RADIO
Brashard Smith is a fantasy football sleeper and value in 2025 fantasy football rookie drafts. Read the fantasy football outlook for the new Chiefs running back.
DRAFT PICK: 7th Round (#228 Overall Pick)
TEAM: Kansas City Chiefs
ROOKIE DRAFT ANALYSIS: Smith is already the best pass-catching back on his team. He is also a highly explosive athlete -- he ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash at the 2025 NFL Combine, and his tape shows many examples of great speed, acceleration, and burst. Besides being drafted with very high draft capital (and thus not being a sleeper anymore), the best thing a player can do to put up big numbers and earn more playing time is to make big plays. Smith will likely excel at that from early in his career.
Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:- 2025 fantasy football rankings
- Running back (RB) fantasy football rankings
- Wide receiver (WR) fantasy football rankings
- Tight end (TE) fantasy football rankings
- Quarterback (QB) fantasy football rankings
- Defense (D/ST) fantasy football rankings
- NFL rookie fantasy football rankings
- Best ball fantasy football rankings
- Superflex fantasy football rankings
- Dynasty fantasy football rankings
The reigning wisdom is that RB Isiah Pacheco is clearly the lead workhorse of this backfield. Then again, the speed with which huge roles for late-round running backs fade can be pretty startling. After Pacheco's leg injury last season, his return was pretty disappointing, and he never took over his previously huge role.
Additionally, he's not a high-level pass-catcher. Neither is Kareem Hunt (anymore), nor Elijah Mitchell, the other two RBs in the backfield. Smith is easily at least the second-most talented back on the Chiefs roster right now, and it's possible he could be the clear RB1B by the middle of the year.
Smith is remarkably nimble in the open field. I imagine Kansas City head coach Andy Reid is already drawing up plays for him. The Chiefs have lacked a true open-field threat for a few seasons now. Pacheco is a plodder with impressive speed, but isn't particularly elusive, and his method for gaining extra yards is to bash his head into defenders.
Every Brashard Smith breakaway run (15+yards) from 2024 #NFLDraft2025 pic.twitter.com/UAjbx36rBX
— Ray G (@RayGQue) March 21, 2025
Smith is a weapon with the ball in his hands and is the best receiving back in this year's loaded 2025 NFL Draft class. He thus has very intriguing upside in PPR leagues. He got an incredible landing spot in a backfield full of questions for a player drafted so late.
Leaning into backfields with lots of uncertainty on offenses that are proven to be good is always a good idea. You should do so with Smith, who's been written off by most of the fantasy community for his lack of size and his low draft capital. This is despite the fact that he's a great back who can pass-protect well.
- John Johnson
More NFL Draft Analysis
2025 Fantasy Football Rookie Rankings (Preseason Updates): Travis Hunter, Emeka Egbuka, Bhayshul Tuten, Tre Harris, Luther Burden, Dont'e Thornton
Welcome back RotoBallers, we are officially in the middle of 2025's draft season! Today we're back with our team's updated fantasy football rookie rankings as of August -- updated for your upcoming 2025 fantasy football drafts. Be sure to use these rookie rankings win your drafts for various formats -- such as 2025 redraft leagues, 2025 […]
Fantasy Football Rookie Rankings (August 2025): Omarion Hampton, Tetairoa McMillan, Bhayshul Tuten, Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Quinshon Judkins
Over the last few NFL seasons, we have seen several rookie league-winners emerge in fantasy football, so knowing about potential first-year breakouts is more important than ever. We're here to help with our updated 2025 fantasy football rookie rankings for all positions. In our freshly updated rookie RB rankings below, you will find out where key […]
Updated Fantasy Football Rookie TE Rankings (August): Colston Loveland, Tyler Warren, Mason Taylor, Elijah Arroyo, Harold Fannin, Gunnar Helm
No matter the format, tight ends are always difficult to navigate for fantasy football, and rookies can take time to develop. To help you in your rookie, dynasty, and redraft leagues, we're back with our updated 2025 fantasy football rookie tight end rankings. Below, check out where first-year TEs such as Colston Loveland, Tyler Warren, […]
Updated Fantasy Football Rookie WR Rankings (August): Travis Hunter, Tetairoa McMillan, Emeka Egbuka, Matthew Golden, Jayden Higgins, Tre Harris
This rookie wide receiver class didn't get a ton of hype in the predraft process, but many are drawing a ton of attention during training camp. To help you in your rookie, dynasty, and redraft leagues, we're back with our updated 2025 fantasy football rookie wide receiver rankings. Below, check out our new cut of […]
Updated Fantasy Football Rookie RB Rankings (August): Omarion Hampton, Ashton Jeanty, Jaydon Blue, RJ Harvey, Treveyon Henderson, Kaleb Johnson
The 2025 rookie running back class is loaded, and many of these players will be on the fantasy football radar right away and as the season progresses. To help you in your rookie, dynasty, and redraft leagues, we're back with our updated 2025 fantasy football rookie running back rankings. In the rankings of first-year RBs […]
Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App
Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy football app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, rankings, starts/sits & more. All free!
