Fantasy Football Rankings, Tiers & Player Notes: RBs (2026)

Oh, I cannot wait for the debates about where Jeremiyah Love should be drafted in fantasy football this season after the 2025 rookie running back class failed to live up to the hype.

2026 Fantasy Football Rankings Notes: Running Backs

Love has the chance to be a top 10/top-15 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. But does that make him worthy of an extremely high fantasy football ranking in redraft?

Well, it depends on how you define extremely high.

Ashton Jeanty (RB6/RB7 ADP) finished his rookie season as the RB17 in points per game (RB14 overall). He failed due to the situation, not due to lack of opportunities/talent.
Omarion Hampton (RB14 ADP) finished his rookie season as the RB16 in points per game (injuries and O-Line problems).
Cam Skattebo (RB38 ADP) was the RB10 in points per game, but only played nine games. He was well on his way to a fantasy RB1 season.
RJ Harvey, TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins (RB37 ADP) were all low-end fantasy RB2s in 2025, both based on overall and per-game finishes in 2025. Harvey/Henderson were drafted between RB19-RB22. Those two did finish the year as low-end fantasy RB1s in points per game (fueled by injuries to Rhamondre Stevenson and J.K. Dobbins).
The last two rookie backs drafted highly in the first round three years ago — Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs — finished as top 10-fantasy backs in their rookie seasons.
Saquon Barkley was a stud as a rookie in 16 starts (RB1 overall).
Leonard Fournette was seventh in points per game (RB9 overall in 13 games). Fournette was the RB9 in his last four games (was the RB3 in the first six weeks before injury).
Christian McCaffrey was the RB10 even in a committee with Jonathan Stewart (10 starts).
Ezekiel Elliott was a top-three back in points per game in 15 starts (RB2 overall).
Trent Richardson was the RB7 points per game and RB5 overall (he wasn’t even good) in 15 starts. Richardson was the RB4 in points per game over the last nine games.
Adrian Peterson was the RB1 overall in nine starts.
Reggie Bush was the RB9 overall in eight starts, and the RB5 during the last eight weeks.
The only actual top-eight back to bust was Darren McFadden, but he got hurt and only started five games.

Most rookie running backs tend to be strong finishers. Hence, patience is super important.

The 2025 running back class disappointed (zero 1,000-yard rushers), but the expectations were extremely high. And to be fair, we saw signs of really great players — just not to the consistency fantasy managers would expect.

Situations crumbled around certain rookies, while others took longer to get going against veteran backfield competition.

I’m curious if this will negatively impact the fantasy stock of the 2026 rookie running back class. We have Jeremiyah Love at the top as the same type of Ashton Jeanty and Bijan Robinson buzz, but the depth falls compared to last year’s class.

I haven’t gone back and fully updated my rookie running back value chart from 2025, but first-round backs typically finish in the RB18 range on average. That is the range where I have tentatively ranked Love based solely on his projected first-round draft capital.

I haven’t done my rookie running back research yet on this year’s class (coming soon), but I wanted to provide some insight on expectations as we look to rank them ahead of pre-NFL Draft best ball contests.

As for the veterans, all my early 2026 ranks are below, with a few notes filled out on some of the more polarizing rushers inside the top 15.