When it comes to redraft season, we have to make sure we’re taking the best approach with every pick we make. If you’ve been in the best ball streets for the last couple of months, that can take some adjustment. In this article, we’ll look at what the Hero RB strategy is, how best to implement it and some ideal targets for 2025 before jumping into a fantasy football mock draft.
- Fantasy Football Draft Kit
- 2025 Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football ADP
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Hero RB Strategy (2025)
Hero RB
Hero Running Back, or as it’s sometimes called, Anchor RB, is a draft strategy where we take one running back in the first two rounds and then ignore the position until typically round six in best ball. In redraft, though, you might want to consider less strict definitions. If your home league is running back thirsty, then you could really be looking down the barrel by Round 6. Typically, in standard home leagues with two running back spots and a flex, we might want to look to grab our second running back in Round 5. If your league gets particularly hungry for running backs, then you’ll need to adjust further.
In 2021, Pat Kerrane wrote an article about how running backs in the first two rounds have a bust rate of 40%, actually higher than in the dead zone, but the first two rounds were still the most typical for delivering Legendary Running Back seasons, akin to Saquon Barkley‘s 2024 year.
The types of running backs capable of having a heroic year are those with clear pass-catching work, goal-line responsibilities, and those on a good offense who will score plenty of points. Barkley offset losing goal-line touchdowns by making up for it with incredible volume and efficiency elsewhere. While it worked out for Barkley and those who drafted him, that’s not always a repeatable recipe.
Do They Make a Good Hero-RB?
To be heroic in the way we need a Hero RB to be, we need players that thread the needle in the category of touchdowns, receiving work and volume. Typically, an RB can make up for a lack in one category if they excel elsewhere, but the strongest candidates grade out well across the board.
| Name | Team | % of Carries inside 5 ’24 | Target Share% % ’24 | RB Opportunity Share ’24 |
| Saquon Barkley | PHI | 41.50% | 9.60% | 78.20% |
| Bijan Robinson | ATL | 68% | 12.50% | 67.70% |
| Jahmyr Gibbs | DET | 44.70% | 11.10% | 50.40% |
| Christian McCaffrey | SF | 50% | 17.10% | 69% |
| Ashton Jeanty | LV | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Derrick Henry | BAL | 90.90% | 4.40% | 71.70% |
| Bucky Irving | TB | 50% | 9.10% | 46.10% |
| De’Von Achane | MIA | 70% | 14.40% | 57.20% |
| Josh Jacobs | GB | 64.30% | 8.60% | 65.60% |
| Jonathan Taylor | IND | 64.30% | 7.40% | 86.90% |
| Average | 60.41% | 10.47% | 65.87% |
Targets
These are our current running backs we’d most likely be choosing from in rounds one or two, and most of them have solid cases for upside.
The biggest knock on Barkley is the ludicrous 483 touches he had in 2024, and the history of running backs with that much volume isn’t great, but his ceiling is still alluring.
Christian McCaffrey has been a league-winner, but last year, he was one of the worst picks in fantasy, so for many people, he’ll be less than ideal as a hero, but scared money doesn’t make any money.
If we were to look for breakout candidates, Ashton Jeanty is a clear target, and he should see a massive workload in a fantasy-friendly offense. De’Von Achane and Bucky Irving are both intriguing as Irving could see a higher percentage of the work this year; his 46% rate in 2024 was the worst of this group. Achane, meanwhile, could see a more consistent offense if Tua Tagovailoa can stay healthy.
Mock Draft
We can use the FantasyPros Mock Draft Wizard to quickly mock draft and put the Hero RB strategy to the test. Here’s how it worked out.
Results
The Wizard randomly assigned pick five to us, and fortune favored us with Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase being selected, leaving us Jahmyr Gibbs, who has RB1 overall upside. Gibbs had six 20+ point games last year, including four when David Montgomery was active. The board played out well for us over the next few rounds with veterans falling, helping us to have four RBs by the time we left Round 8, adding Aaron Jones in Round 6, Travis Etienne in Round 7 and JK Dobbins in Round 8. While those RBs aren’t necessarily league-winners, if one of them pays off each week with Jahmyr Gibbs as our RB1 and wide receivers filling the flex, we should have a nice team. The Mock Draft Wizard’s analysis agrees, giving us an A and projecting our roster to score the most points in the league.
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