Best Backup Running Backs to Target in Fantasy Football: Ten Top Values

No matter whether you're a Zero RB drafter or someone who prefers to pay up for big-name fantasy running backs, you'll want to know the best fantasy backup RBs so you can effectively spend your later-round running back selections.

The Zero RB approach requires correctly identifying late-round running back sleepers, but even if you're rich at the position it's always worth getting richer. Also, it's worth denying any Zero RB drafters in your league the opportunity to complete their squad. Let them have the lesser scraps – be greedy and keep the best fantasy backup RBs for yourself.

These running backs are listed in descending ADP rather than any particular backup RB rankings order. The ADP data is from NFFC RotoWire Online Championship drafts in August.

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Zach Charbonnet, SEA (97.55 NFFC)

Charbonnet already proved in 2024 that he's one of the best fantasy backup RBs in the NFL.

When Kenneth Walker missed time last year Charbonnet plugged right into a three-down workhorse role, logging one of the season's biggest fantasy box scores against Arizona in Week 14 (22 carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns, seven receptions for 59 yards on seven targets).

Charbonnet should provide the exact same utility in 2025. Frustrating as it might be to manage him while Walker is healthy, Charbonnet showed in that Cardinals game that he can possess game-changing fantasy upside if the opportunity should present itself.

Trey Benson, ARI (113.99 NFFC)

James Conner is the man and when he's on there are very few running backs as close to as good, but Conner is also over 30 years old as a player with a uniquely lengthy injury history. Conner has never played a full season, and with his ruthlessly bruising running style it's easy to see why.

Benson offers the Cardinals a toolsy understudy to Conner as long as Conner is healthy, and the thinking is that Benson will eventually be Arizona's starting running back – and hopefully a distinguished one at that. If Conner misses time or regresses in 2025 then Benson's promotion date might get moved up into the 2025 season.

Benson boasts a rare combination of size and speed, logging a 4.39-second 40 at the NFL Combine at 6-feet, 216 pounds. Benson's highly-explosive production at Florida State paired with his athletic tools makes it easy to imagine Benson as an impending high-upside fantasy back.

Cam Skattebo, NYG (114.46 NFFC)

Skattebo has dealt with a hamstring injury for weeks and is at risk of opening the year as low as third on the Giants depth chart – behind not only Tyrone Tracy but also Devin Singletary – yet on the other hand Skattebo's best-case upside scenario might be compelling enough to draft him at ADP anyway.

As long as you plan as if you won't get anything guaranteed out of him, especially early in the year, Skattebo should be a worthwhile home run swing in the double-digit rounds.

Good as Tracy was as a rookie last year, both fumbles and drops were an issue, and Tracy lacks the anchor to project as a classic power back. In short-yardage/goal-line situations the Giants might find Tracy losing his footing against denser, lower tacklers.

At just under 5-foot-10 and at 219 pounds, Skattebo generates as much anchor leverage as pretty much any running back in memory. He turns into a porcupine when he dives into traffic, becoming a thorny bowling bowl that routinely jolts defenders who come in too high. Tracy, by contrast, keeps anchor much better toward the outside of the tackles than in between them.

Skattebo showed he can withstand massive workload volume at Arizona State, generating 2,316 yards from scrimmage in 13 games, and with that there is similarly reason to suspect Skattebo could pose unique volume upside in the NFL, both as a runner and receiver.

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Tank Bigsby, JAX (120.35 NFFC)

Even if Travis Etienne stays healthy all year (good luck with that), Bigsby should have a regular if part-time role in the weekly offense as a power specialist. Etienne is a speed specialist and one with a lengthy injury history, meaning power concept runs might work better with Bigsby.

If Etienne is limited to something like 12-to-15 carries per week then there should be upwards of 10 or more carries laying around for Bigsby specifically, and potentially in short-yardage and/or goal-line situations.

The Jaguars want to run more and better in 2025. Etienne can get them most of the way there if healthy, but Bigsby needs to tie up his own end of the deal for the formula to work. If Etienne were to miss time, meanwhile, Bigsby could step into a three-down starting role.

Bhayshul Tuten, JAX (130.44 NFFC)

Though it might seem like a lot to name three Jaguars runners as good values at ADP – even Etienne (89.96 NFFC) has a tempting price – the simple fact is that each of Etienne, Bigsby and Tuten have plausible paths to fantasy relevance, even if they can't all coexist at once. Each is fallible enough to concede possibility to the other two, for various reasons.

Etienne is likely one of the better big-play backs in the NFL, but his abilities are undermined by his poor durability. If Etienne gets nicked up like he did in 2024, then Tuten would have a lot of runway to work with.

Useful as Bigsby might be for fantasy investors, as a real-life running back Bigsby isn't much more than a power specialist. Meaning that when the Jaguars need a big play, they are all but compelled to look to Tuten if Etienne isn't available. Chances are that Tuten and his 4.32 speed will play just fine on the NFL field – as long as he stops fumbling, anyway.

Tyler Allgeier, ATL (147.99 NFFC)

Allgeier is overqualified as a backup, and even with Bijan Robinson getting a monstrous workload the Falcons still make it a point to regularly feature Allgeier, who's frankly too good to just banish to the sideline.

Grim as it is to think about, if Robinson were to miss any time Allgeier would immediately, unambiguously lock in as one of the top fantasy backs in Robinson's place. Allgeier was a high-volume, high-efficiency producer at BYU, and he already ran for over 1,000 yards as a rookie fifth-round pick. Allgeier is very clearly one of the best fantasy backup RBs.

Blake Corum, LAR (171.14 NFFC)

Corum's rookie year was a boring disappointment, yet the same would be true of Kyren Williams' own rookie season.

Corum will have a better grasp of Sean McVay's neurotically particular demands as a second-year player, and even as a small (5-8, 205) and not-fast running back (4.53-second 40), Corum is still significantly bigger and more athletic than Williams, who barely avoided a 4.7-second 40 at 195 pounds.

Rookie fourth-round pick Jarquez Hunter is an interesting prospect in his own right, but he's raw as a receiver and pass blocker. McVay will likely apply a redshirt to Hunter the same way he did Corum in 2024. Corum, meanwhile, is about to take the redshirt off.

Tahj Brooks, CIN (174.59 NFFC)

Though he is but a humble rookie sixth-round pick, Brooks has a strong chance to establish himself as the clear RB2 for Cincinnati in 2025. 

Samaje Perine's role as the designated blitz pickup back is likely locked into the Bengals offense this year, but Perine has limitations from scrimmage that preclude the chance to scale up his snap count. In other words, while Brooks will technically serve as Cincinnati's RB3 in title, in the event of a Chase Brown injury Brooks would jump from third to first on the Bengals depth chart. Perine will likely play around 20 snaps per game but not more, regardless of whether Brown is available.

If the Bengals need an actual workhorse from scrimmage to step up then Brooks is the guy. Brooks withstood massive workload volume at Texas Tech, where he piled up 4,557 yards (5.2 YPC) and 45 touchdowns on 879 carries.

Brooks is built with uncommon natural anchor (5-9, 214) and ran surprisingly fast at the combine (4.52-second 40). He has sufficient athletic tools for his otherwise notable skill set to translate at the pro level.

Chris Rodriguez, WAS (238.41 NFFC)

You'll see a lot of hype for Jacory Croskey-Merritt, but Rodriguez is the better player and the one who can hold up against a starter's workload.

Croskey-Merritt (5-10, 206) runs with a hyperactive aesthetic that people mistake for explosiveness per se, but it's more visually entertaining than it is substantive. Rodriguez is all substance: pure running ability paired with uncommon power and a frame (5-11, 224) that dishes out punishment as easily as it withstands it.

Croskey-Merritt went four straight years at Alcorn State averaging less than four yards per carry, then he had three big games at New Mexico and one big game at Arizona against New Mexico. The production profile is about as bad as you'll see for a drafted running back.

Rodriguez, by contrast, steamrolled the SEC while playing for Kentucky. He finished his collegiate career with 3,644 yards and 32 touchdowns on 592 carries -- good for 6.2 yards per carry at a 5.4-percent touchdown rate. Very few running backs produce with that level of efficiency over that much volume in the SEC.

Croskey-Merritt will have some important place on the Commanders depth chart in 2025, but as a pure runner Rodriguez still outclasses him. Austin Ekeler will be the pass-catching specialist, while Rodriguez should more or less steal Brian Robinson's former role.

Audric Estime, DEN (240.18 NFFC)

If you're selecting a running back in the final round then you could do worse than Estime, even though Estime often goes undrafted. He appears buried on the Denver depth chart, but the players ahead of Estime are either injury prone (J.K. Dobbins) or small (RJ Harvey, Jaleel McLaughlin).

McLaughlin is plainly redundant to Harvey, so in terms of workload eligibility there isn't much grounds for ranking McLaughlin ahead of Estime. At nearly 230 pounds Estime stands out as Denver's designated Power Back – Dobbins is their best power source otherwise, yet between his injury history and average build (5-10, 215) Dobbins is far from a true bruiser.

Sean Payton likely wants a true bruiser on the roster. That's Estime. If Dobbins were to miss time, Estime would likely become Denver primary short-yardage runner and would be a candidate to split the broader workload with Harvey.

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