Who is the No. 1 Running Back in Fantasy Football for 2025?

Michael Fabiano | Aug 8, 2025

Falcons RB Bijan Robinson will be one of the first three picks in the majority of 2025 fantasy football drafts. / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is coming off a magical season that saw him rush for over 2,000 yards, finish second in fantasy points and ultimately won a Super Bowl championship. But if you listen to Barkley’s recent comments about fellow running back Bijan Robinson, it sure sounds like he might take him first overall in fantasy drafts.

"There's nobody who's able to cut like Bijan in the NFL," Barkley said on NFL Network’s list of the NFL’s Top 100 Players of 2025. Robinson was rated as the league’s 62nd-best player.  

"There's not. You can go argue your mom about that. ... Trust me. I love myself and I think I have great cuts. There's nobody, his vision, his agility, and he can catch the ball too. It's finna get scary for a lot of people as he continues to figure it out."

Far be it from me to disagree with Barkley … Robinson is my top fantasy running back for 2025. And honestly, even after Barkley’s massive 2024 campaign, it wasn’t a that close.

Robinson, who is just 23 years old, is coming off a strong 2024 season that saw him record 365 touches, 1,887 total yards, 15 total touchdowns and 341.7 fantasy points. That was good enough to finish third in points among runners behind only Jahmyr Gibbs and Barkley.

Overall, the Falcons RB finished third in rushing yards, fifth in touchdown rate (carries), third in missed forced tackles, and fourth in yards after first contact. He was also first among backs with at least 200 attempts in terms of success rate in zone concepts, and Robinson was seventh in Rushing Yards Over Expected based on NextGen Stats metrics.

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Like Barkley said, he’s scary good.

Aside from his obvious on-field talent, Robinson is my No. 1 fantasy running back because I don’t think he’s hit his statistical ceiling. Barkley has probably already hit it (he’s actually never reached the heights of his rookie season with the New York Giants), and Gibbs will be hard pressed to score another 362.9 fantasy points based on past statistical trends.

Before you disagree, hear me out.

I have talked at length about how Barkley faces almost every negative statistical trend a running back can face, whether it’s the Curse of 370 touches and 400-plus carries, or the downward trend of backs coming off a 2,000-yard rushing season. Barkley is also entering his age-28 campaign, and for those of you who are superstitious, he’s on the Madden cover.

In terms of Gibbs, he’ll have his own statistical challenges.

He went off for 20 touchdowns last season, which was a big reason for his RB1 finish. He is one of only 25 running backs in the Super Bowl era to score that many touchdowns in a single season. That’s a big sample size, so I’m taking the runners who hit that mark since 2010 (15 years). That includes nine of the 25 backs, six of which occurred since 2020.

None of these runners scored more than 18 touchdowns the following year, and just two (Todd Gurley, Austin Ekeler) scored more than nine. What’s more, Ekeler is the lone back to score more fantasy points the year after scoring 20 touchdowns. Among the other seven running backs, the smallest decline in terms of PPR points is 129.1 (LeSean McCoy).

Two backs, Christian McCaffrey and David Johnson, got hurt and missed most of the year after their 20-touchdown campaigns. Jonathan Taylor also missed a few games in 2022. I’m not saying I’m avoiding Gibbs, but I do think there’s a chance last year was his ceiling.

That’s not the case with Robinson.

He’s young, demands a major workload as a clear featured runner who can catch the ball out of the backfield. Robinson also doesn’t lose goal-line work … so he is that guy for the Falcons. Considering he plays on a team with a questionable defense too, Bijan will likely be in a lot of high-scoring affairs. Everything lines up for Robinson to fly high again.

So, for those fantasy managers lucky enough to have one of the top two picks in fantasy drafts, don’t hesitate to make Robinson your first pick. While Barkley, Gibbs, Ashon Jeanty, Derrick Henry (among others) are obviously strong runners with their own physical and statistical positives, Robinson is clearly the running back you want to own in 2025.