5 Dynasty Sell-High Candidates 2025: Running Backs to Trade Now
When it comes to dynasty sell-high candidates, knowing when to make a move off of a player is a critical skill in dynasty fantasy football, and it can make or break your team’s long-term success.
When it comes to managing your dynasty roster, the challenge lies in deciding how long to hold onto a player and when to trade them at peak value. Timing is everything, and identifying players whose value may soon decline can give you a strategic edge over your competition. Continue reading for my top 5 dynasty sell-high candidates for this off-season.
Dynasty Sell-High Candidates 2025: Running Backs
In this article, I’ll highlight five running backs who could be prime sell-high candidates. While I’m not saying you must trade these players, now might be the best time to explore their value, as their trade worth may never be higher.
Disclaimer: To be clear, I am not advocating to sell or fold ‘em but you may want to explore trade opportunities for them as these players’ values may never be higher. Let’s get into these 5 dynasty sell-high candidates.
Jahmyr Gibbs – Detroit Lions
I may as well start off with a bang. Before you stop reading and start attacking me on social media, please allow me the chance to make my case on why you should explore the possibility of trading Gibbs.
To be clear, I don’t have the cajones to actually trade the 22-year-old back who finished as the RB3 this past season only behind Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley.
However, is there another young running back other than maybe Bijan Robinson of the Atlanta Falcons whose value is extremely high? In the final four regular season games that teammate and fellow running back David Montgomery either didn’t play in fully or missed entirely, Gibbs averaged just shy of 30 fantasy points per game. Almost 30!
Let’s put that 30 number into perspective. Saquon Barkley, who was the RB1 this year, averaged 21.2 fantasy points. Last year, Christian McCaffrey averaged 22.4 points per game. The closest anyone has gotten to that number in the past ten years is McCaffrey in 2019 where he scored almost 400 total points and averaged 26.3 per game.
Furthermore, with Montgomery in the lineup this season (13 games) sharing the workload, Gibbs averaged 16.9 fantasy points per game. In the two years where the two have shared the backfield, Gibbs has averaged 15 touches per game. Notably, he averaged just over 24 touches per game in the four games without Montgomery this year. Montgomery’s contract with the Lions goes until 2027. Ultimately, he isn’t going away any time soon.
Without a doubt even with Montgomery in the lineup, Gibbs is an RB1, a top dynasty running back, and a top-five RB in fantasy. However, for the foreseeable future, he probably won’t be getting the opportunity or touches to be the overall RB1 which some may envision him as. It would be in any fantasy manager’s best interest to put Gibbs on the trade block and see if someone is willing to overpay for his recent RB1 overall production.
Chase Brown – Cincinnati Bengals
The former 5th-round pick had a rather disappointing rookie season in 2023. Unfortunately, he missed five games due to a hamstring injury and only averaged 3.7 fantasy points per game. However, things changed in a major way this year after Joe Mixon signed with the Houston Texans.
The first few weeks of the 2024 season weren’t looking to be any better for the former Fighting Illini. However, he exploded in the second half of the season. This past season was truly a tale of two halves for Brown. From Weeks 1-8 with teammate and fellow running back Zack Moss in the lineup, Brown averaged 11.75 touches, 52.5 total yards, and 0.63 touchdowns per game. He only averaged 10.3 fantasy points and was the RB26.
Conversely, after Moss’s injury after Week 8, Brown averaged 18.3 fantasy points from Weeks 9-17 and was the RB6. Without Moss, he averaged over 23.5 touches, just over 116 total yards, and 0.75 touchdowns per game With the backfield to himself, Brown averaged eight more fantasy points. Even with the big split, Brown ended up as an RB1 for the year, finishing as the RB11. Brown was getting “McCaffrey-esque” usage in the rushing and receiving game without Moss in the lineup.
Furthermore, Moss is under contract for next year and looks to return 100% healthy entering the 2025 season. Additionally, there is no guarantee that the Bengals do not draft a running back in what seems to be a loaded and deep running back class to go along with Moss to reduce the wear and tear on Brown.
To be honest, this one was painful for me to recommend. Brown is a fellow Canadian who grew up in the same area as myself. Nothing would make me happier and prouder than to see continued success from Brown. However, just like Gibbs above, it is your duty as a dynasty manager to make him available to see what you can get in a trade.
Rico Dowdle – Dallas Cowboys
From Weeks 1-11, the Cowboys and Jerry Jones were still fiddling with their Ezekiel Elliot 2.0 experiment. During that time frame, Dowdle averaged just under 10 fantasy points per game and was the RB33.
Once the Cowboys realized that Elliot was finished and subsequently decided to make Dowdle the focal point in the offense’s running game in Week 12 against the Washington Commanders, he flourished. From Weeks 12-17 Dowdle averaged just under 22 touches and 111.67 total yards per game. He was the RB14 during that time span averaging 12.4 fantasy points per game. Simply put, once given the opportunity Dowdle responded and showed that he belonged and could produce.
The question is, do the Cowboys believe he can be this running back that he was in the second half of last season? Dowdle is set to be a free agent. Will the Cowboys re-sign him or will they look to the upcoming draft? Currently, the Cowboys have the 12th overall pick in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft. Boise St. running back Ashton Jeanty has been linked to the Cowboys for months now. With the teams in front of the Cowboys, there is a realistic chance that Jeanty may be waiting for them with the 12th pick in the first round. Regardless, it seems as though Dowdle’s days as a Dallas Cowboy may be over. Get out while you can.
Josh Jacobs – Green Bay Packers
After Jacobs’ amazing 2022 season where he finished as the RB3, 2023 was a major letdown for the former Raider. He missed five out of the last six regular season games and finished as the RB27. In the offseason, Jacobs signed a surprising 4-year $48 million deal with the Green Bay Packers.
Production in the first half of the season was a bit underwhelming for Jacobs as he averaged only 13.4 fantasy points per game between Weeks 1-9, which was good enough for RB21. However, after the Packers’ Week 10 bye, their offensive philosophy and focus changed.
This year, Jacobs became the focal point for the team’s offense. Especially in the red zone and more specifically inside the 10-yard line. Jacobs had the most yards, attempts, and touchdowns (13) inside the ten-yard line. From Weeks 11-17, Jacobs was the RB2 and averaged 20.5 fantasy points per game. Impressively, during that time span he scored 10 rushing touchdowns. For the year, Jacobs finished as the RB5.
Will 2025 be like the first half of the 2024 season for Jacobs or more like the second half? Somewhere in between is probably the answer. However, fantasy managers will only remember the second half of production and not the first. Remind them of that when you put Jacobs on the trade block.
Jonathan Taylor – Indianapolis Colts
This one is bittersweet for me to recommend. Taylor’s incredible playoff run this past season helped me to win two championships in my home leagues. Impressively, Taylor scored 39.8 fantasy points in Week 16 and 26.6 in Week 17 where most leagues have their championship games. What I failed to mention, is that I also had Saquon Barkley on both of those teams.
If you are a Taylor fantasy manager you understand the frustrations and disappointments that come with having him on your fantasy squad. Other than those two phenomenal weeks, Taylor had an underwhelming 2024 season. Unless you had Barkley, Ja’Marr Chase, or someone else to help propel you to the playoffs and further, odds are you weren’t able to capitalize on Taylor’s two-week monstrous performance.
If you take out Week 16 and 17, Taylor was the RB27 for the year. In total, he missed three games this year and had four games with under 10 fantasy points.
In 2021, Taylor was the RB1 for the year, almost a full 50 points ahead of the RB2. Since 2021, Taylor has missed 17 games, which is an average of just over 5.5 games per year. Additionally, he hasn’t played a full season since that phenomenal 2021 campaign.
As evidenced by the last two fantasy weeks this season, Taylor has the talent and ability to be a top-five fantasy running back. I just can’t trust him to play a full season and get my team to the fantasy playoffs.
Remind your league mates of Weeks 16-17 this past season and how he may have won some managers a championship. And not how he has been unreliable and often injured the past three seasons. Taylor wraps up these sell-high candidates in your dynasty fantasy football leagues during this off-season.
Trending Now
