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I've completed over 100 fantasy football drafts in live streams this year, and here are the running backs I can't stop taking. Right, I'm going to give you my seven most drafted guys. I'll be honest, there's one guy that I regret already on this list after doing the research for the video.
So, first name going to be Rashad White. I'm going to keep this stupid simple, right? I'm not going to come here and tell you Rashad White's going to be some league-winning running back, but I do think he can return value as a receiving back plus in Washington. Let's just start it off with the cost. Right now, you are seeing Rashad White have an ADP in these drafts that pick 124, right? So you're seeing him go off the board in the 11th round. You're getting him as your running back four on a lot of these teams. And I think Rashad White, even with a healthy Ja'Khias Merritt, can be a fine pick in this range and he can return value because Rashad White does something that Ja'Khias Merritt doesn't, and that is going to be catching the football. We've seen through Rashad White's entire NFL career that he's been a capable receiving back. Obviously, this past season that utilization went down in Tampa. You have Bucky Irving emerging over the past two years being a great receiving back in his own right. But you go back and look at Rashad White in his second NFL season, just three years ago in 2023, he averaged over four targets per game. He averaged over seven and a half yards per target, and that led to him, um, with 32 receiving yards per game, um, finishing as the RB10 in points per game and demonstrating that he has the ceiling to be a three-down running back with the receiving role.
I don't think that's going to be the case in Washington, though. The big red flag that you have for Rashad White is while the depth chart is nothing, they really didn't pay him a ton of money. Like, he honestly got signed to a very cheap deal to the Commanders, which doesn't indicate that an NFL team viewed him as the true starter of their backfield. But if we go over and look at the Ja'Khias Merritt profile on the flip side and we compare their respective rookie seasons, Ja'Khias Merritt was a better rusher, to be honest. I mean, higher yards per carry, trusted more at the goal line, more rushing attempts per game. But even with Ja'Khias Merritt really having no competition last year after Ekeler went down, he still only averaged four receiving yards per game, which ranked 77th among running backs in the NFL this past season. So Ja'Khias Merritt not a receiving back. He's probably going to be the first and second down name where Rashad White's going to be the receiving back in this offense. I think he can return value at that cost where he's going in drafts right now. But you have the hidden upside that one, if Ja'Khias Merritt, who hasn't proven anything, turns out to be very bad and can't be trusted, then Rashad White could be a running back one in fantasy, or obviously if Ja'Khias Merritt were to go down. But White's going to have a role regardless.
Now, moving over to our next back. This is the name that honestly I regret here just a bit. I have drafted Trevion Henderson in 13 of my drafts at an average cost of 48.12, and he has a current ADP of 48.8. So I've been taking him right where he goes in these drafts, honestly, pretty often. Here's my thought process, right? I'm looking at Stevenson and going, while I understand he projects to have a role this next year, just seeing that he only goes two rounds after Trevion in these drafts, you can tell most fantasy drafters believe Rhamondre Stevenson's going to be sticking around. But I always think upside, upside, upside. And if we look at the upside for Trevion Henderson in his rookie season, he had three games with 20 or more fantasy points. Whereas Rhamondre Stevenson, going year five, year six of his NFL career, is going into his age 28 season. And Rhamondre Stevenson has had one game in his entire NFL career with 28 or more points. So, I loved the Trevion Henderson prospect profile coming into the NFL. I love the flashes that we had. Hell, if you go through and look at the first half of his rookie season versus the second half of his rookie year, he jumped from 6.6 fantasy points per game up to 17.1. So, I'm looking at the upside. I'm looking at the fact that this was a phenomenal offense last season and thinking, "Oh, okay. Even if Rhamondre Stevenson's still around, still a thorn in the side. He was clearly the running back the Patriots trusted in the NFL playoffs this past year. Trevion can still return value because this offense is so good."
But the trusted sports books are telling me I maybe shouldn't think that. Because if we go over and look at the implied team total for the New England Patriots and what sports books are putting out for their season this year, and I'm assuming this has to do with the fact that they have a much tougher schedule this year than they did last. Last season, they averaged almost 29 points per game at 28.8. This year, their projection is 22.9. The New England Patriots project to regress more than any other offense in the NFL this season, which is very scary. And if the Patriots are just an average offense, this cost of Trevion's going to be a lot harder to justify if he does end up being a committee back. So, I may have to cool it here just a bit. But, I mean, hell, if you go back and look at where Trevion even went in the Flock League draft last year, he was going at the three-four turn, and now we're getting a discount after the Patriots exploded.
Now, side note, I want to make sure y'all saw this announcement. We are hosting fan league auditions for the Flock League this year yet again. And the Flock League this year is going to have a $140,000 prize pool with $100,000 to first place. Get your clips in, win that spot, and join the Flock League with us this next season. Now, that $140,000 prize pool is actually brought to you by the 2026 Flockfantasy.com season pass. I know everybody requested that we brought it back, and that's exactly what we are doing. Again, this season for only $34, you are able to get all the draft guides on Flockfantasy.com, all the draft sheets, and we are going to have real draft assistance for you to be able to use in your fantasy draft this year to make sure that you can beat your leaguemates. Not only is it by far and away the best product in fantasy football, but it is also at the lowest cost. Flockfantasy.com. Use code flock when you sign up, and I'm also going to be answering your fantasy football questions for free. Links in the description. It's in the comment section. Flockfantasy.com.
Now, let's move this over to our next back, and this is going to be Kyren Williams. Now, the quote that we had very early May that people are going out and they are running with is going to be Blake Corum is splitting the backfield with Kyren Williams 50/50 this season. Now, don't get me wrong, Blake Corum has expanded his role here in Los Angeles. If we look at Kyren Williams, he went from being the definition of the league's only bell cow in 2024 with 88% of the snaps for the Los Angeles Rams on a per-game perspective, and that fell down to 70%. Which obviously we want to sit here and we want to cry and go, "Oh my gosh, he only had 70% of the snaps for the Rams this past season." Well, let's go through and let's see how many running backs had more than that this past year. You had Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey, obviously we're rocking the McCaffrey jersey. Saquon Barkley, Bijan Robinson, Gibbs, David Montgomery. Where do these running backs go in drafts this year? Taylor's round one, McCaffrey's round one, Barkley top of round two, Bijan round one, Gibbs round one, David Montgomery, who we'll talk about in a minute, is at the top of round two. Kyren Williams I am drafting in a lot of these drafts in the fourth round. People are that worried about Kyren Williams.
And going back to what we have with the projections for NFL offenses this season. Well, of course, it's very difficult to assume the Rams are going to score as many points this year as they did last year, where last year they scored 30 and a half points per game. They still project to be the number one scoring offense in the league this season. So, we're looking at a running back that has had Blake Corum in his backfield over the past two seasons, has been a top 10 running back in the NFL with his utilization, is the starter in the best offense in the league. And if we use the range of outcomes tool on Flockfantasy.com to look at Kyren Williams' age 25 season and compare it historically, Frank Gore was a very, very similar comparison. If you look at their PPR, points per game, rushing attempts per game, receptions, rushing yards, receiving yards. And what did he do? Oh, he got better the next year at age 26. Went from 16.8 points per game up to almost 20. James Cook, very, very similar. Joe Mixon, very similar. Mark Ingram, Marshawn Lynch, Latavius Murray, Lamar Miller, Chuba Hubbard, and Javonte Williams. The only running back to post a similar age 25 season of what Kyren just did to completely fall off the map was Chuba Hubbard. So, I'm a believer in Kyren. I'm going to be buying the dip on the quote that we got in early May where people are worried about his usage, trusting the data that we've seen over the past two years. And again, if you look at my average selection of Kyren Williams, it's been at pick 36.9, which is the first pick in the fourth round.
Now, if y'all are syncing your Underdog drafts with the best page on Flockfantasy.com, you can see a section of your most drafted teams, and I hate to admit it, but my most drafted team right now is going to be the Tennessee Titans. And one of my most drafted running backs is their starting running back with Tony Pollard. Tony Pollard was horrible last year. Hell, I had this dude in the Flock League and I kept on starting him at the beginning of the season because he was consistently seeing 20+ opportunities and he was consistently scoring nine fantasy points. It was horrendous. He finished the year with only 10.9 fantasy points per game being the RB30 despite averaging almost 17 opportunities per game, and the year prior despite him averaging almost 20 opportunities per game. So Tony Pollard's quietly been a workhorse running back over the past two seasons. But frankly, it hasn't mattered because the Tennessee Titans have been the worst team, or at least one of the worst teams in the NFL. Obviously, two years ago, they were bad enough to get the number one pick and get Caleb Williams, and then this year they weren't much better. But we have to look at the personnel changes the Tennessee Titans have made this offseason. The Tennessee Titans significantly invested into the offensive side of the ball. They completely replaced the coaching staff where now we actually have competent coaching. And if you look at how sports books are projecting this out for this next season, they're projecting the Tennessee Titans to get much better. You actually had them only averaging 16.7 points per game in 2025. Now you see a jump up to that 2026 projection of 20.34. That means they are projected to score about three and a half points per game more this season than they did last. The only offenses that project to see a larger jump than the Titans this year are the Las Vegas Raiders, who obviously also replaced their coaching staff and got a new QB. So, I'm expecting the Titans to get a lot better, and Tony Pollard's had that three-down workload. He actually looked better at the end of the season than he did early in the year.
Now, if we are looking at the situation with the depth chart, I'm drafting a decent amount of Tyjae Spears as well, just because both of the running backs are so damn cheap. The rookie they drafted this year was a day three pick that broke his foot this offseason, so he's not really going to be doing anything until later in the year anyway. So, I mean, if you're drafting Pollard in your regular redraft league, he comes out and he's like a mid-R2, you could potentially look to sell him even if you didn't believe him. I've drafted him at an average cost of pick 83.5. His ADP has risen a bit now where it's a little bit tougher to get him at that cost, where his current ADP is actually at 77.5.
Now, I'm not proud to admit this, but I have drafted a lot of De'Von Achane. I completely understand how bad the Miami Dolphins offense was last year, and the fact is it projects to be even worse this season. The only offense that projects to be worse than the Miami Dolphins this year is the Cleveland Browns. And I'm not going to come out here and scream at you that you need to take Quinshon Judkins in round five like Nathan. Now, if we are looking at the actual difference in the projections from the offense last year to this year, last year they averaged about 20 and a half points per game. This season they project to score about 18.9. So, they are projected to get worse by about a point and a half. But I do want to put into context where De'Von Achane is going in these fantasy drafts because with De'Von Achane, he has been the RB5, the RB6, and the RB5 over the past three years in points per game. If we're going to go through and look at what we've actually seen from his exact output in comparison to the other top running backs with Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs through the past three years of their NFL careers, De'Von Achane has averaged 18.5 fantasy points per game. Bijan Robinson's at 18.8. Jahmyr Gibbs is at 19.8. So these running backs are almost identical. Gibbs and Bijan are going to be going at picks one and two in every single draft, and De'Von Achane is going as the running back eight in fantasy drafts at the top of the second round. So, I have been okay acknowledging, yes, the Miami Dolphins offense projects to be much worse. I think it's probably a worse coaching staff. I think at the same time, the quarterback play isn't conducive to a ton of running back points just because Tua Tagovailoa isn't going to check the ball down a ton. So, when we look at Achane in his NFL career where he's averaging about, um, 29 receiving yards per game, I would expect that's probably going to be the number one thing that declines. But Achane's being priced in a range in which he can get worse from last season to this year, and the Dolphins can be a bottom five offense, and Achane can still return value as a second-round pick based off volume. He's the only weapon here. This team goes ahead, they give him the contract extension. And if we look at the range of guys in which he's being drafted around, he's getting drafted behind Saquon Barkley. Like, I actually just took Achane in a $500 draft after Saquon. And Saquon Barkley is coming off a season with 14 and a half fantasy points per game, and Barkley is 29 years old, with Achane stepping into his prime at 24. So I understand the concerns with Achane, but I think in round four it's okay to take him.
Now, our next running back also has pretty big concerns, and I need to honestly look at this through the same lens, maybe as Trevion, and that maybe I shouldn't draft this much R.J. Harvey because as of right now, I have taken R.J. Harvey in 16 drafts. I have taken him at an average pick of 88, and he has a current ADP of 84.5. Now, if we are mapping this out with R.J. Harvey, I do want to look at the first half of his rookie year in comparison to the second half of his rookie season. The first half of his rookie year, he was averaging 7.9 fantasy points per game. And then in the second half, weeks 8 through 18, he jumped up to 15.1 fantasy points per game. And he was actually the RB14 in fantasy during this time period. So I looked at a running back that broke out in the second half of his rookie season where he finished as the RB14, and now you're getting to draft him as the RB31 in fantasy drafts. I go, you know what? Yeah, where he's priced in to get much worse than he was last year, I'm fine buying him because J.K. Dobbins has never shown the ability to stay healthy. And they drafted Jonah Coleman, who I know some people are excited about. Some people think he's not great. But ultimately, it's a day three draft pick where you very easily could see this team viewing Jonah Coleman as the long-term replacement for Dobbins. And they really just want this to be a two-man running back by committee. The last thing before we get to the red flag here is looking at just his rookie season and comparing it to guys historically. His rookie year compares to De'Anthony Melton, Rashad White, Marlon Mack, Tarik Cohen, James Cook, Chase Brown, Tyjae Spears, Michael Carter, and Jamaal Williams. And if we look at Cook, Cohen, Mack, White, Melton, we had one, two, three, four, five of his nine closest comps almost doubling in points per game year-over-year. Like, every single one of those guys actually averaged 13 or more fantasy points per game, which if Harvey were to do that when you draft him as your RB3, RB4, that's a very good investment.
Now, the thing that's scaring me a bit is the Denver Broncos actually project to be a below-average offense in the league this year. This was something that kind of surprised me. I was just thinking in my mind that the Denver Broncos are to be a pretty damn good team. They go out there, trade for Jerry Jeudy. They have one of the best offensive lines in the league. But yeah, you actually have this team projecting to score fewer points this year than they did last at 22 and a half points per game in comparison to last season where they scored about 23 and a half. So, um, R.J. Harvey, I've been drafting like crazy, and I'll continue to take him in the range if he falls past ADP, but I don't know if I can say is like the best value in drafts.
Now, moving over to De'Andre Swift. I have drafted De'Andre Swift in 16 fantasy drafts with an average pick of 55.5. So Swift I'm taking in the middle of round five. He has risen in ADP since then, where now he's like an early round five pick. So it's a little bit tougher to get him than it used to be, but he is still getting drafted as the RB23 in drafts currently. And if I look at De'Andre Swift's entire NFL career, he has finished as the RB10, the RB9, the RB14, the RB24, the RB21, the RB17. So he is getting drafted at his historical low. Like, he has never finished lower than RB24 in fantasy points per game. And if we go through and if we actually look at the projection for the Chicago Bears offense, while they project to be slightly worse than they were last year, they still project to be like the 10th best offense in the NFL. And they don't add any competition to this backfield. Like, this could have been a team that maybe drafted J.D. McKissic. Obviously, this was a team everybody thought was going to draft Ashton Dulin in last year's NFL draft. But since it's just Khalil Herbert and De'Andre Swift, where I think Swift is very easily the better receiving back of the two as well, Swift has had at least three targets per game in every year of his NFL career. He's a very, very safe investment to make.
Now, Chase Brown is going to be the last guy that we have to talk about here. Absolutely love taking Chase Brown in the middle of round two because if I look at Chase Brown in comparison to Derrick Henry, Kenneth Walker, both of those running backs go ahead of him, and I have Chase Brown ranked over those guys. With Brown, one thing I want to acknowledge is the Cincinnati Bengals, they project to be a better offense this year than they were last. They currently project to score 25 and a half points per game this season. They were only at 24 and a half last season. The Cincinnati Bengals do nothing to bring competition in for Chase Brown this year. And how did he finish? Chase Brown finished the second half of the season once Joe Burrow returned with 21.2 fantasy points per game. He was the RB3. So if we look at the updated Bengals depth chart after doing literally nothing, they have Chase Brown, Samaje Perine, Taj Brooks. They project to be a top six offense in the league. Chase Brown's had back-to-back seasons as a bell cow. Back-to-back seasons playing 16+ games, and we saw him once Burrow was back last year finish as the running back three in points per game. So this in my mind is a profile of a running back that should be going round one. Like, I think the issue with Chase Brown, to be honest, in a lot of fantasy drafters' minds, which is something that I struggle with myself, is he wasn't a Bijan Robinson level prospect. He wasn't a Jahmyr Gibbs level prospect. He's not as talented as those guys, right? This is a running back that instead went late in the NFL draft. Took him a little bit of time to get going. It's almost similar to how Aaron Jones was underrated in fantasy for years, even though he would consistently put up top-five finishes, you'd be able to get him at the end of round one, the beginning of round two, and you just had that natural discount baked in. So, I view Chase Brown honestly a lot closer to like Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey than the guys that go right after him with like Jeremiah Hall, Breece Hall, and Travis Etienne. So, I would love to start with a wide receiver round one and then go Chase Brown in round two of fantasy drafts, which currently you can tell Chase Brown is my most drafted running back where I have him at an average pick of 17.8, which is like the middle of the second round in drafts.
But I really appreciate y'all as always, and I very much am excited to see your auditions for the Flock League this year. Again, going to be bigger than ever. $100,000 first place prize, $140,000 prize pool. All sponsored by the 2026 Flockfantasy.com season pass, where that one $34 purchase will get you access to a ton of draft guides, a ton of draft sheets, and all the rankings from all your favorite creators. Of course, sign up with code flock, that way I'm the one answering your questions during the season for free. But link to that going to be in the description. It's going to be in the comment section.