Let’s face it. It’s cool to value wide receivers above running backs in fantasy football. However, quality fantasy football running backs are much harder to find than quality wide receivers.
This fact has made the “Zero RB” draft strategy sexier than ever. However, to pull off Zero RB successfully you need to find the most important stats and metrics to unearth valuable players. Let’s continue our analytics deep-dive and look at three stable metrics for running backs that can help you successfully deploy a Zero RB strategy.
Understanding Analytics: RB Metrics in Fantasy Football
Metric One: Missed Tackles Forced per Touch
What is it?
For every touch a running back has in a season, the amount of times they forced a missed tackle is charted. The result? A number that tells us the likelihood that a running back is forcing a missed tackle on a given attempt.
Player to Target: Jaylen Warren, Pittsburgh Steelers
Fantasy Points Per Game, 2023: 11.6 (RB30 PPR)
Missed Tackles Forced per Touch: .34 (13th among RBs)
According to FantasyData.com, RB2s or higher scored 12.5 fantasy points per game. With Warren being less than a point off of that pace, his ability to miss tacklers makes him a high-upside fantasy option.
New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith famously used a two-running back system last season despite having one of the league’s potential bell-cow backs in Bijan Robinson. With Najee Harris on the way out after this season, Warren will have every opportunity to prove he’s the Steelers’ guy for 2025. His ability to miss tackles will only generate more yards and more points.
With a current ADP of RB24, Warren is going right around where he should be taken according to his floor. However, with more opportunity, there’s a chance he pushes into the 14 FPPG range, which would’ve put him between players more valued like Robinson and Josh Jacobs in 2023 scoring.
Metric Two: Yards After Contact per Attempt
What is it?
Yards after contact per attempt tells us how many yards per attempt a player is getting after first contact with a defender.
Player to Target: Jaleel McLaughlin, Denver Broncos
Fantasy Points Per Game, 2023: 6.2 (RB54 PPR)
Yards After Contact per Attempt: 3.49 (9th)
McLaughlin is a popular sleeper already, and there’s a reason for that. His efficiency, despite playing only 17.8 percent of snaps last season, was off the charts. Chief among those were his yards after contact. McLaughlin is a player that just keeps moving forward despite his smaller stature. With Denver head coach Sean Payton preferring a multi-back system, McLaughlin is a strong bet to increase his snap share and push into RB3 range when he’s currently being drafted as RB46 in PPR formats.
Metric One: Yards per Route Run
What is it?
The average amount of yardage taken from the player’s total receiving yards divided by the number of routes they ran. For stability, the more routes a player ran that aligned with a high YPRR, the more likely they are to repeat that performance.
Player to Target: Brian Robinson Jr., Washington Commanders
Fantasy Points Per Game, 2023: 13.2 (RB22 PPR)
Yards After Contact per Attempt: 1.72 (5th)
Robinson’s reputation is that of a between-the-tackles grinder. However, his route usage was underrated last season. According to PlayerProfiler, he ran 212 routes (22nd among RBs), averaged 10.2 yards per reception (1st among RBs), and was a top-five running back in Yards per Route Run.
A lot has been made of Washington’s signing Austin Ekeler in free agency. However, Robinson is a proven pass-catcher who possesses a higher rushing floor than Ekeler. It seems that Ekeler was not signed as competition, but rather as an insurance policy. Robinson’s is currently being drafted as the RB31 according to FantasyPros. His low ADP means a chance to exploit the market and add a player with three-down upside to your backfield at a low cost.
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