Yahoo Fantasy Football on Saquon Barkley

ArticleFantasy football players to avoid: Fade these 5 stars in 2026
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The 29-year-old Barkley is likely to never again see the workload he got in 2024... Yet in 2026 fantasy drafts, Barkley is somewhere between the fifth and eighth running back taken... if you want a running back at the end of the first round, James Cook and Chase Brown have much higher ceilings.
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STACKED’s take

Negative signalBust

Barkley's 2024 peak unlikely to repeat; fade despite ADP between RB5-8.

JJ Zachariason argues Barkley is a fade despite his 2024 league-winning season (345 carries, 33 receptions, 2,283 yards from scrimmage, 15 TDs). Barkley's 2025 numbers dipped dramatically and he finished as a high-end RB2, yet he's being drafted between fifth and eighth RB in 2026 drafts. Zachariason contends that managers are betting on a return to what will almost certainly be the best season of Barkley's career—a historically poor bet with running backs in their late 20s. He recommends James Cook and Chase Brown as superior first-round RB options with much higher ceilings.

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