It’s NFL Draft week! Analyst Joel Smyth breaks down the 2026 RB class for fantasy football. With several teams looking for hope this offseason, who are the college running backs that can provide fantasy value for your teams?​More Positional Draft PreviewsQuarterbackRunning BackWide ReceiverTight EndJeremiyah Love, Notre DameMeasurables: 6'0", 212 lbsProjected Draft Pick: Top-10 SelectionThe NFL RB class in 2026 is virtually Jeremiyah Love, and then everyone else.

After 40 touchdowns over the last two seasons and a third-place finish in Heisman voting, the Notre Dame star is projected to be a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft. It’s rare company as a running back, as only six others have been selected inside the top-10 over the last 10 years.He is clearly a talented RB, but maybe the most important part of his fantasy value comes in the receiving game. If he wanted to play receiver, he could.

His innate ability to make plays in the passing game sets him apart from other first-round RB talents. Jahmyr Gibbs, Christian McCaffrey, and Bijan Robinson were the top-three fantasy RBs last season in PPR leagues. Guess who were also the top-three in receiving fantasy points?

De’Von Achane was close behind, and even Jonathan Taylor ranked 14th in points through the air.Here's a look at avoided tackle rate and YPRR compared to 2025. The skill earns the draft capital, and top-level draft capital usually equals long-term opportunity as a bellcow. And most of the time, it works right away.

The last eight RBs drafted top-12 averaged 17.3 PPR fantasy points per game in their rookie season, with the two lowest being Robinson and Ashton Jeanty, who, although they produced and looked the part, were held back by their team. Over the last decade, nearly half of Round 1 RBs have turned into immediate fantasy RB1s, with only a few failing to be at least an RB2. When you combine talent and volume potential, the product tends to pan out.Even though we’ve seen players like Robinson and Jeanty struggle early because of other factors, it doesn’t always mean that “poor” landing spots equals poor rookie seasons.

Saquon Barkley’s overall RB1 season on the 2018 Giants, Leonard Fournette in Jacksonville, Breece Hall on the Jets, and many more show the elite of the elite can overcome most faults. Tennessee and other landing spots may be flawed, but they are nowhere near the only factor in play for Love’s Year 1 success.The two main factors to keep an eye out for are true competition and pass blocking (primarily signs via coachspeak in the preseason). Love will be selected in August drafts to be a fantasy RB1, meaning he would most likely need bellcow volume for the majority of the season.

For Jeanty, this wasn’t an issue, but when Rhamondre Stevenson or J.K. Dobbins are playing efficient football, 50% of the touches becomes a problem. At that point, you’d have to get Gibbs’ level of receiving, which brings me to my next area.

Pass blocking is one of the major growth areas for young backs. It doesn’t score any fantasy points, but it does keep them on the field in valuable passing situations. Love’s PFF pass blocking grade last season at Notre Dame was an underwhelming 55.5.

With the bottom-three NFL RBs in pass blocking grade from 2025 being rookies, it’s something to monitor. Overall, when it comes to fantasy, I see Love as a worthwhile ceiling pick. Recency bias hurts the perception of top rookies after Jeanty and Robinson failed to live up to expectations.

If Love drops in drafts out of fear, I like the hope of him paying due with a rookie season more similar to Gibbs and the RBs from a few years back, such as 2022 Hall (pre ACL), 2021 Najee Harris and the dominance of rookies from 2016-2018. ​Jadarian Price, Notre DameMeasurables: 5’11”, 203 lbsProjected Draft Pick: Early Round 2Right behind Love at Notre Dame and in the consensus rankings is Jadarian Price. He is the main reason Love doesn’t have much tread on the tires through college and will have even less after only 295 touches. For comparison, Jeanty finished college last season with 830, and CMC had 413 NFL touches in 2025 alone.Being second to Love isn’t much of a negative.

We saw just last season Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson be selected inside the top-four RBs after playing in the same college backfield and both flashed in their rookie seasons. Price should be selected around the same range as the OSU pair from last season, with Seattle at 32 becoming a popular mock-draft spot. Dating back to 2015, 43% of Round 2 RBs have averaged 12+ PPG as rookies, or right inside the RB2 range.I see Price as similar to Blake Corum in fantasy.

The Rams’ running back was a Day 2 selection out of Michigan, known for his short-yardage ability rather than his receiving, but was much smaller than your average power back. Price was the Irish’s goal-line back in college, even though he weighs in right around 200 lbs. I’d expect him to slide into a similar committee role that has upside if injuri