Rookie RB panic meter: Should Fantasy players worry about depth chart landing for TreVeyon Henderson, others?

By now, you've likely already gone through your Fantasy football drafts and have been looking at your roster endlessly. Did you get that sleeper you had circled for the bulk of the summer? Congrats! How about some rookies? There are a boatload of Fantasy-relevant first-year players coming into the league in 2025, particularly at the running back position. 

While you may have been thrilled to land someone like Los Angeles Chargers running back Omarion Hampton at the three-four turn, that excitement may have hit a bit of a speed bump if you took a gander at the team's recent depth chart. The rookie is currently listed as the RB2 behind Najee Harris. 

Oh no! What have I done? My season is ruined before it even started! 

Easy there, big fella! Don't go trading him away to your biggest rival or fall into despair because your favorite team isn't utilizing its newest young star. 

This happens in the NFL, especially to rookies. For whatever reason, teams list first-year players a bit lower on the depth chart as a sort of humbling moment for them, emphasizing that they need to earn their place in the league. On top of that, some of these depth charts are unofficial, so what it says on the team website may not exactly reflect how they are stacking up players internally. 

At the same time, these placements on the depth chart are noteworthy in certain situations. Really, it's a case-by-case assessment that we need to make, and that's where I come in. Below, I'll highlight where some notable rookies land on their teams' depth charts and break out my panic meter to judge if folks should be concerned or not think twice about it. 

For our panic meter, we'll judge this from a range of Low 🚨 to Medium 🚨🚨 to High🚨🚨🚨.

TreVeyon Henderson

Depth chart placement: RB3
Panic meter: Medium 🚨🚨

As will be the case with all of these backs, your panic level will range in terms of your expectations. In the case of Henderson, the Patriots used a high second-round pick on the Ohio State product, which indicates that he'll have a sizable role within the offense. In my view, I look at Henderson initially as a passing down back fitting somewhat into the James White role within Josh McDaniels' offense. If you were expecting Henderson to be an every-down type of player after that otherworldly preseason showing, you may be disappointed out of the gate. 

Do we think Henderson will be used like a third-string running back, like the unofficial depth chart suggests? Of course not. Do we think that Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson will have roles out of the New England backfield that'll annoy those who want more of Henderson? Yes, at least early in the season. Henderson's play could very well earn him the lion's share of touches by season's end, but it could be a bit of a committee out of the gate, which is why we have this at medium. 

Omarion Hampton

Depth chart placement: RB2
Panic meter: Low 🚨

Similar to what we were talking about with Henderson, the Chargers selected Hampton with the No. 22 overall pick in the first round of the draft last spring. Ask yourself this -- do you really think the Chargers are going to take someone that high only to have him backup veteran Najee Harris (who is currently RB1 on the depth chart), who missed all of training camp due to an eye injury he suffered in a firework mishap over the Fourth of July holiday? Yeah, me neither. 

R.J. Harvey

Depth chart placement: RB2
Panic meter: Medium 🚨🚨

Health permitting, Harvey should end the season as the Broncos leading rusher and will be RB1 in essentially every sense of the word. He's a second-round pick, and Denver will give him the necessary opportunity to live up to that draft billing. However, that doesn't mean J.K. Dobbins, who signed with the team this offseason, won't have a role. Dobbins had a strong 2024 campaign with the Chargers, rushing for 905 yards and nine touchdowns. So, this could be a timeshare that, at best, eventually finds Harvey taking on a 70-30 split by the end of the year, but Dobbins won't be shut out entirely.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt

Depth chart placement: RB4
Panic meter: High🚨🚨🚨

The rookie back was a summer darling among drafters, especially after the Commanders traded Brian Robinson Jr. to the 49ers. Some viewed that as Washington clearing the way for Croskey-Merritt, but the backfield still looks muddled. Austin Ekeler isn't going away and will command a decent chunk of carries to go along with the lion's share of targets out of the backfield from Jayden Daniels. Jeremy McNichols is likely a depth piece to Ekeler in the receiving game, while Chris Rodriguez Jr. averaged 6.9 yards per carry in the preseason and has a history with the team. Croskey-Merritt shined this summer and will factor into the touches as well, but the seventh-round pick may just be part of a committee rather than the headliner. 

Kaleb Johnson

Depth chart placement: RB3
Panic meter: High🚨🚨🚨

Finding Johnson behind Jaylen Warren shouldn't come as a surprise, but seeing the third-round rookie behind Kenneth Gainwell was. Do we think it'll stay that way throughout the season? No. Johnson should eventually find his way into more touches out of the backfield as the Steelers' RB2, but Warren will likely continue to be the main focal point. That's especially true after the team recently inked him to a two-year extension through the 2027 season. Johnson averaged just 3.9 yards per carry on his 24 attempts this preseason, so he didn't exactly push for a larger slice of the pie this summer. 

Jaydon Blue

Depth chart placement: RB3
Panic meter: Medium 🚨🚨

This is another situation where it all centers around your expectation for the player. For a while, no one knew how the Dallas depth chart at running back was going to pan out, and Blue -- a fifth-round rookie out of Texas -- was as good a dart throw to make as any. That said, it was hardly a guarantee that he'd carve out a role, so he should've been drafted in Fantasy leagues as such, and expectations should've been dialed in accordingly. We'll keep this at medium because it appears Javonte Williams is the clear-cut RB1 for Dallas, which makes it hard for us to find a lane for Blue to make any sort of inroads into being a relevant contributor.