By the time the NFL Draft arrives, there is typically a consensus on the best prospects. But every year, some unexpected impact players emerge.
Heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, who are some players that could be fantasy football sleepers at the running back position as rookies?
D.J. Giddens, Kansas State
In a different year, D.J. Giddens might be a lock for Day 2 draft capital. But then he might not be a sleeper.
Giddens has the frame to be a three-down back at the NFL level. He’s a solid 6’0″, 212 pounds. With a 4.43 40-time, his speed score is in the 91st percentile. This is a very good athlete.
The key thing to look for in any sleeper running back is a solid receiving profile. Giddens has that. He earned a 9.9% and 9.5% target share in his final two seasons at Kansas State.
I would argue the main reason he’s flying under the radar is because of how deep this running back class is and how much talent there is at the top. Hopefully, Giddens ends up on a team with a climbable depth chart.
Ollie Gordon II, Oklahoma State
Ollie Gordon II is one of those prospects who isn’t flashy or exciting, which is exactly what gives him sleeper appeal. His 4.61 40-time is slow on the surface, but when you consider that he’s 226 pounds, it’s suddenly more impressive. That’s reflected in his respectable 66th percentile speed score.
The question with Gordon will be twofold. First, who drafts him? He needs to end up on a team where he can easily climb the depth chart to at least the RB2 slot, putting him one injury away from a bigger workload.
Second, how good is he really at football? Fantasy managers, as well as NFL Draft scouts, love athleticism and big plays. That’s not Gordon’s game. But there are always those guys at the NFL level who are simply good at football.
Think about names like James Conner, Mark Ingram, and a younger Jamaal Williams. Even David Montgomery could qualify as one of these guys. If you look purely at a spreadsheet, you wouldn’t think any of them could be anything special at the NFL level. Yet, they all were or are productive in their own ways. That could be Gordon.
In 2023, Gordon ran for 1,731 yards and 22 touchdowns. Perhaps more importantly, he had a 10.4% target share, showcasing his versatility. Even for a big as big as he is, Gordon is a capable receiver. He’s one to watch to see if he gets the draft capital and landing spot necessary to outperform expectations at the next level.
Raheim Sanders, South Carolina
Let me start by posing this question: where would someone like Raheim Sanders, a guy pretty much with no shot at going on Day 2, have been ranked in the 2023 RB class? He might have been the RB3 or RB4. Yet, in this class, he’s largely an afterthought.
There aren’t many hits when it comes to Day 3 prospects, but there are some. Why not Sanders?
Sanders has good size at 210 pounds. He ran a sub 4.5 40-time. He’s got a good pass-catching profile, with two college seasons of a least a 9.0% target share. Sanders averaged an impressive 11.7 yards per reception in his final year at South Carolina.
The main knock on Sanders is what he did, or rather, didn’t do, with all his athleticism. Sanders struggled to produce big plays and was not an elite tackle-breaker.
Nevertheless, his production profile and metrics suggest that a capable fantasy producer exists. He just needs the opportunity.