Fantasy Football Quarterbacks With Underrated Rushing Upside: 3 Sneaky Dual-Threat QBs

John Johnson breaks down his favorite fantasy football quarterbacks with underrated rushing upside in 2025. Which sleeper QBs could be league winners due to their rushing upside?

Rushing production for quarterbacks is often hailed as the "X-Factor" for fantasy football. Nearly every season, most of the top-five quarterbacks in fantasy points per game scored get to where they are because of their legs. This is fundamentally obvious when looking at scoring rules.

Rushing yards count for 2.5 times the value of passing yards, and rushing scores count for 1.5 times the points pass TDs do. This means a QB who throws for 300 yards and four touchdowns would score much less (28 fantasy points) than a QB who throws for 250 yards, rushes for 50 yards and a rush score, and throws three pass TDs - who would rack up 33 points.

Both gain the same total yardage and score the same number of NFL points. But one earns nearly 18 percent more fantasy points than the other, and that's a big difference. So, with the importance of rushing quarterbacks established, let's dive into some of the best quarterbacks with underrated rushing potential for 2025!

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J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings

McCarthy hasn't taken a snap in the NFL yet, and his college rushing production wasn't exactly elite, so it makes sense that such a large part of the community is still sleeping on his abilities as a ball-carrier. But there is crazy, crazy potential that's evident on film.

He simply wasn't asked to run much in college, which shouldn't be a surprise. The Michigan squads he played on had some of the country's best offensive lines, allowing the team to have uber-productive rushing games that mainly ran through the team's running backs.

I know J.J. McCarthy didn't run much in college. But why would he? The offense didn't ask him to do it much. They had a great offensive line, and the running backs were asked to carry the load. pic.twitter.com/p3PehUjx4j

— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) July 1, 2025

It's hard to blame him for a lack of production on the ground in college. He carried the ball less than 200 times in his college career, and many of those weren't even designed rushes, but scrambles. He used his mobility mainly to maneuver in the pocket or roll out and buy more time to make passes downfield.

Blake Corum: really fast

JJ McCarthy: also really fast pic.twitter.com/MktKyfGilF

— Sidelines - Michigan 〽️ (@SSN_Michigan) January 19, 2022

Corum, who ran a 4.53-second 40-yard dash, gets dusted in the above play by his quarterback, even after Corum gets the chance to accelerate back to full speed. If Vikings' head coach Kevin O'Connell were privy to fully unlock McCarthy's rushing potential, we could see massive production both on the ground and in the air in the NFL.

Of course, the knee injury to No. 9 is a bit of a concern. It's possible the team could opt to be cautious with that. But by the time the 2025 NFL season starts, he'll have had over a year to recover from a less serious injury than something like an ACL tear.

My analysis has led me to believe that sometime in the next two seasons, we should see McCarthy put up multiple games with 50 or more rushing yards and sprinkle in at least five or six rushing touchdowns in a season. And that's enough to warrant reaching a bit to make sure you get him in your drafts.

Drake Maye, New England Patriots

Of all the quarterbacks in the NFL right now, Maye is perhaps the one who has played significant time but is the most underappreciated for his rushing ability. He averaged nearly eight yards per carry on his rushes as a rookie, and that was with hardly any designed rushing work.

If new Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has any idea what's good for him, he'll get Maye much more involved as a runner. The Patriots, despite their draft picks and offseason signings, are still somewhat lacking in offensive weapons.

I was curious what Jalen Hurts' rushing metrics were like with the tush push effect removed and stumbled upon another Drake Maye stat

QB rushing leaders on runs with 4+ yards needed to gain a first down: pic.twitter.com/EOD1MnG7VU

— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) June 13, 2025

So not only was Maye a great rushing quarterback, but he was that behind a horrible offensive line and in an offense that hardly helped him at all. Maye's rushing was mainly improvised; he showed a great ability to pick up yards with the ball in his hands, and clearly had a good idea when it was time to take off.

Top 10 QBs in combined rushing EPA:

1. Jalen Hurts: +52.1
2. Josh Allen: +39.6
3. Jayden Daniels: +38.8
4. Patrick Mahomes: +29.3
5. Drake Maye: +28.5
6. Caleb Williams: +24.3
7. Kyler Murray: +24
8. Anthony Richardson: +21.6
9. Brock Purdy: +20.8
10. Bo Nix: +19.3 pic.twitter.com/buTPD5LwIo

— Steven Patton (@PattonAnalytics) December 5, 2024

As you can see from the above chart, Maye ranked third in the league in rushing Expected Points Added (EPA) on scrambles, or plays where the offense called a passing play and the quarterback took off. That puts him in elite territory. The incredibly low volume of designed runs is responsible for his low EPA on those types of plays.

2 MINUTES OF DRAKE MAYE RUSHING HIGHLIGHTS 🔥🔥

Top 5 rushing QB in the NFL pic.twitter.com/Nx0yLQxhAY

— Playoff NFL (@_PlayoffNFL) June 16, 2025

The first clip is especially awesome. It shows he has the speed to beat linebackers to the edge of the field in certain situations, which is rare for quarterbacks. That's something we saw a lot from Daniels. Maye having similar rushing upside to Daniels is just a fact.

Yet the fantasy community isn't acting like it. Maye is drafted much lower than Daniels, and while I'm not advocating that Maye should be drafted above No. 5 for the Commanders, I do think a second-round pick in dynasty fantasy football startups is justified.

Rushing/scrambling alone it feels like Drake Maye’s fantasy upside is underrated pic.twitter.com/60yYwY34P0

— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) August 13, 2024

Just like Daniels' rushing ability, Maye's skills date back to his college days, when he compared pretty favorably to Daniels in rushing production. Both are great athletes, and I imagine their ADPs will be much closer to each other ahead of the 2026 season than they are right now.

Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers

Purdy doesn't have quite the ceiling that the other two guys on this list have, according to my analysis. But despite a horribly injured offense around him in 2024, Purdy improved his rushing production in every measurable category from 2023 to the subsequent season.

After rushing 39 times for just 144 yards and three touchdowns in 2023, averaging around 3.7 yards per carry, he logged 66 rushes for 323 yards and five rushing scores in 2024. That trajectory suggests he could be even more involved as a runner in 2025.

Brock Purdy's 2024 rushing highlights pic.twitter.com/mFtbqE15Y1

— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) June 18, 2025

He doesn't have elite athleticism, but he's big enough (6-foot-1, 220 pounds) to be effective at the goal line when needed there, and is a great sack avoider. He's capable of turning "dead-to-rights" plays, in which a defender blows up the original play call and forces him to dodge them, into solid rushing gains.

San Francisco's offense has been heavily based on yards-after-catch production from its receivers and running backs in recent years. With RB Christian McCaffrey being heavily injury-prone throughout his career and aging, an injured Brandon Aiyuk (knee) unlikely to make a big splash in 2025, and tight end George Kittle now 31 years old, the 49ers could continue to be forced to rely on Purdy's legs.

Of course, his season last year wasn't anything special, but he could flirt with 500 rushing yards and seven or more rush touchdowns next season, and a healthier squad could help him boost his passing numbers as well, making him a solid target in redraft leagues and a nice buy in dynasty leagues moving forward.

Brock Purdy is such an underrated scrambler. Turned this sack into a 55-yard FG attempt that was missed and could’ve iced the game. Finished with 41 yards rushing. I need @NextGenStats to tell me how many yards Purdy ran to get 3 yards. pic.twitter.com/XkWJO5vvA2

— Rob Maaddi (@RobMaaddi) September 23, 2024

Often, things happen in the NFL out of necessity, and I suspect 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan will start to call a few more designed rushes or put Purdy in more positions where the offense opens up space in the defense to allow Purdy to scramble more. He's very effective at it.

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