Avoid These 2025 Early-Round RB Busts: CMC, Breece Hall And Alvin Kamara

Avoid costly mistakes in your 2025 fantasy football draft by steering clear of these overrated top-20 running backs, including Christian McCaffrey, Breece Hall, Alvin Kamara, and Joe Mixon.

New York Jets running back Breece Hall (20) during pregame warmups for their game against the Miami Dolphins at MetLife Stadium. | Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images

There are going to be players that disappoint you every season. One of the toughest positions to predict is the running backs. These are the running backs being drafted top 20 at their position in ADP that you should be avoiding this season.

Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

You are either in or out on CMC, and I am out on him. McCaffrey has climbed all the way back up the RB4 in drafts this year and is the seventh player off the board overall. This is far too rich of a price to pay for one of the riskiest players in fantasy football. He is now 29 years old, with a laundry list of injuries, including an Achilles and knee injury that cost him all but four games last season. Over the past seven seasons, he has now missed 54 games and been limited to single-digit games in four of those seasons, while playing a full slate of games just once. 

The only way to attempt to limit his injury risk is to cut back on his touches, which also devalues him in fantasy. Those injuries could also physically take a toll on him and limit his effectiveness even if he is healthy and sees all the touches again. However, it's most likely that the 49ers coaching staff once again runs him into the ground and gets him injured while you get a handful of great games out of him, but don't have him when you need him most.  

Not all anylysts agree about one of the most polarizing players entering the season.

Christian McCaffrey - RB3

Finished as the RB69 in PPR.

🔹 Injury plagued 2024 season. All signs points to him being healthy now.

🔹 RB1 in 2023, out scored the next best player by 100.8 points.

🔹 Scored 20+ points in 51.6% of his games as a 49er. pic.twitter.com/fNBpGb9MUH

— Michael Hauff (@TheFFRealist) June 26, 2025

Breece Hall, New York Jets

Hall is a running back who hasn't looked quite the same since tearing his ACL in 2022. He is a bad offense, behind a bad offensive line with a coach who continuously insists that he's going to utilize a three-back committee. Based on what we've heard Hall and New York Jets' head coach Aaron Glenn say this offseason paints Hall as a guy who was drafted by the old regime and isn't necessarily locked in as this staff's guy. 

Most of Hall's value the past few seasons has come from his PPR value, and Justin Fields is not going to dump the ball off to his running backs like Aaron Rodgers or any of the other duds they've run out under center the past two seasons. He's being drafted as a fringe RB1 and is not worth that price. 

Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints

The 30-year-old Kamara is now in a new system that simply can't be centered around him. In no world is Kellen Moore going to take over this offense and opt to follow the Dennis Allen blueprint. If he's not the focal point of the passing attack, what value does Kamara really have as an aging running back in one of the worst offenses in the NFL?

New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara (41) looks on during training camp at Ochsner Sports Performance Center. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

His ADP currently has him being drafted as the RB15, and he shouldn't be drafted as anything better than a flex option. Injuries are also a concern; he hasn't played a full slate of games since his rookie year in 2018. 

Joe Mixon, Houston Texans

Mixon has every red flag you could ever look for. He's 29 years old with over 2,000 career touches running behind what is projected to be maybe the worst offensive line in the league, and he's already injured and on the NFI list. We already saw him suffer a steep decline in production late in 2024, and all signs point to things getting worse this year. There is just nothing to like here, and it's ridiculous that he's still being drafted as a top 20 back.