Loading...
We use cookies for analytics and advertising to keep TheFantasyPicks free. These run by default; you can opt out anytime with Reject or via Cookie Settings. See our Privacy Policy.
Sponsored affiliate link.
Player photos courtesy of ESPN.
Ranking moves, risers and fallers, and new posts. Free, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.
The opener is a little over a week away, and if your draft is this weekend, running back is the position where the board has moved most. Several of the biggest developments of the past two weeks all hit the backfield: an injured-reserve placement that turns a first-rounder into a true workhorse, a star who opens the year suspended, and an ankle that has another first-round pick's Week 1 status in the air. Below are six rooms worth untangling before you draft, each with a plain verdict on what to do.
The Lions signed Isiah Pacheco this offseason to take early-down and short-yardage work off Jahmyr Gibbs. That plan is on hold. Detroit placed Pacheco on injured reserve with a back injury, which sidelines him for at least the first four games, and the team says it hopes he can return later in the season. For the opening month, that leaves Gibbs as a genuine every-down back inside one of the league's best offenses. Sione Vaki and Jacob Saylors are the names behind him, but they are depth pieces rather than handcuffs worth a roster spot. Verdict: push Gibbs toward the very top of the first round, and do not bother chasing a Detroit handcuff, because there is not a startable one if Gibbs ever misses a game.
Josh Jacobs was drafted this summer as a locked-in RB1. Instead he opens 2026 on the commissioner's exempt list, which means he cannot practice or play and has no set return date. It stems from a May arrest, and we broke down the fantasy fallout when he was formally charged. Green Bay moved fast to backfill the hole, trading a 2028 sixth-round pick to Pittsburgh for Kaleb Johnson, who now shares a suddenly wide-open room with incumbent MarShawn Lloyd. Nobody here is anointed, and an early committee is the likeliest outcome. Verdict: if you drafted Jacobs, treat him as a stash and secure a starter elsewhere; if you did not, Johnson and Lloyd are exactly the kind of late-round darts worth taking, because whoever wins the touches becomes a weekly starter. The rest of the cutdown-weekend movement is in our winners and losers piece.
Ashton Jeanty, the centerpiece of the Raiders offense, rolled his ankle on Aug. 23 and had not practiced as of Wednesday. Head coach Klint Kubiak said the team is counting on him for Week 1 but would not put a number on his snaps, which is the kind of language that keeps a player on the wrong side of questionable. The good news is that it is reported as a low-ankle sprain rather than the more serious high variety, so a full Week 1 is still on the table. If he sits, rookie fourth-round pick Mike Washington is next in line for the early-down work. Verdict: keep drafting Jeanty where you would have, since his talent and role are unchanged, but spend a late pick on Washington as a handcuff and watch the Thursday and Friday practice reports before you set your opening lineup.
Carolina is telling everyone this will be a committee. Head coach Dave Canales described a rotation in which one back handles a series and the other comes in on third down for pass protection, and he has said Chuba Hubbard's hamstring recovery is ahead of schedule and that he expects him to play. The complication is Jonathon Brooks, the 2024 second-rounder returning from back-to-back ACL tears, who has had shaky pass-protection reps this preseason. Verdict: Hubbard is the safer of the two and the one to draft, but treat him as a fringe RB2 or flex rather than a bell-cow, and understand that Brooks is a stash whose value hinges on whether he can hold the third-down role.
New Orleans reshaped this backfield back in March by giving Travis Etienne a four-year, $52 million contract, and Alvin Kamara's knee has removed any doubt about the early-season pecking order. Kamara suffered an MCL sprain in an Aug. 18 joint practice and is expected to miss roughly a month, so Etienne is a set-and-forget early-season starter, with Kendre Miller as the contingency behind him. In Seattle, the story is messier than one injury. Kenneth Walker III left for Kansas City in free agency, and with Zach Charbonnet opening the year on the reserve/PUP list as he finishes his ACL rehab, Seattle turns to a committee of George Holani and power back Emanuel Wilson with no bankable fantasy starter yet. New Orleans is the cleaner situation of the two: Etienne moves up your board, while Seattle is a room to monitor rather than trust in Week 1.
The theme across all six rooms is the same: late injuries and off-field news have widened the gap between the clear starters and everyone else at running back. Push the backs whose paths just cleared, Gibbs, Etienne, and Walker, up your board, and treat the muddy rooms in Green Bay and Carolina as late-round lottery tickets rather than spots to reach. Before you draft, check where these backs sit in our rankings, see how the best ball tool is pricing the reshuffled rooms, and run a few boards through the mock draft simulator so a committee does not catch you flat. For the health questions that are still open, the official NFL injury report is the word that settles it once game week arrives, and our Week 1 injury watch covers the rest of the position-by-position picture.
