Welcome to the 2021 Zero RB target list where we help you find inexpensive RBs to destroy your league. The list isn’t just for Zero RB owners. You can use the list to construct a Zero RB squad, to fill out your Single-Elite-RB roster, or to build Flex upside into an RB-heavy start.
Zero RB wins at the highest levels. Shawn has used his RB target list to win 13 leagues at the Main Event level or higher and finish in the top 50 of national tournaments on more than 15 occasions. That includes a 1-2 finish in the NFFC Primetime in 2013 and finishes of No. 12 and No. 31 in the 2020 FFPC Main Event.
When you check out the past picks, you’ll understand why. Today, he begins the Zero RB countdown for 2021.
Last year we told you that the 4 Perfect Storm Conditions Were in Place for Zero RB. That ended up as an understatement with five of the top-seven backs by win rate drafted outside the first 140 picks.
The Zero RB target list has been extremely successful at nailing these players. In 2014 I explained the methodology I used from 2008 to 2013 to create outsized gains in high stakes formats. If you then used the list in 2015 through 2020, well, you’re playing with house money this season.
- Our 2015 Zero RB list included the No. 1 overall RB (Devonta Freeman).
- Our 2016 list featured a breakout star and RB5 in PPG (Melvin Gordon).
- Our 2017 list included RB3 Kareem Hunt and RB4 Alvin Kamara.
- Our 2018 list featured five of the top-10 backs in win rate, including James White (18.7%), Tarik Cohen (16.8%), and Chris Carson (11.8%)
- Our 2019 list featured the 313-point scoring Austin Ekeler and rookie breakout Miles Sanders.
Given our staff’s results in last year’s FFPC Main Event, it’s no surprise that the list outperformed again. It included Tony Pollard, whose 31 points in Week 15 launched Curtis and me into 12th place; Nyheim Hines, the 14% win rate back who acted as the linchpin for Blair and me in our Extreme Zero RB success; James Robinson, the undrafted back who finished as the RB5 in PPG; and Antonio Gibson, who rattled off six RB1 performances in an eight-week stretch before turf toe sidelined him down the stretch.
Still think you have to sacrifice upside to draft your Zero RB squad? Ben Gretch and I debunk all the myths in our Zero RB episode of Stealing Bananas.
But you don’t even need to care about that. All you want to know is this: Who are the next ADP-smashing RB stars?
Want a one-stop shop for the in-season fantasy grind? RotoViz now has route information for pass-catchers and tackle-breaking info on RBs.