Fantasy football leagues are won by identifying the sleepers or breakout players later on in your drafts. The players that dramatically outperform expectations and help carry your lineup to the top.
However, your league can be certainly lost by choosing the wrong player in the early rounds. Just think back to major investments in years past like Christian McCaffrey – where he then got injured – or even Ashton Jeanty last year where the hype got out of control.
This article here is meant to highlight three RBs that you shouldn’t be completely avoiding at all costs, but simply ones who may have their ADP a bit too high. Let’s dive in and take a look at who they could be for 2026.
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Three Running Backs To Avoid In Fantasy Football
James Cook, Buffalo Bills
Let me say right off the bat that this is not a full fade of James Cook in 2026. He’s an incredibly talented player and he holds immense upside due to the offense that he plays in.
I wanted to include him in this article as simply a word of caution for drafting him with such a premium selection – RB5 off the board in the latest ADP Consensus.
Cook came into the NFL profiling as more of a pass-catching RB and not a true workhorse option. He’s a bit undersized for handling a substantial workload year in and year out – sub-200 pounds – yet he’s been loaded up with touches over the past several seasons.
The dynamic runner has seen 753 carries over the past three years and he’s been an elite fantasy weapon because of it. But the factor to be wary of when drafting Cook early on in your drafts is that he’s avoided something that every NFL RB deals with at some point or another: injury.
Cook has played essentially every game over the past three years and that’s incredibly rare in today’s NFL. Now, he does a fantastic job of limiting the amount of punishment that he takes with his running style, but it’s abnormal for a RB that’s handled the workload he has to not miss any time.
We can’t predict injuries. Some players do a better job of taking care of their body than others. But when I’m on the clock in the second round of my fantasy football draft, do I want to take the risk and bet that Cook will continue to defy the odds again this season?
It’s not a complete fade. I have him ranked right in line with his ADP, because his upside playing in this offense is hard to stay away from, but it’s at least something to consider when you’re choosing between Cook or an elite WR in that range.
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De’Von Achane, Miami Dolphins
If there’s one player that I hate betting against, it’s De’Von Achane. His talent level is simply too dang good to where this could easily blow up in my face.
However, we have to acknowledge that the situation Achane is playing in here in 2026 is wildly different than years past with Tua Tagovailoa at QB and Mike McDaniel calling plays.
The Miami Dolphins are entering a rebuild phase and they’ve gutted the entire roster, with essentially only Achane left as a premier talent. Jeff Hafley is in as the Head Coach and he brought over, from Green Bay, Malik Willis to lead this offense moving forward.
Yes, the WR room is bare and features names like Malik Washington and Jalen Tolbert at the top of its depth chart – which could bode well for Achane’s receiving floor – but red zone work could be hard to come by.
Achane saw 29 carries in the red zone last season, which was certainly not near the top of the league to begin with, and he now will have to deal with Willis when they do get to that critical area of the field.
In his two games where he played the majority of the action in 2025, Willis had five red zone rush attempts. A 17-game pace would have been 43, which was 12 more than Josh Allen had in 2025 as the next closest QB.
With questionable WR play, the opportunities for Miami to get into the red zone consistently might not be there. And once they do get there, it’s not like Achane – at 191 pounds is going to be the option they go to every single time.
Willis’ legs will be utilized heavily in 2026, which means Achane’s going to have to be heavily targeted and break away long runs to reach the touchdown totals that are expected for a RB going in the top 10 at the position in fantasy football drafts.
He can do it, he’s ridiculously talented and he has the speed to take any run to the house, but it’s an incredibly risky bet when he’s going off the board in between Ashton Jeanty and Omarion Hampton – two players that will be guaranteed to see the majority of the work in the red zone for their respective teams.
Achane continues to move further and further down my rankings the more that the offseason rolls along.
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Bucky Irving, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The elusiveness and efficiency for Bucky Irving is off the charts when he’s fully healthy.
He’s excellent at making people miss in a phone booth and he’s a threat to rip off a big run whenever he gets the ball in his hands – not through pure speed, but by savvy and understanding how to manipulate a defender’s momentum for his benefit.
However, he is a smaller back that compared exactly to Dion Lewis in my Player Comps database coming out of Oregon and the team is showing their hand that they don’t believe he can handle a substantial workload moving forward.
Sean Tucker was retained as he was set to hit free agency and he should remain this team’s lead back in terms of red zone opportunities and short-yardage situations.
The former Syracuse RB saw 9 carries inside the five-yard line last season, compared to zero for Irving. Any time they needed the ball punched in, they were subbing out Irving for the larger and more physical back in Tucker.
Additionally, the team went out and brought in Kenneth Gainwell in free agency after a solid season in Pittsburgh to be their main pass-catching weapon. However, Gainwell does also have the size and ability to eat into Irving’s workload as a rusher, too.
All this points to the fact that Irving’s role is going to be significantly diminished in 2026. He’ll be used sporadically as potentially a first and second down option, but taken off the field in clear passing situations or goal-line work.
This nukes his fantasy football ceiling, but his ADP doesn’t reflect that. He’s going off the board as RB20 in ADP Consensus and there are plenty of other names behind him that carry more guaranteed volume.
It’s hard to fade Bucky because of what he showed in his rookie season, but it seems as though it’s time for us to significantly readjust our expectations and his RB20 draft cost is quite simply too high.
