The 2025-26 NFL regular season has come to an end, and that means one thing in particular: draft season is officially upon us. The 2026 NFL Draft is now a little over three months away, and the first 18 picks in each round are now set.
Whether you’re a fan of a team that’s still in the playoffs or a team that only has the NFL Draft to look forward to, we’ve got you covered one way or another. We’ll be bringing you nonstop coverage before, during, and after this year’s draft.
In particular, the 2026 NFL Draft appears to have plenty of talented running back prospects. It might not be as deep as last year’s loaded class, but it comes pretty darn close. There’s a blue-chip prospect near the top of the board who could give Ashton Jeanty a run for his money, too.
PFSN NFL Draft analysts Ian Cummings, Jacob Infante, and Alec Elijah have pooled their rankings together to bring you their consensus top 10 running backs in the 2026 NFL Draft.
1) Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame
Unsurprisingly, Jeremiyah Love was the consensus RB1 for all three draft analysts. He scored 40 total touchdowns in his two seasons as Notre Dame’s starting running back, ran for 2,497 rushing yards in those two years, and finished his three-year career with an impressive 6.7 yards per carry average.
When you’re drafting a running back in the first round, you want a prospect with the potential to be one of the best in the NFL early in his career. Love has all the tools to do so. He’s an explosive runner with great breakaway speed, impressive agility in space, and very good burst to hit the hole between the tackles. He has great passing-down value, he’s a tough runner to bring down, and he sees the field well in space.
2) Jonah Coleman, Washington
Jonah Coleman solidified himself on the NFL Draft radar with a strong sophomore season at Arizona in 2023. Not only did he build off that after following head coach Jedd Fisch to Washington in 2024, but he stayed an extra year and arguably got even better in 2025. He had a career-high 17 scrimmage touchdowns, which led the Big Ten this season.
Listed at 5’9″ and 228 pounds, Coleman is a bowling ball of a runner whose trademark is his power. His low center of gravity and elite lower-body strength allow him to bounce off and run through defenders to pick up extra yardage. He’s a reliable pass protector for that reason, too. That said, he looked a lot more athletic in 2025, putting to rest a lot of the speed questions that held him back from the top tier of running back prospects last year.
3) Emmett Johnson, Nebraska
Arguably the biggest breakout running back prospect in the 2026 NFL Draft class, Emmett Johnson was a solid contributor for Nebraska for two years going into 2025. It was this year that he truly came into his own; however, he led the Big Ten with 1,451 rushing yards, and he added 12 rushing touchdowns and 46 receptions to the mix, too.
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I see shades of TreVeyon Henderson in Johnson’s 2025 tape. He’s not the biggest or most powerful back out there, but he has big-play ability in spaces. His breakaway speed is some of the best in the class, he’s crafty in space, and he’s a threat as a pass-catcher out of the backfield, too. He’s truly lightning in a bottle.
4) Justice Haynes, Michigan
The upside with Justice Haynes was always there; it was just a matter of whether he’d prove it. A five-star recruit out of high school, Haynes was a rotational back at Alabama for two years but broke out at Michigan in 2025. He played in only seven games but still ran for 857 yards and 10 touchdowns, leading the Big Ten with 7.1 yards per carry.
Haynes is a well-rounded back with the short-area quickness and wide-zone vision to stretch out defenses horizontally and cut upfield for a big gain. He’s a tough runner who doesn’t shy away from contact, and he shows patience by adjusting his tempo out of the backfield and waiting for the play to develop before hitting the hole.
5) Jadarian Price, Notre Dame
An argument could be made that Jadarian Price could’ve been the primary starting running back at any school other than the one he ended up playing at. Playing behind Jeremiyah Love cut into his touches, but Price still ran for 674 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 6.0 yards per carry in 2025.
Price, being a rotational back with a limited receiving background, hurts his stock, but he’s one of the best pure runners in the 2026 NFL Draft. He reads between the tackles very well; he has impressive acceleration and good breakaway speed, and he’s a tough runner with a low center of gravity and a nasty demeanor in contact.
6) LJ Martin, BYU
LJ Martin was a divisive prospect among the PFSN staff, as he ranked as highly as RB3 and as low as outside of the top 10 entirely. There’s no debate on whether he was productive this season for BYU, though; he ended the year with 1,305 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns, finishing as the Big 12’s Offensive Player of the Year.
Martin has an intriguing combination of downhill ball-carrier vision and toughness at the wrap-up point. He’s a tough runner with a low center of gravity and ideal patience and discipline in the backfield. There are many better athletes at running back in this draft class than Martin, but there are few pure runners better than he is.
7) Demond Claiborne, Wake Forest
A key part of Wake Forest’s offense each of the last three years, Demond Claiborne enters the 2026 NFL Draft as one of the more proven backs in the class. He’s had 2,542 rushing yards and 26 rushing touchdowns over his last three seasons, including a combined 2,305 scrimmage yards in his last two years.
Though a little undersized, Claiborne is a shifty runner with reliable ball-carrier vision in both zone and gap situations. He changes direction well and has the agility needed to bounce outside of the tackles to extend the play. A smaller frame and average strength hurt his ceiling, but he should be an NFL contributor early in his career.
8) Kaytron Allen, Penn State
In four seasons with Penn State, Kaytron Allen tallied an impressive 4,180 rushing yards with 39 rushing touchdowns and 5.4 yards per carry. Despite battling for touches with Nicholas Singleton, Allen pulled away as the Nittany Lions’ primary back the last two years.
Allen is a tough runner who uses his 217-pound frame to bounce off of tackles and battle through contact. The development in his backfield patience and processing speed over time has been fun to watch, as well. A lack of top-notch athleticism on tape knocks him down a tad, but he should have no shortage of suitors in the 2026 NFL Draft.
9) J’Mari Taylor, Virginia
A former walk-on at North Carolina Central, J’Mari Taylor worked his way up to become a star for them in 2024 before transferring to Virginia in 2025 for his final year of collegiate eligibility. There, he finished with 1,315 scrimmage yards and 15 total touchdowns, reaching the century mark in rushing yards for his second year in a row.
Taylor is a bit undersized at 5’9″ and 204 pounds, and his lack of elite breakaway speed could turn off NFL teams in the early rounds. The tape is undeniable, though; he’s a crafty runner with vision beyond his years, he makes quick cuts in between the tackles and in the open field, and he has better contact balance than most smaller running backs.
10) Nicholas Singleton, Penn State
As previously mentioned, Nicholas Singleton fell behind Kaytron Allen in Penn State’s backfield as time went on. That said, he was still a major part of their offense. He ran for 45 touchdowns in four years and ended 2025 with a career-high 13 rushing touchdowns for the Nittany Lions.
Singleton’s 224-pound frame makes him difficult to bring down, and he has the determination and lower-body strength to maximize that. He isn’t afraid to lower his shoulder to run over defenders, and he has good straight-line speed for a big back. There isn’t much wiggle with him on tape, but he’s a bruiser with good NFL power back potential.
Honorable Mentions:
- Roman Hemby, Indiana
- Jamarion Miller, Alabama
