RJ Harvey enters his second season with the Denver Broncos, looking to improve upon an inefficient rookie rushing campaign. Among 49 running backs with at least 100 carries last year, he ranked 40th in rush gain rate at 78%. This fell well below the league average of 83% and resulted in Denver adding to its depth at the position.
Should You Draft RJ Harvey in Fantasy Football?
For 2026, the answer is no, a resounding no.
Harvey is the dude who scored a dozen touchdowns as a rookie. That is wonderful. If you rostered him last season, some of that pass-catching expertise bailed you out. You know what it didn’t do? It didn’t impress Sean Payton and the Broncos brass. If it had, they wouldn’t have brought back J.K. Dobbins, and they wouldn’t have gone out of their way to draft a running back. They would make this kid a priority because he produced like one in a season where they were looking for options. That’s not the case anymore.
They brought in Jaylen Waddle. This offense is going to be potent. The defense is going to get a lot of attention as well, and it should. It’s maybe the best in the game, if not top 2 or 3. The offense, I think, could be top 10. You’ve got Waddle and Sutton. They’ve got pieces here. J.K. Dobbins is great when he’s healthy, but the fantasy industry is drafting this all kind of crazy. They’ve got Harvey inside the top 100, which I don’t get.
What is the avenue to him getting work? If and when Dobbins goes down, Jonah Coleman profiles as the next guy in volume. He averaged five and a half yards per carry throughout college and showed some nice versatility. In that instance, I think there’s a better chance that Coleman cuts into Harvey’s receiving work than that Harvey cuts into Coleman’s rushing work. You’re talking about a de facto receiver. In this offense, they just brought in a big receiver. They’ve got two big guys out there and about four different reserve receivers that I like a lot.
I can’t get there with Harvey, not at this price. If he were to dip into the 120s, sign me up for a guy who could see a handful of targets in an offense that we expect to be good. But that’s not the case. Harvey’s ADP is inflated because of what he did last season.
Listen to what the Broncos are telling us and watch what they’re showing us. They are telling us they have no interest in getting this dude more involved, so I have no interest. Harvey is a pass for me at anything close to his ADP. I’ve got him as RB3 on the Broncos alone.
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RJ Harvey’s Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
The Broncos haven’t said that they regret spending the 60th overall pick in 2025 on Harvey, but their actions suggest as much. By trading for Jaylen Waddle and drafting Jonah Coleman, Sean Payton clearly wants to spread the touches around, something that I doubt we’d see if he were sold on Harvey scoring a dozen touchdowns again.
In 2 games against the Chiefs as a rookie, he turned 25 carries into just 73 yards, not once recording a gain of more than 11 yards.
His value last year came as a pass catcher, and we saw that in these matchups (8 catches on 9 targets with a touchdown). We also saw him haul in a touchdown pass during the second week of the preseason. I fear that we are trending close to a specialist role in an offense that brought in a receiver capable of earning volume.
For now, I have J.K. Dobbins ranked ahead of Harvey, and I’m not sold that he has a ton of upward mobility with Coleman looming. Should he score or rack up a handful of receptions on Monday night, I’d be selling him before the ink dried on the box score. He ran hot in the touchdown department last season, and all of the signals are pointing away from him as part of a team that wants to win in a real way this year.
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Where Harvey Ranks Among 2026 Running Backs
- Blake Corum | LAR
- Jordan Mason | MIN
- Kyle Monangai | CHI
- Rachaad White | WAS
- J.K. Dobbins | DEN
- RJ Harvey | DEN
- Chris Rodriguez Jr. | JAX
- Aaron Jones Sr. | MIN
- Zach Charbonnet | SEA
- Woody Marks | HOU
- Tyler Allgeier | ARI
Compare him against the rest of the board in PFN's Full PPR Running Back Rankings.
