2025 Fantasy Football RB Rankings
By Kevin Hanson (@EDSFootball)
Updated: Tuesday, February 11th
With Super Bowl LIX now behind us, it's officially the offseason for all 32 NFL teams.
Player movement in free agency as well as the 2025 NFL Draft will impact these rankings, but this early look is the order in which I'd personally select players given what we currently know.
Note: These rankings are based on half-PPR scoring. We will soon add rankings for non-PPR and (full) PPR rankings as well.
More rankings: QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | Top 150
1. Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles
Joining the exclusive club of 2,000-yard rushers, Barkley racked up an additional 499 rushing yards in four playoff games. Yes, he set a career low in receptions (2.1) per game and Jalen Hurts (14) had more rushing touchdowns than Barkley (career-high 13). That said, he has an elite combination of speed and power, runs behind an elite offensive line and plays with talented wideouts, who help to keep opposing defenses honest.
2. Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons
You could argue that Robinson (not Barkley) should be the RB1 in 2025 fantasy football drafts. The 23-year-old running back racked up 1,887 scrimmage yards and scored 15 total touchdowns on 365 touches including 61 receptions.
3. Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions
Gibbs set or tied career highs across the board in rushing (250/1,412/16, 5.6 YPC) and receiving (52/517/4, 9.9 Y/R) in his second season. Gibbs was also top five among running backs with a minimum of 17 targets in yards per route run (1.67) and YAC per reception (11.5), per PFF. Gibbs was especially good when David Montgomery missed the final three regular-season games (RB1 overall), but he was also the RB3 (RB4 on a PPG basis) from Weeks 1 to 15 when Montgomery was also active.
4. De'Von Achane, Miami Dolphins
Achane's year-over-year carries nearly doubled (103 to 203), but the yardage total increased by only 107 yards from 2023. While the rushing efficiency may have dropped even more than most had expected, his receiving role was elite — pacing the position with 78 receptions for 592 yards and six touchdowns.
5. Derrick Henry, Baltimore Ravens
Father Time may be undefeated, but Henry carried the ball 325 times for 1,921 yards, the second-best (by far) of his career, and a league-high 16 touchdowns in his age-30 season. Yes, his receiving volume was (and will continue to be) low, but Lamar Jackson limits opposing defenses from being able to stack the box to slow him down. Even including (full) PPR-scoring formats, Henry was top four across all scoring formats. A repeat of 2024's numbers may be unlikely, but it's possible that concerns about his age and a lack of work as a receiver could once again lead to a draft-day discount.
6. Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts
Like with Derrick Henry, a concern with Taylor is the lack of receiving volume, especially with Anthony Richardson under center. Taylor, who missed Weeks 5-7, had only 12/59/1 receiving on 21 targets over the final 10 games of the season. But his rushing numbers over that span were elite — 231 carries for 1,082 yards, both of which were second to only Saquon Barkley, and seven touchdowns. One additional concern with Taylor is that he has missed at least three games in three consecutive seasons.
7. Josh Jacobs, Green Bay Packers
Only the Eagles (55.86%) and Ravens (53.55%) ran the ball more often than the Packers (50.69%) in 2024, and their team's quarterbacks (Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson) ranked first and third, respectively, in quarterback rush attempts last season. Jacobs, who was one of six running backs to clear 300 carries in 2024, handled 67.49% of the team's running back carries. Jacobs set non-rookie lows in targets (43) and receptions per game (2.1). As much as the Packers want to be a run-first offense, it's unclear how much a healthy complement of backs may shave off some of his workload in 2025.
8. Ashton Jeanty, Rookie
Arguably a top five prospect (regardless of position) in the 2025 NFL Draft class, Jeanty can move up to the RB4/RB5 range with the right landing spot in April. His contact balance is elite, and he had an insane 1,970 yards after contact in 2024, per PFF. While he wasn't as involved as a receiver this past season, he finished with 43 catches for 569 yards and five touchdowns in 2023. He's a do-everything talent who should become a true workhorse on Day 1. If there's a concern, it's the scenario forecast by NFL.com Lance Zierlein in his mock draft and a team like the Jets drafting Jeanty to compete with Breece Hall for touches.
9. Bucky Irving, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
If you rostered Irving in 2024, you realize how good he was, especially over the second half of the season. Irving was the RB7 from Week 10 on when he averaged 15.5/87.9 rushing, 3/27.3 receiving and scored five total touchdowns.
10. Breece Hall, New York Jets
Conventional wisdom led fantasy managers to expect bigger and better things from Hall in 2024, but his production actually declined year over year as he finished the year as a mid-tier RB2 overall and on a per-game basis. Hall could present fantasy managers with a buy-low opportunity as long as his health cooperates and the new coaching staff puts him in position to succeed.
11. Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers
Could McCaffrey finish as the RB1 in fantasy in 2025? Sure, but there is also plenty of risk. McCaffrey turns 29 this summer, and his prolific injury history has wrecked three of his past five seasons. In those three seasons, he had six different stints of five-plus missed games. If you draft CMC, make sure to target Jordan Mason (and/or Isaac Guerendo) as insurance.
12. Kyren Williams, Los Angeles Rams
I'll admit, this is probably too low for Williams. Yes, the team used an early pick on Blake Corum, but Williams continued to dominate touches (21.9 per game) and Sean McVay and Les Snead are making extending the former Golden Domer an offseason priority. As long as Williams stays healthy, expect him to command massive workloads with Corum getting only a modest amount of touches to occasionally spell him.