Target Or Fade These Year 2 RBs In Fantasy Football?

There is a jumbled mess of running backs currently sitting at the Round 1-2 turn over at Underdog. Seriously: After the big-4 running backs and top-6 wide receivers, we have not one, not two ... but EIGHT straight running backs going off the board in early ADP before we get to Mr. Drake London:

• Bills RB James Cook (ADP RB5, pick 11.2)
• Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty (RB6, 11.5)
• Eagles RB Saquon Barkley (RB7, 13.8)
• Dolphins RB De'Von Achane (RB8, 15.2)
• Chargers RB Omarion Hampton (RB9, 15.8)
• Chiefs RB Kenneth Walker (RB10, 16.7)
• Bengals RB Chase Brown (RB11, 17)
• Ravens RB Derrick Henry (RB12, 17.5)

Many of these names shouldn't be surprising. Cook, Achane, Brown and Henry posted top-8 numbers last season, Barkley is just one year removed from having one of the best seasons the position has seen since … ever … and Walker is fresh off winning Super Bowl MVP and now finds himself in a Patrick Mahomes-led offense that has over 43 million reasons to feed him the football.

But what about the rising second-year talents here?

Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty

Ashton Jeanty's rookie season was marred by life behind the NFL's worst offensive line, but flashes were still evident in blowup performances against the Bears (155 yards, 3 TDs) and Texans (188 yards, 2 TDs).

Enter: New Raiders HC Klint Kubiak. Yes, Kubiak deployed an evenly split two-back committee with the Seahawks. Also yes, Jeanty sure looks like THE running back, y'all, based on this current depth chart and Kubiak's recent comments.

"We've got to get (our best RB) on the field as much as we can. … We want to put a lot of pressure on Ashton ... You look at Christian McCaffrey, his play snap percentage is high. Those great backs, they don't want to come off the field."

Fantasy Life Projections have Jeanty racking up the position's eighth-most carries and seventh-most receptions ahead of 2026. It's probably safe to say the scheme and QB department will be in better shape with Kubiak, No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza and Kirk Cousins in town. The front office threw some SERIOUS money at ex-Ravens C Tyler Linderbaum in free agency and used a top-100 pick on Texas A&M lineman Trey Zuhn.

Add it all together, and Jeanty possesses high-end talent, is poised to see a huge workload and operates in an offense with nowhere to go but up. Sounds like a reasonable bet to make (unless you're a stone-cold hater like Kendall Valenzuela).

Chargers RB Omarion Hampton

Like with Jeanty, Hampton flashed some high-end ability in Year 1, but unfortunately, injuries to himself and the Chargers' offensive line didn't exactly leave him in the world's best situation. Consider: Los Angeles came in at a brutal 31st in my Running Back Supporting Cast Rating last season.

We also might not be giving Hampton enough slack for his lackluster performance upon returning from checks notes fracturing his f*cking ankle. Overall, he absolutely dominated in Weeks 1-5 compared to later in the season in yards per carry (4.8 vs. 4), yards after contact per carry (3.8 vs. 2.9) and tackles avoided per rush (33.3% vs. 17.2%). Those YAC and missed tackles forced numbers would have ranked third and first across the entire season!

Also like with Jeanty, we have a fun playcaller change here (Mike McDaniel), and the offensive line should be in a much better place if the Injury Gods leave Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt alone. There's a little bit less certainty in terms of the potential for a three-down workhorse role due to the presence of speedy ex-Raven RB Keaton Mitchell and Kimani Vidal, but we're also looking at a Justin Herbert-led Chargers offense that could finish top-5 in scoring and it wouldn't really surprise anyone.

Ultimately, spending a late Round 1, early Round 2 pick on anyone that we haven't seen achieve those sorts of associated high-end results is scary. But maybe we should learn to take a page out of Roman Roy's playbook and accept some level of high risk when it's for young ballers in ascending offenses with the upside to rack up well north of 300 touches this season. 

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