• Kyle Monangai is far from buried on the Bears’ depth chart: D’Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson and Travis Homer shouldn’t keep the rookie RB19 from having a chance to climb the Bears’ running back pecking order in 2025.

• Jacory Croskey-Merritt is being overlooked after a unique college career: The seventh-rounder played in just one game in 2024 due to eligibility issues, but he was previously one of college football’s most productive running backs.

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Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

There’s never time to take your foot off the pedal in dynasty fantasy football; it’s a year-round process. Scouting the Ashton Jeantys and Cam Wards of the world for fantasy potential is the easy part. Finding the Kyren Williamses and Puka Nacuas tends to be a bit harder.

So, we’re diving into rookie stashes position by position. These three running backs may go off the board late or not at all in 2025 dynasty rookie drafts, but they’re worth stashing due to their ability and team environment.

Croskey-Merritt sits as just the RB20 in 2025 dynasty rookie drafts, buried in a class full of potential workhorses. While the Commanders made him the final running back selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, his potential to eventually lead the team’s backfield makes him a dynasty stash.

Brian Robinson Jr. is entering a contract year after finishing 2024 as the PPR RB29, Austin Ekeler just turned 30 years old and Jeremy McNichols has been with 10 teams since 2017. The door is wide open for a new RB1 to emerge in the Commanders’ backfield, potentially this season but certainly next.

Croskey-Merritt played in only one game this past season at Arizona due to an eligibility issue. Before that, he dominated his competition at New Mexico to the tune of the fourth-best PFF overall grade (92.7) among FBS running backs in 2023. That year, he averaged 0.34 missed tackles per attempt (tied for 12th in FBS) and racked up the fifth-most rushing scores (17).

While Robinson is in the driver’s seat to begin the 2025 campaign, don’t count out Croskey-Merritt to slowly climb Washington’s depth chart and turn into a fantasy value.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt’s College PFF Grades

The Panthers extended running back Chuba Hubbard on a four-year, 33.4 million deal merely seven months ago, locking him in as the team’s starter for the foreseeable future. Long-term contracts for breakout running backs are far from foolproof, though.

Carolina’s front office has a new leader since the team signed Miles Sanders, who also was fresh off a career year, to a four-year, $25.4 million contract in 2023 before releasing him this past offseason, but it’s a reminder — one that perhaps hits too close to home — that backfields are volatile.

As noted by PFF lead fantasy analyst Nathan Jahnke, Etienne brings a similar skillset to the running backs ahead of him on the Panthers’ depth chart (Rico Dowdle and Hubbard), giving him a stellar opportunity to overtake at least Dowdle. He has third-down potential after hauling in 32 of a possible 33 passes in 2024 at Georgia, and his run-game promise is evident in his 3.9 yards after contact per carry over the past three seasons — the sixth-best rate among 2025 draft-eligible Power Five running backs.

If not in 2025, Etienne is poised to climb the Panthers’ running back depth chart in 2026.

Much was made of the Bears’ need for running back help this offseason, and they responded meekly by re-signing Travis Homer and drafting Monangai in the seventh round. Neither move was particularly world-changing on paper for Chicago’s backfield, which D’Andre Swift leads for now. But don’t let Monangai’s draft slot fool you into dynasty passivity.

Monangai has similar potential to Kansas City Chiefs RB1 Isiah Pacheco, also a seventh-round pick out of Rutgers, to take over his team’s backfield in short order. Swift is coming off a PPR RB19 season in which he was the only NFL running back to see more than 230 carries and not top 1,000 rushing yards. He averaged more than 5.0 yards per carry in only four outings and went the final seven games of the 2024 season without a 15-point fantasy performance.

D’Andre Swift’s 2024 PFF Grades and Rushing Statistics

Meanwhile, Monangai’s 139 forced missed tackles over the past two seasons were the eighth most among FBS running backs, and he didn’t fumble once across four seasons of action with the Scarlet Knights.

Roschon Johnson may get the first crack at surpassing Swift for the Bears’ lead role, but Monangai shouldn’t be buried to the point where he doesn’t get some touches to prove his value as a rookie and beyond.