Dave Richard's ultimate step-by-step guide for drafting running backs in your 2026 Fantasy Football leagues — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- NFL offenses have seen league-wide pass attempts drop from 34.4 per game per team in 2021 to 32.1 in 2025, while wide receiver targets fell from 12.4 to 11 per game in the same span, per Richard's analysis.
- Running back rush attempts have held steady at 21.6–21.8 per game per team over the past five seasons, and the count of RBs averaging 15-plus touches per game jumped from 15 in 2021 to at least 20 in each of the past four seasons.
- Dave Richard documented 39 running backs posting 30-plus PPR point games last season compared to 25 wide receivers, reinforcing his claim that top RBs are outscoring top WRs under current league trends.
- The 2026 RB class features multiple rookies and second-year backs, which Richard describes as a deeper talent pool than 2025 and a key reason the Zero-RB draft strategy should be abandoned this year.
- Richard lays out three viable early-RB approaches (two studs, Hero RB, or waiting until Round 3) and explicitly rules out Zero-RB, calling it a 'death sentence' in non-PPR leagues.
- Standard and non-PPR leagues tilt hardest toward running backs, while full-PPR formats give an edge to wide receivers — Richard notes league size should no longer dictate strategy since everyone is chasing the position.
Why it matters: Fantasy drafters who cling to a pass-catcher-first or Zero-RB philosophy could be leaving points on the board: with rushing volume stable, receiving volume shrinking, and six of the first 10 backs off the board being elite talents, missing the RB run risks a bottom-quartile backfield and a playoff miss.
Ask SkimNews
