5 biggest fantasy football questions surrounding the RB position for 2025

With another fantasy football season in the books, now is a good time for an early peek into the future. Based on what we learned about running backs in 2024, let’s take a look at the five biggest backfield questions heading into the offseason that could dictate fantasy drafts next year.

What does Christian McCaffrey’s future look like?

CMC will go down as one of the most disappointing first-overall picks of all time. After one of the best fantasy seasons ever in 2023, McCaffrey played just four games this season and did not even score a touchdown. He dealt with a bevy of injuries throughout the year, including a PCL sprain and tendinitis in both of his Achilles. Now entering his age-29 season, it is fair to wonder if McCaffrey has accumulated too much wear and tear to be trustworthy in fantasy again.

Ultimately, I am still confident in McCaffrey’s skill set when healthy given how well he fits into the 49ers offensive scheme. It is unlikely that the 49ers will move on from him or bring in another option as McCaffrey is under contract for three more years, so his injury situation is the main question mark that looms over McCaffrey’s offseason. I expect McCaffrey to be discounted a little bit in drafts next year as a result, but it feels like his outcomes are at the polar extremes of the draft — he either stays healthy and is a massive value, or once again struggles to suit up and is a season-killer.

Which running backs move in free agency?

One of the main themes of the 2024 fantasy season was veteran running backs excelling on new teams. Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs and Joe Mixon all had incredible fantasy seasons in new places for the first time. However, we should be careful not to overcorrect on this trend. After running back value hit an all-time low around the NFL, I think smart teams were able to capitalize on this inefficiency and sign established players to relatively cheap contracts as the cherry on top to already well-built teams.

With this being said, the 2025 free agent running back class does not inspire nearly as much confidence as last year. Aaron Jones and Najee Harris are the headliners, and beyond that, the available options are mostly guys with large injury concerns and/or declining production like JK Dobbins, Nick Chubb, and Javonte Williams. Unless one of these players steps into a situation where they are the clear RB1 on a good offense, they will likely underwhelm in fantasy if we raise our expectations. If I had to guess now, most of the free-agent running backs have seasons closer to D’Andre Swift in 2024 than the tier above.

Will Bucky Irving become the RB1 in Tampa?

Irving was one of the most pleasant surprises of the 2024 fantasy season. As a rookie, he immediately jumped off the page and finished as the overall RB16 in fantasy football. Remarkably, Irving totaled 1,514 scrimmage yards (1,122 rushing, 392 receiving) despite playing just 45% of the Bucs total offensive snaps. The remaining work primarily went to Rachaad White, who amassed 1,000 scrimmage yards himself. However, the difference in efficiency between Irving and White cannot be understated. Irving was perhaps the most effective runner in all of football, ranking first in yards after contact per attempt, top five in missed tackles forced per attempt and top 10 in breakaway run percentage. White, meanwhile, ranked well outside the top 15 in all of those metrics.

White is on a cheap contract and offers value in the passing game and as a blocker, so he will likely stick around. The key question for 2025, then, is if the Bucs will shift to giving Irving a workload closer to that of a true bellcow. This situation reminds me a lot of how we looked at De’Von Achane and Raheem Mostert heading into 2024, and I anticipate Irving to be similarly priced in drafts. If he makes a similar leap that Achane made and gets 300+ touches next season, the sky is the limit for his fantasy value.

Was Chase Brown just a flash in the pan?

Brown was one of the best draft picks you could have made this season. He started off slow, but once Zack Moss got injured in Week 8, Brown was the sixth-best running back in all of fantasy football. Brown wasn’t extraordinarily efficient as a runner, averaging 4.3 yards per carry and ranking outside the top 20 in yards after contact per attempt, but he was still extremely valuable thanks to gaudy volume numbers both on the ground and through the air.

Moss is under contract for the Bengals in 2025, so like the aforementioned Rachaad White situation, I don’t expect the Bengals to move on from him. Brown has clearly proved he is capable of being the RB1 in a backfield, so it will be interesting to see how the Bengals plan on splitting up the workload between the two backs next season. It is also worth noting that the Bengals offense is probably due for some regression back to the mean, as they put up unreal offensive totals as a whole thanks to a terrible defense and several pass-first game scripts. We will need to see if Brown follows a Kyren Williams-type trajectory and becomes the undisputed top back in Cincinnati’s high-powered offense, or is more of a James Robinson-esque one-season wonder and reverts back to a timeshare next year.

Who ends up with Ashton Jeanty?

Following one of the best statistical seasons for a running back in college football history, Jeanty is bound to be a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Based on where he lands, we could see the Heisman runner-up vault up fantasy draft boards in his first year. A few teams that have been floated out as potential landing spots for Jeanty include the Cowboys, Commanders and Vikings.

I would love to see Jeanty go to a team with a dual-threat quarterback like the Commanders, as he should greatly benefit from lighter boxes and less attention from the defense. Although first-round running backs with lofty fantasy expectations have somewhat of a spotty track record (see: Clyde Edwards-Helaire), there’s no reason to believe Jeanty cannot thrive at the NFL level in the right circumstances.