Fantasy Football Rankings: DraftKings 2024 Best Ball Running Back Rankings 1-25

It’s officially the best time of the year, as NFL Best Ball is back on DraftKings.

This format gives players a chance to draft a fantasy football team for a season-long competition that requires no active in-season management, but still provides a full season of drama and competition.

You can find all the details, scoring and rules for the format in this overview post along with links to the rest of our season preview content.

Below I have ranked my top 25 running backs for the 2024 DraftKings NFL Best Ball season.

Check back throughout draft season for more content to help get you ready for all your Best Ball contests.

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2. Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons

If you asked me right now who is going to the consensus No. 1 pick in 2025 fantasy football drafts, I would tell you Bijan Robinson. This man is going to absolutely take off this season with a finally competent offensive coaching staff in place. Last season, we saw Arthur Smith give Tyler Allgeier a truly ridiculous 186 carries, compared to only 214 for Robinson. It’s hard to even put into words how egregious that was.

The Falcons went out and solved their QB problem by signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year deal, and this offense should be much improved in 2024. Even on limited touches last season, Robinson was a menace, posting 1,463 yards from scrimmage and eight total touchdowns. Head coach Raheem Morris already has come out and said that the primary goal of the Falcons offense this year will be to get the ball to No. 7, and Robinson himself has also come out and said he’s expecting to receive Christian McCaffrey like usage.

We have no reason not to believe what we’re being told from the coaches, and if Robinson does in fact get a CMC level workload, we are looking at the potential No. 1 scorer in fantasy football. I have Robinson ranked as my RB2 behind McCaffrey, and would take him around seventh overall, but all the arrows are pointing straight up for him, so if you felt compelled to take him inside the top five of best ball drafts this season, absolutely have at it.

6. De’Von Achane, Miami Dolphins

Achane is a real home run swing in best ball drafts. He’s going in the late second round, which is pretty wild considering he’s set to be in a timeshare again with Raheem Mostert, and potentially rookie Jaylen Wright, whom the Dolphins drafted in the fourth round. Last season, Achane absolutely burst onto the scene, finishing with a ridiculous 800 rushing yards on just 103 carries, while scoring 11 total touchdowns in 11 games.

The reason everyone is so head over heels for Achane is his single-week upside, which is absolutely imperative for best ball contests, as all the money you’re going to win comes in Week 17. Last season, Achane posted five games of 25 or more DKFP, including his ridiculous Week 4 performance against the Broncos, where he went for a whopping 54.3 DKFP. If one of those weeks happen in the 2024 best ball playoffs, you are absolutely going to need him on your roster.

Raheem Mostert just turned 32 years old and history suggests that father time is knocking on his door. There is not only insane spike-week potential with Achane, but his contingent value if something happens to Mostert would literally put him in the No. 1 overall fantasy scorer category.

Simply put, you are going to want your shares of this Miami speedster this season.

14. Joe Mixon, Houston Texans

Mixon has one of the more confusing ADPs on the board this season at 56.0. He frequently falls into the sixth round of drafts, despite routinely going in the fourth round last season. The Texans were not messing around this offseason, as they gave Mixon a three-year $25 million contract, with $16 million guaranteed. They are absolutely going to feed him in 2024.

The offensive environment couldn’t possibly be better for the veteran, even after leaving an already elite spot as the Bengals RB1. Houston has arguably one of the five-to-seven best QBs in the NFL in C.J. Stroud, along with arguably the league’s best WR corps in Nico Collins, Tank Dell and the newly acquired Stefon Diggs. There are going to be tons of scoring opportunities for the Texans new RB1.

Even if you think Mixon is on the downside of his career, he still posted over 1,400 yards from scrimmage and 12 touchdowns last season, while playing all 17 games. One of my favorite things to do in drafts this year is start with four WRs through the first four rounds, and then take Mixon as part of a hero-RB build, where you make him your anchor and wait til the double-digit rounds to fill out the rest of your RB room.

Houston let Devin Singletary walk in free-agency, and have only the corpse of Dameon Pierce as Mixon’s backup, meaning we could see the former pro-bowler as a potential three-down back this year.

If you don’t land one of CMC/Bijan/Breece/Achane in the early rounds, feel free to keep bolstering the rest of your roster before making Mixon your RB1 in either rounds five or six.

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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is Lan1228) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.