When you’re constructing best ball teams, there are a lot of things to get right to build a team that could win millions of dollars. While much is written about roster construction and which tactics are best, ultimately it comes down to picking the right players.
Sometimes it’s also about the combinations of players you pick. At the running back position, that can be even more important than at other positions since they are so much more susceptible to fluctuations in workloads as the season goes on.
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Best Ball Running Back Pairings
Jonathan Taylor (RB – IND) & Joe Mixon (RB – HOU)
In 2024, 42% of Jonathan Taylor’s points came in three performances, but handily for him and those who drafted him, two of those three were in Weeks 16 & 17. Taylor’s dominant performance in the best ball playoffs helped the overall winner of Underdog’s Best Ball Mania to reach the top of the leaderboards.
Taylor has a volatile situation surrounding him in 2025, with Anthony Richardson already dealing with a shoulder injury in mini-camp and his long-term future very much in doubt. Daniel Jones could potentially be good news for Taylor, but it would be foolish to disregard the downside of a player who played his way out of New York and has also struggled to stay healthy.
It’s worth mentioning that Tanor Bortolini and Matt Goncalves have been drafted to replace Ryan Kelly and Will Fries at center and guard, respectively, which could be a tough task. The bull case, though, would be to say that Taylor is still being drafted lower than his ceiling. He sports an RB8 average draft position (ADP) after putting up the fourth-most rushing yards and finishing as the RB8 in total half-PPR points.
I you were looking to take some of the edge away from the volatility, Joe Mixon is worth consideration. Mixon is being drafted in the middle of the fifth round and seems set for another strong year of volume. Nick Chubb‘s contract is so low that he’s not a lock to make the roster, and Dameon Pierce and Woody Marks seem unlikely to take away Mixon’s upside.
Mixon has over 1,000 rushing yards in five of his last seven seasons, but he can be a little touchdown reliant. Pairing him with Taylor gives us access to two backs with solid volume and high upside, but at costs where we can also build around their downsides.
Games with 100+ rushing yards last season:
11 – Saquon Barkley
9 – Derrick Henry
8 – Jonathan Taylor
7 – Joe Mixon
6 – James Conner
5 – Bijan Robinson
5 – Jahmyr Gibbs pic.twitter.com/jzOq4A7lQ7— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) June 13, 2025
D’Andre Swift (RB – CHI) & RJ Harvey (RB – DEN)
Sometimes we can lean into the positional difficulties of the running back room by thinking about which players will start strong and which players will finish strong. This can allow us to piece together a consistent starter for at least one of our running back positions, and potentially two if the players in question surprise us.
D’Andre Swift and RJ Harvey make for an intriguing pairing based on this thought process.
Swift has struggled to maintain grip of a backfield for the last few years and teams he’s been a part of, but it sure looks like Swift will be the No. 1 RB for the Chicago Bears, playing behind an improved offensive line with one of the most creative offensive coaches in the league in Ben Johnson.
In 2024, Swift averaged 18.5 touches per game in Weeks 1-10, before dropping to 15.4 over the remainder of the season. If this were to be the case again in 2025, then it makes sense to pair him with some rookie upside, one that might have to earn his role early on in the season, such as RJ Harvey.
The Harvey bag-holders are loudly declaring the J.K. Dobbins signing means nothing to Harvey, but it’s naive to think that’s the case. Dobbins wasn’t paid a huge sum because the Broncos simply didn’t need to pay him exorbitantly. There were very few places left for Dobbins to land. The Broncos could leverage that to pay him on the cheap, also knowing that, due to injuries, Dobbins hasn’t made that much relative to most NFL players in his career and would likely take a reasonable deal with incentives.
Dobbins will have the edge in pass protection almost assuredly. Sean Payton said as much during OTAs, suggesting Harvey will primarily play on third-downs when they leave a tight end in to block, freeing him up to be a pure pass-catcher on those plays. Harvey, though, has plenty of juice, and the Broncos believed in him enough to draft him with the 60th overall pick.
It shouldn’t be surprising to see Harvey, like many rookies, take on a larger workload as the season goes on, particularly if Dobbins struggles to stay healthy.
Oh hell yeah D'Andre Swift pic.twitter.com/GERqxfS0ie
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) May 12, 2025
Kyren Williams (RB – LAR) & Aaron Jones (RB – MIN)
This pairing might be referred to by the idea ‘what if the backups just aren’t good enough?’ Both Kyren Williams and Aaron Jones have seen their ADP drop due to waning efficiency and backups we believe should be good quality players, but what if they’re not? And are we overlooking the fact that these are starters whose coaches love them?
Sometimes it’s easy to get stuck in the weeds of this player can’t do this, or this player can’t do that, but if a coach truly loves what the player brings to the team, then they’re likely going to see a lot of touches. Williams averaged 81 rushing yards per game in 2024, which ranked fourth among running backs, but he also fumbled the ball three times and ranked 35th in juke rate among running backs with 100+ carries.
Last year, people expected Blake Corum to take Williams’ job, but he went on to have a good season, finishing as the RB10 in half-PPR points per game, and is now the RB12 in ADP. Jones had nine games over 90 scrimmage yards last year and could very well become J.J. McCarthy‘s best friend in the passing game, an area where Jordan Mason hasn’t shown much nuance.
kyren williams in 2024 through week 17:
– 16 touchdowns
– 1,299 rushing yards
– 85 first downsbeats pro-bowlers josh jacobs and jahmyr gibbs in each category (although him and gibbs both have 16 tds) and yet, no pro bowl vote. ???? pic.twitter.com/QzPCcfL1m5
— Alexis Kraft (@TheAlexisKraft) January 2, 2025
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