Among the many uncertain backfields for 2026, none look moreso than Jacksonville's. It's easy to find staunch supporters of either reasonable possibility for lead back. That player will be a valuable starter in fantasy leagues.
The question is whether it will be Bhayshul Tuten or Chris Rodriguez, and if Liam Coen has a favorite -- and he might not -- he's not saying. Lots of people are confident who will win. We had to throw our lot in with someone, but confident? That's a little harder to say.
The Jaguars drafted Tuten early in the fourth round of last year's NFL Draft. They then proceeded to let last year's starter, Travis Etienne, depart in free agency. That suggests a level of confidence in him. But early in free agency they signed Rodriguez to a 2-year, $10 million contract, with $6.2 million guaranteed. That's obviously more than backup or change-of-pace money. It's possible he'll be the main runner.
As we've seen recently, however, giving a back $5 million in free agency doesn't always mean much. The Cardinals gave Tyler Allgeier even more than that but still drafted Jeremiyah Love 3rd overall. A year ago the Chargers gave Najee Harris over $5 million and still drafted Omarion Hampton in the first round. Teams like to have two good running backs. Coen had a history with Rodriguez (Kentucky), perhaps a factor in wanting to bring him in, but that doesn't mean he'll be installed as the starter.
I think it'll be a tandem, and one thing we can reasonably say is that Tuten should get more of the passing d0wns work (accounting for some of the disparity in the rankings). Rodriguez has caught 6 passes in 35 NFL games; if he can do it, Washington certainly had no interest in exploring that potential. Tuten also didn't get much work there as a rookie (10 for 79, albeit with 2 TDs), but reasonable to give him the edge for those chances. (Jacksonville also has last year's seventh-rounder LeQuint Allen as a possibility; he caught 10 passes as a rookie, all but one of the balls thrown his way.)
If this is a three-back committee, it's probably hands-off in fantasy leagues. Even as a one-two punch, it doesn't seem great. Hard to make a strong case for either player.
With Tuten, one encouraging thing that can be said is he was an impressive scorer when the team actually gave him some chances (which wasn't much).
As a rookie, he got at least 5 rushing attempts in a game eight times last year. He scored in six of those games. So when the team actually did use him, he made the most of it. And they still didn't use him a ton: in only one of those games (his best by a wide margin, the win over the Chargers) did he play even 30 percent of the offensive snaps.
| TUTEN WITH 5-PLUS ATTEMPTS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Att | Run | Avg | No | Rec | TD | Off% |
| LAC | 15 | 74 | 4.9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 32.4 |
| at L.V. | 9 | 29 | 3.2 | 1 | -3 | 1 | 25.0 |
| at Cin. | 8 | 42 | 5.3 | 2 | 32 | 1 | 25.4 |
| TEN | 8 | 17 | 2.1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 28.6 |
| at Ari. | 7 | 17 | 2.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21.0 |
| Hou. | 6 | 21 | 3.5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 17.1 |
| LAR | 5 | 22 | 4.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28.6 |
| Ten. | 5 | 23 | 4.6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 26.2 |
Some of my preference for Tuten is that with so little opportunity, his upside seems greater than Rodriguez. The former Washington back has been in the league three years, and was cut by the Commanders twice, but never drew enough attention to be picked up by someone else, or to compel the team to keep him around. It's possible (even likely) that Washington's player evaluation is dubious, but I think it takes a bigger leap of faith to think he'll suddenly bust out in Year 4.
Anyway, it's a backfield to play close attention to in training camp. I'm backing Tuten, but I'm prepared for the possibility that those who favor Rodriguez are correct. Will be fun to watch, in a Jacksonville offense that I'm pretty high on in general.
--Andy Richardson
