round. He is the starter right now. And I know a lot of people have a lot of love for scared about I do too. I like that kid a lot. I think it's, I think he's somebody that New York can really, can really, you know, rally around, but he's hurt. He's missed a lot of practice. He's missed a lot of that time with the quarterback. He's probably not good in Passport right now. He just doesn't have the reps. So Tracy is going to get the ball. Get the bulk of the carries. And when he started last year, he was explosive, and he got a lot of touches per game. Also caught a lot of balls. So from a PPR perspective, this is a guy you want to target. And again, zero running back strategy, this is a guy you're going to have to go after. And Number 23 I have swift out of Chicago. If you listened last night to my wide receiver show, you know, I don't like anybody out of Chicago. Swift has a lot of problems. First of all, he's going in the sixth round. I would never grab him there. There's way too much talent, like Aaron Jones and everyone else that would do much better than he would. In addition, he has trouble punching it in for a touchdown. He's decent, you know, after the catch, getting yards, but for some odd reason, when he gets inside the red zone, he just doesn't get touchdowns. And I don't trust him. But again, if you're looking for a starting running back, here he is at number 24 I have JK Dobbins. He's going in the 10th round. He's got Harvey behind him, who looks good. But again, he's the starter. If he can stay away from injuries. He's explosive. He'll he'll average more than 4.6 a carry. So in that Denver scheme, he can be very successful if he gets an injury. Look out for Harvey. But right now, he's the starter and number 25 I have Charbonnet. I know he's really close to Walker here. Charbonnet is going in the 10th round. That is huge value. Walker in the fourth, Charbonnet in the 10th. I would rather have Charbonnet in the 10th. He's my favorite target. I think he's one of the best handcuffs out there by far. He's even better in some ways, than Walker is. But again, Seattle, trust Walker just a tiny bit more. Would I grab Charbonnet? Absolutely. He's like my favorite target the. Year number 26 I have Pacheco, and he's going in the sixth round. I just is hard pass for me. He doesn't get a whole lot of work. He's like the fourth or fifth target on that team, you know, after worthy, Kelsey rice, etc, and mahomes, because he loves to run into himself. He's also injury prone. He had a rough year last year. If he can get back to form like 2023 he can outperform this 26 pick right here, but right now, I don't see that at 27 I have Javante Williams. Now he's getting picked up in the 10th round. So this is pretty good value. I mean, somebody's got to start for Dallas, right? I don't know who's going to be but they held him out of the last preseason game, and he's the only one who's healthy. So at this point, I think he's going to start game one. Yeah, I know blue. He's out there. Everybody talks about him, and nobody's really running away with the job. But right now, I think it's javantes to lose until blue comes around, and again, you're getting good value in the 10th round as the number 27 running back, and number 28 I have ramondy Stevenson. Now this is a tough one, because I like Henderson a lot. Again, it is New England. They have no idea what to do with running backs. They had Henderson returning kicks in the preseason. It's like your number one guy giving him a chance to get hurt. It's just stupidity. And along the lines of stupidity, they're going to start Stevenson. Now, I know he has a no contact Jersey right now, but he's back at practice. You're getting 10th round value in the draft for him, so that's not too bad. And they trust him the most. He's been there the longest. He's a starter for a couple of years. He could do it on both ends. He can run it with it. He can catch with it. So right now, it's his job to lose until he gets hurt, but Henderson is right there and waiting. Here's the big problem with Henderson, and we'll talk about him a little bit later. He's going off in the fifth round. That is way too costly for a rookie who doesn't have a whole lot of pass Pro and is not the actual starter. And number 29 I have Etn or Bigsby, both from Jacksonville. Now you can't, you can't. They're not going to be a tie, obviously. But here's the why, here's why I have them together. Etn is the PPR guy. If you're in a PPR League, this is where you're going to grab them. If you're in a non PPR League, you're going to grab Bigsby for value wise, Etn is dropping in the ninth round, Bigsby in the 12th round, which is kind of why I lean Bigsby overall when it comes to Jacksonville, do I see a 5050, times share? I don't know. It's tough. This is probably one of the toughest things in running back in fantasy football this year, figuring out which one of these guys are going to start. Etienne is he's very fast with the ball. He has good hands. He can catch the ball. Big speed is more like a power running back. He can get the short touchdowns Jacksonville, they're never consistent with these guys. They don't allow them to get, you know, enough carries in a row to get like momentum. Big picture. Bottom line on this one, I'll grab 18 at 29 we'll talk about big speed later. Number 30, I have Najee Harris. I'm a big Naji Harris fan. I think he's a tough kid. Didn't your mom tell you not to point fireworks at your face when you light them. Enough. Said he's going off in the 10th round. Decent value for the number 30 running back over here. He is the starter. I know everyone is looking to Hampton, and they're like, Oh man, Hampton's gonna do this. So we're gonna take him in the fourth round. Say what? Again, people are drafting Hampton in front of Chuba, Kamara, Henderson, Connor Walker, Swift Jones, Montgomery. You must be joking me. Hampton, fourth round, no way. Talented kid. Pass way too much cost. And Number 31 I have any Washington starter. I mean, I don't know, you know, shake an eight ball and figure out who's gonna be the starter right now, everyone is all over JCM, or just call me Bill. I mean, seriously, it's a great name. I love it, Crosby, America. I'm probably gonna hose that up, but he looks talented. Is he the next Tom Brady from the seventh round? No, he is not, all right, there is no other Tom Brady. I'm sorry, the kid looks great in pre season, but he looked great against the Cincinnati Bengals, which is a team you need to absolutely target with any offensive player that you have, because their defense is awful. They can't even sign their number one star defensive player. They're looking to trade him. They have no idea what they're doing. Their own defensive players are hitting burrow in practice. It's a train wreck from defense. So anybody who came in there is going to look good against him. I like JCM. I think he's a great kid. And if you want to reach for him here at 31 Go ahead. But with Rodriguez there Eckler, who they're trying to trade to Robinson, they're definitely trying to trade him. To trade him. This is a timeshare nightmare. Yes, the kid looks good in preseason, but it's preseason, and he's a rookie. His name's not Tom Brady, and number 32 I have mix in. Yes, I know he's probably not going to play week one, but I'll take a healthy mix in playing week two or week. Three over a bunch of these other guys that come after him. He's got an eighth round ADP. That's a pretty high price for somebody who's not gonna start week one. Okay, it's not official that he's gonna start week one, but seriously, he may not start week one. He's very talented. That's a very high price to pay for a guy we just don't know how he's doing. So too many secrets in the NFL. All right. Number 33 I have Henderson. He's going in from the fifth round. We talked about him already. Think he's very talented, but New England just doesn't know what to do with the running back. So I would pass on this kid for now. Number 34 here's where I have Bigsby. Already talked about him. You're getting great value here as a 12th round ADP. So this is a guy I would target later on if I'm building my bench, I'm gonna best ball. This is a great guy to get. If you start zero running back, another good guy to get. He could become a starter. The number 35 I have Hampton, which is terrible because, as with a fourth round ADP, that means I'll never have him, and that's okay, Harris is still the starter. It's too high a price for all the reasons we talked about. At number 36 I have Mason. They wouldn't have picked up Mason and paid him money if they weren't going to use him, but Jones can actually get the job done. Mason's coming off in the ninth round. I think that's a little bit too high of an ADP. They brought him in to pound in touchdowns because, well, Jones, he's just not getting it done lately. So he's gonna get he's gonna score, but it's not gonna be an exact timeshare. I think Mason gets maybe a third of the work. And I'm not sure he's worth that ADP, but I see why they brought him in if something happens to Jones. Okay, now you have a legit starter at number 37 I have Trey Benson. He's going off in the 12th round. That's good value, but it's still a one thirds, two thirds timeshare. I see Connor getting two thirds of the work. I know he's, you know, talked him up. They've always talked up Benson. But in the end, it doesn't translate into reality. Maybe it will this year, but it's not going to be a 5050, split. But if Connor goes down, and based on his age, there's a chance of that, then Benson becomes a starter. So he makes the 21 to 40 list at 37 at number 38 I have Harvey out of Denver. He's a seventh round ADP. That's a little bit high based on my ranking. And again, Dobbins is still the starter. This kid's giving you an opportunity. But unless Dobbins goes down, he's really not gonna get relevant playing time to suggest that he's gonna do anything better than a 38th finish, all right, number 39 I struggle with this. I hit Chubb at first, but I ended up putting Ford in here because Judkins is a train wreck. He hasn't even signed his contract. He hasn't practiced with the team. So that means Ford's going to be the starter like he was last year. Ford is not flashy, and Cleveland doesn't run the ball effectively, but he is a starter, which means he's going to get 10 to 15 touches a game, and potentially, you know, chances at touchdowns, and when you're looking for value after, you know, 38 guys are off the board. Number 39 running back doesn't look too bad, especially if he did that zero running back approach. I don't think he'll be the starter for long, but he'll at least give you the first couple of weeks, and then at number 40, I have played quorum. I think he's an excellent handcuff for one of the best running backs in the NFL. And I think, you know, with the chance he could actually perform, and he's shown it in preseason. The problem is, unless Kyron Williams gets injured, he's just not going to see any playing time. They're just not that high on him. As a bonus, I'm going to throw in number 41 I like Caleb Johnson out of Chicago. Yes, I said before I don't like a whole lot of Chicago players, but he's new to the team. He's a rookie, so I'm going to give him a pass. There's a couple of the running backs that are out there that you can, you could take, you know, take a stab at guys like blue. Will he come back? Who's going to take over as the starter in Washington, who's going to take over the starter at Dallas? And that'll do it for the list tonight. Remember, all of these guys have issues. Not all of them are starters. Most of them are banged up, or they've got rookies behind them that are chomping at the bit to get at them. Some of them have age issues. Some of them don't even have a contract. That's why this list is so tough. 21 through 40, I got to tell you, I struggled with this, and these guys are going to move up and down. Just remember what you're getting. You're getting a potential handcuff, a bye week replacement, somebody with high upside, a rookie with an opportunity, or if you win zero running back approach, you're getting your starters in which case you better get the top of this list in rounds four through six. Good luck as always. Want to 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 enjoyed this episode, go ahead and follow us on X YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, to stay up to date on the latest content and until then, remember, establish dominance isn't. Is to catch phrase. It's a commitment. Are you ready? You.