Last year, we had Travis Etienne and Josh Jacobs break out and become Top 15 running backs. So, who are the top picks for the 2023 breakout running backs?
Glad you asked. I’ll give you my Top 5 options — plus a few more — who you should be targeting in your fantasy football drafts.
ROOKIES AND NON-QUALIFIERS Tony Pollard, DAL — Finished RB7 last year. I have concerns about if the Cowboys are truly happy with Malik Davis as the main backup and Pollard as a true bellcow,
but even with 60% of the work, he’s already a Top 10 finisher.
Rhamondre Stevenson, NE — Was a RB1 despite sharing with Damien Harris last year. Yes, he will break out even more, but he’s already hit pretty big.
Miles Sanders, CAR — RB12 last year, and even though there is less competition for touches, will Sanders see much more volume? Plus, he was on the lower end of efficiency last year.
Travis Etienne, JAX; Breece Hall, NYJ; Kenneth Walker, SEA — Tank Bigsby is a true threat to Etienne taking another step, and Etienne was just RB15 anyway…
Hall was RB7 in FPPG, and coming off that injury, Hall could be an RB1 and still fall short of 15.4 FPPG…
Walker had a nice rookie season but now shares with Zach Charbonnet, making it hard for Walker to improve on being RB7 from Week 5 on.
Bijan Robinson, ATL; et al rookies — Robinson will be an easy RB1, while Jahmyr Gibbs, Charbonnet and others can be RB2s,
but again, these are rookie “debuts” with no previous NFL performances to break out from.