Twenty years ago, fantasy football strategy was easy. Take two workhorse running backs with your first two picks, and then strongly consider taking a third running back in the next round to add to your Flex spot. With the proliferation of passing attacks, committee backfields and rushing quarterbacks, that strategy doesn’t work as well anymore, meaning fantasy managers often have to pivot when they take running backs to fill out their rosters.
With more and more wide receivers and quarterbacks being taken in the early rounds of drafts, running backs — especially those with uncertain playing time — get pushed down to the middle rounds of drafts. This is where leagues can be won. Guessing right on which running backs will return early-round value for middle-round price tags can be the key to making the playoffs and having a dominant fantasy roster.
This piece will look at four running backs who are being drafted at pick 60 or later in half-PPR formats who might be league-winners in 2025. Every draft has gems sprinkled throughout, and what’s often thought of as the “Running Back Dead Zone” can be overflowing with backs who could be mainstays in starting rosters later in the season.
- Fantasy Football Draft Kit
- 2025 Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football ADP
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Fantasy Football League-Winners: Mid-Round Running Backs
There are many strategies for drafting running backs in 2025. Whether you prefer to employ Hero RB, Zero RB, Robust RB or another hybrid strategy, these running backs are available in rounds 6-10 of drafts, according to average draft position (ADP), and can help any team this season. Embrace the uncertainty, and enjoy the return on investment these running backs provide.
Isiah Pacheco (RB – KC)
For Isiah Pacheco, the question for 2025 is which version are we going to get? Are we going to get the 2023 Pacheco, who had 1,179 total yards and nine touchdowns, to go along with 4.6 yards per carry? Or are we going to get the 2024 version, who was hurt early in the season and then came back, but was ineffective? Pacheco played in seven games last season, but his yards per attempt plummeted to 3.7, and he scored just once.
In addition, Pacheco had just 11 red-zone touches and was just 47th at the position in yards created per touch (3.1). With a revamped offensive line, the strongest receiving corps Patrick Mahomes has had in years, and an offseason to get fully healthy, can Pacheco get back to the running back who was drafted inside the top 15 at the position just one year ago?
If the answer is yes, all it will cost you right now is the 60th pick in most half-PPR formats. The Chiefs are currently favored in 16 of their 17 games, and have an over/under of 11.5 wins. That means Kansas City is going to see a lot of positive game scripts, and Pacheco could be very busy if he is efficient enough to take back the workhorse role from Kareem Hunt.
TreVeyon Henderson (RB – NE)
Rhamondre Stevenson had an absolute monster of a season in 2022, putting up 1,461 total yards and six touchdowns on five yards per carry. But his efficiency has been awful ever since. In 2024, he averaged four yards per carry and didn’t get to 900 total yards. In 2024, he played 15 games but only had 3.9 yards per carry. With the Patriots wanting to take advantage of Drake Maye‘s rookie window, they prioritized upgrading the offensive weapons and drafted TreVeyon Henderson with the sixth pick in the second round to be their new feature back.
Even in a timeshare at Ohio State in 2024, Henderson had 1,014 rushing yards and 284 receiving yards. He had 11 total touchdowns on just 171 touches and was a top-five running back on everyone’s board coming out of school.
Behind Stevenson and Henderson, only old-man Antonio Gibson remains in the Patriots’ running back room. No matter how new head coach Mike Vrabel divides up the workload, Henderson is going to be heavily involved. He might never be a 300-touch player in the NFL, but Henderson gives vibes of the early years of Tony Pollard. Pollard was explosive on just 12-15 plays per game, and that might be the role Henderson plays while Stevenson remains the bruising, short-yardage back.
Kaleb Johnson (RB – PIT)
If you didn’t already believe them, the rumors about Arthur Smith are true. Moving from Atlanta to Pittsburgh last season, Smith brought a run-heavy approach to Mike Tomlin’s team. In 2024, the Steelers rushed 48% of the time, which was the fifth-highest mark in the league. However, they were just 25th in the league with four yards per rush attempt. Arthur Smith isn’t going to stand for that, so when fireworks expert Najee Harris bolted for the Los Angeles Chargers, the team selected dynamic back Kaleb Johnson with a third-round pick.
Johnson was a playmaker and touchdown scorer for Iowa last season, plain and simple. He rushed for 1,537 yards in just 12 games and scored an incredible 23 touchdowns. He is an ideal first-down, second-down and goal-line back for the zone-blocking scheme the Steelers deploy. It should be no time at all before the touches heavily favor Johnson over incumbent Jaylen Warren.
Johnson has already leapfrogged Warren in ADP this summer. Johnson is going around pick 68 in half-PPR formats, but that is only RB27 as the calendar turns the page to August. In the seventh round, there aren’t many running back options with the upside of Johnson.
Jordan Mason (RB – MIN)
Let’s take a moment to remember what Jordan Mason did in the five games he had the San Francisco backfield to himself in 2024 (before his injury). He averaged 120 scrimmage yards and 5.1 yards per carry in those contests and scored three times. He averaged more than 20 touches per game and caught seven passes. After signing a two-year, $7 million deal with Minnesota, Mason doesn’t have a backfield all to himself, but it might not take much for him to get it again.
Mason’s competition this season is Aaron Jones, who will turn 31 this season and has 1,755 career NFL touches. Jones was efficient last year in his first season with Minnesota, but that came with almost no competition behind him, which forced a huge workload. His efficiency took a tumble as a result. After a 62% rushing success rate in 2023, that number plummeted to 49.8% in 2024.
The buzz from Kevin O’Connell out of Vikings camp is that this is going to be a shared backfield. It might not be a pure 50/50 split, but Mason is going to be heavily involved. But what if we get a repeat of 2023, where Jones misses six games? What if Jones falls off the age cliff? With Mason going around pick 100 in drafts right now, the cost is very low to acquire a running back who is just one injury away from 20+ touches per game.
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