FantasyPros Staff | Fri, Jul 19th 2024, 3:11am EDT

Running Backs to Avoid: De’Von Achane, Najee Harris, Rachaad White (Fantasy Football)

While it’s important to know which players you are targeting in fantasy football drafts, it’s equally as pivotal to understand who you are planning to avoid with your picks. Here are three running backs to avoid in fantasy football drafts.

Running Backs to Avoid

Running back is such a scarce position that it’s really hard to be picky. Depending on your approach and how your draft board shakes out, sometimes you have no choice but to bite the bullet and take a tailback you really had no interest in adding to your team.

But every year, I admittedly come into every draft with a handful of running backs I will try to avoid at all costs for a variety of reasons — statistical regression incoming, a bad situation around them and sometimes just the price of a player is enough to turn me away entirely.

With that said, here are the running backs I’m avoiding in my drafts this summer. Here’s my do not draft list for the running back position in fantasy football this season.

De’Von Achane (RB – MIA)

I know, get your tomatoes ready. Prepare your thumbs to rage-tweet me the second you read this sentence. I know this is an unpopular pick. But there are a couple of reasons why I’m avoiding De’Von Achane as a late second-round pick in drafts.

First off, his rookie-year sample size was sensational but unsustainable. He averaged an insane 7.7 yards per touch and scored a touchdown on 11 of his 130 total touches.

Now, I know what you’re saying: “No duh, his efficiency per touch is bound to go down if he gets more touches, which he will since he only played in 11 games.” And I completely get that argument. But my counter is how many more touches will Achane realistically get? Raheem Mostert is still there. The Dolphins drafted Jaylen Wright. Heck, Jeff Wilson is still on the roster. Plus, we’ve already seen the 5-foot-9 Achane miss time due to injury in his first season. It wouldn’t stun me if the Dolphins were more cognizant of keeping Achane fresh in his second season.

Granted, there aren’t many players with this much upside on a play-to-play basis. And if you want to shoot for the moon with his explosiveness I hear you. There will be boom weeks. But there also could be bust weeks if he isn’t getting a ton of work and/or isn’t busting big plays.

Explosiveness comes with volatility — not what I want out of my likely RB1. I’d much rather snag him a bit later as my RB2.

Najee Harris (RB – PIT)

Not only is Najee Harris on my do not draft list, but I kind of think the Pittsburgh Steelers wish he was on their do not draft list back when they took him in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Harris’ peak as a fantasy asset remains his rookie campaign when he benefitted from 74 receptions in Ben Roethlisberger’s attempt to set the NFL record for check-downs in his final season.

Many who bought way too much into Harris’ pass-catching “abilities,” thought he was the next great fantasy back. But what’s funny is Harris has only caught 70 passes in the last two seasons combined. Harris’ rushing work has decreased in each subsequent year, too.

All of this brings us to 2024, where Harris could be entering his final year in Pittsburgh after the team didn’t pick up his fifth-year option, which is a pretty significant indication of the team’s sentiment for him.

Now, one thing Harris can and probably will do in 2024 is score touchdowns near the goal line. And sure, he deserves credit for scraping 1,000-yard campaigns in three consecutive seasons. But new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith could throw a wrench in the backfield workload — the guy couldn’t fully commit to Bijan Robinson. Plus, I suspect Jaylen Warren is the better tailback. He’s certainly more explosive and offers more as a receiver.

If you’re looking for a relatively safe floor out of your RB2, Harris isn’t a bad bet. However, my stomach churns when I imagine picking him to be my RB2 or Flex around the sixth round. I’d rather reach a bit further down the board and grab Warren.

Rachaad White (RB – TB)

Is Rachaad White good or did he just benefit from a boatload of check-downs from a questionable quarterback? No, I am not talking about Najee Harris again.

But it’s worth mentioning White’s 2023 season, a year in which he finished as the RB7 in half-PPR leagues, was fueled by a lot of quick dump-offs. White only rushed for 990 yards and six touchdowns, but his 70 catches for 549 yards and three more scores resulted in a season that looks just dandy on paper.

Opportunity was also White’s friend in a Tampa backfield that featured Chase Edmonds and Sean Tucker, the equivalent of New York City alley trash. As a result, White ranked top-10 in carries, targets and red-zone touches. And despite all of that, he still couldn’t crack 1,000 yards rushing.

So if the opportunity was abundantly there, why wasn’t the production even better? Per Fantasy Points Data, among 49 qualifying backs, White ranked 42nd in missed tackles forced per attempt, 40th in explosive run rate and 45th in yards after contact per attempt.

In other words, White is nothing special, even if his RB7 standing would indicate it. He feels like the classic player who gets drafted purely off last year’s numbers. Throw in the fact that Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales is now the head coach in Carolina, as well as the arrival of rookie Bucky Irving, and White could grossly disappoint in 2024.

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Running Backs to Avoid: De’Von Achane, Najee Harris, Rachaad White (Fantasy Football)