5 Backup Fantasy Football Running Backs To Chase In 2025

August 22, 2025

Ryan Kirksey's backup running backs to target and draft in fantasy football. His top NFL stashes, sleepers, and draft values for 2025 redraft leagues.

The 2024 season was an outlier in running back injuries, which led to massive scores from all the top running backs. However, despite what the evidence from last season might tell you, running backs get injured or lose their effectiveness all the time. Every year, running backs succumb to major injuries or start to perform inefficiently. When this happens, it opens up opportunities for backups and low-rostered players to step into their place.

How unusual was the running back health luck in 2024? Of the top 16 running backs in fantasy points per game in half-PPR settings in 2024, only one, Seattle running back Kenneth Walker III, missed more than three games. That means that if your team rostered one of the top-performing running backs, they largely stayed healthy for you. For the most part, handcuffs were an afterthought by the end of 2024, but that is rare. In 2023, six of the top 16 running backs in half-PPR formats missed four or more games.

Below are the top five fantasy football handcuffs that I believe might have the biggest path to a league-winning season in 2025. If something should happen to the lead back on their team and playing time opens up for them, these backs could immediately jump into the top 10. Each of these is going after pick 100 in drafts and is an excellent bench stash for leagues of any size.

Jordan Mason, RB, Minnesota Vikings

If there is one running back on this list who might just straight defy the term "handcuff," it will be Jordan Mason. This could end up being a full-blown timeshare in Minnesota, with Mason approaching 50% of the work. Mason is being drafted like a handcuff, however. He is currently going around pick 100 in many drafts, 30-40 picks after running mate Aaron Jones.

If something should happen to 30-year-old Jones, we should remember what Mason did when he had five games to himself for the San Francisco 49ers in 2024. Mason averaged 120 scrimmage yards and around 5.1  yards per carry, including three touchdowns. He carried, on average, more than 20 times per game and caught seven passes.

All the talk around Braelon Allen/Tank Bigsby taking over their backfields…

The real one who could is Jordan Mason:

- Efficient ball carrier
- Vikings traded for him
- Averaged 90+ rush yards as starter

Aaron Jones is known for battling injuries and joins his age 30 season. pic.twitter.com/I5CGh1fnh5

— Snoog's Fantasy HQ (@FFSnoog) August 14, 2025

That production led to a two-year contract for Mason, totaling $7 million. That's the kind of money you pay a running back if you plan to use them, not sit them on the bench. And it won't take much for Mason to have the backfield to himself. Jones turns 31 soon and has over 1,700 career NFL touches.

The efficiency Jones had at the beginning of last year took a tumble as a result of his massive workload. This was the reason to bring in a counterbalance like Mason. Head coach Kevin O'Connell has said this will be a shared backfield. The reps in training camp back that up. And if Jones falls off an age cliff or gets injured, Mason would ascend to RB1 status immediately.

Zach Charbonnet, RB, Seattle Seahawks

Zach Charbonnet is my favorite handcuff running back to draft in 2025. Kenneth Walker III is not exactly the paragon of good health. Walker missed six games in 2024, and his efficiency was down compared to 2022-23 as well. Walker totaled 4.1 yards per carry in 2023, but that plummeted to 3.8 in his injury-filled year in 2024. Altogether, he was only able to rush for fewer than 600 yards.

Under the hood, it wasn't much better for Walker, either. He was 57th in true yards per carry, 41st in yards per touch, and 39th in the explosiveness rating. Part of the reason that I love Charbonnet so much this year is that he might just be a better runner, all other things being equal.

Charbonnet was 10th in yards created per touch in 2024, far outpacing Walker. We saw Charbonnet dominate when he had the backfield to himself during the Walker injuries. So many factors are working in his favor, and he is one of my favorite picks going after pick 100 in drafts.

Tyler Allgeier, RB, Atlanta Falcons

Unlike Walker, we have no injury, workload, age, or inefficiency concerns with the lead running back of the Atlanta Falcons, Bijan Robinson. Going in the top three picks in most drafts, Robinson is a fantasy force that largely renders backup Tyler Allgeier irrelevant in fantasy football.

However, should something unfortunate happen to Robinson, Allgeier would immediately inherit one of the largest workloads in the NFL. Last season, Robinson played on 76% of snaps. He was fourth in carries and fourth in targets. That's the kind of volume Allgeier could receive. Last year, in a healthy Robinson season, Allgeier only had 150 touches, but he was second fiddle all year.

Most yards after contract per attempt (min 100 attempts):

Bucky Irving: 3.93 yards
Antonio Gibson: 3.91 yards
Tank Bigsby: 3.91 yards
Tyler Allgeier: 3.61 yards

Stats per PFF

Allgeier is a tank 💪🏾 pic.twitter.com/FhJHLiROoF

— Arkesh Ray (@arkeshrayyyy) June 26, 2025

We know Allgeier has the talent to be a league-winning running back. In the pre-Bijan Robinson year of 2022, Allgeier rushed for more than 1,000 yards and finished at 4.9 yards per carry. Allgeier is just 25 years old, he has a nose for the end zone, and he is a must-roster for Robinson managers or others playing the anti-fragile game with running backs.

Ray Davis, RB, Buffalo Bills

James Cook has now signed a massive deal with the Buffalo Bills, so we know he will remain the centerpiece of the running back room this year. He was massively important to the Bills offense in 2024, with more than 1,250 total yards and 18 total touchdowns. That dampens the outlook on Ray Davis slightly, but he is still worth chasing as a valuable handcuff in 2025.

Davis was able to suit up for all 17 games in 2024 and touched the ball 130 times, including six touchdowns for a team that loves to run the ball at the goal line. Davis was able to play more than 24% of the team's snaps, even with Cook taking a majority of the workload. He was also the closing back when the Bills would blow out opponents. Davis would often get almost the whole fourth quarter to himself.

Both Cook and Davis are 25 years old, so there is no advantage there for Davis, but Davis has just one year of tread on the tires, while Cook has three. There is no reason to suspect Cook will fail or succumb to injury this year, but if he does, Davis would thrive. The Bills rushed almost 30 times per game last season and are set up to be run-heavy again.

Trey Benson, RB, Arizona Cardinals

When will it finally be the year James Conner gives in to his age and injury history? Every year, we think Conner will give way to a younger back, and he keeps proving us wrong. In 2024, Conner played 16 games and produced 4.6 yards per carry and over 1,500 yards with nine touchdowns. Trey Benson truthers had to wait for another year.

If that year becomes 2025, Benson is a must-roster player. Benson is seven years younger than Conner; he was a top-of-the-third-round draft pick out of Florida, and his speed and breakaway ability are dynamic. At the draft combine in 2024, he was 98th percentile in both 40-yard dash time and speed score.

Trey Benson!!! pic.twitter.com/kfNNBPyO1J

— Ray G (@RayGQue) August 10, 2025

Benson only had 69 total touches last year because Conner stayed healthy. But with those, he was 15th at the position in true yards per carry (4.5). We know that in his few opportunities, he has been electric, and what we are counting on at pick 135 in drafts is that there is an opportunity for a larger share of the work this season.

Before 2024, Conner missed 14 games over four seasons with various injuries and ailments. His typical season has looked more like 12 or 13 games played, and not the 16 from 2024. Should Conner miss a large chunk of the season due to injury or lose his efficiency, Benson is going to have a majority of the backfield and is explosive enough to be a fantasy difference-maker.

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