3 Running Backs Experts Avoid (2025 Fantasy Football)

When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and others to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy football rankings compared to fantasy football average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into a few notable fantasy football players below. And you can check out which experts are higher or lower than our expert consensus rankings using our Fantasy Football Rankings Comparison Tools.

Fantasy Football Draft Advice: Players to Avoid

Let’s dive into draft picks our experts avoid.

Fantasy Football Draft Picks Experts Avoid

Saquon Barkley (RB – PHI)

Last year, Barkley finished the season as the RB1 in fantasy points per game, finishing with 378 touches, 2,283 total yards, and 15 total touchdowns. This season, we have to have the volume conversation and the worries about that for Barkley’s outlook for 2025. It’s a similar conversation that we had with Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry, and Josh Jacobs before him. Is it a concern? Yep. Is it so damning that it should Barkley outside the top 3-5 running backs in preseason rankings? No. My bigger worry is Barkley’s quietly meh tackle-breaking metrics last year. Among 46 qualifying backs, he had the fourth-best explosive run rate, but he was also only 28th in missed tackles forced per attempt and 35th in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). The big thing that helped Barkley was Philly’s awesome offensive line. Among those 46 backs, Barkley had the highest yards before contact per attempt (3.55). Barkley was chewing up almost four yards per carry before he faced the opposition. That helped him a ton, but it will likely help him again in 2025, as Philly will once again have one of the league’s best offensive lines. Barkley remains a top 5 back in 2025 despite some of my concerns.
– Derek Brown

Quinshon Judkins (RB – CLE)

The Browns selected Judkins in the second round of the NFL Draft to be their new early down volume thumper. With Judkins and Dylan Sampson added to this depth chart, I expect Jerome Ford to become a sparsely utilized change-of-pace option. I wasn’t high on Judkins as a prospect, as he ranked outside the top 65 backs in each of the last two seasons in yards after contact per attempt and elusive rating (per PFF). The draft capital and immediate high-volume role have helped to quell some of my pessimism, but Judkins could be held back by the overall ecosystem of the Browns’ offense and his lack of pass game upside. Cleveland’s starting quarterback situation is murky at best. Judkins finished college with 0.76 yards per route run, which isn’t an awe-inspiring number. He’s an RB2/3 for 2025.
– Derek Brown

Jonathan Taylor (RB – IND)

Taylor posted another RB1 season (RB7 in fantasy points per game) while dealing with a high ankle sprain. He racked up 321 touches and 1,567 total yards with 12 scores. While I think Taylor should poster another top 12 season in 2025, I do have some concerns. The quarterback play for Indy is a worry with how often they could be in the red zone this year, as well as his lack of pass-game involvement. Last year, Taylor ranked sixth in red zone touches. I don’t know if he comes close to that number this season, but I could easily be wrong. I don’t see more check-down opportunities for Taylor this season with Daniel Jones or Anthony Richardson under center. It’s not like he’s demanding those looks either, with his per-route performance in 2024, anyway. Last year, among 45 qualifying backs, Taylor ranked 37th in target share (7.4%) and 43rd in yards per route run and first downs per route run. Taylor is a solid pick again this year, but I struggle to see a ceiling outcome for him in 2025.
– Derek Brown