Fantasy Football Hero RBs: Jonathan Taylor, De’Von Achane, Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley

Hero RB has been an increasingly popular fantasy football draft build. It consists of anchoring your fantasy football roster with a stud running back and then filling in other positions from there, returning to RB later in the draft to fill out the roster. Here’s a look at a few of those Hero RBs, top-tier running backs to consider in your upcoming fantasy football drafts.

Hero RB Running Back Draft Targets

Derek Brown shares his list of running backs he’s willing to target in Hero RB builds. Here’s more on Hero RB fantasy football draft strategy.

Jonathan Taylor (IND)

It was a weird year for Jonathan Taylor all around. From contract disputes to injuries, we rarely got to see Taylor fully ramped up and healthy in 2023. Entering his age-25 season, Taylor remains firmly in the prime of his career. In Weeks 7-18, he handled 21 touches per game, churning out 99.4 total yards per game. While many of his efficiency metrics were depressed last season, Taylor still ranked 13th in yards after contact per attempt, which tells me all I need to know. He’s still one of the best backs in the league and should remain a locked-in RB1 after finishing last season as the RB12 in fantasy points per game. A rushing attack fueled by Taylor and Anthony Richardson should be a nightmare for defensive coordinators this season.

Saquon Barkley (PHI)

The Philly front office has officially gaslit the entire Giants’ fanbase. Barkley’s move to the Eagles might be met with some blowback because people are worried about his touchdown equity with Jalen Hurts. Barkley and D’Andre Swift are not close to being in the same talent area code. Bringing in Barkley means we likely see a downtick of Hurts’ goalline dives in 2024. While the overall counting stats for Barkley look depressed, he’s still very much an every-down bell cow with juice left in the tank entering his age-27 season. Last season, he played at least 70% of the snaps in 11 of his 14 games while ranking second in opportunity share and ninth in weighted opportunities. Last season, Barkley was still an explosive player, ranking 17th in explosive run rate, but his tackle-breaking metrics took a hit as he was 37th in missed tackles forced per attempt and 33rd in yards after contact per attempt (minimum 50 carries per Fantasy Points Data). Barkley remains a stud RB1.

Derrick Henry (BAL)

Some players are simply built differently. Henry has and remains one of those guys. Last year, at age 29, he ranked first in rushing attempts and second in rushing yards while showing little drop-off in his efficiency metrics. Last season, among 68 qualifying backs, Henry ranked ninth in explosive run rate and 11th in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). While he will cross the dreaded age 30 threshold this year, it’s tough to project a drop-off for Henry and any reasons that he can’t continue to chug along as an RB1., especially when Henry has proven over the last two seasons that his pass game utility should increase despite his advancing age. Over the last two years, Henry has ranked 11th and 14th in TPRR and seventh and first in YPRR among backs. The big fellow isn’t slowing down. Continue to believe in the King in 2024 as the Ravens’ workhorse back.

De’Von Achane (MIA)

Achane was part of the new wave of explosive young rushers to hit the scene last season. He finished as the RB5 in fantasy points per game. In the eight games he played at least 41% of the snaps, Achane averaged 14.2 touches and 113.8 total yards. Any fantasy gamer who falls in love with efficiency stats will love Achane. He was so damn good last year, ranking first in explosive run rate, third in missed tackles forced per attempt, and second in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). If he can overtake Raheem Mostert (and hold off Jaylen Wright) as the team’s primary goal-line rusher, Achane could finish as a top-three back in 2024.