Dynasty Fantasy Football Stock Watch: RB Risers and Fallers for 2025

As mentioned last week, there is no offseason when it comes to dynasty fantasy football.

Continuing with our series going through each position to identify risers and fallers in the dynasty realm (QB was last week), Jonathan Fuller and Sam Wallace break down the RB landscape in dynasty fantasy football below.

RB Risers For Dynasty Fantasy Football

Jonathan: Bucky Irving - Buccaneers

The 2024 rookie class had a number of stand-out performances, but few exceeded expectations the way that Bucky Irving did. He was a fourth-round pick in the NFL draft and the sixth running back off the board. His collegiate production profile was very strong, but his size and athletic testing were underwhelming. However, that didn't matter much once he hit the field as his vision and elusiveness made him productive right away.

Irving put up the best season of any rookie RB by far. He finished with the 10th-most rushing yards at the position (1,122) and scored 57.6 more half-PPR points than the next-best rookie RB (Tyrone Tracy). He wasn't just limited to rushing work either, catching 47 passes for 392 yards which essentially matched what his backfield partner Rachaad White did in the passing game.

In dynasty rookie drafts Irving was generally a mid-to-late second-round pick depending on format. Now he is a borderline top-12 dynasty RB. That is a huge move for a fourth-round RB so dynasty managers should at least make an honest assessment of their roster to decide if now is the time to cash in.

Irving is an incredibly fun player, but we know RBs without significant draft capital are easily replaced. If you're one of the favorites to win your league, hang on tight and enjoy what should be another great season. If you aren't among the best two or three rosters in your league, you should explore the trade market. Getting a 2025 first-round pick plus another young player is realistic and could provide a lot more value to your roster over the long run.

It's never fun to trade away an exciting young player, but if there is ever a situation to do it, an RB without meaningful draft capital is it.

Sam: Chase Brown - Bengals

The departure of Joe Mixon (more on him below) left the door open for second-year player Chase Brown to take the reins. Brown did all that and more as he paced the Bengals backfield and wound up finishing as the RB10 in PPR formats.

Coming out of college, Brown didn't flash anything spectacular and his Round 5 draft capital suggested that most teams felt the same way. However, what he lacked in overall production, he made up for with top-end speed. His Speed Score ranked him No. 4 in his class behind a couple of other names you might recognize.

After a slower start to the season that saw the team refuse to give him a full workload, he reached double-digit carries in his final 13 games. Brown ultimately played in 16 games, only missing Week 18 (ankle).

With the ability to handle a significant workload (229 rushing attempts), significant involvement in the passing game (65 targets), and breakaway speed, there's no reason why Brown shouldn't, once again, anchor this backfield moving forward.

Still only 24 years old, he has two years left on his rookie deal. The Bengals have plenty of other financial responsibilities this summer so even if they do add a depth piece to this backfield somewhere in the draft, Brown is a near-lock to be an every-down player next season.

Sam: Joe Mixon - Texans

Mixon spent the first seven years of his career with the Bengals before eventually signing a 3-year, $25.5M contract with the Houston Texans last offseason.

Despite missing three games early in the season, Mixon didn't miss a beat with his new team. He racked up over 1,000 rushing yards for the fifth time in his career and the third time in the last four years. Mixon also scored 11 TDs on the ground and his yards per carry (4.15) was his best since 2018.

While he finished as the RB17 in PPR scoring, Mixon is a great example of why per-game numbers matter. His PPG (17.2) was better than Brown's (15.9) and the latter played in two more games.

Yes, Mixon will be 29 years old at the start of next season. However, he still has two years left on his current contract and the Texans are trying to maximize this window of time before they have to give C.J. Stroud a sizable bag as their franchise QB.

Mixon scored the second-most rushing TDs of any season in his career and his involvement in the passing game remained strong. Assuming a healthy 2025, Mixon should remain one of the league's premier workhorse options at RB.

RB Fallers For Dynasty Fantasy Football

Jonathan: Javonte Williams - Broncos

You never want to see a player's career be defined by an injury but unfortunately, that is the direction that Javonte Williams is heading. He had a strong start to his career but suffered a brutal knee injury early in the 2022 season and hasn't looked like the same player since.

Sometimes the recovery from a major injury can take multiple years, and Williams is turning just 25 years old in April, so it is too early to completely write him off. On the other hand, dynasty managers do need to face the reality that he will likely never be anything more than a depth piece on their bench.

Williams has fallen to around the RB50 in dynasty ranks and is a free agent this offseason. With a strong RB class, incoming NFL teams are unlikely to invest much in a veteran RB like Williams given his recent track record. The best-case scenario would be if he gets signed to be the clear second option in a decent offense. Unfortunately, it seems more likely that he will be competing for a roster spot with a mid-round rookie pick which means he will have to prove it in training camp if he is going to see much playing time in 2025.

If you can get anything of value for Williams I would suggest taking it, the road back to fantasy relevance looks like a steep uphill climb. 

Jonathan: Travis Etienne - Jaguars

Dynasty managers who have rostered Travis Etienne for his entire career have been on quite the rollercoaster ride. After missing his entire rookie season due to a Lisfranc injury, he had a very promising 2022 campaign with more than 1,400 scrimmage yards while averaging over 5 yards per carry.

In 2023 he had his best fantasy output, finishing as the RB3 in half PPR scoring thanks to an upgraded role in the passing game and 11 rushing TDs. While the box score numbers were great, his rushing efficiency plummeted and he didn't have as many explosive runs as in 2022 despite handling 46 more rush attempts. 

This paved the way for a very disappointing 2024 campaign as he lost work to Tank Bigsby and never provided a spark to the floundering Jacksonville offense. Despite playing in 15 games he never has a 70 rushing-yard performance and from Week 5 on, he only topped 50 rushing yards once.

He did have a reasonable role in the passing game—hauling in 39 receptions for 254 yards—but it wasn't enough to give him any meaningful upside for fantasy purposes as he maxed out at 13.3 half-PPR fantasy points. 

Now, Etienne enters the final year of his rookie deal and the 2025 season will be pivotal for his dynasty value. He just turned 26 in January so he could get a nice second contract if he returns to form this year. If things don't go well the floor is extremely low, but that is the nature of the position.

If you can get a mid-2nd-round pick in your rookie draft for him I would take it, but don't trade him away for much less than that. I like the Jaguars as a potential bounceback team so I don't mind taking the risk and keeping him on my roster. My biggest concern is that Jacksonville could draft another back and make this a three-man committee, but if that doesn't happen I believe his value will rise from here.

Depending on where your team is at, he could be a good in-season trade piece if he gets off to a solid start and a contender is willing to part with 2026 draft capital. 

Sam: J.K. Dobbins - Chargers

Throughout his five years in the NFL, here are the number of games J.K. Dobbins has played each year:

• 2020 - 15
• 2021 - 0
• 2022 - 8
• 2023 - 1
• 2024 - 13

I always hesitate to label a player as "injury prone" because a player is until he isn't (see: Keenan Allen). However, at some point, a player is who he is. Yes, Dobbins looked awesome for most of last season. He averaged 4.64 yards per carry on almost 200 rushing attempts and he finished as the RB18 in PPG.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have to follow the decisions of a team. Dobbins was playing on a one-year contract and is currently an unrestricted free agent. Yes, the Chargers could ink him to another deal but I'm guessing they'll try to get younger (and healthier) and the position either through free agency or the draft.

It's not a knock on Dobbins—he did everything asked of him this season in what has been a tumultuous career overall. If another team gives him a shot at a starting job, good for him, but I don't see it making much football sense for the Chargers to give Dobbins what is likely going to be asking for.

For all the strength and depth of this incoming RB class, Dobbins' dynasty value has likely reached its peak.