Transcription
Last year, some of the best picks in fantasy football were running backs like Travis Etienne, James Cook, Javante Williams. In today's video, I'm talking about seven running backs that I am personally planting my flag on. All right, I am backing in the 2026 NFL season.
Starting off with Mr. Ken Walker. That's right. We are all hyped to jump on the Ken Walker train this year. Look, you might have not seen a superstar running back recently in Andy Reid's offense, but he has a vast history of turning running backs into league winners. In fact, from 1999 to 2017 with Andy Reid calling plays, his RB1s on average 1,410 yards per season, 9 and a half touchdowns per season. He has a vast history of turning running backs into superstars. I mean, we're talking Deuce Staley for some of the OGs, Brian Westbrook for some people out there, LeSean McCoy, Shady McCoy, all right, superstar fantasy running backs, but the Chiefs have had just this huge drought at running back in almost the last decade. In fact, they have not had a thousand-yard rusher since 2017 rookie Kareem Hunt. You could easily, and I mean easily, make the argument that Walker is the best running back talent that the Chiefs have had since the 2012 to 2015 Jamaal Charles era. I think that's a very easy case to be to to make. And I feel like not having that guy in the Chiefs offense at running back has really impacted their offense in a negative way recently. For example, last year they were 25th in rushing attempts, 25th in rushing yards, bottom of the barrel in rushing touchdown yards per carry. They haven't been top half of the league even in the last five years in rushing attempts and rushing yards. There's been so much weight on Patrick Mahomes's shoulders. And that's obviously going to change. It's not a surprise that they brought in Ken Walker and paid him money. He is now the fourth highest-paid running back on a per-year average. Only Derrick Henry, McCaffrey, and Saquon are making more. And I'm expecting Walker to get a huge uptick in usage after this huge deal in Kansas City. The same thing that we saw last year for James Cook when he got paid by uh his team, right? In fact, if you look back at James Cook's year before his contract that he signed last year, right? You can see a ton of similarities in their game, right? Similar averages uh in rushing attempts, rushing yards, yards per carry, targets per game, receiving yards per game. Where they really differ is their attempts inside the five-yard line, and their total touchdowns. If we're being real, last year Ken Walker was cucked the entire season on the goal line. You see him and Zack Charbonnet sharing snaps right down the middle, sharing designed rushing attempts pretty much right down the middle. But the one area for whatever reason the Seahawks decided not to use Ken Walker was on the goal line. He had just 30% of the team rushing attempts inside the 5-yard line. As of today, I have Walker and Cook really close in my 2026 projections. In fact, you could really make a case for either or in my humble opinion. I've given Walker a 62% share of the team rushing attempts in Kansas City. You might think that sounds like a lot until you consider a couple things. Like for example, there isn't a soul in Kansas City that deserves to share this backfield with Ken that deserves to see goal-line touches. It's Isiah Pacheco, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, La'Mical Perine, Jerick McKinnon. They drafted a rookie this year late in the draft. Patrick Mahomes, another example, coming off a torn ACL. I think it's very unlikely he's going to have a ton of mobility like we've seen in previous seasons. Number three, a 62% target share would even crack his career-high in team carries share. In 2023, he had 64% of the rushing attempts in Seattle. In my opinion, this offense is going to be built around Ken Walker and Rashee Rice in 2026. Those are the two top dudes, and I'm expecting a huge workhorse role for Ken Walker, the next great Andy Reid fantasy running back in my humble opinion. What do you guys think? Let me know down below. Do me a favor, like the video, subscribe. We're on the road to 80K. You can help me get there and hype if you're on mobile.
Let's jump to Bijan Robinson, the second running back in today's video that I am planting my flag on. That's right. He's someone that at the moment in my rankings, you could have him as high as the RB4, as low as the RB9. He's right in that sweet spot back into the first, early second tier for me. Don't mind which of these running backs you take over the other. But look, I don't think the average fantasy player really truly fully understands what Bijan Robinson had to overcome as a rookie. I really don't. For example, in 2025, the Raiders were either last or bottom three in points scored, yards per game, yards per play, offensive plays, first downs, PFF offensive line run blocking grade, and that led to Bijan Robinson constantly being asked to do something with absolutely nothing. For example, last year he was second in yards before contact per attempt. The offensive line was not helping this boy out. All right. Last year, Bijan Robinson, 975 rushing yards. 634 of them came after contact. In fact, he had 65% of his total yards after contact, fourth highest in the NFL last year. Is that not impressive enough? Okay. Well, how about this? Shout out to Jacob Gibbs on Twitter. He mentions among 150 running backs with 250 rushing attempts in a season from 2012 to 2025, Bijan Robinson ranks 115th, dead last in yards before contact per attempt per rush. That is absolutely ridiculous. And despite all of that, he still averaged around 15 points per game as a rookie. Showed some huge ceiling games like week four where he had 33 points, week nine, week 12, week 16 where he had 31 points. Maybe this will help bring some perspective. Okay, Bijan Robinson as a rookie averaged 13.8 points per game. Bijan Robinson as a rookie 14.4. I mean, there is a huge future here for Bijan Robinson. There's no reason why he can't be the next great running back. And again, think about how atrocious that offense was last year. Still averaged 14.4 points per game. In my opinion, this is Robinson's absolute floor. How is it not his floor when you consider they brought in Kirk Cousins as a bridge quarterback? They brought in Drake Maye with the number one overall pick. The offense is going to be better. They brought help on the offensive line with Tyler Linderbaum at center. They brought in a new head coach and Clint Kubiak who just helped lead the Seattle Seahawks to the freaking Super Bowl. I mean, I wouldn't be shocked at all if we see the same type of uh trajectory that Bijan Robinson had from his year one to his year two seasons, right? Where he went from 14 and a half to over 20 points per game. I mean, his coaching staff in Las Vegas, Clint Kubiak, has made it very clear that they want him to be a workhorse. Kubiak said this. He said, "We want to put a lot of pressure on Bijan." I love hearing that. Put the pressure on my running back in fantasy football. He says, "It's important to have a quality second back, but the best player has got to play. Those great backs, they don't come off the field." All right, we don't want Bijan Robinson coming off the field. In fact, I love Bijan Robinson. I'm gonna be drafting him at the back end of the first, early second round. For example, here on my cheat sheet tool, you can see, let's say hypothetically I took James Cook at the 111. I don't mind taking Robinson at that early at the 111 either. If you want to start double RB, there's not a favorite start I have at the back end of the board other than starting with Bijan Robinson uh with one of those two picks. So, I'll take Robinson here at the 202. I love these starts where you're getting heavy running backs this year at the back end of the board. This is my cheat sheet tool, which by the way, over 50,000 people used last year. You can gain access to it simply by becoming a Land Season Pass member. Just $34 with the code LAND. Not just for draft season prep, but for the entire NFL season. I'm going to help you out on live stream with some questions. You're going to get access to my draft guide. You're going to get access to join some real leagues at landlags.com with my community. It is the best deal in the industry by far. It's not even close. Check out the link in the pin comment if you want to support the show and become a Land member.
Okay, the third running back that I am planting my flag on, well, it's my beloved Chase Brown who was an official my guy last year for the 2026 NFL season. Last year, we said he was entering his Austin Ekeler era. All right. And we certainly saw Austin Ekeler type of usage for Chase Brown. A higher utilization score last year than Bijan Robinson, Saquon Barkley, James Cook. In fact, last year only five running backs had heavier usage than Chase Brown did for the entire season. Now, I know for fantasy it didn't start off great. The reason I know that is because everybody in the comment section would not not let me forget it from weeks one to seven. You guys were upset about me telling you to draft Chase Brown. I get it. But why did it take him so long to get going? Well, Joe Burrow got injured in week two, early in week two, and we had to watch Jake Browning start for what was it, five games until week six. Then finally, Joe Flacco enters the scene. Guys, the splits are just ridiculous for Chase Brown last year. Look at this. With Jake Browning averaged 10 points per game in five games. Then all you had to do is get a competent backup and Joe Flacco. With Flacco in nine games, 20 points per game. With Burrow for eight games, 19.4 points per game. He was a superstar when they had at minimum competent quarterback play in Cincinnati. And going back to the Ekeler era conversation that I said last year, the best part about Brown's game is his role as a pass-catching threat. Last year, only three running backs had more targets on the entire season than Chase Brown. McCaffrey, Bijan, Gibbs. That's it. All right. He had the fourth most targets amongst any running back last year. And we know that a target on average is far more valuable than a carry in fantasy football. We talked about this a lot in our research on the running backs are king again in fantasy video. You can go check that out on the channel if you'd like to watch a really in-depth breakdown on NFL trends and how it's impacting fantasy football. But there's a reason in that video that we pointed out that five of the last seven RB1 overalls in fantasy football had 80 or more targets on the season that they finished RB1 overall. The good news for 2026. Two things I really want to point out here. Number one, the offense is set to be explosive again. I personally have them projected to be a top six offense in the NFL. Number two, Joe Flacco is the backup in Cincinnati. So you can confidently draft all of your Bengals. You don't have to worry about will Joe Burrow get injured? Maybe. But Joe Flacco's there. It's okay. You can draft Amari Cooper, Tee Higgins, Chase Brown with the utmost confidence because we know Flacco is a competent quarterback, too. I don't think it's insane. I don't think it's hyperbolic to say, hey, there's a legit shot here that Chase Brown could average 17 to 20 points per game in 2026.
Okay, a year two running back that I am planting that flag on. Ladies and gentlemen, Cam Akers. I really wholeheartedly believe this. He's probably a second-round pick in fantasy drafts this year if he didn't get injured last year. Think about this for a second. Week one of the season, he wasn't the clear RB1 in the offense. Week two, he was. Then in week eight, he suffered a season-ending injury. So if if we remove those two weeks, right, week one and week eight where he got injured, ask yourself when he was healthy and was used the way the Giants wanted to use him, what was he to your fantasy football teams as a rookie even? The answer is he was an absolute superstar, man. He was top 10 in carries inside the 5-yard line, targets, receiving yards, touchdowns. In that same span from weeks two to seven when he was healthy, he was a better fantasy football asset than James Cook, Bijan Robinson, Saquon Barkley. However, obviously when he got injured, we weren't able to see what he was fully capable of for the rest of the year. But instead of him being a round two pick, he's very reasonably priced in my opinion. He's going in the fourth round compared to some of those guys who we outproduced last year like James Cook, Robinson, Saquon Barkley. He's a fourth-round pick. It's super easy for me to be in on him at his current price. He has a shot to finish top 10 and he's being drafted in the fourth round. We have a predictor tool on the Flock site, which by the way, if you're a season pass member with the code LAND, you'll be able to access all the tools on the Flock as well. But the closest age 23 seasons to what Cam Akers did last year and how they performed the year after were in some incredibly promising comparisons here like Breece Hall, Dalvin Cook, Leonard Fournette, Maurice Jones-Drew, Josh Jacobs, Devin Singletary. Yeah, we've got DeMarco Murray in there if anybody remembers the eye drop here, but uh it's some great comparisons there. The real question we have to ask is what's stopping Cam from being a superstar this year? What's stopping him? Because we know for sure it's not competition or volume because Tyrone Tracy was a complete afterthought when Cam Akers was healthy from weeks 2 to 7. Complete afterthought in the offense. All right. Only went in to give him a little bit of a spell. We know it's not the coaching staff, okay? Because schematically all of the changes to the Giants offense, their rushing attack far favors Cam Akers. Shout out Scott Barrett over on Twitter. He gives a great reason as to why here. The scheme is just going to fit Akers way better than a Tyrone Tracy. The main concern you all have and I know is the injury. You're concerned about him coming back from the injury. However, we have heard nothing but positive reports about his recovery process from the entire coaching staff. In fact, every time John Harbaugh opens his mouth, he speaks so glowingly about Cam Akers, it's like hard to ignore. Check out what he had to say recently. >> How many guys can make yards when they're not supposed to make yards on their own? Seems to me like he's he was that kind of guy at Arizona State. Exact same guy that I saw on tape last year. You guys know better. Even you watched him up close and personal. So, he's a he's a he's a top-tier back and uh you know, he's planning on playing that way this year. >> I don't know about you guys, but that sounds like a coach who is ready to feature Cam Akers. And with football just under 60 days till kickoff, he's already looking like he could play a game today. Don't be afraid to draft Cam Akers.
Okay, I wanted to give you guys a little bit of a sleeper that I'm planting my flag on. Uh, I didn't want them to be all, you know, studs. Let's talk about Chris Rodriguez. Now, Rodriguez is currently my RB42. And I understand what you're thinking, Zach. Really? Rodriguez, not Toutin? I like Toutin as well, but let's just talk. What's the most likely outcome for the Jacksonville backfield in 2026? We can all agree the most likely outcome is that Toutin is the RB1. But the question we should be asking is how close will the splits be between Toutin and Rodriguez? Because right now, Toutin costs twice as much as Rodriguez does in fantasy drafts. A sixth versus a 12th rounder. The reason I say like a sixth, Rodriguez is a true 12th rounder. But Toutin is not going in the sixth round in real drafts. In fact, in real community drafts that I host on landlags.com, which you can use as well, if you want to join drafts with me with a community, if you're a season pass member with code LAND, have to be a Land member. But in real draft ADP on landlags.com, Toutin's actually on average going off the board as the 53rd player in drafts, the 505, an early to mid-fifth round pick. So really, it's a fifth-round pick versus a 12th-round pick. And this data feels far more useful than ESPN or Yahoo right now. If you compare those players right now uh in Land league ADP is going over 70 picks earlier than Chris Rodriguez is. I don't personally think that people are giving enough respect to C-Rod and what he's capable of uh this offseason and I get it like he's not the young exciting prospect Toutin is. I I understand that. But I'm not suggesting he's going to win the job over Toutin. What I am suggesting is that he's probably gonna have a bigger role than a lot of people are projecting. Don't forget Chris Rodriguez had his best season in college at Kentucky when Liam Cohen was calling the plays in 2021 where he had almost 1400 yards and nine touchdowns. Yeah, that's cool. But did you know that Chris Rodriguez was one of Liam Cohen's first ever high school recruits to come to his college football team? Did you know that? That's like a special connection you just can't really replicate very often. Their GM highlighted their connection in his welcome interview. He said, talking about Rodriguez, he's very physical at the point of attack. He has a really good pace in his approach to the line of scrimmage and finding lanes and obviously an intimate understanding of the system and how Liam likes to call things. And it's not like Rodriguez was some scrub last year. I mean, he had limited opportunities, but he was good with those limited opportunities. Top half of the league in yards per carry, yards after contact per attempt, elusive rating. You know, he was good. And the elephant in the room clearly is the injury to his foot. Uh, according to a team source, we know that he had a procedure on his left foot. There's an injury there. We get that. They say he should be ready by training camp. There's a lot of inbuilt chemistry there. So, I wouldn't be completely panicking. And the thing is, like, what do you have to do to be in on Rodriguez? Your 12th-round pick. Like, you really don't think that's worth I think that's worth it. Of course, it's worth it. There's no reason why you shouldn't go out there and at least be in on this room. Is this not maybe the Jaylen Warren of 2026? How is that not a possibility? I think it's a possibility.
To end today's video, I'm going to actually give you three honorable mentions. So, the title of the video says seven running backs. I'm going to give you eight. Uh we're first going to talk about Amari Hampton. Now, I'm not going to dive into Amari Hampton because he is in my must-draft video if you guys want to go watch that on the channel. I've already talked about him in depth and I don't want to bore you guys. I also talked about him in my player set to shock the world video. I think he has a legitimate shot to be the number one running back in fantasy football. Perfect offense with Mike McDaniel. Rhamondre Stevenson. We're not going to talk about Stevenson because I did just mention him in my sleeper video. I do think he's a fantastic pick. I've called him this year's David Montgomery, if you will, of past seasons. Last player I want to talk about here, though, as an honorable mention is Jordan Mason. Now, I have made content uh recently talking about how I think Aaron Jones is a pretty good pick. We're going to have to start monitoring that Minnesota backfield. I believe there will be value because the offense will take a big turn 180 right back to being a good offense this year. Um there's going to be value in that backfield. We just got to figure out which guy it is. But there's been a lot of reports recently for example from insider Matthew Coller who said this is Jordan Mason's backfield and Aaron Jones will mainly spell and eat into passing downs and apparently the Vikings might limit him since he wore down last year. That makes a lot of sense to me. I liked Jordan Mason last year. One of the reasons I was excited about him because of the offense that he was in, his first and second down usage, his goal-line usage. The problem is every offensive weapon in Minnesota last year sucked. Maybe Jordan Mason is this post-hype sleeper that we should be in on at the back end of our drafts. Your 12th, 13th, 14th round pick. I don't see a reason not to be in. This offense is even top half of the league. Jordan Mason might be serious serious value in your fantasy drafts.
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>> This is Chad. Last year, Chad joined his friend's fantasy football league for the first time. He drafted the worst team possible and finished last place. A year later, he lost his job, his wife left him, and his kids no longer respected him. Don't be like Chad. Get the season pass for just $34 with the promo code LAND. Draft day has never been so easy.