At the beginning of the season, Breece Hall looked like the best of the pending free agents at running back. That’s not as clearcut now, with Javonte Williams and Travis Etienne putting together big season. But I think all three can feel confident they’ll be getting good contracts in the offseason.
Certainly Williams, who was a $3 million bargain for the Cowboys. I expect they’ll be working hard to keep him wearing Tony Dorsett’s number. And Etienne has played well enough that if Jacksonville doesn’t re-sign him, somebody else will. But with his effectiveness as a pass catcher (and Liam Coen’s use of running backs in that capacity) I expect they’ll be keeping him.
Hall has had more downs than ups, but there have been enough highlights that I expect there will be multiple teams that believe he can make the same kind of instant impact that Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs and Joe Mixon made with new teams a year ago. He ran for 113 and 133 against Dallas and Cincinnati, averaging at least 7.4 per attempt in both of those games.
I don’t think the Jets would find re-signing all, but with them have a pair of other capable young backs – Braelon Hall, Isaiah Davis – I wonder if they will instead use their money on other areas of the roster.
Two other free agents look certain to be starting somewhere next year: Kenneth Walker (who reminded everyone of his explosiveness with a 55-yard touchdown against the Rams), and Rico Dowdle, who’s had a big year for the Panthers.
Other running backs who are headed toward the open market include Tyler Allgeier, Brian Robinson, J.K. Dobbins, Kenneth Gainwell, Rachaad White, Isiah Pacheco, Najee Harris, Jerome Ford, Ty Chandler and Kareem Hunt.
While there’s significant guesswork in where players will be and who’ll be starting, we can take a stab at ordering the players for dynasty league purposes – considering not only 2026, but what the player might be doing in the following seasons. My top 80 appears below.
I’ve been focusing on dynasty leagues every Saturday all year, rotating between the four notable position. To look at the most current lists at the other positions, using the “past issues” navigation box on this page.
For these rankings, I’m visualizing a 12-team league with PPR scoring, with each team rostering maybe 6-8 backs, controlling the rights of those players indefinitely. In past versions, rookies were tagged with black dots. This time around, I’ve put those black dots on players who’ll be unrestricted free agents.
The final column shows how much each player has moved since running backs were last looked at.
Last week: Quarterbacks
| DYNASTY LEAGUE RUNNING BACKS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Tm | Player | Age | + / - |
| 1. | ATL | Bijan Robinson | 23.9 | 0 |
| 2. | DET | Jahmyr Gibbs | 23.8 | 0 |
| 3. | LV | Ashton Jeanty | 22.1 | 1 |
| 4. | IND | Jonathan Taylor | 26.9 | -1 |
| 5. | MIA | DeVon Achane | 24.2 | 0 |
| 6. | LAC | Omarion Hampton | 22.8 | 0 |
| 7. | BUF | James Cook | 26.3 | 0 |
| 8. | NE | TreVeyon Henderson | 23.2 | 9 |
| 9. | DAL | • Javonte Williams | 25.7 | 1 |
| 10. | NYJ | • Breece Hall | 24.6 | 1 |
| 11. | PHI | Saquon Barkley | 28.9 | 2 |
| 12. | GB | Josh Jacobs | 27.9 | 0 |
| 13. | TB | Bucky Irving | 23.4 | 1 |
| 14. | CIN | Chase Brown | 25.8 | 2 |
| 15. | CLE | Quinshon Judkins | 22.2 | -7 |
| 16. | SF | Christian McCaffrey | 29.6 | -1 |
| 17. | JAC | • Travis Etienne | 26.9 | 1 |
| 18. | DEN | RJ Harvey | 24.9 | 5 |
| 19. | LAR | Kyren Williams | 25.3 | -10 |
| 20. | CHI | Kyle Monangai | 23.6 | -1 |
| 21. | NYG | Cam Skattebo | 23.9 | 0 |
| 22. | SEA | • Kenneth Walker | 25.2 | 3 |
| 23. | CHI | D'Andre Swift | 27.0 | 1 |
| 24. | CAR | • Rico Dowdle | 27.5 | -4 |
| 25. | BAL | Derrick Henry | 32.0 | 1 |
| 26. | TEN | Tony Pollard | 28.7 | 10 |
| 27. | PIT | Jaylen Warren | 27.2 | -5 |
| 28. | SEA | Zach Charbonnet | 25.0 | 3 |
| 29. | CAR | Chuba Hubbard | 26.5 | 5 |
| 30. | HOU | Woody Marks | 25.0 | -3 |
| 31. | LAR | Blake Corum | 25.1 | 10 |
| 32. | ARI | Trey Benson | 23.4 | -4 |
| 33. | NYJ | Braelon Allen | 21.9 | 5 |
| 34. | MIN | Jordan Mason | 26.6 | -5 |
| 35. | NO | Alvin Kamara | 30.4 | 9 |
| 36. | ATL | • Tyler Allgeier | 25.7 | 4 |
| 37. | SF | • Brian Robinson | 26.8 | -4 |
| 38. | JAC | Bhayshul Tuten | 23.9 | -8 |
| 39. | DEN | • J.K. Dobbins | 27.0 | -7 |
| 40. | PIT | Kaleb Johnson | 22.4 | 2 |
| 41. | DET | David Montgomery | 28.6 | -6 |
| 42. | GB | Emanuel Wilson | 26.6 | -5 |
| 43. | NYG | Tyrone Tracy | 26.1 | 3 |
| 44. | TB | Sean Tucker | 24.2 | 5 |
| 45. | MIA | Ollie Gordon | 21.9 | -6 |
| 46. | MIN | Aaron Jones | 31.1 | -1 |
| 47. | WAS | Jacory Croskey-Merritt | 24.7 | 4 |
| 48. | HOU | Joe Mixon | 29.4 | 15 |
| 49. | NE | Rhamondre Stevenson | 27.8 | 1 |
| 50. | ARI | James Conner | 30.6 | 19 |
| 51. | TEN | Tyjae Spears | 24.5 | -3 |
| 52. | PIT | • Kenneth Gainwell | 26.8 | 2 |
| 53. | NYJ | Isaiah Davis | 23.8 | -1 |
| 54. | PHI | Tank Bigsby | 24.3 | 3 |
| 55. | BAL | Keaton Mitchell | 23.9 | 3 |
| 56. | CLE | Dylan Sampson | 21.3 | -3 |
| 57. | SF | Jordan James | 21.7 | 25 |
| 58. | MIA | Jaylen Wright | 22.7 | 25 |
| 59. | LAC | Kimani Vidal | 24.3 | -12 |
| 60. | WAS | Chris Rodriguez | 25.2 | -5 |
| 61. | TB | • Rachaad White | 27.0 | -1 |
| 62. | NO | Devin Neal | 22.4 | -6 |
| 63. | KC | Brashard Smith | 22.7 | 1 |
| 64. | BUF | Ray Davis | 26.1 | -5 |
| 65. | SEA | George Holani | 26.0 | 12 |
| 66. | KC | • Isiah Pacheco | 26.8 | -4 |
| 67. | LAC | • Najee Harris | 27.8 | 1 |
| 68. | BUF | Ty Johnson | 28.3 | -7 |
| 69. | DAL | Phil Mafah | 23.2 | 1 |
| 70. | JAC | LeQuint Allen | 21.4 | -3 |
| 71. | PHI | Will Shipley | 23.3 | -6 |
| 72. | LAR | Jarquez Hunter | 23.0 | 3 |
| 73. | NYG | Devin Singletary | 28.3 | -2 |
| 74. | CLE | • Jerome Ford | 26.3 | 6 |
| 75. | CAR | Jonathon Brooks | 22.4 | -1 |
| 76. | MIN | • Ty Chandler | 27.6 | 31 |
| 77. | CIN | Tahj Brooks | 23.6 | -4 |
| 78. | DAL | Malik Davis | 27.1 | 16 |
| 79. | KC | • Kareem Hunt | 30.4 | -36 |
| 80. | SF | Isaac Guerendo | 25.5 | 13 |
—Ian Allan