Dynasty Fantasy Football | Running Backs to Trade While You Still Can: Kyren Williams, Raheem Mostert, Aaron Jones and More
These running backs still have fantasy value but it will likely never be this high again. Trade them now while you can get the most value possible for them.
DETROIT, MI - JANUARY 14: Los Angeles Rams running back Kyren Williams (23) runs upfield for a first down during the NFC Wild Card game between the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Rams game on Sunday January 14, 2023 at Ford Field in Detroit, MI. (Photo by Steven King/Icon Sportswire)
In 2023, Mostert was the most prolific TD scorer, finding the end zone 21 times in 15 games. We aren't saying his value is going to completely fall off a cliff, but it certainly will never be higher.
Everything is stacked against him coming close to repeating what he did last season. He will turn 32 in April and has a lengthy injury history, which includes a ton of knee and ankle injuries.
On top of his age and past injuries, dynamic young running back De'Von Achane is poised for a much larger role in 2024 while fellow second-year back Chris Brooks should see an uptick in volume as well. Both dealt with injuries as rookies but looked very good when given opportunities. Everything fell into place perfectly for Mostert in what will likely be the best season of his career.
Speaking of players who everything fell in place perfectly for in 2023, Williams is a young running back you can get a haul for and should. What this comes down to is that his talent doesn't match the production we saw last season.
People forget that when both Williams and Ronnie Rivers got injured last season, Rivers was earning a larger role and was the more efficient back. Unfortunately for Rivers, his injury was more severe and Williams made the most of his opportunity upon returning from injury.
There is a real chance that the majority of Williams's value stems from unusually high volume due to the rest of the backfield falling apart last season. Post-Todd Gurley, Sean McVay has not liked to feed running backs like he did Williams last season. The offense and offensive line also overperformed last year and could come crashing back down to Earth in 2024.
Surely, a ton of fantasy analysts will see this the exact opposite way. Nevertheless, we don't see the 5'9, 190-pound running back as either a workhorse or an elite talent.
Jones is a back who will be hard to let go of for a lot of fantasy owners, but now is the time. The writing has been on the wall for a while now and if you held on to him in 2023 you got lucky you got what you got out of him.
He has a big enough name and finished the year strong enough that he still has trade value, nonetheless, he is clearly trending in the wrong direction. Injuries forced him to only play 11 games last season while he saw his TDs continue to plummet to the lowest in his career both in total and on a per-game-basis.
His yards per carry were also the lowest of his career. At most, he has one year left in him heading into his age-30 season and it's time to collect assets for him now.
Chubb looked excellent out of the gates last season before suffering a major season-ending knee injury in Week 2. This was his second catastrophic knee injury in which he tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus. This is the same knee he destroyed back in college.
Could he come back and be a very good fantasy running back? Sure, but we aren't going to wait around and find out if he'll ever be close to the same back again. We don't even know if he'll still be on the Browns next year at this point.
Pawn him off on a less savvy owner and move on from Chubb. The early season injury could help you sell this as a regular old torn ACL that he should be back from and ready to roll by the start of the season.
This is another back that if you frame him the right way you can sell him for being in line for a big bounce-back year in 2024. Ekeler was off to a hot start when on the field in 2023. The fantasy production and volume were both there. Then Justin Herbert went down and things fell apart for Ekeler along with the rest of the Chargers' offense.
With Herbert set to return in 2024 and Jim Harbaugh now manning the ship in LA, Ekeler should be right back on track as a top fantasy running back in 2024. At least that's how you'll sell it. The issue is that he looked terrible on film so it may be best to target an owner who focuses more on fantasy numbers and not as much on actually watching the players play.
Ekeler is a smaller back who has dealt with injuries, seen a ton of touches in recent years, and is about to turn 29 in less than two months. Dump him while you still can get nice compensation for him.
