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.
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Fantasy Football Draft Advice: Running Backs to Target
Let’s dive into players our experts like more than the expert consensus rankings.
Players to Target
Irving’s RB19 fantasy points per game finish last year doesn’t do him justice. Last year, after he wrestled the lead job away from Rachaad White, he was lights out as the RB6 in fantasy points per game, averaging 18.5 touches and 115.2 total yards. Overall, Irving was fantastic, ranking top-15 in explosive run rate (seventh), missed tackles forced per attempt (third), yards after contact per attempt (fourth), receiving yards per game (14th), and yards per route run (fifth, per Fantasy Points Data). After Week 9 last season, he had 55% of the red zone rushing attempts as the preferred back near the goalline over White and Sean Tucker. Iriving should be a strong RB1 again in 2025.
– Derek Brown
It will fly under the radar that Walker was the RB12 in fantasy points per game last season. Unfortunately, his season was cut short by injuries, but if Walker can stay healthy in 2025, he could finally put it all together with a top-five running back season. Walker proved last year that not only is he still one of the best pure rushing talents in the league, but he is also a true three-down back with passing-catching chops. Among 45 qualifying backs, Walker ranked third in first downs per route run, sixth in target per route run rate, and sixth in receiving yards per game (per Fantasy Points Data). Add all of that on top of leading the NFL in missed tackles forced per attempt and ranking tenth in yards after contact per attempt, and Walker could be a league-winner in 2025.
– Derek Brown
Mixon volume-hogged his way to an RB8 finish last year. He’s primed to do it again in 2025. Last year, he ranked 14th in snap share, fifth in opportunity share, 17th in weighted opportunity, and sixth in red zone touches. The efficiency aspect hasn’t been there, and I doubt that it will change in 2025 with another year of touches hitting the body odometer. Last year, he ranked 22nd in explosive run rate, 38th in missed tackles forced per attempt, and 29th in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). Woody Marks is Mixon’s closest competition in the backfield for volume, which means he’ll handle as much as he can this season. Mixon is a solid RB2 with RB1 upside.
– Derek Brown
Hubbard blew away everyone’s expectations last year as the RB13 in fantasy points per game. He was the Panther’s everydown workhorse and is primed to roll back into that job this year. Last season, he ranked third in snap share, fourth in opportunity share, 12th in weighted opportunities, and 14th in red zone touches. If Carolina’s offense can improve in 2025, the red zone numbers should climb. In 2024, Carolina ranked 24th in yards per play and 21st in red zone scoring attempts per game. The addition of Tetairoa McMillan, the continued development of Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker, and the ascension of Bryce Young should improve those numbers. Hubbard has the talent and projected workload to crack the top ten backs in 2025. Last year, he ranked 11th in explosive run rate and seventh in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data).
– Derek Brown
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