8 Running Backs You Are Drafting with Insane Confidence

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
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**Josh** (0:36)
Yesterday, we covered the wide receivers. Today, it's the running backs that you all are drafting with extreme confidence. Yes, 17 games were played last year. Either these names gave you joy or plenty of grief. They were on your roster, and now we have a draft and frequency in our back pockets, and they are being selected in a much different draft slot than where they finished last season. That's what it's all about. Names drafted much earlier or later than they finished the 2025 season. And speaking of earlier Hayden, the prices on running backs this year are higher than ever.
Are they even high enough? I think that's a question worth asking.

**Hayden** (1:13)
Yeah, I looked into this. So what I did here on this crazy chart here is, I looked at where they finished last year in fantasy points over placement per game. So that's my favorite metric to look across fantasy positions.
Then I compared it to the Underdog ADP. So this is both half PPR on the scoring and on the ADP here. And I took the top 25 biggest differences on each side. So players getting drafted way earlier or way later. And you see on the running backs chart, almost all of the 25 guys being drafted after where they finished last year are running backs. So even though the prices are up right now, if you're looking at what happened last season versus the price tags, the running backs as a whole have not moved high up enough, which is pretty crazy. And that goes from like the top end guys, you know, Derrick Henrys, Devon A. Chans, Kyren Williams, all the way to the next year, like the Rhamondre Stevenson's, Tyrone Tracy's, Woody Marks, those type of guys are being drafted way, way later. There's only a couple exceptions where running backs are now being drafted a lot earlier than where they finished last year. And they're pretty obvious, like Basial Toot and going into a bigger role. But just in general, running back prices are up. And I would argue not high enough.

**Josh** (2:24)
Well, we'll talk about that as we go along in this episode. And obviously this summer, when we talk about draft strategies, let's dive into some specific names. We'll talk about the much earlier ones to open. And this goes to the top of the draft. I mean, Saquon Barkley is drafted as the running back 7
He finished last year as the running back 15 in points per game. Hayden, I think there is an argument to make that Saquon Barkley, despite being at the 1-2 turn, which is a high pick for all of you, is still potentially one of the most undervalued assets in Fantasy Football this season.

**Hayden** (2:56)
I got him ranked 11th overall. He's my RB5. So I'm with you. This isn't in half PPR here. There's just a lot of positive updates for this year's Eagles versus last year's one. Offensive coordinator, we're expecting that to get better. Offensive line health should get better with Lane Johnson and Dickerson, and those guys missing time or playing through injuries. Then Saquon Barkley only converted one of his 11 goal line carries for touchdowns last year. That's just going to get better as the entire environment around him gets a little bit better.
Yeah, I'm not expecting this to be the 2024 version, but could I sandwich 2024 versus last year and come up with a win? I certainly can. So I think it comes down to the offensive line health plus offensive coordinator. I thought Saquon Barkley largely looked about the same as he did the year prior when he was one of the best running backs in the league. I think maybe slight decrease. He's 29 years old now, but for the most part, he's going to get the rock a ton. If they ever got away from the tush push stuff, you can add a couple more touchdowns to that.

**Josh** (3:54)
I think there's a possibility that they do, that Jalen Hurts just doesn't want to run as much as he used to and get put in those situations as much as he used to. Just overall, top down view of the Philadelphia Eagles, the most important part for them is about getting this running game right. So much of the conversation this summer is going to be about what Sean Manion is going to do with Jalen Hurts and Devontae Smith and take this passing game to the next iteration of it. But to me, none of that matters unless they can get this running game back to closer to where it was in 2024, because that is what changes the math. That is what changes the defense and the coverage more often than what Jalen Hurts is going to be as a pure pocket passer and pick apart a defense. I mean, even last year in a down season, again, as the running back 15 in points per game, he still was the running back seven and expected fantasy points per contest. So the workload was really still there that we needed. Yet, they averaged and were 16th in rushing yards before contact per attempt. The Eagles running backs were, compare that to 2024, they ranked second. They were seventh in explosive runs this past season with 58, which is still a nice number, but compare that to 2024, that was at 77, the second most.