Tony Pollard and Isiah Pacheco are two running backs who find themselves in the RB2 tier in fantasy football. Both are established veterans who have had success over the course of their NFL careers. Let’s dive into which RB you would be better off drafting for the 2025 fantasy football season.
Tony Pollard has been the model of consistency over the last three seasons. He has three straight 1000-yard rushing seasons, most recently rushing for 1079 yards and 5 touchdowns while adding 238 receiving yards. He finished as RB21 and finished with a total of 200.7 total fantasy points (12.5 points per game) in 2024.
This season, he seems to have plenty of opportunities to continue his fantasy football and rushing success. The first reason is that the Titans‘ offense should be much better with rookie first overall pick Cam Ward at the helm, as the Titans were in the bottom 10 in the league back-to-back seasons with Will Levis as their QB. Another reason is Titans’ change of pace back Tyjae Spears is set to miss at least the team’s first 4 games after being placed on IR with an ankle injury.
Isiah Pacheco is coming off an injury-riddled season where he only played 7 total games. He suffered a fractured fibula in week 2 of the 2024 NFL season, leading him to miss 10 games. He managed to rush for 310 yards and 1 touchdown upon his return. He finished with 56.9 total fantasy points (8.1 points per game).
Pacheco is in a Kansas City Chiefs offense with no shortage of talent. Led by head coach Andy Reid, this offense includes the best QB in the league in Patrick Mahomes to go along with future Hall of Fame TE Travis Kelce, Rashee Rice(expected to be suspended for the first 6 games), Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown, Juju Smith-Schuster, Kareem Hunt, and Elijiah Mitchell. That’s a lot of mouths to feed, even in a highly efficient NFL offense.
We are drafting Tony Pollard over Isiah Pacheco. We feel as though with Pacheco coming off an injury and being in a crowded Kansas City Chiefs offense, it will limit his overall upside. On top of this, Isiah has never rushed for over 1000 yards in a single NFL season, and we don’t envision that happening in the future. With Tony Pollard having a greater track record of success and with Titans RB Tyjae Spears being placed on IR, this will give Pollard extra opportunities for touches, which will bode well for fantasy managers
