Who Are Zero RB Drafters Targeting? An analysis of 35 Zero RB Team Rosters

Here at Fantasy Football Helper, we draft a ton of fantasy football teams, using a variety of different draft strategies. For 2022, one of our favourite ways to draft in 12-team PPR leagues is using the zero RB technique. We want to clarify, this is best for PPR formats. We do not recommend this for Standard or PPFD leagues.

Before diving into our analysis, first it’s important to highlight how we define zero RB. Other definitions may vary but for this exercise, we define a zero RB roster as a team that did not draft their first running back until round 6 or later. Therefore, if any team drafted a running back within their first five rounds, we do not consider that roster to be a zero RB build.

Now that we have defined what counts as a zero RB roster build, it’s time to explain the methodology of how we analyzed our data and came to our conclusions. After every one of our drafts (44 as of mid-august), we track the roster build of every team. We have identified in our eyes, the 10 most common types of roster builds, such as anchor RB, superhero RB, best player available (BPA), zero RB, WR heavy, etc. Here is an example of what our spreadsheet looks like (the highlighted cells are the draft build we chose):

In the above chart you will notice some of the cells are labelled ‘Zero RB’ or ‘True Zero RB ‘(no RBs drafted until after round 7 – mostly in super flex leagues); those are the rosters we used to gather our data. In the 44 12-Team PPR drafts we have completed thus far, there were a total of 35 teams who met our zero RB criteria – once again, this means they did not draft their first running back until round 6 or later. We looked at each team and plotted their first three running backs selected to identify the most common zero RB targets. After completing this exercise, we identified 11 running backs who were drafted onto at least five of these teams or were the first running back selected on at least two of them. You can see the list of these 11 running backs below:

What Does This Zero RB Draft Data Tell Us?

When looking at this data, it is clear zero RB drafters in 2022 are targeting AJ Dillion as their RB1 of choice (selected 8 times as RB1), followed by Miles Sanders (five times as RB1), and Damien Harris and Clyde Edwards-Helaire (each selected as RB1 four times).

Devin Singletary, Tony Pollard, and Rhamondre Stevenson are the most common RB2 targets for zero RB teams. Kareem Hunt and Edmonds are common targets as well but they are both quite unique. Hunt is the the only running back in our data set who has been selected at least three times as a team’s RB1 but also as a team’s RB2. While Chase Edmonds is the only running back to be selected at least once as a team’s RB1, RB2, and RB3.

Just because the draft strategy is called zero RB, it doesn’t mean you stop drafting running backs once your two starters have been selected. Your RB 3 needs to have some upside and ideally catch passes, same goes for the rest of the running backs you will draft in the later rounds (Hines, McKissic, Gainwell, etc.). Our data shows that James Cook, Melvin Gordon, and Rhamondre Stevenson are the most common RB3 targets.

These three running backs fit the pass catching/high-upside mould which zero RB drafters are ideally seeking. James Cook is a rookie with high draft capital, tied to an explosive offensive unit led by Josh Allen and excels as a pass catcher. Melvin Gordon has stand alone value as a platoon running back but could flirt with top 10 numbers if Javonte Williams were to get hurt, while Rhamondre Stevenson has a bit of both characteristics; he could take over the James White pass catching role, and even if he doesn’t, like Gordon, he has stand alone platoon value with massive upside if Damien Harris were to get hurt.

Does Zero RB Work? Those RBs Look Awful

Zero RB definitely does not work all the time as it is very format dependent. In our experiences, this draft strategy is best used in PPR leagues with a super flex position or one QB PPR leagues where you can start a minimum of four WRs, ideally five WRs (or more). Traditionally in PPR leagues, it’s advantageous to FLEX a WR over a RB, therefore, the more WRs you can start in a given week, the stronger zero RB becomes.

When used correctly and in the proper format, zero RB teams have the potential to not just win leagues, but absolutely steamroll the competition. The creator of this draft strategy (Shawn Siegle) has mentioned that typically computers, power rankings, and 3rd party league analyzer tools have zero RB teams graded mediocre, or even poorly.

Zero RB teams aren’t usually supposed to be very strong post-draft due to their glaring weakness at the running back position, instead their strength comes from taking advantage of chaos at this position throughout the season. When running backs get injured, which happens frequently, zero RB teams have the most to gain, making their roster much stronger. However, this year when we sync our zero RB teams into the 3rd party tools, the computer loves our teams.

In the example shown above, this league analyzer tool gave our zero RB team a 100% score with a 15% chance to win the league, nearly double the league average of 8.3%, and a 69% chance to make the playoffs. Imagine how much the win % would increase if we were to improve on our RB positions throughout the season? Currently the RB 1-3 on this team are Tony Pollard, Rashaad Penny, and Rhamondre Stevenson. There is plenty of upside and room for improvement.

For every one of the zero RB teams we have drafted this season, our teams have above average playoff odds and championship odds using numerous post-draft tools. If you’re wondering if zero RB is right for your draft or which roster build is right for your scoring settings, let us know which free services you want and we will have an expert guide you.