When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and which to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy football rankings compared to fantasy football average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into a few notable fantasy football players our experts target in drafts.
- 2026 Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football Dynasty Rankings
- Fantasy Football Trade Analyzer
- Best Fantasy Football Rankings
2026 Fantasy Football Draft Advice: Players to Target
Here are five running backs fantasy football Derek Brown loves to target in early drafts.
Javonte Williams (RB – DAL)
Last year, Javonte Williams was a massive surprise in fantasy, to everyone, including me. I was very bullish about his 2025 outlook, but I was hoping at best for a volume-driven RB2 residing in an explosive offense. Well, Williams crushed even my expectations as the RB11 in fantasy points per game, finishing with a career high 1,201 rushing yards and 13 total touchdowns. Among 49 qualifying backs, he ranked 16th in explosive run rate and third in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). His season was also a tale of two halves as he faded some down the back half of the year. In Weeks 1-8, he averaged 18.5 touches, 90.7 total yards, and scored nine total touchdowns as the RB8 in fantasy points per game. In Weeks 9-17, he averaged 17.4 touches, 76.5 total yards, and scored only four total touchdowns as the RB25 in fantasy points per game. Much of his fantasy stock drop was related to the fall in touchdown production, which can be simple variance. His deeper analytics back up that his play didn’t fall off on a per-touch efficency standpoint. In Weeks 1-8, he had a 4.8% explosive run rate with an 11% missed tackle rate and 3.52 yards after contact per attempt. That yards after contact per attempt mark is otherworldly. In Weeks 8-17, he posted a 5.5% explosive run rate with a 13% missed tackle rate and 2.33 yards after contact per attempt. He improved his marks down the stretch in two of those three categories. If Williams can post production as he did over the first half of the 2025 season for an entire year, he is a locked-in top ten back with top-five upside. At his floor, he looks like a low-end RB1 or top 15 fantasy back.
Derrick Henry (RB – BAL)
Last year was another impressive year for Derrick Henry. He didn’t show any signs of slowing down with 307 rushing attempts, 1.595 rushing yards, 16 total touchdowns, and an RB8 finish in fantasy points per game. Last year, among 49 qualifying backs, Henry ranked 16th in yards after contact per attempt and seventh in explosive run rate (per Fantasy Points Data). Henry won’t contribute much in the passing game, but that’s a given at this point. It doesn’t crush his overall production, but it isn’t there to help add to his weekly floor. Henry had five games last year as RB25 or lower in weekly fantasy scoring. I still want to invest in Henry as an RB1 again in 2026. If Lamar Jackson can bounce back, Henry could inch back closer to his 2024 production (RB4 in fantasy points per game). He’s at worst a low-end RB1 with top-five upside.
Chase Brown (RB – CIN)
Last year, Chase Brown started slowly as the RB34 in fantasy points per game in Weeks 1-5. After that point, he was exactly who fantasy gamers thought they were drafting as the RB6 in fantasy points per game. In Weeks 6-18, among 48 qualifying backs, he ranked 17th in explosive run rate, fifth in yards after contact per attempt, and 16th in missed tackles forced per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). During that span, he averaged 18.2 touches and 100.1 total yards. Brown had to deal with Samaje Perine eating into his workload during Weeks 13-18, but it didn’t capsize his production. During that stretch, while he did play 60.5% of the snaps and 71.6% of the snaps in the red zone, he did have 17 red zone carries versus Perine’s 13. If Brown can capture more of the red zone work in 2026, his ceiling and floor will be raised considerably from a week-to-week and season-long perspective. Brown is a solid RB1 with top-five upside this season.
David Montgomery (RB – HOU)
David Montgomery now finds himself as the Texans’s do it all workhorse for 2026. Last year, he was phased out of the Lions’ offensive plans as the season moved along, which led to his RB32 finish in fantasy points per game. In Weeks 12-18, he was the RB43 in fantasy points per game with a 32.1% snap rate, 8.2 touches per game, and only 42.8 total yards per game. Montgomery still has the juice to produce as a workhorse this season. Last season, he ranked 30th in missed tackle rate, but he was 12th in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). His receiving chops are also still alive and well, as he was also 22nd in yards per route run and 12th in first downs per route run. Many will worry that Montgomery will split Houston’s backfield workload with Woody Marks this season, but I don’t see that happening. Montgomery should absorb a workload close to what Joe Mixon saw in 2024. In 2024, Mixon ranked fifth in opportunity share, 14th in snap share, and 13th in carries among running backs, finishing with 281 touches. Last season, Montgomery bested Marks in explosive run rate, missed tackle rate, rushing success rate, yards after contact per attempt, and yards per route run. Legit, every per-touch metric that I care about. Montgomery is the superior back, even at this stage of his career, and he’ll be a strong volume-driven RB2 that could flirt with RB1 production.
J.K. Dobbins (RB – LAC)
J.K. Dobbins returns to Denver this season as their early down hammer. It’s tough to count on him for a full season at this point, but while he’s out there, he should be a nice RB2/flex play this season. Last year, Dobbins did see his season cut short with a foot injury. In Weeks 1-10, he was the RB24 in fantasy points per game, averaging 16.4 touches and 80.6 total yards. The bulk of that work was in the rushing department as he averaged only 1.4 targets and 3.7 receiving yards per game. He had only four games in which he saw more than one target, and he never saw more than two targets in any game. Dobbins was on pace for 260 carries and 1,313 rushing yards before his injury, so his value on early downs is quite nice. Among 49 qualifying backs, he ranked third in explosive run rate and eighth in missed tackle rate (per Fantasy Points Data). Dobbins should return RB2/touchdown-dependent flex value this season.
View the Best Fantasy Football Team Names
Fantasy Football Draft Rankings
Check out the consensus 2026 fantasy football draft rankings from our experts.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio