Certainty in fantasy backfields is appealing, but the brightest values often come from ambiguity. When a backfield isn’t settled, the door opens for explosive players with the right opportunity to rise to every-week starter status. The 2024 season provided multiple examples where uncertain roles yielded league-winners, and 2025 looks ripe for similar mid- to late-round bets. Focus shifts from “RB1 locks” to those backs with a path to lead-back duties or primary work if a primary back falters or evolves. Washington’s rookie Croskey-Merritt, the Giants’ Cam Skattebo, Pittsburgh’s Jaylen Warren, and Jacksonville’s Bayshul Tuten are among those names commanders and fantasy managers will watch closely as training camp and the preseason unfold. The core idea: dismiss the depth-chart noise, chase the explosive path, and calibrate redraft and best-ball drafts to profit from high-upside, low-ownership scenarios.

Washington’s Jacory Croskey-Merritt is a late-round flyer with breakout appeal if an opening arises in a backfield that already features Brian Robinson. Croskey-Merritt flashed one-cut explosiveness in the preseason opener and has backing from staff keen to generate more big plays. In deeper formats, rostering him could pay off when opportunity materializes Week 1 or later in the season. On the other side of the country, Cam Skattebo drew late-round intrigue in New York as a pass-catching, compact runner who could push for a role if injuries or inefficiency open a lane. In Miami and Detroit’s other backfield sketches, Warren and Tuten illustrate how volatility can become value when the clock runs and the touch tree expands.