Running backs. The big dogs. The league winners. The most fun players in fantasy football. And the heart of our dynasty fantasy football rankings. Due to the nature of the position, they have the highest upside but also the shortest shelf life. That makes them the currency of your dynasty fantasy football league. When you are competing, you buy them and, when it’s time to rebuild, you sell them.

That makes ranking running backs for our dynasty fantasy football rookie drafts a crucial process. Obviously, draft capital is going to end up being a major factor. And, more than any other position, landing spot matters because a four-year rookie contract is a long time for a running back. But, for now, our goal is to start getting familiar with these players and categorizing them so we can react properly to the draft.

Below you will find our initial thoughts, categorizations, and tiers. As you can see, there’s plenty of clarity with the RB1 Jeremiyah Love, but after him, it’s wide open. As the month goes on, we will continue to add names to the list and adjust our thoughts - this is just our initial assessment of the top names, but Pro Days aren’t even over yet as of the writing of this intro. But just think - one month from now, the 2026 NFL Draft will be here and the season upon us!

TierSchoolNamePosType40HeightWeight
1Notre DameJeremiyah LoveRB3 Down4.366-0212
Sometimes dynasty doesn't have to be hard. Jeremiyah Love is arguably the best player in this draft at any position - he just happens to play a position that isn't valued as highly by NFL teams. When running backs are drafted in the first 10-15 picks, however, the hit rate is astronomically high. Not only do virtually all of them hit but they almost always get a huge workload right away given the investment. Jeremiyah Love checks every box and, when the draft capital confirms that, he becomes an easy first overall pick in your leagues. For me, that currently includes your Superflex leagues. Now only is the production off the charts but the little things the coaches love as well. Per PFF, he did not allow a single sack on 128 pass block reps in college. On 495 touches he fumbled one time - and recovered it himself. He has nailed every question in every interview I have seen. This guy rules, it's as simple as that.
2WashingtonJonah ColemanRB3 DownNA5-8220
We are missing one key piece of the puzzle for Jonah Coleman - testing. He injured his ankle against Winsconsin which led to him not doing the testing drills at the combine or his pro day. Instead, he did some on field work at the Washington pro day simply to show that he was trending in the right direction. Because of that, we're going to have to lean on draft captial and landing spot more than usual here. Coleman put up three straight seasons of 1,110+ yards from scrimmage and punched in 17 TDs in his senior season along with 31 catches so we know he has a well-rounded profile. If NFL teams are in, so are we. Some of the other guys are skewing towards only pass downs or only run downs so we place a little more value on these type guys pre-draft.
2ArkansasMike WashingtonRB3 Down4.336-1223
This is a "dangerous" player going into the draft. He played five years in college and his production wasn't particularly special across three teams.He'll be 23 going into his rookie season so slightly older than we like to see. That's not typically the kind of guy we'd be pumped on. But then he shocked everyone a bit when he ran a blazing 4.33 40 yard dash at 223 pounds at the combine. That changes the equation a bit and could see an NFL team spring on the athleticism, hoping they can develop him at the next level. That would need to be done quickly as older backs can lose value in a hurry in our dynasty leagues if they don't pop right away. If a team takes him on Day Two, the size/speed/draft capital combo will be hard to ignore. If he falls to Day Three or beyond, it's easier to fade him.
3NebraskaEmmett JohnsonRBPass Down4.565-10202
After the more well-rounded guys, we need to pick and choose our traits. We often lean into pass-catching as backs that can catch can sometimes surprise us by getting bigger roles at the next level (see Bucky Irving) while guys who can't catch well don't usually turn that around (see, DeWayne McBride). Dexterity and hand-eye coordination can't easily be taught. If you want to be in the Emmett Johnson fan club going into the draft here, you really need to lean into that aspect of his game because he's not particularly big or fast. Neither was Kyren Williams, though, and Williams is a good example of someone with similar production in his final year where a wise NFL team just trusted his football IQ. Pass-catching is often a good indicator of that and both players caught 75+ passes over their final two college seasons. Worst case I think he can catch on and be a pass-down back like a Kenneth Gainwell or Justice Hill type if his pass blocking is up to snuff. He struggled with that as a sophomore allowing 9 pressures but, as a junior, he only allowed 2.
3Notre DameJadarian PriceRBEarly Down4.495-11203
You have to have some "blind faith" in Jadarian Price here. Not necessarily because we didn't see him play but because we didn't see him play in a feature role. An Achilles injury slowed his start then he ended up behind Jeremiyah Love, the best back in the nation. Did he not catch many passes because he's not good at it or did he not catch many passes because Love was there? Love was not only a great pass blocker but didn't allow a single sack in protection. We already know, statistically, that draft capital is one of the most important indicators of future success in fantasy football. When it comes to guys like this, it really becomes all that much more important because these teams all have boots on the ground getting an assesment of these guys that we simply don't have. From the outside looking in, we have a guy who is not particularly big or fast who flashed a little bit on tape. Without the draft capital, that's not really enough to be heavily invested.
3Penn StateNick SingletonRBPass DownNA6-0219
One of the biggest concerns with running back prospects for fantasy football is whether or not they can catch. Targets are simply too valuable in fantasy. But that isn't a question for Nick Singleton. He racked up over 100 catches at Penn State including a season with 41 catches for 375 yards and 5 touchdowns. He wasn't particularly elusive in terms of breaking tackles or ripping off big plays but part of that could have been a result of his role in a split with fellow prospect Kaytron Allen. Unfortunately, Singleton actually broke his foot at the Senior Bowl which led to him not testing at the combine or the Penn State pro day. So we don't have any workout metrics to go off here.
3Penn StateKaytron AllenRBEarly DownNA5-11216
With Kaytron Allen, you have to use your imagination a bit. And what you need to picture is a world, or at least a Penn State offense, without Nick Singleton. Both players overlapped there for their full four years with Allen playing the early down role and Singleton skewing towards pass work. Because of that, we really don't know how well Allen can catch the football, though he was productive on the ground. We'd like to think that a true star would have just taken over the entire job - especially in the modern NCAA where the option of either back transferring out for a bigger workload is much easier. All we know right now is that Allen is likely a worse pass-catcher than Singleton and that's concerning enough in any sort of PPR format.