Fantasy Life's 2025 fantasy football rankings are alive and well—so what better time than meow to break down the top-12 running back rankings ahead of the 2025 season?

As always: It's a great day to be great.

Looking for 2025 QB rankings? We've got you covered here.

RB Rankings for Fantasy Football 2025

RB1: Eagles RB Saquon Barkley

  • Ian rank: RB1

Barkley ran for 2,005 yards and 13 TDs last season, yet somehow left some meat on the bone considering:

  1. The Eagles rested him ahead of what could've (let's face it, would've) been a hilarious record-breaking Week 18 performance against the New York Football Giants.
     
  2. Barkley got all the way to the one-yard line and did NOT score a TD on the same drive on a league-high nine occasions. Imagine the ceiling here if the NFL does decide to f*ck around and ban the tush push.

The only pause when projecting Barkley into 2025 is his relative older age for the position (turned 28 in February), and potential for at least some regression in the efficiency department (5.8 yards per carry was easily a career high) … because how is any mere mortal supposed to be that good two years in a row?

RB2: Falcons RB Bijan Robinson

  • Ian rank: RB2

Robinson turned a whopping 365 touches into 1,887 total yards and 15 scores last season as the engine of the Falcons' 13th-ranked scoring offense. Now, life with Michael Penix under center isn't guaranteed to lead to weekly fireworks; just realize the volume alone is enough to earn Bijan this ranking.

Consider: Just four RBs are projected to see 300-plus combined carries and targets next season (per the Fantasy Life Projections):

Throw in a sneaky great pass-game floor that has resulted in Bijan catching a whopping 119 passes over the last two seasons (3rd most among RBs), and you have the consensus RB2–and it wouldn't surprise ANYONE if that winds up being too low.

RB3: Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs

  • Ian rank: RB3

Gibbs' combination of dominance as a rusher and receiver is largely unmatched at the position.

 

The rising third-year talent's ceiling is, admittedly, a bit capped as long as David Montgomery is healthy, but even then, the efficiency and big-play ability are too great to really care all that much.

Overall, Gibbs worked as the RB5 in PPR points per game (18.7) in Weeks 1-15 with a healthy D-Mont last season … and THE RB1 (32.6!) in Weeks 16-18 as the team's undisputed lead back. Remember when folks were worried about that August hamstring injury?

Gibbs' ability to keep on keeping on with or without "Knuckles" is thanks in large part to the Lions' willingness to feature either back near the goal line, as Montgomery (17) just barely edged Gibbs (15) in carries inside the five-yard line. Don't be surprised if the RB3 in PPR points per game over the past two seasons turns in an even better encore performance, especially if Detroit decides to tilt the touch balance just a bit more in his favor.

RB4: Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty

  • Ian rank: RB7

I've had Jeanty ranked as high as RB3 this offseason thanks to the reality that he should absolutely EAT inside a Raiders backfield with nowhere else to go with the football. Historically, top-10 draft picks rack up touches and usually post elite fantasy numbers in their rookie campaigns.

 

Not exactly foolproof, but you would like to think Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly will lean more to the Barkley, Fournette, Zeke, Gurley, and Richardson side of things when it comes to force-feeding their young back carries. Again, the top touch competition at hand is in the form of Raheem Mostert, Sincere McCormick, and Zamir White.

RB7 is about as low as I can feasibly see myself moving Jeanty ahead of 2025; I'm just not totally convinced he's THAT much of a better talent than our next three backs, who should also see something close to elite volume and sure seem to be in objectively better offenses when it comes to potential scoring upside.

RB5: Dolphins RB De'Von Achane

  • Ian rank: RB5

Achane's first two seasons in the NFL have delivered awesome fantasy results, albeit in different manners:

  • 2023: Sets an NFL record with 7.8 yards per carry on his way to racking up 997 total yards and 11 scores in just 11 contests–good for RB5 status in PPR points per game.
     
  • 2024: Stayed healthy enough to at least suit up for all 17 games and wound up easily scoring more PPR points from purely receiving production than any RB (and he looked good doing it). The result: RB6 in PPR points per game.

There was a dropoff in efficiency last season, but that sure seemed to have something to do with the decision to play through a high-ankle sprain as well as the absence of Tua Tagovailoa. Achane was largely back to his usual baller self following the team's Week 6 bye.

Ultimately, Achane has the game-breaking speed to make the absolute most of 200-plus carries, and arguably no RB outside of CMC has a higher pass-game ceiling. That's a pretty, pretty, pretty good combo inside an offense just one year removed from finishing second in scoring.

RB6: Ravens RB Derrick Henry

  • Ian rank: RB6

Yes, King Henry turned 31 in January. Also, yes, he showed no signs of falling off in 2024, racking up his most total yards (2,141) and touchdowns (18) since the 2019-2020 Titans seasons.

A large part of this was Lamar Jackson's gravity and the Ravens' ability to constantly get Henry a head of steam. This has consistently been the league's best offense in terms of RB yards before contact per carry—something the Titans badly struggled to provide for the future Hall of Famer during his last two years in Nashville.

Similar to Saquon, it's just tough to fathom how Henry really busts in a meaningful way this year without the Injury Gods being dickheads (I just knocked on wood, don't worry). If the Fantasy Football Gods told you your life depended on guessing exactly how many TDs Henry would score in 2025, what would you say? 15? 20? Exactly.

RB7: 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey

  • Ian rank: RB5

There's a wild phenomenon not seen in YEARS going on at the moment in fantasy football drafts: None other than Mr. Christian McCaffrey is regularly available in the early parts of Round 2!

Of course, this is because of age (CMC turns 29 in June) and the idea that injuries may have caught up to the longtime league-winning RB. While most would have to admit McCaffrey is at more injury risk than the average back, we shouldn't exactly treat this idea as a binary "you either are or aren't injury prone." Note that Jonathan Taylor (16) has actually missed more games than McCaffrey (14) over the past three seasons.

Ultimately, CMC (22.1) joins Jim Brown (20.8) and LaDainian Tomlinson (20.3) as the only RBs in NFL history to average at least 20 PPR points per game. Learned doctors believe McCaffrey is fully healthy ahead of 2025 and are willing to bet on him. I am too!

RB8: Colts RB Jonathan Taylor

  • Ian rank: RB8

JT ran for 1,431 yards and 11 TD in just 14 games last season (102.2 yards per game!), but most in the fantasy community simply remember him dropping the ball short of the goal line in Week 15 against the Broncos.

I get it: That sucked. But man, we've seen basically nothing other than injuries stop Taylor from working as one of the game's most productive backs in recent seasons. His 2,171 total yards and 20 TDs in 2021 were the result of his last fully healthy campaign—unfortunately, the 26-year-old talent has been forced to battle through one early-season injury after another during the last three years:

  • 2022: Grade 2 ankle sprain in Week 4, suffered season-ending high ankle sprain in Week 15.
     
  • 2023: Started the year on IR with back (contract?) injury, torn thumb ligament in Week 12.
     
  • 2024: Grade 3 high-ankle sprain in Week 4.

Now, there's unfortunately no guarantee that 2025 will be the year that Taylor finally gets a healthy runout; just realize he'll vye for the most touches in the league if that scenario does unfold, which is a scary thought for *checks notes* the fifth-leading rusher in NFL history on a per-game basis (89.7).

RB9: Packers RB Josh Jacobs

  • Ian rank: RB9

Jacobs proved his down 2023 was more an issue of motivation and offensive environment than anything, as his 1,671 total yards and 16 TDs as the engine of the Packers offense helped him finish as the RB8 in PPR points per game.

Here's my only concern: Jacobs ran as pure as anyone when it came to his backfield mates going down with injuries. A.J. Dillon (neck) missed the entire season, and third-rounder MarShawn Lloyd (hamstring, ankle) only wound up playing one game all year.

Why do Dillon and Lloyd matter when you have a great RB like Jacobs? Well, Matt LaFleur doesn't exactly have the cleanest history of always featuring one clear lead back.

 

Look, Derrick Henry and Aaron Jones still returned some pretty nice fantasy value in those seasons, even with a Robin stealing more touches than fantasy managers would prefer; just realize this is about the point in the rankings when it starts to become just a bit harder to guarantee a full workhorse role in 2025.

RB10: Buccaneers RB Bucky Irving

  • Ian rank: RB10

Bucky was one of the most fun players to watch with the football in his hands last season. The man was electric!

 

And yet, it took a backbreaking fourth-quarter fumble from Rachaad White in Week 16 for the Buccaneers to finally give the starting job over to the rookie.

Now, Irving was receiving plenty of touches and putting up big numbers as the team's overqualified RB2, but this was still just the RB29 in terms of Fantasy Life's Utilization Score, which attempts to provide a singular number to sum up a player's workload.

It'd make a lot of sense if the awesome year one and late-season surge lead to a more featured role in 2025. This is why our rankers all have Bucky as a top-10 RB ahead of next season.

Still, I must admit I haven't made a huge habit of clicking his name in Round 2 of early drafts; the overall history of day three or UDFA RBs who boomed as a rookie is actually quite troubling.

RB11: Rams RB Kyren Williams

  • Ian rank: RB11

On the one hand, Kyren has racked up 2,831 total yards and 31 TDs over the past two seasons, scoring more PPR points per game than any RB not named Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, or Jahmyr Gibbs.

On the other hand, you'll be hard pressed to find an efficiency stat from 2024 that paints Williams as anything other than a bad RB.

Williams among 31 RBs with 150+ carries in 2024:

  • Yards per carry: 4.1 (25th)
  • Yards after contact per carry: 2.7 (27th)
  • Tackles avoided per carry: 15.8% (23rd)
  • Explosive run rate: 5.7% (29th)
  • Yards per route run: 0.52 (28th)

And that's not even including ball-security concerns: Williams put the ball on the ground six times last season—tied for the second-highest mark of any RB.

That said, Williams' efficiency numbers were quite a bit better in 2023, and it's tough to assume Sean McVay will just magically decide to start playing Blake Corum or Jarquez Hunter more often, considering he's largely refrained from utilizing committee backfields during his time with the Rams.

RB12: Bengals RB Chase Brown

  • Ian rank: RB13

Brown had a rather meh 39% snap rate and worked as the RB33 in PPR points per game (11) in Weeks 1-8 before Zack Moss was sidelined with a season-ending neck injury.

After? Brown played on an elite 85% of the offense's snaps and averaged 20.9 PPR points per game—the fourth-highest mark among all RBs.

Now, it'd make sense if the late-season surge leads to a more consistent full-time role in 2025; Brown was also beginning to see his snaps tick up prior to the Moss injury anyway. Still, we shouldn't discount the possibility that Moss and old friend Samaje Perine do make this an annoying committee of some sorts; it's not like Brown was the world's most efficient rusher (21st in rush yards over expected per carry) or receiver (34th in yards per route run) with his opportunities.

Still, Brown is the projected lead back inside a Bengals offense we all fully expect to light up the scoreboard on a weekly basis in 2025. That's tough to be too upset about.