3 Fantasy Football Busts to Avoid: Running Backs (2026)

The running back position can sometimes make or break a fantasy football team, whether that’s a complete bust in the first round or a hero in the later rounds that completely blows expectations out of the water.

With plenty of time and possible changes between now and the start of the season, such as injuries in training camp, here are three running backs to avoid in fantasy drafts.

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Fantasy Football Running Backs to Avoid

RJ Harvey (RB – DEN)

While RJ Harvey was a second-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, he’s coming off a not-so-stellar rookie campaign, rushing 146 times on 171 snaps for 540 yards and seven touchdowns. Sure, the touchdowns were nice, but he averaged just 3.6 yards per carry and had only eight runs of 10+ yards.

Fellow Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins played in seven fewer games and recorded seven more carries and over 230 yards more than Harvey, while averaging five yards per carry. On the receiving side of things, Harvey added 47 receptions for 356 yards and five touchdowns.

However, the Broncos added a key weapon this offseason, trading away the No. 30 overall pick in the draft to the Miami Dolphins for Jaylen Waddle.

The Broncos used a fourth-round pick on running back Jonah Coleman, who may be more of a grinder and not as bursty between the tackles, but he can also catch passes.

Harvey did have 12 touchdowns last year. However, after his inefficient running, new weapons such as Coleman and Waddle arrived. I’d be wary of the second-year back.

De’Von Achane (RB – MIA)

Perhaps avoid is too strong a word, but I do have legitimate concerns about De’Von Achane. He’ll enter 2026 on a team with a defensive-minded head coach and an offensive coordinator in Bobby Slowik, who produced two middle-of-the-pack offenses, yards per game-wise, when he was with the Houston Texans in the same role in 2023 and 2024.

Needless to say, this is not a situation with Mike McDaniel as his head coach, who is still one of the best offensive minds in football. As for the team around him, new starting quarterback Malik Willis isn’t afraid to take off and run, scrambling 10 times in Week 16 last season and nine more times in Week 17.

The Dolphins are a team destitute of talent. This could mean Achane has to do a lot of the work, but you also have to wonder whether injuries won’t catch up with him and whether defenses will game-plan for him. There’s no more Jaylen Waddle or Tyreek Hill to take pressure off of him; the Dolphins’ No. 1 WR right now is probably Jalen Tolbert until rookie Chris Bell recovers from a torn ACL.

Buyer beware.

Jeremiyah Love (RB – ARI)

Jeremiyah Love is going to be a player fantasy owners will want on their teams, but we have to remember that the Cardinals’ offensive line is far from the best in the NFL, and this running back depth chart is loaded with talent. Along with Love, there’s veteran James Conner, free-agent acquisition Tyler Allgeier and we can’t forget Trey Benson.

Will Love lead the group in snaps? Probably, but this is far from a clear-cut No. 1 RB, workhorse-type role.

Last year, all Cardinals rushers combined for 1,583 yards on 366 carries, averaging 4.3 yards per tote. The two top ball-carriers, Bam Knight and Michael Carter, each averaged fewer than four yards per carry.

Love is by far the most talented running back the Cardinals have had since David Johnson, but the competition he faces for snaps on a bad team behind a bad offensive line is worrisome.