Justin Boone is a two-time winner of the FantasyPros Most Accurate Expert Award (2019, 2025) and has nine top-10 finishes in the competition.
Below you can see a very early look at his fantasy rankings for the 2026 season. More expanded rankings, including PPR scoring and rookies, will be available in future updates.
2026 Fantasy Rankings
Takeaways from the early running back rankings
Be prepared for last year’s rookie class to wreak havoc on the fantasy landscape in 2026. Ashton Jeanty finished with 1,321 scrimmage yards and 10 total touchdowns in his first season, despite dealing with a weak supporting cast, an injured Brock Bowers and a coordinator change midseason. If Jeanty was the RB17 in fppg in that environment, I can’t wait to see what he’ll do when his situation improves — and that’s already in the works, with Klint Kubiak verbally confirming he was taking the Raiders’ head-coaching job. Omarion Hampton should also have a much better scenario next year, with Mike McDaniel taking over playcalling duties for the Chargers. McDaniel, who’s a disciple of the Shanahan system, has always produced strong rushing attacks. As long as the Chargers can avoid another injury apocalypse on their offensive line, Hampton will have a chance to push for RB1 fantasy numbers after averaging RB16 results as a rookie.
Bijan Robinson is holding down the top spot in my running back rankings, but Jahmyr Gibbs isn’t far behind. Both players are young, supremely talented and excellent pass-catchers, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that they are the only ball carriers to finish as top-four fantasy RBs in each of the past two seasons. We also might be on the verge of their biggest campaigns yet in 2026, with Robinson possibly taking on even more work if Tyler Allgeier leaves in free agency and Gibbs continuing to be featured in Detroit as David Montgomery gets older.
Christian McCaffrey outperformed all expectations in 2025 by staying healthy and finishing as the highest-scoring fantasy back with 2,126 scrimmage yards and 17 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Derrick Henry continued to defy the age curve by racking up 1,745 yards and 16 scores en route to being the RB7 in fantasy points per game. However, projecting their fantasy value moving forward gets a little tricky. Henry just turned 32 years old at the beginning of January and McCaffrey will be 30 before next season kicks off. Though Henry remained productive, his limited role in the passing game means any decline in his rushing stats will have a major impact on his fantasy outlook. The risk of a dropoff is high and moves him into the fantasy RB2 range. For CMC, his 413 touches are a lot for any back, but especially one at his advanced age. It will be nearly impossible for him to match this year’s production and with a potential decline looming, McCaffrey will be an extremely dangerous first-round pick that I’ll be avoiding.