0:00Fantasy football is completely different
0:01in 2026. This is the best the market has
0:04ever been at pricing running backs. So,
0:06finding a running back that's
0:07underpriced, who is a legitimate sleeper
0:09in this draft environment, is quite the
0:11tall task, but that's exactly what I've
0:13done today. I have four sleeper running
0:15backs for the 2026 fantasy football
0:17season. Guys who are going outside the
0:19top 100 picks, who I think can
0:20contribute for our fantasy football
0:22teams this upcoming year. I've got to go
0:24ahead and begin with my guy, Jacory
0:26Croskey-Merritt, who had a better season
0:28last year than you remember. At the end
0:30of the day, he was an undrafted free
0:33agent as pick, a round seven pick, who
0:35barely played in college. He ended up as
0:36a starter in his first ever NFL game,
0:39closed out the season in week 17, the
0:41championship week, against Dallas as the
0:43running back seven with 105 rushing
0:45yards and two rushing touchdowns. Chris
0:48Rodriguez is out the door. Rashad White
0:50is in the door to play that Austin
0:52Ekeler role. Jerick McKinnon is still
0:54technically on the team. Jerome Ford is
0:56still technically on the team. And the
0:57Commanders also selected Chris Rodriguez
1:00on day three of the NFL draft. This is
1:02my breakdown for the 2026 Commanders
1:05backfield. I think that Jacory
1:06Croskey-Merritt is going to be given
1:08every opportunity to win the role that
1:10he had last year, just with no Chris
1:12Rodriguez on the team. Now, is Chris
1:14Rodriguez better than JCM? I frankly did
1:17not think he was. I did see what the
1:19Commanders coaching staff saw in him.
1:20He's a pretty good interior runner. He
1:22is a good goal-line runner. There were
1:24certainly some games and some instances
1:26where I wish that Jacory Croskey-Merritt
1:28was playing much better. This kind of
1:30interstitial area, these games against
1:32Chicago, Dallas, and Kansas City, where
1:34Jayden Daniels was injured or scuffling.
1:37I'm not going to lie, they were not very
1:38fun games to watch. But, as of right
1:41now, we have JCM on Underdog going at
1:44pick 114. He's going even later than
1:46that on some of the big draft software.
1:48So, if you look at ESPN mock drafts or
1:50sleeper mock drafts, he's going much
1:52later than that.
1:53Even if Rashad White plays a very
1:56similar role in Washington that he did
1:58at Tampa Bay, where he's playing on a
1:59lot of third downs. He is such a poor
2:02interior runner that I basically think
2:03the only competition on the roster is
2:06from Penn State's Ke'Shawn Allen.
2:08Ke'Shawn Allen to me is really just like
2:10bigger Jacquory Cross Kemore. I think
2:12JCM is a better distance runner. I think
2:14he's a better home run hitter than
2:16Ke'Shawn. I I don't want to totally
2:18poopoo the chances that Allen ends up
2:20over playing JCM over the course of the
2:22season, but I would I would bet right
2:24now very early on that JCM does end up
2:27being the starting running back for the
2:28Commanders and is very underpriced
2:31inside of that backfield. I would
2:33consider him a premium target on zero
2:36running back teams or even hero running
2:38back teams. Like let's say you take
2:39Jamar Chase in round one and Josh Jacobs
2:42in round two. Maybe you add in a David
2:44Montgomery or By'Shawn Tuten somewhere
2:46in there. JCM is a great fit as a third
2:49or fourth running back on teams like
2:51that and it would not be surprising if
2:52he is inside the top 24 running backs in
2:55terms of week one projection when we get
2:58there. So JCM for the Commanders, I like
3:01a good bit. Of course, I have to bring
3:03up my guy Keaton Mitchell, who his first
3:06season in the NFL, he was top five in
3:08the NFL in rushing yards over
3:10expectation. That was all the way back
3:12in 2023 before he injured his knee. What
3:15I thought was so interesting in 2025 was
3:18that it was pretty clear to me that the
3:20Ravens coaching staff did want to find
3:22ways to use Keaton Mitchell, even though
3:25he's probably too small to play on
3:27passing downs and his backfield mate is
3:29Hall of Famer Derrick Henry. Keaton
3:31Mitchell is now a member of the Los
3:33Angeles Chargers, which is, depending on
3:35your perspective, either a very good or
3:37a very bad situation. He is going to be
3:40sharing a backfield with Damarion
3:41Hampton, who was a top first round pick
3:44last season. Damarion Hampton was one of
3:46the worst pass protection running backs
3:47in the NFL to the point that he was just
3:49no longer playing on passing downs. The
3:51team was playing Ke'Shawn Vaughn over
3:53him. They were playing a fullback
3:55instead of him. They were playing second
3:57tight ends instead of Hampton on obvious
3:59passing downs.
4:00You know, part of that was that the Los
4:02Angeles Chargers offensive line was so
4:04bad. Now, I do expect Hampton to be the
4:06lead running back. What I do think will
4:08be very interesting though will be games
4:10where Keeton Mitchell has the hot hand.
4:12Like you could tell me that in four
4:15games this upcoming season, Keeton
4:17Mitchell actually out-carries Amari
4:19Hampton in games where Hampton is fully
4:21healthy, even in games that the Chargers
4:23win because the obvious comparison to
4:25make is with Mike McDaniel now as the
4:27offensive coordinator for the Los
4:29Angeles Chargers. Keeton Mitchell is the
4:31Devon Achane and Amari Hampton, well, he
4:34is the Raheem Mostert inside of this
4:35backfield. And something that is sort of
4:37interesting about the McShanny kind of
4:39West Coast style offenses is these are
4:42actually run-based offenses. A lot of
4:44people think about Sean McVay, they
4:46think about Kyle Shanahan, and they're
4:47like, "Oh, these guys are wizards in
4:49terms of the play-calling. Their their
4:51quarterbacks are always so efficient."
4:52But it's all downstream of OG Shanahan,
4:55Mike Shanahan, which is, you know, that
4:57zone run scheme that just basically
5:00creates free yards for running backs.
5:02And when guys like Keeton Mitchell get
5:04free rein and they are able to, you
5:06know, make decisions and create space
5:09around the edge, that is a spot where I
5:11could see Keeton Mitchell having games
5:13where he has, you know, plenty of
5:15nine-carry for 68-yard and a
5:17touchdown-style games. I obviously think
5:19he also has a ton of contingent value,
5:22which in general is going to be what a
5:23lot of our sleeper running backs are
5:24this upcoming year. It's going to be a
5:26lot of contingent value guys. A lot of
5:28the backfields are fairly settled. And a
5:30lot of these backfields, the market I
5:32think has a good handle on, you know,
5:33people are smart about fantasy football
5:36in 2026. I mean, that's just the way it
5:38is. People are so much better at this
5:39game than they used to be. But Keeton is
5:42my favorite combination of talent,
5:45offensive situation, contingency value,
5:48and stand-alone role. There have been
5:50multiple backfields over the most recent
5:515 years where we've seen two running
5:53backs were like pretty clearly startable
5:55for fantasy football.
5:57The first thing that has to be true is
5:59that the offense has to be very good. In
6:00fact, we have seen offenses undermine
6:02the Daniel be good enough for two
6:04starting guys. We've also seen offenses
6:06with Justin Herbert have enough points
6:08on the bone for two running backs to be
6:10able to be out there and get fantasy
6:12points. So, I would not be at all
6:13surprised if we saw Keaton be a 10.3
6:17fantasy points per game player and Amari
6:19and Hampton be a 14 and 1/2, 15 and 1/2
6:21fantasy points per game player. But,
6:23Keaton Mitchell is one of the most
6:25important guys for me to get on my
6:26fantasy football teams this year and
6:28average draft position of 144 over on
6:30Underdog. He honestly probably in a lot
6:32of your 10-team leagues is going
6:34undrafted. 12-team leagues, he's going
6:35to be like a 14th, 15th round pick. But,
6:38I think that Keaton Mitchell is
6:39basically the definition of a sleeper
6:42running back this upcoming season and
6:43will be one of my most rostered players.
6:46Moving further down the list, I I'm
6:48going to have to go with my guy Nicholas
6:50Singleton here. This is going to go with
6:52some of our research on ambiguous
6:54backfields. And maybe you would say that
6:56the Tennessee Titans is not an ambiguous
6:58backfield, but I kind of think it is
7:01because Tony Pollard does not
7:02necessarily meet all the definitions of
7:05a clear incumbent running back. Like
7:07Tony Pollard was already giving up a
7:09good amount of work to Tajae Spears.
7:12Nicholas Singleton, who actually was
7:13backfield mates with Keaton Allen,
7:15started out as one of the most
7:16interesting running back prospects in
7:18all of college football, like broke out
7:20as a true freshman at Penn State, ended
7:22up seating work to Keaton Allen over
7:24time, but contributed as both a rusher
7:27and a pass-catcher. And what you think
7:29about Singleton will sort of be what do
7:31you think about the Tennessee Titans? If
7:33you think that Brian Daboll can come in,
7:35reinvigorate the offense, use Tajae
7:37Spears in a role that he was comfortable
7:39in, use Tony Pollard in the role that he
7:41played in last season, then you probably
7:43don't need to be drafting Nicolas
7:44Singleton. If you think there's a chance
7:46that this is a total youth movement
7:47situation, wherein, you know, Calvin
7:50Ridley either gets traded or benched,
7:52Wan'Dale Robinson ends up being
7:53out-targeted by Cordarrelle Tate, we get
7:55a lot of uh my guy Gunner Helm playing
7:57at the tight end position, and it ends
7:59up being a developmental year for Kam
8:01Ward, then it makes total sense to me
8:03that Singleton could be a real breakout.
8:05I mean, one of the things that we do
8:06know about fantasy football that has
8:08been proven true year after year,
8:11is that these day three running back
8:12prospects have a great ability to impact
8:15their teams right away, even when not
8:17very much draft capital was spent on
8:19them, and even if the backfield does
8:21look a little bit crowded ahead of them.
8:22I mean, I think a great example of that
8:24was actually the running back we just
8:25talked about, Jacory Croskey-Merritt
8:27from the prior year, where Brian
8:28Robinson Jr. got traded, Austin Ekeler
8:30got injured, and boom, playing time
8:33showed up right there for him. I would
8:34expect that Singleton probably could
8:36have been drafted much higher actually
8:38in the 2026 NFL draft. He injured his
8:41foot early on in the process at the
8:43Senior Bowl, and as a result, he did not
8:45get to run at the combine. If Nicolas
8:47Singleton had ran at the combine, I
8:49think that his RAS probably would have
8:51been more like a 9.8. I I think he could
8:54have put up a very similar combine to
8:56Mike Washington Jr. And looking at the
8:58Tennessee Titans, I think they're
8:59probably going to be a team that wants
9:01to run the ball good bit. Tony Pollard
9:03is entering into that age bracket, where
9:06you start to expect the ankle turn for a
9:0828, 29, 30-year-old running back more
9:10than you do a 25-year-old running back.
9:12I mean, Tyjae Spears came into the NFL
9:14without ACLs, has found a way to stay
9:16healthy for chunks of his NFL career. He
9:19certainly has not been the model of
9:21health, but I really like Singleton as a
9:22prospect. I think it's a situation where
9:24particularly in the back half of the
9:26season, the team could just be looking
9:28to expand all their options to see who
9:30they have on the roster who could maybe
9:32be the part of their next great roster.
9:34Cuz right, Tony Pollard, Calvin Ridley,
9:36probably even Spears, Daniel Bellinger,
9:38these guys are not going to be a part of
9:40the next great Titans team, of the next
9:42Titans playoff win. But Nicholas
9:44Singleton, Carnell Tate, and Gunner Helm
9:46could certainly be parts of the next
9:49Titan teams to win a playoff game. So I
9:51feel pretty, pretty strongly that
9:53Nicholas Singleton in your home leagues,
9:55I mean he is like a great guy to take as
9:58the literal last player on your roster
10:00and just wait to see what happens inside
10:03of the Tennessee Titans backfield. And
10:05then our final clear sleeper running
10:07back is actually a very similar
10:09situation except on an actually good
10:11team. And that's going to be my guy
10:13De'Mond Claiborne out of Wake Forest.
10:15Now, De'Mond Claiborne was literally the
10:17fastest player in college football last
10:19season if you take the NCAA 2026 ratings
10:23for it. He was also one of the best kick
10:24returners in college football, had a
10:26101-yard kick return that took less than
10:295 seconds. Seriously, one of the most
10:30impressive kick returns that you were
10:32ever going to see.
10:34Claiborne landed in an even better
10:36situation than Singleton where he's got
10:38the two veterans ahead of him in Jordan
10:40Mason who is the Tajae Spears analog and
10:42Aaron Jones who is the Tony who is the
10:45Tony Pollard analog. Claiborne has the
10:47unique ability, I think actually sort of
10:49similar to JCM, to just earn his way
10:53onto the field from game one, week one.
10:56A lot of teams, a lot of people were
10:57actually expecting Aaron Jones to just
10:58move on from the Minnesota Vikings.
11:00Like, what are you getting from a
11:0331-year-old running back at this stage
11:04of their career? I mean, Aaron Jones was
11:06not particularly efficient last season.
11:08It was actually one of his worst NFL
11:10seasons if you look at his snap rates
11:12and his yards per carry. It was the
11:14lowest yards per game he'd had since he
11:16was a rookie. He actually increased his
11:19passing game usage, but his yards per
11:21target was all the way down to 4.9. And
11:24you look at the game logs, I mean it was
11:25just if you were starting Aaron Jones in
11:27fantasy football last year, you were
11:29like, yep. Well, that looks about right.
11:3114 carries for 7.6 points. And the issue
11:34with Jordan Mason is that Jordan Mason
11:36is, I think, a pretty crumulent average,
11:39you know, fine interior rusher, but he
11:41does not give you anything in the
11:43passing game. I mean, over the course of
11:45his career, he has generated fewer than
11:4840 targets in four seasons, which is a
11:50pretty brutal ratio. He's just not going
11:52to be someone who can ever play on the
11:53passing downs. So, Clayborn lands
11:55himself in a backfield with an offense
11:57we like, the McKinnon tree as a coach
12:00with Kevin O'Connell. He has, I think,
12:02the requisite physical abilities to
12:05impact the running game at the NFL
12:07level. And I would anticipate that he
12:09also is going to hurdle, you know, he's
12:11going to he's going to do the biggest
12:12hurdle because he's going to be active
12:14on game days because he is going to be
12:16the primary kick returner for the
12:17Minnesota Vikings. This is one of the
12:19paths to playing time that another day
12:22three NFL pick, uh, that we all loved in
12:24fantasy football, Isaiah Pacheco, was a
12:26day three pick who found himself active
12:28because he was a really good kick
12:29returner for the Kansas City Chiefs. It
12:31was actually Ihmir Smith-Marsette who
12:32was active for the Chiefs last year, as
12:34well. Would not surprise me if Clayborn
12:36comes out and gets something like five
12:37rushes and maybe one target in his very
12:39first NFL game. And no one is taking
12:43De'Shawn Clayborn in your leagues. I
12:44mean, he goes undrafted on Underdog
12:46quite a bit, and you know, not drafted
12:48in in best ball leagues. So, I feel
12:49pretty good about Clayborn. I mean, you
12:51could keep him on your waiver wire speed
12:53dial, but he is going to be the kind of
12:55guy in my home leagues. I'm trying to
12:56beat my buddies, and also I'm trying to,
12:58you know, there's always this thing in
12:59your home leagues where you're trying to
13:00do the coolest pick. De'Shawn Clayborn
13:02is a very cool pick. Your your friends
13:05are going to be like, "Wow, this guy is,
13:06uh, literally so much smarter than me.
13:08How did he know De'Shawn Clayborn was
13:09going to end up starting running back
13:10for the Vikings?" So, those were four
13:12sleeper running backs for 2026. Jacory
13:15Croskey-Merritt, Keaton Mitchell, my guy
13:18Nicholas Singleton, and finally my guy
13:20De'Shawn Clayborn. Make sure that you
13:22are subscribed to this channel for more
13:24fantasy football videos, and you can
13:25check out flockfantasy.com.
13:28Link to that is down in the description
13:30for all of my rankings, best ball tools,
13:32and all that stuff for fantasy football.
