Aging Fantasy Football Running Backs To Buy Or Avoid: Derrick Henry Looks To Defeat Father Time

All good things must come to an end, but not necessarily right now. There are a handful of aging running backs every season who were once big fantasy stars, but fantasy owners become tentative to draft them because of their age.

Many of these running backs still have one more year left in them, while a lot more fall off a fantasy cliff. These are our Father Time running backs who you should roll with for one more year or avoid like the plague.

Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

McCaffrey is someone I gave up on two years ago. It worked out great in 2024, and not so great in 2025, but I'm certainly not going back to that well in 2026. However, for the first time, my avoidance of CMC goes beyond just injury concerns, although that is a significant factor.

The Niners running back enters this season at 30 years old, coming off the most carries and touches of his career with 311 carries and 102 receptions. That kind of volume is not sustainable, especially for a running back with a lengthy injury history.

Beyond that, McCaffrey averaged just 3.9 yards per carry last season, which is his least efficient season since his rookie year back in 2017, excluding 2020 when he failed to complete three games. On film, he looked significantly less explosive than he did back in 2023, when he averaged 5.4 yards per carry, prior to an injury-plagued 2024 campaign. That is not a good sign for a running back coming off another massive workload on the wrong side of 30, even if he does somehow manage to stay relatively healthy.

What truly makes him dangerous is the fact that you will have to spend a first-round pick on him, likely somewhere between the fifth and seventh overall picks. While the reward could be great, the risk is greater this season. I will be avoiding him this season.

Derrick Henry, Baltimore Ravens

Father Time may be undefeated, but we have seen some athletes like LeBron James and Tom Brady put up a hell of a fight. That is usually harder for NFL running backs to do, but we have seen it before with backs like Adrian Peterson. Henry appears to be one of the rare special athletes who just appear to be superhuman.

Henry is 32 year olds, but is also 6'2, 252 pounds and far faster than seems humanly possible. In 10 NFL seasons, he has played fewer than 15 games in a season just once back in 2021. He continued chugging along last season, rushing for 1,595 yards and 16 touchdowns on 5.2 yards per carry despite defenses being able to focus on him with the Ravens' passing attack in disarray for the majority of the season.

We are going back to the well with Henry this season. He is well worth the cost of a late second-round pick, which is where his current ADP has him going.

Aaron Jones, Minnesota Vikings

Jones is currently being ranked as the Vikings RB1. According to his ECR, Jones is ranked as the RB36 overall, while Jordan Mason is ranked as the RB41. Entering the season, Jones is 31 years old and coming off the worst season of his career. Injuries limited him to 12 games, which has been the case in two of the last three seasons.

His 4.2 yards per carry were the lowest of his career, as were his two rushing touchdowns and three total touchdowns. It is time to move on from Jones. You are better off just drafting Mason and hoping he can come close to his ceiling.

Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints

There is no role for Kamara in New Orleans anymore, and we said we were done with him before 2025 as well. He hasn't played a full 16- or 17-game season since 2017, and all of his numbers across the board were the worst of his career last season. The Saints moved on from him this offseason when they paid up for Travis Etienne.

If Kamara is traded, he could gain some value in PPR leagues, but we are completely avoiding him in New Orleans. He isn't even worth a late-round flier to stash on your bench this season.

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