2026 Fantasy Football Sleepers: 5 Underrated Running Backs to Target (UPDATED)

I came into the weekend with a pretty solid idea of how I'd write this article on sleeper running backs. I had my shortlist ready to go, and it included a certain rookie in the Raiders backfield. And then Sunday happened. 

Ashton Jeanty goes down in practice and needs to be helped off. Teammates are holding a prayer circle. Drafters start losing their minds and go into crisis mode. Mike Washington starts going in the sixth round of best ball drafts. 

True best ball sickos will remember Sunday, Aug. 23, for a long time. 

So now Washington no longer qualifies as a sleeper, even if his ADP calms down following the reporting that Jeanty's injury is merely a sprained ankle. 

RB Fantasy Football Sleepers

Let's look at running backs who are undervalued relative to their ADP, including some true, by-the-book sleepers.

Travis Etienne, Saints - ADP: 43.9, RB18

I know, a fourth-rounder isn't a "sleeper" by the strict definition. Undervalued, though? Absolutely. 

Travis Etienne is a player who, in my estimation, hasn't hit his ceiling yet in the NFL. And that's saying something considering he's hit the 1,000-yard mark in three of his four seasons. At his best, he's a big-play threat who can also take on a surprising amount of volume (200-plus carries in three out of four years). And he's usually competent on passing-down work. 

Now he goes home to Louisiana to play for a Saints offense that might have some juice. Unlike last year, where the market could not make up its mind on how the Jags' backfield would shake out, it's unambiguous who the guy in the Saints backfield is. It was always going to be the Etienne show, but Alvin Kamara's knee injury only strengthens that notion. 

It feels like Etienne still gets lost in the shuffle when it comes to that specific tier of running backs. Javonte Williams and Cam Skattebo have a lot of buzz for different reasons, but the Etienne hype seems pretty muted for where he's going.

Etienne profiles as an upper-echelon RB2 who can be had as an RB3 if you go heavy at the position to start your draft. I am a big fan of those types of builds. 

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Jordan Mason, Vikings - ADP: 123.1, RB40

I'm running the risk of jinxing myself, as Jordan Mason has been one of my most-drafted players in best ball this summer. The case is pretty straightforward:

• Minnesota's offense should be markedly better this year
• Aaron Jones might be hitting the cliff, especially as a runner
• There isn't a third option in this backfield
• Mason is underrated

Mason has been one of the most efficient runners in the league the last two years, as the table below will tell you. 

Now, Mason's sample is significantly smaller than most of the other players on this list, so it's not quite as solidified. I'm not trying to say Mason is better than Jonathan Taylor or anything like that. What I am saying is that when Jordan Mason gets the ball, good things happen. And he should get the ball a lot more this year, and in more favorable setups. 

Minnesota ranked 23rd in the league in plays run with a lead in the second half last year. That's a bad setup for an early down back like Mason. And when he was on the field, teams could sell out against the run with impunity because the passing game was so non-existent.

The market is higher on the Vikings this year. That means more favorable setups and more situations where running the ball makes sense. They're favored in nine games as of this writing. Things should be easier for Mason this year, and he has the talent to make the most of it.

The best ball market has been buying in on Mason as summer has progressed. Home league sites are still catching up, as Mason's ADP lags well behind where it is on Underdog or DraftKings, as you can see in our ADP tracker. 

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Tyler Allgeier, Cardinals - ADP: 148.5, RB 45

Sometimes, your roster needs a guy like this. Are you pounding your chest after you hit "Select Player" on Tyler Allgeier? Probably not. But will you be happy you took him where you did? Almost certainly.

I've written extensively this offseason about how Arizona has been tipping off a more run-heavy approach after last year's Arena League-style of offense netted it the third overall pick in the draft. The team spent some real coin on Allgeier in free agency and then took Jeremiyah Love (ankle) with the aforementioned third overall pick. 

I like Allgeier in this range, and it's not just because Love is dealing with a high-ankle sprain that could cost him some time early in the season. I like Allgeier because all he's ever been in the league is a solid bench back. He does the dirty work, grinds out tough yards and finds his way into the end zone. I never felt as though Love was going to have a monopoly on this backfield. Allgeier was always going to be in the mix in some capacity. 

He can take on volume when called upon, which he very well may be in the early part of the season. That puts him on the flex radar in redraft for at least a little while, which is pretty solid value from your 13th-round pick. Allgeier has best-ball appeal as well thanks to his short-yardage ability and touchdown upside. If he punches in 5-6 touchdowns this year and hits your lineup a few times, you'll have had a solid return on your investment. 

Allgeier may not win you your league, but there will be at least a few instances this year when you're glad you had him. 

Check out our Fantasy Football ADP Report for a comprehensive tool with live-updated ADP data for multiple league formats and sites.

UPDATE: Blake Corum, Rams - ADP 106, RB 35

I've written a lot about the Rams this summer, and specifically how their backfield could be a huge boom for fantasy this year. The TL; DR is that the improvements on defense and general super-team vibes signal that the Rams are going to be playing with a lead a lot this season and leaning on the ground game. You can read the full case in my article on leveraging team over-unders for fantasy. 

Corum, therefore, is very much on my radar. You may think he qualifies more as a handcuff; I'd argue Corum has real standalone value on top of massive contingent upside. Corum started to turn the corner around midseason last year and averaged 5.1 YPC on 10.5 Carries Per Game from Week 7 onward. He added five rushing touchdowns in that span.

There are going to be so many spots this year where the Rams are favored by a touchdown or more that Corum will be on the FLEX radar even if he's technically working behind Kyren Williams.

The way I see it, the Rams are going to be a top-3 scoring offense this year with a lot of game scripts that skew towards the ground game. If I'm not getting Kyren Williams in the third round, I'm trying to leave my draft with Corum in the eighth. 

UPDATE: Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Commanders - ADP: 118.1, RB39

I'm a little surprised at the lack of buzz on JCM coming into this year after being the biggest riser of draft season last year and actually panning out pretty well. Churning out 805 yards (4.6 YPC) and eight touchdowns as a seventh-round rookie is nothing to sneeze at.

The market has had a hard time figuring out where it stands on the Washington backfield generally. White was being drafted a round and a half ahead of JCM this spring, then things shifted after the draft. Summer boredom led to a ~10-pick slide for JCM in June to put him back behind White, then training camp fueled a market correction to what we're seeing now. 

I'm not saying JCM checks all the boxes, though I do think he's clearly the best running back in an offense that should bounce back this year. He hasn't shown much in the way of pass-catching chops, and that's a part of the offense that will likely be White's bread and butter anyway. Croskey-Merritt dominating the carries and pushing for 200 carries would lay the foundation for him to return really nice value for his ADP. 

I view Croskey-Merritt as a build-dependent option. If I'm light on running back and only have two as I get into this part of the draft, JCM is on my short list every time. I view him as a high-floor, low-ceiling type of option. The reports of him being more involved in the passing game feel more like training camp fud than actionable intel. However, I do believe he is the best pure runner on this team.

Chris Rodriguez, Jaguars - ADP: 147.2, RB43

Who would've thought six months ago that Bhayshul Tuten and Chris Rodriguez would comprise one of the more polarizing backfields in all of fantasy football this year? 

Whereas Tuten is a back you really have to put some skin in the game to draft with an ADP in the early fifth, Rodriguez is there for the taking in the 11th as a solid bench option. A full breakdown on Tuten and the Jaguars backfield is probably worthy of its own article, but the bear case for Tuten is that he ends up in a similar rut that the Bucky Irving skeptics anticipate: Useful between the 20s, but doesn't get the money touches down near the goal line.

Rodriguez was signed this offseason to a two-year, $10M deal with the Jaguars and adds a power element to the backfield that Tuten mostly lacks. He's particularly adept in staying on his feet and picking up yards after contact, as evidenced by his 3.3 YAC/ATT average last year that ranked eighth among runners with at least 100 carries.

There's also reason to be in on this Jaguars offense generally. This should be a team that ranks in the top 10 or top 12 in scoring, given its talent and strong offensive system. Feeling out the range of outcomes, Rodriguez should give us a useful final stat line somewhere in the ballpark of 150-170 carries for 750 yards and 6-8 touchdowns. How that production gets distributed will tell the tale of his best ball utility. Redraft managers will have the benefit of tracking the workload split and finding the right spots to deploy him in their lineup.

Either way, Rodriguez has a stronger workload than many of the running backs going in his range. If I'm shopping for running back there, I'm taking Rodriguez over Aaron Jones or Tyrone Tracy every time. 

Dylan Sampson, Browns - ADP: 173.9, RB49

I'm putting on my PPR hat for this one. I'm pretty much out on him in 0.5 PPR formats, but I'm almost always targeting Dylan Sampson as my last running back pick when we can get rewarded for those cheap dumpoffs. 

Sampson's accomplishments as a pass-catcher flew under the radar last year, probably because he plays for the Browns. Among running backs with at least 125 routes, Sampson had some really impressive marks. He had a 28.2 TPRR% and averaged 1.91 YPRR. Those aren't sustainable for him if the route count jumps into the 250s, as I expect. That's fine, though. You don't post those figures if you're bad in the passing game.

Cleveland is a low aDOT offense. There are a lot of checkdowns coming from either Deshaun Watson (sigh) or Shedeur Sanders. The Browns ranked 28th in average depth of throw last season, and while that should change a bit with better receivers and Todd Monken calling the shots, the QBs are a limiting factor here.

Taking it a step further, there's some contingent upside for Sampson as well. I have been fine drafting Quinshon Judkins at cost all offseason. That said, he is coming off a brutal injury that occurred very late in the season. If he's slow out of the gate or has any sort of setback, the starting role is there for the taking for Sampson. Don't let Sampson's rushing numbers from last year fool you; he's far better than the 2.7 YPC he produced as a rookie.

I see Sampson as a last-stop saloon in PPR formats who might churn out 50-plus catches and add a dash of rushing production to help you out of a tight spot a few times this year.

Quick Hitters: Deep RB Sleepers

Here's a handful of players to keep on your radar for waivers in redraft or in the final rounds of your best ball drafts.

• Sean Tucker, Buccaneers: Did I go a little overboard with my Tucker shares this spring? Probably. Should you end up with zero Tucker across your leagues? Probably not. I see very little Tucker chatter, and yet he gets drafted almost 100 percent of the time. Few backs in this range have the one-week upside that Tucker does. It's not ideal that it'll take injuries to at least one of Bucky Irving or Kenny Gainwell for Tucker to get a fantasy-viable workload. History has shown that when Tampa features him, Tucker can absolutely smash. 
• Demond Claiborne, Vikings: He very well could be a zero. However, no other running back in the Vikes' backfield has juice remotely close to Claiborne's 4.37 speed. I know I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth with what I said about Mason earlier. I just think there's a slight chance that Claiborne gets some opportunities to show that big-play ability this season. It's a profile similar to rookie-year Keaton Mitchell, where you're betting on a couple weeks with those splashes.
• Emmett Johnson, Chiefs: Contingent upside play for the most part. However, Johnson is seemingly locked in as the second man up in this backfield and may have some standalone value if Kenneth Walker isn't ready for the 300-plus carries that his biggest backers seem to be projecting. 
• Roman Hemby, Raiders: Hear me out: Mike Washington in the Ashton Jeanty role and Roman Hemby in the Mike Washington role. All right, we've probably covered enough ground here. 

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