The 2025 fantasy football season wasn’t plentiful when it came to true breakout running backs. While it wasn’t completely devoid (Chase Brown busted out for an RB7 finish), most players in the top 10 were familiar names. We did see Javonte Williams emerge, too (RB12), but most of the other backs in the top 20 were unreliable for part of the season or failed to reach their full fantasy potential.
That’s the reason my five favorite way-too-early fantasy running back breakouts are all names you’re familiar with based on the 2025 campaign. In fact, all but one of them were rookies a season ago.
