Fantasy football deep RB sleepers for 2025

The 2025 NFL preseason is wrapping up and that means fantasy football draft season is underway. We finally made it people.

The key to assembling a roster that could carry you to your league’s championship game in January is hitting on the sleeper picks that you make in August and there’s no better feeling than one of your later selections paying immediate dividends. That especially rings true at running back, where depth could make all the difference in the world down the stretch.

Considering that the average fantasy football league consists of 10-12 teams, one should be able to find solid starting/flex RB options within the top 35 or so. You start running into backup/handcuff territory after that and whether it’s due to an injury or simply outplaying their spot on the depth chart, one of these later picks is bound outperform their draft spot.

Below, I’ll give you four deep sleeper running backs for you to consider ahead of your respective drafts. For this exercise, I’ll define a deep sleeper as someone currently falling No. 39 or below in ADP (average draft position) according to FantasyPros. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Everyone is understandably excited about the potential of rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson, but don’t sleep on the veteran Stevenson entering his fifth season with the Pats. He played a central role for an offense being led by a rookie QB in Drake Maye last season, pounding the rock for 801 yards and seven touchdowns. A meager 3.9 yards per carry wasn’t ideal, but that can be chalked up to a poor offensive line that contributed to the team being bottom 10 in rushing EPA.

The Patriots will be on seemingly more stable footing this season with new head coach Mike Vrabel in charge and with him, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has returned for his third stint in Foxborough. It was in McDaniels’ offense where a rookie Stevenson got plenty of work behind Damien Harris in 2021 and it appears a similar dynamic will unfurl in 2025. Stevenson will most likely take a good chunk of the early-down carries while Henderson will be brought in on third downs as a potential pass-catching option out of the backfield.

There’s an opportunity for you to get bang for your buck if you select the Pats veteran in the middle to later rounds of your respective draft as he’ll be an ideal option to have if one of your starters is out for the week.

And when the aforementioned Mason got banged up throughout the 2024 season, the third-stringer Guerendo would step in and deliver solid efforts out of the Niners backfield. The fourth-round rookie out of Louisville finished the year with 420 rushing yards on five yards per carry and four touchdowns on the ground, also logging 15 receptions for 152 receiving yards through the air. There were four particular games where he was on the field for at least 55.7% of the offensive snaps, showing that the San Fran staff were willing to lean on him heavily in the absence of their top two running backs.

With Mason now out of the picture, Guerendo now enters the season as the presumed RB2 in San Francisco should he recover from his preseason shoulder injury and FantasyPros’ Derek Brown made a case for him being the most valuable handcuff in fantasy football this season. That’s to be expected for the backup of a four-time All Pro running back, but given that McCaffrey is 29 with an extensive injury history, it would not be a shock to see plenty of Guerendo throughout the 2025 campaign.

Keeping with the theme of handcuffs and insurance policies, look know further than Allgeier, who is entering what will presumably be his final season with the Falcons. Allgeier broke out with a 1,000-yard rookie campaign in 2022 before being promptly knocked down a spot on the depth chart with the arrival of Bijan Robinson the following year. Still, he’s been a solid backup option for both Atlanta and fantasy managers in deep leagues for the past couple of seasons, delivering back-to-back years where he has eclipsed 600+ rushing yards.

On top of being Robinson’s handcuff, there is an appeal to draft Allgeier in later rounds based on personal motivations of the running back himself. Allgeier is entering the final year of his rookie contract and will want to prove himself as a viable RB1 option for other teams in free agency next offseason. The Dallas Cowboys have already been tabbed as a team that could be interested in his services in 2026 and other teams could follow suit should he have another solid year with the Falcons. He’s worth keeping an eye on as your drafts get into the later rounds.

Shipley has been making some noise in training camp so far and could very well end up as RB2 for the reigning Super Bowl champions by the time Week 1 rolls around. The Clemson product had very limited playing time during the Eagles’ championship run a season ago, registering just 30 carries for 82 yards as a rookie. That wasn’t a surprise considering the presence of Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, and Kenneth Gainwell as the team’s primary rushers in 2024, but his performance in garbage time of the NFC Championship was a brief flash of his potential.

Given his potential as Barkley’s handcuff, his ADP is still pretty low as draft season unfolds. Prospective fantasy managers could be getting a steal should they find him still hanging around on the board in later rounds.