Earlier this month, Shawn Siegele explained why you need to Win the Next War at RB. In the first installment of the 2025 Zero RB Candidates Countdown, he helps you catch a tidal wave of youth at the all-important position.
The Zero RB list has been helping RotoViz writers and users to high finishes in Main Events and tournament championships in best ball. A quick look at past results, and you’ll understand why. Last year, Shawn advanced seven of 11 Main Event entries into the Sprint and took home four league titles.
The Zero RB Candidates Countdown combines an evidence-based approach to player evaluation with a contingency-based approach to future workload, emphasizing chaos and depth chart quality to help find the next wave of breakout stars.
In 2014 Shawn explained the methodology he used from 2008 to 2013 to create outsized gains in high-stakes formats. Since then the list has become part of the site’s backbone.
- Our 2015 Zero RB list included the No. 1 overall RB (Devonta Freeman).
- Our 2016 list featured a breakout star and RB5 in PPG (Melvin Gordon).
- Our 2017 list included RB3 Kareem Hunt and RB4 Alvin Kamara.
- Our 2018 list featured five of the top-10 backs in win rate, including James White (18.7%), Tarik Cohen (16.8%), and Chris Carson (11.8%)
- Our 2019 list featured the 313-point scoring Austin Ekeler and rookie breakout Miles Sanders.
- Our 2020 list featured the overall RB5 in James Robinson and rookie sensation Antonio Gibson.
- Our 2021 list featured James Conner (No. 4 overall in win rate), plus the two-highest scoring backs in the fantasy playoffs, Devin Singletary and Rashaad Penny.
- Our 2022 list featured Kenneth Walker, who was an anchor for BBM3’s $1 million regular season champion, Raheem Mostert, who appeared in BBM3’s $2 million-winning lineup, Jerick McKinnon, who finished as the RB4 during the fantasy playoffs, and a late-round 1,000-yard rookie in Tyler Allgeier.
- Our 2023 list featured Miami smashes Mostert, who led the RB position with 21 TDs, and rookie De’Von Achane, who averaged 7.8 yards per attempt and 17.5 PPG despite two appearances with a snap rate below 10%. The two Dolphins ranked third and fourth in win rate and were joined on the leaderboard by Jaylen Warren (201 points, 12% win), who crushed the rest of the position with a 30% evasion rate.
- Our 2024 list featured impact hits in Tyrone Tracy and Tyjae Spears (RB5 during the fantasy playoffs), and headlining stars like Chase Brown and Bucky Irving. The latter duo were poster boys for Zero RB wins that go beyond merely covering a position. They returned the second- and eighth-best semifinal advance rates at the RB position, while ranking as the overall RB6 and RB7 respectively from Weeks 10 to 17.
Today’s exercise is best used in concert with the deep research from . . .
The Draft Blueprint Series
- The Big Gorilla Update: You Dominate All Summer, Now Beat the Next Wave With These 23 Priority Targets
- The Big Gorilla Blueprint: Top-200 Rankings with 11 Tiers and 41 Priority Targets
- The Big Gorilla Bible: Target Levels for Every Player and a Deep Dive into Real Draft Tactics
- The Best Pick in Every Round (and the Most Controversial)
- The RV Roster Construction Explorer Helps You Crush the FFPC Superflex Format
. . . and the League-Winning Player Series
- Third Breakout’s the Charm: The Unsexy Wide Receiver Set to Crush Leagues
- Want the 2025 Burrow, Chase, and Brown? This Inexpensive Juggernaut Is Suddenly Brimming With Talent
- Your Best Chance at 350-Point Back Comes Outside of Round 1: The New Jamaal Charles
- This Secondary-Breakout Candidate Is Poised to Follow in the Footsteps of Lamb, Hopkins, and St. Brown
- This De’Von Achane Clone Is Set to Blow the Lid Off of Fantasy After an Absurd Price Drop
- The 15 Affordable RBs You Have to Draft Now
- Winning the Next War and Why You Might Finally Chase a Zero RB Winner
The 2025 Zero RB Candidates Countdown: No. 15 to No. 11
A few quick thoughts on the project for new subscribers and long-term readers alike.
