5 Dynasty Buy-Low Targets 2025: Running Backs to Trade For Now
For dynasty league managers, the search for dynasty buy-low targets is a year-round endeavor. Once Week 17 concludes (hopefully with a championship win), the focus shifts to evaluating your roster and scouting opportunities for the upcoming seasons.
Which players should you cut loose? Who should you trade? Which players are undervalued and worth acquiring? Assessing rosters, identifying trade partners, and analyzing player values are constant tasks in dynasty fantasy football leagues, keeping the action alive well beyond the regular season.
Dynasty Buy-Low Targets 2025: Running Backs
In this article, I’ll highlight five running backs you should consider buying low for next season and beyond, offering excellent value to strengthen your roster. Continue reading to find out which players are dynasty buy-low targets during this off-season.
David Montgomery – Detroit Lions
Did you know that before Montgomery went down with an MCL injury in Week 15 versus the Buffalo Bills he was the RB10 for the season? He was having one of the quietest RB1 seasons ever.
Yet, most of your league mates probably didn’t notice unless he was on their roster. Everyone else (and maybe rightfully so) was more enthralled by his teammate Jahmyr Gibbs. After all, he is the younger and flasher back. There is a reason why Gibbs is referred to as Sonic and Montgomery as Knuckles.
Up until Week 15, Gibbs was the RB4 on the season. With Montgomery out, Gibbs averaged an astounding 29.28 fantasy points per game. To put that into perspective, the only player in the past ten years to come close to averaging 29 fantasy points for the entire season was Christian McCaffrey. In 2019, McCaffrey almost scored 400 fantasy points and averaged 26.3 fantasy points per game. The odds of Gibbs maintaining that pace is very unlikely.
The Knuckles part of the Sonic and Knuckles running back duo in Detroit doesnt get enough recognition or respect in the fantasy community. Everyone is going to remember Gibbs’ late season magnificent run and forget about Montgomery’s quiet RB1 season.
Reach out to the Montgomery manager and see if he forgot about him and his quietly good season as well.
Chuba Hubbard – Carolina Panthers
The former Oklahoma State Cowboy was not supposed to be the back for the Carolina Panthers this season. At best, Hubbard was supposed to be keeping the starting running back job warm for the highly touted rookie prospect Jonathan Brooks. Hubbard should have been a four- to six-week replacement for Brooks and a nice handcuff to have on your bench. The problem is, that someone forgot to tell Hubbard about this plan.
Even though he missed Week 17, Hubbard had a fantastic season. He finished as an RB1 and the RB12 overall. Brooks did eventually return in Week 12 but unfortunately, suffered another torn ACL in Week 14 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Brooks was coming off a 13-month rehab stint from his first ACL Tear.
To everyone’s surprise, Hubbard signed a 4-year $33.2 contract extension this season with the Panthers. There is no guarantee when Brooks will return next season if at all, and how productive he will be after suffering two ACL injuries.
Some may still view Hubbard as a placement holder for Brooks or simply see him as a decent running back for the lowly Panthers. They may not recognize him as an RB1. This offseason, you should be making offers to any Hubbard manager with the hope that they don’t realize what they have in the 25-year-old Canadian running back.
De’Von Achane – Miami Dolphins
Is it just me or did Achane have the most underwhelming RB7 season ever? Maybe it was because the Dolphins were a disappointment this year. Or was it the fact that Tagovaiola suffered another concussion and the Dolphins offense was horrendous without him?
Achane didn’t have any 49.3-point games like he did last season when he burst onto the NFL and fantasy scene. His highest fantasy week was scoring 28.1 points. He didn’t have any dominating performances like Barkley’s 44.2 points in Week 12 or Jonathan Taylor‘s 39.8 points in Week 16.
With Tua in the lineup, Achane averaged 19.5 fantasy points per game. Impressively, that would rank him as the RB2 in average points only behind Saquon Barkley at 21.2 points per game. Achane may have rushed for less than 1,000 yards. However, it is his elite production in the receiving game that will always provide him with a safe floor and a high weekly ceiling. Last season, Achane had 78 receptions for 592 yards and six touchdowns.
Furthermore, the Dolphins increased Achane’s snaps per game by 14 this year. Mostert is set to be a free agent this off-season and with the Tyreek Hill news of wanting to leave Miami, the stage is set next year for Achane to be a bigger part of the Dolphins offense.
Travis Etienne Jr. – Jacksonville Jaguars
To put it mildly, Etienne had a disastrous 2024 season. It would have been hard to duplicate his RB3 finish to the 2023 season, but Etienne didn’t even come close. Notably, he had seven games of 8 fantasy points or less. His highest weekly output was 13.3 points. Overall, Etienne finished as the RB39.
Tank Bigsby took over the Jaguars backfield a quarter of the way into the season and was more productive than Etienne. Nobody could have predicted this as Bigsby was an afterthought last year with the coaching staff and the offense.
However, both backs had similar final touch counts at the end of the year. Bigsby had 149 touches compared to Etienne’s 157. Bigsby doubled Etienne’s touches in the red zone (18-9) and seems to be the preferred choice for the Jaguars offense near the goal line but Etienne is the preferred receiving back as he had 39 receptions compared to Bigsby’s seven.
The Jaguars exercised Etienne’s club option on his contract for the upcoming season, but the 26-year-old is set to be a free agent in 2026. Etienne isn’t the “sexy” back to trade for. However, he is one who has shown elite production and will be one year away from most likely joining another team.
Etienne’s value is extremely low in dynasty leagues. It won’t cost you much at all to acquire him and in my opinion, worth a gamble and stash. At worst, he will be sharing touches with Bigsby in a split backfield under a new coaching regime that may realize what they have in Etienne.
Zach Charbonnet – Seattle Seahawks
Charbonnet entered the 2024 season as the clear backup to Kenneth Walker III. When Walker was healthy and in the lineup, Charbonnet averaged just over 6 touches per game. In the five games that Walker was injured, Charbonnet averaged just under 20 touches and an impressive 17.82 points per game. That average would have Charbonnet as the RB4 just above Bijan Robinson and below Jahmyr Gibbs.
Walker is set to be a free agent at the end of the 2025 season. The Seahawks recently fired their offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and the new offensive coordinator will have no allegiances to any of the two backs.
Clearly, Charbonnet deserves more playing time and touches. To be clear, there is a distinct possibility of Walker maintaining his bell-cow status for next season. Unless Walker succumbs to injuries, the best-case scenario for Charbonnet in 2025 would probably be part of a running back by committee.
The price tag for a “backup running back” will not be overly expensive for the former 2nd round pick out of UCLA. Charbonnet has shown that he can produce when given the opportunity. That opportunity may not come next season. However, with Walker possibly hitting free agency after 2025, Charbonnet may have the Seahawks backfield to himself in 2026. Ultimately, Charbonnet wraps up these dynasty buy-low targets for the off-season.
Trending Now
