0:00I've been in the lab for over a thousand
0:01hours developing the perfect fantasy
0:03football strategy for 2026. I've already
0:05drafted over a thousand fantasy football
0:07teams and I've really realized
0:08something. 2024 and 2025 were basically
0:11the worst all-time years for zero
0:14running back. I do think the zero
0:15running back strategy could come back in
0:182026, but it is going to depend upon
0:20these running backs and I have found six
0:23running backs that are going to
0:24perfectly highlight the zero running
0:26back strategy. By the end of this video,
0:28I think we're going to have a very clear
0:29consensus of whether or not this
0:31strategy is going to work this upcoming
0:33year and I think we have to begin with
0:35basically the most important backfield
0:37in fantasy football and that is going to
0:39be the Washington Commanders with
0:41Rachaad White and Ke'Shawn Tucker.
0:43Rachaad White signed a very small
0:46contract with the Washington Commanders
0:47only $2.1 million. Effectively, the
0:50veteran minimum for Rachaad White after
0:52being a very good pass-catching running
0:55back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He
0:56was just not as good as Bucky Irving.
0:59Also not as good in short yardage as
1:00Ke'Shawn Tucker, but scored the 15
1:02fantasy points per game in 2023 and even
1:05looking at what he did last season,
1:07Rachaad White would have basically been
1:09a usable fantasy football asset,
1:11particularly in the games that Bucky
1:13Irving did not play.
1:15If we look at a lot of this consistency,
1:18he didn't get a ton of chances inside
1:20the 5-yard line, but he was very
1:22involved as a receiver and that is what
1:24we are hoping for. Obviously, he is, you
1:26know, best friends. I mean, maybe maybe
1:28Brandon Aiyuk thinks he's a better
1:29friend with Jayden Daniels and that's
1:30why he wanted to play with the
1:31Commanders. The reporting has been that
1:33Rachaad White is going to fill in an
1:35Austin Ekeler-style role in the
1:37Washington Commanders backfield. That in
1:39and of itself would be a pretty valuable
1:41role. Now, Rachaad White is getting
1:43pretty expensive, but a lot of the times
1:45on these zero running back teams, it we
1:47sort of get mistaken about what we're
1:49looking for. Obviously, you do need some
1:51home runs. You do need some 2024 Bucky
1:54Irvings. You do need some 2023 Kyren
1:56Williamses, but you also just need some
1:58guys who are going to help you get
2:00across the finish line, and Rashad White
2:02is exactly that. He should kind of
2:04settle into an eight-to-12 fantasy
2:06points per game role, but we need to
2:08look on the other side of that
2:10backfield, and we have to look at
2:11Jacquory Croskey-Merritt, who actually
2:13does offer us an opportunity for a true
2:15breakout. We know that Rashad White is
2:17going to play that Ekeler role. He is
2:19going to play passing downs. It seems
2:21that it's going to be between Jacquory
2:23Croskey-Merritt and rookie Khatron Allen
2:26out of Penn State for the early down
2:28role.
2:29Another thing that we know just pretty
2:30conclusively throughout the history of
2:32fantasy football is that playing with
2:33running quarterbacks adds about 0.5
2:36yards per carry, and it definitely adds
2:38to success rate for even sort of average
2:40running backs. Now, is Jacquory
2:42Croskey-Merritt an average running back?
2:43I think he's certainly a below-average
2:45pass-catching running back. I think
2:47that's pretty evident from his stats
2:48last year. He had no games with more
2:50than two targets, no games with more
2:52than two receptions. He was very
2:56I know the people are going to hate to
2:57hear that, but he was a very effective
2:59early down rusher. I mean, he had 14
3:01fantasy points in his very first career
3:03game on only 10 rushes. Obviously, the
3:06downturn in his performance came when
3:08Jayden Daniels got injured. The entire
3:10Washington Commanders offense was a lot
3:12worse once Jayden Daniels got injured,
3:14and then Chris Rodriguez took over JCM's
3:17job. Then Chris Rodriguez got hurt, and
3:20we got a phenomenal end to the year, the
3:2215 points against the Giants, the 22
3:24points against the Dallas Cowboys for
3:26JCM. The team lets Jay The team lets
3:28Chris Rodriguez walk in free agency.
3:31Jacquory Croskey-Merritt is going to be
3:32installed as the early down guy. Ben
3:34Standig has done some reporting on
3:36Jacquory Croskey-Merritt, saying the
3:37team is going to try and get him to
3:39improve his pass-catching, and they
3:41really hope that he can do it. Jacquory
3:42Croskey-Merritt is one of my favorite
3:44asymmetric bets right now in leagues,
3:46because if he stinks, we can just cut
3:48him, right? We can move on. He is not
3:50not expensive. He is well outside of the
3:52top 100 picks. I think that both White
3:54and J Corey Cross Kemmer are totally
3:56instrumental to zero running back this
3:58year because it implies the Commanders
4:00offense is going to be as good as it was
4:02in 2024.
4:04And no running back in this backfield is
4:06particularly expensive. So, I think both
4:08of them are definitely on the zero
4:10running back list. I don't think White
4:11has near as high of a ceiling, but I
4:13think both of them are going to be
4:14instrumental to pursuing a zero running
4:16back strategy. Moving on now to another
4:19guy who I think is just a total tentpole
4:22of this strategy. And I mean this this
4:24guy's archetypes of this guy go way, way
4:27back. I mean, think about how long you
4:28guys have been playing fantasy football.
4:30It is Tyrone Tracy for the New York
4:32Giants. We've always needed these
4:35pass-catching guys with a little bit of
4:37contingent value in fantasy football. I
4:39mean,
4:40the archetype of this guy for me was
4:41always Naheem Hines. Before that, we had
4:44Shane Vereen for the Patriots. We had
4:46Kevin White for the Patriots. We had Rex
4:47Burkhead for the Patriots. A lot of guys
4:49for the Patriots. But, by and large, the
4:51guy behind the guy who is still going to
4:54play a respectable amount of downs is
4:56very important. Now, the Giants offense
4:58definitely went sideways last year with
5:00Neighbors being injured and Scat
5:02being injured. Kind of depends on your
5:03perspective this year. Do you think that
5:05Jackson Dart is able to take a leap in
5:08year two? How healthy do you think Cam
5:10Scat is? How healthy do you think
5:11Neighbors is? I can see a lot of
5:13potential outcomes for the Giants. I can
5:15see their offense being quite good, you
5:17know, very efficient on the ground. I
5:18could see Neighbors struggling with his
5:20health, Dart struggling in year two,
5:22Scat not really getting anything
5:24going. But, Tyrone Tracy was a prospect
5:26I really liked, you know, at coming out
5:28of college where he was the converted
5:29wide receiver. I think you see that in a
5:31lot of his metrics where you look at I
5:33mean, look how
5:34look how high his juke percentage was
5:36over the course of the season. A running
5:38back 13, running back 12, running back
5:39five, and running back two finish all
5:41after Scat got injured last year.
5:44I would expect Tracy to probably play
5:46about 35% of the snaps for the Giants
5:49this upcoming year, and it could be a
5:50situation actually where he ends up
5:53playing a greater proportion of those
5:55snaps. You know, I could be wrong about
5:57that. It could be Skatabu actually is
5:59working back relatively slowly from this
6:01leg injury. Maybe Tracy ends up getting
6:02some of the goal-line stuff. Devin
6:04Singletary is still on this team, and
6:06it's possible that Singletary could kind
6:08of weave his way in. But, Tracy to me is
6:11sort of that perfect blend that makes
6:12him a great zero running back target
6:14where you can sell yourself on the
6:16athleticism for Tracy. You can sell
6:17yourself on him kind of having a next
6:20step to take as a player because he's
6:22not been playing the running back
6:23position for that long. But, you can
6:25also sell yourself on the floor. I mean,
6:26in his career, he's literally averaged
6:28exactly 10.72 PPR fantasy points per
6:32game in back-to-back seasons.
6:34Is Tyron Tracy going to be a league
6:36winner?
6:37I don't think Tyron Tracy is going to be
6:39a league winner. I mean, maybe in some
6:40very specific circumstances he can be.
6:43>> [snorts]
6:43>> But, if you are not taking a running
6:45back in your draft until Tony Pollard or
6:47Ramondre Stevenson or Blake Corum or
6:49Kyle Manonguy, sometimes you're just
6:51going to need a guy who you can slot in
6:54at your running back two slot and end up
6:56getting 11 fantasy points in a given
6:58game. And I think Tracy is the perfect
7:00target for that. Much worse version of
7:03the Tyron Tracy bet is going to be the
7:04Dylan Sampson bet for the Cleveland
7:06Browns. He plays behind another running
7:08back who is injured. Judkins injured his
7:10lower body, and Kim Skatabu injured his
7:12lower body. Dylan Sampson actually
7:15started out his Cleveland Browns career
7:16quite nice, did play a good chunk of the
7:19passing downs. The issue is, I mean, the
7:21team is just much worse. Uh the
7:22Cleveland Browns might end up being the
7:24worst offense in football. The
7:26difference potentially being I actually
7:27think Sampson is a little bit better of
7:29an interior runner. I mean, eight for 64
7:32as a pass catcher in Dylan Sampson's
7:33first career game. You're probably not
7:35going to get a ton of that, but you
7:36might end up with some five for 64s,
7:39some two for 59s, and a touchdown. Dylan
7:41Sampson is going to be a absolute staple
7:44of my zero running back builds because
7:46he is not expensive. You were able to
7:47get this guy 14th, 15th, 16th round of
7:50your fantasy football drafts. I quite
7:52liked his prospect profile coming out of
7:54Tennessee. He the athleticism was not as
7:57great as I thought it was, but man, that
7:58guy was productive. 114 rushing yards
8:01per game, 23 collegiate fantasy points
8:03per game was just basically the SEC
8:06offensive player of the year. He was
8:07super super important for what the
8:09Tennessee ball volunteers did. And there
8:11are definitely outs where Judkins is not
8:13fully healthy. There are outs where
8:15Deshaun Watson or Shedeur Sanders ends
8:17up playing better than we think. Todd
8:19Monken has always kind of famously
8:21enjoyed throwing to the running backs.
8:22Having Todd Monken fantasy football
8:24running backs has always been a
8:26positive. And just again, just given how
8:28cheap he is, Dylan Sampson, you you
8:30could start a draft with Tony Pollard,
8:32and then you could take Jaylen Warren,
8:35and Dylan Sampson can just kind of slot
8:37in when you need him. I'm definitely
8:39doing less zero running back drafts this
8:41upcoming season, but Dylan Sampson is
8:43kind of one of those guys who can
8:44definitely make things work.
8:47Now, the profile of guys that we have
8:49taken thus far have generally been guys
8:52who can get some fantasy points when we
8:53need them. I want to look at another guy
8:55who is not going to have any good
8:57consistency week to week. You're not
8:59going to be able to start this guy
9:01really basically ever. However, Tank
9:04Bigsby right now is my favorite zero
9:06running back target in terms of handcuff
9:08guys. He is completely free, completely
9:10inexpensive. He is outside the top 50
9:12running backs being drafted on Underdog,
9:14CBS, Yahoo, ESPN, anywhere that you are
9:17drafting them. And when Bigsby has been
9:19called upon both as a member of the Jags
9:22and as a member of the Commanders, he
9:23has run the ball well. Now, Bigsby was
9:25basically the worst running back in the
9:27NFL as a rookie. He had just comedy
9:30mishap after comedy mishap, but he gets
9:32traded after the Jags draft by Shell
9:34Tuton, goes to the Philadelphia Eagles,
9:36has the 100-yard rushing game in the
9:39absolute obliteration of the New York
9:41Giants, where Saquon didn't play in the
9:43fourth quarter. He really only got one
9:45chance to start a game. It was a week 18
9:47game after everything had been clinched
9:48for the Eagles. He was great in that
9:50game, 84% of the carries, ended up as
9:52the running back nine that week. Will
9:54Shipley, who is also on the team
9:56profile, is really is a third-down-only
9:58running back. Saquon Barkley is heading
10:00into his age 29 season. Last season,
10:032025, was the worst efficiency season of
10:05Barkley's career. Had under 4 yards per
10:08carry. A lot of blame to go around on
10:10that. Kevin Patullo, the offensive line
10:12was banged up, the offensive line wasn't
10:14very good. Jalen Hurts did not have his
10:16best season. But all of that, to me,
10:18just opens up avenues to this maybe
10:20being the end for Barkley. I I don't
10:22think it is. I think drafting Saquon
10:23Barkley is fine. But in terms of cheap
10:26running back two handcuff running backs,
10:28I don't really think it gets much better
10:30than Tank Bigsby. Like, what is really
10:32the difference, in your opinion, between
10:34Blake Corum and Tank Bigsby? You're not
10:36really going to want to start Blake
10:37Corum in any given week. I mean, you can
10:39probably get away with it, but I think
10:41that Tank Bigsby basically has the same
10:43sort of value proposition as someone
10:45like Blake Corum and is basically free
10:47in fantasy football drafts.
10:49And when you were doing these year
10:51running back drafts, I think it's very
10:53important to have probably at least two
10:55guys like this. Kind of the the perfect
10:56portfolio of a zero running back room is
10:59one to two guys who are low-end
11:01starters, one to two guys who are kind
11:03of in the Tyron Tracy, Dillon Sampson
11:06mold, where they're pass catchers who
11:07can kind of just generate a floor and
11:09get you through some weeks, and then you
11:10need one to two guys like this, who are
11:12just pure high-upside handcuff bits. So,
11:15we've talked about Tank, Rashad White,
11:17JCM, Tyron Tracy, and Dillon Sampson. We
11:20have one more guy here who I think is
11:22kind of a hybrid of all three of these,
11:24and then is going to be Sean Tucker for
11:26the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He signed a
11:28restricted free agent tender with the
11:30Buccaneers, even after they signed
11:32Kenneth Gainwell. I don't think they're
11:34going to be a ton of weeks where you
11:35were going to want to start Sean Tucker.
11:38However, I think there are multiple
11:39pathways to him ending up being a really
11:42strong running back for them. The first
11:44being he was a very underrated prospect
11:46at Syracuse. 124 rushing yards per game,
11:49over 20 receiving yards per game. I
11:51think he was really, really strong
11:53there. The issue was he had a heart
11:55condition that caused him to end up
11:57being an undrafted free agent to the
11:59Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Last year, he
12:01scored seven rushing touchdowns. The
12:02team fully converted him to their goal
12:05line running back after Bucky Irving got
12:07injured to the point that Bucky had zero
12:08touches inside the five for the entire
12:11season. He has not done a ton as a
12:13receiver in the NFL, but I think that he
12:15is capable of it. Were there to be an
12:17injury to either Bucky or Gainwell, I
12:19think his role would increase. I think
12:20there's a strong chance he is just a
12:22goal line back for the Tampa Bay
12:23Buccaneers. Anyways, you have contingent
12:26value, a small amount of standalone
12:28value, and I think that it's an offense
12:30that could relatively be described as on
12:33the ascendancy because things were so
12:34poor for them injury-wise last year.
12:37They also have a new year under this
12:39scheme with Zack Robinson.
12:41Sean Tucker, again, similar to Tank
12:43Bigsby, completely free in your fantasy
12:45football drafts, has a clearly defined
12:47role for an offense that we would expect
12:49to be in the top half of the league, and
12:51I think all these guys coalesce into
12:53showing that zero running back is
12:55definitely not the preferred strategy
12:57this upcoming year. I don't think you
12:59need to start your
13:00six straight wide receivers, four
13:02straight wide receivers, and a tight
13:03end. And it's not the strategy that I
13:05would say is my number one strategy
13:07heading into a fantasy football draft
13:09this year. But if zero running back does
13:11work, it is going to be because multiple
13:14of these guys, Bigsby, Rachaad White,
13:16JCM, Tyron Tracy, Dylan Sampson, or Sean
13:19Tucker, ends up being very important and
13:22ends up helping a lot of these zero
13:24running back teams kind of get by until
13:26they get to the fantasy And of course,
13:28we always have the ability to add the
13:30guy of the week off of waivers. So, that
13:32is a clear look at the six running backs
13:34we're going to do a big-time job for us
13:37on zero running back teams this upcoming
13:38year. Please make sure to like the
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13:57I will be back with you guys tomorrow.
