Fantasy Football 2026 Running Back Sleepers and RBs to Avoid

The running back position can make or break a fantasy season.

An undervalued one can return a weekly profit of consistent, high-end production. An overvalued one, meanwhile, can lead to a campagin-full of regret.

As with anything fantasy-related—or NFL-related—it all comes down to costs. There really aren't any fantasy-relevant players who should be avoided at any price, and there are only a couple (at most) who are worth a blank-check investment.

To help squeeze the most out of your draft-day budget, let's spotlight a couple of sleeper bargains and a couple of risky players who should be avoided at anything near their typical draft costs.

Sleeper: Blake Corum, Los Angeles Rams

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What do you want from a fantasy sleeper? Some will argue for a shot at consistent volume. Others will seek out the kind of skills that can deliver statistical spikes high enough to change the outcome of a weekly matchup.

No matter where you land, Blake Corum might have you covered. In 2025, he averaged double-digit carries over the final 11 games, and his 5.1 yards per carry tied for sixth among players with at least 100 rushing attempts.

He keeps making the most of his opportunities, which opens the door for L.A. to continue increasing his role. If he can work his way into, say, something like a 40-60 split with starter Kyren Williams, Corum could be hugely valuable at his average draft position of 35th among running backs in standard scoring leagues, per FantasyPros.

Avoid: Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

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In 2025, Christian McCaffrey paced the entire league in PPR fantasy scoring. Remember, though, you aren't drafting McCaffrey for what he did last season but rather for what he projects to do this time around.

And when viewed through that lens, he sets off a see of flashing cautionary lights. He is 30 years old, coming off an incredibly burdensome workload (career-high 413 touches) and has a lengthy injury history. In other words, he fills out the unfortunate Bingo card of reasons to worry about a running back.

Last season was his third career venture past the 330-touch mark. This is how the previous two were followed: 722 scrimmage yards in seven games combined. Running backs just can't support this kind of usage year over year, giving McCaffrey true season-spoiling potential at his ADP of fourth overall.

Sleeper: Kenny Gainwell, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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The 2025 season served as a true launching point for Kenny Gainwell, who turned his career-high 187 touches into career-highs of 1,023 scrimmage yards and eight touchdowns. Perhaps more impressively, he did all of this while generating a career-high 5.5 yards per touch.

That's a lot of career-highs, right? Well, he just might be poised for even more following his move to Tampa Bay on a two-year, $14 million deal.

Gainwell is a talented pass-catcher out of the backfield, and the Buccaneers have of a ton of pass-catching chances created by the offseason departures of Mike Evans and Rachaad White, who saw a combined 107 targets last season (despite Evans missing nine games). Gainwell's upside is significantly higher than his ADP of 35th among running backs in PPR leagues would indicate.

Avoid: Bucky Irving, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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Bucky Irving's first NFL season was a real eye-opener. His follow-up effort was closer to an eyesore.

Granted, missing nearly two months with a shoulder injury surely didn't help. It also probably isn't the only reason he managed just one rushing touchdown in 10 games and averaged nearly two fewer yards per touch than he did as a rookie (4.3, down from 6.0).

If he isn't much more efficient as a ball-carrier (3.4 yards per carry last season), it's hard to see how he'll return value at his ADP of 20th at the position in PPR leagues. Especially when the aforementioned arrival of Kenny Gainwell threatens to torpedo Irving's work on passing downs.