When you don’t go for a RB at all through the first 4 or 5 rounds, and then try and identify a few RBs who can help you early and some who can break out later in the year, that’s the Zero RB strategy. The running backs you target most likely won’t be averaging RB1 points to start, but the goal is to at least grab one or two Top-24 guys – maybe not in terms of ADP, but players who end up being valued similarly come Week 2 or Week 3 based on the way things shake out as the season progresses. The ultimate goal of the Zero-RB strategy is to build some depth at the RB position to give you a chance to hit big on a late-round gem. Meanwhile, the high-end WRs that you drafted in place of the top running backs in the first four or five rounds can hold it down for you AND potentially compensate for your weakness at RB.
Maybe you draft a TE early that gives you such a massive advantage over the other TEs - we call it positional advantage - that helps you overcome the weakness at RB. And then if you have later round RBs that end up hitting, your team can end up being a juggernaut. It definitely takes a keen eye and a little bit of luck, but the skill is identifying 1 or 2 RBs in the draft who end up hitting big and then heavily working the waiver wire.
One of the advantages of this strategy is that you can avoid being hit hard when a RB gets hurt - it’s the position that has the most injuries, so when you don’t invest premium capital in your running backs, you’re insulated against the debilitating affect of having a star running back miss significant time (because you don’t have one in this strategy.)
So let’s identify a few RBs that we might consider, round by round, to draft to fill out our Zero-RB builds in 2024. (Round 5 or later using Sleeper ADP):
5th round - Kenneth Walker, Alvin Kamara Aaron Jones
6th round - James Conner, David Montgomery, D’Andre Swift, Rhamondre Stevenson
7th round - Najee Harris, Tony Pollard, Raheem Mostert, Zamir White
8th round - Nick Chubb, Javonte Williams, Jonathon Brooks, Zack moss, Austin Ekeler
9th round - Jaylen Warren, Devin Singletary, Trey Benson
10th round - Tyjae Spears, Brian Robinson, Gus Edwards, Blake Corum, Ezekiel Elliott
11th round - Chase Brown, Jerome Ford, Zach Charbonnet
12th round - Jaylen Wright, Chuba Hubbard, Kendre Miller, JK Dobbins
13th round - Rico Dowdle, Ty Chandler, Marshawn Lloyd
At the end of the day, the zero RB approach is very tempting. You’re avoiding a position that gets hurt early and often in your drafts, so you essentially have insurance that way on your premium draft capital. And if you do hit on a few of these RBs later and you combine that with the elite or near-elite WRs and TEs and QBs you drafted, you could be sitting pretty.