In the fable The Three Little Pigs, the least astute of the three pigs built a house made of straw, and his slightly less dim brother built a house made of sticks.
If those little pigs had dynasty teams, they would have built their teams around running backs.
That’s not meant as a slight against NFL running backs. Those brave, underpaid souls hurl themselves at bloodthirsty defenders time and time again. Like crash-test dummies, their raison d’être is to absorb physical punishment. And that’s one of the reasons not to build a dynasty team around running backs.
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Dynasty Draft Strategy, Rankings & Tiers: Running Backs
Because of the nature of their work, running backs tend not to have long NFL careers.
There are exceptions, of course. Derrick Henry is a Sherman tank in shoulder pads. He’s entering his 10th NFL season and has shown no signs of slowing down.
But Henry is an anomaly.
Nick Chubb had five productive seasons before a gruesome Week 2 knee injury ended his 2023 season and put the rest of his career in jeopardy.
Javonte Williams seemed to have a promising career ahead of him. He tore his ACL early in his second season and has struggled to get back to his rookie form.
The Panthers drafted Jonathon Brooks in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft even though he tore his ACL the previous fall while playing for the University of Texas. Brooks returned to action last November and re-tore the same ACL in his third game back. He has already been ruled out for the 2025 season, and his NFL future is in doubt.
Not every running back sustains a major injury, of course. But the value of running backs can be fleeting, even for the ones who stay healthy.
Travis Etienne and Rachaad White were valuable fantasy assets in 2023, finishing as top-five PPR running backs. Both had disappointing 2024 seasons in which they were partly usurped by younger teammates. Now, you’d be lucky to get a second-round rookie draft pick in 2027 and a tuna sandwich for either Etienne or White.
The running back position is less predictable than the quarterback, wide receiver and tight end positions. We often see running backs come out of the ether and become major contributors even though they were afterthoughts in dynasty rookie drafts.
Take Bucky Irving, for instance. The Buccaneers drafted Irving in the fourth round last year. He eventually stole Rachaad White’s job and is now considered a top-10 dynasty running back.
Winning dynasty teams need productive running backs. The dream is to be able to land wildly talented young running backs such as Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs and Ashton Jeanty in rookie drafts. But if you aren’t able to do that, you might have to acquire quality running backs in stealthier ways. The goal of the shrewd dynasty manager is to build running back strength without making sacrifices at other positions.
In a dynasty startup draft, avoid the temptation to spend multiple early-round picks on running backs. It’s OK to draft an anchor running back while paying proper respect to other positions. And if you want to capitalize on a couple of bargains in the first 5-6 rounds, that’s cool. But don’t build your dynasty team around a collection of running backs taken in the early rounds of a startup. Your team will be a house of straw.
Draft running backs opportunistically in a dynasty startup. Take value where you can find it in the middle and later rounds. Seek discounts on young runners with good athletic profiles but uncertain roles. And don’t be afraid of older veterans who still have roles.
If you fall so far behind at the running back position in your startup draft that you can’t dig out of the hole, don’t panic. You’re playing in a dynasty league. People make a lot of trades. There are few things in this world more overrated than positional balance in dynasty leagues.
You can trade your way out of a hole. In neglecting running backs, you undoubtedly loaded up at other positions and will have areas of strength from which you can deal.
Dynasty Startup Draft Strategies
Before we go on, I’m going to repeat something I wrote in the quarterbacks primer because it also applies to running backs. Before you start drafting in a dynasty startup, chart a course and then build a coherent draft strategy around it.
Charting a course means deciding when you expect your team to establish its dynastic reign over the league. Here are the three options:
Win Now: Establish your dominance immediately. While your competitors focus on youth, scoop up proven veterans at discounted prices and build a roster that will be a favorite for the league title in Year 1.
Win in Year 2: Focus on youth but mix in some proven veterans. Your young roster might not have the juice to win right away, but you’ll have a collection of players whose value is likely to be higher a year from now, positioning you to contend in Year 2.
Productive Struggle: Ryan McDowell of Dynasty League Football coined the term productive struggle. Commit to a slow build that will put you in title contention in 2-3 years. Focus heavily on youth in the startup draft and be willing to trade startup picks for picks in future rookie drafts.
The course you choose might have a slight impact on how aggressively you draft running backs. It will have a bigger impact on your willingness to draft older running backs such as Aaron Jones. At age 30, Jones might not have many productive years left in his career, but his outlook for 2025 looks pretty good.
If you’re in win-now mode, Jones is a logical draft target. He won’t be selected as early in dynasty startups as he will in redraft leagues because of his age. But if you’re aiming to win in Year 2 or committing to a productive struggle, Jones should not be on your radar.
Running Back Draft Strategies
Let’s discuss three popular running back strategies and their applications for dynasty startups.
Zero RB: Ignore running backs entirely in the early rounds and load up on pass-catchers (and perhaps quarterbacks in Superflex drafts). It’s a controversial but viable strategy in redraft leagues. It’s an even more effective strategy in dynasty leagues if you’re building for Year 2 or beyond and not trying to win right away. You can build around quarterbacks and wide receivers, then improve your running back group over time.
Hero RB: Get a top back in the early rounds, then focus on other positions until the middle rounds. This strategy can work with a win-now or win in Year 2 approach. It doesn’t fit as well with a productive struggle, since running back career arcs are so short that whichever back(s) you draft might be past their peak by the time your team is ready to contend.
Robust RB: Load up on running backs in the early rounds. For reasons outlined earlier, this strategy is not recommended for dynasty formats, although there’s a case to be made that it’s a viable strategy if you’re in win-now mode.
RB Tiers for Dynasty
Let’s sort the top 20 running backs into baskets based on where they’re likely to be chosen in startup drafts. Estimated round values are based on league formats that require you to start 1-QB, 2-RB, 3-WR, 1-TE and 1-Flex.
Elite
These players are top-20 picks in 1-QB leagues and top-25 picks in Superflex leagues.
- Bijan Robinson (ATL)
- Jahmyr Gibbs (DET)
- Ashton Jeanty (LV)
- Saquon Barkley (PHI)
Everyone in this tier has superstar-caliber toolkits. Except for Saquon Barkley, they are all young. Barkley warrants inclusion because he’s capable of otherworldly production (as we witnessed in 2024), and he might have the best offensive ecosystem of any running back in the league.
Foundational
Expect these players to come off the board somewhere from the late second round to the early fourth round in 1-QB startups, and from the early third round to the early fifth round in Superflex startups.
- De’Von Achane (MIA)
- Bucky Irving (TB)
- Omarion Hampton (LAC)
- Breece Hall (NYJ)
- Jonathan Taylor (IND)
- TreVeyon Henderson (NE)
- Kyren Williams (LAR)
- Quinshon Judkins (CLE)
This group skews young, with every member of this tier 26 or younger. Bucky Irving’s eye-opening rookie season was no fluke; he belongs here.
Omarion Hampton, TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins are part of what’s considered a sensational rookie running. back class. They may or may not have workhorse roles in 2025, but they figure to return significant fantasy value for years to come.
High-Quality
Expect these backs to go from the late fourth round to the mid sixth round in 1-QB startups and from the early fifth round to the early seventh round in Superflex startups.
- Chase Brown (CIN)
- James Cook (BUF)
- Josh Jacobs (GB)
- Kenneth Walker III (SEA)
- RJ Harvey (DEN)
- Christian McCaffrey (SF)
- Kaleb Johnson (PIT)
- Derrick Henry (BAL)
This group can be sorted into distinct pairs. Chase Brown and James Cook are talented youngsters whose roles are slightly hard to pin down at the moment.
Josh Jacobs and Kenneth Walker are veterans at or near the height of their powers. RJ Harvey and Kaleb Johnson are promising rookies who seemingly landed in great spots in the NFL Draft. Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry are oldsters who might not have many years left but are still capable of producing elite seasons for their investors.
Final Thoughts
A few final thoughts about drafting running backs in dynasty startups:
- Once the top 20-25 running backs are off the board, draft opportunistically at the position. Bear in mind that running backs have relatively short career arcs. Prioritize other positions.
- The vast majority of dynasty leagues are PPR, so pass-catching ability is important. Favor running backs who’ll be on the field on obvious passing downs over early-down plodders who won’t draw many targets.
- In the later rounds of a startup draft, don’t be afraid to backfill your running back room with older veterans who have limited but secure roles.
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