Best Dynasty Fantasy Football Buys: Aging Running Backs to Trade For Before the 2025 Season

Dynasty fantasy football leagues have this tendency to get all about the youth. You feel this constant pressure to get younger and younger, to hoard draft picks and build a team full of the NFL's newest players.

Sometimes that approach is antithetical to the whole idea of winning a fantasy league, especially when everyone is doing it. You don't always have to think long-term. Sometimes, you should trade low for veteran players who can help you win now.

While the pursuit of youth can be exciting in dynasty leagues, here are four aging running backs worth buying this offseason.

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Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco 49ers

Another year, another injury-plagued season for Christian McCaffrey, who missed the first eight weeks of the 2024 campaign due to Achilles tendinitis, then came back and suffered a PCL injury that ended his season early.

It's fair to wonder if McCaffrey's time as an elite NFL running back is over. He keeps getting hurt. He keeps getting older. We might be in the end days as far as McCaffrey's career goes.

That's all fair, but McCaffrey isn't far removed from finishing as the overall RB1 in 2023, and yet his dynasty value has plummeted. He sits at RB13 in the RotoBaller dynasty rankings.

And we might be high on McCaffrey! FantasyPros' most recent dynasty trade value chart assigns McCaffrey 40 trade value points, which ranks 19th among running backs. 40 points is the equivalent of a mid-to-late first-round pick in rookie drafts.

Let's say you have the 1.07 pick. There are going to be good players there who can help you win in the future, but if you could turn that into McCaffrey, you dramatically increase your 2025 ceiling.

#49ers Christian McCaffrey is fully healthy and ready to go into the OFFSEASON #fttb pic.twitter.com/qyPaOgpXIX

— NFL Rumors (@nflrums) February 6, 2025

Sure, it's at the expense of 2026 and beyond, but there are no guarantees in the NFL. McCaffrey could be great in 2025. He could be a bust. The player you would have picked at 1.07 could be great or a bust.

If you're trying to contend for a title in 2025, though, the highest-ceiling move you can make is to trade for Christian McCaffrey.

Derrick Henry, RB, Baltimore Ravens

Derrick Henry won't come at the same discount as Christian McCaffrey. The same trade chart mentioned above gives Henry 50 value points, which is about the equivalent of an early first. Giving up the 1.o2 for Henry is not as appealing as giving up the 1.07 for McCaffrey.

But while you'll be giving up more for Henry, you're also getting someone who is coming off a healthy 2024 season. Henry has three healthy seasons in a row and delivered one of his best campaigns last year in Baltimore, rushing for 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Derrick Henry has the highest athleticism score of any active running back in PlayerProfiler's database 👑

Will King Henry continue to defy the age cliff next season? pic.twitter.com/RNDYcBQBSE

— PlayerProfiler (@rotounderworld) February 17, 2025

His huge historical workload is a consideration here. Henry will break down at some point. It's inevitable. These aren't the Emmitt Smith days anymore.

But barring injury, that breakdown probably won't happen overnight. Henry will get a little less effective throughout one or two or maybe three more seasons, but he'll still deliver useful fantasy results in the process. If you're gunning for a 2025 or 2026 league title, you should see what the Henry manager in your league wants for him.

Joe Mixon, RB, Houston Texans

Of the four names in this article, Joe Mixon is the one I'm most torn on. In his first season with the Texans, Mixon rushed for 1,000 yards, but it was a fairly boom-or-bust campaign.

Mixon played 14 regular-season games. He rushed for over 100 yards seven times, but also for under 30 yards five times. There were weeks where Mixon just disappeared and that's a factor to keep in mind.

But when he was on, he was on, and I find that more encouraging for his chances of being a positive fantasy contributor in 2025 and beyond than the other stuff discourages me.

What's more, Mixon is under contract in Houston for two more years at a price that isn't going to kill the team. He'll account for 3.45 percent of the cap in 2025 and 3.57 percent in 2026, per Spotrac. He should remain in Houston for the duration of that deal as long as he continues to perform well.

Some highlights from Joe Mixon’s 2024 campaign! 🔥🔥 That Packers effort was massive, would’ve been a blow out without him.

Kudos to the Texans, they wanted to improve their run game and did that tremendously by trading for Joe Mixon. pic.twitter.com/viFkkJd3H9

— big ounce (@_bigounce) February 13, 2025

His presence on an offense that should be markedly better next year after a change in offensive coordinator makes Mixon an appealing fantasy option. Don't let his age scare you in dynasty.

Aaron Jones, RB, Minnesota Vikings

No one knew what to expect from Aaron Jones when he left the Packers for NFC North rival Minnesota last offseason, but he delivered one of his best NFL seasons. Jones rushed for a career-high 1,138 yards and found the end zone five times on the ground. He also added 51 receptions for 408 yards and two scores.

Jones is now a free agent, making it a little risky to acquire him right now since we don't know exactly where he'll end up. Maybe he'll be back in Minnesota, though head coach Kevin O'Connell has indicated it would be with a reduced role.

However, O'Connell talked about taking a committee approach in 2024 as well and the result was a backfield dominated by Jones. This could just be offseason chatter that ends with Jones as the lead back again.

The Vikings and RB Aaron Jones agreed to move the void date on his contract from this Monday until the final day before free agency.

If Jones had not been extended by Monday, the team would have taken on $3.2M in dead money in 2025.

This expands the window for Jones and…

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) February 15, 2025

Or Jones could leave in free agency and look for a new home. Maybe a team like the Chargers or Raiders could use him as a lead back. Maybe a team that drafts a young guy adds Jones to help ease that player's transition into the NFL.

The point of all this is that I'm a firm believer that Jones still has juice left in him. He's not going to go out and sign somewhere that would lead to a huge drop in his production.

Right now, a lot of the uncertainty has Jones' value in an incredibly low place. FantasyPros assigns him 22 trade value points, the same as Jaylen Warren and Tank Bigsby. That's the equivalent of a mid-second in rookie drafts.

It's doubtful that Jones' value drops any more than this during the offseason, but in the right situation, we could see that value spike post-draft. For example, maybe we get to May and it's clear Jones is the workhorse back in Minnesota again. In that case, you won't be able to get him for a mid-second.

Take this opportunity to buy low on Aaron Jones.

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