Sneaky Fantasy Football RB1 Candidates - Running Back Values With Upside (2025)

John's fantasy football sneaky RB1 candidates for 2025 drafts. His top values, draft targets, and sleeper picks, including Tony Pollard, Austin Ekeler, and more.

You can feel the electricity of fantasy draft season in the air... It's awesome. Months of preparation boil down to a small handful of drafts you really care about, and it's my job to get your running back plan in perfect working order. Especially in wild home league drafts where you need to expect the unexpected, being familiar with viable backup plans never comes in handy more.

While we're really only addressing running backs outside the top 40 overall today, let me be clear on my RB strategy — I've touted acquiring a true RB1 in the first two rounds all offseason. As backfield committees become increasingly prevalent, fewer players provide reasonable expectations for +300 touches. Once that low-supply position's filled, our options are open to take any path we choose. Conversely, miss out and there's nothing worse than that sinking feeling of chasing a position the entire draft.

Let's assume somewhere in the top 24 picks we paid up for a premium back with league-winning upside. Please keep the impact of these difference makers in mind. Among all FLEX players, the second through fifth highest-scoring players were all RBs, who led the entire field by more than ten percent. That's a lot. So I'm doing my absolute best not to leave a single draft without one of my top ten RBs...

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
• Running back (RB) rankings
• Wide receiver (WR) rankings
• Quarterback (QB) rankings
• Tight end (TE) rankings
• Defense (D/ST) rankings
• Kicker (K) rankings
• FLEX rankings
• Dynasty rankings

Final Top Ten RB Ranks

1. Bijan Robinson, ATL
2. Christian McCaffrey, SF
3. Jahmyr Gibbs, DET
4. Saquon Barkley, PHI
5. Ashton Jeanty, LV
6. Bucky Irving, TB
7. Jonathan Taylor, IND
8. Derrick Henry, BAL
9. Chase Brown, CIN
10. Josh Jacobs, GB

Sneaky Fantasy Football RB1s

With a workhorse RB secured, I'm approaching the rest of the draft with a wide-open mind and letting the rest come to me. Divvying the position into wide tiers with a focus on value helps. I start by identifying the few players with RB1 upside throughout the draft into three tiers: sneaky RB1s (ADP ~40-60), solid RB2 draft targets (ADP ~60-80), and then late values (ADP +100).

TreVeyon Henderson, New England Patriots (ADP 40)

New England's early second-round pick moves further up draft boards every time he touches the ball, whether returning kickoffs to the house or breaking outside runs to the edge for a score.

TreVeyon Henderson exudes electricity with every carry or route, oftentimes looking like the best player on the field in the small sample we've seen so far. Tracking to be the engine of the Patriots' new-look offense, I'd love to roster Henderson on as many teams as possible.

However, draft steam can border on absurdity when it comes to the hottest new rookies, depending on the room. Already, having a foundational back on the roster is paying off — affording the luxury of making sure Henderson falls outside the top-40 before pulling the trigger. I've personally seen him come off the board at the 1-2 turn, a little too rich for my blood.

Look at our guy TreVeyon Henderson!

Cannot believe he fell to the 2nd round! pic.twitter.com/gKTavayGcR

— Jon Gruden (@BarstoolGruden) August 16, 2025

Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints (ADP 51)

Did you whiff on TreVeyon Henderson approaching pick 50? No worries whatsoever. When fantasy gods close a door, they open a window.

Be that as it may, I'm slightly breaking one of my rules here to make an exception for a player on a bad team in Alvin Kamara. Let me preface this pick by saying no fantasy team should possess more than one Saint under any circumstances — and it should go without saying not to overpay.

That said, all the environmental concerns and systemic rot's already being accounted for in Kamara's current price. We're talking about one of the game's most undisputed ball hogs, averaging 18 fantasy points per game in seven of eight career campaigns.

Especially in PPR formats where Kamara could easily lead the position in catches, do not let him slide passed pick 50. I know they're not expected to find the end zone often, but he's also going to dominate all the high-value red zone work as well.

Solid Fantasy Football RB Draft Targets

Can't stress enough the name of the game is patience in getting your price. Is anything more comforting once the fur starts to fly than knowing your RB1 duties are handled? Remember, even if we swing and miss on this second tier, hope's not lost. As static as the top end of the position can be, I'd argue the exact inverse for the bottom. No roster slot or positional rank in this game of ours changes with more fluidity than RB2. Don't be afraid to push the envelope, stacking pass catchers and onesies (QB/TE) before shelling out more draft capital than you should.

Isiah Pacheco, Kansas City Chiefs (ADP 65)

Perhaps I'm too fast in disregarding entire player seasons for injuries, but at least my money's firmly where my mouth is. Few players wound up on my +100 draft boards more frequently than Kansas City's Isiah Pacheco. Am I not putting enough thought into this? He's currently dominating first-team snaps on an Andy Reid offense with some guy named Patrick Mahomes under center — but still going at a lovely discount.

I hate using exhibition stats to frame my argument, but in this case, hopefully it evidences health if anything — Pacheco's averaging over seven yards per carry with his lone reception going for 22 yards and a crazy 2.4 fantasy points per touch this preseason. Point being, it looks like our job to lose while not costing a premium pick to find out.

Tony Pollard, Tennessee (ADP 69)

A segue into throwaway seasons couldn't be more perfectly timed than shifting focus to Titan's starter, Tony Pollard. Sometimes the fantasy industry needs to shorten its memory and stop holding grudges. Just a few short years ago, we clamored for the Cowboys to make Pollard the starter — he went in the first round of fantasy drafts for crying out loud! There's not another player I'm more excited to draft in the sixth.

Everyone underestimated the recovery window from offseason tightrope surgery (including me), and I think a similar mistake is being made again. Now that Pollard's healthy, everyone's worrying about efficiency — but you cannot compare this iteration of the Titans' offense to last year.

Tennessee signed Dan Moore to an $82 million deal to play left tackle and protect first overall pick Cam Ward. Please don't minimize Will Levis' negative impact on the entire offense. A run game stands no chance of success without an aerial threat behind it to create space.

This is elite awareness from Tony Pollard 👀
pic.twitter.com/wduncL1JH8

— Footballism (@FootbaIIism) August 18, 2025

Fantasy Football RB Values

Austin Ekeler, Washington Commanders (ADP 129)

While every social media hack on the planet tries to outdo each other for the wildest take on Washington's seventh-round sensation Jacory Croskey-Merritt, I'm over here drafting Austin Ekeler. Sure, scooping up veterans late in drafts won't inspire your live draft to ooh and ahh — but there's a non-zero chance Ekeler's the outright starter.

Yes, I'll agree his days of massive workloads are behind him, but that doesn't mean to overlook how good a player we're talking about. When on the field in 2024, you got the combination of 4.8 yards per rush and a 19% target per route share. Not too shabby on an offense we expect to score a bunch.

My Best-Of-The Rest Running Backs

ADP 150+ To Round Out Your Bench

• Dylan Sampson, Cleveland Browns (ADP 168)
• Ollie Gordon II, Miami Dolphins (ADP 181)
• Kyle Monangai, Chicago Bears (ADP 205)
• Kendre Miller, New Orleans Saints (ADP 249)
• Dameon Pierce, Houston Texans (ADP 303)

More Fantasy Football Analysis