Keep Your Eye on the Slop: The Best Undrafted Running Backs to Watch
Draft season is, sadly, pretty much over.
Sure, the high-stakes crowd will keep drafting into next weekend, but most of us have real jobs, packed away the draft board, convinced ourselves we nailed the middle rounds, and moved on to obsessing over Week 1 lineups.
The average fantasy draft goes about 16 rounds deep. In a 12-team league, that’s 192 players and defenses off the board. Which sounds like a lot, until you remember there are hundreds of offensive skill-position players still sitting out there.
Most of them belong there. A few probably don’t. So rather than waiting until one of these guys blows up on Sunday and becomes the subject of a 12-team waiver claim feeding frenzy, we’re digging through the slop now.
Here are a couple of undrafted running backs worth keeping an eye on.
Najee Harris, RB, Giants
FantasyPros Real-Time ADP: #210
Najee Harris going undrafted in a lot of leagues is understandable. Ignoring him completely might not be.
Greg Roman coached Harris with the Chargers last season and then brought him to New York. That’s worth paying attention to. So is the Giants’ backfield.
Harris is roughly two inches taller and 20 pounds heavier than the other three backs on the roster, making him an obvious candidate for short-yardage and goal-line work.
And he didn’t waste much time getting involved. Just ten days after signing, Harris saw the field when Tyrone Tracy struggled in pass protection and turned 12 touches into 59 yards.
That’s not enough to start clearing a spot in your lineup. It is enough to make us Najee-curious.
Harris is also only 28 and just one season removed from a run of four straight 1,200-plus-yard campaigns. The explosiveness may not be what it once was, but this is still an experienced back who knows Roman’s offense and could have a defined role immediately.
Then there’s Tracy. If he misses time, or simply fails to lock down the job, Harris suddenly becomes a lot more interesting.
Bottom line: Don’t start him yet. Don’t forget about him, either. The size, experience, goal-line potential and Roman connection make Harris one of our favorite undrafted backs to monitor.
Justice Hill, RB, Ravens
FantasyPros Real-Time ADP: #253
Justice Hill doesn’t need Derrick Henry to disappear to have a role. That’s what makes him interesting.
Hill should handle plenty of Baltimore’s passing-down work, including third downs and two-minute situations. If that translates to somewhere around 20–25 snaps per game, there’s already enough here to make him useful in deeper PPR leagues and as an emergency FLEX during bye weeks.
But let’s address the enormous 32-year-old elephant in the backfield. Derrick Henry.
Hill isn’t Henry’s direct backup, and nobody should stash him expecting a one-for-one replacement if Henry misses time. But an injury ahead of him would almost certainly create significantly more opportunities.
And that’s where a player being drafted around No. 253 gets interesting. You’re not looking for a safe eight points per week this far down the board. You’re looking for players whose circumstances could change their value dramatically.
Hill qualifies. He already has a role. If Baltimore’s backfield gets shaken up, he could have a much bigger one.
Bottom line: Hill has enough passing-game involvement to matter now and enough contingent upside to matter a lot more later. At his price (basically free), he belongs on the watchlist.