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 here.
Below I have ranked my top-25 running backs for the 2025 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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4. Derrick Henry, Baltimore Ravens
The talk of the early part of draft season is yet again how poor of a pick Henry is at the end of the first round. To be fair, last season he was going in the mid-to-late third, so there was more of an argument then. The bear case is simple, he is entering his age-31 season, doesn’t do much work in the passing game and has a ton of mileage on his tires.
Now that we got that out of the way, the bull case is even simpler. Baltimore just rewarded its bellcow back with a two-year, $30 million extension with $25 million guaranteed. There have been talks of Henry’s demise for years now and like LeBron James, he simply defies Father Time every single year. He’s coming off one of the best running back seasons in recent memory, where he rushed for 1,921 yards and scored 18 total touchdowns. If not for Saquon Barkley’s historic season, Henry’s would have been the talk of the sports media landscape.
The Big Dog eclipsed 23 or more FPTS in seven of his 17 regular season games last season, and then for good measure posted lines of 20/138/2 and 26/186/2 in Week 18 against Cleveland and in the first round of the playoffs against Pittsburgh.
He’s shown zero signs of slowing down anytime soon and plays on arguably the best offense in the NFL with an MVP quarterback. No need to overthink this one.
7. Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts
After a slow start to the 2024 season, Taylor was who you needed to advance in the fantasy playoffs, as he single-handedly carried teams to the finals. If you were lucky enough to advance a JT team into Week 16 last year, he rewarded you handsomely by posting a line of 29/218/3, en route to 42.8 FPTS. He then capped it off in Week 17 by going for 125 yards and two touchdowns vs. the Giants, good for 30.6 FPTS.
Anthony Richardson was pretty putrid as the Colts’ starter last year and it was hard for Taylor to get much going for the majority of the season. He would miss three games due to injury as well.
With Daniel Jones likely to be at the helm in 2025, look for this Colts’ offense to bounce back to at least league average, which should give Taylor ample opportunities to smash. Indy gave its star running back 29, 32 and 34 carries, respectively, over the final three games of last season, and best believe that will be the formula in 2025.
11. Chase Brown, Cincinnati Bengals
After Zack Moss went down last season it became the full Chase Brown show for the Bengals. From Week 9 on, Brown was the RB3 behind only Saquon Barkley and Bijan Robinson. Cincy did very little to add to Brown’s competition for 2025, only bringing Moss back and signing ex-Bengal Samaje Perine, who could barely see the field for the Chiefs last season.
With the Bengals expected to rank top-five in the NFL in points scored in 2025, Brown should have a ton of opportunity to rack up fantasy points. This late-third round ADP on him is going to look quite silly at the end of the season.
20. Chuba Hubbard, Carolina Panthers
Hubbard broke out last year to the tune of 1,365 yards from scrimmage and 11 total touchdowns. After receiving a starter’s level workload beginning in Week 3, Hubbard posted six games of 20.7 or more FPTS over his final 13 games. He unfortunately missed Week 17 due to injury, which was a big blow for anyone who made the finals because of his 35.5-FPT performance in Week 16.
With Bryce Young looking much improved and the Panthers adding Tet McMillan in this year’s draft, this offense should be much improved in 2025. Carolina did add Rico Dowdle in free-agency, but he’s replacing the departed Miles Sanders — who ironically enough signed with the Cowboys — along with Jonathan Brooks, who is out for the season with a knee injury.
Getting Hubbard in the fifth round right now is awfully enticing.