What if you only went rookie RBs in your Fantasy draft?

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  • Last Updated on June 16, 2025 11:06 am by Jon Mosales | Published: June 16, 2025

    The past few seasons we have seen rookies destroy their ADPs and be key cogs in championship teams.  Last season eight of the top-25 players on Yahoo championship teams were rookies.  Most of these were WRs, with a handful of QBs and only one TE and RB.  Rookie WRs have been carried the day the last few seasons, but the value might have finally evaporated last season as people have caught on and this class isn’t teaming with potential fantasy studs.  The clear skill position to target this season is the rookie RBs, but they also carry extreme volatility and unlike WRs, they may take several weeks to actualize their potential.  If you only took one or two rookie RBs, you are playing rookie roulette and hoping you get the next Bucky Irving and not the next Blake Corum.   What if we splashed the pot and targeted as many rookie RBs as possible?  What would it look like and where is the best value.  Let’s explore.

     

    The Obvious King of Kings

    Ashton Jeanty – LV

    Jeanty is going around the 13th pick and the RB5 and that means you will have to use your first round pick on him or maybe an early second if you are near the turn.  Jeanty is the full package and while he doesn’t offer traditional rookie value in that he could smash his ADP, if you are going all-rookie RBs, it makes sense to start with the King.   Across his final two collegiate seasons, Jeanty ranked first and third in yards after contact per attempt and first and second in elusive rating.  He should be a clear bell-cow and should thrive if the o-line plays as well as it did over the final stretch of the season.  The o-line ranked eighth in the last four weeks and that was without below average players at the RB and QB positions.  With a capable QB in Geno Smith and Jeanty replacing the trio of ineffective backs last season, the LV running game should go from 28 in FPPG to potentially a top-10 unit.  Throw in the fact that new OC Chip Kelly loves to run the ball and get RBs involved in the passing game, Jeanty is a no-brainer fantasy stud without a ceiling.  The only real risk is that it’s been a while since we’ve seen a rookie RB storm out of the gates.  Bijan Robinson had similar levels of hype and only finished as the RB9 and Jahmyr Gibbs was also a first rounder, finishing his rookie campaign as the RB10.  These were both solid seasons, but they didn’t exactly blow the roof off the fantasy community.  Jeanty might have a higher ceiling as he nearly broke Barry Sanders’ all-time college rushing mark, but it’s still always safer to bet on something you have seen before.  I would be comfortable taking Jeanty at the turn in a 12/14- team league, but he’s not a must-draft player where I would take him top-seven.

    Mid-Round Potential League-Swingers

    Omarion Hampton – LAC


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    June 16, 2025, 11:06 am