2025 Dynasty Rookie Rankings: Raheim Sanders

Unless you’ve been playing Devy Fantasy Football, you may not even know the name Raheim Sanders. When doing my 2025 dynasty rookie rankings, I forgot about Sanders as well.

However, if you look back to 2023, many thought Sanders would be locked in as a top-three running back with the potential to be the RB1. That all changed when Sanders suffered a number of injuries in 2023.

Sanders went down twice in 2023, as South Carolina reported that he had “a knee issue followed by a severe shoulder injury that required surgery.” That limited Sanders to only playing in six games and caused him to stay at school and transfer to South Carolina for his senior season.

Sanders had a respectable senior season, but it was still a major step down from his dominant sophomore year. With Sanders testing extremely well at the NFL Combine, now seems like a great time to dive into his profile.

Raheim Sanders: Prospect Profile

Seeing an early breakout is always a great sign for a prospect. After showing flashes as a freshman, Sanders broke out as a sophomore. He ran for 1,443 yards (6.5 YPC) and 10 touchdowns while catching 28 passes for 271 yards.

Sanders has the size to be a bellcow in the NFL, measuring in at 6’ 0” and 217 lbs at the NFL Combine. What makes Sanders so special is that size and speed combination. It’s shown on film, but at the combine, Sanders had a remarkable 40-yard dash time of 4.46 seconds.

When taking Sanders’s size and all of his other measurements into account, he had a 9.87 Relative Athletic Score, which is phenomenal. On film, you’ll constantly see Sanders use his size very well, hit the right holes and break off big plays.

Projected NFL Draft Capital

The 2025 running back class is historically good, which means Sanders has been bumped down draft boards. It seems like teams are scared off by the recent lack of production and past injury history. Normally, Sanders would be a day-two pick, but right now, I’m projecting him to go in the fourth round.

That would be less than ideal because draft capital has a significant impact on a running back’s hit rate. Right now NFL Mock Draft Database has Sanders with a consensus overall rank of 214th overall (7th round). If that happens, Sanders will plummet down my board, but there’s a limited sample size at this point in the offseason.

Steve Bradshaw’s Rookie Rankings

Following the NFL Combine, Sanders is the RB13 in my 2025 dynasty rookie rankings. In Superflex leagues, I would take Sanders 36th overall and in a 1QB format, he bumps up to 34. Sanders has an extremely wide range of outcomes, but based on his prospect profile, I’m fine taking a shot on his ceiling in the late third round.