In August, Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, and I are all updating our Fantasy Football Tiers for quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end. To try to make mine a little bit different, my tiers are based almost exclusively on my 2026 PPR projections. I say almost, because at running back, once you get to the backup running backs, their value becomes less about their projection and more about their upside if the guy in front of them suffers an injury.
The big tweaks feature dings to Jeremiyah Love and Breece Hall due to their recent injuries. For Love, I am not sure how much this should deter you from drafting him if he falls to Round 4. High ankle sprains are no joke, but his value has to do with his immense upside in the second half of the season and he flashed plenty of that before he got hurt.
There are a couple of other tweaks, but for the most part I will tell you below where these guys project and when I would draft them. Gibbs and Robinson are the only backs I have projected for more than 20.5 PPR Fantasy points per game. These are arguably the two best running backs in football and the top two consensus picks in our rankings.
They are both supremely talented, projected for workhorse roles, and entering their prime. There is not much more you can ask for out of an RB1. Gibbs gets the slight edge for RB1 because of the quality of their offenses, but barring injury, I would expect these two to be battling for the number one overall pick for the next three seasons.
McCaffrey and Taylor are two points clear of RB5 in my projections and almost close enough to Gibbs and Robinson to be in the same tier. But they don't feel quite as insulated, which is why they're in Tier 2. I did ding McCaffrey due to his recent tightness that has kept him out of practice and he remains a league-altering pick at the end of Round 1.
If he stays healthy, he may be the top-scoring player in Fantasy Football; on top of the tightness, he has age and workload concerns, and wasn't near the same back in the running game last year. I would currently draft James Cook and Chase Brown ahead of McCaffrey, but that is based on risk, not projection. Achane and Cook are the last two running backs that I have ranked in Round 1, with projections between 17 and 18 PPR FPPG.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
