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One of the best ways to quickly rebuild your dynasty team is to acquire inexpensive young running backs with legitimate long-term upside. You should be looking to add players with talent who are undervalued due to their current situation. For example, players who are backups to veteran starters today but could ascend to a more robust role in the future. You may also be able to find discounted future production by targeting players who are recovering from an injury.

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Here are five running backs rebuilding dynasty teams should be targeting this preseason. 

Braelon Allen, NY Jets

Allen slid further in the NFL Draft than expected, dropping to the Jets late in the 4th round. It looks like the Jets ended up with a steal. While many of the running backs from an underwhelming 2024 rookie class have failed to distinguish themselves early, Allen has been a standout from the minute he stepped on the field in OTAs for New York. He has shown rare explosiveness and receiving ability for a 235-pound banger. The only reason Allen's excellent training camp performance has not rocketed him up dynasty draft boards is that he remains blocked by one of the league's more talented young running backs, Breece Hall. It is hard to get excited about a player who likely needs an injury to Hall to land a starting job in 2024 or even 2025. However, it is worth remembering that Allen is the youngest player in the NFL at just 20.5 years old. Rebuilding requires patience. Hall has only two years left on his rookie contract and will hit free agency in 2026. Braelon Allen will be 22 years old at that time. 

Chase Brown, Cincinnati

Brown was highlighted in my recent August Dynasty Trade Value Chart article:

If there was a dynasty stock market in which you could buy stock in players, all of my money would be on Brown right now. He is the player whose market value (RB29 and 129th overall on KeepTradeCut as one example) makes the least sense if you have been paying close attention to training camp news. Joe Mixon finished as the RB6 in this same offense last season. While Brown is unlikely to dominate the backfield touches to the same extent Mixon did, he looks likely to lead this backfield. This is an excellent spot for fantasy production, with Mixon posting back-to-back RB1 seasons. Brown has shown massive improvement as a pass catcher throughout camp and should catch 50+ passes as Mixon did. Kyren Williams was drafted 164th overall in 2022 and exploded onto the scene in his second season. Chase Brown, who was drafted 163rd overall in 2023, is poised to make a similar breakthrough entering his second season.

Brown is not undervalued because he is blocked on the depth chart by a talented veteran. Instead, he is a player who is a bargain due to the misperception that Zack Moss is locked into the starting role. Plus, the dynasty community continues to underestimate Brown's upside. He is a freaky athlete who led all running backs at the 2023 NFL Combine with a 10'7" broad jump and a 40" vertical. He also ran the sixth-fastest time in the 40-yard dash (4.43). More importantly, Brown's speed and explosiveness showed up with the pads on his rookie season.

Bengals rookie running back Chase Brown reached a top speed of 22.05 mph on his 54-yard TD reception, the second-fastest play by ball carrier this season (DK Metcalf, 22.23 mph).

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