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John's late-round running back sleepers to target in fantasy football drafts for zero-RB team builds. His top running backs to draft for zero RB teams.
Zero-RB was possibly the worst strategy you could have followed in fantasy football drafts last season. If you missed out on a few key players, like Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown, you likely would have regretted your choices greatly.
This is primarily due to the rash of injuries that struck many of the league's best wide receivers, though. From Chris Godwin and A.J. Brown to Puka Nacua, Malik Nabers, Tee Higgins, Nico Collins, Mike Evans, and Rashee Rice, the WR position was decimated in fantasy football by ailments for stretches of the season.
There are still hordes of fantasy football managers who feel like geniuses for drafting WRs early in PPR leagues. That's cool, and it makes sense on the surface. I can't stop you from doing so -- all I can do is try to help you find the best backs in the later rounds. That's what I'll do. Let's dive in!
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Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Tuten fumbled the ball in offseason practices. That should cause his stock to fall even further, as he had fumbling issues in college. That's a good thing. You want to be able to get the highest-upside players as cheaply as possible in drafts, because... well, they have tremendous upside.
Jacksonville head coach Liam Coen drafted Tuten in the early fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He has zero attachment to RBs Tank Bigsby and Travis Etienne Jr. Both are significantly inferior athletes to Tuten, judging by speed, because that's huge in fantasy football.
He has elite elusiveness and good receiving upside as well pic.twitter.com/le75rsTtZ9
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) March 25, 2025
So let's let the rest of the world forget that Coen turned RB Bucky Irving into an elite league-winning fantasy option in 2024. They can keep thinking that Irving set up all the blocks on his own and had wide open lanes to run through because he is literally Moses and can part the red sea.
There's a high chance that on one of these well-blocked run plays, Tuten uses his 4.32-second literally-faster-than-Jahmyr-Gibbs-speed to take a 70-yard run to the end zone for a touchdown. All the offseason narratives will fade into obscurity at that point, and he'll be slotted into many starting lineups quickly.
One thing I really like to do is pause Bhayshul Tuten plays when they're over and the defense has no chance of catching him. Here it happens when he's 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Lmao pic.twitter.com/JywAULuwIB
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) March 28, 2025
It's always a good idea to take shots in the late rounds on extremely athletic players going to teams with offensive coaching that is proven to be among the best in the league. I'm all in on Tuten.
Jarquez Hunter, RB, Los Angeles Rams
Hunter is my dark horse candidate for league-winning RB this season. While Rams' current RB1 Kyren Williams has back-to-back top-7 seasons at running back for fantasy football, he's a poor athlete who's one of the league's worst backs at creating explosive plays. By that, I mean the worst.
Kyren Williams carried the ball 316 times in 2024. Despite having an utterly elite role and usage, he only logged two plays of more than 20 rushing yards. He's also extremely fumble-prone. The Rams are desperately in need of more explosive plays from the backfield. pic.twitter.com/uPVpDXOH9c
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) May 22, 2025
When you factor in his volume and his presence in Rams head coach Sean McVay's elite offensive system, there are no excuses for this poor ability to rip off big runs. In addition, he has the most fumbles of any running back in the past two seasons combined.
These two areas of his game should cause him to lose his role relatively quickly if Hunter is up to the task and his skill set translates well to the NFL. I have plenty of reason to believe it should. Hunter played in the SEC and averaged a ludicrous 6.4 yards per carry in his senior season.
Jarquez Hunter career numbers (compared to other '25 prospects)
+ YPC: 6.3 (4th among 31 RBs)
+ MTF/Att: 0.31 (T-4th)
+ YACo/Att: 3.96 (4th)
+ Breakaway Run %: 10.2% (2nd)With an 88th percentile 40 and 4 productive years in the SEC, Hunter feels severely underrated at RB23. https://t.co/qwa1s9itHG
— Dataroma (@ffdataroma) April 10, 2025
Hunter excels in the areas where Williams fails miserably. Of course, McVay doesn't typically immediately give huge roles to rookie running backs who weren't drafted with premium draft capital. But why not take a shot on Hunter? You should especially do this if you draft Williams.
Rams RBs in their 2024 seasons...
Kyren Williams❌
+ 0.13 MTF/Att (49th/70 RBs)
+ 1.9% explosive % (57th)
+ 4.65 40Blake Corum❌
+ 0.14 MTF/Att (40th/70 RBs)
+ 0% explosive % (70th)
+ 4.53 40
---
JARQUEZ HUNTER✅
+ 0.32 MTF/Att (5th/32 RBs)
+ 12.4% explosive % (3rd)
+ 4.40 40— Dataroma (@ffdataroma) May 2, 2025
He also has a significant speed advantage over the other two. If he can learn the offensive system and adapt to the NFL quickly, he should run away with the RB1 job in a short time. Williams' athletic limitations and lack of ball security will always hold the Rams back as a team. He fumbled the playoff game against the Eagles away, and failed to generate explosive plays to make up for it.
Jordan Mason, RB, Minnesota Vikings
Fellow Vikings RB Aaron Jones gets way too much credit for how he is as a fantasy asset. He's constantly dealing with injury issues, and at 30 years old and being set to turn 31 in early December, those won't get much better. He was horrific in short-yardage situations in 2024.
Aaron Jones in 2025:
-Inside the 10-yard line: 0.3 yards per carry
-Inside the 5-yard line: -0.2 yards per carryJones was awful in these short yardage situations. Mason should have at least 8 rush TDs in 2025.
Stay away from Jones in fantasy in 2025.https://t.co/k1hYDOY9Y2 pic.twitter.com/0Q4RzA6nNG
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) April 6, 2025
Minnesota has one of the best offensive coaching staffs in the NFL. They're not stupid. They likely took a long look at Jones' performances above and knew it was time to make a change. So they traded for RB Jordan Mason from the San Francisco 49ers.
To this point, Mason has excelled in the areas that Jones has failed in. He's an excellent short-yardage back, much more efficient in the Vikings' run scheme, and much stronger at the goal line. He could see a pretty impressive touchdown total this season.
Jordan Mason could end up as the primary early-down RB in Minnesota, despite Aaron Jones' presence.
Mason was one of the best tackle-breaking RBs in 2024. Among 36 RBs w/ 125+ rushes, he was 2nd in yards after contact/att (3.07) and 5th in missed tackles forced/att (0.22) 🧵 pic.twitter.com/zRkZleAIrc
— Dataroma (@ffdataroma) March 16, 2025
I'd be nowhere near shocked if Mason ended up as the Vikings' RB1 for fantasy football purposes in 2025. Jones should maintain his passing down role, though.
Rico Dowdle, RB, Carolina Panthers
Panthers head coach Dave Canales tried his best to run a committee system when Jonathon Brooks returned from his injury. Unfortunately, that didn't last very long, because Brooks re-tore his ACL. Still, it was clear what Canales' intentions were.
So it was odd when the team signed RB Rico Dowdle in free agency, and fantasy football managers still assumed Hubbard would maintain his workhorse role. Sure, Canales used RB Rachaad White as a workhorse in 2023 in Tampa Bay, but he didn't have any other options.
Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle in 2024:
+ Both Top 14 in EPA/Rush
+ Both Top 8 in Rush Success Rate
(See screenshots)These two both also finished Top 8 in yards after contact per attempt, with Chuba at 2.70 and Rico at 2.64.
The newly formed duo has some notable similarities… pic.twitter.com/G2pmjG0URH
— Dataroma (@ffdataroma) March 13, 2025
Dowdle and Hubbard are eerily similar backs. Hubbard had better statistical production in 2024, but that was almost certainly boosted by Carolina having a much better run-blocking offensive line. Dowdle and Hubbard's skill sets are also very similar.
I have a hard time not seeing this become a committee backfield. It seems to be Canales' vision for his run game, and it would help both backs reduce their risks of injury. So many backfields have become RB1A/RB1B situations because the running back position is so brutal.
I'm watching Rico Dowdle highlights and wtf??pic.twitter.com/u9elaTfUNx
— ً (@ThomasWrrld) March 13, 2025
Hubbard is not a very good pass-catcher, and it's possible that Dowdle could get a fair number of targets. He could slot right into the Brooks role that Canales wants. That carries with it plenty of upside.
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