Diving into the NFL Draft isn’t just for the Dynasty fantasy football crowd anymore. Every season, numerous rookies make an impact in regular redraft fantasy football leagues. Just look at Malik Nabers, Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey, and Jayden Daniels in 2024, to name a few. Leading up to the NFL Draft, we’ll take a look at two or three of the top prospects (with this being the exception of looking at one player) at their position in each Rookies to Know post. We’ll make sure you know which rookies to keep an eye on when your fantasy football drafts come around. I’ll discuss where each prospect excels, as well as what areas of growth they have, along with their average draft position in early best ball drafts. Of course, it wouldn’t be draft season if we didn’t go over one or two of the top team fits for each player when April rolls around.
The first edition of the 2025 Rookies to Know series will put the spotlight on the Running Back position, which is widely regarded as one of the deepest positions in this year’s draft. We’ll do at least one more Rookies to Know article focusing on two or three different Running Backs since the position has so much depth. Plenty of Running Backs in this year’s draft can help you in your regular re-draft fantasy football league or best ball league, so at least two posts are necessary. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the consensus 1.01 for upcoming rookie drafts: Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty.
Even if you don’t follow college football closely, there’s a decent chance you’ve heard Jeanty’s name somewhere along the way. The son of a US Navy Officer, Jeanty found himself bouncing around throughout his childhood, finally settling at Lone Star High School in Frisco, Texas where he played high school football. Jeanty’s junior season at Boise State in 2024 was one for the books, compiling a whopping 2,601 rushing yards in 14 games, with a staggering 1,970 of those being yards after contact. I don’t pretend to be a film guru, but in his film breakdown it’s eye opening to see Jeanty’s incredible elusiveness. Even when a defensive lineman slips into the backfield as he takes the handoff, he somehow turns that broken play into a positive gain. Jeanty won’t need to go to the NFL’s top offensive line (although that’d be nice) to be productive for your fantasy team in 2025. For a more in-detph film analysis on Jeanty’s game and strengths, check out this film breakdown from Fantasy Football RPG.
Yards after contact and his elusiveness are just the start when looking into Jeanty’s game. The 21-year-old excels with his vision down the field, can also be utilized in the passing game, and is a willing and capable pass protector, something that’s going to help him stay on the field more as a rookie. Not surprisingly, he’s an explosive play just waiting to happen, as he had rushes of 50 yards in nine of his 14 games in 2024, according to Lance Zierlein of NFL.com. Even though he’s never taken a snap in the NFL, it’s hard to imagine much of a discount when it comes to where you’ll have to take him in re-draft and best ball leagues. Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott, and Bijan Robinson all were taken in the high rounds as rookies, and Jeanty likely won’t be any different. That makes Jeanty even more important to know, as you’ll want to have an excellent grasp on which players you’ll need to invest high draft capital into in 2025.
In most cases we’ll touch on some weaknesses and areas of growth for each prospect, but for Jeanty there just isn’t much downside. You can point to a heavy workload and three fumbles lost in 2024 if you want to nitpick, but Jeanty is the full package when it comes to the running back position.
Jeanty led the FBS in rushing yards by a sizeable margin, compiling 2,601 yards on the ground, nearly a full thousand more than the next closest player, Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo. He also had the most touchdowns amongst RBs with 29, trailing only Army QB Bryson Daily in ground scores across all positions. A few other fun and notable stats for Jeanty are his 164 missed tackles forced, an FBS record, and his .390 career missed tackles forced per touch, which leads all 2025 running back prospects. The fact that he’s so hard to bring down speaks to his incredible balance as a runner. He may not have compiled the strongest receiving numbers in 2024, but has displayed pass-catching ability in the past as well, catching 43 balls for 569 yards and 5 TDs in 2023.
So where is Jeanty’s ideal landing spot for fantasy football purposes? The goal is to find a realistic landing spot in terms of draft slot along with a team that can help maximize his strengths. The Raiders are sitting with the sixth overall pick and have been tied to Jeanty in the mock draft world, but outside of Brock Bowers, they lack weapons and have questions at quarterback. Pete Carroll loves to run the ball, however, and could pound the table for the generational prospect. While the offensive environment may not be as attractive as some other landing spots, Jeanty ending up with a head coach like Carroll that’s going to emphasize the run game helps make the Raiders a potentially good place for Jeanty to flourish for fantasy purposes.
Moving back a few spots, the Cowboys hold the 12th overall pick. If healthy, Dak Prescott is more than capable of leading an explosive offense. Defenses have to account for CeeDee Lamb, potentially opening up some more running lanes for Jeanty compared to a team that lacks a true downfield weapon. The 12th pick feels just about right for Jeanty and would land him in what should be at least a solid offense with no incumbent running back to threaten much work from him (sorry, Rico Dowdle). Honestly, Jeanty is so good that a team with a stable running back could still decide to take him, but the Cowboys could clearly benefit from adding a superior talent like Jeanty while the future star could thrive in Big D. You know Jerry Jones is on board.
Even with the devaluation of running backs, it’s hard to imagine a world where Jeanty slides too far in the first round, but in a deep running back class, some teams may feel they don’t need to spend a top 15-20 pick on Jeanty and can still get a talented ball carrier a bit later on. If that does end up being the case, the Chargers with the 22nd overall pick feel like the absolute floor for where Jeanty ends up being selected. Similar to the Raiders with Pete Carroll, we all know Jim Harbaugh loves to run the ball down defense’s throats. Harbaugh beefed up the offensive line in last year’s draft with the selection of Joe Alt at #5 overall. Alt and Rashawn Slater at left tackle give the Chargers two cornerstones on each side of their offensive line, while Justin Herbert has long been considered one of the NFL’s most talented signal callers.
I never want to assume, but it would make too much sense if the Chargers front office makes it a priority to add some more weapons around Herbert to go along with Ladd McConkey, who impressed in his rookie year. The Chargers would provide a stable quarterback situation, a quality offensive line, and a head coach that’s going to give Jeanty all the opportunities in the world to showcase his talents. Jeanty would immediately elevate the big play ability from this backfield, which is something the Chargers undoubtedly lacked in 2024.
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