This is a continuation of RotoWire's summer series on fantasy football sleepers and busts, now doing a position-by-position analysis of NFL fantasy sleepers for 2025. We covered quarterbacks last week, so now it's time to move on to running backs, identifying players with the potential to considerably outperform their acquisition cost (fantasy football ADP or auction values).
Some of the players are guys that I wrote about in previous breakout-themed articles, like this one on second-year pros, or this one for third-year pros, or this one for players with new teams/coaches. There are other RBs, including a few rookies, who are making their first appearance in our series on sleepers and potential breakout players, although some of them are listed on our sleepers page.
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RB Sleepers (Listed by ADP)
RB D'Andre Swift (Round 5/6 ADP)
Swift isn't a great player, but he's a competent one, and the situation in Chicago might be a good one thanks to Ben Johnson and the revamped offensive line. Swift definitely has weak competition for carries, needing to fend off only Roschon Johnson and Kyle Monangai, with reports out of Bears camp this summer suggesting Swift has remained healthy and taken most of the first-team work. He was also held out of the team's first two preseason games, likely setting him up for a big role Week 1. I do think there's some risk Monangai eventually proves equal or superior to Swift and makes a push for the lead role, but Swift is at least someone that we can feel decent about putting in a Week 1 lineup, with upside for much more if he and the Chicago offense get rolling early.
RB Tony Pollard (Round 6/7)
This is another unsexy pick, a non-superstar veteran, but one with real fantasy upside relative to an ADP in the 70-75 range, especially if teammate Tyjae Spears (high-ankle sprain) continues to be held back by injuries. Pollard had over 1,000 rushing yards and at least 39 catches in each of the past three seasons, and he may be tasked with elite volume — think 50 snaps and 20-25 touches — when Spears isn't available this season, which could include Week 1. There's also a very strong chance Tennessee's offense is improved from last season, although to what extent is anyone's guess, largely depending on QB Cameron Ward.
How do these players stack up against the rest of the NFL? Visit our fantasy football PPR rankings for a list of the top players for the remainder of the season.
RB Jaylen Warren (Round 8/9)
Warren is thought of by some as a passing-down back, but he's big enough to handle large workloads (5-8, 215) and has averaged 4.8 YPC across 346 career rush attempts. There's breakout potential in his fourth pro season, as rookie teammate Kaleb Johnson won't necessarily be trusted to take all of the snaps and touches that went to Najee Harris last year. Running ability alone won't be enough to win over Aaron Rodgers and Arthur Smith if they don't trust the rookie to know his assignments and pass protect.
RB Travis Etienne (Round 8/9)
Etienne has dealt with poor blocking and coaching for most of his NFL career, after missing his rookie season with a major foot injury. In 2022 and 2023, he often rose above the suboptimal situation and helped both the Jaguars in fantasy owners. Last year, Etienne was arguably part of the problem, averaging career lows of 3.8 YPC and 6.5 yards per reception, miles away from his 2022 highs of 5.1 YPC and 9.0 YPR. A hamstring injury in October cost him two full games and limited his snaps in two others, and he averaged just 3.5 YPC in nine games after returning from the injury, with nary a touchdown.
Tank Bigsby, meanwhile, averaged 4.6 yards per carry, but with a few big games early in the year and then just 3.3 YPC over his final eight appearances. The Jaguars simply couldn't run the ball, stuck with a backup QB, bottom-five offensive line and one of the worst schemes in the league (good riddance, Press Taylor). Whether or not Liam Coen proves successful as a head coach, he'll at least bring a much better run-game scheme to Jacksonville, with the help of C Robert Hainsey (signed to a three-year, $21 million contract) and G Patrick Mekari (three years, $37.5M).
Jacksonville's offensive line is still a far cry from what Coen had in Tampa last year, but even an average unit up front could allow for an explosive offense, with Trevor Lawrence throwing to Brian Thomas and Travis Hunter. One of the Jacksonville running backs should have considerable fantasy value this year, and a healthy version of Etienne probably still offers the best mix of experience, running ability, explosiveness and passing-down skills. None of the three has a top-90 ADP, making it easy enough to draft multiple Jags RBs — ideally for a bench rather than a lineup spot.
RB Ray Davis (Round 11/12)
A fourth-round pick last year, Davis didn't have much luck on the ground when he came off the bench behind James Cook, but the rookie exploded for 152 total yards in the one game Cook missed. Davis also impressed as a receiver, with a 17-189-3 line on three targets, after catching 94 passes in his lengthy college career at five different schools. He's more power runner than pass-catching threat, but competence in the latter area creates upside for huge workloads in the event of James Cook missing time. This could even be a situation where the backup's workload (after the starter gets injured) is actually slightly larger than the starter's workload from before. The Bills also like No. 3 RB Ty Johnson, but primarily on passing downs, whereas Davis is more likely to be on the field for plays where the running back gets the ball.
RB Jaydon Blue (Round 11/12)
A heel injury seems to have killed some of the enthusiasm, but Dallas expects Blue to be healthy soon, likely with time to spare before the regular season. His 4.38 speed alone may be enough to earn playing time in a backfield where Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders are the other options. Williams is on track for the Week 1 start, but he's never regained his pre-surgery explosiveness and mostly seems to be valued for stuff like pass blocking and ball security. Blue is the only Dallas running back with potential to gain significant yardage beyond what's blocked, and while unlikely to match Williams as a blocker, the rookie fifth-round pick could very well prove superior as a receiving threat.
- Bhayshul Tuten (Round 12/13)
If things don't work out for Etienne, it doesn't necessarily mean Jacksonville's running game will be a bust. Bigsby is the type of competent-but-not special, early-down RB who can be quickly pushed aside in the modern NFL, while Tuten's 4.32 speed and relatively dense build (5-foot-9, 209 pounds) hint at upside for three-down production if he develops skills to match his raw talent. Some guys never develop those skills; others do it faster than anyone expected. I'm not sure which Tuten will be, but he at least has the type of profile where the 'hit' scenario might be a home run.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt (Rising by the Minute)
Drafted 245th overall this year, Croskey-Merritt is the summer fantasy sensation that almost nobody expected. He's 24 years old, following a lengthy college career that started at FCS Alabama State and ended with playing just one game at Arizona last season due to an eligibility issue. Croskey-Merritt helped himself at his pro day — 4.45 40, 41.5-inch vertical, 124-inch broad jump at 5-10, 206 — and seems to have won over Washington beat writers (and coaches?) during training camp.
He started the first preseason game, ahead of returning backs Jeremy McNichols and Chris Rodriguez, taking eight touches for 32 yards and suffering a minor shoulder injury in the process. Now the Commanders reportedly are thinking about trading Brian Robinson, which could put Croskey-Merritt in the power-back role as part of a rotation with Austin Ekeler, who doesn't have much of a workload ceiling but looks like a good value at ADP given his solid chance of being a cheap FLEX or RB2 starter.
Croskey-Merritt's pre-draft profile isn't especially promising, which is part of why I'm preaching caution and targeting Ekeler, but there is enough smoke here to consider the possibility of a fire. It's a situation worth tracking closely up through September even if Croskey-Merritt seems to be over-drafted in a lot of rooms right now.
Amid speculation about his future with the #Commanders, RB Brian Robinson Jr. will not play tonight against the #Bengals, sources say. It's a mutual decision between Robinson and the team, as a trade before the cut to the 53-man roster remains a possibility. pic.twitter.com/jFCtzGbXob
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 18, 2025
Blake Corum (Round 15-17)
It was premature to bury Corum after a quiet rookie season and the Rams' drafting of Jarquez Hunter in the fourth round. A third-round pick in his own right, with 58 career rushing TDs at a major program, Corum simply didn't get many chances as a rookie, logging double-digit snaps just four times (and never more than 18). He worked ahead of Hunter in the Rams' first two preseason games, starting both and taking 13 carries for 54 yards and two TDs. The strong showing puts Corum on track for the second spot on the depth chart, sitting a Kyren Williams injury away from one of the more coveted roles in fantasy football as Sean McVay's starting RB.
- Kyle Monangai (Round 16+)
Roschon Johnson may stick around in the NFL for pass blocking and special teams — like Houston's Dare Ogunbowale or Bears teammate Travis Homer — but Johnson hasn't shown any real potential as a runner. The Bears thus have only Swift and Monangai, a seventh-round rookie, as viable options to be the lead runner. It's not that expensive to draft both and see what happens, hoping that the new scheme and remade offensive line can make one of these guys look better than they actually are.
Monangai offers some promise as a power runner, with his 4.60 40 at the combine looking not-so-bad in light of his dense frame (5-8, 211). He never caught more than 14 passes in a season at Rutgers, but he did top 240 carries and 1,260 rushing yards in both of his final two seasons, averaging 5.1 YPC (far better than his backups) while scoring 22 total TDs in 24 games for mediocre Rutgers teams. Monangai picked up an injury in mid-August, but there's been no indication that it's serious, and he previously appeared on track for a roster spot.
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