Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
Every NFL season is full of surprises, both good and bad, and 2025 was no exception. Plenty of fantasy assets emerged seemingly out of nowhere to become quality starting options, and others let us down, either due to injury, poor play and inefficiency or getting benched.
In this article, we’ll look at some of the pleasant surprises and surprise disappointments at running back from 2025, leaving out players who missed significant chunks of time due to injury.
NOTE: Fantasy points/rankings are from Weeks 1-17
Pleasant surprise: Javonte Williams, Dallas Cowboys
- Finish: RB11
- ADP: RB35
Williams is mostly coming off a stretch of multiple ineffective fantasy seasons, as he failed to crack the top-30 PPR running backs in three consecutive seasons. Williams had started his career strong with an RB17 finish as a rookie, but that was feeling like it would go down as the best fantasy season of his career. However, with the running back-needy Cowboys giving Williams a shot to be their starter this season, Williams more than delivered relative to his expectations, ultimately finishing the year as the PPR RB10 after being drafted outside the top-30 running backs on the majority of fantasy platforms.
Williams started the season off incredibly strong with two top-five fantasy finishes, and he was among the most consistent fantasy performers at his position from that point on. Williams delivered top-24 weekly PPR finishes in 12 of his 16 games this season, ultimately finishing as one of the best ADP values in 2025. Williams set new career highs across the board this year, including yards per carry (4.8), rushing grade (81.7), rushing touchdowns (11) and rushing yards (1,201), creating a surprise best fantasy season of his NFL career.
Pleasant surprise: Travis Etienne, Jacksonville Jaguars
- Finish: RB10
- ADP: RB34
Etienne made this list last season, doing so as a surprise disappointment in 2024 after he was drafted as a top-10 running back but finished outside the top-30. This year was the complete inverse of 2024 for Etienne, as he was drafted outside the top-30 running backs and finished inside the top 10, making him now a pleasant surprise coming out of this strong fantasy season.
Etienne was one of the most consistent fantasy producers among running backs in 2025, finishing inside the top-24 fantasy running backs 13 times across 16 games this season. Considering that Etienne never once finished inside the top-20 PPR scorers on the week last year, this was a considerable improvement that allowed for a significant value boost to his 2025 drafters after often going in the eighth round or later in fantasy drafts this preseason.
Etienne found the end zone a career-high 13 times in 2025, and six of those touchdowns came as a receiver – the second-most for the running back position. Making that number even more impressive, for Etienne in particular, is that he had just one receiving touchdown in his entire NFL career prior to this one, so he delivered on plenty of due regression in that regard for a player who has long been involved as a receiver out of the backfield. Etienne was the clear leader in Jacksonville’s backfield this season, which was a big concern coming into the year, and now that he’s put those concerns to bed, it will be interesting to see whether he returns to the team as a pending free agent heading into this offseason.
Pleasant surprise: D’Andre Swift, Chicago Bears
- Finish: RB15
- ADP: RB28
Swift was one of the often overlooked running backs in drafts this preseason, going in the seventh round for the most part in RB3 territory, despite finishing each of the past five seasons as a PPR RB2. Swift’s potential was highlighted this offseason as the long-shot pick to be this year’s darkhorse RB1, representing one of the best bets for players being drafted outside the top-24 at their position to greatly outperform that expectation. Swift delivered with his best fantasy season thus far, totaling 226.8 PPR points on the year as a high-end RB2.
Swift stayed as heavily involved in the Bears offense as he was last year, averaging a strong 17.1 opportunities (targets plus carries) per game, though he was significantly more effective with those opportunities, specifically as a runner. Swift went from just 3.8 yards per carry in 2024 (43rd) to 4.9 yards per carry in 2025 (10th). As a result, Swift’s rushing touchdowns increased from six to nine, and he delivered the best PFF rushing grade of his career (86.5). A lot of credit can be given to the improved offense with Ben Johnson taking over as head coach, as well as the improvements to the offensive line this offseason. Even with all of that in place, Swift deserves significant credit as one of the best ADP values of 2025.
Pleasant surprise: Rico Dowdle, Carolina Panthers
- Finish: RB16
- ADP: RB44
Last year, it was Chuba Hubbard from the Panthers’ backfield who was a pleasant surprise to fantasy managers, and this year, Dowdle’s emergence as the team’s lead back qualifies just the same. Dowdle was drafted well outside the top-100 players this preseason, going in the double-digit rounds of fantasy drafts because he was expected to spend 2025 as Hubbard’s backup. An injury to Hubbard in Week 4 allowed Dowdle to step into a starting role, and he essentially didn’t look back from that role.
Dowdle was the PPR RB10 overall from Weeks 5-17 as the team’s starter, despite still contending a little more with Hubbard once he rejoined the lineup in Week 7. Considering that Hubbard was still getting his opportunities, Dowdle’s success on limited opportunities was still a pleasant surprise, considering his ADP value heading into the year. Dowdle went on to deliver nine top-24 PPR weekly finishes through his 12 games as a starter, and three of those games resulted in PPR RB2 overall finishes. Dowdle is an expected free agent this offseason, and with Hubbard signed through the 2028 season in addition to the team hoping to have 2024 second-round pick Jonathon Brooks back in 2026, Dowdle may have to deliver for fantasy managers on another new team next season.
Surprise Disappointment: Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles
- Finish: RB14
- ADP: RB1
After an incredible 2024 RB1 overall season, Barkley's expectations were naturally high after being drafted as the overall RB1 this past offseason. Unfortunately, those expectations were always going to be difficult to meet after a 2,000-yard rushing season, and the streak of running backs not repeating those totals continued here, as Barkley barely hit half of that mark this season despite playing every game.
Barkley was due for regression in 2025, and Nathan Jahnkehighlighted his ADP as one to avoid this offseason, which certainly turned out to be the savvy move in drafts this year due to the potential to target Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs in that range instead. Barkley’s role didn’t change too drastically from last season, as he went from 24.3 opportunities per game in 2024 to 20.1 in 2025, but his efficiency naturally regressed on top of the slight dip in opportunity. Barkley ranked second in yards per carry (5.8) last season and dropped to 33rd in that regard (4.1) this season. Barkley’s yards per reception also dipped from 8.4 to 7.4 this season despite more looks in the passing game.
Barkley’s ADP in 2026 is likely to land somewhere in between his 2024 and 2025 finish, as there will be a case for a better year, just not nearly as good as that 2024 season, and hopefully, he’ll avoid disappointing fantasy managers again.