Running back is the currency of dynasty fantasy football. They are the easiest assets to involve when you are looking to trade. That’s largely due to the massive upside and also the short shelf life. When you are competing to win, you need them. When you are rebuilding, the older backs on your team are the first thing that need to be sold.

So we’re not really going to harp too much on that part of things. If you are blowing up your team, selling guys like Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry are a no-brainer. For this exercise, we are going to assume you are trying to win your fantasy football league - as you should be any time you have a shot. So there aren’t going to be a lot of “sells” in our top 12. In the next series, we’ll highlight some later guys we are aggressively buying and quietly selling.

Top 12 Dynasty Fantasy Football Running Backs 2026

As a reminder, we have our full dynasty fantasy football rankings at every position recently updated for Fantasy Alarm members, if you’d like to see those. We are also providing these write-ups to give you a little bit of context on how we arrived there. Now let’s dive into the top 12 running backs!

 

 

 

Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons, 24 years old

To me, there are two clear top running backs at the time of this article. Bijan Robinson and Jahymyr Gibbs. Both players are “game script proof” in the sense that they are utilized heavily in both the run and pass game. If the team is winning, they get carries, and if the team is losing, they run a ton of routes. Bijan Robinson even runs meaningful, high aDot routes from a wide receiver spot, which is rare for a back. In a start-up draft, you can only choose one (in which case I choose Bijan), but for active dynasty leagues, I’d just try to get either if you can and be happy. 

  • Recommendation: Buy

Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions, 24 years old

The only concern for Jahmyr Gibbs was a split backfield with David Montgomery. But he’s since transcended that. Gibbs this year was essentially given every high-leverage situation, which included two-minute drill and goal-line. In fact, David Montgomery was essentially used like Tyler Allgeier. So we’re no longer really worried about a split with Montgomery or anyone else moving forward. Gibbs is as good a dynasty asset as they make them. 

  • Recommendation: Buy

De'Von Achane, Miami Dolphins, 24 years old

We were actually considering marking Achane as a sell here after Mike McDaniel was fired. Say what you will about him, the scheme he brought over for San Francisco is great for running backs. Not only does it utilize a fullback and blocking tight ends, but it also heavily moves guys around using pre-snap motion. That saw De’Von Achane run the most routes of any running back from a wide receiver spot.

So we were sad that McDaniel was out. But, lucky for us, the Dolphins just turned around and made Bobby Slowik the OC. Slowik ALSO comes from that Kyle Shanahan group - he successfully implemented the scheme with a fullback in Houston in 2023 before they forced him to change it in 2024. After he was fired by HOU, he jumped in as the pass game coordinator for Miami. Hiring him basically says the Dolphins like the scheme but needed a change of leadership. 

  • Recommendation: Hold

Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas Raiders, 22 years old

This is actually a tough buy. Because, in many cases, our leaguemates aren’t as dumb as we think. That’s why most of my advice revolves around paying the actual fair price rather than going crazy trying to “buy low”. Even casual gamers can likely realize that Jeanty is a good player who was just put into a bad situation.

That said, we do very much still believe in the talent for Jeanty. Had he been in a good situation and popped off, he would have been completely unobtainable. So the fact that you can even buy at face value is a good thing. It will probably still cost his price last year (something like the 1.01 or two firsts), but that’s not crazy. If you can get him for any less than that, like a first and a second, you should. 

  • Recommendation: Buy

 

 

 

Omarion Hampton, Los Angeles Chargers, 24 years old

It’s no secret that Greg Roman does not like throwing to the running back. Go look at Frank Gore’s stats for his four-year stint in San Francisco. That injury, and the threat of Najee Harris supressed the Omarion Hampton breakout. Not only is that gone now, but Mike McDaniel is in town.

The offense that McDaniel runs (which is the same one Kyle Shanahan runs in SF) is super friendly to both quarterbacks and wide receivers. Not only does it use a fullback and blocking tight ends, but it also uses a ton of motion that often gets the running back out in space. Christian McCaffrey and De’Vone Achane have routinely led the league in routes run from a WR spot. With Justin Herbert there, the offensive line presumably healthy, and this new scheme, it’s wheels up for Hampton. 

  • Recommendation: Buy

Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts, 27 years old

I don’t know what it is about Jonathan Taylor. But the dynasty sentiment never really matches the reality. Maybe briefly this year, when he was getting MVP chatter early on. But folks are often hesitant to put Taylor among the very, very top backs in football. That’s despite him being third among all active players in career yards from scrimmage at 107.9. He’s still 27 with a few great years left, and he still has an offensive line, anchored by the great Quentin Nelson. Anyone competing to win now should be happy to have him.

  • Recommendation: Buy

Breece Hall, New York Jets, 24 years old

Right now, Breece Hall is a buy for us. If he does what Garrett Wilson did and signs a long-term extension with the Jets, he will be a sell. But, at this moment, we can cling to the dream that he becomes the next Saquon Barkley, who escapes New York and has tremendous success elsewhere. Even on the lowly Jets, his 17 runs of 15+ yards were top five among running backs along with De’Von Achane, Derrick Henry, Kenneth Walker, and James Cook. We know he’s talented, and his situation can still change. 

  • Recommendation: Buy

Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers, 29 years old

Christian McCaffrey is the classic “hold/sell”. This guy has averaged over 115 yards from scrimmage per game for his whole career. He’s incredible. But he’ll also be 30 this year. If you are competing to win now, you can’t trade him to a competitor - that would be dumb. He just finished as the top player in fantasy football by over 40 points, and he caught 100 passes. So you hold. 

If you are blowing up your team and rebuilding, Christian McCaffrey is an obvious sell. He’s a 30-year-old RB, and you are likely at least a couple of years out. So the dynasty analysis doesn’t really need to be hard for CMC. If you are trading him, you need a 1st round pick back minimum, but I’d shoot for more.

  • Recommendation: Hold
     
 

 

Chase Brown, Cincinnati Bengals, 26 years old

One thing I always like to remind folks is that Todd Gurley, in his second year, averaged 3.2 yards per carry on 278 carries. So he had only 885 rushing yards. That offseason, they made a bunch of positive upgrades, which included adding star offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth. The following year, Gurley had 279 carries - only one more. But he ran for 1,305 yards on 4.7 yards per carry.

Chase Brown has already done pretty well for himself. Yes, Samaje Perine missed a big chunk of the year, so we can’t bank on Brown getting 88 targets again. But the Bengals obviously know they have a bottom-five offensive line and that something needs to be done about it. Whoever is the RB for Joe Burrow can fall backwards into touchdowns, so I’m buying Chase Brown and hoping that the Bengals do the right thing this offseason. 

  • Recommendation: Buy

James Cook, Buffalo Bills, 26 years old

You’re not going to find too many sells on a list of the top dynasty running backs. They’re on this list for a reason. But James Cook is another player that we consider a hold for competing teams, but could be in sell territory for others. If you play in standard, you can ignore this, but we really don’t love the lack of involvement in the pass game. 

Cook was only on the field for 296 pass plays this year, which was good for RB25. It was fewer than guys like Alvin Kamara and Kimani Vidal who weren’t even active for a chunk of the year. Guys with that kind of deployment truly need to be special in the run game, which we can stomach for someone like Derrick Henry. But James Cook just led the league in rushing yards and didn’t even finish top 5 in PPR, which has us considering selling high. 

  • Recommendation: Sell

Bucky Irving, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 23 years old

Sometimes you go to look in the fridge for something to eat and think to yourself, “Well, I have this, and it expires soon, so I might as well use it?” That’s the feeling I get regarding the Buccaneers' usage of Rachaad White. Bucky Irving showed up and was immediately more efficient than him running the football. But they had White on a rookie deal, so they decided to use him in the pass game, take some work off Irving’s shoulders. Why not?

Well, Rachaad White is now a free agent. And his recent comments make it sound like he won’t be back. Sean Tucker is a restricted free agent, so he should be easy to retain, but he’s an early-down bruiser. It’s easy to forget that Bucky Irving was actually the best pass-catching back coming out of his class in college - it was actually the RUSHING that was a surprise. He has a golden opportunity to become a full-time workhorse here for an offense that should be pretty good. 

  • Recommendation: Buy

Kyren Williams, Los Angeles Rams, 25 years old

If you drafted or added Kyren Williams in dynasty, you have already gotten your money’s worth by a large margin. You are now playing with house money. And the ultimate move with a guy like this is to cash out at the perfect time. 

Williams has never been particularly explosive. He’s actually fairly slow by running back standard - bottom 30th percentile per Player Profiler. And he’s not a big tackle breaker. He’s benefited from two things, really. Matthew Stafford playing at an elite level. And Sean McVay having the highest consolidation of RB snaps of any coach. We already saw that the second part started to break down with Blake Corum playing more this year. And Stafford isn’t getting any younger. Just think - you got this guy for virtually nothing, got some great seasons out of him, and can walk away right now with a first-round dynasty pick. That’s all profit.  

  • Recommendation: Sell