Running backs have been devalued both in real life and fantasy football, but made a resurgence this past season with a lot of the high-end producers staying healthy and taking on a larger role in a changing NFL landscape. As a result, backs are coming off the board a lot earlier, making it critical to understand which types of profiles to target and, more importantly, avoid.
- Fantasy Football Draft Kit
- 2025 Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football ADP
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Fantasy Football Running Backs to Avoid
Breece Hall (RB – NYJ)
Breece Hall showed no sign of rust in his first season removed from a torn ACL, leading all running backs across the board in targets (95), receptions (76) and receiving yards (591), falling just short of 1,000 yards on the ground (994), racking up 1,585 yards from scrimmage and nine touchdowns on nearly 300 touches (299).
Hall trailed only Christian McCaffery (2,023 scrimmage yards, 391.3 PPR points) for second among all backs in combined rushing and receiving yards and fantasy points (290.5 PPR), averaging 17.1 PPR points per game. The expectations were high for Hall in year three, coming off the board early in the first round, playing in what looked to be an improved offense with Aaron Rodgers at the helm.
Unfortunately, Hall took a significant step back last season, finishing as the RB17 in PPR points per game (15.1), ranking 37th out of 47 qualified backs in Pro Football Focus (PFF) rushing grade and 34th in receiving grade. Not only was Hall one of the least efficient backs in the league, but his usage also took a hit, playing on only 66.4% of the Jets’ offensive snaps and handling 57.6% of the team’s carries when active (16 games), continuing to lose work to both rookies Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis.
New Jets head coach Aaron Glenn has been vocal about getting all three backs involved this offseason, looking to implement a running back by committee (RBBC) similar to his time in Detroit. Although it is a small sample size, Hall played on only 50% of the offensive snaps with the starters in the team’s first preseason game, compared to 20% for Allen and 30% for Davis.
Even without Davis in the second preseason game, Hall played marginally ahead of Allen with the first-team offense, outsnapping the second-year back 11 to eight. It’s also worth noting that Hall is yet to register a single snap in short and long down and distance situations this preseason.
Joe Mixon (RB – HOU)
Joe Mixon was a workhorse in his first season with Houston, leading the NFL in touch share (47.7%) and rush share (73.5%) through 12 games playing at least a dozen snaps. His 18.2 PPR points per game in Weeks 1-17 ranked sixth among all running backs, averaging 21.1 touches on 22.4 opportunities for 99.8 combined rushing and receiving yards and 0.9 touchdowns.
Mixon already had one of the best roles in the league, but his usage was even better in the postseason, handling 20+ touches for 100+ yards from scrimmage and a score in both games. After a strong 2024 campaign, things couldn’t have gone much worse for Mixon, who was placed on the non-football injury (NFI) list at the start of training camp due to a foot/ankle injury, and will remain through the start of the season. This means he’ll miss the first four games.
The Texans didn’t have much depth behind Mixon last season, but added running back Woody Marks in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, before circling back to the position in free agency and signing Nick Chubb to a one-year $2.5 million deal.
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