5 Running Backs to 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

Running Backs I Like Less Than ECR

Expert Consensus’s Rank	Player	Andrew Erickson’s Rank	Diff.
8	Josh Jacobs GB – RB	12	4
14	Alvin Kamara NO – RB	19	5
21	D’Andre Swift CHI – RB	31	10
22	David Montgomery DET – RB	27	5
26	Tony Pollard TEN – RB	30	4

D’Andre Swift (CHI)

D’Andre Swift fits the classic “dead zone RB” mold – a projected volume play with an RB2 ceiling. He finished as the RB23 in points per game last year (RB19 overall), but it was an empty workload propped up by opportunity, not efficiency. From Week 9 on, he was the RB32 in points per game. Swift ranked dead last in rushing yards over expectation per attempt on the season (-0.7). He rushed for 60-plus yards just three times in his last 10 games played. He now reunites with Bears HC Ben Johnson – the same coach who phased him out in Detroit back in 2022. Despite no clear threat to his touches, Swift’s inefficiency last season (career low in yards per carry and PFF’s 6th-lowest graded RB) makes him a low-ceiling RB2 fantasy managers should be cautious of over-drafting in 2025.

His career finishes are as follows in half-PPR: RB18, RB19, RB22, RB23, RB19. Do you really want to draft a mid-range RB2 ceiling player as the fantasy RB25 (and rising)? Again, a small win that might not be worth the risk if the bottom falls out completely. Because I don’t think that Swift rules this backfield as a true bell cow. Johnson’s tenure in Detroit should tell us that much, given how he operated with a one-two punch between David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs. I also expect the Swift price to CLIMB given the lack of additions in the backfield.

All that’s behind him in Chicago’s backfield is third-year RB Roschon Johnson and 7th-rounder Kyle Monangai out of Rutgers. It should be easy for Swift to be the RB1 in the Bears’ backfield. But watch out for the rookie in this backfield. Monangai has already caught the attention of his new HC, impressing him at minicamp with his attention to detail and by picking things up quickly. Also, it wouldn’t be the first time a 7th-round RB from Rutgers took over a backfield on a team with Eric Bienemy on the coaching staff. Yes, Bienemy is the Bears’ new RB coach…